462 Voyage of the No vara. 



speaking of food, the former signifies ''raw," the latter 

 ''thoroughly cooked." By these means they discriminate 

 them into the savage independent " green" Miau-tze, and the 

 subjugated more civilized " rijje " Miau-tze. The subjection 

 and civilization of these latter are however as yet very pro- 

 blematical. As in days long gone by, so up to the present 

 hour, the Miau-tze are restless and troublesome neighbours to 

 the Chinese. Dr. Bridgman has lately translated into Eng- 

 lish the sketches made by a Chinese scholar upon the Miau- 

 tze, during his travels in the province of Kwei-chan, by 

 which he has added greatly to our stock of information 

 respecting those " children of the soil ;" tlie work consists of 

 two volumes in 8vo, containing about 82 sketches or delinea- 

 tions. Each of these fills one page, the handwriting being 

 condensed or expanded according to the amount of the con- 

 tents, while that opposite contains an illustration elucidatory 

 of the text. This very rare work divides the Miau-tze into 

 82 tribes according to their customs, more or less savage, very 

 few of whom possess any trace of a written language, record- 

 ing the most important events simj^ly by certain marks on a 

 stick, or by what are called " tallies," and subsisting upon wild 

 fruit, fish, and the flesh of wild animals. They usually go 

 about bare-footed, are very scantily clad, lead a life full of 

 privation and hardship, and in all their troubles have recourse 

 to the invocation of the evil spirits. Only very few of their 

 race follow agriculture, or any branch of industry, or worship 



