they accessible? They belong to those parts in which aborigines most especially delight, the hillier parts of the more retired areas. We have no first-hand account of them, no vocabularies, no minute or trustworthy notices. They are probably (but by no means certainly) Chinese in blood. They are probably not so much the aborigines of China as the Chinese in their aboriginal state. It is not likely that they have any general name for themselves. It is not likely, then, that the name Miaoutse is native. Chinese in origin, it is, nevertheless, convenient.

There are the White Miaoutse and the Black Miaoutse; so named according to the difference of their complexion. I do not know the evidence of this. It may only be an inference. The names of colours are not always what they appear to be. There is a White Russia and a Red Russia. There is a White Wallachia and a Black Wallachia; for so the Turks call Moldavia. There are White Croatians-all the names being applied without any regard to the colour of the skin. The Red Karen were one of the populations of the Burmese empire. Some said that they were named from the colour of their cheeks. Others said they were named from the colour of their breeches. All we know, then, about the Miaoutse is, that there is a Black and a White division of them.

One tribe (occupant of the Ping-sha-shih hills) has the following custom. When a man marries he sticks five small flags into a bundle of grass, bound together by seven bands. Of this he makes a sort of idol, kneeling before it. Meanwhile his friends fold their arms and bow. After this they feast. At the death of a parent the eldest son remains at home without washing his face for forty-nine days. Having done this he sacrifices to Tang-kwei. Tangkwei is the Miaoutse Mercury.

Another tribe (Hea-king by name) offer the head of a tiger to their chief deity when a friend is sick. The head is placed on a dish or platter, with a sword, with three incense-sticks and two candles behind it, and three cups of wine in front. Before this they cross the arms and bow.

Another tribe (name unknown) when they wish to propitiate the good-will of the demons of the weather, appoint ten companies of young men and women, who, after dressing themselves in robes of felt, and binding their loins with an embroidered girdle, dance and play the (?) organ. This is done for three days and three nights, and ensures a plentiful year. A father, when his son is ten years of age, sacrifices a white tiger, and names the

child.

Another tribe (Chung-king), when they mourn for their dead, kill an ox, and place the head and feet upon an altar, with basins filled with food, lighted candles, and cups of wine.

Another tribe (name unknown) solemnize the marriage by sacrificing a dog.

Another (name unknown) in the middle of autumn offer a sacrifice to the founder of their race. Having fed an ox, they sacrifice, and feast on it; drinking a liquor distilled (sic) from rice. This is done by one of the western tribes.

Another (name unknown, but of the Miaoutse division) keep an ox ready fattened for sacrificing to the honour of their founder on such occasions as may demand a festival.

Another (name also unknown, but remarkable for the purity of its manners) kindle a vast bonfire at the funeral of their friends.

Another (name also unknown), when a man is about to marry, knock out two of his teeth with a hammer. This is remarkable because we shall see the custom repeating itself in Australia.

The Gyami.-One of the languages which Mr. Hodgson treats as Sifan, or as the language of one of those tribes. of China which are, at one and the same time, occupants of the western frontier, and either really or apparently ruder than the rest of the population, and which he calls Gyami, is certainly more Chinese than Tibetan, more Chinese than T'hay, more Chinese than Burmese, more Chinese than aught else.

It has also an affinity with a vocabulary of Stralenberg's which has perplexed Klaproth. Stralenberg gives a short list of words which he says belong to the language of the Mantshu Tartars who were once the vassals of the Mongols. Yet it is not, as Klaproth remarks, Mantshú; but rather Chinese. It is certainly Chinese in its numerals; at the same time ten (about half) of the other words "exhibit not the least likeness to any Asiatic language known to me (i. e. Klaproth)." Now both this vocabulary of Stralenberg's, and the Gyami of Hodgson agree in adding -ko and -ku, or -go to the numerals. One of the Mishmi dialects does the same. The Chepang adds zho.

It is probable (nothing more) that the Miaoutse and Gyami are in the same category in respect to their language.

CHAPTER XIV.

Population of unexplored districts.- Bibor.- Kulta.- Lawa.- Lolo.Moy.-Kwantong.—Tshampa.

THUS far the populations which have come under notice, with the exception of Miaoutse, whom we have (possibly upon insufficient grounds) considered as Chinese, have been known to us by specimens of their several languages; so that, as far as speech is concerned, they have been classified. I do not say that the blood and the language always coincide. I only say that the latter is prima facie evidence of the former.

But the populations whose languages are thus known are, by no means, the whole of the occupants of southeastern Asia. Several large districts are either imperfectly explored or wholly unknown.

The parts due south of Upper Asam are in this predicament. So are the parts due north thereof. Who succeed the Bor Abors, the Mishmi, the southern and eastern Naga? Who touch the Khamti, and the Singpo on the east? Where does the Shan family end? Where does the Chinese begin? What are the details of the southern frontier of Manipúr? What those of northern and eastern Siam? Where do the Kambojians begin and end? Where the Anamese ?

The populations to the north and east of the Abor and Mishmi localities are, when other than Tibetan or Chinese, in all probability, allied to the known mountaineers of the