That Some Of The Natives Used Formerly To Cover Their Teeth With
Plates Of Gold (From Which Practice, Mentioned By
Marco Polo, and
confirmed elsewhere, the name is generally derived) can scarcely be
considered a myth; but the peculiarity remarked
By ourselves would have
been equally noticeable by the early Chinese invaders, and seems not
altogether unworthy of consideration. It is interesting to find the name
'Chin-Ch'ih' still in use.
"When Tu Wen-hsiu sent his 'Panthay' mission to England with tributary
boxes of rock from the Tali Mountains, he described himself in his letter
'as a humble native of the golden-teeth country.'" - H.C.]
Vochan seems undoubtedly to be, as Martini pointed out, the city called
by the Chinese YUNG-CH'ANG-FU. Some of the old printed editions read
Unciam, i.e. Uncham or Unchan, and it is probable that either this or
Vocian, i.e. VONCHAN, was the true reading, coming very close to the
proper name, which is WUNCHEN. (See J.A.S.B. VI. 547.) [In an itinerary
from Ava to Peking, we read on the 10th September, 1833: "Slept at the city
Wun-tsheng (Chinese Yongtchang fu and Burmese Wun-zen)." (Chin. Rep.
IX. p. 474): - Mr. F.W.K. Mueller in a study on the Pa-yi language from a
Chinese manuscript entitled Hwa-i-yi-yue found by Dr. F. Hirth in China,
and belonging now to the Berlin Royal Library, says the proper orthography
of the word is Wan-chang in Pa-yi. (T'oung Pao, III. p. 20.) This helps
to find the origin of the name Vochan. - H.C.] This city has been a
Chinese one for several centuries, and previous to the late Mahomedan
revolt its population was almost exclusively Chinese, with only a small
mixture of Shans. It is now noted for the remarkable beauty and fairness of
the women. But it is mentioned by Chinese authors as having been in the
Middle Ages the capital of the Gold-Teeth. These people, according to
Martini, dwelt chiefly to the north of the city. They used to go to worship
a huge stone, 100 feet high, at Nan-ngan, and cover it annually with
gold-leaf. Some additional particulars about the Kin-Chi, in the time of
the Mongols, will be found in Pauthier's notes (p. 398).
[In 1274, the Burmese attacked Yung ch'ang, whose inhabitants were known
under the name of Kin-Chi (Golden-Teeth). (E. Rocher, Princes du
Yun-nan, p. 71.) From the Annals of Momein, translated by Mr. E.H. Parker
(China Review, XX. p. 345), we learn that: "In the year 1271, the General
of Ta-li was sent on a mission to procure the submission of the Burmese,
and managed to bring a Burmese envoy named Kiai-poh back with him. Four
years later Fu A-pih, Chief of the Golden-Teeth, was utilised as a guide,
which so angered the Burmese that they detained Fu A-pih and attacked
Golden-Teeth: but he managed to bribe himself free. A-ho, Governor of the
Golden-Teeth, was now sent as a spy, which caused the Burmese to advance to
the attack once more, but they were driven back by Twan Sin-cha-jih. These
events led to the Burmese war," which lasted till 1301.
According to the Hwang-tsing Chi-kung t'u (quoted by Deveria, Front. p.
130), the Pei-jen were Kin-chi of Pa-y race, and were surnamed
Min-kia-tzu; the Min-kia, according to F. Garnier, say that they come from
Nan-king, but this is certainly an error for the Pei-jen. From another
Chinese work, Deveeria (p. 169) gives this information: The Piao are the
Kin-Chi; they submitted to the Mongols in the 13th century; they are
descended from the people of Chu-po or Piao Kwo (Kingdom of Piao), ancient
Pegu; P'u-p'iao, in a little valley between the Mekong and the Salwen
Rivers, was the place through which the P'u and the Piao entered China.
The Chinese geographical work Fang-yu-ki-yao mentions the name of
Kin-Chi Ch'eng, or city of Kin-Chi, as the ancient denomination of
Yung-ch'ang. A Chinese Pa-y vocabulary, belonging to Professor Deveria,
translates Kin-Chi by Wan-Chang (Yung-ch'ang). (Deveria, Front. p.
128.) - H.C.]
It has not been determined who are the representatives of these
Gold-Teeth, who were evidently distinct from the Shans, not Buddhist, and
without literature. I should think it probable that they were Kakhyens or
Singphos, who, excluding Shans, appear to form the greatest body in that
quarter, and are closely akin to each other, indeed essentially identical
in race.[1] The Singphos have now extended widely to the west of the Upper
Irawadi and northward into Assam, but their traditions bring them from the
borders of Yunnan. The original and still most populous seat of the Kakhyen
or Singpho race is pointed out by Colonel Hannay in the Gulansigung
Mountains and the valley of the eastern source of the Irawadi. This agrees
with Martini's indication of the seat of the Kin-Chi as north of
Yung-ch'ang. One of Hannay's notices of Singpho customs should also be
compared with the interpolation from Ramusio about tattooing: "The men
tattoo their limbs slightly, and all married females are tattooed on both
legs from the ankle to the knee, in broad horizontal circular bands. Both
sexes also wear rings below the knee of fine shreds of rattan varnished
black" (p. 18). These rings appear on the Kakhyen woman in our cut.
[Illustration: Kakhyens. (From a Photograph.)]
The only other wild tribe spoken of by Major Sladen as attending the
markets on the frontier is that of the Lissus already mentioned by
Lieutenant Garnier (supra, ch. xlvii. note 6), and who are said to
be the most savage and indomitable of the tribes in that quarter. Garnier
also mentions the Mossos, who are alleged once to have formed an
independent kingdom about Li-kiang fu.
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