From Peking to Mandalay by Johnston Reginald Fleming Sir

Author:Johnston, Reginald Fleming, Sir [Johnston, Reginald Fleming, Sir]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Nonfiction, Travel
ISBN: 4057664606600
Google: dUQNvgAACAAJ
Publisher: Good Press
Published: 2019-11-27T05:00:00+00:00

MO-SO

The origin of the word Mo-so is unknown.312 They call themselves Lashi or Nashi (the l and n being interchangeable), and the Tibetans call them Djiung.313 Perhaps they are the descendants of the Jung tribes which, as stated above,314 are mentioned in the Chinese classics as having frequently menaced the western frontier of China; though it seems more probable that the Jung were the ancestors of the Hiung-nu. In a recent geographical work on China315 the Mo-so are not referred to with much appreciation. They are described as deceitful and shifty, and a proverbial saying is quoted to the effect that three Chinese are necessary to deceive one Tibetan, and three Tibetans to deceive one Mo-so. Most of the eastern Mo-so speak Chinese as well as their own language, which bears various resemblances to Lolo. When I pointed out to some Yung-ning Mo-so that many common words in their language were identical with Lolo words conveying the same meaning, they admitted the fact but vehemently denied that it betokened any racial affinity. This attitude may be due to the fact that the Mo-so, once a warlike race, have settled down quietly under Chinese rule as peaceful tillers of the ground, while the Lolos have earned the reputation of being lawless freebooters. The Mo-so resents being taken for a Lolo, just as a sturdy Dumfriesshire farmer—whose ancestor may have been an expert cattle-lifter—would resent being described as the scion of a race of highway robbers.

The Yung-ning district, as we have seen, still enjoys a measure of independence under a native prince on whom the Chinese long ago conferred the hereditary rank of prefect.316 The Li-chiang district is now more directly under Chinese rule, but even there a Mo-so official or noble acts as a kind of assessor to the local Chinese mandarins, who are still regarded as the representatives of a foreign power. The Tibetan name for Li-chiang is Sa-T'am,317 by which it is also known to the Mo-so.

LI-SO

The Mo-so under their different appellations (including Lashi or Nashi318 and Djiung) are still a very numerous though not a homogeneous race, and perhaps deserve a more careful study than they have hitherto received. I am strongly inclined to think that it is this race which constitutes the predominant element in the population of Muli-land or Huang Lama. We have seen above319 that the people of that region call themselves Njong, and I conjecture that this is simply a thinly-disguised form of Djiung. The nasal prefix is a quite frequent linguistic peculiarity in Chinese Tibet, and occurs in many Tibetan words. The ordinary word dro, "to walk," for instance, is almost invariably pronounced ndro.320 It may be allowed, however, that the people of Muli have identified themselves more closely than their brethren of Yunnan with the predominant Tibetan race, and have come more directly under Tibetan influences in respect of language and religion. For the people of Muli-land are, as we have seen, Buddhists of the Tibetan type, whereas with the Mo-so of

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