s chinois, No. 986). (See
on this scrip, _F.W.K. Mueller, T'oung-Pao_, III. p. 1, and V. p. 329;
_E.H. Parker, The Muong Language, China Review_, I. 1891, p. 267; _P.
Lefevre-Pontalis, Etudes sur quelques alphabets et vocab. Thais, T'oung
Pao_, III. pp. 39-64.)--H.C.

[Illustration: Pa-y script.]

These ethnological matters have to be handled cautiously, for there is
great ambiguity in the nomenclature. Thus _Man-tzu_ is often used
generically for aborigines, and the _Lolos_ of Richthofen are called
Man-tzu by Garnier and Blakiston; whilst _Lolo_ again has in Yun-nan
apparently a very comprehensive generic meaning, and is so used by Garnier.
(_Richt. Letter_ VII. 67-68 and MS. notes; _Garnier_, I. 519 seqq. [_T.W.
Kingsmill, Han Wu-ti, China Review_, XXV. 103-109.])

[1] Ramusio alone has "a great _salt_ lake."

CHAPTER XLVIII.

CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF CARAJAN.

When you have passed that River you enter on the province of CARAJAN,
which is so large that it includes seven kingdoms. It lies towards the
west; the people are Idolaters, and they are subject to the Great Kaan. A
son of his, however, is there as King of the country, by name ESSENTIMUR;
a very great and rich and puissant Prince; and he well and justly rules
his dominion, for he is a wise man, and a valiant.

After leaving the river that I spoke of, you go five days' journey towards
the west, meeting with numerous towns and villages. The country is one in
which excellent horses are bred, and the people live by cattle and
agriculture. They have a language of their own which is passing hard to
understand. At the end of those five days' journey you come to the
capital, which is called YACHI, a very great and noble city, in which are
numerous merchants and craftsmen.[NOTE 1]

The people are of sundry kinds, for there are not only Saracens and
Idolaters, but also a few Nestorian Christians.[NOTE 2] They have wheat
and rice in plenty. Howbeit they never eat wheaten bread, because in that
country it is unwholesome.[NOTE 3] Rice they eat, and make of it sundry
messes, besides a kind of drink which is very clear and good, and makes a
man drunk just as wine does.

Their money is such as I will tell you. They use for the purpose certain
white porcelain shells that are found in the sea, such as are sometimes
put on dogs' collars; and 80 of these porcelain shells pass for a single
weight of silver, equivalent to two Venice groats, i.e. 24 piccoli.
Als