APPENDIX. 459 



the Editeurs de la Grande Geographie, ' II n'ya aucun donte,' induces a very great deal of 

 doubt, as it appears that they draw their conclusion from the scanty evidence they place 

 before us. The account, however, of the Ta-kin and Pin-lane/, is of a very different 

 stamp, and in it we recognise an accurate description of the Irawadi, as it really exists. 

 To this day, there is a considerable trade carried on by the Chinese of Yunan, chiefly for 

 the sake of the articles enumerated above, as found in these rivers. The amber mines of the 

 Kaynduayn have been long famed for the quantities of amber produced. The green stone 

 (yu) is found in most of the branches of the Irawadi — (I brought a specimen from Man- 

 che, which was found in the Phungan) — and the Urii produces a stone, the nature of 

 which we could not exactly ascertain from the Shams, for which the Chinese pay a large 

 price*. It is to be remarked, that hitherto it has not been asserted that the river of 

 Thibet enters Yunan ; but to prove this, M. Klaproth cites " une ordonnance de 

 Khang-hi," published in 1721. I give the extract relating to this river at large. 



" II y a encore une autre riviere qui passe par l'extreme frontiere du Yun-nan, e'est 

 le Pin-lang-kiang (fleuve de 1'Arec). Sa source est dans le Nyari province du Tubet, a 

 Test du mont Gangdis sur le mont Dumdjouk-kabal, e'est a dire bouche de cheval. Ce 

 fleuve recoit plus bas le nom de Yarou-dzangbo ; il coule generalement vers Test, en 

 deviant un peu au sud ; passe par le pays de Dzangghe et la ville de Jikar gounggar ; 

 recoit le Guldjao-mouren; plus loin, se dirige au sud, traverse une contree habitee par 

 des hordes non soumises, et entre dans le Yunnan, pres de l'ancienne ville de Young- 

 tcheou ; il y porte le non de Pin-lang-kiang. II quitte cette province au fort de Thie-py- 

 kouan et entre dans le royaume de Mian-tian." 



I have already mentioned that this ordonnance was published in 1721 ; however, the 

 Jesuits were employed in Yunan, in constructing their map of the province in 1714 and 

 1715, and they have neither introduced the Sampo into Yunan, nor had their inquiries 

 elicited any satisfactory information concerning its course after leaving Thibet. P. Regis 

 himself says, (he probably wrote after the year 1721,) f " Mais, ou va se decharger 

 le grande fleuve Tsanpou? C'est sur quoi on n'a riea de certain. II est vraisemblable 



* One species of stone they require to be sawn in two, when they immediately decide to reject it as worth- 

 less, or to pay a large sum for it. 



t Description de 1' Empire de la Chine. — p. 585. 



