Chapter VI

., was gathering herbs when he came across "in a misty hollow" the tracks of the lily-footed deer that led him to the mountain-top. The monastery is supposed to have been founded in commemoration of the occurrence.

NOTE 9 (p. 95)

TA SHÊNG SSŬ OR GREAT VEHICLE MONASTERY

[Sidenote: THE HOLY LAMPS]

The old name of this monastery was Hua Ch'êng (化成), and the name was chosen by its founder, "a holy monk from the foreign countries of the West," who said that the scenery reminded him of his native country. Tradition says that he built the original hermitage of the bark of trees; hence the additional name _Mu-p'i_ by which the foundation was known for centuries afterwards. One of the stories about this part of the mountain is that two hungry pilgrims were fed with fruit here by a wonderful white monkey.

NOTE 10 (p. 102)

"THE GLORY OF BUDDHA"

Several Chinese descriptions of the Fo Kuang will be found in the chronicles of Mount Omei and of Omei-hsien, notably those of Ho Shih Hêng (何式恒) and Yüan Tzŭ Jang (袁子讓). According to the latter, there are more than five colours. He describes the appearance somewhat as follows. The central circle is of jade-green; the outermost circle consists of a layer of pale red, and the successive inner circles are of green, white, purple, yellow and crimson. Each beholder, he says, sees his own shadow in the mist of the central circle.

A crude drawing of the "Glory" may be noticed near the upper left-hand corner of the Chinese plan of Mount Omei, which is reproduced in this book.

NOTE 11 (p. 108)

"THE HOLY LAMPS"

Among good Chinese descriptions of this phenomenon may be mentioned those of Yüan Tzŭ Jang (袁子讓) of the Ming and Ho Shih Hêng (何式恒) of the present dynasty. Both writers have been mentioned in the preceding note. The former wrote a delightful account of his visit to Mount Omei. It is in a flowing unpedantic style, and it proves that its writer had a keenly observant eye and a great liking for old-world legends combined with a power of working them up into a graceful narrative.

NOTE 12 (p. 109)

THE HSIEN TSU TIEN, CHUNG FÊNG SSŬ AND TA O SSŬ

The _Hsien Tsu Tien_ represents the earliest of the Mount Omei monasteries, and is said to have been built by P'u Kung in the reign of Ming Ti of the Han dynasty after the famous episode of the lily-footed deer. Probably if the searchlight of strict historical enquiry were to be turned on the legends and records of Mount Omei, it would be found that the mountain knew nothing of Buddhism until the third or fourth centuries of our era. It is a significant fact that some of the legends about P'u Kung--the herb-gathering official who followed the deer and first saw the "Glory"--state or imply that he belonged to the Chin period, which did not begin till the year 265. There is more than a likelihood that the historians of such ancient monasteries as the Hsien Tsu Tien and the Wan-nien Ssŭ deliberately ante-dated their foundation in order to throw back the beginnings of Omei's Buddhistic history to the earliest possible period. It is almost inconceivable that Omei can have become the resort of Buddhist monks during the very reign of the emperor who is credited with the first introduction of Buddhism into China.

According to the monastic chronicles, the earliest name of the monastery we are considering was P'u Kaung Tien, "The Pavilion of Universal Glory." The name was subsequently altered to Kuang Hsiang Ssŭ (光相寺), and so it was known during the T'ang and Sung periods. In the time of Hung Wu, first emperor of the Ming, it was rebuilt and roofed with iron. Associated with it were four small bronze pagodas, some of the remains of which are still lying on the ground within the precincts of the present Chin Tien (which was apparently first built in the reign of Wan Li of the Ming). A thorough restoration--carried out during a period of three years--took place in the second half of the fifteenth century. At the end of the Ming period it was utterly destroyed--presumably by fire. It was again rebuilt during the reign of K'ang Hsi of the present dynasty under the auspices of a Provincial Governor named Chang (see note 6, paragraph 2), and minor restorations on a smaller scale have taken place more recently.

The _Chung Fêng Ssŭ_ or Half-way Monastery bears the alternative name of "The Gathering Clouds," an allusion to the fact that here the upward-bound pilgrim enters into the region of mist. It dates from the Chin dynasty (about the third century of our era) and was restored in the Sung and Ming periods.

[Sidenote: THE TA HSIANG LING]

The _Ta O Ssŭ_ is an ancient foundation rebuilt in the first year of K'ang Hsi (1662). It is one of the principal religious houses on the mountain, and has a finer site than most of its rivals. An alternative name is Fu Shou An. This name is due to the fact that the words Fu Shou--"Happiness and Longevity"--were carved on a neighbouring rock by a celebrated recluse of the Sung dynasty named Hsi I, known as the Wizard of Omei.

NOTE 13 (p. 114)

YA-CHOU-FU

The military importance of this city was very great so long as the tribal chiefs and Tibetans had not been reduced to comparative quiescence. The commander-in-chief of the military forces of the province was permanently stationed at this frontier city. (_Shêng Wu Chi_, _11th chüan_.)

NOTE 14 (p. 117)

THE TA HSIANG LING

There is a small unsettled controversy regarding the name of the Ta Hsiang Ling. It is possible that the mountain owes its name not to the legend of P'u Hsien's elephant, but to the famous general Chu-ko Liang (see note 1). Devout Buddhists are bound to hold that the name means "The Great Elephant," and this is the view taken in all Buddhistic accounts of western Ssuch'uan and in the maps issued by the monks of Mount Omei. But other authorities--including the official _Topography_ and the _Shêng Wu Chi_ (5th _chüan_)--give the central character not as 象 (_hsiang_, elephant) but as 相 (_hsiang_, minister of state), thereby changing the mountain's name into "The Great Mountain of the Minister." This minister is none other than Chu-ko Liang, who is said to have crossed the mountain during his western campaigns. The "Small Elephant Pass" in the Chien-ch'ang Valley is similarly metamorphosed into "The Small Mountain of the Minister," and for a like reason. This latter mountain, however, is also known officially as the Nan Shan or South Mountain. (寕遠府南山土名小相嶺皆以武候經過得名: _Shêng Wu Chi_, _loc. cit._)

This note will throw a light on a passage that occurs in Mr Archibald Little's _Mount Omi and Beyond_ (pp. 204-205) and exonerate Captain Gill from the charge of inaccuracy.

It may be worth mentioning that a neighbouring mountain bears the officially-recognised name of Shih-tzŭ Shan, or Lion Hill, but the _T'ung Chih_ explicitly states that this is owing to its peculiar shape. There is nothing in the contour of the Ta Hsiang Ling to suggest an elephant.

NOTE 15 (p. 120)

CH'ING-CH'I-HSIEN

This little town has had a variety of names during its long and chequered history, and it frequently changed hands. Its position was for centuries somewhat analogous to that of Berwick-on-Tweed during the Anglo-Scottish border wars. The _T'ung Chih_ states that it passed into the hands of the Chinese after one of the numerous "pacifications of the West," in the 30th year of Han Wu Ti (111 B.C.), but it was lost to China many times after that. Its present name and status as a magistracy date from the eighth year of Yung Chêng (1730). This was an epoch in which a series of able Chinese emperors were making determined and, on the whole, successful efforts to reduce the Wild West to obedience.

NOTE 16 (p. 121)

THE LIU SHA RIVER

The Liu Sha is also known as the Han Shui or Chinese water. It is said to rise in the "Fairy's Cave" (_hsien jên tung_) in the Fei Yüeh range. Thence it flows to the Shih Chien Shan or Trial-of-the-Sword Hill and joins the Chien Shui (澗水) and thereafter enters the Ta Tu. According to the _Huan Yü Chi_ (寰宇記) an evil miasma arises from this river every winter and spring, causing fever.

NOTE 17 (p. 122)

THE FEI YÜEH LING AND HUA-LIN-P'ING

[Sidenote: LU TING BRIDGE]

This great pass has for centuries been regarded by the Chinese as a very important strategic point in connection with their western wars. During the eighteenth century, when strenuous warfare was being carried on against the Chin Ch'uan chiefs and others, the summit of the pass was permanently held by a Chinese guard, and the village that lies at the mountain's western base--Hua-lin-p'ing--was garrisoned by a considerable body of troops.

NOTE 18 (p. 124)

THE TA TU RIVER

The Ta Tu (Great Ferry) is said to derive its name from the fact that it was crossed by the ubiquitous Chu-ko Liang. In the neighbourhood of Chia-ting it is commonly known as the T'ung, and above Wa Ssŭ Kou its two branches are always known as the Great and Small Chin Ch'uan. (_Shêng Wu Chi_, _5th chüan_.)

NOTE 19 (p. 126)

LU TING BRIDGE

The _Ssuch'uan T'ung Chih_ makes the following remark in connection with the suspension bridge at Lu Ting. "Formerly there was no bridge. The waters of the river are swift and turbulent, and boats and oars cannot be used. Travellers used to cross by hanging on to a rope stretched across the river--a dangerous proceeding." (We shall see, when we come to the Yalung, that rope bridges are still in use.) In the fortieth year of K'ang Hsi (1701) it was decided with imperial sanction to construct an iron suspension bridge, not merely for the convenience of travellers to and from Tibet, but also to facilitate the military operations which during the reigns of K'ang Hsi, Yung Chêng and Ch'ien Lung were carried on with great vigour against the Tibetan tribes. The bridge is accurately described in the _Chih_ and in the _Hsi Tsang Tu K'as_ as being 31 _chang_ 1 _ch'ih_ in length and 9 _ch'ih_ broad, and as possessing 9 chain-cables supporting wooden planks, and side-railings of cast-iron. A _chang_ is 11¾ English feet, and a _ch'ih_ about 14-1/10 English inches. The bridge is similar in construction to those that span the Mekong, Salwen and other rivers in Yunnan. They are remarkable examples of Chinese engineering skill, and never fail to astonish European travellers who behold them for the first time.

The completion of the Lu Ting bridge seems to have had a considerable moral effect on the border tribes, for the _Chih_ contains the names of dozens of _t'u ssŭ_ (tribal chiefs) who immediately afterwards submitted to Chinese overlordship and consented to pay tribute. The more remote chiefs came in later, but most of those in the neighbourhood of the road to Tachienlu and the Ta Tu River hastened to become vassals of China during the five first years of the eighteenth century. The vassalage consisted--and for the most part still consists--merely in the payment of a small annual tribute. But the chiefs of the Greater and the Smaller Chin Ch'uan--the country that includes the valley of the Ta Tu and its branches above Wa Ssŭ Kou--resisted Chinese encroachments for many years in a most vigorous and courageous manner, and it was not till the reign of Ch'ien Lung, towards the end of the century, that the resistance of the last Chin Ch'uan _roitelet_ was finally quelled--with the usual accompaniments of slaughter and devastation. Even as it was, the Chinese owed their ultimate success more to the assistance rendered them by other tribal chiefs--of whom the Ming Chêng Ssŭ or King of Chala was the most important--than to their own military skill. The war is well described--though from an exclusively Chinese standpoint--in the _Shêng Wu Chi_ (聖武記).

NOTE 20 (p. 129)

TACHIENLU

The Chinese characters (see Itinerary) used for the name Tachienlu are three separate words signifying _strike_, _arrow_, _forge_. These characters were originally chosen merely to represent the sound of the Tibetan name Tar-rTse-Mto or Dartsendo (derived from the names of the streams that meet there), but Chinese archæologists contrived to forget this and insisted upon finding an interpretation of the word that would suit the meaning of the three Chinese characters. Accordingly they constructed an ingenious legend to the effect that the famous Chu-ko Liang--always as useful in literary as he used to be in military emergencies--came to Tachienlu in the third century of our era, and ordered his lieutenant, Kuo Ta, to forge arrow-heads there for the imperial army. The actual forge is said to have been in a cave on a hill at a short distance to the north-east of the city. The proof of the absolute truth of this story consists in the incontrovertible fact that the hill in question is called the Kuo Ta hill to this day, and there is a cave in it. The story is further embellished by the statement that when the forge was in use a blue-black ram ran round the hill and frightened away the barbarians (_i jên_) so that the good work could proceed without interruption.

An ancient name of the Tachienlu district is said to have been Mao Niu Kuo--the Land of Yaks.

[Sidenote: THE KING OF CHALA]

NOTE 21 (p. 129)

SINO-TIBETAN TRADE

Chinese accounts of Tachienlu as a trading centre may be found in the _Hsi Tsang T'u K'ao_, the _Tachienlu T'ing Chih_ and the more easily accessible _Shêng Wu Chi_. In the fifth volume of the last-named work the town is aptly described as being (from the commercial point of view) the hub of a wheel--the centre at which all the spokes meet.

NOTE 22 (p. 136)

THE KING OF CHALA

Tachienlu is not a correct name for the state as a whole: it is strictly applicable only to the city. The state may be described as Chala or as Ming Chêng. Ming Chêng (明正) corresponds with the Chinese title of the king--Ming Chêng Ssŭ (明正司)--which was conferred upon an ancestor no less than five hundred years ago. The meaning of the Chinese words--"bright" and "correct"--are of no consequence. The word "Chala" we have already discussed on page 136.

The king's Chinese rank is that of a _hsüan wei shih ssŭ_ (宣慰使司)--one of the numerous titles invented by the Chinese for their vassal chiefs. This title carries with it the Chinese rank 3b. As a _hsüan wei shih ssŭ_ the king of Chala takes precedence of the chiefs of Litang and Batang, his neighbours on the west, both of whom are _hsüan fu shih ssŭ_ (宣撫使司) with Chinese rank 4b. All three take precedence of the ruler of Muli, who is an _an fu shih ssŭ_ (安撫使司), with rank 5b. (For an explanation of these titles and ranks, see Mayers' _Chinese Government_, 3rd edn., pp. 46-47. The Chinese official hierarchy consists of nine ranks, subdivided into a higher and a lower grade, or _a_ and _b_.) Special decorations may be and often are conferred upon an individual chief, and these may carry with them the "button" of a superior rank: the button and its privileges, however, are not hereditary. The rank of the chiefs _quâ_ Chinese officials does not affect their position _quâ_ rulers of native states. The "kings" of Litang, Batang and Muli are within their own borders quite as powerful as the "king" of Chala. The latter, however, holds his kingship by strict hereditary right, whereas the "regalities" of Litang and Batang are not necessarily hereditary, though in practice they may be generally so. The kingship of Muli is hereditary in one family (see page 215), but as the king is also a lama, and therefore a celibate, the descent can only be collateral.

It must be remembered that there are many other semi-independent kings and chiefs along the borderland of Burma, Tibet, Turkestan and Mongolia. Some are the vassals of China, others the vassals of Tibet, while there are probably some even to-day who pay no tribute and acknowledge no suzerain. Few of these chiefs, however, have the importance and dignity of those mentioned in this note.

The greatest length of the state of Chala, from Rumi-changu on the north, to Lo Jang and Muli on the south, is 1,050 _li_ (say 350 miles); the greatest breadth, from Lu Ting on the east, to the Yalung on the west, 400 _li_ (say 133 miles). Under the king's control are 49 sub-chiefs, including 1 _t'u ch'ien hu_ (土千戶) and 48 _t'u pai hu_ (土百戶). A _t'u ch'ien hu_ nominally presides over 1,000 households, a _t'u pai hu_ over 100. These terms, however, are quite elastic in meaning. The former takes precedence of the latter, but he does not necessarily control a wider territory, or a larger population. The population of the whole state--not including Tachienlu--consists of 6,591 households. (This is the figure given in the _Ssuch'uan T'ung Chih_, the latest edition of which belongs to the nineteenth century.) The number seems a small one, but a Tibetan household--the members of which are all farm-hands or herdsmen--is generally large, though the average family is so small that the population of Chinese Tibet is probably--apart from Chinese immigration--at the present time stationary. The annual tribute payable to China by the king himself amounts to 161 taels 7 candareens--a sum which, according to our reckoning, amounts to about £25. His 49 sub-chiefs or headmen pay between them a further tribute of about 180 taels 9 mace 2 candareens--equivalent to about £27. The total revenue raised by China out of this large tract of country is, therefore, only slightly over £50 a year. But this amount was assessed at a time when the tael was worth far more than it is worth now, and its purchasing power in the Tibetan states is in any case considerably greater than in the east of China; moreover, the money is not, strictly speaking, a tax, but a mere acknowledgment of China's suzerainty. _Ula_ (see pp. 136-137) is the real tax paid to China by the tributary states of the west, and China exacts it in case of need to the grim uttermost. Over and above the exaction of _ula_ and the payment of tribute the people are, of course, obliged to pay taxes to the king himself. The king's powers in the matter of taxation appear to be unlimited, for the principle of "no taxation without representation" has not yet been accepted as a political axiom in the state of Chala. But the only direct tax consists of a kind of _likin_, or toll on merchandise in transit; this is ample to defray the cost of administration, and the king's private exchequer is apparently chiefly dependent for its supplies on the revenues of his hereditary property, which are very considerable. The king of Chala succeeds in doing what the kings of England used at one time to get into serious trouble for not doing--he "lives of his own."

[Sidenote: THE KING OF CHALA]

The position of the _t'u ch'ien hu_ and _t'u pai hu_ is a peculiar one. Though they are under the jurisdiction of the king, they may be regarded as possessing a certain amount of independence. The _Ssuch'uan T'ung Chih_ states that the king became a vassal of China in the year 1666, but his _t'u ch'ien hu_ did not follow suit till 1700, while the 48 _t'u pai hu_ all "came in" together in 1701 (the fortieth year of K'ang Hsi). The Suzerain Power, however, is careful to differentiate between the great vassals and the little ones: the king of Chala--like others of his rank--receives, in return for his homage, sealed "letters of authority" and a stamped warrant; each _t'u pai hu_ receives only the warrant. All these formalities are of small practical consequence: the Chinese insist upon controlling the high-road to Lhasa, and upon receiving their just dues in the shape of _ula_ service and tribute, but otherwise the kings and _t'u pai hu_ of the western border are just as free as they were before they "tied their heads"--as the Tibetan saying goes--to the emperor of China. It may be worth while adding that the king of Chala is expected to prostrate himself before the imperial throne at Peking once in twelve years. In practice it appears that he does not do so with great regularity. The expenses entailed by such a journey--chiefly in connection with the valuable presents always expected by the Court on such occasions--must be a very severe tax on his majesty's privy purse.

The first appearance of a ruler of Chala in Chinese history may be assigned to the first years of the Ming dynasty, in the second half of the fourteenth century, when the king showed his good-will to his mighty neighbour by assisting the imperial troops in the frontier warfare of those days. In the fifth year of Yung Lo (1407) he received the title of Ming Chêng Ssŭ, and in the fifth year of K'ang Hsi (1666) his successor definitely abjured his allegiance to Tibet and became a vassal of China. In 1771 the king--whose name was Chia Mu Ts'an--received official recognition from the emperor for his valuable assistance against the Chin Ch'uan rebels, and received a Peacock's Feather and the "button" of the Second Rank. Twenty years later his successor had a similar honour conferred upon him for like services, and in the fourteenth year of Chia Ch'ing (1809) the king went with a retinue to Peking to do homage to the emperor. Since then the history of the little state has gone through few vicissitudes; but, now that the relations between China and Tibet are going through a process of re-adjustment, it is probable that the new administrative arrangements will tend to the gradual effacement of the powers and privileges of all the Sino-Tibetan kings and chiefs, including the ruler of Chala, and the conversion of their territories into magistracies and prefectures under the direct control of China. Perhaps this is a fitting time, while "the old order changeth, yielding place to new," to put on record some account of systems of government and constitutions that no doubt have in the past fulfilled some useful purposes, but seem destined before long to pass utterly away.

NOTE 23 (p. 155)

HEIGHTS OF PASSES

With regard to the elevations given in this book it is very necessary to say that those referring to localities between Tachienlu and Li-chiang must be regarded as tentative and provisional only. Future travellers, better equipped with instruments than I was, will doubtless find much to correct. My readings were for the most part dependent on aneroids, which are very untrustworthy at great altitudes. Wherever possible, I have accepted the results of previous travellers, especially those of such accomplished surveyors as Major Davies.

NOTE 24 (p. 157)

POPULATION OF YALUNG WATERSHED

M. Bonin appears to have had the same experience. He states that in travelling from Chung-tien _viâ_ Muli to Tachienlu--a journey of about a month's duration--he did not meet a single Chinese. "All the inhabitants," he says, "belong to the Tibetan race." (_Bulletin de la Soc. de Géog._, 1898, p. 393.)

NOTE 25 (p. 161)

RACE-TYPES OF YALUNG WATERSHED

[Sidenote: THE PA-U-RONG T'U PAI HU]

These people owe their tall and well-built frames to their non-Tibetan blood. It is probably the "Man-tzŭ" blood that tells. "The stature of the Tibetans of Lhasa," says Colonel Waddell, "is even less than that of the Chinese, and considerably below the European average; whilst the men from the eastern province of Kham are quite up to that standard." (_Lhasa and its Mysteries_, p. 347.) Kham or Khams includes or included the greater part of Chinese Tibet.

NOTE 26 (p. 186)

ATTITUDE OF MULI PEOPLE TOWARDS STRANGERS

M. Bonin states that he had to spend ten days in negotiation before he was allowed, in 1895, to cross into the Muli country. He approached it from the Yunnan side. (_Bulletin de la Soc. de Géog._, 1898, p. 396.) Major Davies informs me that he also had difficulty in persuading the people of Muli to allow him to cross the Yalung in the course of his journey from Mien-ning-hsien. It was doubtless owing to the friendliness and tact shown by these travellers and by Mr Amundsen that I met with no opposition on entering the country.

NOTE 27 (p. 187)

EXPLORATION OF THE TA LIANG SHAN

It is reported that the country of the Independent Lolos (the Ta Liang Shan) has at last been traversed by a European. The successful traveller was a French officer named D'Ollone. (See _Geographical Journal_, October, 1907, p. 437.) The account of his journey should be awaited with interest.

NOTE 28 (p. 190)

THE PA-U-RONG T'U PAI HU

The _t'u pai hu_ of Pa-U-Rong (Pa-U-Lung according to the Pekingese sound of the Chinese characters) is to be accounted one of the most important of all the 49 sub-chiefs of the king of Chala, if the amount of tribute paid is the test of importance. His annual tribute is 7 taels, whereas the single _t'u ch'ien hu_ only pays a little more than 9 taels. The highest of all the tributes is that of the _t'u pai hu_ of Rumi Cho-rong, in the northern part of the state. His payment is 12 taels 5 mace. The Pa-U-Rong _t'u pai hu_ nets a modest revenue by causing travellers and merchants who cross the Yalung at this point to pay him a small toll.

NOTE 29 (p. 191)

NAME OF THE YALUNG

M. Bonin calls the Yalung the _Rivière Noire_, apparently supposing its Tibetan name to be Nag Ch'u (ནག་ཆུ་) "Black Water." But I know of no authority for this. The true Tibetan name appears to he Nya(g)-ch'u (ཉག་ཆུ་). The _nya(g)_ reappears in the tribal or district name Mi-nya(g) or Miniak (Menia), མི་ཉག་; and the Chinese "Yalung" is an attempt to pronounce the Tibetan _Nya-Rong_ (ཉག་རོང་) or "Valley of the Nya."

NOTE 30 (p. 197)

THE CHIN SHA CHIANG

[Sidenote: MULI--KHON--OFFICIAL TITLES]

It may not be generally known that according to the Chinese authorities there are _two_ rivers bearing the name of Chin Sha Chiang. One is the _Ta_ (Great), the other the _Hsiao_ (Small) Chin Sha Chiang, and _the "small" one is the Yangtse_. In a first attempt to identify the Ta Chin Sha Chiang--which must obviously be a very great river--we are apt to be much puzzled; for we read of it as flowing from western Tibet and also as flowing through Burma into the "Southern Ocean." But the mystery is explained when we remember that the great river of southern Tibet--the Tsangpo or Yaru Tsangpo (literally "Upper River")--used to be believed not only by Chinese but also by European geographers to be the main feeder of the Irrawaddy. We now know that the Tsangpo is no other than the main upper branch of the Brahmaputra: or rather we assume it from much circumstantial evidence. No European has yet followed the course of the Brahmaputra up to the point where it receives the icy waters of the Tibetan Tsangpo--which hurls itself over the edge of the Tibetan plateau and creates there a series of waterfalls that must be among the grandest sights in the world--but we now know, from the reports of our native surveyors, the approximate position of the falls.[414] The country between Assam and Tibet is unfortunately inhabited by tribes that are apparently violently hostile to all strangers. Their own domestic habits are of a somewhat repellent nature: it is said,[415] for instance, that on occasions of the celebration of marriages it is the genial custom of one of the tribes to serve up the bridegroom's mother-in-law at the nuptial banquet.

The Chinese geographers know the Tsangpo by its Tibetan name (calling it the Ya-lu-tsang-pu-chiang, where _chiang_ is tautological) but they also call it the Great (_Ta_) Chin Sha Chiang; and readers of their topographical works must beware of confusing this river with the Small (_Hsiao_) Chin Sha Chiang of China: though when the adjective is omitted the river referred to is always the Chinese river, and therefore identical with the Yangtse.

NOTE 31 (p. 213)

MULI

I have adopted the spelling "Muli" instead of "Mili" on the authority of the _Ssuch'uan T'ung Chih_. The Chinese characters there given are 木裏, (Mu-li), and though I have seen others used I think there can be no doubt that the _T'ung Chih_ is the best authority to follow.

NOTE 32 (p. 216)

KHON

The name of the third lamasery was given to me as Khon, but I observe that Mr Amundsen calls it Kang-u, and locates it half-way between Muli and the Yalung, almost due east. Major Davies's map, again, places a lamasery named K'u-lu at almost the same spot. K'u-lu, Khon and Kang-u are probably one and the same place, and as Major Davies's route seems to have led him past it the name given by him is probably the correct one. It seems strange that the residences of the _k'an-po_ should all be within a comparatively short distance of each other. If the real object of the periodical movements of the "Court" were to enable the _k'an-po_ to keep in close touch with all parts of his territory, it would naturally extend its peregrinations somewhat further afield.

NOTE 33 (p. 217)

OFFICIAL TITLES IN MULI

Most of these official titles are well known in connection with the administrative arrangements of all the great lamaseries of Tibet; but the authority of the Muli officials is not confined to the management of lamaseries.

NOTE 34 (p. 219)

THE KING AND PEOPLE OF MULI

The ruler of Muli holds the rank, _vis-à-vis_ the Chinese suzerain, of an _An Fu Ssŭ_ (see note 22). In his own territory he is a _gyal-po_ or king, but he is also a lama, and the succession must therefore go to a collateral branch of the "royal" family. In practice, the heir is generally a nephew who has been inducted into Lamaism at an early age, and has risen high in the hierarchy. The king of Muli first became tributary to China in the seventh year of Yung Chêng (1729). He received from the Chinese Government sealed "letters of authority" and a stamped warrant similar to those bestowed on the king of Chala. The greatest length of the territory, from the frontier of the Litang principality on the north to the territory of the Ku Po Chu _t'u ssŭ_ on the south, is 900 _li_ (say 300 miles); its greatest breadth is from the frontier of Chala on the east to that of Chung-tien on the west, 1,300 _li_ (say 430 miles). These distances, as in the case of Chala, are measured by length of actual paths, and not by bee-lines. Though the Yalung forms the eastern boundary at Pa-U-Rong, the Muli territory extends for a distance of some scores of miles across the Yalung further south. According to the _Ssuch'uan T'ung Chih_ (published in the first half of the nineteenth century) the total number of _i jên_ ("barbarians") under the king's rule comprises 3,283 households. This figure hardly enables us to assess the present population, which--if we include the large body of lamas--can hardly be judged to be less than 25,000. It should be remembered that there are no towns in Muli, very little trade, and great areas of mountainous country practically uninhabitable. The king's annual tribute consists of 120 piculs of buckwheat (16,000 lbs.) estimated in cash value at 74 taels 4 mace and 3 horses, each valued at 8 taels, or a total of 24 taels for the three. The total tribute thus amounts (in money-value) to 98 taels 4 mace. These assessments of value were, of course, made many years ago. Probably re-assessments are made from time to time, as otherwise the monetary values would bear no proper ratio to the value of the articles forming the basis of the tribute. Payment is made at Yen-yüan-hsien, and is supposed to be applied to the expenses of the local military establishment. It is the custom of the country that one out of every three, or two out of every five, male members of a family enter the priesthood. All the lay population can be called upon for military service; but it is hardly necessary to say that the king keeps no standing army, and his people are only called to arms when serious disputes arise with the neighbouring Tibetan chiefs. The _T'ung Chih_ goes on to say that the people of the land of Muli consist of six different kinds of Barbarians: (1) _lamas_; (2) _Chia-mi_ or _Chieh-mi_ (呷迷); (3) _Yüeh-ku_ or _Yo-ku_ (約古); (4) _Hsü-mi_ (虛迷); (5) _Mo-so_; (6) _Hsi Fan_. The lamas, of course, are not a distinct race; the Mo-so and Hsi Fan are discussed in