Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 1 (1876).djvu/353

   a relation of Sája, called Tsorji Osir, to translate the Tibetan sacred books into Mongol, with the use of Bashpa's alphabet. Finding this unmanageable, he reverted to the Uighuresque characters of his kinsman Sája, with some additions, but even so found it necessary to write many whole words in Tibetan characters. Some years later, in the reign of Khaishan or Jenezek Khan, the successor of Temur (1307-1311), who was a man of education, the task was resumed; and under his direction Tsorji brought the Syro-Uighur alphabet to perfection. This is substantially the character still in use among the Mongols, though some additions have been since made to it. The Manchu alphabet, again, was modelled upon this Mongol one. —[Y.]

The fullest notice of this curious usage in polite intercourse is given by Huc (ii. 85 seqq.):—

'There are khatas of all sizes and prices; for it is an article that the poor can dispense with no more than the rich. No one moves about without a little store of them. If you go to pay a visit of ceremony, or to ask a favour of anyone, or to return thanks for one received, you begin by displaying the khata; you take it in both hands and present it to the person whom you wish to honour. If two friends who have not met for a long time chance to forgather, their first care is the reciprocal offer of the khata;. . . also when a letter is written it is customary to fold up along with it a small khata. The finest phrases, the handsomest presents, all are of no esteem without the khata; with it, the most ordinary objects acquire an immense value. . . These khatas form an important branch of commerce for the Chinese of Tang-keu-eur (Tonkir). The Tibetan embassies never pass without carrying away a prodigious stock of them.' Bogle and Turner often mention the thing, but not the name of khata.—[Y.]