478 DAVIS. 



well as two characters literally meaning "parallel use" (an abridged 

 form of the four characters previously mentioned). In translating, 

 the phrase " to be used side by side " has been adopted, and no distinc- 

 tion has been made between the two forms. 



The phrases at the end of the inscriptions indicating the punish- 

 ment for concealing, in spite of being aware of the guilt of another, 

 differ. In many cases the translations are awkward, but an attempt 

 has been made to retain the original meaning. 



"Public Convenience". Though the literal translation is "con- 

 venient {use) of people", the phrase "Public Convenience" has been 

 adopted as a better form for a title. 



"Issuance". Though the literal translation is " issue-circulaiing" 

 or " distribute-circidating" the word "Issuance" has been adopted. 



"Imperial authorization decree". Whether or not such an expres- 

 sion is allowable is doubtful; however, it has been used to distinguish 

 it from others which simply mean "decree" or "sanction". 



Chinese vs. English. The absence of even fairly exhaustive Chinese- 

 English dictionaries has made the rendering of the Chinese into 

 English doubly difficult, as each character has many different 

 meanings and, further, when used in combination with one or more 

 characters, takes on a new meaning. No dictionary, even in the 

 original language, gives enough examples of these combinations, 

 which amount to thousands and thousands. Since generally all 

 Chinese-English dictionaries deal with the modern Chinese language, 

 and the authors themselves intended to make the dictionaries of gen- 

 eral, not technical, use, many words that were found on the notes had 

 to be rendered according to my best judgment. Of course the titles 

 of officials, etc., may or may not have English equivalents; but since 

 there is no standard to follow, the most appropriate renderings that 

 could be thought of have been supplied. In order to make correct 

 renderings of the titles of officials, one must be a deep professional 

 student of the political economy or governmental organization of 

 Chinese of the various dynasties and the various provinces. In the 

 present case, as many reference books in Chinese as were at command 

 have been consulted. 



In translating the text, points not essential, as for instance, repeti- 

 tions of chronolog}^ or the author's poetic eulogies concerning great 

 discoveries, have been omitted. 



KOJIRO TOMITA. 



