CHI N E/SEmE M M
Progres- • ■ pjie progreffive'. geography o f. Tibet chiefly dates' from a rec.ent
'&RAPHY. period; for though Ptolemy’s knowledge extended to the golden Cher-.
1'onneÉyïor Pegu, and the weftcrn fliores of the Siamefe monarchy, yet
as his'Seres, or the furtheft inland people known to him in this,, quarter,
were fituated in Little Bucbaria, there is no room to believe that the
fnowy mountains of Tibet had been penetrated by the ancients. The
Pörtoguefe commerce, with the Eaft Indies, »may he faid to have fi.i'ft
difclofed this ample region, of which however our knowledge, even at
this day, is lamentably defective. Yet Tibet Teems; to have been the
■ fouthern part of the Tangut of Marco Polo,* and other travellers. Polo
indeed fpecially defcribes the province of jFzbetb, (which he fays contained
eight kingdoms, with many cities and-villages,) as. a mountainous
country, producing fome gold’ and fpices,,;a“krge -breed, pf dqgs^
and excellent falcons.
'A^ut Ï7i5 tEe empefprpf Ghina being delkoijs to- qbtainja mam
Tibet,, two Lamas were, fentwho^had ftudied geoiitetry in a Ötajfté-
jnatical ? academy.® ThefeTamas drew a map from Sining^iia-4he prd-S
’ vince of Shenfi, to the feurces of the Ganges ;| which was .afterwards
examined by the Jefuits, and improve«! byThènr, fo far as fhéir materials
would admit. This map, published in the Atlas of 'Du Haiders
work, unfortunately, continues aim oft the foie authority, and is followed,
with a few variations, by the mod recent geographers. It
Teems but of doubtful credit, efpecially in the weftern parts, where the
fource of the Ganges is confeiïedly only from: the report- of fome T ibetan
Lamas;’0 whence it is no wonder that' rodent accounts Teem; to
evince it to be erroneous, nbr is- it- certain whether the adjacent parts
have Lamas or Bramins. In the foüth the Chinefe-; Lamas- certainly
never 'paffed the ridge ' of Himmala; whence Nipal, Bootan, and-bther
countries are omitted; and even the-names in general appear rather to
be arbitrary Chinefe terms than real appellatives of places, J o that in
- fact we-may be ' faid to poflefs no map o f Tibet in this the nineteenth
century-. Other moft fufpicious eircumftances in the pretended Chinefe-
Atlas o f Tibet are, that there are no diftindt names of fmall kingdoms,
8 Cap- xxxvi. edit, 1537. * fEu -Halde, iv. 571. ,s Ib.yyy.
ftates,
T I
ftktesV or pto%in'ce:sT 'thohgh Tf'dm- recent accounts- thefe feem. par ^iveG
ticulaily to abound in the country; and that the great river Go^ra is c» . htotally
unknown iahd omitted.- J ' )
' The geogtifpliy of Alia cannot be faid to be. complete till we have new
and con ed maps', of the central parts, •particularly of Tibet,' which may'
be called .the heart of Alia, whence' the dreams of life .flow.into the
vaft fouthern regions' bf that extenfive country. The fources of the
Ganges and InduS^Tfil Sanpoo, and all the prodigious and fertile ftrealms
'ifttirhe? e xM ly T ladedjan%'-^ ‘ vre^m hav^pfecife and
m T h S f M 8f 'Tibet {MS HRS ( P S ® “ H^ orH ^ MBHBI MMBMM! *
tftrah^ry the.cmpefbr of ggggg -
ms-that Tibet had W t-avaged qby j g |
Mbnfeuls,iJfo "that «me # tteas^fmofl? defolate. 1 The .qmetfucce'ffiotr'of
“the-lamas «odd. afford feW-mtiterkIsb forlhiftory ;fapd the
W M feenter-'chiefs* i f ® '
fometimes be H G I i M M
H g reader. - As Ihte'tombs«dhd imoh^ftenes ar^ often
H & i i lfone,"folne- may Vemain.ofTEeTpote^antiqtnty.u Butjhe
■ m\$f cht-in-the rocks, are little calculated to imprefs.travellers with the -
idea bf much perfection in 'the :arts.> 11 .................... - _ !
The religid'n of TibetTeems 1 be the'fchiMatical offsprmg of that bf f | g g |
the Hindoos,1* “ deriving' its Origin -from obe joTthe; followers « 4 that
a (KfcipleH BudhJ broachedthe do&rine whichmow
11 Gibbon, -yiiit‘344. . . - - dt . * - _ r , ,
‘ 1 Yet Tibet was for time fubjeft to the lama relided
I » » power W a r & « | tbe E p ica l prince of Japan. | e Mongols ca led
Eluts conquered the fecular prince, an^^taiwfered the ryholepower. to t e a^a. <
2 tary polls on the M | g g the intercourfc between th e rO T t r y and Bengal .s now
■ precluded- Turner, 441. 1 1 ;
fit ;** Turner, p.’ijo6>
T 2
prevails