Southern Tibet : vol.3 / 193 ページ（カラー画像）

0193	Southern Tibet : vol.3
南チベット : vol.3

these ranges should not stretch farther east than to a line drawn between Rudok
and Khotan.

Fortunately enough T. SAUNDERS was present to save the authority of the
Society: »It appeared to him that a continuous slope, from the Gangdisri Mountains
on the south, to the plain of Khotan or Gobi on the north, would be more remark-
able than a sudden descent from another range of mountains forming the northern
edge of the plateau, and in continuation of the range actually known to skirt the
plateau between the Chang Chenmo plains and Khotan . . . He therefore preferred,
in the present state of geographical knowledge, to represent the northward edge of
the plateau of Tibet as an escarpment descending rapidly to its base, than as a
continuous slope.» Sir Henry replied that in the Tarik-i-Rashidi »the general mountain
system of Central Asia was laid down very much in the way Mr Saunders had de-
scribed it». Impossible to understand as Saunders believed in the existence of an-
other range of mountains at the northern edge of the plateau! According to his
oriental source Sir Henry believed in »but one great mountain system of Central
Asia», called Tien-shan, Pamir, Himalaya in different parts of its great bend. »Rudok
was regarded as the limit on the northern side of this chain, thereby showing that
there could not be a further interior crest.»

It is curious to see how the great men of the time were fighting for and
against the highest mountain ranges on the earth's crust. As a rule they only »be-
lieved» without telling why they believed in one view or the other. Even d'An-
ville had a range south of Khotan, although his and Strahlenberg's map could make
it likely that Gobi was, farther east, in uninterrupted connection with northern and
central Tibet. But why should Tarik-i-Rashidi be more reliable than the Chinese
sources? Berghaus on his map of Asia, 1843, has a double range between Eastern
Turkestan and Tibet, north of the Namur-noor, continuing the whole way to Kansu.
And how could the plains seen by a Pundit at the upper reaches of the Indus be
sufficient to prove that the whole eastern Kwen-lun did not exist?

Of the Transhimalaya there is nothing in connection with the journey we have
dealt with now and nothing in the discussion either.

In 1871 Montgomerie sent another native explorer into Tibet. So far as to
Dr. Hooker's Wallangchoon Pass Montgomerie deems it unnecessary to give the
details as Hooker had already admirably described this part. The explorer calls
it Tipta-la and places it on the boundary between Nepal and Lhasa. He crossed a
feeder of the Arun river and reached a fresh-water lake, Chomto Dong (14 700)
which had never been shown on any map but heard of by Hodgson and Campbell.
North of the lake is the Lagulung La, 16 200 feet, surrounded by glacier ice. On
the northern side the Shiabal-Chu was flowing down to the Tsangpo. He reached
Shigatse and followed westwards the road south of the Tsangpo to the village of
Shimrang crossing the Shabki-Chu, called Shiabat on the map, and flowing to the
Tsangpo. Over Shakia-gompa the road goes to Dongo La, the watershed between

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

引用情報

OCR読み取り結果

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

引用情報

OCR読み取り結果

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