The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1901-04-04
WORLDS EIGHTH WONDER.


Elevation of Eleven Thousand Feet
Feet in $50 Miles-The Mystery OF I'll
Course-fiow II Has Been Explored.
The Tsangpo is in several respects
the most remarkable river in the world.
1t is the highest of all navigable
streams, flowing for nearly a thousand
miles at an elevation of from 1000 to
$4,000 feet. During the greater part OF
It's course it's current is sluggish, but
for hundred miles or more the mighty
river in it's descent to the coast plain,
runs with the speed Of mountain tor
rent. Though one of the largest OF
Central Asian streams, 1t has never
been followed from its source to it's
mouth and until recently it was doubt
full of which of two well known rivers
it was the head waters.
The Tsangpo rises in the extreme
southwestern corner of Tibet, at
height of nearly $4,000 feet. Receiving
the drainage Of the slopes of the Hima-
layas and of little known Tibetan
range running parallel with these
mountains, it soon becomes a stream
wide and deep enough to be navigabe
There Is a considerable boat traffic up
on it, at an elevation Of little below the
summit of Mount Blanc. 1t flows due
east for some eight hundred miles, re-
ceiving numerous large tributaries from
both south and north, and when near
Lhasa it is, at low water nearly third
OF mile wide and twenty feet deep;
in flood two miles wide and of unknown
depth. In longitude "a degrees east 1T
makes sharp bend to the south and
passes through the Himalayas In
course known only to the savages who
dwell upon its precipitous banks
When last seen by an explorer 1t IS
at a height of from eight to eleven
thousand feet, but when it energies in
Assam it Is only four hundred feet
above sea level From this point it
pursues Its sluggish way for another
eight hundred miles as the Brahma-
putra to the Ganges and the Bay of
Bengal There has been long contro-
versy, into the details of which it is not
necessary to enter, as to whether the
Irawada or the Brahmaputra is the con-
tinuation of the Tsangpo. Though there
has been as yet no direct evidence-the
last expedient Of throwing in marked
logs in Tibet having failed-the general
consensus of scientific opinion is in ia
var OF the Brahmaputra, and the latest
English gazetteer describes 1t under this
name.
It is hardly to be expected that pure
science will be much benefited by the
lifting of the veil which hangs over this
part of the rivers course. But there
can be little doubt that 1T hides scenes
Of magnificent beauty and grandeur
which will thrill the expectant world
ana give it new and nobler corcep-
tions.
The Imagination fails to grasp the
reality, as there Is no other instance on |
earth Of a large river dropping 5000
feet IN $50 miles, plunging with the mad
rush Of mountain Brook hemmed by
ranges whose peaks are from thirteen |
10 twenty-five thousand feet in height. |
The native testimony is conclusive as
10 the existence of at least one awe-in- |
spring fall before Tibetan territory is
eft
Its attempted ascent from the plains |
IL Assam has been absolutely prohibit
ed hitherto by the Indian government |
IN the entirely reasonable ground that
here is almost certainty that the ex-
plorer would be killed by the savage !
Mishmis, who are intoleraby jealous |
If the presence of stranger in their |
This would necessitate pu-
nitive expedition costly in treasure and
n life-an evil by no means common
,ufate with the gain of hacing satisfied
what Is, after ALL pure curiosity. The
rfbetan officials also, while preventing
10 far as they are able any white man
rom Tibet, for some unknown reason
orbid Tibetans even to attempt to de-
cend the river beyond their own from
Ter.
The Tsangpo has been explored, how
yer, with the exception of this $50
niles, notwithstanding the opposition of
he Tibetans and the difficulties pre-
ent1d by the highest mountain region
n the world, though not by white men.
AT any time within the last thirty
I've years the trans Himalayan travel
r might have met a caravan of Tibetan
nd Indian traders with their pack /,
1Qen SHeep Climbing VI uSSCcHulH5 |
ONE steep mountain pass or crossing
he Tsangpo on RATS. Walking humbly |
nth the servants or slaves, for to walk
a mark of servitude with those peo-
lie, there would be an Indian with tea
owl and prayer barrel suspended as
is .girdle, counting his rosary as he
yalked, differing in nothing apparently
rom his companions except in his more
Intelligent face and the greater inter-
st with which he noted everything ]
bout him. But open his prayer barrel,
rhich he piously twirls when he comes !
some particularly dangerous pot, and
lere will be found in it, instead of the I
,roll with the Buddhist prayer, 'Om I
lani padmi hon." notes of the jour- a
ey after the boundary was crossed, c
oservations with seXtant and compass, I
nd a simple route survey showing the t
myth of each days march, the rela- {
We position of the prominent peaks, q
lie course Of the streams and their APP r
roximate breadth and depth. b
Examine closely his rosary, and one t
Guild discover to his surprise that, in s.
cad of the orthodox 10S beads, there e
ere only a hundred, and that he drop h
I'd one at every hundred steps, which n
ere uniformly two and a half feet |;
ng. If he were watched carefully he c
ould be seen to steal from camp at g
ght. when all else were sleeping, If t.
ting wind, freezing cold and driving O
o,,, ,,ar,,,it with HIS hoy and tea howl | I,