True Distance. Hwen Tsiang.
Khotan (Yutien) to Keriya (Pimo) 97 miles. 330 li 86 miles.
Keriya (Pimo) to Niya (Niyang) 64 " 200 " 52 "
Niya (Niyang) to Endereh (Tuholo) 94 " 400 " 104 "
Endereh (Tuholo) to Kotak Sheri? (Chemotona) 138? " 600 " 156 "
Kotak Sheri (Chemotona) to Lulan (Nafopo) 264? " 1000 " 260 "
"If we use the value of the 'li' 0.274 of a mile given by Hedin, the
distances from Khotan to Keriya and from Keriya to Niya, according to Hwen
Tsiang, become 91 and 55 miles instead of 86 and 52 as given in the table,
which is not far from the true distances, 97 and 64.
"If, however, Pimo is identical with Kenan, as Stein thinks, the distances
which Hwen Tsiang gives as 86 and 52 miles become respectively 60 and 89,
which is evidently quite wrong.
"Strong confirmation of the identification of Keriya with Pimo is found in
a comparison of extracts from Marco Polo's and Hwen Tsiang's accounts of
that city with passages from my note-book, written long before I had read
the comments of the ancient travellers. Marco Polo says that the people of
Pein, or Pima, as he also calls it, have the peculiar custom 'that if a
married man goes to a distance from home to be about twenty days, his wife
has a right, if she is so inclined, to take another husband; and the men,
on the same principle, marry wherever they happen to reside.' The
quotation from my notes runs as follows:
