The Journal of the Burma Research Society

The sets of these indispensable yolumes available in the libraries of Rangoon are far from complete even within recent years The text of the 24 Dynastic Histories generally used by the Editor is the lithograph edition (1902) published by the Historical Society Shanghai; and his references are to the pages of this edition; in quottion however the.authors' references have been left untouched [...] Hirth and Rockhill state that there is no trace of Chinese relations with the countries of the south India and the west by way of the sea before the arrival of the strangers who in ir.6 A. D. gave themselves out to be envoys from the emperor Marcus Aurelius I have already suggested a possible identification with javal of a kingdom of /II Yeh-tiao from which an emInn rrived at the court of C [...] Let us remember only that the (Wien han situ is the work of Pan Ku and that consequently this pasage which is of certain authenticity cannot be later than the end of the 1st century A. D. The mere perusal of it shews us that he has joined together two series of informations of different origin ; the first go back to the time of the Emperor Wu i.e. [...] fling of the 2nd Century; but if my conjecture found confirmation the legend woukl readily accommodate itself to the evidence of the Clz‘ien hun xIzu The Chinese seem to have known it from very early times for a passage in the notice devoted to Pagan in the Chu fan chih'sayg°: "There is in this country a temple dedicated to the marquis Chu-ko Wu"; and the translators add in a note.: "Better kn [...] Wa ---at its broadest patt from the mouth of the Straits of Malacca to Ceylon and Quilon—or from the Sunda strait to Ceylon if one followed the reverse journey "from western countries" to China; or else from the mouth of the Straits of Malacca along the coasts of Burma and India which border on the Bay of Bengal.