The people follow his -example, and are all animated by a sincere faith. There are two sangharamas, with very few followers.

On the north-east of the frontier of the country, skirting the mountains and crossing the valleys, advancing along a dangerous and precipitous road, after going 700 li or so, we come to the valley of Po-mi-lo (Panrir).40 It stretches icoo li or so east and west, and IOO li or so from north to south; in the narrowest part it is not more than 10 li. It is situated among the snowy mountains; on this account the climate is cold, and the winds blow constantly.. The snow falls both in summer and spring-time. Night and day the wind rages violently. The soil is impregnated with salt and covered with quantities of gravel and sand. The grain which is sown does not ripen, shrubs and trees are rare; there is but a succession of desert without any inhabitants.

In the middle of the Pamir valley is a great dragon lake (Nagahrada); from east to west ifc is 300 li or so, from north to south 50 li. It is situated in the midst of the great T'sung ling mountains, and is the central point of Jambudvipa.41 The land is very high; the water is pure and clear as a mirror; it cannot be fathomed; the colour.of the lake is a dark blue; the taste of the. water sweet and soft: in the water hide the kau-ki fish (shark-spider), dragons, crocodiles, tortoises; floating on its surface42 are ducks, wild geese, cranes,

40 P&mir, according to Sir T. D. Forsyth (Report of Mission to Yarhand, p. 231, n. ) is a Khokandi Turki word signifying "desert." For a description of this district and its watersheds, see Forsyth (op. cit., p. 231), also Wood's Oxus, chap. xxi.

41 This no doubt refers to the Sarik-kul lake, otherwise called Kul-i-Pamir-kulan, the lake of the Great Pamir; see ante, vol. i. p. 12, n. 33. The great Naga lake is sometimes called the Ravana

hrada; Ravana also dwelt on Lanka-giri (Potaraka ?), and possibly from him is derived the Arabic name for Adam's Peak, Mount Rahwan. The remark in the text ."that it cannot be fathomed" is a mistake. Wood found soundings at 9 fathoms [Oxus, P 237

42 Hiuen Tsiang's visit was during the summer months (probably of A.D. 642); in the winter, the lake is frozen to a thickness of two feet and a half (Wood's and so on; large eggs are found concealed in the wild desert wastes, or among the marshy shrubs, or on the sandy islets.

To the west of the lake there is a large stream, which, going west, reaches so far as the eastern borders of the kingdom of Ta-mo-si-tie-ti (? Tamasthiti), and there joins the river Oxus (Fo-t'su) and flows still to the west. So on this side of the lake all the streams flow westward.

On the east of the lake is a great stream,43 which, flowing north-east, reaches to the western frontiers of the country of Kie-sha (? Kashg&r), and there joins the Si-to (Sit&) river44 and flows eastward, and so all streams on the left side of the lake flow eastward.

Passing over a mountain to the south of the Pamir valley, we find the country ofPo-lo-lo (Bolor); 45 here is found much gold and silver; the gold is as red as fire.

On leaving the midst of this valley and going southeast, along the route there is no inhabited place (no men or milage). Ascending the mountains, traversing the side of precipices, encountering nothing but ice and snow, and thus going 500 li we arrive at the kingdom of K'iep'an-to.

K'ie-p'an-to.

This country 46 is about 2000 li in circuit; the capital

Oxus, p. 236). But in the summer Burnes in modern times heard much

the ice on the lake is broken up, the same story" (Yule, Marco Polo,

and the hills in its neighbourhood vol. i. p. 166).

clear of snow; this (according to 44 For some remarks on the SJta the statement of the Khirghiz river see ante, vol. i. n. 34. Julien, •who accompanied Wood) takes in a note found on p. 572, vol. iii., place as early as the end of June, "at corrects the name to &ita\ meaning which time the water swarms with "cold;" his authority is the Chinese aquatic birds" (op. tit., p. 239); Dictionary, I-tsi-Mng-in-i. this confirms the remark in the 45 Perhaps the same as Balti, a text. For the other remarks, see Tibetan kingdom. See CunningMarco Polo, book i. chap, xxxii., ham (quoted by Yule, M. P., vol. i. and Yule's notes. p. 168).

43 "The story of an eastern out- • 46 Julien restores the symbols flow from the lake is no doubt a K'ie-p'an-to to Khavandha doubtlegend connected with an ancient fully. V. de St. Martin in his Hindu belief (see Cathay, p. 347), but Mfmoire (p. 426) restores it to Karrests on a great rocky crag of the mountain, and' is backed by the river It is about 20 li in circuit. The moun

tain chains run in continuous succession, the valleys and plains are very contracted. There is very little rice cultivated, but beans and corn grow in abundance. Trees grow thinly, there are only few fruits and flowers. The plateaux are soppy, the hills are waste, the towns are deserted; the manners of the people are without any rules of propriety. There are very few of the people who give themselves to study. They are naturally uncouth and impetuous, but yet they are bold and courageous. Their appearance is common and revolting; their clothes are made of woollen stuffs. Their letters are much like those of the Kie-sha (? Kashgar) country. They know how to express themselves sincerely, and they greatly reverence the law of Buddha. There are some ten safbghdrdmas with about 500 followers. They study the Little Vehicle according to the school of the Sarvastivadas.

The reigning king is of an upright and honest character; he greatly honours the three treasures; his external

chu, and in Fa-Man (p. 9, n. 6). I have adopted this restoration. Col. Yule, however (Wood's Oxtis, xlviii. n. 1), speaks of Karchu as "a willo'-the wisp, which never had any existence." On the other hand, he says, "We know this state (i.e., Kabandha, the K'ie-p'an-to of the text) to be identical with the modern territory of Sarikol, otherwise called Tush Kurghan from its chief town" (op. cit, p. xlviii.); and again, "As for Karchu, which in so many maps occupies a position on the waters of the Yarkand river, it was an erroneous transliteration of the name Hatchut or Ketchut, which appeared in the (Chinese) tables of the later Jesuit surveyors to the south of Sarikol and was by them apparently intended as a loose approximation to the position of the frontier of the Dard state of Kanjut or Hunza" (op.

cit, p. Iv.) It would appear from the above extracts that K'ie-pa'n-to must be identified with Sarikol and Tush Kurghan (stone-tower), and not with the Kie-cha of ITa-hian. I am unable, however, to trace IVhian's route to "Kie-cha or Ladak," as stated by Yule (op. cit., xl.), and Cunningham (Ladak, quoted by Yule, ibid.); for if Kie-cha be Ladak, how can the pilgrim describe it as in the middle of the T'sung-ling mountains (chap, v.), or say that a journey of one month westward across the T'sung-ling mountains brought him to North India (chap, vi.)? Dr. Eitel identifies the K'iecha of Fa-hian with the Kasioi of Ptolemy (Handbook, s. v. Khaia); M. V. de St. Martin observes (Mimoire, p. 427) that Kashgar and its territory correspond with the Casia regio Scythice of Ptolemy.

manner "is quiet and unassuming; he is of a vigorous mind and loves learning.

Since the establishment of the kingdom many successive ages have passed. Sometimes the people speak of themselves as deriving their name from the Cfii-ha-tipo-k'iu-ta-lo (China-d^va-gotra). Formerly this country was a desert valley in the midst of the T'sung-ling mountains. At this time a king of the kingdom of Persia (Po-la-sse) took a wife from the Han country. She had heen met by an escort on her progress so far as this, when the roads east and west were stopped by military operations. On this they placed the king's daughter on a solitary mountain peak, very high, and dangerous, which could only be approached by ladders, up and down; moreover, they surrounded it with guards both night and day for protection. After three months the disturbances were quelled (theypat down the robbers). Quiet being restored, they were about to resume their homeward journey. But now the lady was found to be enceinte. Then the minister in charge of the mission was filled with fear and he addressed his colleagues thus: "The king's commands w^ere that I should go to meet his bride. Our company, in expectation of a cessation of the troubles that endangered the roads, at one time encamped in the wilds: at another in the deserts; in the morning we knew not what would happen before the evening. At length the influence of our king having quieted the country, I was resuming the progress homeward when I found that the bride was enceinte. This has caused me great grief, and I know not the place of my death. We must inquire about the villain who has done this (secretly), with a view to punish him hereafter. If we talk about it and noise it abroad, we shall never get at the truth." Then his servant, addressing the envoy, said," Let there be no inquiry; it is a spirit that has had knowledge of her; every day at noon there was a chief-master who came from the sun's disc, and, mounted on horseback, came to

BOOK Xii.] THE DESCENDANT OF THE SUN-GOD. 301

meet her." The envoy said, "If this be so, how can I clear myself from fault?: If I go back I shall certainly be put to death; if I delay here they will send to have 111 e punished. .What is the best thing to do?" He answered, "This is not so complicated a matter; who is there to make inquiries about matters or to exact punishment outside the frontiers? Put it off a few days (from morning to evening)."

On this he built, on the top of a rocky peak, a palace with its surrounding apartments;47 then having erected an enclosure round the palace of some 300 paces, he located the princess there as,chief. She established rules of government and enacted laws. Her time having come, she bore a son of extraordinary beauty and perfect parts. The mother directed the affairs of state; the son received his honourable title j48 he was able to fly through the air and control the winds and snow. He extended his power far and wide, and the renown of his laws was everywhere known. The neighbouring countries and those at a distance subscribed themselves his subjects.

The king having died from age, they buried him in a stone chamber concealed with a great mountain cavern about 100 li to the south-east of this city. His body, being dried, has escaped corruption down to the present time. The form of his body is shrivelled up and thin: he looks as if he were asleep. From time to time they change his clothes, and regularly place incense and flowers by his side. From that time till now. his descendants have ever recollected their origin, that their mother (or, on their mother's side), they were descended from the king of Han, and on their father's side from the race of the Sun-d^va, and therefore they style themselves "descendants of the Han and Sun-god."49

47 This may be the origin of the resemblance to the tale about Syaterm Task Kurylian, stone tower. wush the Persian and.Afrasyab the

48 That is, the son of the Sun- Turanian. The latter gave to the god. royal refugee his daughter Farangis,

49 There is in this story a sort of with the provinces of Khutati and