The Middle Kingdom, Volume 1 (of 2): A Survey of the Geography, Government, Literature, Social Life, Arts, and History of the Chinese Empire and its InhabitantsWilliams, S. Wells (Samuel Wells)
History
The Middle Kingdom, Volume 1 (of 2): A Survey of the Geography, Government, Literature, Social Life, Arts, and History of the Chinese Empire and its Inhabitants
Williams, S. Wells (Samuel Wells)
China
The present divisions of Tibet, by the Chinese, are _Tsien Tsang_, or
Anterior Tibet, and _Hau Tsang_, or Ulterior Tibet. Anterior Tibet
is also called U (Wei) and U-tsang, and includes the central part of
Bod-yur where H’lassa is; east of this lies Kham (Kăng) or Khamyul, and
northeast toward Koko-nor is Khamsok, _i.e._, Kham on the River Sok.
Near the bend of the Brahmaputra is the district of Kongbo, where rice
can be raised; going westward are Takpo, doUs and gTsang on the borders
of Nari, ending in a line nearly continuous with the eastern border of
Nípal. The Chinese books mention eight cantons in Anterior Tibet, five
of them lying east of H’lassa, added to which are thirty-nine feudal
townships in Khamsok called _tu-sz’_, all of them chiefly nominal
or at present antiquated. Csoma de Körös speaks of several small
principalities in Kham, and describes the inhabitants as differing from
the rest of the Tibetans in appearance and language; they assimilate
probably with the tribes on the Burman and Chinese frontiers. Nari
(A-li in Chinese) is divided into Mangyul, Khorsum, and Maryul. The
first of these districts lies nearly conterminous with Nípal, and
its area is probably about the same, but its cold, dry, and elevated
regions, support only a few shepherds; Khorsum and Maryul lie north
and northwest in a still more inhospitable clime; the latter adjoins
Ladak and Balti and is the reservoir of hundreds of lakes situated
from 12,000 to 15,000 feet above the sea. A ridge separates the valley
of the Indus from the Sutlej, crossed at the Bogola Pass, 19,220 feet
high, and then over the Gugtila Pass, 19,500 feet into Gartok. The
people throughout this elevated region are forced to live in tents,
wood being almost unknown for building.
~H’LASSA THE CAPITAL.~
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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