Tabl.
Historiques, p. 182; Proc. R. G. S. XVI. 243.)
[Dutreuil de Rhins and Grenard took the road from Khotan to Charchan; they
left Khotan on the 4th May, 1893, passed Kiria, Nia, and instead of going
direct to Charchan through the desert, they passed Kara Say at the foot of
the Altyn tagh, a route three days longer than the other, but one which
was less warm, and where water, meat, milk, and barley could be found.
Having passed Kapa, they crossed the Karamuren, and went up from Achan due
north to Charchan, where they stayed three months. Nowhere do they mention
Pein, or Pima, for it appears to be Kiria itself, which is the only real
town between Khotan and the Lobnor. Grenard says in a note (p. 54, vol.
ii.): "Pi-mo (Keria) recalls the Tibetan bye-ma, which is pronounced
Pema, or Tchema, and which means sand. Such is perhaps also the
origin of Pialma, a village near Khotan, and of the old name of
Charchan, Tche-mo-to-na, of which the two last syllables would represent
grong (pronounce tong = town), or kr'om (t'om = bazaar). Now, not
only would this etymology be justified because these three places are
indeed surrounded with sand remarkably deep, but as they were the first
three important places with which the Tibetans met coming into the desert
of Gobi, either by the route of Gurgutluk and of Polor, or by Karakoram
and Sandju, or by Tsadam, and they had thus as good a pretext to call them
'towns of sand' as the Chinese had to give to T'un-hwang the name of
Shachau, viz. City of Sand. Kiria is called Ou-mi, under the Han, and
the name of Pi-mo is found for the first time in Hiuen Tsang, that is to
say, before the Tibetan invasions of the 8th century. It is not possible
to admit that the incursion of the Tu-ku-hun in the 5th century could be
the cause of this change of name. The hypothesis remains that Pi-mo was
really the ancient name forced by the first Tibetan invaders spoken of by
legend, that Ou-mi was either another name of the town, or a fancy name
invented by the Chinese, like Yu-t'ien for Khotan, Su-lo for Kashgar...."
Sir T. D. Forsyth (J. R. G. S., XLVII., 1877, p. 3) writes: "I should
say that Peim or Pima must be identical with Kiria." - H. C.]
NOTE 2. - The Jasper and Chalcedony of our author are probably only
varieties of the semi-precious mineral called by us popularly Jade, by
the Chinese Yue, by the Eastern Turks Kash, by the Persians Yashm,
which last is no doubt the same word with [Greek: iaspis], and therefore
with Jasper. The Greek Jaspis was in reality, according to Mr. King, a
green Chalcedony.
The Jade of Turkestan is largely derived from water-rolled boulders fished
up by divers in the rivers of Khotan, but it is also got from mines in the
valley of the Karakash River. "Some of the Jade," says Timkowski, "is as
white as snow, some dark green, like the most beautiful emerald (?),
others yellow, vermilion, and jet black. The rarest and most esteemed
varieties are the white speckled with red and the green veined with gold."
(I. 395.) The Jade of Khotan appears to be first mentioned by Chinese
authors in the time of the Han Dynasty under Wu-ti (B.C. 140-86). In A.D.
541 an image of Buddha sculptured in Jade was sent as an offering from
Khotan; and in 632 the process of fishing for the material in the rivers
of Khotan, as practised down to modern times, is mentioned. The
importation of Jade or Yue from this quarter probably gave the name of
Kia-yue Kwan or "Jade Gate" to the fortified Pass looking in this
direction on the extreme N. W. of China Proper, between Shachau and
Suhchau. Since the detachment from China the Jade industry has ceased, the
Musulmans having no taste for that kind of virtu. (H. de la V. de
Khotan, 2, 17, 23; also see J. R. G. S. XXXVI. 165, and Cathay, 130,
564; Ritter, II. 213; Shaw's High Tartary, pp. 98, 473.)
[On the 11th January, 1895, Dr. Sven Hedin visited one of the chief places
where Jade is to be found. It is to the north-east of Khotan, in the old
bed of the Yurun Kash. The bed of the river is divided into claims like
gold-fields; the workmen are Chinese for the greater part, some few are
Musulmans.
Grenard (II. pp. 186-187) says that the finest Jade comes from the high
Karakash (black Jade) River and Yurungkash (white Jade); the Jade River is
called Su-tash. At Khotan, Jade is polished up by sixty or seventy
individuals belonging to twenty-five workshops.
"At 18 miles from Su-chau, Kia-yu-kwan, celebrated as one of the gates of
China, and as the fortress guarding the extreme north-west entrance into
the empire, is passed." (Colonel M. S. Bell, Proc. R. G. S. XII. 1890,
p. 75.)
According to the Chinese characters, the name of Kia-yue Kwan does not mean
"Jade Gate," and as Mr. Rockhill writes to me, it can only mean something
like "barrier of the pleasant Valley." - H. C.]
NOTE 3. - Possibly this may refer to the custom of temporary marriages
which seems to prevail in most towns of Central Asia which are the
halting-places of caravans, and the morals of which are much on a par with
those of seaport towns, from analogous causes. Thus at Meshid, Khanikoff
speaks of the large population of young and pretty women ready, according
to the accommodating rules of Shiah Mahomedanism, to engage in marriages
which are perfectly lawful, for a month, a week, or even twenty-four
hours.
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