eriod under the same name,
viz. _Kin-Chi_, "Gold-Teeth," and some years after Polo's departure
from the East they originated a revolt against the Mongol yoke, in which a
great number of the imperial troops were massacred. (_De Mailla_, IX.
478-479.)
[Baber writes (p. 159): "In Western Yuennan the betel-nut is chewed with
prepared lime, colouring the teeth red, and causing a profuse
expectoration. We first met with the practice near Tali-fu.
"Is it not possible that the red colour imparted to the teeth by the
practice of chewing betel with lime may go some way to account for the
ancient name of this region, 'Zar-dandan,' 'Chin-Ch'ih,' or
'Golden-Teeth'? Betel-chewing is, of course, common all over China; but
the use of lime is almost unknown and the teeth are not necessarily
discoloured.
"In the neighbourhood of Tali, one comes suddenly upon a lime-chewing
people, and is at once struck with the strange red hue of their teeth and
gums. That some of the natives used formerly to cover their teeth with
plates of gold (from which practice, mentioned by Marco Polo, and
confirmed elsewhere, the name is generally derived) can scarcely be
considered a myth; but the peculiarity remarked by ourselves would have
been equally noticeable by the early Chinese invaders, and seems not
altogether unworthy of consideration. It is interesting to find the name
'Chin-Ch'ih' still in use.
"When Tu Wen-hsiu sent his 'Panthay' mission to England with tributary
boxes of rock from the Tali Mountains, he described himself in his letter
'as a humble native of the golden-teeth country.'"--H.C.]
_Vochan_ seems undoubtedly to be, as Martini pointed out, the city called
by the Chinese YUNG-CH'ANG-FU. Some of the old printed editions read
_Unciam_, i.e. Uncham or Unchan, and it is probable that either this or
_Vocian_, i.e. VONCHAN, was the true reading, coming very close to the
proper name, which is WUNCHEN. (See _J.A.S.B._ VI. 547.) [In an itinerary
from Ava to Peking, we read on the 10th September, 1833: "Slept at the city
Wun-tsheng (Chinese Yongtchang fu and Burmese _Wun-zen_)." (_Chin. Rep._
IX. p. 474):--Mr. F.W.K. Mueller in a study on the Pa-yi language from a
Chinese manuscript entitled _Hwa-i-yi-yue_ found by Dr. F. Hirth in China,
and belonging now to the Berlin Royal Library, says the proper orthography
of the word is _Wan-chang_ in Pa-yi. (_T'oung Pao_, III. p. 20.) This helps
to find the origin of the name _Vochan_.--H.C.] This c
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