Southern Tibet : vol.3 / 302 ページ（カラー画像）

0302	Southern Tibet : vol.3
南チベット : vol.3

The name Transhimalaya, on the other hand, could not possibly give rise to
any misunderstanding. The name caused a good deal of objection in England and
India. What was Trans-Himalaya from the Indian side would be Cis-Himalaya from
the Russian side! But in 1856 Hodgson had used the expression Transhimalayan regions
and nobody had proposed to call them Cis-himalayan out of consideration for the Russians!
Major Lenox-Conyngham made the following objection: ¹ »The name, as
Dr. Sven Hedin has mentioned, has been used before. It was applied in 1847 by
Sir Alexander Cunningham, to a range which lies to the south of Ladak. It is no
longer in use, but to resuscitate an old name and apply it to a new locality is to
sow a seed of future confusion.»
Of his Trans-Himalayan Range Cunningham says: ² »It branches off from the
Gangri mountain to the south of Garo, and extends in one unbroken chain through
the districts of Chumurti, Rukchu, and Zanskar, to the junction of the Zanskar
river . . . From this it extends to the junction of the Drās river with the Indus . . .
Its general direction is from south-east to north-west, and its extreme length is up-
wards of 350 miles. It forms the natural boundary between Ladák, Balti, and Rongdo
on the north, and Rukchu, Zanskar, Purik, Drās, and Astor, on the south.»
If Cunningham's Trans-Himalayan range had ever been accepted, my proposal
would, perhaps, have caused no end of trouble. If it had still been used, or even
known by the majority of geographers, I should never have proposed it. Major
Lenox-Conyngham gives, at the same place, the following extract of a letter from
Colonel Burrard: »I trust that Dr. Sven Hedin will not think that the objections raised to
the name Trans-Himalaya are frivolous or obstructive. I can assure him that they are
considered weighty by men who have devoted their lives to the study of geography
and geology, and who wish to avoid all risks of future inconvenience and controversy.»
Nor did I wish to cause any risk of future inconvenience and controversy.
The geology is no hindrance for the name, at least not in those parts where I have
made my researches. On the contrary, as will be shown in the geological part
(Vol. V) of this work, written be Professor Anders Hennig. More important is, that
the Trans-Himalayan Range of Cunningham does not exist in reality. His Trans-
Himalaya starts from Kailas, is situated between Indus and Satlej and cut through by
the Dras river. There is no such range as may be clearly seen from Burrard's frontis-
piece map (Pl. XXV). Cunningham's Trans-Himalaya is a mixtum compositum of
Burrard's Kailas range, Ladak range and Zanskar range. This fact alone is suffi-
cient for abolishing for ever all talk of »a seed of future confusion».
The parts of the mountainous world of Asia, where Cunningham has his Trans-
Himalaya belong to the Himalayan system. This is probably the cause why
the name was not accepted, for a Trans-Himalaya should, of course, be situated
beyond the great Himalaya.

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