Page:The English Historical Review Volume 20.djvu/639

 identical with the Ts'ao of Sui times. The Headache Mountains, already mentioned, are named as being south-west of Chu-kü-po (Kugiar). Whereas the Sui history says Ts'ao was north of the Onion range (Hindu Kush), the T'ang history says south but, as the T'ang history also says Ts'ao was south of Bamyân, that discrepancy may simply mean that the capital of that part of old Ki-pin known as Ts'ao had, during the time when the comprehensive name Ki-pin was in local abeyance, been established or moved further north—for the Indo-Scythians had themselves, under competitive pressure, shifted their capital further west—only to be retransferred to the old site (presumably S'rînagur) when the Turks took over the Ephthalite empire and began to threaten Persia and Ki-pin. It is stated that the Ki-pin rulers were in the habit of impressing the young men of Zabulisian to repel the incursions of the Turks, and that the population of Zabulistan was made up of three races—Turk, Ki-pin, and Tokhara men. West India is said to be conterminous with Persia and Ki-pin, and Udyâna was 400 li east of Ki-pin, which again was 3,000 li north of S'râvastî. These statements seem contradictory; for, according to Bishop Bigandet, Udyâna was on the Indus, between Cabul and Cashmere, and other western writers of repute have placed it between the Jhelum and the Indus. It is possible, however, to explain this contradiction too, for the T'ang history still places Ki-pin under the Indo-Scythians, and probably the name of the Ki-pin capital and the fact of vassalage to the Ephthalites were mechanically copied from earlier histories. The Sui history says that this particular Ts'ao once, between 605 and 617, sent tribute; but this is probably a mistake for another country of nearly the same name which actually paid it in 614. The T'ang history says that, though thirty states in that region sent tribute to Sui, Ki-pin was not one of them.

The T'ang history gives an entirely new account of Ki-pin and its productions. Amongst other curiosities were animals of the mongoose type, with a natural antipathy to or capacity for destroying snakes. As these creatures were brought to China in 642, and the Persians sent exactly the same kind of animals to China in 638, it seems plain once more that there was a closer relation with Persia than with India on the part of Western Ki-pin. Moreover the presents of crystal cups, glass beads like dates, gold belts and chains, &c., suggest Western rather than Indian influence. The ancient local kings who had ruled under the Ephthalite domination were evidently still ruling down to 642, when the king reported himself to be the twelfth in succession of his house. In 658 the Western Turks, whose extensive rule had