1844.] and on Gerard's Account of Kundwar. 235 



since dried up, and the Lamas who reside on the banks, have an idea, 

 that a subterraneous communication exists. The water of this lake, 

 (the Mansarawar,) is said by Mr. Moorcroft and all my informants, 

 to be quite fresh and well-tasted, while according to the Quarterly 

 Reviewers, every lake without an outlet must be salt. Without sup- 

 posing an outlet, it is difficult to account for the rise and fall of the 

 lake, which are mentioned by every one, p. 138-9, (other extracts 

 of a similar tenor might be made.) The natives, speaking generally, 

 say, the sources of the above three rivers, and also of the Gogra, are at 

 Mansarawar, by which nothing more is meant than in the vicinity 

 of that place. — Gerard, p. 135. 



The Tibetans call the Mansarawar lake, Mapang, and the Rawan 

 Hrad, Langa. The name of the latter lake, if unconnected with 

 Lanka and Rama's expedition, is perhaps the strongest argument we 

 yet have for its being the source of the Sutlej, that river being term- 

 ed by the Tibetans of the lang or bull. After many inquiries, I 

 could not satisfy myself that the two lakes communicated, the one or 

 the other, although traditions were mentioned to me to that effect, 

 and my present belief is, that they are separated by a ridge of some 

 elevation, an impression to which I think the perusal of Moorcroft's 

 Journal, (As. Res. Vol. XII,) would likewise lead. I also feel persuad- 

 ed, after many inquiries made with care, that the Rawan Hrad gives 

 rise to no river. At the same time I confess, that my informants had 

 never paid any attention to the point, they being quite satisfied with 

 the legends which made the rivers rise in the holy lake under- 

 gound, or in some way. 



Captain Gerard observes, that the natives, speaking generally, place 

 the sources of the four great rivers at Mansarawar. He may mean that 

 the holy hill of Gangri, which is the north of the lakes, and to make 

 the circuit of which is a religious merit, gives rise to the four rivers. 

 Such is agreeable to the majority of the descriptions or legends I have 

 heard, and such is moreover literally true of the Indus which rises 

 to the north of the mountain of the Sutlej, which has one source at 

 least among its western ravines, and perhaps also of the Burrampooter, 

 which takes its rise in all probability among its eastern off-shoots, while I 

 have heard the story made good by the assertion, that the Gogra arose 

 in the Mansarawar lakes, i. e. on the southern slopes of Gangri. 



