168 
NATURE 
[OcTOBER 9, 1913 
are perhaps due to the indirect process made use 
of in interrogating the Tibetans, of which the 
author states “I spoke Jagatai Turkish with my 
men, and Rabsang translated for me_ into 
Tibetan.” Thus, we read ‘“ Manasarowar means 
“Minasa the most beautiful of lakes.’ Manasa 
means ‘created by the soul,’ for the lake was 
created by the soul of Buddha.”’ In this equation 
our author has evidently confused Brahma with 
Buddha. For there is no authentic Buddhist 
legend associating Sakya Muni or his “soul” with 
the creation of this lake; indeed, that teacher as 
an elementary part of his doctrine denied the 
existence of a soul altogether. On the other 
hand, Brahma in Hindu myth is often linked with 
this lake, doubtless because ‘“‘ Manasa,” meaning 
in Sanskrit ‘mental or spiritual,” or “ produced 
by the mind,” is an epithet of Brahma, and 
Kailas, the Olympian abode of .the other gods 
created by Brahma, adjoins this lake. To say 
that sarowar means “the most beautiful of lakes ” 
is neither literally correct nor appropriate. 
photograph of that lake is given in the present 
volume, but no one who has seen this desolate 
lake, as the writer of this note has, could think 
of calling it “most beautiful.” The word really 
means “the great lake,” or literally “the best or 
sacred lake,” but with no sense whatever of 
“beautiful.” Similarly, the Brahmaputra, the 
source of which is known to the Tibetans as “the 
river of the horse’s mouth,” is, we are told, “so 
named in honour of Buddha’s steed,’’ though, as 
a fact, neither Buddha nor his steed are denoted 
in this name, nor is there any authentic legend 
of such relationship current amongst Tibetans. 
Again, the statement that ‘‘ Singi-kamba’ 
[=‘the lion’s mouth’] the Indus, refers rather 
to the tiger than the lion,” is a mistake, as 
“Sing ’’ means only “lion,” and not tiger; and 
lions are not even yet extinct in the mid-Indus 
valley, where they are believed to have been 
formerly generally distributed. | The volume is 
enriched by numerous excellent photographs and 
sketches, which are admirably reproduced, and 
add greatly to the attractiveness of the book. 
(2) Under the title of the “Land of the Blue 
Poppy,” Mr. Ward, son of the late Professor of 
Botany at Cambridge, describes his travels on 
the Chinese border of Eastern Tibet, as a col- 
lector of decorative plants for a firm of florists. In 
this work he spent several months in rorr in the 
upper valleys of the Yangtse, Mekong, and 
Salwin, with his headquarters at the missionary 
station of ‘“A-tun-tsi” (the A-tun-tzu of the 
maps), on the north-west frontier of Yunnan. As 
a result he gathered many rare plants, including 
more than twenty new species, amongst which was 
the Meconopsis, named after him, and giving the 
title to his book; also two new voles. Although 
he displays no very intimate acquaintance with 
the writings of previous travellers in those regions, 
his narrative is pleasantly written, and contains 
some observations of general interest. 
The extensive cultivation of opium-poppy, in 
‘solid fields ” and otherwise, which he noticed in 
‘ 
No | 
the present time, when India is depriving herself 
of enormous revenue from opium solely in the 
interests of assisting China to stamp out the 
vice of opium-eating, and on the express con- 
dition that China herself ceased all cultivation of 
that drug. On one of the occasions on which Mr. 
Ward lost his way, and wandered alone for several 
days in the wilds, he ate a quantity of rhododen- 
dron corollas for their nectar, and was surprised 
to find them poisonous—forgetful of the toxic 
| Pontine honey described by Xenophon, and usually 
ascribed to rhododendron or azalea. With the ex- 
ception of R. arboreum the Himalayan species 
are generally regarded as poisonous. 
Of the Tibetan character ‘and hospitality he 
Fic. 2.—The Salween Forests in Summer, Mekong- 
Salween Divide, 8,000 feet. From ‘‘The Land 
of the Blue Poppy.” 
speaks with much enthusiasm. In the dress of 
the Tibetan men he remarks as “very curious a 
section of an elephant’s tusk threaded on to the 
| queue ’’—this doubtless is the thumb-ring of the 
Western Yunnan, is of political importance at ‘ 
NO. 2293, VOL. 92] 
ancient bowmen, whose dress the modern Tibetan 
dandy imitates, and binds the ring on his coiled 
pigtail when not worn on the thumb on ceremonial 
occasions. Other border tribes of much ethno- 
logical interest amongst which he passed were 
Lissu, Lutzu, Minchia, “Lama,” Pe-tzu, Chu-tzu, 
and Mosso. The last-named is of especial in- 
terest as possessing an elementary hieroglyphic 
writing, somewhat like that of the Hittite, the 
origin and development of which is still unsolved, 
though specimens have been published by Captain 
Gill, Prince Henri, and Mr. Forrest. Yet our 
author makes no reference to this matter. He 
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