Southern Tibet : vol.2 / 411 ページ（カラー画像）

0411	Southern Tibet : vol.2
南チベット : vol.2

slave in the Pemakoi country and then disappeared. Tanner examined the explorer
on his return and believed in his story. K—p, however, reached Onlet and heard
that the next stage, Miri Padam, was about 35 miles from the nearest plains of
India. ›The general direction of the Sangpo for many miles of its course, as esti-
mated by K—p agrees very nearly with that of the Dihang as estimated by Captain
Harman.‹ Tanner's Memorandum is illustrated by a rather good sketch map on
the course of the Tsangpo from K—p's information. The map of the great bend has
since then only been altered in details. The falls of the Tsangpo below Pemakoi,
not far S.E. of the northernmost point of the bend, are described by K—p as a
cascade of some 150 feet in height; there is a basin below the cliff, and in the
spray hanging over it the rainbow can be seen; the rock is called Sinje Shejal and
there is a shrine. Nearly 30 years later K—p told Captain Bailey that the falls
were only 50 feet in height.

G—m—n had not reached the falls. Colonel WADDELL maintains they are
known only from hearsay reports, and have been placed about 29° 36' N. lat.
Waddell got an interesting picture of the falls from a Lama artist who was a native
of the district. For several miles above the falls the river is known to run in a
narrow precipitous defile without a road. Below the falls, in the gorge, there is a
rude monastery. The height of the falls is estimated at 70 feet, and they are
enveloped by clouds of mist and spray.

Waddell gives us an important etymological evidence of the identity of the
Tsangpo and Brahmaputra. The Tibetan word Ts'ang-pu means ›the son of Brahma‹,
just as the Sanscrit Brahmaputra. This is, however, a more modern mythological
meaning given to the word by the Lamas; for the ordinary name of the river is
Tsang-po which means ›the pure one‹, or, in this case, The River par excellence.
Tsang is the name of the province through which it flows. Yaru-Tsang-po means
›The Upper River‹. Still Waddell thinks the root of the Tibetan name is certainly
cognate with that of Brahma.¹

But we must leave this interesting problem of the Tsangpo-Brahmaputra which
lies outside the boundaries of my own exploration. I have only touched a few im-
portant epochs of the controversy, in which so much hard work, knowledge and
pertinacity has been wasted in vain, but which, even for this reason, has helped us
to penetrate the dark and mysterious problem.²

国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

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国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト 『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

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国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ