The _Pa-y_ or _P’o-y_ formed under the Han Dynasty the principality of P’o-tsiu and under the T’ang Dynasty the tribes of Pu-hiung and of Si-ngo, which were among the thirty-seven tribes dependent on the ancient state of Nan-Chao and occupied the territory of the sub-prefectures of Kiang-Chuen (Ch’êng-kiang fu) and of Si-ngo (Lin-ngan fu). They submitted to China at the beginning of the Yuen Dynasty; their country bordered upon Burma (Mien-tien) and Ch’ê-li or Kiang-Hung (Xieng-Hung), in Yun-Nan, on the right bank of the Mekong River. According to Chinese tradition, the Pa-y descended from Muong Tsiu-ch’u, ninth son of Ti Muong-tsiu, son of Piao-tsiu-ti (Asôka). Devéria gives (p. 105) a specimen of the Pa-y writing (16th century). (_Devéria, Front._, 99, 117; _Bourne, Report_, p. 88.) Chapter iv. of the Chinese work, _Sze-i-kwan-k’ao_, is devoted to the _Pa-y_, including the sub-divisions of Muong-Yang, Muong-Ting, Nan-tien, Tsien-ngaï, Lung-chuen, Wei-yuan, Wan-tien, Chen-k’ang, Ta-how, Mang-shi, Kin-tung, Ho-tsin, Cho-lo tien. (_Devéria, Mél. de Harlez_, p. 97.) I give a specimen of Pa-yi writing from a Chinese work purchased by Father Amiot at Peking, now in the Paris National Library (Fonds chinois, No. 986). (See on this scrip, _F. W. K. Müller, T’oung-Pao_, III. p. 1, and V. p. 329; _E. H. Parker, The Muong Language, China Review_, I. 1891, p. 267; _P. Lefèvre-Pontalis, Etudes sur quelques alphabets et vocab. Thais, T’oung Pao_, III. pp. 39–64.)—H. C.] These ethnological matters have to be handled cautiously, for there is great ambiguity in the nomenclature. Thus _Man-tzŭ_ is often used generically for aborigines, and the _Lolos_ of Richthofen are called Man-tzŭ 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.