Manuscript

Shaman's manuscript (bimo teyy) with exterior cloth cover bound with cord from the Nisu (Southern Yi) people of southern Yunnan Province in southwest China. Most likely recopied from an older manuscript by the Nisu shaman Li Ziqing of Langniba village. Pages are thin paper folded to double thickness. Paper is old and of good quality. Bamboo support sewed into outer edge of cloth and string attached to bind roll together. The first page has something written in English. The Inside of the first page has sun-like motif at the center. The Nisu script is written in black and red ink within red columns made from pig's blood and pot soot. The writing is traditionally read horizontally, right-to-left, with each character representing a syllable. Chinese characters on the next to last page and at front were probably added at a later date.