f 



ETllNULOGY OF THE iKUO-rAClFlC I8LA>"US. '219 



doms of the Yellow River il was much nearer io the North Eastern 

 and Eastern tribes of Tibet than to those of UltruiiiUia. I liavc, 

 in another place, suggested that a special cotmecttoii in race exist'* 

 between the Bhottans and the Chinese. The Tibct»n civilisation, 

 at all eventB^ is of Cliinesc origin, and amung^st the Chmcee acqui- 

 sitions arc included the numerals. The early and wide spread of 

 these numerals over Tibet 13 proved by their presence in the 

 Ultraindian and Gangetic languages In forms allied to the Bhotian 

 hut dietinct from them, and obviously very ancient. Some are. 

 also closer to the Chinese* The Bhotian term for 7, is not 

 Chinese at ail, hut MongoSian, Tun^usian &c and it has not found 

 its way across the Himalayas. T infer from these facts that the 

 Chinese numeriils were bestowed, at a very remote period, on all 

 the trihes of Tibet, and that the Tibeto-Ultraindian and Himalayan 

 forms in general were directly received not from ihe West Tibetan 

 uEttion that eventually became predominant, but fi-om the eastern 

 tribes, an inference that is in strict accordance with the other facia 

 from which the Knst Tibetan relationship of the Gangetico-Ulira- 

 indian tribes and ianguajres has been deduced. The numemls of 

 the North Ultiaindian languages thus tend to prove that the 

 influence of the Chinese ciTilisation first jcached Ultraindia from 

 Eastern Tibet, using that tem in an ethnic sense, so as to embrace 

 those tribes allied in race and language to ihe Si-fan who are 

 scattered over the western borders of China. At a much later 

 period the Lau appear to have received Chinese numerals and 

 spread them over Ultraindia as far us their range extends* Some 

 of their terms are peculiar, the remnants probably of a native or 

 pre-Chinese system. The Cliinese terms in Lau are directly 

 derived from Chinese, and not from au intermediate Tibetan or 

 Tibeto-Ultraindian source. 



The question whether the Chinese numerals were current in 

 Ultraindia and the Gangetie basin before the Arian era appears to 

 resolve itself into the more general one respecting the period when 

 the eastern Tifbeians crossed the Himalayas into Ultraindia, for 

 thei'o is no reason to think #iat the numerals were not imported 

 with the other glossarial possessions of the race. The mode in 

 which they are partially blended with nearly all the Mon-Anam 

 systems in the most remote and sequestered parts of Ultraindia 



