216 Notes on Eastern Thibet. [No. 3. 



Thibet is reckoned by Gutzlaff in his ' Life of the Emperor Taon 

 Kwang,' page 227, to comprise an area of 30,200 square miles ; 

 and to have a population of about six millions. Thibet, as thus 

 indicated in the enumeration of the dependencies of China, embraces, 

 I believe, Little Thibet or Balti, the capital of which is Iskardo ; 

 Western Thibet the principal town in which is Leh, and Thibet 

 Proper or Eastern Thibet, having Lassa as its capital and chief city. 



The latest and best account of the Trans-Himalayan regions, is 

 'Dr. Thomas Thomson's Travels,' published last year in London. 



Following Humboldt, Dr. Thomson divides Thibet into two 

 grand divisions ; the western one, of which he treats so ably him- 

 self, and the eastern one, to which alone my Notes refer. Western 

 Thibet — according to Dr. Thomson " is a highly mountainous coun- 

 try, lying on both sides of the Indus, with its longer axis directed 

 like that river, from south-east to north-west. It is bounded on 

 the North-east by the great chain of mountains, to which Humboldt, 

 following Chinese geographers, has given the name of Kounlun, by 

 which it is separated from the basin of Tarkund. On the south-east, 

 its boundary is formed by the ridge which separates the waters of 

 the Indus from those of the Sanpu." " To the north-west and south- 

 east," continues Dr. Thomson," its boundaries are somewhat arbitra- 

 ry, unless the political division of the country be had recourse to, 

 which, depending on accidental circumstances, entirely unconnected 

 with physical geography or natural productions, is so liable to change 

 that its adoption would be extremely inconvenient. The best mode 

 of drawing a line of separation between India and Thibet, in those 

 parts where mountain chains are not available for the purpose, 

 appears to consist in regarding the latter to commence only at the 

 point, where the aridity of the climate is too great to support forest 

 trees, or any coniferous tree, except juniper." 



" As limited by these boundaries, Western Thibet includes the 

 whole valley of the Indus, and its tributaries down to about 6,000 feet 

 above the level of the sea, a considerable portion of the upper course 

 of the Sutlej down to between 9,000 and 10,000 feet, and small por- 

 tions of the upper course of the Chenab, of the Ganges (Jahnavi) and 

 of the Gogra." 



The above is a very elaborate definition of boundaries, founded 



