The second and third journeys, which occupied another 600 days
between them, both ended at, and therefore it is assumed began at,
the same place as the first journey's terminus; that is, at a
place marked on modern maps as Pao-CH'ÊNg, on the Upper Han River.
In later times it belonged to the semi-Chinese kingdoms of Shuh
and Ts'u in turn. One of these narratives is taken up with a
description of the Emperor's infatuation for a clever wizard from
a far country, and of his liaison with a girl bearing his own
clan-name, who died about two months before he reached home, and
was buried on the road with great pomp. These two later journeys
have no geographical value at all; but as the Emperor in each case
again crossed the Yellow River, it is plain that he was amusing
himself somewhere along the main Tartar roads, as in the first
case.
It may be added that the Taoist author Lieh-tsz, in his third
chapter, repeats the story of the magician, who, he says, came
from the "Extreme West Country." He also explains that it was
through listening to this man's wonderful tales that the Emperor
"neglected state affairs, and abandoned himself to the delights of
travel,"--thus anticipating by three centuries the language of Sz-
ma Ts'ien in 90 B.C. The story of the particular tribe of Tartars
(named with the same sounds, but not with the same characters) who
washed the Emperor's feet with kumiss is also told by Lieh-tsz.
The position of the Redwater River is defined, to which textual
remarks the commentators add more about the River Blackwater.
Curiously enough, in himself commenting upon the Emperor Muh's
conversations with the chieftain of _Siwangmu_, Lieh-tsz mentions
the traditional departure, west, of the philosopher Lao-tsz, his own
master.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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