15G Notice of a Chinese Geographical work. [Feb. 



It points [the road ?] to the people ; but if you call, it flies away. At times 

 it seems to hesitate ; if again you call it, it looks about cautiously, and 

 again it flies away and returns. [The sailors] burn paper as an offering 

 to the spirit. It flies round and round, and none knoweth its place. 

 But tradition says, that when the royal Three Precious Ones* descended, 

 they summoned a bird from the Western Ocean, and planting an arrow 

 in it, bade it dwell in the midst of this ocean as a memorial.f 



From Kwdng nan you pass round Shan hdi and arrive at Chim shing 

 and Lo ML Thence going to the west you arrive at Tung po chdi. 

 From He man to Chim shing is a voyage of one hundred Jceng ; to 

 Tung po chdi, of one hundred and thirteen keng. Tung po chai, 

 though a distinct kingdom, being enclosed betwixt the two kingdoms 

 of Kwdng nan and Tsim lo, on the east it pays tribute to Kwdng nan, 

 on the west to Tsim lo. Should it fail in the least to obey these, by 

 water and by land they can invade and reduce it. J The natives are 

 Wu Id yu White Heads. § They go nearly naked, girding only the 

 lower part of the body with a piece of cloth called shod man. The 

 country produces lead, tin, ivory, kingfisher's feathers, peacocks, 

 ocean-cloth, red wood, sandal wood, incense, swallow's nests, sea weed, 

 and ratans. 



From Tung po chdi, a range of hills turns round to the south-west 

 toward Tsim lo. From Tsim lo you pass round the coast to Si tsi, Lu 

 kwan, Ta nin, Ting ha nu, and Phang hang. The mountains separat- 

 ing these from the Central Nation, extend in a due southerly direction 

 thus far, and stop. Again, going round the sea, and the back of the 

 hills towards the west, where Phdng heng terminates the hills, and at 

 the back of this is Yufuh.\\ 



* . JF* San pao ; the tri ratna of Indian Buddhists ; that is Buddha, 



Dharma, Sanga ; or according to the Chinese the past, the present, and the future 

 Buddha, that is mi tofuh, Shi Jceafuh, and Mi lefuh. Our author seems here 

 and elsewhere to use the term as a proper name. 



f This legend is entirely omitted by M. Klaproth in his translation of the chapter. 



% M. Klaproth. " Peu a. peu il est cependant devenu independent. Parmer, 

 chacun peut y entrer et le subjuguer," — a circumstance not calculated to promote 

 its gradual independence ! 



§ M. K. " II n'y a pas de mahometans portant le turban blanc." 



|| Johore ? 



