Asia -- Description and travel -- Early works to 1800; Mongols -- History; Polo, Marco, 1254-1323?; Voyages and travels
NOTE 8.—“Whereas before,” says Jack Cade to Lord Say, “our
forefathers had no books but score and tally, thou hast caused
printing to be used.” The use of such tallies for the record of
contracts among the aboriginal tribes of Kweichau is mentioned by
Chinese authorities, and the French missionaries of Bonga speak of
the same as in use among the simple tribes in that vicinity. But,
as Marsden notes, the use of such rude records was to be found in
his day in higher places and much nearer home. They continued to be
employed as records of receipts in the British Exchequer till 1834,
“and it is worthy of recollection that the fire by which the Houses
of Parliament were destroyed was supposed to have originated in the
over-heating of the flues in which the discarded tallies were being
burnt.” I remember often, when a child, to have seen the tallies of
the colliers in Scotland, and possibly among that class they may
survive. They appear to be still used by bakers in various parts
of England and France, in the Canterbury hop-gardens, and locally
in some other trades. (_Martini_, 135; _Bridgman_, 259, 262; _Eng.
Cyclop._ sub v. _Tally_; _Notes and Queries_, 1st ser. X. 485.)
[According to Father Crabouillet (_Missions Cath._ 1873, p. 105),
the Lolos use tallies for their contracts; Dr. Harmand mentions
(_Tour du Monde_, 1877, No. VII.) the same fact among the Khas of
Central Laos; and M. Pierre Lefèvre-Pontalis (_Populations du nord
de l’Indo-Chine_, 1892, p. 22, from the _J. As._) says he saw these
tallies among the Khas of Luang-Prabang.—H. C.]
“In Illustration of this custom I have to relate what follows. In
the year 1863 the Tsaubwa (or Prince) of a Shan Province adjoining
Yun-nan was in rebellion against the Burmese Government. He wished
to enter into communication with the British Government. He sent
a messenger to a British Officer with a letter tendering his
allegiance, and accompanying this letter was a piece of bamboo
about five inches long. This had been split down the middle, so
that the two pieces fitted closely together, forming a tube in
the original shape of the bamboo. A notch at one end included
the edges of both pieces, showing that they were a pair. The
messenger said that if the reply were favourable one of the pieces
was to be returned and the other kept. I need hardly say the
messenger received no written reply, and both pieces of bamboo were
retained.” (_MS. Note by Sir Arthur Phayre._)
NOTE 9.—Compare Mr. Hodgson’s account of the sub-Himalayan Bodos
and Dhimals: “All diseases are ascribed to supernatural agency.
The sick man is supposed to be possessed by one of the deities,
who racks him with pain as a punishment for impiety or neglect of
the god in question. Hence not the mediciner, but the exorcist, is
summoned to the sick man’s aid.” (_J. A. S. B._ XVIII. 728.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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