Page:Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society - Volume 1.djvu/297

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XVI. Extracts From Peking Gazettes. Translated by John Francis Davis, Esq., M.R.A.S. Communicated by Sir George Thomas Staunton, Bart., V P. R.A.S.

Read March 19, 1825.

No. 1. Extract from the Peking Gazette, dated 5th day of 4th moon, of the 4th year of Taou kwang (3d May, 1824).

Tseang-yew-tëen (Governor of Chĭh-le province), Pëen tsow,^[1] i.e. shortly addresses his Imperial Majesty on the subject of tribute bearer from the ^[2]Mëen-tëen^[3] nation, now on his way from Peking back to his native country. I deputed civil and military officers to escort him safely and diligently. Now the magistrate of Tsze-chow district reports that the said envoy proceeds very well and peaceably on his journey; and that on the 13th of the 3d moon (11th April) he had been escorted as far as Gan-yang-hëen in Ho-nan province, where he had been transferred to the care of the local officers, to continue his progress. It is right that I present this short address on the subject.

Vermilion reply: "We know it." Khin tsze.

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1. For the Chinese characters, see Plate III, No. 1.
2. See Plate III, No. 2.
3. On examining the site of this Mëen-tëen nation, on a very valuable map belonging to the East-India Company, and copied with great exactness from the actual surveys of the missionaries, it is found exactly to correspond to the eastern part of the Burman empire, being placed on the frontier of Yun nan province, between 22° and 25° latitude. Close to this, on the same map, is the name^[4] Ah-wa (Ava). The following rivers pass from the Yun nan province into the Burman territory, viz. ^[5] Lung-chuen keang, Dragon-stream river; ^[6]Pin-lang keang, Betel-nut river. Somewhat to the northward of these, is, ^[7]Kin-sha keang, Golden sand river. To the northward of Mëen-tëen, towards Thibet, and the Berhampooter river (which latter is written by the Chinese, A-loo-tsang-poo, and exactly answers, in their way of spelling, to E-re-chom-boo, the Thibetian name, according to Turner) the map contains ^[8]Noo-e, which either means "the angry, or savage foreigners;" or is used merely to express a foreign sound.
4. See Plate III, No. 3.
5. See Plate III, No. 4.
6. See Plate III, No. 5.
7. See Plate III, No. 6.
8. See Plate III, No. 7.