Southern Tibet : vol.2 / 286 ページ（カラー画像）

0286	Southern Tibet : vol.2
南チベット : vol.2

same; Mir Izzet Ullah, for instance, called the Kumdan glacier »a mountain of ice«
which, however, partly depends upon the fact that orientals have no other expres-
sion than »ice« for a glacier.

It is also worth noting that Strachey, when he first saw a glacier, understood
that it was the original feeder of a river. ¹ And such he found to be the case with
every glacier he knew. The case is the same with the genetic source of the Brahma-
putra. The great rivers have, as a rule, their sources in glaciers. ² Tributaries gener-
ally come from valleys, such as the valley of Maryum-la. They may be swollen to
a much greater volume than the source-river, as in the case of the great tributaries
of the upper Satlej. Rains and melting snow may be responsible. Such a river
will dwindle when there are no rains, whereas the river from a glacier will constantly
run, except in winter. It is completely independent of the rains. Sunshine does
even better service in melting the ice. The main river may be cut off periodically,
if its water, as in the case of the Satlej, must supply one or two lakes.

The glacier is the result of the condensed humidity, which for a long time has
been gathering on the mountains feeding the glacier. The mountains accumulate a store
of solid water which it would take many years to melt and therefore a glacier would
continue to feed its river even if every precipitation ceased for some time. The
volume of water would only diminish. In fact the store of névée is renewed every
year. Therefore a glacier remains under all conditions a constant feeder of a river.
It will only dwindle considerably in winter. From this point of view a spring may
be regarded as more perennial. The source of the Indus is a spring. It is not
likely that its uppermost tributaries come from glaciers. Thus the Indus is an ex-
ception among the three great Indian rivers which have their sources in Tibet.

From the point of view of comparative geography it may be of interest to
remember the results to which Lord CURZON came on his journey on the Pamirs
in 1894, one of his chief objects being to determine which of the several confluents
of the upper course of the Oxus was to be regarded as the true parent stream. ³

Curzon crossed the Wakhjir Pass and proceeded to the very spot where, in
his opinion, the Oxus has its source. He found the river issuing from two ice-
caverns in a rushing stream. The snout of the glacier was 60—80 feet high. The
source of the river was one great glacier, to which smaller glaciers contributed. In

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