The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1901-06-25
THE TSANG-PO.
| In Several Ways the Most HemarIxa.
| BILE River In the World.

In Several Ways the Most RemarIxa-
BILE River In the World.
The Tsang-Po 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 II, 900 to
1900 feet. During the greater part of
its course it's current is sluggish, but for
hundred miles or more the mighty river
In its descent to the coast plain runs with
the speed of a mountain torrent Though
one of the largest of central Asian
streams, it has never been followed from
its source to it's mouth, and until recent
ly it was doubtful of which Of two well
known rivers it was the head waters.
The attempts to solve its mysteries have
been attended with almost unparellel
ed heroism, endurance, steadfastness and
self sacrifice, for the principal explorers
of the Tsang-Po have been animated, not
as those who sought the fountain spring
Of the Nile, by the hope of the worlds
applause at their suceess-that was de-
MED them-but for a simple daily wage
and the consciousness of loyalty to duty.
The physical history of the Tsang-Po
Is briefly this: 1t rises in the extreme
southwestern corner of Tibet close to the
sources of the Ganges, the Indus and its
great affiuent, the Sutlej, at height of
nearly $4,000 feet. Receiving the drain
age Of the slopes of the Himalayas and
of little known Tibetan range running
parallel with these mountains, it soon be-
comes a stream wide and deep enough to
be navigable There Is a considerable
boat traffic upon it at an elevation but
little below the summit of Mont Blanc.
1t flows due east for a matter of 800
miles, receiving numerous large tributa-
ries from both south and north, and
when near Lassa it Is at low water
nearly a third of a mile wide and 20 feet
deep; In food two miles wide and Of I'M
known depth. In longitude "a degrees
east 1t makes a sharp bend to the south
and passes through the Himalayas in a
course known only to the savages who
dwell upon its precipitous banks.
When last seen by an explorer, it IL at
height of from 5000 to II, 900 feet, but
when it energies in Assam 1t is only 400
feet above sea level. From this point it
pursues its sluggish way for another 800
miles as the Brahmaputra to the Ganges
and the bay of Bengal. There has been
a long controversy, into the details of
which it Is not necessary to enter, as to
whether the Irawadi or the Brahmaputra
is the continuation of the Tsang- Pc.
Though there has been as yet no distinct
evidence, the last expedient of throwing
in marked logs in Tibet having failed,
the general consensus of scientific opinion
is in favor of the Brahmaputra, and the
latest English gazetteer describes it IN
der this name.
1t is hardly to be expected that pure
science will be much benefited by the lift
ing of the veil which hangs over this part
Of the rivers course, But there can be
little doubt that it hides scenes of mag
nifcent beauty and grandeur which will
thrill the expectant world and give it
new and nobler conceptions of the sub
Unity of nature.-National Geographic
Magazine.