Southern Tibet : vol.7 / Page 51 (Grayscale High Resolution Image)

0051	Southern Tibet : vol.7

osservato . . . .» The merit Monserrate has acquired, so far as the Manasarovar is
concerned, is no doubt very great, and he is, as far as we know, the first European
who ever wrote down the name of the lake. But, judging from his own words:
Nam a Sacerdotibus, nonnulli, de Imai montis situ, interrogati dixerunt . . . . he had
not made the questions regarding the lake, himself, but had obtained his information
from other missionaries, which seems to prove that the name Manasarovar was known
by other missionaries and certainly taken down before Monserrate had heard of it.¹
This is of consequence only as it suggests the question: where are the original an-
notations of those missionaries, and have they possessed other information not to
be found in Monserrate's MS.? It should also be remembered that Desideri's merits
in connection with the lake are much greater than those of Monserrate, as the former
visited the lake personally, while the latter only wrote down what he had heard
from other missionaries who had questioned the Jogis.

In a third passage Wilford says: »but what is more surprising, the good father
was ignorant that the Ganges issued from it (the Manasarovar).» To this Rev. Hosten
adds in a note: »Wilford is himself making a mistake here, unless he means the Brahma-
putra, the source of which is not yet satisfactorily known.» Now, fortunately, the
source of the Brahmaputra is very well known, and it is known that the river has
not the slightest communication with the lake. To reach parts of the river not yet
satisfactorily known, we have to proceed farther east, where a few such sections of
the Tsangpo still exist. Wilford believed as firmly as Major Rennell and all other
geographers of the time, in the hydrography of the Lama topographers and D'An-
ville, namely that the Ganges really originated from the Sacred Lake. It is highly
to the credit of Antonio de Monserrate that he, some 135 years before those topo-
graphers, penetrated the mystery with the same intelligence and perspicacity as
Desideri, though he had no occasion to visit the lake personally.

Rev. Hosten has devoted Appendix C. to Monserrate's map of India, which he
has reproduced at about double the size of the original. He, fortunately, helps us
with the very difficult and diminutive writing, which even for him was no easy task.
I cannot enter upon his most able and thorough examination, which certainly hardly
could have been better done.

It is obvious that the original map of Monserrate has lost in clearness by the
reproduction. This is of course, still more the case with my reproduction, Pl. I., of
Hosten's reproduction. However, I have had it made to give at least a faint idea
of its appearance, the general disposition of the mountains, the situation of Lake
Manasarovar and some of the names. I have it in exactly the same size as Rev.
Hosten.

National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

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National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

Citation Information

OCR Text

National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books