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Art. I.—Tibet. A Geographical, Ethnographical, and Historical Sketch, derived from Chinese Sources

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

W. Woodville Rockhill
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Extract

The relations existing between China and Tibet have been for such a length of time of so intimate a nature, that, better than any other people, the Chinese are in a position to give us reliable information concerning this secluded and interesting country; for, though we possess such valuable works as Markham's Tibet, various papers by Father Desgodins, the reports of the native travellers employed by the great Trigonometrical Survey of India and those of Sarat Chandra Das, who has within the last ten years twice visited Tibet, these do not by any means cover the whole field of Tibetan geography and ethnography, and all the information we can obtain supplementing or corroborating these works must be valuable and worthy of our attention.

Type
Original Communications
Information
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 23 , Issue 1 , January 1891 , pp. 1 - 20
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1891

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References

page 4 note 1 For an analysis of the contents of this work, see infrà.

page 5 note 1 Istakhri (circû a.d. 590) speaks of Tibet as Tobbat, see Yule, , Glossary of Anglo-Indian Words, s.v. India, p. 332Google Scholar. The etymology of the word Tibet given in the same work by Prof, de Lacouperie (p. 698) is conformable to native traditions, but etymologically incorrect.

page 6 note 1 See also infrà.

page 6 note 2 Chinese writers during the last two centuries have used the term Tui-pai-te () to designate Balti. The Hsi-yü tsung chih, Bk. IV. p. 23, describes it as follows: “Tui-pai-te is the name of a district in the Western regions, S. W. of Yarkand and due S. of Khoten, some 40 to 50 days' riding. It is a broad tract of land conterminous with Ulterior Tibet. In it are neither walled towns, palaces, nor houses. The people excavate caves in the rocks in which they dwell. They raise no crops, cattle is their only wealth. They also live in felt tents. They wear their hair in plaits, on which they hang silver rings. Their clothes are made of coarse woollen stuff, and consist solely in a high collared gown (chuba) with narrow sleeves. They are fire-worshippers. Each morning they take fuel and light a fire, and as it blazes up they prostrate themselves before it. Moreover, when they have any important undertaking on hand, they bow down and worship the fire. The soil of this country is alkaline and stony, producing nothing; the cattle even are not numerous. The rich have enough for their wants, but many of the poor have to go abroad to gain a livelihood. There are a great many of this people in Yarkand and Kashgar, where they are most industrious and painstaking. As soon as they have got together a little money, they go back to their homes. Their prince has the title of Khan, and, as he is not rich, he takes his people's children and sells them in other localities as slaves, and the money thus obtained is his. This is also done in Bolor.”

page 6 note 3 For some mysterious reasons Tibetans object to this name, but not to the next one.

page 7 note 1 Or, according to the Chinese mode of dividing the country, thirty-three.

page 7 note 2 See The Land of the lamas: Notes of a Journey in China, Mongolia, and Tibet, Chap. V. and Appendix.

page 7 note 3 Amban is a Manchu word corresponding to the Chinese Ta ch'en “Minister of State”; all Ambans are Manchns.

page 7 note 4 This duty has been imposed on the Ambans since the Gorkha invasion of Tibet in 1794. The native government was also reorganized at the same time.

page 8 note 1 This feast is called Sung ch'ö (gsung ch'os) in Tibetan.

page 9 note 1 The Chyi-lön Hutuketu is the Chancellor of the Exchequer of Tibet; he is commonly called by the people Peu-gi jyabo, “King of Tibet,” or Jya-ts'ab “Viceroy.” The Amban is also frequently spoken of as Gong-ma t'sab “The representative of the Emperor.”

page 10 note 1 The Chinese text reads . The first three characters are the transcription of the Tibetan name of Sikkim, Dré mo djong. The meaning of the other five is more difficult to determine. Tumlung is the capital of Sikkim, and the Moing one of the rivers which flow through it.

page 11 note 1 No mention is made of any written code of laws, nor do I believe that one exists—the amount of the bribe which one or the other of the litigants, or the criminals, is willing to give the judges being the only standard by which they decide suits.

page 13 note 1 Cunningham, , Ladak, p. 285Google Scholar, says this was the average obtained by an accurate census of Lahul and Spiti. Page 288, he gives the average per house in Ladak as 5 and Spiti 5·3.

page 14 note 1 See infrà. I do not reckon the frequent ravages made by smallpox, which sweeps away vast numbers of people. In 1834, in Ladak, 14,000 persons, or 1/12th of the population, were carried off by it. See Cunningham, , Ladak, p. 287Google Scholar.

page 14 note 2 See Le Thibet d'après la correspondance desmissionnaires, par Desgodins, C. H., 1885, p. 241Google Scholar. It is highly probable that quite a large portion of the pastoral part of the people was not counted in the census of 1737, but this would not change very materially the total.

page 15 note 1 See preface, p. 3, and Hsi-chao t'u-lüeh, I. p. 19 et seq.

page 16 note 1 This should literally he translated “lake mountain,” as kia-ts'o stands for Tibetan jya-ts'o, “lake.” Further on, the words which I have translated “lake” are kia-ts'o in the Chinese text.

page 19 note 1 By this expression, which continually recurs throughout this work, must be understood that the road is at such a high altitude that the rarefaction of the air seriously affects the respiration and the action of the heart.