106-108. "After leaving the Province of which I have been
speaking [Yung ch'ang] you come to a great Descent. In fact you ride for
two days and a half continually down hill.... After you have ridden those
two days and a half down hill, you find yourself in a province towards the
south which is pretty near India, and this province is called AMIEN. You
travel therein for fifteen days.... And when you have travelled those 15
days ... you arrive at the capital city of this Province of Mien, and it
also is called AMIEN...."
I owe the following valuable note to Mr. Herbert Allan OTTEWILL, H.M.'s
Vice-Consul at T'eng Yueh (11th October, 1908):
"The indications of the route are a great descent down which you ride
continually for two days and a half towards the south along the main route
to the capital city of Amien.
"It is admitted that the road from Yung Ch'ang to T'eng Yueh is not the one
indicated. Before the Hui jen Bridge was built over the Salween in 1829,
there can be no doubt that the road ran to Ta tu k'ou - great ferry
place - which is about six miles below the present bridge. The distance to
both places is about the same, and can easily be accomplished in two days.
"The late Mr. Litton, who was Consul here for some years, once stated that
the road to La-meng on the Salween was almost certainly the one referred
to by Marco Polo as the great descent to the kingdom of Mien. His stages
were from Yung Ch'ang: (1) Yin wang (? Niu wang); (2) P'ing ti; (3) Chen
an so; (4) Lung Ling. The Salween was crossed on the third day at La-meng
Ferry. Yung Ch'ang is at an altitude of about 5,600 feet; the Salween at
the Hui jen Bridge is about 2,400, and probably drops 200-300 feet between
the bridge and La-meng, Personally I have only been along the first stage
to Niu Wang, 5,000 feet; and although aneroids proved that the highest
point on the road was about 6,600, I can easily imagine a person not
provided with such instruments stating that the descent was fairly
gradual. From Niu Wang there must be a steady drop to the Salween,
probably along the side of the stream which drains the Niu Wang Plain.
"La-meng and Chen an so are in the territory of the Shan Sawbwa of Mang
Shih [Moeng Hkwan]."
"It is also a well-known fact that the Shan States of Hsen-wi (in Burma)
and Meng mao (in China) fell under Chinese authority at an early date. Mr.
E.H. Parker, quoted by Sir G. Scott in the Upper Burma Gazetteer,
states: 'During the reign of the Mongol Emperor Kublai a General was
sent to punish Annam and passed through this territory or parts of it
called Meng tu and Meng pang,' and secured its submission. In the year 1289
the Civil and Military Governorship of Muh Pang was established. Muh Pang
is the Chinese name of Hsen-wi.
"Therefore the road from Yung Ch'ang to La-meng fulfils the conditions of
a great descent, riding two and a half days continually down hill finding
oneself in a (Shan) Province to the south, besides being on a well-known
road to Burma, which was probably in the thirteenth century the only road
to that country.
"Fifteen days from La-meng to Tagaung or Old Pagan is not an impossible
feat. Lung Ling is reached in 1-1/2 days, Keng Yang in four, and it is
possible to do the remaining distance about a couple of hundred miles in
eleven days, making fifteen in all.
"I confess I do not see how any one could march to Pagan in Latitude 21
deg. 13' in fifteen days."
LIV., p. 113.
NGA-TSHAUNG-GYAN.
According to the late E. HUBER, Ngan chen kue is not Nga-caung-khyam, but
Nga Singu, in the Mandalay district. The battle took place, not in the
Yung Ch'ang plain, but in the territory of the Shan Chief of Nan-tien. The
official description of China under the Ming (Ta Ming yi lung che, k.
87, 38 v deg.) tells us that Nan-tien before its annexation by Kublai Khan,
bore the name of Nan Sung or Nang Sung, and to-day the pass which cuts
this territory in the direction of T'eng Yueh is called Nang-Sung-kwan. It
is hardly possible to doubt that this is the place called Nga-caung-khyam
by the Burmese Chronicles. (Bul. Ecole franc. Ext. Orient, Oct.-Dec.,
1909, p. 652.)
LVI., p. 117 n.
A Map in the Yun Nan Topography Section 9, "Tu-ssu" or Sawbwas, marks the
Kingdom of "Eight hundred wives" between the mouths of the Irrawaddy and
the Salween Rivers. (Note kindly sent by Mr. H.A. OTTEWILL.)
LIX., p. 128.
CAUGIGU.
M. Georges Maspero, L'Empire Khmer, p. 77 n., thinks that Canxigu =
Luang Prabang; I read Caugigu and I believe it is a transcription of
Kiao-Chi Kwe, see p. 131.
LIX., pp. 128, 131.
"I have identified, II., p. 131, Caugigu with Kiao-Chi kwe (Kiao Chi),
i.e. Tung King." Hirth and Rockhill (Chau Ju-kua, p. 46 n.) write:
"'Kiau chi' is certainly the original of Marco Polo's Caugigu and of
Rashideddin's Kafchi kue."
[1] Pen ts'ao kang mu, Ch. 25, p. 14b.
[2] Regarding this name and its history, see PELLIOT, Journ. Asiatique,
1912, I., p. 582. Qara Khodja was celebrated for its abundance of
grapes. (BRETSCHNEIDER, Mediaeval Res., I., p. 65.) J. DUDGEON (The
Beverages of the Chinese, p. 27) misreading it Ha-so-hwo, took it for
the designation of a sort of wine. STUART (Chinese Materia Medica,
p. 459) mistakes it for a transliteration of "hollands," or may be
"alcohol." The latter word has never penetrated into China in any
form.