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80   CHINESE WORKS ON THE HYDROGRAPHY OF SOUTH-WESTERN TIBET.

written in 1792 by MA SHAO-YÜN and MEI HSI-SHENG, for this work was found to contain nearly all earlier Chinese information. Rockhill supplemented the information of Wei-tsang-t'u-chih by extracts from all Chinese works published down to 1891, thus adding several itineraries and other facts which had not been mentioned in older books. Rockhill gives the titles of thirteen different works which have been his principal sources.'

BRETSCHNEIDER regards the Ta-ch'ing-i-t'ung-chih, or Great Geography of the Chinese empire under the Ta-ch'ing (Manchu) dynasty as the most important of the Chinese works providing us with geographical knowledge of the Chinese Empire and its dependencies. Its first edition appeared in 1743, while the second much enlarged edition was published in 1764 and contains 500 chapters. The best map of the Chinese dominions is the Ta-ch'ing-i-t'ung yü-t'u, which was published in Wuch'ang-fu in 1863.2

However, before I proceed to quote some interesting passages from these and other more recent works, I may be allowed to enter a„ few quotations from what the early Chinese chronicles have to say about the relations between China and Tibet.

During the T'ang dynasty Tibet is mentioned as one of the four great powers which made war against China, and from the early part of the same dynasty the first embassy from Tibet to the court of the Chinese Emperor is mentioned: The first day of the fifth moon, 634, an eclipse of the sun took place. The emperor received an embassy from the king of Tibet. The name of this country was T'ufan (old pronunciation T'u-po). This king was called Tsan-p'u. He had formidable armies and was feared by all his neighbours.» 3

EDOUARD CHAVANNES reminds us of the great extent of the Tibetan dominions in the latter half of the seventh century. In 663 the Tibetans had gained a great victory over the T'u-yü-hun, 4 a Tungus people who had established themselves in the region of Koko-nor. In 67o the Tibetans conquered the »four garrisons), Kucha, Khotan, Kashgar, and Tokmak. The Chinese came to the assistance of the

Tungus tribe, but the imperial troops were complet.ly defeated in the valley of Bukhain-gol. Thenceforward the Tibetans, being sovereigns of Koko-nor and Eastern Turkestan, became very powerful and mixed themselves constantly in the affairs of the western Turks, their neighbours to the north, while India was their neighbour

I Loc. cit. p. 3.

2 Mediæval Researches From Eastern Asiatic Sources Fragments towards the knowledge of the geography and history of Central and Western Asia from the i3th to the 17th century. By E. Bretschneider. Vol. I. London 1910, p. 206.

3 Abrégé de l'histoire Chinoise de la grande dynastie Tang. Mémoires concernant l'histoire etc. des Chinois, par les Missionnaires de Pékin. Tome quinzieme, Paris 1791, p. 444.

4 I am extremely indebted to Doctor ALBERT HERRMANN for his kindness in reading two proofs of this chapter. For the transcription of the Chinese names Doctor Herrmann has advised me to

follow Wade's system; it should, however, be remarked that only the pronunciation of the present day

is referred to. Only in some cases, where it has been possible and necessary, the old pronunciation has been added within brackets.