National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

46

or Langa, and even close to that lake, it is stated to be thirty feet broad and one-
and-a-quarter deep, in the dry season, and very rapid.²

As so many natives told him the same story about the river issuing from the
lake one can hardly doubt that this was really the case in 1817 and 1818. The
fact that the river, close to the lake, was 30 feet broad is, however, no proof, as
this water may be carried down by one of the tributaries. But as the river is posi-
tively said to come out from Langak-tso, there seems to have been a gradual rise
from 1812 to 1818.

Gerard goes on to say that already at »Thooling or Ling» the river is so
broad that an iron chain bridge must be used. He found out that in »Chinese Tar-
tary» the river was called Langzhing-Khampa for 200 miles, after which it is called
Muksung and lower down Sampoo, Sangpoo, Sanpo or Zung-Tee. Still lower down,
in Koonawar, it is called Sumudrung or the river. Near the capital of Busehur he
found the name to be Sutroodra or Sutoodra, and finally Sutlej. The natives of
Koonawur were found to use the names Sutlej and Sutoodra even up to its source.¹

Gerard wished to proceed to the Manasarovar, but was stopped on the frontier
by the Chinese. Orders had been issued from Lhasa that no Europeans should be
admitted and in case they did not obey they would not be supplied with provisions.
Even two pilgrims on their way to the sacred lake were stopped at Shipki as they
were taken for Europeans in disguise. But Gerard found the natives communica-
tive enough and was enabled to verify the accounts of the Manasarovar and the
great rivers which he found to agree minutely.

Thus he was told it was an obligatory duty of the Lamas to perform the
circuit of Mapang and Kangree or Kailas, the oftener the better. Some people
used to walk round both lake and mountain once every year. The most religious
used to walk round the lake seven times, which is a sacred number. The Manasa-
rovar, called by the »Tartars» Mapang-Cho, is situated in a very bleak place, sur-
rounded by arid gravelly mountains. There is parched grass and *furze* in the vici-
ity, but no wood; turf extends to the borders of the lake, and there are neither
marshy grounds nor swamps. Its height he regards as a *desideratum*.

Gerard tried to get the altitude of the lake by the method of calculating
he fall of the Satlej compared with the distance between known points. He arrives
at 17,000 feet which he thinks may be rather too low than too high. And he sup-
poses the Rakas-tal to be 200 feet lower than the Manasarovar, so much more
»since a communication formerly existed between the two lakes». He knows there
are Lamas and nuns living in houses all round the lake the whole year and finds it
most likely to be the highest inhabited land on the face of the whole globe. The