— n — 



he availed himself of the circumstance tliat the army was returning, to attack 

 it from both sides. Shih-pi was behind and was cut off from the rest of the 

 army, he was obliged to fight his way for 300 li before he arrived at the 

 ships; at last he embarked again and reached Ch'üan-chou after a voyage of 

 68 days. 



Of his soldiers more than 3000 men had died. The emperor's officers 

 made a list of the valuables, incenses, perfumeries, textures etc. which he 

 brought and foimd them worth more than 500.000 taels of silver. He also 

 brought to the Emperor a letter in golden characters from the country Muli 

 (or Biüi) (*), with golden and silver articles , rhinoceros-horns , ivory and other 

 things. For more particulars see the articles on Kau Hsing and on Java. 



On account of his having lost so many men, the Emperor ordered Shih-pi 

 to receive seventeen lashes and confiscated a third of his property. In the year 

 1295 he was raised again to office and a memorial was presented to the 

 Emperor, pointing out that Shih-pi and his associates had gone over the sea 

 to a distance of 25.000 li, had led the army to countries which had never 

 been reached in the last reigns, had captivated a king and awed into sub- 

 mission the neighbouring smaller countries , and that , for these reasons , mercy 

 should be shown to him. 



The Emperor then restored his goods which had been confiscated and 

 raised him gradually to the highest ranks, until he died at the age of 86 

 years. 



Account of Kau Hsing, History of the Yuan dynasty. Book 162. 



Kau Hsing, styled Kung-ch'i, was a man from Ts'ai-chou ( 2 ). 



(The author gives a pretty long description of his chiefly military career and says 

 at last): 



When Java had marked the face of the impeiïal envoy Meng Ch'i, the 

 Emperor appointed Kau Hsing , together with Shih-pi and Ike Mese, to take 

 the command of an army and go to subdue this country. He also got a girdle 



O ^ JÉ. 01 M ü., P robabl y tte island of Bali. 



O "0j 0L } ^ ^fj ^E , Hl ^}| A • Ts ' ai - chou is an old name for tne P re - 



sent district ^ ||| ? department ]tfr j5t in the province of Honan. 



