Southern Tibet : vol.3 / 288 ページ（カラー画像）

0288	Southern Tibet : vol.3
南チベット : vol.3

peaks, comparable with Mount Everest, were situated to the north, was of im-
portance.
Captain Wood of the same expedition says of the country to the north: »The
valley of Raga Tsangpo is narrow, running almost due east and west, parallel to
and about 30 miles to the north of the main river. Into this distance is crammed
a tangled mass of hills, whose crests average about 18 500 feet, with several peaks
of about 22 000 feet, covered with permanent snow.» At Ku-la, 16 700 feet, Wood
found the headwaters of Raga-tsangpo, and Chour Dzong, my Chomo-uchong he
calls a »snowy range, whose peaks range up to 21,000 feet». Wood ascended a
peak north of Saka-dsong, 19 300 feet, from which he had »a fine view north up the
valley of the Chata Tsangpo». This view could not, however, reach very far, as is
shown on the map of the expedition. Finally, at Tradum, Ryder says: »From the
hills to the north we had a fine view of a snowy range reaching an elevation of
23 200 feet.»
In Rawling's book¹ on his exploration in Tibet I cannot find a word about
Transhimalaya, the Gangri Mountains, Nien-chen-tang-la, or whatever it may be
called. This is not said in a critical mood, for I point out, that it is impossible to
get an idea of a continuous and mighty mountain system from the road taken by
the Tibet Frontier Commission. Therefore we find in Ryder's account only inde-
pendent references to isolated peaks north of the Tsangpo, but no conception of an
uninterrupted system, and in Rawling's account no reference at all to this most im-
portant geographical feature. It may seem surprising that the first scientific expedition
which ever followed the southern front of Hodgson's Nyenchhen-thânglâ, Saunders'
Gangri Mountains and Markham's Northern Himalayan range, has nothing to tell
about its existence or non-existence. But I regard it as a mark of conscientiousness
of both Ryder and Rawling that they only describe what they have actually seen,
without loosing themselves in theoretical discussions about theoretical mountain ranges.
Therefore Sir Thomas Holdich is only partly right in saying that Ryder »has
gone far towards answering several questions which arise when the northern water-
parting — the great divide — between India and central Tibet is under discussion.
It seems unlikely that he has established the position of that dividing line between
the central lake region and the Brahmaputra basin, one of the most important geog-
raphical features in Asia . . .»² The first and second halves of this passage say the
opposite thing and only the second half is right. For how should it be possible for
whomsoever it may be to survey any part of a watershed, without crossing it. And
how could Ryder be expected to have been in contact with a watershed of which
the same author says, a few pages above in the same work,³ and speaking of Little-

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