Appendix. 251 



(*.) Kirneh (probably the kirna, a kind of citron). " An- 

 other of the orange kind is the kirneh, which may be about 

 the size of the kilkil lime. This, too, is tart."* 



(/.) Amilbed (lit. the acid willow). "Another resembling 

 the orange is the amil-bid. I have seen it first during this 

 present year.f They say that if a needle be thrust into the 

 heart of it, it melts away.J Perhaps this may proceed from 

 its extreme acidity, or from some other of its properties. Its 

 acidity may be about equal to that of the orange or lime." 



No. 2. 



In Blackwoods Magazine for September, 1886, in an article 

 by Major-General A. R. McMahon, on " Burmese border 

 tribes, and trade routes," I find the following : 



" A century before the Christian era it appears that the 

 emperor of the Han dynasty fitted out an expedition to find 

 its way through South- West China to India, which was frus- 

 trated by the obstructiveness of the ' barbarians,' or Shans, 

 who then occupied Yunnan. The result was the chastisement 

 of the Shans, and their expulsion from the country of the 

 Upper Mehkhong and Salween rivers to the Irawadi valley. 

 This movement developed to such a degree that the immi- 

 grants, after a while, found themselves strong enough to 

 overthrow the monarchy, established by the Aryan settlers 

 (from India), and founded a kingdom of their own, of which 

 more anon. 



" Yunnan, which was formerly peopled by Shans, 



was by this pressure absorbed by the Chinese The 



same fate overtook them from a different cause, in their con- 

 tact with the Hindus of the Brahmaputra valley, which the 



* The translators probably allude to the khatta, which is often called 

 Citron by the English ; it is, however, impossible to say whether Baber 

 also meant this. 



f In A. Pavet de Courteille's translation " que je n'ai eu occasion de 

 voir que depuis trois ans." 



J In a foot-note " This story of a needle is believed, by the natives, 

 of all the Citron kind, which are hence called in the Dekhan sui-%ul 

 (needle-melter)." 



