FOOTNOTES:

Siamese Social System.

But the elements of decay existed from the first in the institution of slavery or serfdom, which was not restricted to a particular class, as in other lands, but, before the modern reforms, extended in principle to all the kings' subjects in mockery declared "Freemen" by the founders of the monarchy. This, however, may be regarded as perhaps little more than a legal fiction, for at all times class distinctions were really recognised, comprising the members of the royal family—a somewhat numerous group—the nobles named by the king, theleksor vassals, and the people, these latter being again subdivided into three sections, those liable to taxation, those subject to forced labour, and the slaves proper. But so little developed was the sentiment of personal dignity and freedom, that anybody from the highest noble to the humblest citizen might at any moment lapse into the lowest category. Like most Mongoloid peoples, the Siamese are incurable gamblers, and formerly it was an everyday occurrence for a freeman to stake all his goods and chattels, wives, children, and self, on the hazard of the die.

Status of Woman.

Yet the women, like their Burmese sisters, have always held a somewhat honourable social position, being free to walk abroad, go shopping, visit their friends, see the sights, and take part in the frequent public feastings without restriction. Those, however, who brought no dower and had to be purchased,might again be sold at any time, and many thus constantly fell from the dignity of matrons to the position of the merest drudges without rights or privileges of any kind. These strange relations were endurable, thanks to the genial nature of the national temperament, by which the hard lot of the thralls was softened, and a little light allowed to penetrate into the darkest corners[461]of the social system. The open slave-markets, which in the vassal Lao states fostered systematic raiding-expeditions amongst the unreduced aborigines, were abolished in 1873, and since 1890 all born in slavery are free on reaching their 21st year.

Buddhism.

Siamese Buddhism is a slightly modified form of that prevailing in Ceylon, although strictly practised but by few. There are two classes or "sects," the reformers who attach more importance to the observance of the canon law than to meditation, and the old believers, some devoted to a contemplative life, others to the study of the sunless wilderness of Buddhist writings. But, beneath it all, spirit or devil-worship is still rife, and in many districts pure animism is practically the only religion. Even temples and shrines have been raised to the countless gods of land and water, woods, mountains, villages and households. To these gods are credited all sorts of calamities, and to prevent them from getting into the bodies of the dead the latter are brought out, not through door or window, but through a breach in the wall, which is afterwards carefully built up. Similar ideas prevail amongst many other peoples, both at higher and lower levels of culture, for nothing is more ineradicable than such popular beliefs associated with the relations presumed to exist between the present and the after life.

Incredible sums are yearly lavished in offerings to the spirits, which give rise to an endless round of feasts andrevels, and also in support of the numerous Buddhist temples, convents, and their inmates. The treasures accumulated in the "royal cloisters" and other shrines represent a great part of the national savings—investments for the other world, among which are said to be numerous gold statues glittering with rubies, sapphires, and other priceless gems. But in these matters the taste of thetalapoins[462], as the priests were formerly called, is somewhat catholic, including pictures of reviews and battle-scenes from the European illustrated papers, and sometimes even statues of Napoleon set up by the side of Buddha.

Monasticism and Pessimism.

So numerous, absurd, and exacting are the rules of the monastic communities that, but for the aid of the temple servants and novices, existence would be impossible. A list of such puerilities occupies several pages in A. R. Colquhoun's workAmongst the Shans(219-231), and from these we learn that the monks must not dig the ground, so that they can neither plant nor sow; must not boil rice, as it would kill the germ; eat corn for the same reason; climb trees lest a branch get broken; kindle a flame, as it destroys the fuel; put out a flame, as that also would extinguish life; forge iron, as sparks would fly out and perish; swing their arms in walking; wink in speaking; buy or sell; stretch the legs when sitting; breed poultry, pigs, or other animals; mount an elephant or palanquin; wear red, black, green, or white garments; mourn for the dead, etc., etc. In a word all might be summed up by a general injunction neither to do anything, nor not to do anything, and then despair of attainingNirvana; for it would be impossible to conceive of any more pessimistic system in theory[463]. Practically it is otherwise, and in point of fact the utmost religious indifference prevails amongst all classes.

The Annamese.

Origins.

Within the Mongolic division it would be difficult to imagine any more striking contrast than that presented by the gentle, kindly, and on the whole not ill-favoured Siamese, and their hard-featured, hard-hearted, and grasping Annameseneighbours. Let anyone, who may fancy there is little or nothing in blood, pass rapidly from the bright, genial—if somewhat listless and corrupt—social life of Bangkok to the dry, uncongenial moral atmosphere of Ha-noi or Saigon, and he will be apt to modify his views on that point. Few observers have a good word to say for the Tonkingese, the Cochin-Chinese, or any other branch of the Annamese family, and some even of the least prejudiced are so outspoken that we must needs infer there is good ground for their severe strictures on these strange, uncouth materialists. Buddhists of course they are nominally; but of the moral sense they have little, unless it be (amongst the lettered classes) a pale reflection of the pale Chinese ethical code. The whole region in fact is a sort of attenuated China, to which it owes its arts and industries, its letters, moral systems, general culture, and even a large part of its inhabitants.Giao-shi(Kiao-shi), the name of the aborigines, said to mean "Bifurcated," or "Cross-toes[464]," in reference to the wide space between the great toe and the next, occurs in the legendary Chinese records so far back as 2285B.C., since which period the two countries are supposed to have maintained almost uninterrupted relations, whether friendly or hostile, down to the present day. At first the Giao-shi were confined to the northern parts of Lu-kiang, the present Tonking, all the rest of the coastlands being held by the powerful Champa (Tsiampa) people, whose affinities are with the Oceanic populations. But in 218B.C., Lu-kiang having been reduced and incorporated with China proper, a large number of Chinese emigrants settled in the country, and gradually merged with the Giao-shi in a single nationality, whose twofold descent is still reflected in the Annamese physical and mental characters.

This term Annam[465], however, did not come into use till the seventh century, when it was officially applied to the frontier river between China and Tonking, and afterwards extended to the whole of Tonking and Cochin-China. Tonking itself, meaning the "Eastern Court[466]," was originally the name onlyof the city of Ha-noi when it was a royal residence, but was later extended to the whole of the northern kingdom, whose true name isYüeh-nan. To this corresponded the southern Kwe-Chen-Ching, "Kingdom of Chen-Ching," which was so named in the ninth century from its capital Chen-Ching, and of which our Cochin-China appears to be a corrupt form.

But, amid all this troublesome political nomenclature, the dominant Annamese nation has faithfully preserved its homogeneous character, spreading, like the Siamese Shans, steadily southwards, and gradually absorbing the whole of the Champa domain to the southern extremity of the peninsula, as well as a large part of the ancient kingdom of Camboja about the Mekhong delta. They thus form at present the almost exclusive ethnical element throughout all the lowland and cultivated parts of Tonking, upper and lower Cochin-China and south Camboja, with a total population in 1898 of about twenty millions.

Physical and Mental Characters.

The Annamese are described in a semi-official report[467]as characterised by a high broad forehead, high cheek-bones, small crushed nose, rather thick lips, black hair, scant beard, mean height, coppery complexion, deceitful (rusée) expression, and rude or insolent bearing. The head is round (index 83 to 84) and the features are in general flat and coarse, while to an ungainly exterior corresponds a harsh unsympathetic temperament. The Abbé Gagelin, who lived years in their midst, frankly declares that they are at once arrogant and dishonest, and dead to all the finer feelings of human nature, so that after years of absence the nearest akin will meet without any outward sign of pleasure or affection. Others go further, and J. G. Scott summed it all up by declaring that "the fewer Annamese there are, the less taint there is on the human race." No doubt Lord Curzon gives a more favourable picture, but this traveller spent only a short time in the country, and even he allows that they are "tricky and deceitful, disposed to thieve when they get the chance, mendacious, and incurable gamblers[468]."

Yet they have one redeeming quality, an intense love of personal freedom, strangely contrasting with the almost abject slavish spirit of the Siamese. The feeling extends to allclasses, so that servitude is held in abhorrence, and, as in Burma, a democratic sense of equality permeates the social system[469]. Hence, although the State has always been an absolute monarchy, each separate commune constitutes a veritable little oligarchic commonwealth. This has come as a great surprise to the present French administrators of the country, who frankly declare that they cannot hope to improve the social or political position of the people by substituting European for native laws and usages. The Annamese have in fact little to learn from western social institutions.

Language and Letters.

Their language, spoken everywhere with remarkable uniformity, is of the normal Indo-Chinese isolating type, possessing six tones, three high, and three low, and written in ideographic characters based on the Chinese, but with numerous modifications and additions. But, although these are ill-suited for the purpose, the attempt made by the early Portuguese missionaries to substitute the so-calledquôc-ngù, or Roman phonetic system, has been defeated by the conservative spirit of the people. Primary instruction has long been widely diffused, and almost everybody can read and write as many of the numerous hieroglyphs as are needed for the ordinary purpose of daily intercourse. Every village has its free school, and a higher range of studies is encouraged by the public examinations to which, as in China, all candidates for government appointments are subjected. Under such a scheme surprising results might be achieved, were the course of studies not based exclusively on the empty formulas of Chinese classical literature. The subjects taught are for the most part puerile, and true science is replaced by the dry moral precepts of Confucius. One result amongst the educated classes is a scoffing, sceptical spirit, free from all religious prejudice, and unhampered by theological creeds or dogmas, combined with a lofty moral tone, not always however in harmony with daily conduct.

Religious Systems.

Even more than in China, the family is the true base of the social system, the head of the household being not only the high-priest of the ancestral cult, but also a kind of patriarch enjoying almost absolute control over his children. In this respect therelations are somewhat one-sided, the father having no recognised obligations towards his offspring, while these are expected to show him perfect obedience in life and veneration after death. Besides this worship of ancestry and the Confucian ethical philosophy, a national form of Buddhism is prevalent. Some even profess all three of these so-called "religions," beneath which there still survive many of the primitive superstitions associated with a not yet extinct belief in spirits and the supernatural power of magicians. While the Buddhist temples are neglected and the few bonzes[470]despised, offerings are still made to the genii of agriculture, of the waters, the tiger, the dolphin, peace, war, diseases, and so forth, whose rude statues in the form of dragons or other fabulous monsters are even set up in the pagodas. Since the early part of the seventeenth century Roman Catholic missionaries have laboured with considerable success in this unpromising field, where the congregations were estimated in 1898 at about 900,000.

The Chinese.

From Annam the ethnical transition is easy to China[471]and its teeming multitudes, regarding whose origins, racial and cultural, two opposite views at present hold the field. What may be called the old, but by no means the obsolete school, regards the Chinese populations as the direct descendants of the aborigines who during the Stone Ages entered the Hoang-ho valley probably from the Tibetan plateau, there developed their peculiar culture independently of foreign influences, and thence spread gradually southwards to the whole of China proper, extirpating, absorbing, or driving to the encircling western and southern uplands the ruder aborigines of the Yang-tse-Kiang and Si-Kiang basins.

The Babylonian Theory.

In direct opposition to this view the new school, championed especially by T. de Lacouperie[472], holds that the present inhabitants of China are late intruders from south-western Asia, and that they arrived not as rude aborigines, but as a cultured people with a considerable knowledge of letters, science, and the arts, all of which they acquired either directly or indirectly from the civilised Akkado-Sumerian inhabitants of Babylonia.

Not merely analogies and resemblances, but what are called actual identities, are pointed out between the two cultures, and even between the two languages, sufficient to establish a common origin of both, Mesopotamia being the fountain-head, whence the stream flowed by channels not clearly defined to the Hoang-ho valley. Thus the Chin.yu, originallygo, is equated with Akkadgu, to speak;yewithge, night, and so on. Then the astronomic and chronologic systems are compared, Berossus and the cuneiform tablets dividing the prehistoric Akkad epoch into 10 periods of 10 kings, lasting 120 Sari, or 432,000 years, while the corresponding Chinese astronomic myth also comprises 10 kings (or dynasties) covering the same period of 432,000 years. The astronomic system credited to the emperor Yao (2000B.C.) similarly corresponds with the Akkadian, both having the same five planets with names of like meaning, and a year of 12 months and 30 days, with the same cycle of intercalated days, while several of the now obsolete names of the Chinese months answer to those of the Babylonians. Even the name of the first Chinese emperor who built an observatory, Nai-Kwang-ti, somewhat resembles that of the Elamite king, Kuder-na-hangti, who conquered Chaldaea about 2280B.C.

All this can hardly be explained away as a mere series of coincidences; nevertheless neither Sinologues nor Akkadists are quite convinced, and it is obvious that many of the resemblances may be due to trade or intercourse both by the old overland caravan routes, and by the seaborne traffic from Eridu at the head of the Persian Gulf, which was a flourishing emporium 4000 or 5000 years ago.

But, despite some verbal analogies, an almost insurmountable difficulty is presented by the Akkadian and Chineselanguages, which no philological ingenuity can bring into such relation as is required by the hypothesis. T. G. Pinches has shown that at a very early period, say some 5000 years ago, Akkadian already consisted, "for the greater part, of words of one syllable," and was "greatly affected by phonetic decay, the result being that an enormous number of homophones were developed out of roots originally quite distinct[473]." This Akkadian scholar sends me a number of instances, such astufortura, to enter;tifortila, to live;dufordumu, son;dufordugu, good, as inEridu, forGurudugu, "the good city," adding that "the list could be extended indefinitely[474]." But de Lacouperie's Bak tribes, that is, the first immigrants from south-west Asia, are not supposed to have reached North China till about 2500 or 3000B.C., at which time the Chinese language was still in the untoned agglutinating state, with but few monosyllabic homophones, and consequently quite distinct from the Akkadian, as known to us from the Assyrian syllabaries, bilingual lists, and earlier tablets from Nippur or Lagash.

Hence the linguistic argument seems to fail completely, while the Babylonian origin of the Chinese writing system, or rather, the derivation of Chinese and Sumerian from some common parent in Central Asia, awaits further evidence. Many of the Chinese and Akkadian "line forms" collated by C. J. Ball[475]are so simple and, one might say, obvious, that they seem to prove nothing. They may be compared with such infantile utterances aspa,ma,da,ta, occurring in half the languages of the world, without proving a connection or affinity between any of them. But even were the common origin of the two scripts established, it would prove nothing as to the common origin of the two peoples, but only show cultural influences, which need not be denied.

Chinese Culture and Social System.

But if Chinese origins cannot be clearly traced back to Babylonia, Chinese culture may still, in a sense, claim to be the oldest in the world, inasmuch as it has persisted with little change from its rise some 4500 years ago down to present times. All other early civilisations—Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Assyrian,Persian, Hellenic—have perished, or live only in their monuments, traditions, oral or written records. But the Chinese, despite repeated political and social convulsions, is still as deeply rooted in the past as ever, showing no break of continuity from the dim echoes of remote prehistoric ages down to the last revolution, and the establishment of the Republic. These things touch the surface only of the great ocean of Chinese humanity, which is held together, not by any general spirit of national sentiment (all sentiment is alien from the Chinese temperament), nor by any community of speech, for many of the provincial dialects differ profoundly from each other, but by a prodigious power of inertia, which has hitherto resisted all attempts at change either by pressure from without, or by spontaneous impulse from within.

Letters and Early Records.

What they were thousands of years ago, the Chinese still are, a frugal, peace-loving, hard-working people, occupied mainly with tillage and trade, cultivating few arts beyond weaving, porcelain and metal work, but with a widely diffused knowledge of letters, and a writing system which still remains at the cumbrous ideographic stage, needing as many different symbols as there are distinct concepts to be expressed. Yet the system has one advantage, enabling those who speak mutually unintelligible idioms to converse together, using the pencil instead of the tongue. For this very reason the attempts made centuries ago by the government to substitute a phonetic script had to be abandoned. It was found that imperial edicts and other documents so written could not be understood by the populations speaking dialects different from the literary standard, whereas the hieroglyphs, like our ciphers 1, 2, 3 ..., could be read by all educated persons of whatever allied form of speech.

Originally the Chinese system, whether developed on the spot or derived from Akkadian or any other foreign source, was of course pictographic or ideographic, and it is commonly supposed to have remained at that stage ever since, the only material changes being of a graphic nature. The pictographs were conventionalised and reduced to their present form, but still remained ideograms supplemented by a limited number of phonetic determinants. But de Lacouperie has shown that this view is a mistake, and that the evolution from the pictograph to the phonetic symbol had been practically completed in China many centuries before the new era. TheKu-wenstyle current before the ninth centuryB.C."was really the phonetic expression of speech[476]." But for the reason stated it had to be discontinued, and a return made to the earlier ideographic style. The change was effected about 820B.C.by She Chöu, minister of the Emperor Süen Wang, who introduced theTa-chuenstyle in which "he tried to speak to the eye and no longer to the ear," that is, he reverted to the earlier ideographic process, which has since prevailed. It was simplified about 227B.C.(Siao Chuenstyle), and after some other modifications the present caligraphic form (Kiai Shu) was introduced by Wang Hi in 350A.D.Thus one consequence of the "Expansion of China" was a reversion to barbarism, in respect at least of the national graphic system, by which Chinese thought and literature have been hampered for nearly 3000 years.

Written records, though at first mainly of a mythical character, date from about 3000B.C.[477]Reference is made in the early documents to the rude and savage times, which in China as elsewhere certainly preceded the historic period. Three different prehistoric ages are even discriminated, and tradition relates how Fu-hi introduced wooden, Thin-ming stone, and Shi-yu metal implements[478]. Later, when their origin and use were forgotten, the jade axes, like those from Yunnan, were looked on as bolts hurled to the earth by the god of thunder, while the arrow-heads, supposed to be also ofdivine origin, were endowed in the popular fancy with special virtues and even regarded as emblems of sovereignty. Thus may perhaps be explained the curious fact that in early times, before the twelfth centuryB.C., tribute in flint weapons was paid to the imperial government by some of the reduced wild tribes of the western uplands.

Early Migrations.

Absorption of the Aborigines.

These men of the Stone and Metal Ages are no doubt still largely represented, not only amongst the rude hill tribes of the southern and western borderlands, but also amongst the settled and cultured lowlanders of the great fluvial valleys. The "Hundred Families," as the first immigrants called themselves, came traditionally from the north-western regions beyond the Hoang-ho. According to the Yu-kung their original home lay in the south-western part of Eastern Turkestan, whence they first migrated east to the oases north of the Nan-Shan range, and then, in the fourth millennium before the new era, to the fertile valleys of the Hoang-ho and its Hoeï-ho tributary. Thence they spread slowly along the other great river valleys, partly expelling, partly intermingling with the aborigines, but so late as the seventh centuryB.C.were still mainly confined to the region between the Peï-ho and the lower Yang-tse-Kiang. Even here several indigenous groups, such as the Hoeï, whose name survives in that of the Hoeï river, and the Laï of the Shantong Peninsula, long held their ground, but all were ultimately absorbed or assimilated throughout the northern lands as far south as the left bank of the Yang-tse-Kiang.

Survivals—Hok-lo; Hakka; Pun-ti.

Beyond this river many were also merged in the dominant people continually advancing southwards; but others, collectively or vaguely known as Si-fans, Mans, Miao-tse, Paï, Tho, Y-jen[479], Lolo, etc., were driven to the south-western highlands which they still occupy. Even some of the populations in the settled districts, such as theHok-los[480], andHakkas[481], of Kwang-tung, and thePun-ti[482]of the Canton district, are scarcely yet thoroughly assimilated. They differ greatly in temperament, usages, appearance, and speech from the typical Chinese of the Central and Northern provinces, whom in fact they look upon as "foreigners," and with whom they hold intercourse through "Pidgin English[483]," thelingua francaof the Chinese seaboard[484].

Confucianism.

Nevertheless a general homogeneous character is imparted to the whole people by their common political, social, and religious institutions, and by that principle of convergence in virtue of which different ethnical groups, thrown together in the same area and brought under a single administration, tend to merge in a uniform new national type. This general uniformity is conspicuous especially in the religious ideas which, except in the sceptical lettered circles, everywhere underlie the three recognised national religions, or "State Churches," as they might almost be called:ju-kiao, Confucianism;tao-kiao, Taoism; andfo-kiao, Buddhism (Fo = Buddha). The first, confined mainly to the educated upper classes, is not so much a religion as a philosophic system, a frigid ethical code based on the moral and matter-of-fact teachings of Confucius[485]. Confucius was essentially a social and political reformer, who taught by example and precept; the main inducement to virtue being, not rewards or penalties in the after-life, but well- or ill-being in the present. His system is summed up in the expression "worldly wisdom," as embodied in such popular sayings as: A friend is hardly made in a year, but unmade in a moment; When safe remember danger, in peace forget not war; Filial father, filial son, unfilial father, unfilial son; In washing up, plates and dishes may get broken; Don't do what you wouldnot have known; Thatch your roof before the rain, dig the well before you thirst; The gambler's success is his ruin; Money goes to the gambling den as the criminal to execution (never returns); Money hides many faults; Stop the hand, stop the mouth (stop work and starve); To open a shop is easy, to keep it open hard; Win your lawsuit and lose your money.

Although he instituted no religious system, Confucius nevertheless enjoined the observance of the already existing forms of worship, and after death became himself the object of a widespread cult, which still persists. "In every city there is a temple, built at the public expense, containing either a statue of the philosopher, or a tablet inscribed with his titles. Every spring and autumn worship is paid to him in these temples by the chief official personages of the city. In the schools also, on the first and fifteenth of each month, his title being written on red paper and affixed to a tablet, worship is performed in a special room by burning incense and candles, and by prostrations[486]."

Taoism.

Taoism, a sort of pantheistic mysticism, called by its founder, Lao-tse (600B.C.), theTao, or "way of salvation," was embodied in the formula "matter and the visible world are merely manifestations of a sublime, eternal, incomprehensible principle." It taught, in anticipation of Sakya-Muni, that by controlling his passions man may escape or cut short an endless series of transmigrations, and thus arrive by the Tao at everlasting bliss—sleep? unconscious rest or absorption in the eternal essence? Nirvana? It is impossible to tell from the lofty but absolutely unintelligible language in which the master's teachings are wrapped.

But it matters little, because his disciples have long forgotten the principles they never understood, and Taoism has almost everywhere been transformed to a system of magic associated with the never-dying primeval superstitions. Originally there was no hierarchy of priests, the only specially religious class being the Ascetics, who passed their livesabsorbed in the contemplation of the eternal verities. But out of this class, drawn together by their common interests, was developed a kind of monasticism, with an organised brotherhood of astrologers, magicians, Shamanists, somnambulists, "mediums," "thought-readers," charlatans and impostors of all sorts, sheltered under a threadbare garb of religion.

Buddhism.

Buddhism also, although of foreign origin, has completely conformed to the national spirit, and is now a curious blend of Hindu metaphysics with the primitive Chinese belief in spirits and a deified ancestry. In every district are practised diverse forms of worship between which no clear dividing line can be drawn, and, as in Annam, the same persons may be at once followers of Confucius, Lao-tse, and Buddha. In fact such was the position of the Emperor, who belongedex officioto all three of these State religions, and scrupulously took part in their various observances. There is even some truth in the Chinese view that "all three make but one religion," the first appealing to man's moral nature, the second to the instinct of self-preservation, the third to the higher sphere of thought and contemplation.

Fung-shui and Ancestry Worship.

But behind, one might say above it all, the old animism still prevails, manifested in a multitude of superstitious practices, whose purport is to appease the evil and secure the favour of the good spirits, theFeng-shuiorFung-shui, "air and water" genii, who have to be reckoned with in all the weightiest as well as the most trivial occurrences of daily life. These with the ghosts of their ancestors, by whom the whole land is haunted, are the bane of the Chinaman's existence. Everything depends on maintaining a perfect balance between the Fung-shui, that is, the two principles represented by the "White Tiger" and the "Azure Dragon," who guard the approaches of every dwelling, and whose opposing influences have to be nicely adjusted by the well-paid professors of the magic arts. At the death of the emperor Tung Chih (1875) a great difficulty was raised by the State astrologers, who found that the realm would be endangered if he were buried, according to rule, in the imperial cemetery 100 miles west of Pekin, as his father reposed in the other imperial cemetery situated the same distance east of the capital. For some subtle reason the balance would have been disturbed between Tiger and Dragon, and it took nine months to settle the point, during which, asreported by the American Legation, the whole empire was stirred, councils of State agitated, and £50,000 expended to decide where the remains of a worthless and vicious young man should be interred.

Owing to the necessary disturbance of the ancestral burial places, much trouble has been anticipated in the construction of the railways, for which concessions have now been granted to European syndicates. But an Englishman long resident in the country has declared that there will be no resistance on the part of the people. "The dead can be removed with due regard to Fung Shui; a few dollars will make that all right." This is fully in accordance with the thrifty character of the Chinese, which overrides all other considerations, as expressed in the popular saying: "With money you may move the gods; without it you cannot move men." But the gods may even be moved without money, or at least with spurious paper money, for it is a fixed belief of their votaries that, like mortals, they may be outwitted by such devices. When rallied for burning flash notes at a popular shrine, since no spirit-bank would cash them, a Chinaman retorted: "Why me burn good note? Joss no can savvy." In a similar spirit the god of war is hoodwinked by wooden boards hung on the ramparts of Pekin and painted to look like heavy ordnance.

In fact appearance, outward show, observance of the "eleventh commandment," in a word "face" as it is called, is everything in China. "To understand, however imperfectly, what is meant by 'face,' we must take account of the fact that as a race the Chinese have a strong dramatic instinct. Upon very slight provocation any Chinese regards himself in the light of an actor in a drama. A Chinese thinks in theatrical terms. If his troubles are adjusted he speaks of himself as having 'got off the stage' with credit, and if they are not adjusted he finds no way to 'retire from the stage.' The question is never of facts, but always of form. Once rightly apprehended, 'face' will be found to be in itself a key to the combination-lock of many of the most important characteristics of the Chinese[487]."

Islam and Christianity.

Of foreign religions Islam, next to Buddhism, has made most progress. Introduced by the early Arab and Persian traders, and zealously preached throughout the Jagatai empire in the twelfth century, it has secured a firm footing especially in Kan-su, Shen-si, and Yunnan, and is of course dominant in Eastern (Chinese) Turkestan. Despite the wholesale butcheries that followed the repeated insurrections between 1855 and 1877, theHoeï-Hoeï,Panthays, orDungans, as the Muhammadans are variously called, were still estimated, in 1898, at about 22,000,000 in the whole empire.

Islam was preceded by Christianity, which, as attested by the authentic inscription of Si-ngan-fu, penetrated into the western provinces under the form of Nestorianism about the seventh century. The famous Roman Catholic missions with headquarters at Pekin date from the close of the sixteenth century, and despite internal dissensions have had a fair measure of success, the congregations comprising altogether over one million members. Protestant missions date from 1807 (London Missionary Society) and in 1910 claimed over 200,000 church members and baptized Christians, the total having more than doubled since 1900[488].

The above-mentioned dissensions arose out of the practices associated with ancestry worship, offerings of flowers, fruits and so forth, which the Jesuits regarded merely as proofs of filial devotion, but were denounced by the Dominicans as acts of idolatry. After many years of idle controversy, the question was at last decided against the Jesuits by Clement XI in the famous Bull,Ex illa die(1715), and since then, neophytes having to renounce the national cult of their forefathers, conversions have mainly been confined to the lower classes, too humble to boast of any family tree, or too poor to commemorate the dead by ever-recurring costly sepulchral rites.

The Mandarin Class.

In China there are no hereditary nobles, indeed no nobles at all, unless it be the rather numerous descendants of Confucius who dwell together and enjoy certain social privileges, in this somewhat resembling theShorfa(descendants of the Prophet) in Muhammadan lands. If any titles have to be awarded forgreat deeds they fall, not on the hero, but on his forefathers, and thus at a stroke of the vermilion pencil are ennobled countless past generations, while the last of the line remains unhonoured until he goes over to the majority. Between the Emperor, "patriarch of his people," and the people themselves, however, there stood an aristocracy of talent, or at least of Chinese scholarship, the governing Mandarin[489]class, which was open to the highest and the lowest alike. All nominations to office were conferred exclusively on the successful competitors at the public examinations, so that, like the French conscript with the hypothetical Marshal's bâton in his knapsack, every Chinese citizen carried the buttoned cap of official rank in his capacious sleeve. Of these there are nine grades, indicated respectively in descending order by the ruby, red coral, sapphire, opaque blue, crystal, white shell, gold (two), and silver button, or rather little globe, on the cap of office, with which correspond the nine birds—manchu crane, golden pheasant, peacock, wild goose, silver pheasant, egret, mandarin duck, quail, and jay—embroidered on the breast and back of the State robe.

Theoretically the system is admirable, and at all events is better than appointments by Court favour. But in practice it was vitiated, first by the narrow, antiquated course of studies in the dry Chinese classics, calculated to produce pedants rather than statesmen, and secondly by the monopoly of preference which it conferred on a lettered caste to the exclusion of men of action, vigour, and enterprise. Moreover, appointments being made for life, barring crime or blunder, the Mandarins, as long as they approved themselves zealous supporters of the reigning dynasty, enjoyed a free hand in amassing wealth by plunder, and the wealth thus acquired was used to purchase further promotion and advancement, rather than to improve the welfare of the people.

They have the reputation of being a courteous people, as punctilious as the Malays themselves; and they are so amongst each other. But their attitude towards strangers is the embodiment of aggressive self-righteousness, a complacent feeling of superiority which nothing can disturb. Even the upper classes, with all their efforts to be at least polite, oftenbetray the feeling in a subdued arrogance which is not always to be distinguished from vulgar insolence. "After the courteous, kindly Japanese, the Chinese seem indifferent, rough, and disagreeable, except the well-to-do merchants in the shops, who are bland, complacent, and courteous. Their rude stare, and the way they hustle you in the streets and shout their 'pidjun' English at you is not attractive[490]." But the stare, the hustling and the shouting may not be due to incivility. No doubt the Chinaman regards the foreigner as a "devil" but he has reason, and he never ceases to be astonished at foreign manners and customs "extremely ferocious and almost entirely uncivilised[491]."

FOOTNOTES:[375]Ethnology, p. 300.[376]Geogr. Journ., May, 1898, p. 491. This statement must of course be taken as having reference only to the historical Malays and their comparatively late migrations.[377]For the desiccation of Asia see P. Kropotkin,Geogr. Journ.XXIII. 1904; E. Huntington,The Pulse of Asia, 1907.[378]See J. Cockburn's paper "On Palæolithic Implements," etc., inJourn. Anthr. Inst.1887, p. 57 sq.[379]"Le type. primitif des Mongols est pour nous dolichocéphale" (Les Aryens au Nord et au Sud de l'Hindou-Kouch, 1896, p. 50).[380]Thus Risley's Tibetan measurements were all of subjects from Sikkim and Nepal (Tribes and Castes of Bengal, Calcutta, 1896,passim). In the East, however, Desgodins and other French missionaries have had better opportunities of studying true Tibetans amongst the Si-fan ("Western Strangers"), as the frontier populations are called by the Chinese.[381]Op. cit.p. 319.[382]Op. cit.p. 327. Here we are reminded that, though the Sacae are called "Scythians" by Herodotus and other ancient writers, under this vague expression were comprised a multitude of heterogeneous peoples, amongst whom were types corresponding to all the main varieties of Mongolian, western Asiatic, and eastern European peoples. "Aujourd'hui l'ancien type sace, adouci parmi les mélanges, reparaît et constitue le type si caractéristique, si complexe et si différent de ses voisins que nous appelons le type balti" (p. 328).[383]W. W. Rockhill, our best living authority, accepts none of the current explanations of the widely diffused termbod(bhót, bhot), which appears to form the second element in the wordTibet(Stod-Bod, pronouncedTeu-Beu, "Upper Bod,"i.e.the central and western parts in contradistinction toMän-Bod, "Lower Bod," the eastern provinces).Notes on the Ethnology of Tibet, Washington, 1895, p. 669. This writer finds the first mention of Tibet in the formTobbat(there are many variants) in the Arab Istakhri's works, about 590A.H., while T. de Lacouperie would connect it with the Tatar kingdom ofTu-bat(397-475A.D.). This name might easily have been extended by the Chinese from the Tatars of Kansu to the neighbouring Tanguts, and thus to all Tibetans.[384]Hbrog-pa,Drok-pa, pronouncedDru-pa.[385]The Mongols apply the nameTangutto Tibet and call all TibetansTangutu, "which should be discarded as useless and misleading, as the people inhabiting this section of the country are pure Tibetans" (Rockhill, p. 670). It is curious to note that the Mongol Tangutu is balanced by the TibetanSok-pa, often applied to all Mongolians.[386]Notes on the Ethnology of Tibet, 1895, p. 675; see also S. Chandra Das,Journey to Lhasa and Central Tibet, 1904; F. Grenard,Tibet: the Country and its Inhabitants, 1904; G. Sandberg,Tibet and the Tibetans, 1906; and L. A. Waddell,Lhasa and its Mysteries, with a record of the Expedition of 1903-1904, 1905.[387]Isvestia,XXI.3.[388]Ethnology, p. 305.[389]Abor,i.e."independent," is the name applied by the Assamese to the East Himalayan hill tribes, theMinyong,PadamandHrasso, who are theSloof the Tibetans. These are all affiliated by Desgodins to the Lho-pa of Bhutan (Bul. Soc. Géogr., October, 1877, p. 431), and are to be distinguished from theBori(i.e."dependent") tribes of the plains, all more or less Hinduized Bhotiyas (Dalton,Ethnology of Bengal, p. 22 sq.). See A. Hamilton,In Abor Jungles, 1912.[390]Not to be confused with theKhas, as the wild tribes of the Lao country (Siam) are collectively called. Capt. Eden Vansittart thinks in Nepal the term is an abbreviation of Kshatriya, or else means "fallen." This authority tells us that, although the Khas are true Gurkhas, it is not the Khas who enlist in our Gurkha regiments, but chiefly the Magars and Gurungs, who are of purer Bhotiya race and less completely Hinduized ("The Tribes, Clans, and Castes of Nepal," inJourn. As. Soc. Bengal;LXIII.I, No. 4).[391]Embassy to the Court of the Teshoo Lama, p. 350 sq.[392]"Voilà, je crois, le vrai Tibetain des pays cultivés du sud, qui se regarde comme bien plus civilisé que les pasteurs ou bergers du nord" (Le Thibet, p. 253).[393]Notes on the Ethnology, etc., p. 677. It may here be remarked that the unfriendliness of which travellers often complain appears mainly inspired by the Buddhist theocracy, who rule the land and are jealous of all "interlopers."[394]Ibid.p. 678.[395]With it may be compared the Chinese province ofKan-su, so named from its two chief townsKan-chau andSu-chau (Yule'sMarco Polo,I.p. 222).[396]"Buddhist Turks," says Sir H. H. Howorth (Geogr. Journ.1887, p. 230).[397]E. Delmar Morgan,Geogr. Journ.1887, p. 226.[398]"Whatever may have been the origin of polyandry, there can be no doubt that poverty, a desire to keep down population, and to keep property undivided in families, supply sufficient reason to justify its continuance. The same motives explain its existence among the lower castes of Malabar, among the Jat (Sikhs) of the Panjab, among the Todas, and probably in most other countries in which this custom prevails" (Rockhill, p. 726).[399]T. Rice Holmes,Ancient Britain, 1907, pp. 110 and 465-6.[400]At least no reference is made to the Bonbo practice in his almost exhaustive monograph onThe Swastika, Washington, 1896. The reversed form, however, mentioned by Max Müller and Burnouf, is figured at p. 767 and elsewhere.[401]Sarat Chandra Das,Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, 1881-2.[402]This point, so important in the history of linguistic evolution, has I think been fairly established by T. de Lacouperie in a series of papers in theOriental and Babylonian Record, 1888-90. See G. A. Grierson'sLinguistic Survey of India,III.Tibeto-Burman Family, 1906, by Sten Konow.[403]Ladák, London, 1854.[404]G. B. Mainwaring,A Grammar of the Rong (Lepcha) Language, etc., Calcutta, 1876, pp. 128-9.[405]Outline Grammar of the Angámi-Naga Language, Calcutta, 1887, pp. 4, 5. For an indication of the astonishing number of distinct languages in the whole of this region see Gertrude M. Godden's paper "On the Naga and other Frontier Tribes of North-East India," inJourn. Anthr. Inst.1897, p. 165. Under the heading Tibeto-Burman Languages Sten Konow recognisesTibetan,Himalayan,North Assam,Bodo,Naga,Kuki-Chin,MeiteiandKachin. The Naga group comprises dialects of very different kinds; some approach Tibetan and the North Assam group, others lead over to the Bodo, others connect with Tibeto-Burman. Meitei lies midway between Kuki-Chin and Kachin, and these merge finally in Burmese. Grierson'sLinguistic Survey of India, Vol.III.1903-6.[406]Almost hopeless confusion continues to prevail in the tribal nomenclature of these multitudinous hill peoples. The official sanction given to the termsKukiandLushaias collective names may be regretted, but seems now past remedy.Kukiis unknown to the people themselves, whileLushaiis only the name of a single group proud of their head-hunting proclivities, hence they call themselves, or perhaps are calledLu-Shai, "Head-Cutters," fromluhead,shato cut (G. H. Damant). Other explanations suggested by C. A. Soppitt (Kuki-Lushai Tribes, with an Outline Grammar of the Rangkhol-Lushai Language, Shillong, 1887) cannot be accepted.[407]Op. cit.[408]See G. A. Grierson and Sten Konow in Grierson'sLinguistic Survey of India, Vol.III.PartII.Bodo, Nāgā and Kachin, 1903, PartIII.Kuki-Chin and Burma, 1904.[409]The Nāga Tribes of Manipur, 1911, p. 2. Cf. J. Shakespear, "The Kuki-Lushai Clans,"Journ. Roy. Anthr. Inst.XXXIX.1909.[410]Op. cit. p. 5.[411]Op. cit.p. 122. A custom of human sacrifice among the Naga is described in theJournal of the Burma Research Society, 1911, "Human Sacrifices near the Upper Chindwin."[412]It is a curious phonetic phenomenon that the combinationsklandtlare indistinguishable in utterance, so that it is immaterial whether this term be writtenKlingorTling, though the latter form would be preferable, as showing its origin fromTelinga.[413]"The Aboriginal Tribes of Manipur,"Journ. Anthr. Inst.1887, p. 350.[414]R. Brown,Statistical Account of Manipur, 1874.[415]T. C. Hodson,The Meitheis, 1908, p. 96.[416]T. C. Hodson,The Meitheis, 1908, pp. 96-7.[417]G. Watt,loc. cit.p. 362.[418]The Chin Hills, etc., Vol.I., Rangoon, 1896.[419]Op. cit.p. 165.[420]R. C. Temple, Art. "Burma," Hastings,Ency. Religion and Ethics, 1910.[421]Dalton,Ethnology of Bengal, p. 9.[422]Prince Henri d'Orléans writes "que les Singphos et les Katchins [Kakhyens] ne font qu'un, que le premier mot estthaiet le second birman."Du Tonkin aux Indes, 1898, p. 311. This is how the ethnical confusion in these borderlands gets perpetuated.Singphois notThai, i.e. Shan or Siamese, but a native word as here explained.[423]John Anderson,Mandalay to Momein, 1876, p. 131.[424]Three skulls discovered by M. Mansuy in a cave at Pho-Binh-Gia (Indo-China) associated with Neolithic culture were markedly dolichocephalic, resembling in some respects the Cro-Magnon race of the Reindeer period. Cf. R. Verneau,L'Anthropologie,XX.1909.[425]The Loyal Karens of Burma, 1887.[426]R. C. Temple,Academy, Jan. 29, 1887, p. 72.[427]Forbes,Languages of Further India, p. 61.[428]Ibid.p. 55.[429]G. W. Bird,Wanderings in Burma, 1897, p. 335.[430]The Burmese is the most mixed race in the province. "Originally Dravidians of some sort, they seem to have received blood from various sources—Hindu, Musalmān, Chinese, Shān, Talaing, European and others." W. Crooke, "The Stability of Caste and Tribal Groups in India,"Journ. Roy. Anthr. Soc.XLIV.1914, p. 279, quoting theEthnographic Survey of India, 1906.[431]J. G. Scott,Burma, etc., 1886, p. 115.[432]Op. cit.p. 118.[433]"The Taungbyôn Festival, Burma,"Journ. Roy. Anthr. Soc.XLV.1915, p. 355.[434]Amongst the Shans, etc., 1885, p. 233.[435]Cf. the Shans of Yunnan, who are nearly all "tatoués, depuis la ceinture jusqu'au genou, de dessins bleus si serrés qu'ils paraissent former une vraie culotte," Pr. Henri d'Orléans,Du Tonkin aux Indes, 1898, p. 83.[436]For recent literature on Burma and the Burmese consult besides theEthnographic Survey of India, 1906, and theCensus Reportof 1911, J. G. Scott,The Burman, 1896, andBurma, 1906; A. Ireland,The Province of Burma, 1907; H. Fielding Hall,The Soul of a People, 1898, andA People at School, 1906.[437]Probably forShan-tsĕ, Shan-yen, "highlanders" (Shan, mountain),Shanitself being the same word asSiam, a form which comes to us through the PortugueseSião.[438]For the Laos see L. de Reinach,Le Laos, 1902, with bibliography.[439]Carl Bock, MS. note. This observer notes that many of the Ngiou have been largely assimilated in type to the Burmese and in one place goes so far as to assert that "the Ngiou are decidedly of the same race as the Burmese. I have had opportunities of seeing hundreds of both countries, and of closely watching their features and build. The Ngiou wear the hair in a topknot in the same way as the Burmese, but they are easily distinguished by their tattooing, which is much more elaborate" (Temples and Elephants, 1884, p. 297). Of course all spring from one primeval stock, but they now constitute distinct ethnical groups, and, except about the borderlands, where blends may be suspected, both the physical and mental characters differ considerably. Bock'sNgiouis no doubt the same name asNgnio, which H. S. Hallett applies in one place to the Mossé Shans north of Zimme, and elsewhere to the Burmese Shans collectively (A Thousand Miles on an Elephant, 1890, pp. 158 and 358).[440]"Les Paï ne sont autres que des Laotiens" (Prince Henri, p. 42).[441]One Shan group, the Deodhaings, still persist, and occupy a few villages near Sibsagar (S. E. Peal,Nature, June 19, 1884, p. 169). Dalton also mentions theKamjangs, a Khamti (Tai) tribe in the Sadiya district, Assam (Ethnology of Bengal, p. 6).[442]Much unexpected light has been thrown upon the early history of these Ahoms by E. Gait, who has discovered and described in theJourn. As. Soc. Bengal, 1894, a large number ofputhis, or MSS. (28 in the Sibsagar district alone), in the now almost extinct Ahom language, some of which give a continuous history of the Ahom rajas from 568 to 1795A.D.Most of the others appear to be treatises on religious mysticism or divination, such as "a book on the calculation of future events by examining the leg of a fowl" (ib.).[443]Op. cit.p. 309.[444]A. R. Colquhoun,Amongst the Shans, 1885, Introduction, p. lv.[445]Op. cit.p. 328.[446]Temples and Elephants, p. 320.[447]"Der Gesichtsausdruck überhaupt nähert sich der kaukasischen Race" (Im fernen Osten, p. 959).[448]Low'sSiamese Grammar, p. 14.[449]R. G. Woodthorpe, "The Shans and Hill Tribes of the Mekong," inJourn. Anthr. Inst.1897, p. 16.[450]Op. cit.p. 55.[451]This omission, however, is partly supplied by T. de Lacouperie, who gives us an account of a wonderful Lolo MS. on satin, red on one side, blue on the other, containing nearly 5750 words written in black, "apparently with the Chinese brush." The MS. was obtained by E. Colborne Baber from a Lolo chief, forwarded to Europe in 1881, and described by de Lacouperie,Journ. R. As. Soc.Vol.XIV.PartI. "The writing runs in lines from top to bottom and from left to right, as in Chinese" (p. 1), and this authority regards it as the link that was wanting to connect the various members of a widely diffused family radiating from India (Harapa seal, Indo-Pali, Vatteluttu) to Malaysia (Batta, Rejang, Lampong, Bugis, Makassar, Tagal), to Indo-China (Lao, Siamese, Lolo), Korea and Japan, and also including the Siao-chuen Chinese system "in use a few centuriesB.C." (p. 5). It would be premature to say that all these connections are established.[452]Op. cit.p. 193.[453]Beginnings of Writing in Central and Eastern Asia, passim.For the Lolos see A. F. Legendre, "Les Lolos. Étude ethnologique et anthropologique,"T'oung Pao II.Vol.X.1909.[454]"Quelques-uns de ces Kiou-tsés me rappellent des Européens que je connais." (Op. cit.p. 252).[455]Deux Ans dans le Haut-Tonkin, etc., Paris, 1896.[456]With regard toMan(Man-tse) it should be explained that in Chinese it means "untameable worms," that is,wildorbarbarous, and we are warned by Desgodins that "il ne faut pas prendre ces mots comme des noms propres de tribus" (Bul. Soc. Géogr.XII.p. 410). In 1877 Capt. W. Gill visited a large nation ofMan-tsewith 18 tribal divisions, reaching from West Yunnan to the extreme north of Sechuen, a sort of federacy recognising a king, with Chinese habits and dress, but speaking a language resembling Sanskrit (?). These were theSumu, or "White Man-tse," apparently the same as those visited in 1896 by Mrs Bishop, and by her described as semi-independent, ruled by their own chiefs, and in appearance "quite Caucasian, both men and women being very handsome," strict Buddhists, friendly and hospitable, and living in large stone houses (Letter toTimes, Aug. 18, 1896).[457]"Des paysannes nóngs dont les cheveux étaient blonds, quelquefois même roux."Op. cit.[458]L'Anthropologie, 1896, p. 602 sq.[459]"On the Relations of the Indo-Chinese and Inter-Oceanic Races and Languages." Paper read at the Meeting of the Brit. Association, Sheffield, 1879, and printed in theJourn. Anthr. Inst., February, 1880.[460]In the Javanese annals the invaders are called "Cambojans," but at this time (about 1340) Camboja had already been reduced, and the Siamese conquerors had brought back from its renowned capital, Angkor Wat, over 90,000 captives. These were largely employed in the wars of the period, which were thus attributed to Camboja instead of to Siam by foreign peoples ignorant of the changed relations in Indo-China.[461]How very dark some of these corners can be may be seen from the sad picture of maladministration, vice, and corruption still prevalent so late as 1890, given by Hallett inA Thousand Miles on an Elephant, Ch. xxxv.; and even still later by H. Warington Smyth inFive Years in Siam, from 1891 to 1896(1898). This observer credits the Siamese with an undeveloped sense of right and wrong, so that they are good only by accident. "To do a thing because it is right is beyond them; to abstain from a thing because it is against their good name, or involves serious consequences, is possibly within the power of a few; the question of right and wrong does not enter the calculation." But he thinks they may possess a high degree of intelligence, and mentions the case of a peasant, who from an atlas had taught himself geography and politics. P. A. Thompson,Lotus Land, 1906, gives an account of the country and people of Southern Siam.[462]Probably a corruption oftalapat, the name of the palm-tree which yields the fan-leaf constantly used by the monks.[463]"In conversation with the monks M'Gilvary was told that it would most likely be countless ages before they would attain the much wished for state of Nirvana, and that one transgression at any time might relegate them to the lowest hell to begin again their melancholy pilgrimage" (Hallett,A Thousand Miles on an Elephant, p. 337).[464]"Le gros orteil est très développé et écarté des autres doigts du pied. A ce caractère distinctif, que l'on retrouve encore aujourd'hui chez les indigènes de race pure, on peut reconnaître facilement que les Giao-chi sont les ancêtres des Annamites" (La Cochinchine française en 1878, p. 231). See also a note on the subject by C. F. Tremlett inJourn. Anthr. Inst.1879, p. 460.[465]ProperlyAn-nan, a modified form ofngan-nan, "Southern Peace."[466]Cf.Nan-king,Pe-king, "Southern" and "Northern" Courts (Capitals).[467]La Gazette Géographique, March 12, 1885.[468]Geogr. Journ., Sept. 1893, p. 194.[469]"Parmi les citoyens règne la plus parfaite égalité. Point d'esclavage, la servitude est en horreur. Aussi tout homme peut-il aspirer aux emplois, se plaindre aux mêmes tribunaux que son adversaire" (op. cit.p. 6).[470]Frombonzo, a Portuguese corruption of the Japanesebusso, a devout person, applied first to the Buddhist priests of Japan, and then extended to those of China and neighbouring lands.[471]This name, probably the Chinesejin, men, people, already occurs in Sanskrit writings in its present form:,Chína, whence the Hindi,Chín, and the Arabo-Persian,Sín, which gives the classicalSinae. The most common national name is Chûng-kûe, "middle kingdom" (presumably the centre of the universe), whence Chûng-kûe-Jín, the Chinese people. Some have referredChinato theChin(Tsin) dynasty (909B.C.), while Marco Polo'sKataia(RussianKitai) is theKhata(North China) of the Mongol period, from the ManchuK'î-tan, founders of the Liâo dynasty, which was overthrown 1115A.D.by the Nü-Chăn Tatars. Ptolemy'sThinaeis rightly regarded by Edkins as the same word asSinae, the substitution of t for s being normal in Annam, whence this form may have reached the west through the southern seaport of Kattigara.[472]Western Origin of the Early Chinese Civilization, from 2300B.C.to 200A.D., or Chapters on the Elements Derived from the Old Civilizations of West Asia in the Formation of the Ancient Chinese Culture, London, 1894.[473]"Observations upon the Languages of the Early Inhabitants of Mesopotamia," inJourn. R. As. Soc.XVI.Part 2.[474]MS. note, May 7, 1896.[475]C. J. Ball,Chinese and Sumerian, 1913.[476]History of the Archaic Chinese Writing and Texts, 1882, p. 5.[477]The first actual date given is that of Tai Hao (Fu-hi), 2953B.C., but this ruler belongs to the fabulous period, and is stated to have reigned 115 years. The first certain date would appear to be that of Yau, first of the Chinese sages and reformer of the calendar (2357B.C.). The date 2254B.C.for Confucius's model king Shun seems also established. But of course all this is modern history compared with the now determined Babylonian and Egyptian records.[478]Amongst the metals reference is made to iron so early as the time of the Emperor Ta Yü (2200B.C.), when it is mentioned as an article of tribute in theShu-King. F. Hirth, who states this fact, adds that during the same period, if not even earlier, iron was already a flourishing industry in the Liang district (Paper on the "History of Chinese Culture," Munich Anthropological Society, April, 1898). At the discussion which followed the reading of this paper Montelius argued that iron was unknown in Western Asia and Egypt before 1500B.C., although the point was contested by Hommel, who quoted a word for iron in the earliest Egyptian texts. Montelius, however, explained that terms originally meaning "ore" or "metal" were afterwards used for "iron." Such was certainly the case with the Gk.χαλκός, at first "copper," then metal in general, and used still later forσίδηρος, "iron"; henceχαλκεύς= coppersmith, blacksmith, and even goldsmith. So also with the Lat.aes(Sanskritayas, akin toaurora, with simple idea of brightness), used first especially for copper (aes cyprium, cuprum), and then forbronze(Lewis and Short). For Hirth's later views see hisAncient History of China, 1908 (from the fabulous ages to 221B.C.).[479]This termY-jen(Yi-jen), meaning much the same asMan,Man-tse, savage, rude, untameable, has acquired a sort of diplomatic distinction. In the treaty of Tien-tsin (1858) it was stipulated that it should no longer, as heretofore, be applied in official documents to the English or to any subjects of the Queen.[480]See J. Edkins,China's Place in Philology, p. 117. The Hok-los were originally from Fo-kien, whence their alternative name,Fo-lo. Theloappears to be the same word as in the reduplicatedLo-lo, meaning something like the Greek and LatinBar-bar, stammerers, rude, uncultured.[481]TheHakkas,i.e."strangers," speak a well-marked dialect current on the uplands between Kwang-tung, Kiang-si, and Fo-kien. J. Dyer Ball,Easy Lessons in the Hakka Dialect, 1884.[482]Numerous in the western parts of Kwang-tung and in the Canton district. J. Dyer Ball,Cantonese Made Easy, Hongkong, 1884.[483]In this expression "Pidgin" appears to be a corruption of the wordbusinesstaken in a very wide sense, as in such terms astalkee-pidgin= a conversation, discussion;singsong pidgin= a concert, etc. It is no unusual occurrence for persons from widely separated Chinese provinces meeting in England to be obliged to use this common jargon in conversation.[484]For the aboriginal peoples, with bibliography, see M. Kennelly's translation of L. Richard'sComprehensive Geography of the Chinese Empire and its Dependencies, 1908, pp. 371-3.[485]Kung-tse, "Teacher Kung," or more fullyKung-fu-tse, "the eminent teacher Kung," which gives the Latinised formConfucius.[486]Kwong Ki Chiu, 1881, p. 875. Confucius was born in 550 and died in 477B.C., and to him are at present dedicated as many as 1560 temples, in which are observed real sacrificial rites. For these sacrifices the State yearly supplies 26,606 sheep, pigs, rabbits and other animals, besides 27,000 pieces of silk, most of which things, however, become the "perquisites" of the attendants in the sanctuaries.[487]Arthur H. Smith,Chinese Characteristics, New York, 1895. The good, or at least the useful, qualities of the Chinese are stated by this shrewd observer to be a love of industry, peace, and social order, a matchless patience and forbearance under wrongs and evils beyond cure, a happy temperament, no nerves, and "a digestion like that of an ostrich." See also H. A. Giles,China and theChinese, 1902; E. H. Parker,John Chinaman and a Few Others, 1901; J. Dyer Ball,Things Chinese, 1903; and M. Kennelly in Richard'sComprehensive Geography of the Chinese Empire and its Dependencies, 1908.[488]SeeContemporary Review, Feb. 1908, "Report on Christian Missions in China," by Mr F. W. Fox, Professor Macalister and Sir Alexander Simpson.[489]A happy Portuguese coinage from the Malaymantri, a state minister, which is the Sanskritmantrin, a counsellor, frommantra, a sacred text, a counsel, from Aryan rootman, to think, know, whence also the Englishmind.[490]Miss Bird (Mrs Bishop),The Golden Chersonese, 1883, p. 37.[491]H. A. Giles,The Civilisation of China, 1911, p. 237. See especially Chap.XI., "Chinese and Foreigners," for the etiquette of street regulations and the habit of shouting conversation.

[375]Ethnology, p. 300.

[376]Geogr. Journ., May, 1898, p. 491. This statement must of course be taken as having reference only to the historical Malays and their comparatively late migrations.

[377]For the desiccation of Asia see P. Kropotkin,Geogr. Journ.XXIII. 1904; E. Huntington,The Pulse of Asia, 1907.

[378]See J. Cockburn's paper "On Palæolithic Implements," etc., inJourn. Anthr. Inst.1887, p. 57 sq.

[379]"Le type. primitif des Mongols est pour nous dolichocéphale" (Les Aryens au Nord et au Sud de l'Hindou-Kouch, 1896, p. 50).

[380]Thus Risley's Tibetan measurements were all of subjects from Sikkim and Nepal (Tribes and Castes of Bengal, Calcutta, 1896,passim). In the East, however, Desgodins and other French missionaries have had better opportunities of studying true Tibetans amongst the Si-fan ("Western Strangers"), as the frontier populations are called by the Chinese.

[381]Op. cit.p. 319.

[382]Op. cit.p. 327. Here we are reminded that, though the Sacae are called "Scythians" by Herodotus and other ancient writers, under this vague expression were comprised a multitude of heterogeneous peoples, amongst whom were types corresponding to all the main varieties of Mongolian, western Asiatic, and eastern European peoples. "Aujourd'hui l'ancien type sace, adouci parmi les mélanges, reparaît et constitue le type si caractéristique, si complexe et si différent de ses voisins que nous appelons le type balti" (p. 328).

[383]W. W. Rockhill, our best living authority, accepts none of the current explanations of the widely diffused termbod(bhót, bhot), which appears to form the second element in the wordTibet(Stod-Bod, pronouncedTeu-Beu, "Upper Bod,"i.e.the central and western parts in contradistinction toMän-Bod, "Lower Bod," the eastern provinces).Notes on the Ethnology of Tibet, Washington, 1895, p. 669. This writer finds the first mention of Tibet in the formTobbat(there are many variants) in the Arab Istakhri's works, about 590A.H., while T. de Lacouperie would connect it with the Tatar kingdom ofTu-bat(397-475A.D.). This name might easily have been extended by the Chinese from the Tatars of Kansu to the neighbouring Tanguts, and thus to all Tibetans.

[384]Hbrog-pa,Drok-pa, pronouncedDru-pa.

[385]The Mongols apply the nameTangutto Tibet and call all TibetansTangutu, "which should be discarded as useless and misleading, as the people inhabiting this section of the country are pure Tibetans" (Rockhill, p. 670). It is curious to note that the Mongol Tangutu is balanced by the TibetanSok-pa, often applied to all Mongolians.

[386]Notes on the Ethnology of Tibet, 1895, p. 675; see also S. Chandra Das,Journey to Lhasa and Central Tibet, 1904; F. Grenard,Tibet: the Country and its Inhabitants, 1904; G. Sandberg,Tibet and the Tibetans, 1906; and L. A. Waddell,Lhasa and its Mysteries, with a record of the Expedition of 1903-1904, 1905.

[387]Isvestia,XXI.3.

[388]Ethnology, p. 305.

[389]Abor,i.e."independent," is the name applied by the Assamese to the East Himalayan hill tribes, theMinyong,PadamandHrasso, who are theSloof the Tibetans. These are all affiliated by Desgodins to the Lho-pa of Bhutan (Bul. Soc. Géogr., October, 1877, p. 431), and are to be distinguished from theBori(i.e."dependent") tribes of the plains, all more or less Hinduized Bhotiyas (Dalton,Ethnology of Bengal, p. 22 sq.). See A. Hamilton,In Abor Jungles, 1912.

[390]Not to be confused with theKhas, as the wild tribes of the Lao country (Siam) are collectively called. Capt. Eden Vansittart thinks in Nepal the term is an abbreviation of Kshatriya, or else means "fallen." This authority tells us that, although the Khas are true Gurkhas, it is not the Khas who enlist in our Gurkha regiments, but chiefly the Magars and Gurungs, who are of purer Bhotiya race and less completely Hinduized ("The Tribes, Clans, and Castes of Nepal," inJourn. As. Soc. Bengal;LXIII.I, No. 4).

[391]Embassy to the Court of the Teshoo Lama, p. 350 sq.

[392]"Voilà, je crois, le vrai Tibetain des pays cultivés du sud, qui se regarde comme bien plus civilisé que les pasteurs ou bergers du nord" (Le Thibet, p. 253).

[393]Notes on the Ethnology, etc., p. 677. It may here be remarked that the unfriendliness of which travellers often complain appears mainly inspired by the Buddhist theocracy, who rule the land and are jealous of all "interlopers."

[394]Ibid.p. 678.

[395]With it may be compared the Chinese province ofKan-su, so named from its two chief townsKan-chau andSu-chau (Yule'sMarco Polo,I.p. 222).

[396]"Buddhist Turks," says Sir H. H. Howorth (Geogr. Journ.1887, p. 230).

[397]E. Delmar Morgan,Geogr. Journ.1887, p. 226.

[398]"Whatever may have been the origin of polyandry, there can be no doubt that poverty, a desire to keep down population, and to keep property undivided in families, supply sufficient reason to justify its continuance. The same motives explain its existence among the lower castes of Malabar, among the Jat (Sikhs) of the Panjab, among the Todas, and probably in most other countries in which this custom prevails" (Rockhill, p. 726).

[399]T. Rice Holmes,Ancient Britain, 1907, pp. 110 and 465-6.

[400]At least no reference is made to the Bonbo practice in his almost exhaustive monograph onThe Swastika, Washington, 1896. The reversed form, however, mentioned by Max Müller and Burnouf, is figured at p. 767 and elsewhere.

[401]Sarat Chandra Das,Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, 1881-2.

[402]This point, so important in the history of linguistic evolution, has I think been fairly established by T. de Lacouperie in a series of papers in theOriental and Babylonian Record, 1888-90. See G. A. Grierson'sLinguistic Survey of India,III.Tibeto-Burman Family, 1906, by Sten Konow.

[403]Ladák, London, 1854.

[404]G. B. Mainwaring,A Grammar of the Rong (Lepcha) Language, etc., Calcutta, 1876, pp. 128-9.

[405]Outline Grammar of the Angámi-Naga Language, Calcutta, 1887, pp. 4, 5. For an indication of the astonishing number of distinct languages in the whole of this region see Gertrude M. Godden's paper "On the Naga and other Frontier Tribes of North-East India," inJourn. Anthr. Inst.1897, p. 165. Under the heading Tibeto-Burman Languages Sten Konow recognisesTibetan,Himalayan,North Assam,Bodo,Naga,Kuki-Chin,MeiteiandKachin. The Naga group comprises dialects of very different kinds; some approach Tibetan and the North Assam group, others lead over to the Bodo, others connect with Tibeto-Burman. Meitei lies midway between Kuki-Chin and Kachin, and these merge finally in Burmese. Grierson'sLinguistic Survey of India, Vol.III.1903-6.

[406]Almost hopeless confusion continues to prevail in the tribal nomenclature of these multitudinous hill peoples. The official sanction given to the termsKukiandLushaias collective names may be regretted, but seems now past remedy.Kukiis unknown to the people themselves, whileLushaiis only the name of a single group proud of their head-hunting proclivities, hence they call themselves, or perhaps are calledLu-Shai, "Head-Cutters," fromluhead,shato cut (G. H. Damant). Other explanations suggested by C. A. Soppitt (Kuki-Lushai Tribes, with an Outline Grammar of the Rangkhol-Lushai Language, Shillong, 1887) cannot be accepted.

[407]Op. cit.

[408]See G. A. Grierson and Sten Konow in Grierson'sLinguistic Survey of India, Vol.III.PartII.Bodo, Nāgā and Kachin, 1903, PartIII.Kuki-Chin and Burma, 1904.

[409]The Nāga Tribes of Manipur, 1911, p. 2. Cf. J. Shakespear, "The Kuki-Lushai Clans,"Journ. Roy. Anthr. Inst.XXXIX.1909.

[410]Op. cit. p. 5.

[411]Op. cit.p. 122. A custom of human sacrifice among the Naga is described in theJournal of the Burma Research Society, 1911, "Human Sacrifices near the Upper Chindwin."

[412]It is a curious phonetic phenomenon that the combinationsklandtlare indistinguishable in utterance, so that it is immaterial whether this term be writtenKlingorTling, though the latter form would be preferable, as showing its origin fromTelinga.

[413]"The Aboriginal Tribes of Manipur,"Journ. Anthr. Inst.1887, p. 350.

[414]R. Brown,Statistical Account of Manipur, 1874.

[415]T. C. Hodson,The Meitheis, 1908, p. 96.

[416]T. C. Hodson,The Meitheis, 1908, pp. 96-7.

[417]G. Watt,loc. cit.p. 362.

[418]The Chin Hills, etc., Vol.I., Rangoon, 1896.

[419]Op. cit.p. 165.

[420]R. C. Temple, Art. "Burma," Hastings,Ency. Religion and Ethics, 1910.

[421]Dalton,Ethnology of Bengal, p. 9.

[422]Prince Henri d'Orléans writes "que les Singphos et les Katchins [Kakhyens] ne font qu'un, que le premier mot estthaiet le second birman."Du Tonkin aux Indes, 1898, p. 311. This is how the ethnical confusion in these borderlands gets perpetuated.Singphois notThai, i.e. Shan or Siamese, but a native word as here explained.

[423]John Anderson,Mandalay to Momein, 1876, p. 131.

[424]Three skulls discovered by M. Mansuy in a cave at Pho-Binh-Gia (Indo-China) associated with Neolithic culture were markedly dolichocephalic, resembling in some respects the Cro-Magnon race of the Reindeer period. Cf. R. Verneau,L'Anthropologie,XX.1909.

[425]The Loyal Karens of Burma, 1887.

[426]R. C. Temple,Academy, Jan. 29, 1887, p. 72.

[427]Forbes,Languages of Further India, p. 61.

[428]Ibid.p. 55.

[429]G. W. Bird,Wanderings in Burma, 1897, p. 335.

[430]The Burmese is the most mixed race in the province. "Originally Dravidians of some sort, they seem to have received blood from various sources—Hindu, Musalmān, Chinese, Shān, Talaing, European and others." W. Crooke, "The Stability of Caste and Tribal Groups in India,"Journ. Roy. Anthr. Soc.XLIV.1914, p. 279, quoting theEthnographic Survey of India, 1906.

[431]J. G. Scott,Burma, etc., 1886, p. 115.

[432]Op. cit.p. 118.

[433]"The Taungbyôn Festival, Burma,"Journ. Roy. Anthr. Soc.XLV.1915, p. 355.

[434]Amongst the Shans, etc., 1885, p. 233.

[435]Cf. the Shans of Yunnan, who are nearly all "tatoués, depuis la ceinture jusqu'au genou, de dessins bleus si serrés qu'ils paraissent former une vraie culotte," Pr. Henri d'Orléans,Du Tonkin aux Indes, 1898, p. 83.

[436]For recent literature on Burma and the Burmese consult besides theEthnographic Survey of India, 1906, and theCensus Reportof 1911, J. G. Scott,The Burman, 1896, andBurma, 1906; A. Ireland,The Province of Burma, 1907; H. Fielding Hall,The Soul of a People, 1898, andA People at School, 1906.

[437]Probably forShan-tsĕ, Shan-yen, "highlanders" (Shan, mountain),Shanitself being the same word asSiam, a form which comes to us through the PortugueseSião.

[438]For the Laos see L. de Reinach,Le Laos, 1902, with bibliography.

[439]Carl Bock, MS. note. This observer notes that many of the Ngiou have been largely assimilated in type to the Burmese and in one place goes so far as to assert that "the Ngiou are decidedly of the same race as the Burmese. I have had opportunities of seeing hundreds of both countries, and of closely watching their features and build. The Ngiou wear the hair in a topknot in the same way as the Burmese, but they are easily distinguished by their tattooing, which is much more elaborate" (Temples and Elephants, 1884, p. 297). Of course all spring from one primeval stock, but they now constitute distinct ethnical groups, and, except about the borderlands, where blends may be suspected, both the physical and mental characters differ considerably. Bock'sNgiouis no doubt the same name asNgnio, which H. S. Hallett applies in one place to the Mossé Shans north of Zimme, and elsewhere to the Burmese Shans collectively (A Thousand Miles on an Elephant, 1890, pp. 158 and 358).

[440]"Les Paï ne sont autres que des Laotiens" (Prince Henri, p. 42).

[441]One Shan group, the Deodhaings, still persist, and occupy a few villages near Sibsagar (S. E. Peal,Nature, June 19, 1884, p. 169). Dalton also mentions theKamjangs, a Khamti (Tai) tribe in the Sadiya district, Assam (Ethnology of Bengal, p. 6).

[442]Much unexpected light has been thrown upon the early history of these Ahoms by E. Gait, who has discovered and described in theJourn. As. Soc. Bengal, 1894, a large number ofputhis, or MSS. (28 in the Sibsagar district alone), in the now almost extinct Ahom language, some of which give a continuous history of the Ahom rajas from 568 to 1795A.D.Most of the others appear to be treatises on religious mysticism or divination, such as "a book on the calculation of future events by examining the leg of a fowl" (ib.).

[443]Op. cit.p. 309.

[444]A. R. Colquhoun,Amongst the Shans, 1885, Introduction, p. lv.

[445]Op. cit.p. 328.

[446]Temples and Elephants, p. 320.

[447]"Der Gesichtsausdruck überhaupt nähert sich der kaukasischen Race" (Im fernen Osten, p. 959).

[448]Low'sSiamese Grammar, p. 14.

[449]R. G. Woodthorpe, "The Shans and Hill Tribes of the Mekong," inJourn. Anthr. Inst.1897, p. 16.

[450]Op. cit.p. 55.

[451]This omission, however, is partly supplied by T. de Lacouperie, who gives us an account of a wonderful Lolo MS. on satin, red on one side, blue on the other, containing nearly 5750 words written in black, "apparently with the Chinese brush." The MS. was obtained by E. Colborne Baber from a Lolo chief, forwarded to Europe in 1881, and described by de Lacouperie,Journ. R. As. Soc.Vol.XIV.PartI. "The writing runs in lines from top to bottom and from left to right, as in Chinese" (p. 1), and this authority regards it as the link that was wanting to connect the various members of a widely diffused family radiating from India (Harapa seal, Indo-Pali, Vatteluttu) to Malaysia (Batta, Rejang, Lampong, Bugis, Makassar, Tagal), to Indo-China (Lao, Siamese, Lolo), Korea and Japan, and also including the Siao-chuen Chinese system "in use a few centuriesB.C." (p. 5). It would be premature to say that all these connections are established.

[452]Op. cit.p. 193.

[453]Beginnings of Writing in Central and Eastern Asia, passim.For the Lolos see A. F. Legendre, "Les Lolos. Étude ethnologique et anthropologique,"T'oung Pao II.Vol.X.1909.

[454]"Quelques-uns de ces Kiou-tsés me rappellent des Européens que je connais." (Op. cit.p. 252).

[455]Deux Ans dans le Haut-Tonkin, etc., Paris, 1896.

[456]With regard toMan(Man-tse) it should be explained that in Chinese it means "untameable worms," that is,wildorbarbarous, and we are warned by Desgodins that "il ne faut pas prendre ces mots comme des noms propres de tribus" (Bul. Soc. Géogr.XII.p. 410). In 1877 Capt. W. Gill visited a large nation ofMan-tsewith 18 tribal divisions, reaching from West Yunnan to the extreme north of Sechuen, a sort of federacy recognising a king, with Chinese habits and dress, but speaking a language resembling Sanskrit (?). These were theSumu, or "White Man-tse," apparently the same as those visited in 1896 by Mrs Bishop, and by her described as semi-independent, ruled by their own chiefs, and in appearance "quite Caucasian, both men and women being very handsome," strict Buddhists, friendly and hospitable, and living in large stone houses (Letter toTimes, Aug. 18, 1896).

[457]"Des paysannes nóngs dont les cheveux étaient blonds, quelquefois même roux."Op. cit.

[458]L'Anthropologie, 1896, p. 602 sq.

[459]"On the Relations of the Indo-Chinese and Inter-Oceanic Races and Languages." Paper read at the Meeting of the Brit. Association, Sheffield, 1879, and printed in theJourn. Anthr. Inst., February, 1880.

[460]In the Javanese annals the invaders are called "Cambojans," but at this time (about 1340) Camboja had already been reduced, and the Siamese conquerors had brought back from its renowned capital, Angkor Wat, over 90,000 captives. These were largely employed in the wars of the period, which were thus attributed to Camboja instead of to Siam by foreign peoples ignorant of the changed relations in Indo-China.

[461]How very dark some of these corners can be may be seen from the sad picture of maladministration, vice, and corruption still prevalent so late as 1890, given by Hallett inA Thousand Miles on an Elephant, Ch. xxxv.; and even still later by H. Warington Smyth inFive Years in Siam, from 1891 to 1896(1898). This observer credits the Siamese with an undeveloped sense of right and wrong, so that they are good only by accident. "To do a thing because it is right is beyond them; to abstain from a thing because it is against their good name, or involves serious consequences, is possibly within the power of a few; the question of right and wrong does not enter the calculation." But he thinks they may possess a high degree of intelligence, and mentions the case of a peasant, who from an atlas had taught himself geography and politics. P. A. Thompson,Lotus Land, 1906, gives an account of the country and people of Southern Siam.

[462]Probably a corruption oftalapat, the name of the palm-tree which yields the fan-leaf constantly used by the monks.

[463]"In conversation with the monks M'Gilvary was told that it would most likely be countless ages before they would attain the much wished for state of Nirvana, and that one transgression at any time might relegate them to the lowest hell to begin again their melancholy pilgrimage" (Hallett,A Thousand Miles on an Elephant, p. 337).

[464]"Le gros orteil est très développé et écarté des autres doigts du pied. A ce caractère distinctif, que l'on retrouve encore aujourd'hui chez les indigènes de race pure, on peut reconnaître facilement que les Giao-chi sont les ancêtres des Annamites" (La Cochinchine française en 1878, p. 231). See also a note on the subject by C. F. Tremlett inJourn. Anthr. Inst.1879, p. 460.

[465]ProperlyAn-nan, a modified form ofngan-nan, "Southern Peace."

[466]Cf.Nan-king,Pe-king, "Southern" and "Northern" Courts (Capitals).

[467]La Gazette Géographique, March 12, 1885.

[468]Geogr. Journ., Sept. 1893, p. 194.

[469]"Parmi les citoyens règne la plus parfaite égalité. Point d'esclavage, la servitude est en horreur. Aussi tout homme peut-il aspirer aux emplois, se plaindre aux mêmes tribunaux que son adversaire" (op. cit.p. 6).

[470]Frombonzo, a Portuguese corruption of the Japanesebusso, a devout person, applied first to the Buddhist priests of Japan, and then extended to those of China and neighbouring lands.

[471]This name, probably the Chinesejin, men, people, already occurs in Sanskrit writings in its present form:,Chína, whence the Hindi,Chín, and the Arabo-Persian,Sín, which gives the classicalSinae. The most common national name is Chûng-kûe, "middle kingdom" (presumably the centre of the universe), whence Chûng-kûe-Jín, the Chinese people. Some have referredChinato theChin(Tsin) dynasty (909B.C.), while Marco Polo'sKataia(RussianKitai) is theKhata(North China) of the Mongol period, from the ManchuK'î-tan, founders of the Liâo dynasty, which was overthrown 1115A.D.by the Nü-Chăn Tatars. Ptolemy'sThinaeis rightly regarded by Edkins as the same word asSinae, the substitution of t for s being normal in Annam, whence this form may have reached the west through the southern seaport of Kattigara.

[472]Western Origin of the Early Chinese Civilization, from 2300B.C.to 200A.D., or Chapters on the Elements Derived from the Old Civilizations of West Asia in the Formation of the Ancient Chinese Culture, London, 1894.

[473]"Observations upon the Languages of the Early Inhabitants of Mesopotamia," inJourn. R. As. Soc.XVI.Part 2.

[474]MS. note, May 7, 1896.

[475]C. J. Ball,Chinese and Sumerian, 1913.

[476]History of the Archaic Chinese Writing and Texts, 1882, p. 5.

[477]The first actual date given is that of Tai Hao (Fu-hi), 2953B.C., but this ruler belongs to the fabulous period, and is stated to have reigned 115 years. The first certain date would appear to be that of Yau, first of the Chinese sages and reformer of the calendar (2357B.C.). The date 2254B.C.for Confucius's model king Shun seems also established. But of course all this is modern history compared with the now determined Babylonian and Egyptian records.

[478]Amongst the metals reference is made to iron so early as the time of the Emperor Ta Yü (2200B.C.), when it is mentioned as an article of tribute in theShu-King. F. Hirth, who states this fact, adds that during the same period, if not even earlier, iron was already a flourishing industry in the Liang district (Paper on the "History of Chinese Culture," Munich Anthropological Society, April, 1898). At the discussion which followed the reading of this paper Montelius argued that iron was unknown in Western Asia and Egypt before 1500B.C., although the point was contested by Hommel, who quoted a word for iron in the earliest Egyptian texts. Montelius, however, explained that terms originally meaning "ore" or "metal" were afterwards used for "iron." Such was certainly the case with the Gk.χαλκός, at first "copper," then metal in general, and used still later forσίδηρος, "iron"; henceχαλκεύς= coppersmith, blacksmith, and even goldsmith. So also with the Lat.aes(Sanskritayas, akin toaurora, with simple idea of brightness), used first especially for copper (aes cyprium, cuprum), and then forbronze(Lewis and Short). For Hirth's later views see hisAncient History of China, 1908 (from the fabulous ages to 221B.C.).

[479]This termY-jen(Yi-jen), meaning much the same asMan,Man-tse, savage, rude, untameable, has acquired a sort of diplomatic distinction. In the treaty of Tien-tsin (1858) it was stipulated that it should no longer, as heretofore, be applied in official documents to the English or to any subjects of the Queen.

[480]See J. Edkins,China's Place in Philology, p. 117. The Hok-los were originally from Fo-kien, whence their alternative name,Fo-lo. Theloappears to be the same word as in the reduplicatedLo-lo, meaning something like the Greek and LatinBar-bar, stammerers, rude, uncultured.

[481]TheHakkas,i.e."strangers," speak a well-marked dialect current on the uplands between Kwang-tung, Kiang-si, and Fo-kien. J. Dyer Ball,Easy Lessons in the Hakka Dialect, 1884.

[482]Numerous in the western parts of Kwang-tung and in the Canton district. J. Dyer Ball,Cantonese Made Easy, Hongkong, 1884.

[483]In this expression "Pidgin" appears to be a corruption of the wordbusinesstaken in a very wide sense, as in such terms astalkee-pidgin= a conversation, discussion;singsong pidgin= a concert, etc. It is no unusual occurrence for persons from widely separated Chinese provinces meeting in England to be obliged to use this common jargon in conversation.

[484]For the aboriginal peoples, with bibliography, see M. Kennelly's translation of L. Richard'sComprehensive Geography of the Chinese Empire and its Dependencies, 1908, pp. 371-3.

[485]Kung-tse, "Teacher Kung," or more fullyKung-fu-tse, "the eminent teacher Kung," which gives the Latinised formConfucius.

[486]Kwong Ki Chiu, 1881, p. 875. Confucius was born in 550 and died in 477B.C., and to him are at present dedicated as many as 1560 temples, in which are observed real sacrificial rites. For these sacrifices the State yearly supplies 26,606 sheep, pigs, rabbits and other animals, besides 27,000 pieces of silk, most of which things, however, become the "perquisites" of the attendants in the sanctuaries.

[487]Arthur H. Smith,Chinese Characteristics, New York, 1895. The good, or at least the useful, qualities of the Chinese are stated by this shrewd observer to be a love of industry, peace, and social order, a matchless patience and forbearance under wrongs and evils beyond cure, a happy temperament, no nerves, and "a digestion like that of an ostrich." See also H. A. Giles,China and theChinese, 1902; E. H. Parker,John Chinaman and a Few Others, 1901; J. Dyer Ball,Things Chinese, 1903; and M. Kennelly in Richard'sComprehensive Geography of the Chinese Empire and its Dependencies, 1908.

[488]SeeContemporary Review, Feb. 1908, "Report on Christian Missions in China," by Mr F. W. Fox, Professor Macalister and Sir Alexander Simpson.

[489]A happy Portuguese coinage from the Malaymantri, a state minister, which is the Sanskritmantrin, a counsellor, frommantra, a sacred text, a counsel, from Aryan rootman, to think, know, whence also the Englishmind.

[490]Miss Bird (Mrs Bishop),The Golden Chersonese, 1883, p. 37.

[491]H. A. Giles,The Civilisation of China, 1911, p. 237. See especially Chap.XI., "Chinese and Foreigners," for the etiquette of street regulations and the habit of shouting conversation.

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