Southern Tibet : vol.7 / Page 480 (Grayscale High Resolution Image)

0480	Southern Tibet : vol.7

ranges crossed by HUC and PRSHEVALSKIY in the east were said »by various
authorities» to be a continuation of the Kwen-lun. The most important missing link
in this chain was, as we know, found by Prshevalskiy on his expedition to Lop-nor.

In 1870 Saunders had expressed the view that the Kwen-lun, Himalaya, Pamir,
and Hindu-kush unite in the Pusht-i-khar or Taghdumbash. He did not mention
the Kara-korum which he regarded as a part of the Kwen-lun. Regarding this
»ranges he says:

From the Hoang-ho westward to the Mustagh, lofty mountains, under various names
form the northern edge of Tibet, and descend to the great pastoral plains of Gobi, in the
Chinese government of Ili. These mountains are sometimes known as the Tsung Ling,
or Mustagh, on the west, and the Bayan-Kara-Ula in the east; but the entire range is
generally called Kuenlun.

As to the eastern continuation of the Kara-korum he did not seem to be quite
convinced. He felt inclined to put it at the »Kara-kash Pass», but left the question
open whether it extended farther eastward:

The Karakoram mountains part the Indus basin from that of Lake Lob. Recent
explorations by the Changchenmo route from Lahore to Yarkand enable the geographer
to define the eastern limits of this range, as the pass which connects the head of the
Kara-kash valley explored by Mr. Hayward with the Shyok valley. This pass is proposed
to be called the Karakash, after the river of that name. . . .

If the range is considered to extend further eastward, then its northern slope falls
upon the highly elevated plateau which drains into the Tibetan system of lagoons and
lakes. The base of the northern slope is then found to be 17,000 feet above the sea, and
on a plateau bounded further north by another range of mountains, which rises to altitudes
of nearly 22,000 feet and probably more, before descending northwards to the valley of
the Tarim. The latter range is the Kuenlun, which finds its western extremity on the
right bank of the Yarkand river, the left bank of the river being formed by the spurs
of the Karakoram and Pamir. The preceding range dividing the Indus from the basins
of the Tibetan lakes, and commencing with the Karakash pass, should, it is thought, be
considered a part of the great system of mountains which surrounds the elevated Tibetan
basin towards the south, and forms the waterparting between it and the basins of the
Indus and Bramaputra.¹

On his map of 1870 (Cp. Vol. III, Pl. XX), Saunders has a gigantic mountain
system beginning with the Bolor Mts in the N. W., stretching S. E. including the
Kara-korum, turning east, including the Transhimalaya, and finally turning N. E. in
the direction of the sources of the Yellow River. South of Khotan the Kuen-lun Mts
branch off to the east, forming a boundary wall between the Plateau of Tibet and
the Gobi or Great Desert.

Finally, it is of interest to see how the great orographical features are dealt
with by such a learned scholar as JAMES D. DANA. The loftiest of mountains, he
says, is called the Himalaya as far as Kashmir, »and from there, where a new

National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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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