112 REVIEWS OF BOOKS

others. On the Tibetan frontier, in the Simla hills, the Kunawari

language can be studied in a fair collection of prosaic ditties mostly
concerned with local incidents or persons. Tibetans seem to have
been inspired by their wonderful country with a touch of poetic
feeling, which appears, however, chiefly by way of terse allusions :
allusiveness, even in references to matters of religion, a pervading
interest in Tibetan life, is a feature of their songs, and along with
frequent linguistic obscurities puts the interpretation often beyond
the unaided competence of ordinary European Tibetanists. Professor
Tucci, in addition to his familiarity with the spoken dialects, has
availed himself of consultation with Tibetan friends.
The book furnishes a bibliography, an introductory discussion of
the style, metre, and classification of the songs, several of them
work-chanteys and most of them connected with occasions, and
often including meaningless refrains. The last item is a long and
elaborately poetical marriage ritual. The notes also are indispensable
for comprehension of phrases and items of usage, dress, utensils,
and architecture. There is an index of proper names and of words.
In the translation, p. 67, " lower " and " upper " should be
transposed ; and on p. 63, v. 48, perhaps " she is filled with the
light of Jambudvipa " should be " JambudvTpa [sc. the earth] is
filled with [her] light ".
F. W. THOMAS.

THE WESTERN PIONEERS AND THEIR DISCOVERY OF MACAO. By

J; M. BRAGA. [Reprinted from the Boletim do Institute Portugues
de Hongkong, vol. ii.] pp. 248. Macau : Imprensa Nacional,
1949.
The chief merit of this work lies in the extracts from old Chinese
works given on pp. 72-90, 104-118, 166-174, and compared with
citations from obscure and neglected Portuguese records. Mr. Braga
has adduced new facts and made interesting suggestions from his
collation of these sources, although the exact details of the origin
of Macao still elude the investigator. Perhaps the full account of the
founding of the Portuguese settlement will never be unearthed, as
both the local Chinese officials and the Portuguese merchant-
adventurers concerned had good reasons for not keeping their
superiors fully informed. But Mr. Braga's comparative method is

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 EEVIEWS OF BOOKS 113

undoubtedly the right one; and it is to be hoped that he will

continue his researches. His extracts from South China district
topographies and local histories disclose a number of hitherto
unsuspected references to Portuguese activities in this region during
the first half of the sixteenth century. The Portuguese archives,
particularly those at Goa, hitherto not used in this connection,
might yield further information. The book is well indexed, and
chapter and verse for all assertions made in the text are given in
footnotes. In any future edition, the first fifty-nine pages could be
drastically cut or rewritten, since they are largely " padding ".
They also contain traditional assertions about Portuguese decadence
being mainly due to the Spanish codominion of 1580-1640, and so
forth, that are no longer accepted as valid by most modern historians.
As regards Macao itself, the Roman Catholic missionaries owed a
great deal to this " Rome in China ", but their connection with the
Portuguese colony was often a source of great embarrassment to
them; a connection they strove to minimize or conceal as far as
possible in their dealings with the suspicious authorities at Peking
(cf. d'Elia's Fonti Ricciane, ii, p. 363 (note) and the sources there
quoted).
C. R. BOXER.

NORTHERN INDIA ACCORDING TO THE SHUI-CHING-CHU. By L.

PETECH. Serie Orientale Roma, II. 89 pp. 1950.
The first two chapters of the sixth-century work Shui-ching-chu
contain an account of the Western Regions which quotes from at
least seven lost works, most of them dating from the fourth and fifth
centuries. Dr. Petech here translates and annotates the section
dealing with Northern India. He concludes with an appendix on
the name Chi-pin. Among his unsolved puzzles is the river called
J& H ilfc M- I* m a y b e suggested that this is almost certainly
AiravatI (JE£ being a mistake for j|£), not meaning a specific river
(such as the Rapti), but the fourth of the seven mythological rivers
that dry up at the end of a kalpa.
Dr. Petech has carried out a difficult task with admirable care and
lucidity.
A. WALEY.
JKAS. APRIL 1951. 8
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