CHALFANT: EARLY CHINESE WRITING 27 
Officer (?) #7 Chou-King (6 Hf oR), Yu Ts‘ung (2) 8 Wei (3 YJ), San’s retainers to the number of ten. Now the 
King, in the Ninth Moon, Ch‘én-Kia ‘9 I-Mao,® makes oath before [his] Honorable Elders and Select Bannermen,>! 
saying, ‘‘ We confer upon the Clan of San this land-token,® securing [the land] to the Clan of San in good faith, else 
ee 
a a R 
® ho a af : 
let us suffer 
fa rr 
S SHG a ~ Bw 
En 
a et 
a te 
= 
> 
~ 
= Stig Hy 88-43 XQ > 
a 
AE 
mit 
An 
~~ 
YE TE, ER 
ée 
+ 9 
o es ee A 
a) is obscure, Juan Yiian makes it z which seems far-fetched. 
‘8 A properly formed symbol, but not in Kanghsi. 
‘This seems to be a reversed horary couplet like several found in the “tortoise-shell ’’ inscriptions (see infra). 
The sign + may be either ‘P kia or 4 tsai ‘‘at.?? If an horary sign, the two (ch‘én kia) may mean “‘forenoon.”’ 
50“ T-mao’?(Z 9/) refers to the day of the month, and not to the year as in the cycle system (adopted later). 
51“ Select.” Kanghsi quotes early use of z hsiian as substitute for i hsiian “select.” AR I ‘ troops,’ 
““bannermen.”? 
2157 4 I take to be “land-token,”’ referring to the tripod inscribed with this indenture, and conferred as a 
“token ”? of title to the domain. 
