Southern Tibet : vol.7 / 490 ページ（カラー画像）

0490	Southern Tibet : vol.7
南チベット : vol.7

back to Chinese maps. Nowadays we know them fairly well. Richthofen had, however,
at his disposition the itinerary of FORSYTH'S PUNDIT. The Chinese maps made it
probable to him that far away to the east the Kwen-lun formed the front wall of
the Tibetan Plateau. These maps seemed to indicate that mountains existed on the
plateaux, e. g. on the diagonal road from Lhasa to Khotan. The lakes and rivers
of the maps have names which seem to prove that Chinese travellers had been there.
The following passage is of special interest: ¹

In welcher Weise der Gebirgsbau durch diese unbekannte Strecke fortsetzt, lässt
sich gegenwärtig nicht ergründen. Alle Versuche, die in dieser Beziehung auf europäischen
Kartendarstellungen gemacht worden sind, beruhen auf Vermuthungen. Nur am Südrand
der abflusslosen Gebiete, gegen die Quellgebiete des Indus, Setledj und Bramaputra hin,
sind einzelne orographische Thatsachen bekannt geworden; aber ehe die Ketten des Kailas
oder Gang-disri, des Aling-Gangri und ihre östlichen Fortsetzungen nach dem Gebiet im
Norden des Bramaputra nicht in das Netz der indischen Aufnahmen gezogen sind, und ihr
geologischer Bau bekannt geworden ist, lässt es sich nur vermuthen, dass sie die Fort-
setzung der im Nordosten von Skardo und Leh gelegenen Parallelketten sind, und östlich
vom See Manasarovara die Richtung des östlichen Himālaya annehmen.

As there was a blank in his store of information regarding these parts, there
is also a blank in his book. Nothing except the quoted passage is said about the
then unknown country north of the Tsangpo, the country of the Transhimalayan
System. This should be well observed and remembered by those who quoted the
authority of HODGSON and SAUNDERS a few years ago: »All attempts that in this
respect have been made upon European maps, depend upon conjecture.» And as
conjecture and hypotheses in the field of scientific exploration are absolutely without
any value, RICHTHOFEN, who otherwise tries to make the best use possible of Chinese
maps and native information, does not even mention the names of Hodgson and
Saunders and their theoretical Gangri Mountains, although he knew them very well
and obviously means them when speaking of »European attempts». And still it is
true that he has built up theoretical mountain ranges himself, which in the light of
later exploration have proved to be wrong.

One of Richthofen's mountain systems very much reminds us of the system
which SAUNDERS on his map drew from the Nien-chen-tang-la to the N. E. Richt-
hofen thus speaks of a »remarkable line» stretching from the sources of the right
tributaries of the Ki-chu of Lhasa in N. E. direction to the point where Bri-chu touches
the western end of Bayan-khara-ula. This line indicates the zone where the gigantic
rivers of south-eastern Asia have their beginnings. The feeders of Ki-chu, Lu-kiang
and Lan-tsang-kiang have their sources on the south-eastern side, the feeders of the
Murui-ussu on the north-western side. Some rivers pierce this line of mountains, for
instance the Khara-ussu, or Nak-chu, which, as Richthofen puts it (p. 129), has in

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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

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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