Dutreuil de Rhins and Grenard took the road from Khotan to Charchan; they
left Khotan on the 4th May, 1893, passed Kiria, Nia, and instead of going
direct to Charchan through the desert, they passed Kara Say at the foot of
the Altyn tagh, a route three days longer than the other, but one which
was less warm, and where water, meat, milk, and barley could be found.
Having passed Kapa, they crossed the Karamuren, and went up from Achan due
north to Charchan, where they stayed three months. Nowhere do they mention
Pein, or Pima, for it appears to be _Kiria itself_, which is the only real
town between Khotan and the Lobnor. Grenard says in a note (p. 54, vol.
ii.): "_Pi-mo_ (Keria) recalls the Tibetan _bye-ma_, which is pronounced
_Pema_, or _Tchema_, and which means _sand_. Such is perhaps also the
origin of _Pialma_, a village near Khotan, and of the old name of
Charchan, _Tche-mo-to-na_, of which the two last syllables would represent
_grong_ (pronounce _tong_ = town), or _kr'om_ (_t'om_ = bazaar). Now, not
only would this etymology be justified because these three places are
indeed surrounded with sand remarkably deep, but as they were the first
three important places with which the Tibetans met coming into the desert
of Gobi, either by the route of Gurgutluk and of Polor, or by Karakoram
and Sandju, or by Tsadam, and they had thus as good a pretext to call them
'towns of sand' as the Chinese had to give to T'un-hwang the name of
_Shachau_, viz. City of Sand. Kiria is called _Ou-mi_, under the Han, and
the name of Pi-mo is found for the first time in Hiuen Tsang, that is to
say, before the Tibetan invasions of the 8th century. It is not possible
to admit that the incursion of the Tu-ku-hun in the 5th century could be
the cause of this change of name. The hypothesis remains that Pi-mo was
really the ancient name forced by the first Tibetan invaders spoken of by
legend, that _Ou-mi_ was either another name of the town, or a fancy name
invented by the Chinese, like Yu-t'ien for Khotan, Su-lo for Kashgar...."
Sir T. D. Forsyth (_J. R. G. S._, XLVII., 1877, p. 3) writes: "I should
say that Peim or Pima must be identical with Kiria."--H. C.]

NOTE 2.--The Jasper and Chalcedony of our author are probably only
varieties of the semi-precious mineral called by us popularly _Jade_, by
the Chinese _Yue_, by the Eastern Turks _Kash_, by the Persians _Yashm_,
which last is no doubt the same word with [Greek: iaspis], and therefore
with