Country in which there are precipitous cliffs with torrents running
between,
絶澗, explained by Mei Yao-ch‘ên as 前後險峻水橫其中.
deep natural hollows,
天井, explained as 四面峻坂澗壑所歸 “places enclosed on every side
by steep banks, with pools of water at the bottom.”
confined places,
天牢 “natural pens or prisons,” explained as 三面環絶易入難出
“places surrounded by precipices on three sides—easy to get into,
but hard to get out of.”
tangled thickets,
天羅, explained as 草木蒙密鋒鏑莫施 “places covered with such dense
undergrowth that spears cannot be used.”
quagmires
天陷, explained as 卑下汙𣾈車騎不通 “low-lying places, so heavy with
mud as to be impassible for chariots and horsemen.”
and crevasses,
天隙 is explained by Mei Yao-ch‘ên as 兩山相向洞道狹惡 “a narrow
difficult way between beetling cliffs,” but Ts‘ao Kung says
山澗迫狹地形深數尺長數丈者, which seems to denote something on a much
smaller scale. Tu Mu’s note is 地多溝坑坎陷木石 “ground covered
with trees and rocks, and intersected by numerous ravines and
pitfalls.” This is very vague, but Chia Lin explains it clearly
enough as a defile or narrow pass: 兩邊險絶形狹長而數里, and Chang
Yü takes much the same view. On the whole, the weight of the
commentators certainly inclines to the rendering “defile”. But the
ordinary meaning of 隙 (a crack or fissure) and the fact that 絶澗
above must be something in the nature of a defile, make me think
that Sun Tzŭ is here speaking of crevasses. The _T‘ung Tien_ and
_Yü Lan_ read 郄 for 隙, with the same meaning; the latter also
has 大害 after 天郄—a palpable gloss.
should be left with all possible speed and not approached.