I estimate that quite 1,250,000 persons and the. best-to-do in the province are supplied, from Haiakuan, and in a province, the whole of.which does not probably contain more than 10,000,000 inhabitants, this is a high figure. I would advocate the establishment of a Chinese agency at Hsiakuan by come foreign firm.
great, majority of the peasants in the Tali plain and the valleys to the north are Minchia. They are, however, especially' in the Tali plain, very mixed with Ohinese. It is said that between the lake and the mountain there are only two villages of, pure Minchia,. but the majority of the population along the actual shore of the lake ean only speak a very rudimentary sort' of Chinese. The affinities of the, Minchia have yet to be studied, but they do not appear to be connected with any Tibetan or Shan stock, though the Shans once reigned at Tali. Near Hsia-kuan te this day is shown a "wanjentui," or tumulus of the 10,000 which is popularly supposed to be the grave of the warriors who fell in a groat battle when the country was' defeated with heavy leas. a Chinese attempt to got ion the only non-Chinese tribe in Yunnan which has imi with the Chinese on something like equal terms; they have retained their lands and their but they have adopted the literature, the jous ideas, and, at least in the case of the men, the dress of the Chinese. A literatus of Tali who would be inclined to draw but little "distinction between Kachins, Miao, Lisaw, and other wild tribes puts the Minchia on a higher level. "They read books," i.c., the classics. It is to be feared that it would be a work of great difficulty to unearth Minchia ideas, which are covered by a superstructure of Chinese beliefs; merely as a guess, with the Mantze of Szechuan. The Min-suggest that they may be connected
chia are and nothing the shopkeepers at' markets euch as Hsi-chou, 40 li north of Tah, or at Chi at the north head of the lake, are Chinese. The Minchia villages and farmhouses are. exceedingly well-built, and I am inclined to think that the top' storey, which is found in nearly all Yunnan cou try houses, but is 60 contrary to Chinese ideas, was derived from the Minchia. In the Tali plain, where wood is scarce, the Minchia house is "a substantial stone structure built, with the limestone and conglomerate' which is littered about under the-Teangshan; but the best type of Minchia dwelling is to be found in the Hoching Valley. It is commonly built round three sides of a square, the fourth side being closed with a wall in which there is a porch. The lower' storey is of thud or sun-baked brick on a stone foundation, and sometimes with stone pillars, lut the top storey is of wood, the architecture resembling that of a' Swiss chalet. The section opposite the porch usually the dwelling-house, while one of the sides is.given up to the cattle, with a straw-loft over them, and the other side is used as a grain store. In comfort and cleanliness these houses are far superior to the Chinese, as I can testify after having enjoyed many days of Minchin hospitality, which is readily given in places where there are no inns.
The pure Minchia type resembles that of the Romany or gipsy, save that it is lighter in complexion; the Minchia women have natural feet, manage boats, carry loads, do masons' and bricklayers' work, and in the Lashi salt district I have even' seen them acting as muleteers.
Wholesale commerce has quite deserted Tali, but there is a busy market every five days, and in the third moon occurs the annual fair, or "yuehkai," a commercial event of some importance. It is held outside the West Gate, and lasts for five days, after which a good deal of businees is done in the city itself for fourteen days before the merchants disporsd. The number of persons attending the fair is given at various figures, but it is usually stated to be only one-third of the old days before the rebellion. The official Proclamations state that for the "yueh-kai," "myriads of merchants from the four quarters as the globe collect together dense as the clouds but I believe that the present attendance is not over 5,000. Tibetans and representatives of all' the tribes in West Yunnan conic in some force, while besides Yunnanese there are, of course, Cantonese and Szechuanese Iam not aware that any' natives of India attend. Drugs, including China-root, rhubarb, and musk, mules and ponies, Tibetan wools, tea and brown sugar in small cakes, cottons and cloths, are the chief objects of exchange, and I believe that the fair is still of sufficient im: portance to be worth the attention of British or Indian merchants desirous of opening up new lines, Among other minor products of Tali I may mention pigs! bristles, which are of good quality, but not, perhaps, easy to collect in sufficient quantity, and strawbraid used for the native sun hats. The plaiting leaves to be desired at present, but this might be improved for foreign buyers, and the straw itself is of excellent quality.
The traveller who has passed through the rich fields and flourishing villages of the Teli plain, and has. enjoyed the flouble view of hill and lake (" tsang esh esh kuan") is interested to learn how this happy valley first canto into existence. In the legend the student of folklore may discern traditions of the early struggles of the first Chinese settlers, of the advent of Buddhism, arid perhaps of some geological cataclysm. It appears that in the ancient days the waters of the lake lapped the foot of the Tsangshan, and there was no plain. The caverns in the hills were inhabited by a "yaokuei," or monstrous being, who used to sally forth, and for his food tear out and devour the eyes of the Chinese in the neighbourhood. Kuanyin, the Goddess of Mercy, pitying the sorrows of the black-haired people, appeared upon the scene disguised as a Yonerable Buddhist nun in her "ka sha," or yellow robe and accompanied by a Jame dog. Addressing the monster, she remised to supply him with the food +hich he liked on condition that'he would give her a patch of dry land under the hills, "How much dry land?" asked the monster. The breadth," replied the goddess, "of my yellow robe and the length of three leaps of my lame dog." After some haggling a contract on these terms was redueed to writing. But Wwhen the aged nun spread out the robe it covered a space of 15 li, and Such was the uncommon agility of the lame dog that in three leaps he cleared a ace of 100i. For his food the goddess captured shell-fish, and gave the eye-like contents to the "yaokuei"; the voracious but unwary monster seems to have thought that he had been'swindled, and became obstreperous; whereupon the goddess zed him and interned him in a hole or tavern in the earth near Hsichou, where there was only a small open slit through which he could breathe. ' In his struggles, his fiery breath issuing from the slit burned up the waters of the lake. But the goddess had' cast a spell on the monster; 80 long as Chineso'assemble at tne West Gate of Tali during the third moon so long must the monster remain in Qurance vile; wherefore to this day, at
fair, the General comes out in state an the commencement of the great spring fires off all his' artillery, so' that the dragon may know that the time of his release is not yet.
In case this bald narrative fails to vince thie sceptical Westerner, may point but that the length of the Tali Plain from the upper to the lower pass is, in fact, 100 li, and its breadth 15 li, Is not the shore of the lake littered with empty shells, the contents of which have been devoured by the "yaokuei"? Is not there at Hsichou a long narrow strip of land stretching into the lake from which the water was blown by the' struggling prisoner? ° Was not the contract between him and the goddess reduced ts writing and engraved on stone that all might soe? And finally, is it not a fact that to this day an annual crowd has assembled outside the West Gate for the third-moon fair, and that the '"yaokuoi" has never once emerged from his prison From Tali city to the Shangkuan (upper pass) is an easy march of 16 miles in a northerly direction across the level
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.