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same kind as] the Nine Continents (九 州 *Chiu-chou*) of 鄒 衍 Tsou Yen (cf. GILES, *Biogr. Dict.*,
No. 2030) or the 拾 遺 記 *Shih-i* [*chi*] of 王 嘉 Wang Chia († *c.* 385). The Left Assistant of the
Ministry of Education (*Ssŭ-t'u tso ch'ang-shih*; misunderstood by SCHLEGEL, in *TP*, III, 498)
Wang Yün (481-549) raised an objection against [Wan Chieh], saying : 'What is recorded in books
is that east of the Kingdom of Women, [lying] west of Ts'an-yai, and south of the Kingdom of
Dogs is a particular tribe of Ch'iang Barbarians. It is ruled by a woman, and there is no reason
for their taking serpents for husbands. Why does this not agree with what you say?' » The original
of this sentence in the *T'ai-p'ing kuang-chi*, 81, 6 *a*, is : 王 筠 難 之 曰 書 傳 所 載 女 國 之
東 蔥 崖 之 西 狗 國 之 南 羌 夷 之 別 種 一 女 爲 君 無 夫 蛇 之 理 與 公 說 不 同 何 也.
The opening words are awkward, and would almost suggest that the notion of the «Eastern King-
dom of Women », to be mentioned later, may underly this passage. It might seem to be more
natural to translate: « The Kingdom of Women which the books record is a particular tribe of the
Ch'iang Barbarians, east of [the Kingdom of —], west of Ts'an-yai, south of the Kingdom of Dogs.»
Ts'an-yai was the name of a pass north-west of the district of 滎 Kuan in Ssŭ-ch'uan, where a district
(*hsien*) of Ts'an-yai had been established under the Han dynasty. For the *Kou-kuo*, one of the
Kingdoms of Dogs, or Cynocephali, see below, p. 685. Ch'iang is a general name for people of
Tibetan stock. The story proceeds « The gentleman said: According to our present knowledge
there are six Kingdoms of Women. What are these? [1°] East of the Northern Sea und north
of the... (方 夷 之 北; the text is corrupt; these four words are omitted in the *Shuo fu*), there
is a 'Kingdom of Women'; a celestial woman came down to rule it; there are in that kingdom men
and women as it is usual everywhere else. [2°] Among the south-western Barbarians, west of the
板 楯 Pan-tun (this is the name of a formerly powerful tribe of Man of south-western China, on
which cf. D'HERVEY DE SAINT-DENYS, *Ethnographie, Méridionaux*, 54-71; D'HERVEY DE SAINT-
DENYS, following the usual pronunciation of the second character, has read the name « Pan-shun »,
but I think that we have here 楯 *shun* used as a substitute for 盾 *tun*, « shield », and that the name
means «Wooden shields»), there is a 'Kingdom of Women'. Its women are fierce, and its men res-
pectful. A woman is the ruler of the people and takes a nobleman to husband; men are appointed
as concubines (妾 媵 *ch'ieh-ying*), at most a hundred men, at least a single mate (*p'i-fu*; but this
is not the usual meaning of *p'i-fu*; cf., however, *Tz'ŭ hai* s. v. 匹 夫 and 妾). [3°] To the south-
east of Kun-ming, outside the furthest borders (絕 徼 *chüeh-chiao*), there is a 'Kingdom of Women'
where apes (猿 *yüan*) are taken as husbands. If boys are born, they are like their father, and go
into the valleys of the mountains, lying down in the day-time and moving at night. When girls
are born they settle on trees or live in caves (巢 居 穴 處 *ch'ao-chü hsüeh-ch'u*). [4°] To the south-
east of the South Sea there is a 'Kingdom of Women'; in the whole kingdom only demons (鬼
*kuei*) are taken as husbands. The husbands bring [the women] drink and food, [catching] birds
and beasts to feed them. [5°] West of the 勃 律 Po-lü Mountains (*B'uət-ljuĕt*; *Balûr*, = Baltistan
and Gilgit; see « Belor ») there is a 'Kingdom of Women' which extends over a square of a hundred
*li*; from the mountains flows the 台 慰 T'ai-hui River (perhaps « River of the Wrinkled Boa »;
台 *t'ai* being taken in the sense of 給 *t'ai*; or used for 臺 *t'ai*, and the name imagined in imitation
of that of the god of the Fên River, T'ai-t'ai, to be mentioned hereinafter; the name does not occur
elsewhere; the passage quoted in the *P'ei-wen yün-fu* from the late *Kuang po-wu chih* is merely
5.