MULI TO YUNG-NING
The territory ruled over by the lama-prince of Muli[230] is to
Europeans, as it is to the Chinese themselves, almost an unknown corner
of the Chinese empire. One may search in vain through books of history
or travel for any description of it. Even the _Ssuch'uan T'ung Chih_--a
work that describes the province in nearly two hundred volumes--devotes
to it only a single page. Baber does little more than refer to it by
name. He describes it as "a country of which almost nothing is known,
lying south of Litang and west of the Yalung. I can only learn," he
adds, "that the language of its inhabitants is unintelligible to
Tibetans. The Chinese call it the 'land of the Yellow Lamas.' The Mili
of D'Anville's map is probably its chief monastery."[231] Hosie, in
his recent report of a journey through Litang and Batang to the border
of Tibet proper, refers to it as "the State of Mili, or Muli--better
known as Huang Lama ('Yellow Lama')." As regards this name "Huang
Lama," there appears to be some confusion of ideas, either on the part
of the natives of the state or on the part of the Chinese. _Huang_
means "yellow," but another word of identical sound though differently
written means "imperial,"[232] and I was assured by the lamas
themselves--who may have been deliberately misleading me--that the
_huang_ which is applied to their territory or its rulers is the second
of these. According to this theory, the state of Muli is the land of
the Imperial Lamas (or Lama), not the land of the "Yellow Lamas." The
Muli lamas do, however, belong to one of the Gélupa or reformed sects,
and therefore wear the "yellow hat" in religious ceremonials.
[Sidenote: KING OF MULI]
Unfortunately, the lama-prince was not at Muli at the time of my
arrival there, and three or four subordinate lamas, who called upon
me and with whom I conversed in Tibetan with the assistance of my
servant, were either disinclined or unable to impart much information.
But as far as I could gather, it appears that "a long time ago"[233]
the principal lama of this country rendered valuable services to the
Chinese Emperor, and received as a reward the title of "Huang Lama,"
and was confirmed in the spiritual and temporal sovereignty of the
whole principality of Muli. It is evident, however, that Muli has for
centuries past been regarded as a debatable land: sometimes the kings
or Grand Lamas of Tibet and sometimes the emperors of China have been
regarded as suzerains. According to one story which was told me by a
lama, Muli-land was at one time an integral part of the "monarchy" of
Tachienlu, and was ceded to a certain lama by one of the kings of Chala
as a reward for having cured the king of a painful disease. However
this may be, the dignity of prince-lama is now, and long has been, the
exclusive monopoly of one family. The system of succession is therefore
totally different from that generally in vogue in Tibet proper, where
the prior of a lamasery is either selected by the Dalai Lama or by the
whole body of lamas, or--in the case of the greater establishments--is
chosen as an infant to fill that high office because he is believed
to be the reincarnation of the prior or abbot last deceased.[234] The
ecclesiastical title of the lama-prince of Muli is _k'an-po_,[235] a
word which may be translated lord-abbot or bishop--and it is by that
title that he is familiarly known in his own territory; but in virtue
of his civil powers he is also a _gyal-po_ or "king," and is just as
powerful within his own limits as the king of Chala. The Muli _gyal-po_
being a lama cannot marry, but when he dies his successor is chosen
from among his brothers or nephews. If an otherwise eligible heir is
under the age of eighteen or thereabouts, he is passed over in favour
of any suitable elder relative who may be a lama. Notification of
the death of the _k'an-po_ or _gyal-po_ must be sent to the emperor
at Peking, and at the same time the name of a suitable heir, selected
from the eligible members of the "royal" family, is submitted for
the imperial consideration. His succession is as a matter of form
ratified by the emperor, and he forthwith enters upon his duties and
honours. News of the _k'an-po's_ death and the accession of his heir
is also sent to Lhasa, but the approval of the Dalai Lama is not now
essential to legalise the succession. Subject to the suzerainty of
China the _k'an-po_ is invested with full ecclesiastical and civil
powers in virtue of his double position, but in practice he generally
confines himself to civil and judicial administration, and leaves the
management of ecclesiastical affairs to lamas of lower rank. He has
three centres of government, all of which are also lamaseries: their
names are Muli, Lha-k'ang[236] and Khon.[237] Muli, the chief lamasery
and headquarters of the government, contains about four hundred and
fifty lamas; Lha-k'ang and Khon between one and two hundred each. At
these centres the _k'an-po_ resides alternately, generally remaining a
year at each. I was told that this custom was originated in order that
the _k'an-po_ might acquire a thorough knowledge of the different parts
of his territory, and that his ear should always be open to receive his
people's complaints.
[Sidenote: OFFICIALS OF MULI]
Important lawsuits are decided by the _k'an-po_ himself, but smaller
suits and petty criminal cases are dealt with by officials of
lower rank. The government is emphatically a hierarchy, for every
official--executive and judicial--is a lama. The only apparent
exceptions to this rule are the _Bei-ze_, village headmen, who,
however, hold no official rank, and are merely the patriarchs or most
substantial landholders of the different villages. The _bei-ze_ is
empowered to settle simple local disputes, but he has no prestige
outside his own village. His rank is inferior to that of any one who
has donned the robe of a lama or novitiate (_tra-pa_). The highest
officials after the _k'an-po_ are the _ch'an-dzö_,[238] a kind of lord
high treasurer, the _ku-ts'ab_[239] or "commissioner," and finally
the _nyer-ba_, whose chief duties appear to be connected with the
food-supply. All these dignitaries are appointed by the _k'an-po_, and
hold office during his good pleasure.[240]
In matters affecting Chinese interests the _k'an-po_ is expected to
communicate with the district magistrate of Yen-yüan, the prefect of
Ning-yüan, or the taotai of Ya-chou. If one of the parties to a lawsuit
is an independent Chinese, the case is sent to the Yen-yüan magistrate,
who deals with it according to ordinary Chinese procedure, or passes
it to his superiors. But such cases hardly ever arise in practice,
as the only people in Muli-land who call themselves Chinese are a
few half-castes who as dependents of one of the Huang Lama lamaseries
are subject to the _k'an-po's_ jurisdiction. The _k'an-po_ himself is
expected to proceed at least once in twelve years to Wu T'ai Shan,[241]
the sacred mountain of Shansi, whence, after the performance of
certain religious duties, he is supposed to go to Peking to do homage
to the emperor. His presents to the Court on such occasions take the
form of gold and skins. Within his territory he has complete control
of finances, but he pays a small annual tribute to China. All local
revenue is said to be paid in kind, and, as in China, mainly consists
in a land-tax assessed according to the productive capacity of the
land. In addition to ordinary taxation the people whose holdings adjoin
the main roads are subject to the same system of _ula_ that presses so
hardly on many of the subjects of the king of Chala. The _k'an-po_ also
derives considerable revenue from the gold-workings in his territory.
Gold-washing and mining rights are vested in the lamas, who exercise a
jealous control over the output of the metal and exact large royalties.
The gold is generally disposed of in the markets of Litang and
Tachienlu. The only remaining tax of importance is levied on tea, which
in the Muli territory is very expensive and beyond the means of many of
the inhabitants.
[Sidenote: MULI LAMASERY]
The present _k'an-po_ (whom, owing to his absence at Khon, I did
not meet) was in May 1906 a man of about thirty-seven years of age,
and had presided over his little state for about seventeen years. He
succeeded his elder brother. His full designation as given to me was
Ha-ba-de-li-gyal-po.[242] The permanent rank of the _k'an-po_ in his
capacity of Barbarian Chieftain is that of an _An Fu Ssŭ_.[243] His
territory is said to be larger than that of the king of Chala, but it
is poorer and has a smaller population.[244]
Within the Muli lamasery the rules of the reformed sects of Lamaism
are observed with fair strictness, and no woman is allowed under any
pretence to enter its coenobitical precincts. This is very different
from the lax state of affairs that prevails in the large lamaseries at
Tachienlu and further west. The houses or cells are for the most part
buildings of two stories. In spite of their clean whitewashed exteriors
they have a somewhat forbidding aspect, as, like all Tibetan buildings,
the windows are small and have neither glass nor paper. Boarded windows
are apt to give an impression of desolation to which it takes a long
time to become accustomed. The lamasery is built on the slope of a
mountain on which the various buildings rise above one another tier
upon tier. The first view of it is very striking, for the configuration
of the hill conceals it from sight until one is within a very short
distance of its walls, and then almost every separate building becomes
simultaneously visible.[245] To a traveller approaching from the
south-west the view is even more remarkable; for the whole mass of
buildings is entirely hidden from sight until he is within a stone's
throw of its nearest walls, and then it appears suddenly to rise out of
the ground before him in a blaze of whiteness. Nearly all the buildings
face east and north-east, with their backs to the mountain. In front
of the lamasery there is a gentle slope down to a valley running
north-east and south-west, through which flows a small stream, the Rong
Ch'u or "Valley Water." This stream flows to swell the waters of the Li
Ch'u, which is visible from Muli at a distance of about 3 miles, and
which flows in a south-easterly direction to join the Yalung. On the
slope in front of the lamasery are terraced fields of wheat, barley and
buckwheat, and pasture-lands for goats and yak. Behind and above the
lamasery is a forest, consisting mostly of oak-trees and coniferæ. It
is full of pheasants, but, as shooting is prohibited in the vicinity
of the lamasery, they are of no use to a hungry sportsman. Above the
forest is a precipitous range of crags. On the south side of the valley
are sparsely-wooded hills. Two buildings in the lamasery stand out
conspicuously, one above and the other below the lamas' dwellings.
[Illustration: LAMASERY OF MULI. [_To face p. 220._]
[Sidenote: LAMAISM AT MULI]
The lower one, with not very conspicuous gilded pinnacles, may
be regarded as the cathedral, for it is there that the ordinary
services taken from the Kah-gyur and Tang-gyur--the scriptures of
Lamaism--are daily celebrated. I attended one of the services in the
company of two of my lama hosts, but was requested not to go beyond
the threshold of the open door. A large choir of lamas and acolytes
were on their knees, intoning the usual chants in a manner that would
not discredit the choirs of some English churches. The singers had
evidently been well and skilfully trained, and though the music had
none of the magnificent harmonies of European music, it was by no means
unpleasant to the ear, and once or twice I was vaguely reminded of
Palestrina. As the interior of the building was shrouded in deep gloom,
I asked if I might enter and look round when the service was over,
but was told that it would continue without intermission for eleven
days and nights, during which time different choirs of lamas would
successively relieve each other. This surprising assertion was probably
merely designed to prevent my unsanctified feet from desecrating
the sacred floor; or perhaps my hosts, who may have been told that
Europeans were noted for their predatory instincts, feared that I might
take advantage of the darkness to purloin some of the sacred utensils.
The other conspicuous building to which I have referred stands on an
elevation overlooking the rest of the lamasery, and was closed up
when I arrived at Muli. It is the residence of the _k'an-po_, and in
it special services are held during one month in each year, from the
middle of the fourth to the middle of the fifth Chinese "moon," roughly
corresponding to July. During that month no animal may be slaughtered,
and the lamas are restricted to a purely vegetable diet. This is the
only time that the Buddhist injunction to destroy no living animal is
observed at Muli. Smoking, however, which is nowhere referred to, so
far as I remember, in the Buddhist scriptures, is at all times strictly
prohibited.
Muli is much smaller than some of the huge lamaist establishments in
other Tibetan states, where there are sometimes as many lamas collected
in one lamasery as there are undergraduates at Oxford. Muli has only
four hundred and fifty, and this number includes the _tra-pa_[246]
or novices, who are not, strictly speaking, entitled to be called
lamas. Most of the lamas have been to Lhasa, and all must go there on
pilgrimage before they can be allowed to hold high office. One of my
hosts informed me that the journey to Lhasa occupied three months, but
that the difficulties of the road were less serious than those which I
had myself met with during my journey from Tachienlu.
[Sidenote: RACE-TYPES OF MULI]
Tibetan is the official language of the state, and most of the lamas
can speak it; but they have also a language of their own, of which I
attempted to compile a small vocabulary.[247] It certainly appears to
be allied to Tibetan, but would be unintelligible to any one acquainted
with that language only. It seems to show a considerable admixture of
Mo-so, and perhaps of other less-known tribal dialects. The Tibetan
alphabet is used for the transcription of sounds. When I asked what
different races inhabited Muli-land I was only given a little vague
information which may be far from accurate. Unfortunately the
dialect of Tibetan spoken by the lamas who visited me was not always
intelligible to my servant, far less to myself, and I am by no means
satisfied that my questions were always clearly understood, or that the
replies given me were properly interpreted. The Njong, I was told, are
the predominant race, and it is of their language that I have given a
few words in the Appendix. I have suggested in another place[248] that
they may be more or less closely connected with the Mo-so of to-day.
Less numerous are the Man-tzŭ (always a vague term), Lolos, Pa-No,
Po-Nyi and Pa-Chi. The Pa-No and Po-Nyi, whoever they may be, appear to
have languages of their own. The Pa-Chi are said to be of mixed Chinese
and Man-tzŭ descent, and speak a dialect which my servant could make
nothing of. Finally there are a number of Miao-tzŭ, an aboriginal race
of which we still find vestiges in Kwang-si, Yunnan, Kuei-chou and
other parts of China. It was curious to find representatives of that
race or tribe so far west as the borders of Tibet,[249] and it would
be interesting to ascertain if they have preserved any traditions of
their origin. Unfortunately, it does not seem likely that there are
any educated men among them. Even in Muli-land they are a despised
race, and are the only people who are debarred from becoming lamas. The
names of other race-types of Muli given in the _T'ung Chih_[250] are
somewhat puzzling, and I can make little of them.
The lamas themselves are by no means well educated, and apart from
the lamas no one can read or write. As in all countries where lamaism
has established itself, laymen are allowed and indeed expected to
remain in complete ignorance of letters. In Burma and Siam, where a
far purer form of the Buddhist religion is observed, the monks are
the schoolmasters of the people, and the monasteries are the village
schools; but no such scholastic work is undertaken by the lamas of
Tibetan countries, who believe that nothing is worth studying except
what is in their sacred books, and that only lamas are worthy to study
them. It is no wonder that the people of Tibet are the most ignorant
and superstitious of any semi-civilised race in Asia.
[Sidenote: DEPARTURE FROM MULI]
In manners and customs there does not seem to be any particular in
which Muli-land stands alone. The dead bodies of both lamas and laymen
are disposed of by cremation. In the case of lamas the ashes are
carefully collected from the funeral pyre, ground into fine powder
and preserved in urns. The cremated bodies of laymen are treated
with less respect, for the ashes are merely thrown over precipices
or into mountain caverns.[251] In some parts of the eastern Tibetan
states--including those which like Chala and Muli have been annexed
to the Chinese empire--the bodies of the dead are left exposed on the
mountain sides until every particle of flesh has been torn off the
bones by vultures and beasts of prey;[252] and elsewhere--especially
in the case of the very poor, who cannot afford the expense of
cremation--the corpses are simply thrown into the nearest river,
without any ceremony.
I rested at Muli from the 3rd of May--the day of my arrival--till
the morning of the 6th, when I resumed my march towards Yunnan. From
Muli to Yung-ning, which is situated a few miles beyond the border,
is a journey of three stages, and up to that point--or rather to the
frontier of Yunnan--my path continued to lie through the territory
of Muli. The lamas did everything possible to render this part of
my journey pleasant. They granted me the privilege of _ula_ (for
which I paid the same rates as in the territory of Chala), sent an
_avant-courier_ to warn the villagers to give me proper treatment,
and deputed one of their probationers or _tra-pa_ to escort me to
Yung-ning. Our first stage was a short one. We began by going up the
valley of the Rong Ch'u towards the S.S.W. About 4 miles from Muli we
descended to the bed of the river, and crossed to the right bank. A
winding path led us up the steep slope of the south side of the valley,
and while we were still not more than 7 miles from Muli we halted. The
prospect of a steep climb over a pass on the following day seemed to
break the spirit of my followers, as they declared it was impossible to
proceed further that day. The pass is apparently a notorious haunt of
robbers. There was a solitary farmhouse at the place where we halted;
but as it was rather more squalid and filthy than usual, I decided to
camp out of doors. Towards evening a thunderstorm drove me into the
house, but I was speedily expelled again by the smoke and charcoal
fumes, and established myself under an improvised awning on the roof.
[Illustration: THE AUTHOR'S MULETEERS, NEAR YUNG-NING.
[_To face p. 226._]
On the following day we had a long and somewhat arduous march over the
pass of Shi Li La, the height of which is about 15,500 feet.[253] The
path bears at first towards the east and south-east, and gradually
ascends to a ridge, which is separated from the true summit by a narrow
valley running north-east and south-west. From this point to the summit
the climb would be easy in dry weather, but the thawing snows made the
path slippery and disagreeable. From the summit we found the descent at
first steep and rocky, but, as soon as we had left the snow behind us,
we found ourselves descending an easy road through a forest containing
many magnificent firs. Some of them measured 15 feet in circumference,
5 feet above the ground. Between 3,000 and 4,000 feet below the
summit of the pass, we crossed a stream, and went uphill for a few
hundred feet, thereafter descending into a broken and very picturesque
valley, in the middle of which we found the first inhabited spot we had
seen in the course of a 30-mile ride. This was the hamlet of Li She
Tzŭ, the inhabitants of which are Mo-so, a race of which I shall have
more to say below.[254] From this point to Yung-ning, and some distance
beyond it, we found every village inhabited almost exclusively by
people of this race.
[Sidenote: FRONTIER OF YUNNAN]
Leaving Li She Tzŭ at dawn on 8th May, we rode over an undulating road,
generally wooded, and at about 5 miles changed mules at the village
of Li Rang Tzŭ. This proved to be the last village of Muli-land, and
of the province of Ssuch'uan, for a march of barely 4 miles beyond it
led us across the boundary of the province at the top of a low range
of wooded hills. We were then in Yunnan. The descent into the next
plain was steep, and the road execrable. There we entered the first
of the Yunnanese villages--Djo-Dji--where I was received by the local
headman. Though a Mo-so, he was acquainted with Chinese, as well as
his own language, and was attired in a Chinese long coat with bright
brass buttons that had once adorned the uniform of a British soldier.
From a metal case which he held in his hand he drew one of his cards.
As he presented it to me, he told me that he was well acquainted with
Western foreigners, for he had seen two besides myself. They, he
added, were two Frenchmen, who had passed through the village quite
recently, and who--judging from his description--must have been engaged
in surveying.[255] He spoke of them with great warmth of feeling, for
it appeared that they had presented him with a valuable memento in the
shape of an empty sardine-tin. This was the metal box which he had
converted into a card-case, and of which he was evidently very proud.
The district in which this village is situated is fairly rich and well
populated. A series of cultivated plains, divided from each other by
rounded hills, extends the whole way from the frontier of the province
to the town of Yung-ning, which we reached after passing through a
number of prosperous villages, inhabited by Mo-so, of which the largest
were Wo La, Yi Ma Wa, A-ko Am-ni Wa, and A-gu Wa. In these villages
the houses were nearly all mere cabins, built of pine-logs, the roofs
being thin wooden boards weighted with heavy stones to keep them from
blowing away; but the dress of the women is in striking contrast with
the poverty of their dwellings. Their hair, which is roped round the
head, is lavishly adorned with strings of beads and silver ornaments,
and their skirts are brilliantly coloured.[256] But while wife and
daughter are allowed to array themselves in all the finery that the
family possesses, the husband is content to wear the meanest sack]
cloth, and carries no ornaments. Some of the men, in imitation of the
Chinese, shave the front of their heads and wear queues.
[Illustration: YUNG-NING. [_To face p. 229._]
[Sidenote: RULER OF YUNG-NING]
Yung-ning, in spite of the prominence given to it on the maps, is a
large straggling village rather than a town. It has no walls, its
houses are humble structures mostly built of wood, and its only
conspicuous building is an imposing lamasery. Its population is
purely agricultural. The people are of mixed Mo-so and Tibetan race,
and the prevailing religion is Lamaism. The town--if it must be so
called--is the capital of a district bounded on the north and east
by the provincial frontier, on the south by the Yangtse or River of
Golden Sand, and the Chinese sub-prefecture of Yung Pei, and on the
west by the tribal district of Chung-tien. The district of Yung-ning
is ruled by a hereditary native chief, a personage of less importance
than the "kings" of Chala and Muli, but still of considerable rank
and influence. Like many other tribal chiefs who, during the last few
centuries have been brought by cajolery or force of arms under the
dominion of China, the Yung-ning chief holds the hereditary rank of
a Chinese official. In China proper, as I need hardly say, official
rank is not hereditary; but in subduing the wild "barbarian" districts
of Ssuch'uan and Yunnan the Chinese Government found their task
facilitated by making an ingenious compromise with the chiefs. Each
chieftain who placed himself and his territory under the suzerainty
of China, and undertook to be guided in all matters of political
importance by Chinese advice, was not only confirmed in his position
as tribal ruler, but received the title and rank of a Chinese official
to be borne by his heirs and successors in perpetuity. The ruler of
Yung-ning thus bears the hereditary rank and title of prefect, and
it is for this reason that in the maps his capital is marked as a
_fu_ or prefecture. In all matters affecting Chinese interests he is
practically the subordinate of the sub-prefect of Yung Pei, a Chinese
official whose rank is nominally inferior to his own. Yung Pei is a
small city lying about six days' journey south of Yung-ning, forming
the centre of a Chinese administrative subdivision.
The day after my arrival at Yung-ning I received a call from the chief.
As he knew no Chinese we had to converse through the medium of his
Chinese secretary. The chief was a young man of about twenty-eight,
amiable enough, but intensely shy and ill at ease in the presence of a
foreigner. He wore the uniform of his Chinese rank, and showed himself
well acquainted with the Chinese rules of ceremony and etiquette.
The plain of Yung-ning is situated about 9,500 feet above sea-level,
in a warm latitude, and produces a great variety of crops. Part of
it is given up to the cultivation of rice, for it is well watered
by a considerable stream, which bisects the town and flows through
the middle of the plain. I saw here, for the first time since I had
left central Ssuch'uan, that patient and indispensable partner of the
Chinese ploughman in the rice-field, the water-buffalo. The stream is
named the K'ai Chi[257] and is spanned by a handsome stone bridge
which, according to the inscription on a tablet close by, was rebuilt
as recently as the thirtieth year of the present reign (1905). The
stream produces excellent fish.
[Sidenote: POLYANDRY]
The town contains, besides quasi-Tibetans and Mo-so, a considerable
number of Li-so (Leesaw), who speak a language of their own. During
the day and a half I spent in Yung-ning I took the opportunity to note
down a list of Li-so words, in order that I might compare them with the
Mo-so words I had picked up during the three days' march from Muli. The
vocabularies will be found in Appendix A.
In many respects the social customs of the Mo-so are identical with
those of eastern Tibet. Polyandry, for example, prevails among them to
a great extent. It is quite common for a woman to have three or four
husbands, or even more. With regard to the prevalence of this practice
in Tibetan countries, Baber[258] has observed the curious fact that
polygamy is the rule in the valleys while polyandry prevails in the
uplands, the reason apparently being that women are numerous in the
valleys, where the work is light and suitable to their capabilities,
but form only a small minority of the population of the mountains,
where the climate is severe and the work of the herdsmen not suited
to females. "The subject," he says, "raises many curious and by no
means frivolous questions, but I cannot help thinking it singular that
the conduct of courtship and matrimony should be regulated by the
barometrical pressure." In the Mo-so country, however, the practice
of polyandry seems to be almost, if not quite, as prevalent among the
people of the plains as among those of the mountains; it exists, for
instance, in the villages situated on the banks of the upper Yangtse,
less than two days' journey south of Yung-ning. The children of a woman
who has several husbands are apparently regarded as the legitimate
offspring of all of them: an arrangement facilitated by the fact that
the husbands are generally closely related to each other,[259] and
that the Mo-so, like the Tibetans, have no regular surnames. In one of
the Sino-Tibetan states north-west of Tachienlu the sovereign power is
said to be always in the hands of a woman. This is the principality of
Sa-mong (so spelled in Tibetan) in the north-east of Derge. If this
"regiment of women" is not connected with an ancient matriarchal custom
it may be the result of ages of polyandry, though I am not aware that
the queen of Sa-mong takes to herself more than one prince-consort.[260]
[Sidenote: DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD]
The funeral ceremonies of the Mo-so are much the same as those of
the Tibetans and the people of Muli. The dead are generally cremated
or left to the vultures and beasts of prey. In case of cremation,
the ashes are scattered or thrown into a ravine or river. Such
rough-and-ready methods of disposing of the dead seem to point back to
a time when the people that practise these customs were nomads, having
no fixed habitation and unable to raise permanent memorials to their
dead. The Mo-so, who have settled close to the banks of the Yangtse,
hold the richest lands, and are perhaps the most civilised members of
their race. They, perhaps influenced by the example of the Chinese,
seem to be gradually modifying the national customs with regard to the
disposal of the dead. After cremation they carefully wash the ashes in
the waters of the Yangtse, and then deposit them in artificial caves
roughly hewn by themselves out of the loose crumbling soil of the
river's right bank. But the ashes are not inurned, and no record of the
deceased is preserved on tablets or monuments.
FOOTNOTES:
[230] See Note 31 (p. 431).
[231] Royal Geographical Society's _Supplementary Papers_, vol. i. p.
96. The conjecture about the monastery was correct.
[232] 黃 (Yellow) and 皇 (Imperial).
[233] Judging from the dates in the _T'ung Chih_, it cannot have been
earlier than 1729.
[234] "Nearly every great monastery," says Waddell, "has its own
reincarnate Lama as its chief."--(_Lamaism in Tibet_, p. 230. For the
numbers of these reincarnated saints, see _ibid._, p. 243.) These are
the personages generally known by Europeans as Living Buddhas. One of
them presides over the great lamasery in Peking.
[235] Spelt mk'an-po (མཁན་པོ་)
[236] This word literally means the "house of a god, or shrine" (ལྷ་ཁང་)
It is the same lamasery as that otherwise known as Wa-chin, referred to
on p. 204.
[237] See Note 32 (p. 431).
[238] ཕྱག་མཛོད་ (ch'ag-mDzod), literally the "treasury-hand."
[239] སྐུ་ཚབ་ (sku-ts'ab), literally "vice-gerent" or "lieutenant."
[240] See Note 33 (p. 431).
[241] Known by the Tibetans as Re-wo-tse-nga. The monastery there is
said to be the oldest in China, and is visited annually by thousands of
pilgrims, Tibetan, Mongolian, and Chinese.
[242] Spelt Ha-dBar-bDe-Ligs(ཧ་དབར་བདེ་ལིགསརྒྱ་ལ་བོ་).
[243] See Note 34 (p. 432).
[244] For further information regarding the position of the ruler of
Muli and the history of his state, see Note 34 (p. 432).
[245] Travellers to Mecca have recorded the same fact with regard to
that city.
[246] གྲྭ་པ་·
[247] See Note 35 (p. 433).
[248] See pp. 280-281.
[249] Major H. R. Davies informs me that he found some Miao-tzŭ between
Mien-ning-hsien and the Yalung on the way to Muli, but that is much
further east.
[250] See Note 34 (p. 432).
[251] Cf. Marco Polo's description of the burial customs of certain
Yunnan tribes, vol. ii. pp. 122-123. (Cordier's edition, 1903.)
[252] See Rockhill, _Land of the Lamas_, pp. 286-287. See also p.
81, where he states that "the remains of the dead are exposed on the
hillsides in spots selected by lamas; if the body is rapidly devoured
by wild beasts and birds of prey, the righteousness of the deceased
is held to be evident, but if it remains a long time undevoured, his
wickedness is proved." See also the _Zend-Avesta_, _Sacred Books of
the East_, vol. iv. pp. 74-75 and 97-98. It is interesting to note
that Friar Odoric's account of "Tebek" is almost literally true, if we
except the remark about the tusked ladies.
[253] See Note 36 (p. 434).
[254] See below, chap. xv.
[255] From information obtained later I gather that these travellers
were the Count de Marsay and the Count L. de Las Cases.
[256] One of their earrings is illustrated at p. 152.
[257] 開基.
[258] See Royal Geographical Society's _Supplementary Papers_, vol. i.
p. 97.
[259] "In Ceylon the joint husbands are always brothers, and this is
also the case among the tribes residing at the foot of the Himalaya
mountains." (Lord Avebury's _Origin of Civilisation_, 6th ed. p. 153.)
A fuller account of polyandry in Ceylon may be found in Tennent's
_Ceylon_ (Longmans, 1859, 2nd ed. vol. ii. pp. 428 _seq._). Tennent
points out that polyandry can be traced back to very ancient times.
It "receives a partial sanction in the Institutes of Manu," and is
referred to without reproach in the Mahabharata. Herbert Spencer
(_Principles of Ethics_, pt. ii. ch. 13) says that in Tibet, "polyandry
appears more conducive to social welfare than any other relation of
the sexes. It receives approval from travellers, and even a Moravian
missionary defends it: the missionary holding that superabundant
population, in an unfertile country, must be a great calamity and
produce 'eternal welfare or eternal want.'" See also _Principles of
Sociology_. Polyandry is forbidden in the Shan States, though polygamy
is sanctioned. (See _Gazetteer of Upper Burma_, pt. i. vol. i. p. 325.)
[260] See Note 37 (p. 434).