SACRED ISLES IN THE M'^EST, &C. 315 



the Tartars Kiloman, or the celestial mountains. 

 In Tibet tliey call them Tangra, or Tangla, accord- 

 ing- to F. Cassiano and Pura'n-gir; the latter 

 accompanied the late Lama to China, and gave 

 me an accurate journal of his marcli from Tissoo- 

 Lumbo to Siting, or Sining. Tingri, in the lan- 

 guage of the 'Tartars and Moguls, signifies the hea- 

 vens ; and even Tibet is called Tibet-Tingri, or the 

 heavenly country of Tibet. The name of Tien-chan 

 is given by the Chinese to the mountains to the 

 North of Hinia : to the Southern part of the circle 

 they give the name of Sioue-chan, or snowy moun- 

 tains. This range, says De Guigxes, runs along 

 the northern limits oi India, toward China, encom- 

 passing a large space, enclosed, as it were, within 

 a circle of mountains*. The Southern extremity 

 of this circle is close, according to the present 

 Hindu maps, to the last, or Northern range, called 

 Nisfuufha; and this is actually the case with the 

 mountains of Tatigrah, near Lassa, which is in the 

 interval between the second and third range. Ac- 

 cording to F. Cassiano, the mountains of Tan- 

 grah are seen from the ^nxvimit of C a mb a la, several 

 days journey to. the Westward of Lassa. The f\i- 

 mous Pura'n-gir left them on the Itft, in his way 

 from Tissoo-Lumbo to China, at the distance of 

 about twelve coss, and did not fail to worship 

 them. At the distance of seventy-seven coss from 

 the last place, he rccko^ied Lassa to be about 

 twenty coss to tlic right; twenty-three coss beyond 

 that, he was near the mountaiiis of Ninjink Tangra, 

 a portion of that immense circular ridge. In his 

 progress toward the famous temple of i[jak, or 

 fJzuk, called Souk in tlie niaps, he saw tliem se- 

 veral tin'^:es. Close to Ninjink-'Tangra he entered 

 the mountains of Lurkinh, called Larkin in the maps. 



'^ fihtoire des liuufi, Vol. 11, in tiie beginning. 



