Page image — the source of record
Machine transcription
travelled through scores of cities to arrive at the capital, and
saw the great number of subjects of that country. When the
Han envoy returned, Anhsi dispatched, its envoy to accompany
him to see the greatness of Han and present the Emperor with
the great bird's eggs and Lihsien magicians. Later the small
countries to the west of Tayuan, namely, Huanchien and Tayi,
and those to its east, namely, Chushih, Kanmi and Suhsieh, also sent
envoys taking gifts to the Emperor. The Emperor was much
pleased. The Han envoys also traced the source of the Yellow River
to Yutien from where the envoys took back jades and other precious
stones which were abundantly found in the mountains. According
to ancient books and maps, the Emperor named the mountain from
which the Yellow River started the Kunlun Mountain.
During that period the Emperor made several inspection tours
of the coastal areas, on which the foreign guests were taken along.
They were made to visit the bigger cities, and given awards of
money and silk cloth, and rich entertainments, so as to show the
richness of Han. They were shown wrestling, juggling and other
strange things which attracted many crowds. Parties were thrown
with lakes of wine and forests of meat. The foreign guests were
also shown all the granaries and storehouses. Thus they were
stunned at the greatness of Han. With the addition of the art of
the magicians, the games of wrestling, juggling and other shows were
yearly augmented and changed to form a flourishing fashion.
Henceforth envoys from the foreign countries to the northwest
came and went frequently. But the countries to the west of Tayuan,
being far away, were yet self-conceited and arrogant, and not to
be brought to obeisance. Those from Usun westward to Anhsi
were near Hsiungnu. Seeing that Hsiungnu had brought Yuehchih
to its knees, they safeguarded and entertained envoys of Hsiungnu
taking messages of the Khan from country to country, and dared not
detain or mistreat them. But when Han envoys came to those
countries, they had to pay money for their food, and buy the
horses they rode. The reason was that Han was far away and
rich in resources. So the people in those countries were afraid of
—14—
Roughly two thirds of characters agree with a modern printed edition of the same text. Much of the disagreement is editorial, not misreading. Treat the transcription as a finding aid and read the page image before quoting. How this was measured.