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Ethnography of Tibet and the adjacent Countries
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 March 2011
Extract
The Chih kung chih t'u contains very careful reproductions of the strange costumes of the vassal tribes which come with tribute to Court. The glory of the reigning dynasty is as great as that of Yao and Shun, and there is no locality however remote which does not seek the Sovereign-ruler's presence. The characteristics and outward appearance (of each of our tributaries) are now all well known, and fully recorded, and the descriptions are not confined to vague portraitures, and to notices on the curiosities of land and water, but set forth exactly the produces of the soil.
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- Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1891
References
page 121 note 1 
in Nine Books, compiled by a number of prominent officials, under an imperial order, dated 1701, contains pictures and short descriptions of all the nations and tribes of Eastern Asia, and also of quite a number of European nations.
page 122 note 1 Ch'u-ba is the Tibetan name for along loose gown, closely resembling the Chinese pao-tzŭ. In Turki juba is a fur robe. The garment and the name are in general use in Central Asia and also in Russia. See Bellew, , Kashmir and Kashghar, p. 271Google Scholar, and Shaw, R. D., Vocabulary of the Turki Language, p. 90Google Scholar. It is variously pronounced chuba, juba, or chogha in Asia, and shuba, or shubka, in Russia.
page 122 note 2 It is not felt, but a coarse undyed woollen stuff called lawa.
page 122 note 3 This is also an exact description of the writing utensils and mode of using them throughout Tibet.
page 122 note 4 This plaque or disk is variously called pongyü, kor-kor, or chir-chir (kyir-kyir) in Western Tibet.
page 123 note 1 Shabo is an eastern Tibetan word, meaning “friend.” The Chinese characters, here used phonetically, mean “sand bustard.” Lao pao-tzŭ means “a procuress,” because, says Wells Williams, s.v. Pao, the hen pao is said to breed with any other kind of bird. This is a specimen of Chinese wit at the expense of foreigners and their languages.
page 123 note 2 This is probably the 
, a dictionary published in 1717.
I cannot, however, find in my copy of this work the quotation given in the text. The text shows that Tibetan houses were designed with a view to defence.
page 123 note 3 To divine what will be the termination of the disease.
page 124 note 1 
, “the middle ford”; Nya ch'u k'a, on the Nya lung ch'u.
page 125 note 1 
, Chin-chia, this may be the expression which has become in Tibetan kincob or chincob.
page 125 note 2 Zän is the name of the garment which lamas wear thrown over the left shoulder and around the body, leaving the right arm bare; it resembles the Scotch plaid.
page 126 note 1 This may possibly be 
yu lung, “turquoise plaque,” but I do not know if such an expression exists.
page 127 note 1 
. He filledthe offlces of Djassak and firstclass Tai-chi. He was later on made kung, Pu-kuo (Duke), and kung, Hu-kuo. Hsi-yü tung wen chih, B. 24, p. 7Google Scholar. “Alikartu used to form under former dynasties part of Nepal, but since the time of the Ming dynasty (fourteenth century) it has paid tribute to China.”—Hsi-Ts'ang t'u k'ao, III. 33. The tribute-bearers brought to Court gold pagodas (t'a), Buddhist books, wonderfully fine horses, and native products.—Ibid.
page 127 note 2 The Hsi-Ts'ang chien well lu; II. 5, from which the text is taken, has, “When a person meets a superior, he does not take off his hat and put out his tongue, but bows down very low and with the middle finger of the right hand raised before the mouth he repeats the three syllables om, ma, hum (
). This is an abbreviated form of om mani padmé hum.
page 128 note 1 Hsi fan kuo was a vague designation used in old times for all West of China.
page 128 note 2 Hsi-Ts'ang fu, p. 33, has it that Butan has over 40,000 families. The whole country contains 50 towns, big and little, and 25,000 lamas. Bruk-pa (
), or Lh'o bruk-pa, is still the name generally used in Tibet to designate Butan. Mr. B. H. Hodgson calls the Butanese Lhopa, or Dukpa; the latter word is the Brukpa of the Tibetans, which is colloquially pronounced Drukpa, or Drupa. Bhutan is under the supervision of the Chinese Amban in Tibet, as may be seen by reference to the Peking Gazette, Oct. 27, 1885.
page 128 note 3 Mou-tsai, Huang, as quoted in the Hsi-Ts'ang t'u k'ao, VIII. p. 38Google Scholaret sq., says: “From E. of Assam (
) to W. of Bat'ang, from S. of Kiang-ka (Gartok) to N. of T'eng-yueh (Momien) live, cut off from all the rest of the world, savage tribes, who, from remotest antiquity, have but rarely been visited.” Further on he states that the natives of Assam are Lao-kuo-pa savages, but believe in the Buddhist faith. Butan, he says, also has Lao-yü savages along its northern and eastern border. They are also called Atsara (Sanskrit Raksha), hence, probably, the charge of cannibalism. Abbé Desgodins identifies the Lhopa (
), or Slopa (
), with the Abors. According to Huang Moutsai the name extends to the Lissus, Mishmis, Lepchas, etc., all called Mon (
) by the Tibetans.
page 129 note 1 See infrà, the chapter on the rivers of Tibet.
page 129 note 2 Bal-po is the name usually given Nepal by Tibetans; the Newars are known to them as Peurbu (cf. Parbatiya), and the Gorkhas as Gurka. Pieh-pang may be intended to transcribe the word Pātan. Some Chinese authors call the Gorkhas Guk'ar, but the name is usually transcribed Kuo-erh-ka (
). The name of the capital, Kat'mandu, is transcribed (Hsi-Ta'ang t'u K'ao, VIII. p. 4) Chia-te-man-tu (
), but more frequently it is called Yang-pu (
), possibly intended to transcribe the name Yindési, which is one of the names of this city. The Sheng-wu-chi, V. p. 30, gives Nepal a population of 54,000 families, an estimate much too low.
page 130 note 1 The year of Jaya-prakāsa Malla's accession to the throne.—Wright, D., History of Nepal, p. 223Google Scholar.
page 130 note 2 In 1788 the Gorkhas invaded Sikkim; it was only in 1791 that they marched to Shigatsé and plundered the town. For a full account of this war, see Kuo-erh-ka chi-lüeh, Bk. I., Sheng-wu-chi, , V., and Wright, D., op. cit. p. 260Google Scholar. The Ma-mu-sa-yeh of the text may be Wright's Mantrinayak Damodar, who was one of the Gorkha generals during the war.
page 130 note 3 
“turbaned,” is the name given in Kan-su and Chinese Turkestan to all turbaned Mohammedans. In Tibet the name K'a-ch'é (
), originally only used to designate Kashmiris, has come to be used for all bearded and turbaned foreigners, more especially Mohammedans.
page 131 note 1 Perhaps it would be more accurate to transcribe Pai-mu jung by djong, Pari. The Hsi-Ts'ang t'u k'ao, VIII. p. 40Google Scholar, says that this country is N. of Sikkim (
), and is also called Chupar (
). Bk. 10 of the same work says that the Tso-mu-lang (Tumlung, in Sikkim) tribe touches it to the W. But from the details in the text we must understand, I believe, the whole country occupied by the Lepchas. The Hsi-Ts'ang fu, p. 33, has the following: “After ten days of steady travel from Sair, in Ulterior Tibet, one reaches the frontier of Pai-mu jung. Travelling steadily for 18 days in a S.W. direction from Sair brings one to the Tsung-li kou pass, where there is a precipice, probably 150 feet deep, which travellers cross by means of wooden ladders, and which is impassable for horses. Eight days from this point is Pai-mu-jung. The prince's residence is called Lao-ting-tsai, and all the houses (in it) are on top of a mountain. The former prince was Ch'a-to-lang-chieh, who was succeeded by his son, Chü-mieh lang-chieh. The people are divided into clans. … There are two large convents, the one Ta-shi-ting (Tassiding, see Hooker, , Himalayan Journal, vol. i. pp. 297, 307Google Scholar), and the other Pai-ma-yang-ching (Pemiongchi, ibid. p. 307); there are also 15 small temples. … This country confines on Butan (to the E.), S. of it is Wai-wu-tzŭ, W. Nepal, N. Jih-kai-tzŭ, of Ulterior Tibet. Travelling from Pai-mu-jung 10 days one comes to the Hsiao Hsi-t'ien (
), the residence of Prince Pu-erh-ya. Thence by ship on the sea for a fortnight to Ta Hsi-t'ien (Persia), which Chang-chien of the Han is said to have visited.” The above points to Sikkim as the country described; but there are so many contradictory statements in the different notices concerning this region, arising undoubtedly from the author's knowledge only being hearsay, that it is useless to attempt to locate this region too closely. At the present day Sikkim is called Che-meng-hsiung (
), the native name being Dré-mo-jong (
). The Chinese first established posts in Sikkim after the Gorkha War of 1792, and at the instance of the Rajah. See Turner, , Embassy to the Court of the Teshoo Lama, p. 441Google Scholar.
page 132 note 1 These characters are used phonetically, they have no meaning in Chinese.
page 132 note 2 Cf. what is said in the Hsi-Ts'ang fu in note on the preceding page, which does not at all agree with the text, which, however, is probably correct in this particular.
page 132 note 3 Wai-wu-tzŭ in the Hsi- Ts'ang fu, as quoted in note on the preceding page.
page 132 note 4 Hindustan is frequently called Eu-na-te-ko-ko kuo in Chinese. Ihis is the Mongol Enedkek or Hendkek, a word frequently used by Tibetans who have travelled in Mongolia, or China. Turner, , op, cit. p. 288Google Scholar, took this word (which he transcribes Eunani) to mean Egypt, and indulged in some speculation on the strength of it.
page 132 note 5 
looks as if it might be used to transcribe the name Shigatsé, or possibly Bogle's Rinjaitzay Castle, N. of Trashil'unpo two days' journey.
page 133 note 1 
is usei in Chinese historical works to designate Persia, but it cannot have that meaning here. The text probably alludes to navigating the Ganges. The contradictions in the text arise from this work being purely a compilation.