Down to 1801 the Silhet revenue
was entirely collected in cowries, but by 1813, the whole was realised in
specie. (Thomas, in J.R.A.S. N.S. II. 147; Lives of the Lindsays,
III. 169, 170.)
Klaproth's statement has ceased to be correct. Lieutenant Garnier found
cowries nowhere in use north of Luang Prabang; and among the Kakhyens in
Western Yun nan these shells are used only for ornament. [However, Mr. E.
H. Parker says (China Review, XXVI. p. 106) that the porcelain
money still circulates in the Shan States, and that he saw it there
himself. - H.C.]
[Illustration: The Canal at Yun nan fu.]
NOTE 5. - See ch. xlvii. note 4. Martini speaks of a great brine-well to
the N.E. of Yaogan (W.N.W. of the city of Yun-nan), which supplied the
whole country round.
NOTE 6. - Two particulars appearing in these latter paragraphs are alluded
to by Rashiduddin in giving a brief account of the overland route from
India to China, which is unfortunately very obscure: "Thence you arrive at
the borders of Tibet, where they eat raw meat and worship images,
and have no shame respecting their wives." (Elliot, I. p. 73.)
[1] Baber writes (p. 107): "The river is never called locally by any other
name than Kin-ke or 'Gold River.'[A] The term Kin-sha-Kiang should
in strictness be confined to the Tibetan course of the stream; as
applied to other parts it is a mere book name.
