雅鲁藏布大峡谷的第一个探险者——英属印度间谍 金沙普

Pundits中有好几个人很有名，但我重点要说说金沙普（Kinthup）。
金沙普原是锡金 雷布查人（在中国，雷布查人早已被划入藏族，据说民族的划分是根据斯大林什么东东说法来的，如果尼泊尔没有夏耳巴人，估计今天中国的夏耳巴人也是藏族了），十九世纪八十年代探索西藏地区的探险者。
他的经历听起来有点难以置信，但是多年后探险证实了他的故事是完全真实的！


十九世纪八十年代，雅鲁藏布大峡谷对于外界说仍然是个迷。
雅鲁藏布江，自西向东贯穿整个西藏，藏民称它作母亲河。
有些人怀疑它与流入孟加拉弯的布拉马普特拉河是同一条河，而有些人则认为它流进了云南与长江汇合一处，一切都是个迷。
为了寻找事实的真相，也为了打通进入侵略西藏的“高速公路”，英国印度殖民政府1878年派出一名名叫金沙普（Kinthup）的间谍（pundit），代号为K.P，与另一名间谍Nem Singh一道潜入西藏。
他们从印度大吉岭出发，任务是从西藏中部，沿雅鲁藏布江尽量下行，看看雅鲁藏布江与布拉马普特拉河是不是同一条河。
当他们到达今天雅鲁藏布大峡谷中的一个村庄加拉（那时候便叫加拉）的时候，惊奇地发现雅鲁藏布江“从喜马拉雅山中的一道裂缝中消失了”，由于无法继续前行，他们返回了大吉岭。


印度殖民当局的官员对Nem Singh非常失望，于是另外请了一位中国喇嘛与金沙普（Kinthup）再度入藏。
他们打算每天往雅鲁藏布江投入五十根做好标记的原木，连续投放十天，在布拉马普特拉河沿岸会有专门的的观测人员监测。
金沙普（Kinthup）与中国喇嘛于1881年三月到达加拉，但是后来事实证明这个喇嘛非常不靠谱，成日吃喝鬼混，因为他与主人家老婆有瓜葛被绑架了，逼得金沙普（Kinthup）不得不用自己有限的money把那个喇嘛从当地人手里赎出来。


在加拉，金沙普（Kinthup）描述了村子对面的辛杰恰叶瀑布（藏语是阎王的意思，这个瀑布今天还在，非常非常壮观），还有西沥下方临江的瀑布，白马狗熊旁边的瀑布（被称作Kinthup's Fall)，他描述了在这里也看到了彩虹，所以现在国内很多人包括98年科考的都怀疑彩虹瀑布就在这里，其实真正的彩虹瀑布是1924年Frank Kingdon Ward在西兴拉杰马点下游发现的，与这里相差十万八千里！


然后，金沙普（Kinthup）他们从加拉沿雅鲁藏布江下行了好多天，到达了白马狗熊，他们继续探路好几天，无路可寻，便折了回来。
后来,他们来到雅江北岸的一个叫冬玉宗（Tongyuk Dzong)的地方（这个村子按描述应该在白马狗熊江对岸，但是经多方打听无果，从来也没人听说过对岸有村子，迷啊，都是浮云，终于找到了这个地方的所在，原来是我误会了。）时，那个喇嘛谎称出去有事，把金沙普（Kinthup）悄悄卖给了当地的一个宗本当奴隶，换了一匹马和一袋子钱自己跑回老家享福去了！
金沙普（Kinthup）做了九个月奴隶，然后设法逃走了，他没有象宗本预料的那样逃回去，而是从多雄拉翻越白马岗（就是今天的墨脱），宗本派的人差一点点就抓住了他，幸好他及时躲进了一个喇嘛庙，那庙里面的喇嘛从宗本手里买下了他。


金沙普（Kinthup）后来不得不离开了英印殖民当局的测量部门，做了裁缝，这是他在西藏学到的手艺。
很多年以后，探险家们才证实，金沙普（Kinthup）的报告和故事完全是真实的，雅鲁藏布江与布拉马普特拉河就是同一条河！英国皇家地理学会的探险家们正是沿着金沙普（Kinthup）描述的路线，找到了与他的描述完全一致的东西，后来英印殖民当局想起发给他一笔仅一千卢比的奖金，不过他已经用不着了，他死了。


此后，在英国出版的西藏地图，有好几处是以Kinthup来命名的。
英国皇家地理学会的Bailey和Frank Kingdon Ward都是沿Kinthup描述的路线进入雅鲁藏布大峡谷并发现了彩虹瀑布。这个瀑布和我国98年科考“发现”的绒扎瀑布，就是一回事。
当然，由于中科院98年科考，这些用Kinthup命名的地名全部都整消失了，取而代之的是XX，XX，XXX了。泱泱大国，连个承认别人首次发现的这个现实的勇气都没有，让我流了几升汗。



雅鲁藏布大峡谷的第一个探险者——英属印度间谍 金沙普（摄于1880年）：


雅鲁藏布大峡谷的第一个探险者——英属印度间谍 金沙普（摄于1912年）：
（此时的他穷愁潦倒，不得不做裁缝为生）



Kinthup, a Lepcha man from Sikkim, was an explorer in the area of Tibet in the 1880s. He is best known for his impressive devotion to duty in surveying a previously unknown area of Tibet.
In the 1870s, the destination of the Tsangpo River (sometimes spelled "Sanpo") was unknown. Some hypothesized that it was the same river that flowed into the Bay of Bengal under the name of Brahmaputra (also known as "Dihang")? To solve this mystery, the colonial government of India sent a Sikkimese Lama known only as "G. M. N." to follow the Tsangpo and determine its ultimate destination. G. M. N. was accompanied by his assistant, a pundit named Kinthup.After surveying a good portion of the river, the pair returned to India. In 1880, a Chinese Lama was employed to continue G. M. N.'s work, and Kinthup was again hired to accompany him. However, in May 1881, this Lama sold Kinthup as a slave to another ZANG lama. All of Kinthup's surveying equipment and notebooks were taken from him, and he served as a slave until March 1882, when Kinthup finally managed to escape. He traveled east along the Tsangpo, and sought sanctuary in a Buddhist monastery, where he was welcomed by the head lama.
Despite this Kinthup carried out his surveying. Over the course of two and a half years, under the guise of religious pilgrimages, he made several long trips, surveying the extent of the Tsangpo and surrounding region, determining that thw two rivers were indeed one and the same. Finally, in November of 1884, he was able to return to India. It was not until 2 years later that his account was even recorded, and even then, his extraordinary accounts were doubted by some geographers. It was only more than 30 years later, when a proper survey was carried out, was his story confirmed.

Pundit Nain Singh also found that these could be used to ward off curious co-travellers: Each time someone came too near, he would start whirling the wheel around and thus pretend to be in religious contemplation. Usually this would be enough to stop others from addressing him. Another way of keeping their observation was to turn them into a poem, and recite that during their travels. The pundits were given extensive training in surveying: They learned to use the sextant, determine height by measuring the temperature of boiling water, make astronomical observations. They also got a medical training. Despite the precautions and tricks, some of them were sent back, tortured or even executed. But with their travels they managed to map the Himalayas, XIZANG and surrounding areas with remarkable precision. Their exploits are still little known and under-appreciated. They deserve to be counted among the greatest and most daring explorers in history.

Nain Singh (1826?-1882)
The first, and arguably the greatest, of the pundits was Nain Singh, a Bhotian
schoolteacher. With his cousin Mani Singh, he left Dehra Dun, the survey's northern India headquarters, for Nepal in 1865. From there Mani returned to India by way of western XIZANG, but Nain went on to Tashilhumpo, where he met the Panchen Lama, and Lhasa. During his stay in Lhasa, his secret was discovered by two Kashmiri merchants, but for unknown reasons, they did not report him to the authorities. Nain Singh returned to India by way of Mansarowar Lake in western XIZANG. He had done an enormous jog, mapping the trade route through Nepal to XIZANG, determining for the first time the location and altitude of Lhasa, and mapping a large section of the Tsangpo, the majorZANG river. On a second voyage, in 1867, Singh explored western XIZANG and visited the legendary Thok-Jalung gold mines. He noticed that the workers only dug for gold near the surface, because they believed digging deeper was a crime against the Earth and deprive it of fertility. In 1873-5, he traveled from Leh in Kashmir ot Lhasa, by a route more northerly than the one along the Tsangpo that he had taken on his first journey.