Acronyms
| AIP | Archives de l’Institut Pasteur [Archives of the Institut Pasteur] |
| ANOM | Archives nationales d’Outre-mer, Aix-en-Provence [French National Overseas Archives] |
| ANM | National Archives of Myanmar, Yangon |
| ANV1 | National Archives of Vietnam, Hanoi (centre 1) |
| BEFEO | Bulletin de l’École française d’Extrême-Orient [Bulletin of the French School of the Far East] |
| BL | British Library, London |
| BNF | Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris [French National Library] |
| BSG | Bulletin de la Société de géographie de Paris, later, in 1900, La Géographie. [Bulletin of the Paris Geographical Society] |
| EFEO | École française d’Extrême-Orient [French School of the Far East] |
| GGI | Fonds du gouvernement général de l’Indochine [Records of the Government-General of Indochina, French National Overseas Archives] |
| IOR | India Office Records |
| MEP | Archives de la Société des missions étrangères de Paris [Archives of the Paris Foreign Missions] |
| RGS | Royal Geographical Society, London |
| RST | Fonds de la Résidence supérieure du Tonkin [Records of the Office of the Resident Superior of Tonkin, National Archives of Vietnam / French National Overseas Archives] |
| SGEOCOL | Service géographique des colonies [Geographical Office of the Colonies, French National Overseas Archives] |
| SHD | Service historique de la Défense, Vincennes [French Ministry of Defence Archives] |
Transcription Conventions
Burmese nouns, in italics in the text, are transcribed using the commonest system in the English-language world, the Guide to the Romanization of Burmese, 1971, by John Okell. The tones have not been included.
The names of Chinese towns and provinces are give in pinyin, with the present name placed after it in square brackets, if it has changed since the end of the nineteenth century. Anachronistic names (for example, ‘Vietnam’ before 1945) are sometimes used, for clarity.