260 S. E. Peal — A peculiarity of the river names in Asam. [No. 4, 



" Kara-su," i. e. black water, is perhaps the commonest of this group 

 of words (being also of a generic character). The name extends from the 

 east of China to Turkey in Europe, and from Turkestan to the Arctic Ocean. 

 A list of instances with Latitudes and Longitudes is given further on. 



In Longitude they lie mainly between 21° 50' east and 69° east, while 

 in Latitude the name occurs mainly between 35° N. and 45° N., a very 

 restricted belt, corresponding with the Mongolian invasions westwards.* 

 Notwithstanding the fact that the whole of Central, Eastern, and Southern 

 Asia, were probably originally peopled by non- Aryans, apparently spreading 

 from China westward, it is noteworthy how effectually the Himalaya stood 

 as a speech-parting, dividing the races spreading south of it from those 

 to the north, even when tested by this one word for " water." 



In studies of this kind much needless confusion has been" caused by 

 the very various modes of spelling adopted, ere the Hunterian system was 

 introduced ; the real name being often so disguised as to be barely seen. 

 Indeed, in many cases we have boldly changed the original name for ano- 

 ther, as when Eennel turned the Ai-ti (mother water) into Barelly, simply 

 because the former sounded to him absurd. The Amins also, who were 

 with Buchanan, endeavoured to turn Tista into Trista or Tristota, and 

 against the protest of the inhabitants. Carelessness has also had a great 

 deal to do with the confusion we see, and the first mode of spelling that 

 was chanced on remained, whether correct or no. Some rivers are spelt four 

 or five different ways and at times as many as eight, and it is common to find 

 the same river even on the same map spelt two different ways ; thus we 

 have Dee, De, Di, Dy interchangeable. 



It must also be borne in mind that maps seldom give more than one 

 name where there may be several well known locally to distinct tribes 

 near. Thus Mbong-kha of the Singphiis is the Ti-keng of the Nagas. 

 Dinoi of the Singphus is Ning-thi of the Munipuris (the beautiful water), 

 and it is Nam-tonai of the Shans and Kyendween or Thanla wati of the 

 Burmese. Probably it has also Naga names. Many rivers therefore may 

 not at first sight seem to fall into the following list, that are yet very con- 

 spicuous, as the Dhansiri, but on investigation it turns out that the old 

 name is nearly obsolete, i. e., the " Di-ma," whence Di-ma-pur. It is or 

 was also called the Ti-mii. 



In some cases again the name of the river is obviously recent, as the 

 Godadhur, its true name being the Machii, chu being the Bhutan varia- 



* I am not here in a position to follow out the word ' kara' (black) and trace its 

 relationship to ' kala' ; possibly it has been done, but if not, it would seem to offer an 

 interesting and instructive case whereby we may possibly collate the non-Aryan lan- 

 guages with the Aryan. On the other hand it may simply have been imported from 

 one to the other and modified lately. 



