Abstract
As the names of places given to the public with the authority of the Geographical Society of London are very apt to be accepted by geographers and be ultimately inserted in atlases and works on geography, I have to call attention to the paragraph “Nomenclature of the Karakoram Peaks,” under “Geographical Notes,” p. 857, in the December number of the Proceedings of the R.G.S., 1892, which I have lately read. It is to be regretted that so much reliance and importance has been placed on what a native drew on the sand, and the names he gave to various peaks. Natives are not always to be depended upon, not even when the topographical features are in sight, and unless verified from other and independent information, the names they give cannot be implicitly trusted and placed on record, as is so well exemplified in this case. The traveller must also have a considerable knowledge of the native languages or he may be very much misled. As fortunately I know both the places bearing the names given for two very conspicuous peaks, it may not be too late to prevent these names thus put forward from being accepted and perpetuated. “Skeenmung” or “Skinmang” is the name of a comparatively level piece of somewhat grassy ground at the great bifurcation of the Punmah Glacier, the name itself is expressive and is derived from “Skeen” an ibex, and “Mang,” a level place in Balti = Marg, Kashmiri, Maidan Hindustani—which disposes of it as a likely designation for a peak.
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GODWIN-AUSTEN, H. Geographical Names. Nature 47, 245 (1893). https://doi.org/10.1038/047245c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/047245c0
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