[Baber writes (p. 159):  “In Western Yuennan the betel-nut is chewed with prepared lime, colouring the teeth red, and causing a profuse expectoration.  We first met with the practice near Tali-fu.

“Is it not possible that the red colour imparted to the teeth by the practice of chewing betel with lime may go some way to account for the ancient name of this region, ‘Zar-dandan,’ ‘Chin-Ch’ih,’ or ‘Golden-Teeth’?  Betel-chewing is, of course, common all over China; but the use of lime is almost unknown and the teeth are not necessarily discoloured.

“In the neighbourhood of Tali, one comes suddenly upon a lime-chewing people, and is at once struck with the strange red hue of their teeth and gums.  That some of the natives used formerly to cover their teeth with plates of gold (from which practice, mentioned by Marco Polo, and confirmed elsewhere, the name is generally derived) can scarcely be considered a myth; but the peculiarity remarked by ourselves would have been equally noticeable by the early Chinese invaders, and seems not altogether unworthy of consideration.  It is interesting to find the name ‘Chin-Ch’ih’ still in use.

“When Tu Wen-hsiu sent his ‘Panthay’ mission to England with tributary boxes of rock from the Tali Mountains, he described himself in his letter ‘as a humble native of the golden-teeth country.’”—­H.C.]

Vochan seems undoubtedly to be, as Martini pointed out, the city called by the Chinese YUNG-CH’ANG-FU.  Some of the old printed editions read Unciam, i.e.  Uncham or Unchan, and it is probable that either this or Vocian, i.e.  VONCHAN, was the true reading, coming very close to the proper name, which is WUNCHEN. (See J.A.S.B. VI. 547.) [In an itinerary from Ava to Peking, we read on the 10th September, 1833:  “Slept at the city Wun-tsheng (Chinese Yongtchang fu and Burmese Wun-zen).” (Chin.  Rep. IX. p. 474):—­Mr. F.W.K.  Mueller in a study on the Pa-yi language from a Chinese manuscript entitled Hwa-i-yi-yue found by Dr. F. Hirth in China, and belonging now to the Berlin Royal Library, says the proper orthography of the word is Wan-chang in Pa-yi. (T’oung Pao, III. p. 20.) This helps to find the origin of the name Vochan.—­H.C.] This city has been a Chinese one for several centuries, and previous to the late Mahomedan revolt its population was almost exclusively Chinese, with only a small mixture of Shans.  It is now noted for the remarkable beauty and fairness of the women.  But it is mentioned by Chinese authors as having been in the Middle Ages the capital of the Gold-Teeth.  These people, according to Martini, dwelt chiefly to the north of the city.  They used to go to worship a huge stone, 100 feet high, at Nan-ngan, and cover it annually with gold-leaf.  Some additional particulars about the Kin-Chi, in the time of the Mongols, will be found in Pauthier’s notes (p. 398).