But The Idea
Had To Be Abandoned, Since Marco Polo's Anecdote About The 'caitiff,' And
The Loose Manners Of His Family, Could Never Have Referred To The Lolos,
Who Are Admitted Even By Their Chinese Enemies To Possess A Very Strict
Code Indeed Of Domestic Regulations.
The Lolos being eliminated, the
Si-fans remained; and before we had been many days in their neighbourhood,
stories
Were told us of their conduct which a polite pen refuses to record.
It is enough to say that Marco's account falls rather short of the truth,
and most obviously applies to the Si-fan."
[Illustration: Road descending from the Table-Land of Yun-nan into the
Valley of the Kin-sha Kiang (the Brius of Polo).
(After Garnier.)]
Deveria (Front. p. 146 note) says that Kien-ch'ang is the ancient
territory of Kiung-tu which, under the Han Dynasty, fell into the hands of
the Tibetans, and was made by the Mongols the march of Kien-ch'ang
(Che-Kong-t'u); it is the Caindu of Marco Polo; under the Han Dynasty
it was the Kiun or division of Yueh-sui or Yueh-hsi. Deveria quotes from
the Yuen-shi-lei pien the following passage relating to the year 1284:
"The twelve tribes of the Barbarians to the south-west of Kien-tou and
Kin-Chi submitted; Kien-tou was administered by Mien (Burma); Kien-tou
submits because the Kingdom of Mien has been vanquished." Kien-tou is the
Chien-t'ou of Baber, the Caindu of Marco Polo.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 148 of 1350
Words from 39266 to 39519
of 370046
