[76] Charmanas (in Sanscrit, S’raman’as) are monks in the Lamanesque hierarchy.
[84] Goucho is a title of honour, given to the Lamas by the Thibetians.
[104] Tchanak is the Mongol name of Peking; Kampo means Pontiff.
[155] Dalae-Lama is altogether an erroneous form of this designation; the words are Talé-Lama. Talé, in Thibetian, means sea, and the appellation has been applied to the Grand Lama of Thibet, because this personage is locally supposed to be a sea of wisdom and power.
[172] Siao-ti, an expression used by the Chinese when they speak of themselves in the presence of Mandarins.
[192] The Chinese name for Mr. Elliot, the English Plenipotentiary at Canton, at the commencement of the Anglo-Chinese war.
[195] The class of reptiles comprehends fish, mollusks, and all animals that are neither quadrupeds nor birds.
[200] Strabo, speaking of the customs of the nomadic Scythians, as retained among the Sogdians and Bactrians, writes: “In the capital of Bactria, they breed dogs, to which they give a special name, which name, rendered into our language, means buriers. The business of these dogs is to eat up all persons who are beginning to fall into decay, from old age or sickness. Hence it is that no tomb is visible in the suburbs of the town, while the town itself is all filled with human bones. It is said that Alexander abolished this custom.”
Cicero attributes the same custom to the Hyrcanians, in his “Tusculan Questions,” (Lib. i. § 45): “In Hyrcania plebs publicos alit canes; optimates, domesticos. Nobile autem genus canum illud scimus esse. Sed pro sua quisque facultate parat, à quibus lanietur: eamque optimam illi esse censent sepulturam.”
Justin also says of the Parthians: “Sepultura vulgò aut avium aut canum aniatus est. Nuda demum ossa terrâ obruunt.”