Here’s the second part of the land contract, rendered into English from the Chinese translation by Yu Suisheng 喻遂生 in his 《纳西东巴文研究丛稿》 (vol 2). I’m sure you’ve been waiting for this with breath a-baited! Land contracts are not the sexiest or indeed most inspiring of literary forms, and this is very bare bones as far as contracts go (I shall go out on a limb and suggest that Naxi legalese is very limited), nevertheless, it’s quite a fascinating insight into how things were done, and yes, how the Dongba script can be put to even the most mundane of uses. Sure beats tying knots in a string of old rope.

Yu Suisheng believes that the document dates to 1914 (see the first section for the explanation).

The contract (page 2):

I have subdivided the page into six sections as follows: 

Section 1

- note that the very first character (top left) is not reproduced in the IME or in the following notation, it is simply an ornamental initial, not too far removed from the Tibetan 

Naxi: mbu33 tho21¹ sər33 gə33 la33 khɣ55 tse21 me33 he33²

ŋi33 tsər21 ŋi33 te33 ɣɯ33, lɯ33 ʨhi33 le33 ʨi55 me33.

 

Word-for-word: Hillside / to lean against (¹mbu33 tho21 is the Naxi word for the sexagenary cycle of counting years by combining the five elements with the twelve animal signs) / wood / on top of (used here as an auxiliary particle)/ tiger / harvest (phonetic loan for ‘year’ – so, ‘in the year of the wooden tiger of the sexagenary cycle’ – either 1794, 1854 or 1914; the author believes the document dates back to 1914) / ten / female / moon (²me33 he33 read together means ‘moon’)

ten / ten / day / book / louse (phonetic loan for ‘land’) / thorn (phonetic loan for ‘to sell’) / roe deer, used as an auxiliary particle / scissors (phonetic loan for ‘to store, to keep’) / female, used as an auxiliary particle

 

Translation: [In] the year of the wooden tiger of the sexagenary cycle, on the twentieth day of the tenth month, [let] this writing record a sale of land.

 

Section 2

Naxi: la21 ʂə33¹ lɯ55 uə33 kv33 ku21 hər33² nɯ33

ə33 ku21 sɪ55³ le33 ʨi55 me33

 

Word-for-word: hand / geba phonetic (¹these two characters together read la21 ʂə33, a place name) / louse (phonetic loan for ‘land’) / village / garlic (phonetic loan for ‘top/end/head’ – so the ‘end of the village’) / ginger / wind (²these two character together read ku21 hər33, a person’s name – 古恒 Gu Heng in Chinese) / heart (phonetic loan for ‘and’) / ‘ah’, an auxiliary particle / ginger / cogongrass (³these three characters together read ə33 ku21 sɪ55, a name, 阿古斯 in Chinese) / roe deer, used as an auxiliary particle / scissors (phonetic loan for ‘to store, to keep’) / female, used as an auxiliary particle

 

Translation: [For] ‘end of the village’ , land in La She, and kept by Gu Her and A Gu Si.

 

Section 3

 

Naxi: lɯ55 phɣ33 lɯ55 o21 ŋɣ21 ʂu21 ŋi33 tsər21ʂər33 lɣ21 ua55 lɣ33 be21 se21 me33

 

Word-for-word: louse (phonetic loan for ‘land’) / male (loan for ‘price’) / louse (meaning unknown in this context) / pile of grain (loan for ‘to be’) / silver / iron (loan for ‘pure’) / twenty / seven / lift (loan for lu33, ‘tael’) / five / stone (should be a loan for lu33, ‘tael’, but here is assumed by the translator to be ‘coins’) / iron crown (loan for be33, ‘to do’) / mountain goat, auxiliary that indicates completed action / female, auxiliary particle

 

Translation: The price of the land was twenty seven taels of pure silver and five coins.

 

Section 4

Naxi: do21 mbu21 ɕi33¹ ndæ21 khɯ33² dɣ21 ʐɪ21 zo21³ mbe33 se21⁴ ə33 ta55⁵ khɯ33 zo21⁶ ə33 phɣ33 lər21⁷ dɣ21 ʐɪ21 zo21⁸ dzɪ33 nɯ33 lu33 kɣ33 o21 me33 ndzər21 ŋɣ21 ua33 hər33 kɯ21 hɯ21 be21 se21 me33

 

Word-for-word: to see, here read do21 ɕi33, ‘witness’ / hillside (phonetic loan for ‘responsible’) / person (¹these two characters together read ‘mbu21 ɕi33′, ‘guarantor’) / wooden slats for ritual use / dog (²these two characters read together, ndæ21 khɯ33, is the name of a household : Nddai Gee, 丹肯 in Chinese) / name of a ghost / snake / jar (³these three characters, dɣ21 ʐɪ21 zo21, are a person’s name: Ddv Ri Sso, Chinese 杜日若) / snow / mountain goat (⁴these two characters read together are a household name: Mbbe Se, 伯色 in Chinese / ah, auxiliary particle / pagoda, (⁵read together, these two characters form a name, E Da, 阿塔 in Chinese) / dog / jar (⁶two character read together to form a name: Gee Sso, 肯若) / ah, auxiliary particle / male / to shout (⁷three characters read together to form a household name: E Bhv Ler, 阿普勒) / name of a ghost / snake / jar (⁸three characters read together, to make the name: Ddv Ri Sso, Chinese 杜日若 / walls (loan for ‘friend’) / heart, auxiliary particle / four / garlic (loan for a measure word corresponding to the Chinese 个) / grain heap (loan for ‘to be’) / female, auxiliary particle / tree, loan for ‘take out’ / money / five / wind (loan for ‘coins’) / gall (loan for ‘to say’ / rain (loan for ‘agreement’) / iron crown (loan for ‘to do’ – in this case, ‘given’) / mountain goat, auxiliary particle indicating completed action / female, auxilairy particle

 

Translation: The four witnessing guarantors are: Ddv Ri Sso of Nddai Gee, E Da and Gee Sso of Mbbe Se, and Ddv Ri Sso of E Bhv Ler. The agreed fee of five coins has been given.

 

Section 5

Naxi: mæ33 dɯ21 ŋi21 mə33 o21 mə33 be21 le33 ʂə55 hɯ21 mə33 be21 se21 me33

 

Word-for-word: tail (phonetic loan for mæ33==55, ‘after’) / big (loan for ‘one’) / day / not / grain heap (loan for ‘to be’) / not / iron crown (used here as a rebus to depict nga33, ‘general’, which would be a loan for ngɯ21, ‘real’) / roe deer (loan for ‘as well as’) / speak / rain (loan for ‘agreement’) / not / iron crown (loan for ‘to do’) / mountain goat, auxiliary particle indicating completed action / female, auxiliary particle

 

Translation: Afterward, [let it not] one day be said that this is not the case, or not true, or not agreed upon.

 

Section 6

Naxi: le33 ʂə55 dɯ21 ŋi21 ŋɣ21 ba33 dɯ21 lv21 ʥy21 me33 ʥə21 ma21¹ ə33 mbu21 tshe21² i21 o21 me33 pa33 tər33

 

Word-for-word: roe deer (loan for ‘as well as’) / to speak / big (loan for ‘one’) / day / silver / tumor (loan for ‘flattened piece’) / big (loan for ‘one’) / to lift (loan for ‘tael’) / bracelet (loan for ‘to have’) / female, auxiliary particle / weighing scales / oil (¹the two characters ʥə21 ma21 here mean ‘scales’) / ah, particle / pig / ten (²the three characters, ə33 mbu21 tshe21, are a person’s name: A Mbbu Dshei, 阿布侧 in Chinese) / leak (loan for ‘to have’) / grain heap (loan for ‘to be’) / female, auxiliary particle / auspicious knot – not technically a written word, the final glyph (not present in the IME) is simply a decorative marking

 

Translation: [If it] be one day be said thus, [the penalty] is one piece of silver, and the scales of A Mbbu Dshei shall be used.

 

 The full text

For those who have made it this far, your patience and concentration are most noteworthy. Here is the whole text, with some translator’s licence thrown in.

For the sale of land in the area of La She

 –Have a long, prosperous life–

 In the year of the wooden tiger of the sexagenary cycle, on the twentieth day of the tenth month, let this writing record a sale of land.

The contract is for ‘end of the village’ , a piece of land in La She, and copies are kept by Gu Her and A Gu Si. The price of the land was twenty seven taels of pure silver and five coins. The four witnessing guarantors are: Ddv Ri Sso of Nddai Gee; E Da and Gee Sso of Mbbe Se; and Ddv Ri Sso of E Bhv Ler. The agreed fee of five coins has been given.

Afterward, let it not one day be said that this is not the case, or not true, or not agreed upon. If it one day be said thus, the penalty is one piece of silver, and the scales of A Mbbu Dshei shall be used.