THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA ALFRED L. KROEBER COLLECTION FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY PUBLICATION 201 ANTHROPOLOGICAL SERIES VOL. XV, No. 3 SI NO-IRAN ICA Chinese* Contributions to the History of Civilization in Ancient Iran With Special Reference to the History of Cultivated Plants and Products BY BERTHOLD |LAUFER Curator of Anthropology The Blackstone Expedition CHICAGO 1919 I / FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY PUBLICATION 201 ANTHROPOLOGICAL SERIES VOL. XV, No. 3 SINO-IRANICA Chinese Contributions to the History of Civilization in Ancient Iran With Special Reference to the History of Cultivated Plants and Products BY BERTHOLD LAUFER Curator of Anthropology The Blackstone Expedition CHICAGO 1919 ft CAK I n SCIENCES Add'1 CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION ............... 185 SlNO-lRANICA ................ 208 ALFALFA ................. 208 THE GRAPE-VINE .............. 220 THE PISTACHIO ............... 246 THE WALNUT ............... 254 THE POMEGRANATE .............. 276 SESAME AND FLAX .............. 288 THE CORIANDER ............... 297 THE CUCUMBER ............... 300 CHIVE, ONION, AND SHALLOT ........... 302 GARDEN PEA AND BROAD BEAN .......... 305 SAFFRON AND TURMERIC ............ 309 SAFFLOWER ................ 324 JASMINE ................. 329 HENNA ................. 334 THE BALSAM-POPLAR ............. 339 MANNA ....... ...... > 343 ASAFOETIDA ................ 353 GALBANUM ................ 363 OAK-GALLS ................ 367 INDIGO ................. 370 RICE .................. 372 PEPPER ................. 374 SUGAR ................ . 376 MYROBALAN ... ............. 378 THE "GOLD PEACH" ............. 379 F U-TSE ................. 379 BRASSICA ...... ....... ; . . . 380 CUMMIN ................. 383 THE DATE-PALM .............. 385 THE SPINACH ............... 392 SUGAR BEET AND LETTUCE RICINUS ............. .... 403 THE ALMOND ................ 405 THE FIG ...... ........... 410 THE OLIVE ...... .......... 415 111 V 650 iv CONTENTS PAGE CASSIA PODS AND CAROB 420 NARCISSUS 427 THE BALM OF GILEAD 429 NOTE ON THE LANGUAGE OF FU-LIN 435 THE WATER-MELON 438 FENUGREEK 446 NUX-VOMICA 448 THE CARROT 451 AROMATICS 455 Spikenard, p. 455. Storax, p. 456. Myrrh, p. 460. Putchuck, p. 462. Styrax benjoin, p. 464. THE MALAYAN PO-SE AND ITS PRODUCTS 468 Alum, p. 474. Lac, p. 475. Camphor, p. 478. Aloes, p. 480. Amomum, p. 481. P, o-lo-te, p. 482. Psoralea, p. 483. Ebony, p. 485. PERSIAN TEXTILES 488 Brocades, p. 488. Rugs, p. 492. Yue no, p. 493. Woolen Stuffs, p. 496. Asbestos, p. 498. IRANIAN MINERALS, METALS, AND PRECIOUS STONES . . . 503 Borax, p. 503. Sal Ammoniac, p. 503. Litharge, p. 508. Gold, p. 509. Oxides of Copper, p. 510. Colored Salt, p. 511. Zinc, p. 511. Steel, p. 515. Se-se, p. 516. Emerald, p. 518. Turquois, p. 519. Lapis Lazuli, p. 520. Diamond, p. 521. Amber, p. 521. Coral, p. 523. Bezoar, p. 525. TITLES OF THE SASANIAN GOVERNMENT 529 iRANO-SlNICA 535 The Square Bamboo, p. 535. Silk, p. 537. Peach and Apricot, p. 539. Cinnamon, p. 541. Zedoary, p. 544. Ginger, p. 545. Mamiran, p. 546. Rhubarb, p. 547. Salsola, p. 551. Emblic Myrobalan, p. 551. Althaea, p. 551. Rose of China, p. 551. Mango, p. 552. Sandal, p. 552. Birch, p. 552. Tea, p. 553. Onyx, p. 554. Tootnague, p. 555. Saltpetre, p. 555. Kaolin, p. 556. Smilax pseudo- china, p. 556. Rag-paper, p. 557. Paper Money, p. 559. Chinese Loan-Worda in Persian, p. 564. The Chinese in the Alexander Romance, p. 570. APPENDIX I IRANIAN ELEMENTS IN MONGOL 572 APPENDIX II CHINESE ELEMENTS IN TURKI 577 APPENDIX III THE INDIAN ELEMENTS IN THE PERSIAN PHARMA- COLOGY OF ABU MANSUR MUWAFFAQ . . . 580 APPENDIX IV THE BASIL 586 APPENDIX V ADDITIONAL NOTES ON LOAN-WORDS IN TIBETAN 591 GENERAL INDEX 599 BOTANICAL INDEX 617 INDEX OF WORDS . . .621 Sino-Iranica BY BERTHOLD LAUFER INTRODUCTION If we knew as much about the culture of ancient Iran as about ancient Egypt or Babylonia, or even as much as about India or China, our notions of cultural developments in Asia would probably be widely different from what they are at present. The few literary remains left to us in the Old-Persian inscriptions and in the Avesta are insufficient to retrace an adequate picture of Iranian life and civilization; and, although the records of the classical authors add a few touches here and there to this fragment, any attempts at reconstruction, even combined with these sources, will remain unsatisfactory. During the last decade or so, thanks to a benign dispensation of fate, the Iranian horizon has considerably widened: important discoveries made in Chinese Turkistan have revealed an abundant literature in two hitherto unknown Iranian languages, the Sogdian and the so-called Eastern Iranian. 1 We now know that Iranian peoples once covered an immense territory, extending all over Chinese Turkistan, migrating into China, coming in contact with Chinese, and exerting a profound influence on nations of other stock, notably Turks and Chinese. The Iranians were the great mediators between the West and the East, conveying the heritage of Hellenistic ideas to central and eastern Asia and trans- mitting valuable plants and goods of China to the Mediterranean area. Their activity is of world-historical significance, but without the records of the Chinese we should be unable to grasp the situation thoroughly. The Chinese were positive utilitarians and always inter- ested in matters of reality: they have bequeathed to us a great amount of useful information on Iranian plants, products, animals, minerals, customs, and institutions, which is bound to be of great service to science. The following pages represent Chinese contributions to the history of civilization in Iran, which aptly fill a lacune in our knowledge of Iranian tradition. Chinese records dealing with the history of Iranian peoples also contain numerous transcriptions of ancient Iranian words, 1 Cf., for instance, P. PELLIOT, Influences iraniennes en Asie centrale et en Extreme-Orient (Paris, 1911). 185 1 86 SlNO-lRANICA part of which have tested the ingenuity of several sinologues and historians; but few of these Sino-Iranian terms have been dealt with accurately and adequately. While a system for the study of Sino- Sanskrit has been successfully established, Sino-Iranian has been woefully neglected. The honor of having been the first to apply the laws of the phonology of Old Chinese to the study of Sino-Iranica is due to ROBERT GAUTHIOT. 1 It is to the memory of this great Iranian scholar that I wish to dedicate this volume, as a tribute of homage not only to the scholar, but no less to the man and hero who gave his life for France. 2 Gauthiot was a superior man, a kiiin-tse %* -J* in the sense of Confucius, and every line he has written breathes the mind of a thinker and a genius. I had long cherished the thought and the hope that I might have the privilege of discussing with him the problems treated on these pages, which would have considerably gained from his sagacity and wide experience ^^A^^Wlfnti. f Iranian geographical and tribal names have hitherto been identified on historical grounds, some correctly, others inexactly, but an attempt to restore the Chinese transcriptions to their correct Iranian prototypes has hardly been made. A great amount of hard work remains to be done in this field. 3 In my opinion, it must be our foremost object first to record the Chinese transcriptions as exactly as possible in their ancient phonetic garb, according to the method so successfully inaugu- rated and applied by P. Pelliot and H. Maspero, and then to proceed from this secure basis to the reconstruction of the Iranian model. The accurate restoration of the Chinese form in accordance with 1 Cf. his Quelques termes techniques bouddhiques et maniche'ens, Journal asiatique, 1911, II, pp. 49-67 (particularly pp. 59 et seq.), and his contributions to Chavannes and Pelliot, Traite" maniche'en, pp. 27, 42, 58, 132. 1 Gauthiot died on September u, 1916, at the age of forty, from the effects of a wound received as captain of infantry while gallantly leading his company/ to a grand attack, during the first offensive of Artois in the spring of 1915. Cf. the obituary notice by A. MEILLET in Bull, de la Sociitt de Linguistique, No. 65, pp. 127-132. 8 I hope to take up this subject in another place, and so give only a few examples here. Ta-ho wi 31 -|fj ^fC is the Ta-ho River on which Su-li, the capital of Persia, was situated (Sui Su, Ch. 83, p. 7 b). HIRTH (China and the Roman Orient, pp. 198, 313; also Journal Am. Or. Soc., Vol. XXXIII, 1913, p. 197), by means of a Cantonese Tat-hot, has arrived at the identification with the Tigris, adding an Armenian Deklath and Pliny's Diglito. Chinese ta, however, corresponds neither to ancient ti nor de, but only to *tat, dat, dad, dar, d'ar, while ho -Ig represents *hat, kat, kad, kar, kal. We accordingly have *Dar-kat, or, on the probable assumption that a metathesis has taken place, *Dak-rat. Hence, as to the identification with the Tigris, the vocalism of the first syllable brings difficulties: it is * both in Old Persian and in Babylonian. Old Persian Tigram (with an alteration due to popular etymology, cf. Avestan tiyriS. Persian fir, "arrow") is borrowed from Babylonian Di-ik-lat (that INTRODUCTION 187 rigid phonetic principles is the essential point, and means much more than any haphazardly made guesses at identification. Thus Mu-lu /fCB, name of a city on the eastern frontier of An-si (Parthia), 1 has been identified with Mouru (Muru, Merw) of the Avesta. 2 Whether this is historically correct, I do not wish to discuss here; from an his- torical viewpoint the identification may be correct, but from a phonetic viewpoint it is not acceptable, for Mu-lu corresponds to ancient *Muk- luk, Mug-ruk, Bug-luk, Bug-rug, to be restored perhaps to *Bux-rux. 3 The scarcity of linguistic material on the Iranian side has imposed certain restrictions: names for Iranian plants, one of the chief subjects of this study, have been handed down to us to a very moderate extent, so that in many cases no identification can be attempted. I hope, however, that Iranian scholars will appreciate the philological con- tributions of the Chinese to Iranian and particularly Middle-Persian lexicography, for in almost every instance it is possible to restore with a very high degree of certainty the primeval Iranian forms from which the Chinese transcriptions were accurately made. The Chinese scholars had developed a rational method and a fixed system in reproducing words of foreign languages, in the study of which, as is well known, they took a profound interest; and from day to day, as our experience widens, we have occasion to admire the soundness, solidity, and con- sistency of this system. The same laws of transcription worked out for Sanskrit, Malayan, Turkish, Mongol, and Tibetan, hold good also for Iranian. I have only to ask Iranian scholars to have confidence in our method, which has successfully stood many tests. I am convinced that this plea is unnecessary for the savants of France, who are the is, Dik-lat, Dik-rat), which has passed into Greek Tiypijs and Ti-ypis and Elamite Ti-ig-ra (A. MEILLET, Grammaire du vieux perse, p. 72). It will thus be seen that the Chinese transcription * Dak-rat corresponds to Babylonian Dik-rat, save the vowel of the first element, which cannot yet be explained, but which will surely be traced some day to an Iranian dialect. The T'ai p'in hwan yil ki (Ch. 185, p. 19) gives four geographical names of Persia, which have not yet been indicated. The first of these is the name of a city in the form | | j Ho-p'o-kie, *Hat(r, 1)- bwa-g'iat. The first two elements *Har-bwa correspond to Old Persian Haraiva (Babylonian Hariva), Avestan Haraeva, Pahlavi *Harew, Armenian Hrew, the modern Herat. The third element appears to contain a word with the meaning "city." The same character is used in j fit ^!] Kie-li-pie, *G'iat-li-b'iet, name of a pass in the north-eastern part of Persia; here *g'iat, *g'iar, seems to represent Sogdian yr, *?ara ("mountain"). Fan-tou ^Hf or j 5G (Ts'ien Han $u, Ch. 96 A), anciently *Pan-tav, *Par-tav, corresponds exactly to Old Persian Par0ava, Middle Persian Par0u. 1 Hou Han $u, Ch. 116, p. 8 b. 2 HIRTH, China and the Roman Orient, p. 143. 8 Cf. also the observation of E. H. PARKER (Imp. and As. Quarterly Review, 1903, p. 154), who noticed the phonetic difficulty in the proposed identification. \ 1 88 SlNO-lRANICA most advanced and most competent representatives of the sinological field in all its varied and extensive branches, as well as in other domains of Oriental research. It would have been very tempting to summarize in a special chapter the Chinese method of transcribing Iranian and to discuss the phonology of Iranian in the light of Chinese contributions. Such an effort, however, appears to me premature at this moment: our knowledge of Sino-Iranian is in its infancy, and plenty of fresh evidence will come forward sooner or later from Turkistan manuscripts. There is no doubt that many hundreds of new Iranian terms of various dialects will be revived, and will considerably enrich our now scanty knowledge of the Iranian onomasticon and phonology. In view of the character of this publication, it was necessary to resort to a phonetic transcription of both ancient and modern Chinese on the same basis, as is now customary in all Oriental languages. The backwardness of Chinese research is illustrated by the fact that we slavishly adhere to a clumsy and antiquated system of romanization in which two and even three letters are wasted for the expression of a single sound. My system of transliteration will be easily grasped from the following com- parative table. OLD STYLE PHONETIC STYLE ng * ch I ch* & j f (while j serves to indicate the palatal sh 5 sonant, written also d). Other slight deviations from the old style, for instance, in the vowels, are self-explanatory. For the sake of the numerous compara- tive series including a large number of diverse Oriental languages it has been my aim to standardize the transcription as far as possible, with the exception of Sanskrit, for which the commonly adopted method remains. The letter x in Oriental words is never intended for the combination ks, but for the spirant surd, sometimes written kh. In proper names where we are generally accustomed to kh, I have allowed the latter to pass, perhaps also in other cases. I do not believe in super- consistency in purely technical matters. The linguistic phenomena, important as they may be, form merely a side-issue of this investigation. My main task is to trace the history of all objects of material culture, pre-eminently cultivated plants, drugs, products, minerals, metals, precious stones, and textiles, in their migration from Persia to China (Sino-Iranica), and others transmitted from China to Persia (Irano-Sinica). There are other groups of Sino- Iranica not included in this publication, particularly the animal world, INTRODUCTION 189 games, and musical instruments. 1 The manuscript dealing with the fauna of Iran is ready, but will appear in another article the object of which is to treat all foreign animals known to the Chinese according to geographical areas and from the viewpoint of zoogeography in ancient and modern times. My notes on the games (particularly polo) and musical instruments of Persia adopted by the Chinese, as well as a study of Sino-Iranian geographical and tribal names, must likewise be reserved for another occasion. I hope that the chapter on the titles of the Sasanian government will be welcome, as those preserved in the Chinese Annals have been identified here for the first time. New results are also offered in the notice of Persian textiles. As to Iranian plants of which the Chinese have preserved notices, we must distinguish the following groups: (i) cultivated plants actually disseminated from Iranian to Chinese soil, (2) cultivated and wild plants of Iran merely noticed and described by Chinese authors, (3) drugs and aromatics of vegetable origin imported from Iran to China. The material, as far as possible, is arranged from this point of view and in chronological order. The single items are numbered. Apart from the five appendices, a hundred and thirty-five subjects are treated. At the outset it should be clearly understood that it is by no means the intention of these studies to convey the impression that the Chinese owe a portion of their material culture to Persia. Stress is laid on the point that the Chinese furnish us with immensely useful material for elaborating a history of cultivated plants. The foundation of Chinese civilization with its immense resources is no more affected by these introductions than that of Europe, which received numerous plants from the Orient and more recently from America. The Chinese merit our admiration for their far-sighted economic policy in making so many useful foreign plants tributary to themselves and amalgamating them with their sound system of agriculture. The Chinese were think- ing, sensible, and broad-minded people, and never declined to accept gratefully whatever good things foreigners had to offer. In plant- economy they are the foremost masters of the world, and China presents a unique spectacle in that all useful plants of the universe are cultivated there. Naturally, these cultivations were adopted and absorbed by a gradual process : it took the Chinese many centuries to become familiar with the flora of their own country, and the long series of their herbals (Pen ts'ao) shows us well how their knowledge of species increased from the T'ang to the present time, each of these works stating the 1 Iranian influences on China in the matter of warfare, armor, and tactics have been discussed in Chinese Clay Figures, Part I. 190 SlNO-lRANICA number of additional species as compared with its predecessor. The introduction of foreign plants begins from the latter part of the second century B.C., and it was two plants of Iranian origin, the alfalfa and the grape-vine, which were the first exotic guests in the land of Han. These were followed by a long line of other Iranian and Central-Asiatic plants, and this great movement continued down to the fourteenth century in the Yuan period. The introduction of American species in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries denotes the last phase in this economic development, which I hope to set forth in a special monograph. Aside from Iran, it was Indo-China, the Malayan region, and India which contributed a large quota to Chinese cultivations. It is essential to realize that the great Iranian plant-movement extends over a period of a millennium and a half; for a learned legend has been spread broadcast that most of these plants were acclimatized during the Han period, and even simultaneously by a single man, the well- known general, Can K'ien. It is one of my objects to destroy this myth. Can K'ien, as a matter of fact, brought to China solely two plants, alfalfa and the grape-vine. No other plant is attributed to him in the contemporaneous annals. Only late and untrustworthy (chiefly Taoist) authors credit him also with the introduction of other Iranian plants. As time advanced, he was made the centre of legendary fabrica- tion, and almost any plant hailing from Central Asia and of doubtful or obscure history was passed off under his name: thus he was ulti- mately canonized as the great plant-introducer. Such types will spring up everywhere under similar conditions. A detailed discussion of this point will be found under the heading of each plant which by dint of mere fantasy or misunderstanding has been connected with Can K'ien by Chinese or European writers. In the case of the spinach I have furnished proof that this vegetable cannot have been culti- vated in Persia before the sixth century A.D., so that Can K'ien could not have had any knowledge of it. All the alleged Can-K'ien plants were introduced into China from the third or fourth century A.D. down to the T'ang period inclusively (618-906). The erroneous reconstruction alluded to above was chiefly championed by Bretschneider and Hirth; and A. de Candolle, the father of the science of historical botany, who, as far as China is concerned, depended exclusively on Bretschneider, fell victim to the same error. F. v. RiCHTHOFEN, 1 reproducing the long list of Bretschneider's Can-K'ien plants, observes, "It cannot be assumed that Can K'ien himself brought along all these plants and seeds, for he had to travel 1 China, Vol. I, p. 459. INTRODUCTION 191 with caution, and for a year was kept prisoner by the Hiuii-nu." When he adds, however, "but the relations which he had started brought the cultivated plants to China in the course of the next years/' he goes on guessing or speculating. In his recent study of Can K'ien, HiRTH 1 admits that of cultivated plants only the vine and alfalfa are mentioned in the Si ki* He is unfortunate, however, in the attempt to safeguard his former position on this question when he continues to argue that "nevertheless, the one hero who must be looked upon as the pioneer of all that came from the West was Chang K'ien." This is at best a personal view, but an unhistorical and uncritical attitude. Nothing allows us to read more from our sources than they contain. The Ts'i min yao $u, to which Hirth takes refuge, can prove nothing whatever in favor of his theory that the pomegranate, sesame, garlic, 3 and coriander were introduced by Can K'ien. The work in question was written at least half a millennium after his death, most probably in the sixth century A.D., and does not fall back on traditions coeval with the Han and now lost, but merely resorts to popular traditions evolved long after the Han period. In no authentic document of the Han is any allusion made to any of these plants. Moreover, there is no dependence on the Ts*i min yao $u in the form in which we have this book at present. BRETSCHNEiDER 4 said wisely and advisedly, "The original work was in ninety-two sections. A part of it was lost a long time ago, and much additional matter by later authors is found in the edition now cur- rent, which is in ten chapters. . . . According to an author of the twelfth century, quoted in the Wen hien fun k*ao, the edition then extant was already provided with the interpolated notes; and accord- ing to Li Tao, also an author of the Sung, these notes had been added by Sun Kun of the Sung dynasty." 5 What such a work would be able to teach us on actual conditions of the Han era, I for my part am unable to see. 1 Journal Am. Or. Soc., Vol. XXXVII, 1917, p. 92. The new translation of this chapter of the Si ki denotes a great advance, and is an admirable piece of work. It should be read by every one as an introduction to this volume. It is only on points of interpretation that in some cases I am compelled to dissent from Hirth 's opinions. * This seems to be the direct outcome of a conversation I had with the author during the Christmas week of 1916, when I pointed out this fact to him and remarked that the alleged attributions to Can K'ien of other plants are merely the outcome of later traditions. 3 This is a double error (see below, p. 302). M3ot. Sin., pt. I, p. 77. ^ * Cf. also PELLIOT (Bull, de VEcole fran$aise, Vol. IX, p. 434), who remarks, "Ce vieil et pre"cieux ouvrage nous est parvenu en assez mauvais 6tat." 192 SlNO-lRANICA It has been my endeavor to correlate the Chinese data first of all with what we know from Iranian sources, and further with classical, Semitic, and Indian traditions. Unfortunately we have only fragments of Iranian literature. Chapter xxvn of the Bundahisn 1 contains a disquisition on plants, which is characteristic of the treatment of this subject in ancient Persia. As it is not only interesting from this point of view, but also contains a great deal of material to which reference will be made in the investigations to follow, an extract taken from E. W. WEST'S translation 2 may be welcome. "These are as many genera of plants as exist: trees and shrubs, fruit-trees, corn, flowers, aromatic herbs, salads, spices, grass, wild plants, medicinal plants, gum plants, and all producing oil, dyes, and clothing. I will mention them also a second time: all whose fruit is not welcome as food of men, and are perennial, as the cypress, the plane, the white poplar, the box, and others of this genus, they call trees and shrubs (ddr va diraxt). The produce of everything welcome as food of men, that is perennial, as the date, the myrtle, the lote-plum (kundr, a thorny tree, allied to the jujube, which bears a small plum- like fruit), the grape, the quince, the apple, the citron, the pomegranate, the peach, the fig, the walnut, the almond, and others in this genus, they call fruit (mlvak). Whatever requires labor with the spade, and is perennial, they call a shrub (diraxi). Whatever requires that they take its crop through labor, and its root withers away, such as wheat, barley, grain, various kinds of pulse, vetches, and others of this genus, they call corn (jurdak}. Every plant with fragrant leaves, which is cultivated by the hand-labor of men, and is perennial, they call an aromatic herb (siparam). Whatever sweet-scented blossom arises at various seasons through the hand-labor of men, or has a perennial root and blossoms in its season with new shoots and sweet-scented blossoms, as the rose, the narcissus, the jasmine, the dog-rose (nestarun), the tulip, the colocynth (kavastlk) , the pandanus (kedi), the camba, the ox-eye (heri), the crocus, the swallow- wort (zarda), the violet, the kdrda, and others of this genus, they call a flower (gul). Everything whose sweet-scented fruit, or sweet-scented blossom, arises in its sea- son, without the hand-labor of men, they call a wild plant (vahdr or nihdl). Whatever is welcome as food of cattle and beasts of burden they call grass (giyah). Whatever enters into cakes (pes-pdrakihd) they call spices (dvzdrihd). Whatever is welcome in eating of bread, as torn shoots of the coriander, water-cress (kakij), the leek, and 1 Cf. E. W. WEST, Pahlavi Literature, p. 98 (in Grundriss iran. Phil., Vol. II). 2 Pahlavi Texts, pt. I, p. 100 (Sacred Books of the East, Vol V). INTRODUCTION 193 others of this genus, they call salad (terak or tarak, Persian tarah). Whatever is like spinning cotton, and others of this genus, they call clothing plants (jamah). Whatever lentil (macag) is greasy, as sesame, duSdan, hemp, vandak (perhaps for zeto, 'olive,' as Anquetil supposes, and Justi assumes), and others of this genus, they call an oil-seed (rokano) . Whatever one can dye clothing with, as saffron, sapan-wood, zafava, vaha, and others of this genus, they call a dye-plant (rag). Whatever root, or gum (tiif), or wood is scented, as frankincense (Pazand kendri for Pahlavi kundur), vardst (Persian barghast), kust, sandalwood, cardamom (Pazand kdkura, Persian qaqulah, ' cardamoms, or kdkul, kdkulj 'marjoram'), camphor, orange-scented mint, and others of this genus, they call a scent (bod). Whatever stickiness comes out from plants they call gummy (vadak). The timber which proceeds from the trees, when it is either dry or wet, they call wood (cibd). Every one of all these plants which is so, they call medicinal (ddruk). "The principal fruits are of thirty kinds, and there are ten species the inside and outside of which are fit to eat, as the fig, the apple, the quince, the citron, the grape, the mulberry, the pear, and others of this kind. There are ten the outside of which is fit to eat, but not the inside, as the date, the peach, the white apricot, and others of this kind; those the inside of which is fit to eat, but not the outside, are the walnut, the almond, the pomegranate, the coco-nut, 1 the filbert (funduk), the chestnut (Sahbalut), the pistachio nut, the vargdn, and whatever else of this description are very remarkable. "This, too, it says, that every single flower is appropriate to an angel (ameZospend), 2 as the white jasmine (saman) is for Vohuman, the myrtle and jasmine (yasmin) are Auharmazd's own, the mouse-ear (or sweet marjoram) is ASavahist's own, the basil-royal is Satvlro's own, the musk flower is Spendarmad's, the lily is Horvadad's, the camba is Amerodad's, Dln-pavan-Ataro has the orange-scented mint (vddrang-bod), Ataro has the marigold (ddargun), the water-lily is A van's, the white marv is Xursed's, the ranges (probably rand, 'laurel') is Mah's, the violet is Tir's, the meren is Gos's, the kdrda is Dln-pavan- Mitro's, all violets are Mitro's, the red chrysanthemum (xer) is Sros's, the dog-rose (nestran) is Rasnu's, the cockscomb is Fravardin's, the sisebar is Vahram's, the yellow chrysanthemum is Ram's, the orange- 1 Pazand andrsar is a misreading of Pahlavi andrgil (Persian nargU}, from Sanskrit ndrikela. 2 These are the thirty archangels and angels whose names are applied to the thirty days of the Parsi month, in the order in which they are mentioned here, except that Auharmazd is the first day, and Vohuman is the second. IQ4 SlNO-lRANICA scented mint is Vad's, the trigonella is Dln-pavan-Dln's, the hundred- petalled rose is Din's, all kinds of wild flowers (vahdr) are Ard's, Ac.tad has all the white Horn, the bread-baker's basil is Asman's, Zamyad has the crocus, Maraspend has the flower of ArdaSlr, Aniran has this Horn of the angel Horn, of three kinds." From this extract it becomes evident that the ancient Persians paid attention to their flora, and, being fond of systematizing, possessed a classification of their plants; but any of their botanical literature, if it ever existed, is lost. The most important of the Persian works on pharmacology is the Kitab-ulabniyat J an haqd'iq-uladviyat or "Book of the Foundations of the True Properties of the Remedies," written about A.D. 970 by the physician Aba Mansur Muvaffaq bin 'All alharavi, who during one of his journeys visited also India. He wrote for Mansar Ibn Nuh II of the house of the Samanides, who reigned from 961 to 976 or 977. This is not only the earliest Persian work on the subject, but the oldest extant production in prose of New-Persian literature. The text has been edited by R. SELIGMANN from a unique manuscript of Vienna dated A.D. 1055, the oldest extant Persian manuscript. 1 There is a translation by a Persian physician, ABDUL-CHALIG ACHUNDOW from Baku. 2 The translation in general seems good, and is provided with an elaborate commentary, but in view of the im- portance of the work a new critical edition would be desirable. The sources from which Aba Mansar derived his materials should be carefully sifted: we should like to know in detail what he owes to the Arabs, the Syrians, and the Indians, and what is due to his own observations. Altogether Arabic influence is pre-eminent. Cf. Appendix III. A good many Chinese plant-names introduced from Iran have the word Hu S3 prefixed to them. Hu is one of those general Chinese desig- nations without specific ethnic value for certain groups of foreign tribes. Under the Han it appears mainly to refer to Turkish tribes; thus the Hiun-nu are termed Hu in the Si ki. From the fourth century onward it relates to Central Asia and more particularly to peoples of 1 Codex Vindobonensis sive Medici Abu Mansur Muwaffak Bin All Heratensis liber Fundamentorum Pharamacologiae Pars I Prolegomena et textura continens (Vienna, 1859). 1 Die pharmakologischen Grundsatze des A. M. Muwaffak, in R. Robert's Historische Studien aus dem Pharmakologischen Institute der Universitat Dorpat, 1873. Quoted as "Achundow, Abu Mansur." The author's name is properly Abdu'l-Khaliq, son of the Akhund or schoolmaster. Cf. E. G. BROWNE, Literary History of Persia, pp. n t 478. INTRODUCTION 195 Iranian extraction. 1 BRETSCHNEiDER 2 annotated, "If the character hu occurs in the name of a plant, it can be assumed that the plant is of foreign origin and especially from western Asia, for by Hu Sen the ancient Chinese denoted the peoples of western Asia." This is but partially correct. The attribute hu is by no means a safe criterion in stamping a plant as foreign, neither does hu in the names of plants which really are of foreign origin apply to West-Asiatic or Iranian plants exclusively. 1. The word hu appears in a number of names of indigenous and partially wild plants without any apparent connection with the tribal designation Hu or without allusion to their provenience from the Hu. In the Li Sao, the famous elegies by K'u Yuan of the fourth century B.C., a plant is mentioned under the name hu Sen SB Iffl, said to be a fragrant grass from which long cords were made. This plant is not identified. 3 2. The acid variety of yu tt (Citrus grandis) is styled hu kan $J ~H*, 4 apparently an ironical nickname, which may mean "sweet like the Hu." The tree itself is a native of China. 3. The term hu hien 68 IE occurs only in the T'u kin pen ts*ao of Su Sun of the eleventh century as a variety of hien (Amarantus) , which is indigenous to China. It is not stated that this variety came from abroad, nor is it known what it really was. 4. Hu mien man S5 M I? is a variety of Rehmannia? a native of China and Japan. The name possibly means "the man with the face of a Hu." 6 C'en Ts'aii-k'i of the T'ang says in regard to this plant that it grows in Lin-nan (Kwaii-tuii), and is like ti hwan Jft jH (Rehmannia glutinosa). 5. The plant known as ku-sui-pu H* ffi H (Poly podium fortunei) is indigenous to China, and, according to C*en Ts'an-k'i, was called 1 "Le terme est bien en principe, vers Tan 800, une designation des Iraniens et en particulier des Sogdiens" (CHAVANNES and PELLIOT, Traits maniche"en, p. 231). This in general is certainly true, but we have well authenticated instances, traceable to the fourth century at least, of specifically Iranian plants the names of which are combined with the element Hu, that can but apply to Iranians. 2 Chinese Recorder, 1871, p. 221. 8 BRETSCHNEIDER, Bot. Sin., pt. II, No. 420; and Li sao ts'ao mu su (Ch. 2, p. 1 6 b, ed. of Ci pu tsu lai ts*un $u) by Wu Zen-kie ^ 81 of tne Sung period. See also T'ai p'ift yu Ian, Ch. 994, p. 6 b. 4 BRETSCHNEIDER, op. cit., No. 236; W. T. SWINGLE in Plantas Wilsonianae, Vol. ii, p. 130. * STUART, Chinese Materia Medica, p. 372. * Cf. analogous plant-names like our Jews-mallow, Jews-thorn, Jews-ear, Jews- apple. |g6 SlNO-lRANICA by the people of Kian-si ffl R 3 hu-sun-kian t a purely local name which does not hint at any relation to the Hu. 6. Another botanical name in which the word hu appears without reference to the Hu is ?ui-hu-ken SI S8 t8, unidentified, a wild plant diffused all over China, and first mentioned by 6'en Ts'an-k'i as grow- ing in the river-valleys of Kian-nan. 1 7-8. The same remark holds good for ts'e-hu j! (Sc) ffl* (Bupleurum falcatum), a wild plant of all northern provinces and already described in the Pie lu, and for ts'ien-hu IJiJ fifl 8 (Angelica decursiva), growing in damp soil in central and northern China. 9. Su-hu-lan lu #J ffli is an unidentified plant, first and solely men- tioned by C'en Ts'an-k'i, 4 the seeds of which, resembling those of Pimpinella anisum, are eatable and medicinally employed. It grows in Annam. One might be tempted to take the term as hu-lan of Su (Se-S'wan), but $u-hu-lan may be the transcription of a foreign word. 10. The ma-k'in J f or niu ^r k'in (Viola pinnata), a wild violet, is termed hu k'in 48 ff in the Tun U 3 ]S by Ceh Tsiao SB ti (i 108-62) and in the T'u kin pen ts'ao of Su Sun. 1 No explanation as to the mean- ing of this hu is on record. 11. The hu-man (wan) SB S is a poisonous plant, identified with Gelsemium elegans* It is mentioned in the Pei hu lu 1 with the synonyme ye-ko ?S S, 8 the vegetable yun ^ (Ipomoea aquatica) being regarded as an antidote for poisoning by hu-man. C'en Ts'an-k'i is cited as au- thority for this statement. The Lin piao lu i 9 writes the name RP S, and defines it as a poisonous grass; hu-man grass is the common col- loquial name. The same work further says, ''When one has eaten of this plant by mistake, one should use a broth made from sheep's blood which will neutralize the poison. According to some, this plant grows as a creeper. Its leaves are like those of the Ian hian 88 , bright and thick. Its poison largely penetrates into the leaves, and is not employed 1 Pen ts'ao Jkort mu, Ch. 16, p. 7 b. Op. cit. t Ch. 13, p. 6 b. Op. cit., Ch. 13, p. 7 b. 4 Op. cit., Ch. 26, p. 22 b. 1 Op. cit., Ch. 26, p. 21 ; Ci wu mi* ii Cu k'ao, Ch. 14, p. 76. Cf. C. FORD, China Review, Vol. XV, 1887, pp. 215-220. STUART (Chinese Materia Medica, p. 220) says that the plant is unidentified, nevertheless he describes it on p. 185. 1 Ch. 2, p. 1 8 b (ed. of Lu Sin-ytian). 1 According to MATSUMURA (Shokubutsu mei-i, No. 2689). Rkus toxitodtndron (Japanese tsuta-uruSi). Ch. B, p. a (ed. of W* yi* *M). INTRODUCTION 197 as a drug. Even if an antidote is taken, this poison will cause death within a half day. The goats feeding on the sprouts of this plant will fatten and grow." Fan C'en-ta j? J$ ;*C (1126-93), in his Kwei hai yii hen &', 1 mentions this plant under the name hu-man t'en Jfe ("hu-man creeper"), saying that it is a poisonous herb, which, rubbed and soaked in water, will result in instantaneous death as soon as this liquid enters the mouth. The plant is indigenous to southern China, and no reason is given for the word hu being prefixed to it. 12. Hu fui-tse $) M ? (literally, "chin of the Hu") is the name of an evergreen tree or shrub indigenous throughout China, even to Annam. The name is not explained, and there are no data in Chinese records to indicate that it was introduced from abroad. 2 It is men- tioned by C'en Ts'an-k'i as a tree growing in P'iii-lin *? #, and it is said to be alluded to in the chapter Wu hin ci 3t f i of the Sun $u. The synonyme k'io'r-su i^ & B? (" sparrow-curd," because the birds are fond of the fruit) first appears in the Pao ci lun of Lei Hiao of the fifth century. The people of Yue call the plant p*u-t*ui-tse Hf $1 ? ; the southerners, lu-tu-tse ft 9$ ?, which according to Liu Tsi ^J U of the Ming, in his Fei sue lu IB S $!fc, is a word from the speech of the Man. The people of Wu term the tree pan-han-?un ^ & ^, because its fruit ripens at an early date. The people of Siafi Ji style it hwan-p'o-nai iSt 8MB! ("yellow woman's breast"), because the fruit resembles a nipple. 13. In hu-lu $8 or 2B A (Lagenaria vulgaris) the first character is a substitute for 3& hu. The gourd is a native of China. 14. Hui-hui tou 3 (literally, "Mohammedan bean") is a plant everywhere growing wild in the fields. 8 The same remark holds good for hu tou fi9 SL, a kind of bean which is roasted or made into flour, according to the Pen ts'ao U i, a weed growing in rice-fields. Wu K'i-ts'un, author of the Ci wu min $i t*u k*ao, says, "What is now hu tou, grows wild, and is not the hu tou of ancient times." 4 15. Yen hu su J $1 ^ denotes tubers of Corydalis ambigua: they are little, hard, brown tubers, of somewhat flattened spherical form, averaging half an inch in diameter. The plant is a native of Siberia, 1 Ed. of Ci pu tsu cai ts*un su, p. 30. a STUART (Chinese Materia Medica, p. 161) is mistaken in saying that several names of this plant are "possibly transliterations of Turkic or Mongol names." There are no such names on record. The tree is identified with Elceagnus longipes or pungens. 3 Ci wu min U Vu k'ao, Ch. 2, p. n b. _It is first mentioned in the Kiu hwan pen ts'ao, being also called na-ho-tou ^ & .9. 4 See, further, below, p. 305. 198 SlNO-lRANICA Kamchatka, and the Amur region, and flowers upon the melting of the snow in early spring. 1 According to the Pen ts'ao kan mu, 2 the plant is first mentioned by C'en Ts'an-k'i of the T'ang period as growing in the country Hi H, and came from Nan-tun 3c M (in Korea). Li Si-Sen annotates that by Hi the north-eastern barbarians should be under- stood. Wan Hao-ku 3E #? "f, a physician of the thirteenth century, remarks that the name of the plant was originally huan j hu-su, but that on account of a taboo (to avoid the name of the Emperor Cen-tsun of the Sung) it was altered into yen-hu-su; but this explanation cannot be correct, as the latter designation is already ascribed to C'en Ts'an-k'i of the T'ang. It is not known whether hu in this case would allude to the provenience of the plant from Korea. In the following example, however, the allusion to Korea is clear. The mint, W $f po-ho, *bak-xa (Mentha arvensis or aquatica), occurs in China both spontaneously and in the cultivated state. The plant is regarded as indigenous by the Chinese, but also a foreign variety is known as hu pa-ho (*bwat-xa) ffl ^ jSj. 3 C'en Si-Kan Ht H, in his Si sin pen ts'ao Jttt#^, published in the tenth century, introduced the term wu ij| pa-ho, "mint of Wu" (that is, Su-ou, where the best mint was cultivated), in distinction from hu pa-ho, "mint of the Hu." Su Sun, in his T'u kin pen ts'ao, written at the end of the eleventh century, affirms that this foreign mint is similar to the native species, the only difference being that it is somewhat sweeter in taste; it grows on the border of Kiaii-su and Ce-kian, where the people make it into tea; commonly it is styled Sin-lo M It po-ho, "mint of Sinra" (in Korea). Thus this variety may have been introduced under the Sung from Korea, and it is to this country that the term hu may refer. Li 5i-en relates that Sun Se-miao dS JB 88, in his Ts'ien kin fail T & jfr,* writes the word ^ ?f fan-ho, but that this is erroneously due to a dialectic pronunciation. This means, in other words, that the first character fan is merely a variant of ^, 6 and, like the latter, had the phonetic equivalent *bwat, bat. 6 1 HANBURY, Science Papers, p. 256. 2 Ch. 13, p. 13. 3 The word po-ho is Chinese, not foreign. The Persian word for "peppermint" is pudene, pudina, budenk (Kurd punk) ; in Hindi it is pudind or pudinekd, derived from the Persian. In Tibetan (Ladakh) it is p'o-lo-lin; in the Tibetan written lan- guage, byi-rug-pa, hence Mongol jirukba; in Manchu it is farsa. 4 See below, p. 306. 6 As Sun Se-miao lived in the seventh century, when the Korean mint was not yet introduced, his term fan-ho could, of course, not be construed to mean "foreign mint." e In T'oung Pao (1915, p. 18) PELLIOT has endeavored to show that the char- INTRODUCTION 199 In the following example there is no positive evidence as to the significance of hu. Hu wan Si ce W 3i &> ^ (" envoy of the king of the Hu") is a synonyme of tu hwo M ? (Peucedanum decursivum) . l As the same plant is also styled k'ian ts'in $> W, k'ian hwo, and hu k'ian $i & H ^6 ffi 31 , the term K'ian (*Gian) alluding to Tibetan tribes, it may be inferred that the king of the Hu likewise hints at Tibetans. In general, however, the term Hu does not include Tibetans, and the present case is not conclusive in showing that it does. In the chapter on the walnut it will be seen that there are two introduced varieties, an Iranian (hu t'ao) and a Tibetan one (k'ian t'ao). In hu ts'ai (Brassica rapa) the element hu, according to Chinese tradition, relates to Mongolia, while it is very likely that the vegetable itself was merely introduced there from Iran. 2 In other instances, plants have some relation to the Hu; but what this relation is, or what group of tribes should be understood by Hu, is not revealed. There is a plant, termed hu hwan lien S8 3t 31, the hwan-lien (Coptis teeta) of the Hu, because, as Li Si-Sen says, its physical characteristics, taste, virtue, and employment are similar to those of hwan-lien. It has been identified with Barkhausia re pens. As evidenced by the acter fan, on the authority of K'an-hi, could never have had the pronunciation po nor a final consonant, and that, accordingly, in the tribal name T'u-fan (Tibet) the character fan, as had previously been assumed, could not transcribe the Tibetan word bod. True it is that under the character in question K'an-hi has nothing to say about po, but ^ is merely a graphic variant of ^, with which it is phonetically identical. Now under this character, K'an-hi indicates plainly that, according to the Tsi yun and Cen yun, fan in geographical names is to be read p'o (anciently *bwa) | (fan-ts'ie Jjjf $fe), and that, according to the dictionary Si wen, the same char- acter was pronounced p'o (*bwa) ij&, p'u Jf , an d p'an^(cf. also SCHLEGEL, Secret of the Chinese Method, pp. 21-22). In the ancient transcription | or^ JE fan-ton, *par-tav, reproduction of Old Persian Par0ava (see above, p. 1 87) Jan corresponds very well to par or bar; and if it could interchange with the phonetic ^ pa, *bwat, bwar, it is perfectly clear that, contrary to Pelliot's theory, there were at least dialectic cases, where ^ was possessed of a final consonant, being sounded bwat or bwar. Con- sequently it could have very well served for the reproduction of Tibetan bod. From another phonetic viewpoint the above case is of interest: we have *bak-xa and *bwat-xa as ancient names for the mint, which goes to show that the final con- sonants of the first element were vacillating or varied in different dialects (cf . T'oung Pao, 1916, pp. 110-114). 1 T'un ci (above, p. 196), Ch. 75, p. 12 b. 2 See below, p. 381. In the term hu yen ("swallow of theHu"), hu appears to refer to Mongolia, as shown by the Manchu translation monggo cibin and the Turkl equivalent qalmaq qarlogac (Mongol xatun xariyatsai, Tibetan gyi-gyi k'ug-rta; cf. Ross, Polyglot List of Birds, No. 267). The bird occurs not only in Mongolia, but also in Ce-kian Province, China (see Kwei ki sanfu lu ^ H H SK ft, Ch. 2, p. 8; ed. of Si yin huan ts'un $u). 200 SlNO-lRANICA attribute Hu, it may be of foreign origin, its foreign name being 91 $ IS 35 ko-hu-lu-tse (*kat-wu-lou-dzak). Unfortunately it is not indicated at what time this transcription was adopted, nor does Li Si- Sen state the source from which he derived it. The only T'ang author who mentions the plant, Su Kun, does not give this foreign name. At all events, it does not convey the impression of representing a T'ang transcription; on the contrary, it bears the ear-marks of a transcription made under the Yuan. Su Kun observes, "Hu hwan-lien is produced in the country Po-se and grows on dry land near the sea-shore. Its sprouts are like those of the hia-ku ts'ao 3t$f ^ (Brunella vulgaris). The root resembles a bird's bill; and the cross-section, the eyes of the mainah. The best is gathered in the first decade of the eighth month." Su Sun of the Sung period remarks that the plant now occurs in Nan-hai (Kwan-tun), as well as in Ts'in-lun H ffl (Sen-si and Kan-su). This seems to be all the information on record. 1 It is not known to me that Barkhausia grows in Persia; at least, Schlimmer, in his extensive dic- tionary of Persian plants, does not note it. Sou-ti Jfc US is mentioned by C'en Ts'aii-k'i as a plant (not yet identified) with seeds of sweet and warm flavor and not poisonous, and growing in Si-fan (Western Barbarians or Tibet) and in northern China 3b i, resembling hwai hian fjj (Pimpinella anisum). The Hu make the seeds into a soup and eat them. 2 In this case the term Hu may be equated with Si-fan, but among the Chinese naturalists the latter term is somewhat loosely used, and does not necessarily designate Tibet. 3 Hiun-k'iun *=T iff (Conioselinum univittatum) is an umbelliferous plant, which is a native of China. As early as the third century A.D. it is stated in the Wu Si pen ts*ao* that some varieties of this plant grow among the Hu; and Li Si- Sen annotates that the varieties from the Hu and Zun are excellent, and are hence styled hu k*iun SB ^. 5 It is stated that this genus is found in mountain districts in Central Europe, Siberia, and north-western America. 6 1 What STUART (Chinese Materia Medica, p. 65) says regarding this plant is very inexact. He arbitrarily identifies the term Hu with the Kukunor, and wrongly ascribes Su Kun's statement to T'ao Hun-kin. Such an assertion as, "the drug is now said to be produced in Nan-hai, and also in Sen-si and Kan-su," is misleading, as this "now" comes from an author of the Sung period, and does not necessarily hold good for the present time. 2 Pen ts'ao kan mu, Ch. 26, p. 22 b. 8 Cf . below, p. 344. 4 Cf . Beginnings of Porcelain, p. 115. 6 He also imparts a Sanskrit name from the Suvarnaprabhasa-sutra in the form B) U TJMse-mo-k'ie, *ja-mak-gia. The genus is not contained in WATT'S Dictionary. 6 Treasury of Botany, Vol. I, p. 322. INTRODUCTION 201 In hu tsiao (" pepper ") the attribute hu distinctly refers to India. 1 Another example in which hu alludes to India is presented by the term hu kan kian $) ^ S: ("dried ginger of the Hu"), which is a synonyme of T*ien-Zu 5 ^ kan kian ("dried ginger of India"), "pro- duced in the country of the Brahmans." 2 In the term hufen ~ffl $^ (a cosmetic or facial powder of white lead), the element hu bears no relation to the Hu, although it is mentioned as a product of Kuca 8 and subsequently as one of the city of Ili (Yi-li- pa-li). 4 In fact, there is no Chinese tradition to the effect that this substance ever came from the Hu. 5 F. P. SMITH 8 observed with refer- ence to this subject, "The word hu does not denote that the substance was formerly obtained from some foreign source, but is the result of a mistaken character." This evidently refers to the definition of the dictionary Si min W %* by Liu Hi of the Han, who explains this hu by f$ hu ("gruel, congee"), which is mixed with grease to be rubbed into the face. The process of making this powder from lead is a thor- oughly Chinese affair. In the term hu yen W IB ("salt of the Hu") the word Hu refers to barbarous, chiefly Tibetan, tribes bordering on China in the west; for there are also the synonymes $un -$C yen and k'ian j& yen, the former already occurring in the Pie lu. Su Kun of the seventh century equalizes the terms Zun yen and hu yen, and gives Vu-ten 35 $t yen as the word used in Sa-cou & JH. Ta Min 'J< BJ, who wrote in A.D. 970, says that this is the salt consumed by the Tibetans (Si-fan), and hence receives the designation %un or k'ian yen. Other texts, however, seem to make a distinction between hu yen and %uh yen: thus it is said in the biography of Li Hiao-po $ ^ f & in the Wei Su, "The salt of the Hu cures pain of the eye, the salt of the Zun heals ulcers." The preceding examples are sufficient to illustrate the fact that the element hu in botanical terms demands caution, and that each case must be judged on its own merits. No hard and fast rule, as deduced by Bretschneider, can be laid down: the mere addition of hu proves neither that a plant is foreign, nor that it is West-Asiatic or Iranian. There are native plants equipped with this attribute, and there are foreign plants thus characterized, which hail from Korea, India, or 1 See below, p. 374. 2 en lei pen ts'ao, Ch. 6, p. 67 b. 3 Cou Su, Ch. 50, p. 5; Sui Su, Ch. 83, p. 5 b. 4 Ta Min i t'un ft, Ch. 89, p. 22; Kwan yu ki, Ch. 24, p. 6 b. 1 Pen ts'ao kan mu, Ch. 8, p. 6; GEERTS (Produits, pp. 596-601), whose transla- tion "poudre des pays barbares" is out of place. 6 Contributions towards the Materia Medica of China, p. 231. 202 SlNO-lRANICA some vaguely defined region of Central Asia. The fact, however, re- mains that there are a number of introduced, cultivated Hu plants coming from Iranian lands, but in each and every case it has been my endeavor to furnish proof for the fact that these actually represent Iranian cultivations. With the sole exception of the walnut, the his- tory of which may tolerably well be traced, the records of these Hu plants are rather vague, and for none of them is there any specific account of the introduction. It is for botanical rather than historical reasons that the fact of the introduction becomes evident. It is this hazy character of the traditions which renders it impossible to connect these plants in any way with Can K'ien. Moreover, it cannot be proved with certainty that any names of plants or products formed with the element hu existed under the Han. The sole exception would be hu ts'ai, 1 but its occurrence in the T*un su wen of the Han is not certain either; and this hu, according to Chinese tradition, refers to Mongolia, not to Iran. Another merely seeming exception is presented by hu fun-lei* but this is a wild, not a cultivated tree; and hu, in this case, has a geographical rather than an ethnographical significance. In the wooden documents discovered in Turkistan we have one good, datable instance of a Hu product; and this is hu t'ie ("iron of the Hu" and implements made of such iron). These tablets belong to the Tsin period (A.D. 265-419),* while in no wooden document of the Han has any compound with Hu as yet been traced. Again, all available evi- dence goes to show that these Hu plants were not introduced earlier than the Tsin dynasty, or, generally speaking, during what is known as the Leu 'ao or six minor dynasties, covering the time from the downfall of the Han to the rise of the T'ang dynasty. It is noteworthy that of none of these plants is an Iranian name on record. The element hu, in a few cases, serves also the purpose of a tran- scription: thus probably in the name of the coriander, hu-swi* and quite evidently in the name of the fenugreek, hu-lu-pa.* Imported fruits and products have been named by many nations for the countries from which they hailed or from the people by whom they were first brought. The Greeks had their "Persian apple" GUTJXOP Hepacriv, "peach"), their "Medic apple" (nfrov M^Suov, "citron"), their "Medic grass" (Mij5in) ir6a, "alfalfa"), and their "Armenian 1 Below, p. 381. 9 Below, p. 339. 1 CHAVANNES, Documents chinois ddcouverts par Aurel Stein, pp. 168, 169. 4 Below, p. 298. 1 Below, p. 446. It thus occurs also in geographical names, as in Hu-c"*a-la (Guzcrat); see HIRTH and ROCKHILL, Chao Ju-kua, p. 92. INTRODUCTION 203 apple" (rj\ov 'ApueviaKov, "apricot"). RABELAIS (I483-I553) 1 already made the following just observation on this point, "Les autres [plantes] ont retenu le nom des regions des quelles furent ailleurs transporters, comme pommes medices, ce sont pommes de Medie, en laquelle furent premierement trouve*es; pommes puniques, ce sont grenades, apportes de Punicie, c'est Carthage. Ligusticum, c'est livesche, apportee de Ligurie, c'est la couste de Genes: rhabarbe, du fleuve Barbare nomine" Rha, comme atteste Ammianus: santonique, fenu grec; castanes, persiques, sabine; .stoechas, de mes isles Hieres, antiquement dites Stoechades; spica celtica et autres." The Tibetans, as I have shown, 2 form many names of plants and products with Bal (Nepal), Mon (Himalayan Region), rGya (China), and Li (Khotan). In the same manner we have numerous botanical terms preceded by "American, Indian, Turkish, Turkey, Guinea," etc. Aside from the general term Hu, the Chinese characterize Iranian plants also by the attribute Po-se (Parsa, Persia): thus Po-se tsao ("Persian jujube") serves for the designation of the date. The term Po-se requires great caution, as it denotes two different countries, Persia and a certain Malayan region. This duplicity of the name caused grave confusion among both Chinese and European scholars, so that I was compelled to devote to this problem a special chapter in which all available sources relative to the Malayan Po-se and its products are discussed. Another tribal name that quite frequently occurs in connection with Iranian plant-names is Si-2un 1$ 3$, ("the Western 2uii"). These tribes appear as early as the epoch of the Si kin and Su kin, and seem to be people of Hiun-nu descent. In post-Christian times Si-2un developed into a generic term without ethnic significance, and vaguely hints at Central-Asiatic regions. Combined with botanical names, it appears to be synonymous with Hu. 3 It is a matter of course that all these geographical and tribal allusions in plant-names have merely a relative, not an absolute value; that is, if the Chinese, for instance, designate a plant as Persian (Po-se) or Hu, this signifies that from their viewpoint the plant under notice hailed from Iran, or in some way was associated with the activity of Iranian nations, but it does not mean that the plant itself or its cultivation is peculiar or due to Iranians. This may be the case or not, yet this point remains to be determined by a special investigation in each particular instance. While the Chinese, as will be seen, are better informed on the history 1 Le Gargantua et le Pantagruel, Livre III, chap. L. 2 T'oung Pao, 1916, pp. 409, 448, 456. 3 For examples of its occurrence consult Index. 204 SlNO-lRANICA of important plants than any other people of Asia (and I should even venture to add, of Europe), the exact and critical history of a plant- cultivation can be written only by heeding all data and consulting all sources that can be gathered from every quarter. The evidence accruing from the Semites, from Egypt, Greece, and Rome, from the Arabs, India, Camboja, Annam, Malayans, Japan, etc., must be equally requisitioned. Only by such co-ordination may an authentic result be hoped for. The reader desirous of information on the scientific literature of the Chinese utilized in this publication may be referred to Bret- schneider's "Botanicon Sinicum" (part I). 1 It is regrettable that no Pen ts*ao (Herbal) of the T'ang period has as yet come to light, and that for these works we have to depend on the extracts given in later books. The loss of the Hu pen ts'ao ("Materia Medica of the Hu") and the &u hu kwo fan ("Prescriptions from the Hu Countries") is especially deplorable. I have directly consulted the Cen lei pen ts*ao, written by T'ah Sen-wei in 1108 (editions printed in 1521 and 1587), the Pen ts'ao yen i by K'ou Tsun-si of 1116 in the edition of Lu Sin- yuan, and the well-known and inexhaustible Pen ts'ao kan mu by Li Si-Sen, completed in 1578. With all its errors and inexact quotations, this remains a monumental work of great erudition and much solid information. Of Japanese Pen ts'ao (Honzo) I havt used the Yamato hon&o, written by Kaibara Ekken in 1709, and the Honzo komoku keimo by Ono Ranzan. Wherever possible, I have resorted to the original source-books. Of botanical works, the Kwan k'unfan p'u, the Hwa p*u, the d wu mih $i t'u k'ao, and several Japanese works, have been utilized. The Yu yah tsa tsu has yielded a good many contributions to the plants of Po-se and Fu-lin; several Fu-lin botanical names hitherto unexplained I have been able to identify with their Aramaic equivalents. Although these do not fall within the subject of Sino-Iranica, but Sino-Semitica, it is justifiable to treat them in this connection, as the Fu-lin names are given side by side with the Po-se names. Needless to say, I have carefully read all accounts of Persia and the Iranian nations of Central Asia contained in the Chinese Annals, and the material to be found there constitutes the basis and backbone of this investigation. 2 There is a class of literature which has not yet been enlisted for the 1 We are in need, however, of a far more complete and critical history of the scientific literature of the Chinese. 2 The non-sinological reader may consult to advantage E. H. PARKER, Chinese Knowledge of Early Persia (Imp. and Asiatic Quarterly Review, Vol. XV, 1903, pp. 144-169) for the general contents of the documents relating to Persia. Most names of plants and other products have been omitted in Parker's article. INTRODUCTION 205 study of cultivated plants, and this is the early literature on medicine. Prominent are the books of the physician Can Cun-kin i it S or Can Ki K 18, who is supposed to have lived under the Later Han at the end of the second century A.D. A goodly number of cultivated plants is mentioned in his book Kin kwei yil han yao Ho fail lun & S 3i 3& 3c ~}3 Ift or abbreviated Kin kwei yao lio. 1 This is a very interesting hand-book of dietetics giving detailed rules as to the avoidance of certain foods at certain times or in certain combinations, poisonous effects of articles of diet, and prescriptions to counteract this poison. Neither this nor any other medical writer gives descriptions of plants or notes regarding their introduction; they are simply enumerated in the text of the prescriptions. But it is readily seen that, if such a work can be exactly dated, it has a chronological value in determining whether a given plant was known at that period. Thus Can Ki mentions, of plants that interest us in this investigation, the walnut, the pome- granate, the coriander, and Allium scorodoprasum (hu swan). Unfortu- nately, however, we do not know that we possess his work in its original shape, and Chinese scholars admit that it has suffered from inter- polations which it is no longer possible to unravel. The data of such a work must be utilized with care whenever points of chronology are emphasized. It was rather tempting to add to the original prescrip- tions of Can Ki, and there is no doubt that the subsequent editions have blended primeval text with later comments. The earliest com- mentary is by Wan Su-ho : $t %R of the Tsin. Now, if we note that the plants in question are otherwise not mentioned under the Han, but in other books are recorded only several centuries later, we can hardly refrain from entertaining serious doubts as to Can Ki's acquaintance with them. A critical bibliographical study of early Chinese medical literature is an earnest desideratum. A. DE CANDOLLE'S monumental work on the "Origin of Cultivated Plants " is still the only comprehensive book on this subject that we have. It was a masterpiece for his time, and still merits being made the basis and starting-point for any investigation of this kind. De Can- dolle possessed a really critical and historical spirit, which cannot be said of other botanists who tried to follow him on the path of his- torical research; and the history of many cultivated plants has been outlined by him perfectly well and exactly. Of many others, our con- ceptions are now somewhat different. Above all, it must be said that 1 Reprinted in the Yii tswan $ tsun kin kien of 1739 (WYLIE, Notes on Chinese Literature, p. 101). A good edition of this and the other works of the same author on the basis of a Sung edition is contained in the medical Ts'un-Su, the / t'uti en mo ts'uan Su, published by the Ce-kian Su ku. 206 SlNO-lRANICA since his days Oriental studies have made such rapid strides, that his notes with regard to India, China, and Japan, are thoroughly out of date. As to China, he possessed no other information than the super- ficial remarks of BRETSCHNEIDER in his "Study and Value of Chinese Botanical Works," 1 which teem with misunderstandings and errors. 2 De Candolle's conclusions as to things Chinese are no longer acceptable. The same holds good for India and probably also for Egypt and western Asia. In point of method, de Candolle has set a dangerous precedent to botanists in whose writings this effect is still visible, and this is his over- valuation of purely linguistic data. The existence of a native name for a plant is apt to prove little or nothing for the history of the plant, which must be based on documentary and botanical evi- dence. Names, as is well known, in many cases are misleading or deceptive; they constitute a welcome accessory in the chain of evidence, but they cannot be relied upon exclusively. It is a different case, of course, if the Chinese offer us plant-names which can be proved to be of Iranian origin. If on several occasions I feel obliged to uphold V. Hehn against his botanical critic A. Engler, such pleas must not be construed to mean that I am an unconditional admirer of Hehn; on the contrary, I am wide awake to his weak points and the short- comings of his method, but wherever in my estimation he is right, it is my duty to say that he is right. A book to which I owe much in- formation is CHARLES JORET'S "Les Plantes dans 1'antiquite* et au moyen age" (2 vols., Paris, 1897, 1904), which contains a sober and clear account of the plants of ancient Iran. 8 A work to which I am greatly indebted is " Terminologie me'dico- pharmaceutique et anthropologique frangaise-persane, " by J. L. SCHLIMMER, lithographed at Teheran, 1874.* This comprehensive work of over 600 pages folio embodies the lifelong labors of an instructor at the Polytechnic College of Persia, and treats in alphabetical order of animal and vegetable products, drugs, minerals, mineral waters, native 1 Published in the Chinese Recorder for 1870 and 1871. 1 They represent the fruit of a first hasty and superficial reading of the Pen ts'ao kan mu without the application of any criticism. In Chinese literature we can reach a conclusion only by consulting and sifting all documents bearing on a problem. Bretschneider's Botanicon Sinicum, much quoted by sinologues and looked upon as a sort of gospel by those who are unable to control his data, has now a merely relative value, and is uncritical and unsatisfactory both from a botanical and a sinological viewpoint; it is simply a translation of the botanical section of the Pen ts'ao kan mu without criticism and with many errors, the most interesting plants being omitted. 1 Joret died in Paris on December 26, 1914, at the age of eighty-five years (cf. obituary notice by H. CORDIER, La Geographic, 1914, p. 239). 4 Quoted " SCHLIMMER, Terminologie." I wish to express my obligation to the Surgeon General's Library in Washington for the loan of this now very rare book. INTRODUCTION 207 therapeutics and diseases, with a wealth of solid information that has hardly ever been utilized by our science. It is hoped that these researches will chiefly appeal to botanists and to students of human civilization; but, as it can hardly be expected that the individual botanist will be equally interested in the history of every plant here presented, each subject is treated as a unit and as an independent essay, so that any one, according to his inclination and choice, may approach any chapter he desires. Repetitions have therefore not been shunned, and cross-references are liberally inter- spersed; it should be borne in mind, however, that my object is not to outline merely the history of this or that plant, but what I wish to present is a synthetic and comprehensive picture of a great and unique plant-migration in the sense of a cultural movement, and simultane- ously an attempt to determine the Iranian stratum in the structure of Chinese civilization. It is not easy to combine botanical, oriental, philological, and historical knowledge, but no pains have been spared to render justice to both the botanical and the historical side of each problem. All data have been sifted critically, whether they come from Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Persian, Arabic, or classical sources, and in no instance have I depended on a second-hand or dogmatic statement. The various criticisms of A. de Candolle, A. Engler, E. Bretschneider, and other eminent authorities, arise from the critical attitude toward the subject, and merely aim at the furtherance of the cause. I wish to express my thanks to Dr. Tanaka TyOzaburO in the Bureau of Plant Industry of the Department of Agriculture, Washing- ton, for having kindly prepared a translation of the notices on the grape-vine and the walnut from Japanese sources, which are appended to the chapters on the history of these plants. The manuscript of this publication was completed in April, 1918. The generosity of Mrs. T. B. Blackstone and Mr. Charles R. Crane in contributing a fund toward the printing of this volume is gratefully acknowledged. ALFALFA 1. The earliest extant literary allusion to alfalfa 1 (Medicago saliva) is made in 424 B.C. in the Equites ("The Knights") of Aristophanes, who says (V, 606) : "H0-0iop 5 rods irayovpovs kvrl irolas "The horses ate the crabs of Corinth as a substitute for the Medic.*] The term "Medike " is derived from the name of the country Media. In his description of Media, Strabo* states that the plant constituting the chief food of the horses is called by the Greeks "Medike" from its growing in Media in great abundance. He also mentions as a product of Media silphion, from which is obtained the Medic juice. 3 Pliny* Intimates that "Medica" is by nature foreign to Greece, and that it was first introduced there from Media in consequence of the Persian wars under King Darius. Dioscorides 8 describes the plant without referring to a locality, and adds that it is used as forage by the cattle- breeders. In Italy, the plant was disseminated from the middle of the second century B.C. to the middle of the first century A.D., 8 almost coeval with its propagation to China. The Assyriologists claim that aspasti or aspastu, the Iranian designation of alfalfa, is mentioned in a Babylonian text of ca. 700 B.C.; 7 and it would not be impossible that its favorite fodder followed the horse at the time of its introduction from Iran into Mesopotamia. A. DE CANDOLLE* states that Medicago 1 1 use this term (not lucerne) in accordance with the practice of the U. S. Department of Agriculture; it is also the term generally used and understood by the people of the United States. The word is of Arabic origin, and was adopted by the Spaniards, who introduced it with the plant into Mexico and South America in the sixteenth century. In 1854 it was taken to San Francisco from Chile (J. M. WEST- GATE, Alfalfa, p. 5, Washington, 1908). XI. xiii, 7. 1 Theophrastus (Hist, plant., VIII. vn, 7) mentions alfalfa but casually by saying that it is destroyed by the dung and urine of sheep. Regarding silphion see p. 355- 4 xm, 43. n, 176. e HEHN, Kulturpflanzen, 8th ed., p. 412. T SCHRADER in Hehn, p. 416; C. JORET (Plantes dans 1'antiquite 1 , Vol. II, p. 68) states after J. Hale"vy that aspasti figures in the list drawn up by the gardener of the Babylonian king Mardukbalidin (Merodach-Baladan), a contemporary of Ezechias King of Juda. 8 Origin of Cultivated Plants, p, 103. 208 ALFALFA 209 saliva has been found wild, with every appearance of an indigenous plant, in several provinces of Anatolia, to the south of the Caucasus, in several parts of Persia, in Afghanistan, Baluchistan, and in Kashmir. 1 Hence the Greeks, he concludes, may have introduced the plant from Asia Minor as well as from India, which extended from the north of Persia. This theory seems to me inadmissible and superfluous, for the Greeks allude solely to Media in this connection, not to India. Moreover, the cultivation of the plant is not ancient in India, but is of recent date, and hardly plays any r61e in Indian agriculture and economy. In ancient Iran, alfalfa was a highly important crop closely associated with the breeding of superior races of horses. Pahlavi as past or aspist New Persian aspust, uspust, aspist, ispist, or isfist (Pustu or Afghan spastu, SpeSta), is traceable to an Avestan or Old-Iranian *aspo-asti (from the root ad, "to eat"), and literally means " horse-fodder." 2 This word has penetrated into Syriac in the form aspesta or pespesta (the latter in the Geoponica). Khosrau I (A.D. 531-578) of the Sasanian dynasty included alfalfa in his new organization of the land-tax: 3 the tax laid on alfalfa was seven times as high as that on wheat and barley, which gives an idea of the high valuation of that forage-plant. It was also employed in the pharmacopoeia, being dealt with by Abu Mansur in his book on pharmacology. 4 The seeds are still used medicinally. 6 The Arabs derived from the Persians the word isfist, Arabicized into fisfisa; Arabic designations being ratba and qatt, the former for the plant in its natural state, the latter for the dried plant. 6 The mere fact that the Greeks received Medicago from the Persians, and christened it " Medic grass," by no means signifies or proves at the outset that Medicago represents a genuinely Iranian cultivation. It is well known how fallacious such names are: the Greeks also had the peach under the name "Persian apple," and the apricot as "Armenian apple;" yet peach and apricot are not originally Persian or Armenian, but Chinese cultivations: Iranians and Armenians in this case merely 1 As to Kashmir, it will be seen, we receive a confirmation from an ancient Chinese document. See also G. WATT, Dictionary of the Economic Products of India, Vol. V, pp. 199-203. 2 NELDEKE, ZDMG, Vol. XXXII, 1878, p. 408. Regarding some analogous plant-names, see R. v. STACKELBERG, ibid., Vol. LIV, 1900, pp. 108, 109. 3 NOLDEKE, Tabari, p. 244. 4 ACHUNDOW, Abu Mansur, p. 73 (cf. above, p. 194). 6 SCHLIMMER, Terminologie, p. 365. He gives yondze as the Persian name, which, however, is of Turkish origin (from yont, "horse"). In Asia Minor there is a place Yonjali ("rich in alfalfa"). 6 LECLERC, Traite" des simples, Vol. Ill, p. 35. 210 SlNO-lRANICA acted as mediators between the far east and the Mediterranean. How- ever, the case of alfalfa presents a different problem. The Chinese, who cultivate alfalfa to a great extent, do not claim it as an element of their agriculture, but have a circumstantial tradition as to when and how it was received by them from Iranian quarters in the second century B.C. As any antiquity for this plant is lacking in India or any other Asiatic country, the verdict as to the centre of its primeval culti- vation is decidedly in favor of Iran. The contribution which the Chinese have to make to the history of Medicago is of fundamental importance and sheds new light on the whole subject: in fact, the history of no cultivated plant is so well authenticated and so solidly founded. In the inscription of Persepolis, King Darius says, "This land Persia which Auramazda has bestowed on me, being beautiful, populous, and abundant in horses according to the will of Auramazda and my own, King Darius it does not tremble before any enemy." I have alluded in the introduction to the results of General Can K'ien's memorable expedition to Central Asia. The desire to possess the fine Iranian thoroughbreds, more massively built than the small Mongolian horse, and distinguished by their noble proportions and slenderness of feet as well as by the development of chest, neck, and croup, was one of the strongest motives for the Emperor Wu (140-87 B.C.) to maintain regular missions to Iranian countries, which led to a regular caravan trade with Fergana and Parthia. Even more than ten such missions were dispatched in the course of a year, the minimum being five or six. At first, this superior breed of horse was obtained from the Wu-sun, but then it was found by Can K'ien that the breed of Fergana was far superior. These horses were called t 'blood-sweating" (han-kile ff jfil), 1 and were believed to be the offspring of a heavenly horse (t'ien ma ^ Kl). The favorite fodder of this noble breed consisted in Medicago sativa; and it was a sound conclusion of General Can K'ien, who was a practical man and possessed of good judgment in economic matters, that, if these much-coveted horses were to continue to thrive on Chinese soil, their staple food had to go along with them. Thus he obtained the seeds of alfalfa in Fergana, 2 and presented them in 126 B.C. to his imperial master, who had wide tracts of land near his palaces covered 1 This name doubtless represents the echo of some Iranian mythical concept, but I have not yet succeeded in tracing it in Iranian mythology. 2 In Fergana as well as in the remainder of Russian Turkistan Medicago saliva is still propagated on an immense scale, and represents the only forage-plant of that country, without which any economy would be impossible, for pasture-land and hay are lacking. Alfalfa yields four or five harvests there a year, and is used for the feed- ing of cattle either in the fresh or dry state. In the mountains it is cultivated up to an elevation of five thousand feet; wild or as an escape from cultivation it reaches ALFALFA 211 with this novel plant, and enjoyed the possession of large numbers of celestial horses. 1 From the palaces this fodder-plant soon spread to the people, and was rapidly diffused throughout northern China. According to Yen Si-ku (A.D. 579-645), this was already an accom- plished fact during the Han period. As an officinal plant, alfalfa appears in the early work Pie lu.* The Ts*i min yao $u of the sixth century A.D. gives rules for its cultivation; and T'ao Hun-kin (A.D. 451-536) remarks that "it is grown in gardens at C'an-nan (the ancient capital in Sen-si), and is much valued by the northerners, while the people of Kian-nan do not indulge in it much, as it is devoid of flavor. Abroad there is another mu-su plant for healing eye-diseases, but different from this species." 8 Can K'ien was sent out by the Emperor Wu to search for the Yue-2i and to close an alliance with them against the Turkish Hiun-nu. The Yue-i, in my opinion, were an Indo-European people, speaking a North-Iranian language related to Scythian, Sogdian, YagnObi, and Ossetic. In the course of his mission, Can K'ien visited Fergana, Sog- diana, and Bactria, all strongholds of an Iranian population. The "West" for the first time revealed by him to his astounded country- men was Iranian civilization, and the products which he brought back were thoroughly and typically Iranian. The two cultivated plants (and only these two) introduced by him into his fatherland hailed from Fergana: Ferganian was an Iranian language; and the words for the alfalfa and grape, mu-su and p*u-t'ao, were noted by Can K'ien in Fergana and transmitted to China along with the new cultivations. These words were Ferganian; that is, Iranian. 4 Can K'ien himself was an altitude up to nine thousand feet. Cf. S. KORZINSKI, Vegetation of Turkistan (in Russian), p. 51. Russian Turkistan produces the largest supply of alfalfa-seed for export (E. BROWN, Bull. Dep. of Agriculture, No. 138, 1914). 1 Si ki, Ch. 123. * Cf. Chinese Clay Figures, p. 135. 8 Cen lei pen ts'ao, Ch. 27, p. 23. It is not known what this foreign species is. 4 HIRTH'S theory (Journal Am. Or. Soc., Vol. XXXVII, 1917, p. 149), that the element yuan of Ta-yuan (Fergana) might represent a "fair linguistic equivalent" of Yavan (Yavana, the Indian name of the Greeks), had already been advanced by J. EDKINS (Journal China Branch Roy. As. Soc., Vol. XVIII, 1884, p. 5). To me it seems eccentric, and I regret being unable to accept it. In the T'ang period we have from Huan Tsan a reproduction of the name Yavana in the form JUJ Jfl ^JS Yen-mo-na, *Yam-mwa-na (PELLIOT, Bull, de VEcole frangaise, Vol. IV, p. 278). For the Han period we should expect, after the analogy of Jj| f$ Ye-tiao, *Yap (Dzap)-div (Yavadvlpa, Java), a transcription J Jf Ye-na, *Yap-na, for Yavana, The term $ @ Yu-yue, * Yu-vat (var) , does not represent a transcription of Yavana, as supposed by CHAVANNES (M&noires historiques de Se-ma Ts'ien, Vol. IV, 1901, PP- 558-559), but is intended to transcribe the name Yuan (*Yuvar, Yjjar), still employed by the Cam and other peoples of Indo-China as a designation of 212 SlNO-lRANICA very well aware of the fact that the speech of the people of Fergana was Iranian, for he stated in his report, that, although there were different dialects in the tract of land stretching from Fergana westward as far as Parthia (An-si), yet their resemblance was so great that the people could make themselves intelligible to each other. 1 This is a plain allusion to the differentiation and at the same time the unity of Iranian speech; 2 and if the Ferganians were able to understand the Parthians, I do not see in what other language than Iranian they could have conversed. Certainly they did not speak Greek or Turkish, as some prejudiced theorists are inclined to imagine. The word brought back by Can K'ien for the designation of alfalfa, and still used everywhere in China for this plant, was mu-su @ ^, consisting of two plain phonetic elements, 8 anciently *muk-suk (Japa- nese moku-Suku), subsequently written H* ^ with the addition of the classifier No. 140. I recently had occasion to indicate an ancient Tibetan transcription of the Chinese word in the form bug-sug* and this appears to come very near to the Iranian prototype to be restored, which was *buksuk or *buxsux, perhaps *buxsuk. The only sensible explanation ever given of this word, which unfortunately escaped the sinologues, was advanced by W. TOMASCHEK, B who tentatively compared it with Gilaki (a Caspian dialect) buso ("alfalfa"). This would be satisfactory if it could be demonstrated that this buso is evolved from *bux-sox or the like. Further progress in our knowledge of Iranian dialectology Annam and the Annamese (cf. Cam Yuan or Yuon, Bahnar, Juon, Khmer Yuon, Stien Ju6n). This native name, however, was adapted to or assimilated with Sanskrit Yavana; for in the Sanskrit inscriptions of Campa, particularly in one of the reign of Jaya-Rudravarman dated A.D. 1092, Annam is styled Yavana (A. BERGAIGNE, L'Ancien royaume de Campa, p. 61 of the reprint from Journal asiatique, 1888). In the Old- Javanese poem Nagarakrtagama, completed in A.D. 1365, Yavana occurs twice as a name for Annam (H. J.ERN,Bijdragen tot de taal- land- en volkenkunde, Vol.LXXII, 1916, p. 399). Kern says that the question as to how the name of the Greeks was applied to Annam has not been raised or answered by any one; he over- looked the contribution of Bergaigne, who discussed the problem. 1 Strabo (XV. n, 8) observes, "The name of Ariana is extended so as to include some part of Persia, Media, and the north of Bactria and Sogdiana; for these peoples speak nearly the same language." * Emphasized by R. GAUTHIOT in his posthumous work Trois Me"moires sur 1'unite" linguistique des parlers iraniens (reprinted from the Memoires de la Societe de Linguistique de Paris, Vol. XX, 1916). 8 The two characters are thus indeed written without the classifiers in the Han Annals. The writings J$C Jff *muk-suk of Kwo P'o and yfc |?l *muk-swok of Lo Yuan, author of the Er ya i (simply inspired by attempts at reading certain mean- ings into the characters), have the same phonetic value. In Annamese it is muk-tuk. 4 Toung Pao, 1916, p. 500, No. 206. Pamir-Dialekte (Sitzber. Wiener Akad., 1880, p. 792). ALFALFA 213 will no doubt supply the correct form of this word. We have to be mindful of the fact that the speech of those East-Iranian tribes, the advance-guard of Iran proper, with whom the Chinese first came in contact, has" never been committed to writing, and is practically lost to us. Only secluded dialects may still harbor remnants of that lost treasure. We have to be the more grateful to the Chinese for having rescued for us a few words of that extinct language, and to place *buksuk or *buxsux on record as the ancient Ferganian appellation of Medicago sativa. The first element of this word may survive in Sariqoll (a Pamir dialect) wux (''grass"). In Waxl, another Pamir idiom, alfalfa is styled wujerk; and grass, wu$. "Horse" is yds in Waxl, and vurj in Sariqoll. 1 BRETSCHNEiDER 2 was content to say that mu-su is not Chinese, but most probably a foreign name. WATTERS, in his treatment of foreign words in Chinese, has dodged this term. T. W. KINGSMILL S is responsible for the hypothesis that mu-su "may have some connec- tion with the Mr/Sw) fioTavrj of Strabo." This is adopted by the Chinese Dictionary of GILES."* This Greek designation had certainly not pene- trated to Fergana, nor did the Iranian Ferganians use a Greek name for a plant indigenous to their country. It is also impossible to see what the phonetic coincidence between *muk-suk or *buk-suk and medike is supposed to be. The least acceptable explanation of mu-su is that recently pro- pounded by HiRTH, 6 who identifies it with a Turkish burtak, which is Osmanli, and refers to the pea. 6 Now, it is universally known that a language like Osmanli was not in existence in the second century B.C., but is a comparatively modern form of Turkish speech; and how Can K'ien should have picked up an Osmanli or any other Turkish word for a typically Iranian plant in Fergana, where there were no Turks at that time, is unintelligible. Nor is the alleged identification phonetically correct: Chinese mu, *muk, *buk, cannot represent bur, nor can su, 1 Cf. R. B. SHAW, On the Ghalchah Languages (Journal As. Soc. Bengal, 1876, pp. 221, 231). According to TOMASCHEK (op. cit., p. 763), this word is evolved from *bharaka, Ossetic bairag ("good foal"). 2 Bot. Sin., pt. Ill, p. 404. 3 Journal China Branch Roy. As. Soc., Vol. XIV, 1879, p. 19. 4 No. 8081, wrongly printed MeSuci?. The word POT&VTI is not connected with the name of the plant, but in the text of Strabo is separated from Mqdiicriv by eleven words. MriSiKrj is to be explained as scil. 7r6a, "Medic grass or fodder." 6 Journal Am. Or. Soc., Vol. XXXVII, 1917, p. 145. 6 Kara burtak means the "black pea" and denotes the vetch. 214 SlNO-lRANICA *suk, stand for Zak. 1 The entire speculation is deplorable, and we are even expected "to allow for a change the word may have undergone from the original meaning within the last two thousand years"; but there is no trace of evidence that the Osmanli word has existed that length of time, neither can it be reasonably admitted that the signifi- cance of a word can change from "pea" to "alfalfa." The universal term in Central Asia for alfalfa is bidd 2 or beda? Djagatai bida. This word means simply "fodder, clover, hay." 4 According to TOMASCHEK, B this word is of Iranian origin (Persian beda). It is found also in Sariqoli, a Pamir dialect. 6 This would indicate very well that the Persians (and it could hardly be expected otherwise) disseminated the alfalfa to Turkistan. According to VAMBERY, 7 alfalfa appears to have been indigenous among the Turks from all times; this opinion, however, is only based on linguistic evidence, which is not convincing: a genuine Turkish name exists in Djagatai jonu$ka (read yonutka) and Osmanli yondza* (add Kasak-Kirgiz yonurcka), which simply means "green fodder, clover." Now, these dialects represent such recent forms of Turkish speech, that so far-reaching a conclusion cannot be based on them. As far as I know, in the older Turkish languages no word for alfalfa has as yet been found. A Sanskrit il A # 33L sai-pi-li-k'ie, *sak-bi-lik-kya, for the designa- tion of mu-su, is indicated by Li Si-cen, 9 who states that this is the word for mu-su used in the Kin kwan min kin & ^t $J ft (Suvar- naprabhasa-sutra). This is somewhat surprising, in view of the fact that there is no Sanskrit word for this plant known to us; 10 and there can be no doubt that the latter was introduced into India from Iran in comparatively recent times. BRETSCHNEIDER'S suggestion, 11 that in I Final k in transcriptions never answers to a final r, but only to k, g, or x (cf. also PELLIOT, T'oung Pao, 1912, p. 476). a A. STEIN, Khotan, Vol. I, p. 130. 8 LE COQ, Sprichw6rter und Lieder aus Turfan, p. 85. 4 I. KUNOS, Sulejman Efendi's Cagataj-Osman. Worterbuch, p. 26. 6 Pamir-Dialekte, p. 792. 8 R. B. SHAW, Journal As. Soc. Bengal, 1876, p. 231. 7 Primitive Cultur des turko-tatarischen Volkes, p. 220. 8 The etymology given of this word by Vambe'ry is fantastic and unacceptable. 9 Pen ts'ao kan mu, Ch. 27, p. 3 b. Mu-su is classified by hiui under ts'ai ("vegetables"). J0 This was already remarked by A. DE CANDOLLE (Origin of Cultivated Plants, p. 104). Also WATT gives only modern Indian vernacular names, three of which, spastu, sebist, and beda, are of Iranian origin. II Bot. Sin., pt. Ill, p. 404. ALFALFA 215 Kabul the Trifolium giganteum is called sibarga, and Medicago sativa is styled riSka, is unsatisfactory. The word sibarga means "trefoil" (si, " three;" barga = Persian barak, varak, "leaf"), and is Iranian, not Sanskrit; the corresponding Sanskrit word is tripatra or triparna. The word riSka is Afghan; that is, likewise Iranian. 1 Considering the fact that nothing is known about the plant in question in early Indian sources, it is highly improbable that it should figure in a Buddhist Sutra of the type of the Suvarnaprabhasa; and I think that Li Si-cen is mistaken as to the meaning of the word, which he says he encountered there. The above transcription occurs also in the Fan yi min yi tsi (section 27) and answers to Sanskrit qdka-vrika, the word qaka denoting any eatable herb or vegetable, and vfika (or baka) referring to a certain plant not yet identified (cf. the analogous formation $dka-bilva, "egg- plant"). It is not known what herb is to be understood by qaka-vfika, and the Chinese translation mu-su may be merely a makeshift, though it is not impossible that the Sanskrit compound refers to some species of Medicago. We must not lose sight of the fact that the equations established in the Chinese-Sanskrit dictionaries are for the greater part merely bookish or lexicographical, and do not relate to plant introduc- tions. The Buddhist translators were merely anxious to find a suitable equivalent for an Indian term. This process is radically different from the plant-names introduced together with the plants from Iranian, Indian, or Southeast-Asiatic regions: here we face living realities, there we have to do with literary productions. Two other examples may suffice. The Fan yi min yi tsi (section 24) offers a Sanskrit botani- cal name in the form U UK 3fi cen-t'ou-kia, anciently *tsin(tin)-du-k'ie, answering to Sanskrit tinduka (Diospyros embryopteris) , a dense ever- green small tree common throughout India and Burma. The Chinese gloss explains the Indian word by Si ffi, which is the well-known Dio- spyros kaki of China and Japan, not, however, found in ancient India; it was but recently introduced into the Botanical Garden of Calcutta by Col. Kyd, and the Chinese gardeners employed there call it tin ("Chi- nese"). 2 In this case it signifies only the Diospyros embryopteris of India. Under the heading kan-sun hian (see p. 455), which denotes the spikenard (Nardostachys jatamansi), Li Si-Sen gives a Sanskrit term ir Sfl^ k'u-mi-Fe, *ku-mi-c'i, likewise taken from the Suvarnapra- bhasasutra; this corresponds to Sanskrit kunci or kuncika, which applies to three different plants, i. Abrus precatorius, 2. Nigella indica, 1 There are, further, in Afghan sebist (connected with Persian supust) and dureSta. * W. ROXBURGH, Flora Indica, p. 412. 2l6 SlNO-lRANICA 3. Trigonella foenum graecum. In this case the compromise is a failure, or the identification of kunci with kan-sun even results from an error; the Sanskrit term for the spikenard is gandhamdmsl. We must not draw inferences from mere Sanskrit names, either, as to the origin of Chinese plants, unless there is more substantial evidence. Thus STUART 1 remarks under li ^ (Prunus domestica) that the Sanskrit equivalent J It j& ku-lin-kia indicates that this plum may have been introduced from India or Persia. Prunus domestica, however, is a native of China, mentioned in the Si kin, Li ki, and in Mon-tse. The Sino- Indian word is given in the Fan yi min yi tsi (section 24) with the trans- lation li. The only corresponding Sanskrit word is kulinga, which denotes a kind of gall. The question is merely of explaining a Sanskrit term to the Chinese, but this has no botanical or historical value for the Chinese species. Thus the records of the Chinese felicitously supplement the meagre notices of alfalfa on the part of the ancients, and lend its history the proper perspective: we recognize the why and how of the world- wide propagation of this useful economic plant. 2 Aside from Fergana, the Chinese of the Han period discovered mu-su also in Ki-pin (Kash- mir), 8 and this fact is of some importance in regard to the early geo- graphical distribution of the species; for in Kashmir, as well as in Afghanistan and Baluchistan, it is probably spontaneous. 4 Mu-su gardens are mentioned under the Emperor Wu (A.D. 265-290) of the Tsin dynasty, and the post-horses of the T'ang dynasty were fed with alfalfa. 5 The fact that alfalfa was used as an article of human food under the T'ang we note from the story of Sie Lin-Si l ^ ,, preceptor at the Court of the Emperor Yuan Tsun (A.D. 713-755), who wrote a versified complaint of the too meagre food allotted to him, in which alfalfas with long stems were the chief ingredient. 6 The good teacher, of course, was not familiar with the highly nutritive food-values of the plant. 1 Chinese Materia Medica, p. 358. 2 It is singular that A. DE CANDOLLE, in his Origin of Cultivated Plants, while he has conscientiously reproduced from Bretschneider all his plants wrongly ascribed to Can K'ien, does not make any reference to China in speaking of Medicago (pp. 102-104). In f act > i ts history has never before been outlined correctly. 3 Ts'ien Han $u, Ch. 96 A. 4 A. DE CANDOLLE, op. cit., p. 103; G. T. VIGNE, Travels in Kashmir, Vol. II, p. 455. 6 S. MATSUDA ffi EB / A On Medicago sativa and the Species of Medicago in China (Botanical Magazine fit ft $ ft fj, Tokyo, Vol. XXI, 1907, p. 243). This is a very interesting and valuable study written in Japanese. e Cf . C. PTILLON, Allusions litte"raires, p. 350. ALFALFA 217 According to the Su i ki # M IS, written by Zen Fan > B& in the beginning of the sixth century, "the mu-su (alfalfa) gardens of Can K'ien are situated in what is now Lo-yafi; mu-su was originally a vegetable in the land of the Hu, and K'ien was the first to obtain it in the Western Countries." A work, Kiu Vi ki i)l ftfe IB, 1 says that east of the capital there were mu-su gardens, in which there were three pestles driven by water-power. The Si kin tsa ki ffi M H IB 2 states, "In the Lo-yu gardens H& j$ la (in the capital C'an-nan) there are rose-bushes SC?6 ftf (Rosa rugosa), which grow spontaneously. At the foot of these, there is abundance of mu-su, called also hwaifun H $& C embracing the wind'), sometimes kwanfun jfe l& ('brilliant wind'). 3 The people of Mou-lin j$c HI 4 style the plant lien-Si ts'ao 31 1 ^ ('herb with connected branches')." 5 The Lo yan k*ie Ian ki & Bi flfl H IB, a record of the Buddhist monasteries in the capital Lo-yan, written by Yan Huan-Si tlf |f *L in A.D. 547 or shortly afterwards, says that "Huan-wu M. B is situated north-east of the Ta-hia Gate ^C JE P*J ; now it is called Kwan-fun Garden jfc R M, producing mu-su." Kwan-fun , as shown by the Si kin tsa ki, is a synonyme of mu-su. K'ou Tsun-i, in his Pen ts*ao yen i? written in A.D. 1116, notes that alfalfa is abundant in Sen-si, being used for feeding cattle and horses, and is also consumed by the population, but it should not be eaten in large quantity. Under the Mongols, the cultivation of alfalfa was much encouraged, especially in order to avert the danger of famines; 7 and gardens were maintained to raise alfalfa for the feeding of horses. 8 According to Li Si-6en (latter part of the sixteenth century), 9 it was in his time a common, wild plant in the fields everywhere, but was culti- vated in en-si and Kan-su. He apparently means, however, Medicago denticulata, which is a wild species and a native of China. FORBES 1 T'ai p*in yii Ian, Ch. 824, p. 9. 2 That is, Miscellaneous Records of the Western Capital (C'an-nan in Sen-si), written by Wu Kun ^| J) of the sixth century A.D. 8 The explanation given for these names is thus: the wind constantly whistles in these gardens, and the sunlight lends brilliancy to the flowers. 4 Ancient name for the present district of Hin-p'in | zp in the prefecture of Si-nan, Sen-si. 6 T'ai p'ifi yu Ian, Ch. 996, p. 4 b. 6 Ch. 19, p. 3 (ed. of Lu Sin-yuan). 7 Yuan Si, Ch. 93, p. 5 b. 8 Ibid., Ch. 91, p. 6 b. 9 Pen ts*ao kan mu, Ch. 28, p. 3 b. fl8 SlNO-lRANICA and HEMSLEY I give as Chinese species Medicago denticulata, falcata* and lupulina (the black Medick or nonsuch), M. lupulina "apparently common, and from the most distant parts," and say with reference to Medicago sativa that it is cultivated in northern China, and also occurs in a wild state, though it is probably not indigenous. This "wild" Medicago sativa may be an escape from cultivation. It is an interesting point that those wild species are named ye mu-su ("wild alfalfa"), which goes to show that these were observed by the Chinese only after the introduction of the imported cultivated species. 8 Wu K'i-tsiin 4 has figured two ye mu-su, following his illustration of the mu-su, one being Medicago lupulina, the other M. denticulata. The Japanese call the plant uma-goyaSi ("horse-nourishing"). 5 MATSUMURA 6 enumerates four species: M. sativa: murasaki ("purple") umagoyasi; 1 M. denticulata: umagoyasi; M. lupulina: kometsubu- umagoyasi; and M. minima: ko-umagoyasi. In the Tibetan dialect of Ladakh, alfalfa is known as ol. This word refers to the Medicago sativa indigenous to Kashmir or possibly intro- duced there from Iran. In Tibet proper the plant is unknown. In Armenia occur Medicago sativa, M. falcata, M. agrestis, and M. lupulina. 6 Under the title "Notice sur la plante mou-sou ou luzerne chinoise par C. de Skattschkoff, suivie d'une autre notice sur la me'me plante traduite du chinois par G. PAUTHIER," a brief article of 16 pages appeared in Paris, 1864, as a reprint from the Revue de V Orient? Skattschkoff, who had spent seven years in Peking, subsequently became Russian consul in Dsungaria, and he communicates valuable information on the agriculture of Medicago in that region. He states that seeds of this 1 Journal Linnean Soc., Vol. XXIII, p. 154. * Attempts are being made to introduce and to cultivate this species in the United States (cf. OAKLEY and CARVER, Medicago Falcata, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bull. No. 428, 1917). 1 We shall renew this experience in the case of the grape-vine and the walnut. 4 Ci wu min li t'u k'ao, Ch. 3, pp. 58, 59. * In the same manner, Manchu morxo is formed from morin ("horse") and orxo ("grass"). 8 Shoku butsu-mei-i, Nos. 183-184. 7 The flower of this species is purple-colored. 8 A. BEGUINOT and P. N, DIRATZSUYAN, Contribute alia flora dell' Armenia, P- 57- 9 The work of Pauthier is limited to a translation of the notice on the plant in the Ci wu mi* Si t'u k'ao. The name Yu-lou nun frequently occurring in this work does not refer to a treatise on agriculture, as conceived by Pauthier, but is the literary style of Wu K'i-tsun, author of that work. ALFALFA 219 plant were for the first time sent from China to Russia in 1840, and that he himself has been active for six years in propagating it in Russia, Livonia, Esthonia, and Finland. This is not to be doubted, but the point I venture to question is that the plant should not have been known in Russia prior to 1840. Not only do we find in the Russian language the words medunka (from Greek medike) and the European I'utserna (lucerne) for the designation of Medicago sativa, but also krasni ("red") burkun, letuxa, lugovoi v'azel ("Coronilla of the meadows"); the word burkun, burunduk, referring to Medicago falcata (called also yumorki), buruntik to M. lupulina. It is hard to realize that all these terms should have sprung up since 1840, and that the Russians should not have received information about this useful plant from European, Iranian, or Turkish peoples. A. DE CANDOLLE* ob- serves, "In the south of Russia, a locality mentioned by some authors, it is perhaps the result of cultivation as well as in the south of Europe." Judging from the report of N. E. HANSEN,* it appears that three species of Medicago (M. falcata, M. platycarpa, and M. ruthenica) are indigenous to Siberia. The efforts of our Department of Agriculture to promote and to improve the cultivation of alfalfa in this country are well known; for this purpose also seeds from China have been introduced. Argentine chiefly owes to alfalfa a great amount of its cattle-breeding. 3 1 Origin of Cultivated Plants, p. 103. 2 The Wild Alfalfas and Clovers of Siberia, pp. 11-15 (Bureau of Plant Industry, Bull. No. 150, Washington, 1909). 8 Cf. I. B. LORENZETTI, La Alfafa en la Argentina (Buenos Aires, 1913, 360 p.)- THE GRAPE-VINE 2. The grape-vine (Vitis wnifera) belongs to the ancient cultivated plants of western Asia and Egypt. It is not one of the most ancient cultivations, for cereals and many kinds of pulse are surely far earlier, but it is old enough to have its beginnings lost in the dawn of history. Viticulture represents such a complexity of ideas, of a uniform and persistent character throughout the ancient world, that it can have been disseminated but from a single centre. Opinions as to the loca- tion of this focus are of course divided, and our present knowledge of the subject does not permit us to go beyond more or less probable theories. Certain it is that the primeval home of vine-growing is to be sought in the Orient, and that it was propagated thence to Hellas and Italy, while the Romans (according to others, the Greeks) trans- planted the vine to Gaul and the banks of the Rhine. 1 For botanical reasons, A. DE CANDOLLE 2 was inclined to regard the region south of the Caucasus as "the central and perhaps the most ancient home of the species." In view of the Biblical tradition of Noah planting the grape-vine near the Ararat, 8 it is a rather attractive hypothesis to con- ceive of Armenia as the country from which the knowledge of the grape took its starting-point. 4 However, we must not lose sight of the fact that both vine and wine were known in Egypt for at least three or four millenniums B.C., 5 and were likewise familiar in Mesopotamia at a very early date. This is not the place for a discussion of 0. SCHRADER'S theory 6 that the name and cultivation of the vine are due to Indo- Europeans of anterior Asia; the word for "wine" may well be of Indo- European or, more specifically, Armenian origin, but this does not 1 Cf . the excellent study of G. CURTEL, La Vigne et le vin chez les Remains (Paris, 1903). See also A. STUMMER, Zur Urgeschichte der Rebe und des Weinbaues (Mitt. Anthr. Ges. Wien, 1911, pp. 283-296). * Origin of Cultivated Plants, p. 192. 8 Genesis, ix, 20. 4 Cf. R. BILLIARD, La Vigne dans 1'antiquite*, p. 31 (Lyon, 1913). This is a well illustrated and artistic volume of 560 pages and one of the best monographs on the subject. As the French are masters in the art of viticulture, so they have also pro- duced the best literature on the science of vine and wine. Of botanical works, J.-M. GUILLON, Etude gxos, /S6rpuxos, plainly indicate the status of a loan- word. In Dioscorides (in, 120) it denotes an altogether different plant, Chen- opodium botrys. 4 The Lo-lo of Yun-nan know a wild grape by the name ko-p*i-ma, with large, black, oblong berries (P. VIAL, Dictionnaire francais-lolo, p. 276). The grape is te-mu-se-ma in Nyi Lo-lo, sa-lu-zo or sa-o-zo in Ahi Lo-lo. 1 Pen ts'ao kan mu, Ch. 33, p. 3. fl Bot. Sin., pt. Ill, p. 438. THE GRAPE-VINE 227 China, but have never resulted in a cultivation; the cultivated species (Vitis vinifera) was introduced from Iran, and never had any relation to the Chinese wild species (Vitis bryoniaefolid) . In a modern work, Mun ts'uan tsa yen ^ JR. IS W, 1 which gives an intelligent discussion of this question, the conclusion is reached that the species from Fergana is certainly different from that indigenous to China. The only singular point is that the Pie lu employs the Ferganian word p*u-fao with refer- ence to the native species; but this is not an anachronism, for the Pie lu was written in post-Christian times, centuries after Can K'ien; and it is most probable that it was only the introduced species which gave the impetus to the discovery of the wild species, so that the latter received the same name. 2 Another wild vine is styled yin-yii 21 j| (Vitis bryoniaefolia or V. labmsca), which appears in the writings of T'ao Hun-kin (A.D. 451-536) and in the T*ah pen ts'ao of Su Kun, but this designation has reference only to a wild vine of middle and northern China. Yen Si-ku (A.D. 579-645), in his K'an miu len su^l^lE f-, 3 ironically remarks that regarding the yin-yii as a grape is like comparing the &' $> (Poncirus trifoliata) of northern China with an orange (kii f|j) ; that the yin-yu, although a kind of p'u-fao, is widely different from the latter; and that the yin-yii of Kian-nan differs again from the yin-yii of northern China. HIRTH'S theory, 4 that this word might represent a transcription of New Persian angur, is inadmissible. We have no right to regard Chinese words as of foreign origin, unless these are expressly so indicated by the Chinese philologists who never fail to call attention to such borrowing. If this is not the case, specific and convincing reasons must be adduced for the assumption that the word in question cannot be Chinese. There is no tradition whatever that would make yin-yii an Iranian or a foreign word. The opposite demonstration lacks any sound basis: New Persian, which starts its career from the end of the tenth century, could not come into question here, but at the best Middle Persian, and angur is a strictly New-Persian type. A word like angur would have been dis- sected by the Chinese into an+gut (gur), but not into an+uk; more- over, it is erroneous to suppose that final k can transcribe final r; 6 in Iranian transcriptions, Chinese final k corresponds to Iranian k, g, or the spirant x> It is further inconceivable that the Chinese might 1 T'u Su tsi t'efi, xx, Ch. 113. 2 Compare the analogous case of the walnut. 8 Ch. 8, p. 8 b (ed. of Hu pei ts*un Su). 4 Fremde Einflusse in der chinesischen Kunst, p. 17. 8 Compare above, p. 214. 228 SlNO-lRANICA have applied a Persian word designating the cultivated grape to a wild vine which is a native of their country, and which particularly grows in the two Kiafi provinces of eastern China. The Gazetteer of Su-c'ou 1 says expressly that the name for the wild grape, $an p'u-t'ao, in the Kiaii provinces, is yin-yii. Accordingly it may be an ancient term of the language of Wu. The Pen ts'ao kan mu* has treated yin-yii as a separate item, and Li i-6en annotates that the meaning of the term is unexplained. It seems to me that for the time being we have to acquiesce in this verdict. Yen-yu $ J| and yin-$e I? ^ are added by him as synonymes, after the Mao & ^ j^F and the Kwan ya, while ye p*u-t'ao ("wild grape") is the common colloquial term (also t'en min or mu lun jSl & /fv H). It is interesting to note that the earliest notices of this plant come only from Su Kun and C'en Ts'an-k'i of the T'ang dynasty. In other words, it was noted by the Chinese naturalists more than seven centuries later than the introduction of the cultivated grape, sufficient evidence for the fact that the two are not in any way interrelated. It must not be imagined that with Can K'ien's deed the introduction of the vine into China was an accomplished fact; but introductions of seeds were subsequently repeated, and new varieties were still imported from Turkistan by K'an-hi. There are so many varieties of the grape in China, that it is hardly credible that all these should have at once been brought over by a single man. It is related in the Han Annals that Li Kwan-li $ M fj, being General of Er-i Bip (*Ni-'i), after the subjugation of Ta-ytian, obtained grapes which he took along to China. Three varieties of grape are indicated in the Kwan &',* written before A.D. 527, yellow, black, and white. The same varieties are enumerated in the Yu yan tsa tsu, while Li Si-Sen speaks of four varie- ties, a round one, called ts*ao lun lu 3 HI $fc (" vegetable dragon- pearls"); a long one, ma Zu p*u-t*ao (see below); a white one, called "crystal grapes" (Swi tsin p*u-t*ao); and a black one, called "purple grapes" (tse ^ p'u-t*ao), and assigns to Se-6'wan a green (ifik) grape, to Yiin-nan grapes of the size of a jujube. 4 Su Sun of the Sung mentions a variety of seedless grapes. 1 Su lou fu ti, Ch. 20, p. 7 b. 2 Ch. 33, p. 4. 8 T'ai p'in yii Ian, Ch. 972, p. 3. 4 T'an Ts'ui J ^ , in his valuable description of Yun-nan (Tien hai yii hen li, published in 1799, Ch. 10, p. 2, ed. of Wen yin lou yil ti ts'un Su), states that the grapes of southern Yun-nan are excellent, but that they cannot be dried or sent to dis- tant places. THE GRAPE-VINE 229 In Han-Sou yellow and bright white grapes were styled Zu-tse & -3P ("beads, pearls"); another kind, styled " rock-crystal" (swi-tsin), ex- celled in sweetness; those of purple and agate color ripened at a little later date. 1 To Turkistan a special variety is attributed under the name so-so S IB grape, as large as wu-wei-tse 3t !$c ? ("five flavors," Schizandra chinensis) and without kernels $& $%. A lengthy dissertation on this fruit is inserted in the Pen ts'ao kan mu si i. 2 The essential points are the following. It is produced in Turf an and traded to Peking; in appear- ance it is like a pepper-corn, and represents a distinct variety of grape. Its color is purple. According to the Wu tsa tsu 3t J| fi., written in 1610, when eaten by infants, it is capable of neutralizing the poison of small-pox. The name so-so is not the reproduction of a foreign word, but simply means "small." This is expressly stated in the Pen kin fun yuan ^ f ^ JM, which says that the so-so grapes resemble ordinary grapes, but are smaller and finer, and hence are so called (IfO Hi %$ C ). The Pi Pen ^ H of Yu-wen Tin =? annotates, however, that so-so is an error for sa-so ISI, without giving reasons for this opinion. Sa-so was the name of a palace of the Han emperors, and this substitution is surely fantastic. Whether so-so really is a vine-grape seems doubtful. It is said that so-so are planted everywhere in China to be dried and marketed, being called in Kian-nan/aw p*u-?ao ("foreign grape"). 8 The Emperor K'an-hi (1662-1722), who knew very well that grapes had come to China from the west, tells that he caused three new varie- ties to be introduced into his country from Hami and adjoining terri- tories, one red or greenish, and long like mare-nipples; one not very large, but of agreeable taste and aroma; and another not larger than a pea, the most delicate, aromatic, and sweetest kind. These three varie- ties of grape degenerate in the southern provinces, where they lose their aroma. They persist fairly well in the north, provided they are planted in a dry and stony soil. "I would procure for my subjects," the Emperor concludes, "a novel kind of fruit or grain, rather than build a hundred porcelain kilns." 4 Turkistan is well known to the Chinese as producing many varieties 1 Man lian lu^^^, by WujTse-mu ^ g $C of the Sung (Ch. 18, p. 5 b; ed. of Ci pu tsu lai ts'un $u). 2 Ch. 7, p. 69. This valuable supplement to the Pen ts'ao kan mu was first published in 1650 (reprinted 1765 and appended to several modern editions of the Pen ts*ao) by Cao Hio-min J ^ |fc (hao Su-hien JJg ff ) of Han-Sou. 3 Mun ts'uan tsa yen H JSft $| H , cited in T'u $u tsi e'en, XX, Ch. 130. 4 M&noires concernant les Chinois, Vol. IV, 1779, pp. 471-472. 130 SlNO-lRANICA of grape. According to the Hui k'ian li S ^ ("Records of Turkis- tan"), written in 1772 by the two Manchu officers Fusamb6 and Surde, "there are purple, white, blue, and black varieties; further, round and long, large and small, sour and sweet ones. There is a green and seed- less variety, comparable to a soy-bean, but somewhat larger, and of very sweet and agreeable flavor [then the so-so is mentioned]. Another kind is black and more than an inch long; another is white and large. All varieties ripen in the seventh or eighth month, when they are dried and can be transported to distant places." According to the Wu tsa tsu, previously quoted, Turkistan has a seedless variety of grape, called tu yen 31 US p'u-t'ao ("hare-eye grape"). A. v. LE Cog 1 mentions under the name sozuq saim a cylindrical, whitish-yellow grape, the best from Toyoq and Bulayiq, red ones of the same shape from Manas and ShichO. Sir AUREL STEIN* says that throughout Chinese Turkistan the vines are trained along low fences, ranged in parallel rows, and that the dried grapes and currants of Ujat find their way as far as the markets of Aksu, Kashgar, and Turfan. Every one who has resided in Peking knows that it is possible to obtain there during the summer seemingly fresh grapes, preserved from the crop of the previous autumn, and that the Chinese have a method of preserving them. The late F. H. KiNG, 3 whose studies of the agriculture of China belong to the very best we have, observed regarding this point, "These old people have acquired the skill and practice of storing and preserving such perishable fruits as pears and grapes so as to enable them to keep them on the market almost continuously. Pears were very common in the latter part of June, and Consul-General Williams informed me that grapes are regularly carried into July. In talking with my interpreter as to the methods employed, I could only learn that the growers depend simply upon dry earth cellars which can be maintained at a very uniform temperature, the separate fruits being wrapped in paper. No foreigner with whom we talked knew their methods." This method is described in the TV* min yao Jfw, an ancient work on husbandry, probably from the beginning of the sixth century, 4 although teeming with interpolations. A large pit is dug in a room of the farmhouse for storing the grapes, and holes are bored in the walls near the surface of the ground and stuffed with branches. Some of these holes are filled with mud to secure proper support for the room. 1 Sprichworter und Lieder aus Turfan, p. 92. 2 Sand-Buried Ruins of Khotan, p. 228. Farmers of Forty Centuries, p. 343 (Madison, Wis., 1911). 1 See BRETSCHNEIDER, Bot. Sin., pt. I, p. 77; HIRTH, Toung Pao, 1895, p. 436; PELLIOT, Bulletin de I'Ecolefrancaise, Vol. IX, p. 434. THE GRAPE-VINE 231 The pit in which the grapes are stored is covered with loam, and thus an even temperature is secured throughout the winter. 1 The Jesuit missionaries of the eighteenth century praise the raisins of Hoai-lai-hien 2 on account of their size: "Nous parlons d'aprds le te*moignage de nos yeux: les grains de ces grappes de raisins sont gros comme des prunes damas- violet, et la grappe longue et grande a propor- tion. Le climat peut y faire; mais si les livres disent vrai, cela vient originairement de ce qu'on a ente* des vignes sur des jujubiers; et l^paisseur de la peau de ces raisins nous le ferait croire." 3 Raisins are first mentioned as being abundant in Yun-nan in the Yiin-nan hi* (" Memoirs regarding Yun-nan"), a work written in the beginning of the ninth century. Li Si-Sen remarks that raisins are made by the people of the West as well as in T'ai-yiian and P'ifi-yan in San-si Province, whence they are traded to all parts of China. Kami in Turkistan sends large quantities of raisins to Peking. 5 In certain parts of northern China the Turkish word kilmil for a small kind of raisin is known. It is obtained from a green, seedless variety, said to originate from Bokhara, whence it was long ago transplanted to Yarkand. After the subjugation of Turkistan under K'ien-lun, it was brought to Jehol, and is still cultivated there. 6 Although the Chinese eagerly seized the grape at the first oppor- tunity offered to them, they were slow in accepting the Iranian custom of making and drinking wine. 7 The Arabic merchant Soleiman (or whoever may be responsible for this account), writing in A.D. 851, reports that "the wine taken by the Chinese is made from rice; they do not make wine from grapes, nor is it brought to them from abroad; 1 A similar contrivance for the storage of oranges is described in the Me"moires concernant les Chinois, Vol. IV, p. 489. a I presume that Hwai (or Hwo)-lu hien in the prefecture of ten-tin, Ci-li Province, is meant. * Me"moires concernant les Chinois, Vol. Ill, 1778, p. 498. 4 Tai p'in yu Ian, Ch. 972, p. 3. 6 An article on Kami raisins is inserted in the Me"moires concernant les Chinois (Vol. V, 1780, pp. 481-486). The introduction to this article is rather strange, an effort being made to prove that grapes have been known in China since times of earliest antiquity; this is due to a confusion of the wild and the cultivated vine. In Vol. II, p. 423, of the same collection, it is correctly stated that vine and wine be- came known under the reign of the Emperor Wu. 6 Cf . O. FRANKE, Beschreibung des Jehol-Gebietes, p. 76. 7 The statement that Can K'ien taught his countrymen the art of making wine, as asserted by GILES (Biographical Dictionary, p. 12) and L. WIEGER (Textes historiques, p. 499), is erroneous. There is nothing to this effect in the $i ki or in the Han Annals. 232 SlNO-lRANICA they do not know it, accordingly, and make no use of it." 1 This doubt- less was correct for southern China, where the information of the Arabic navigators was gathered. The grape, however, is chiefly to be found in northern China, 2 and at the time of Soleiman the manu- facture of grape-wine was known in the north. The principal document bearing on this subject is extant in the history of the T'ang dynasty. In A.D. 647 a peculiar variety of grapes, styled ma Zu p*u t'ao ?L $6 (" mare-nipple grapes") were sent to the Emperor T'ai Tsun :& ^ by the (Turkish) country of the Yabgu MM. It was a bunch of grapes two feet long, of purple color. 3 On the same occasion it is stated, "Wine is used in the Western Countries, and under the former dynasties it was sometimes sent as tribute, but only after the destruction of Kao-S'aii iS H (Turf an), when 'mare-nipple grapes' cultivated in orchards were received, also the method of making wine was simultaneously introduced into China (A.D. 640). T'ai Tsun experienced both its injurious and beneficial effects. Grape-wine, when ready, shines in all colors, is fragrant, very fiery, and tastes like the finest oil. The Emperor bestowed it on his officials, and then for the first time they had a taste of it in the capital." 4 These former tributes of wine are alluded to in a verse of the poet Li Po of the eighth century, "The Hu people annually offered grape- wine." 5 Si Wan Mu, according to the Han Wu ti nei Iwan of the third century or later, is said to have presented grape-wine to the Han Emperor Wu, which certainly is an unhistorical and retrospective tradition. A certain Can Hun-mao 3Ji $k $, a native of Tun-hwan in Kan-su, is said to have devoted to grape-wine a poem of distinct quality. 6 The locality Tun-hwan is of significance, for it was situated on the 1 M. REINAUD, Relation des voyages faits par les Arabes et les Persans dans 1'Inde et a la Chine, Vol. I, p. 23. 2 In the south, I am under the impression it is rather isolated. It occurs, for instance, in San-se ou Jb ^ ^H m the prefecture of T'ai-p'in, Kwan-si Province, in three varieties, green, purple, and crystal, together with an uneatable wild grape (San se lou i, Ch. 14, p. 8, ed. published in 1835). "Grapes in the neighbor- hood of Canton are often unsuccessful, the alternations of dry heat and rain being too much in excess, while occasional typhoons tear the vines to pieces" (J. F. DAVIS, China, Vol. II, p. 305). They occur in places of Fu-kien and in the Chusan Archi- pelago (cf. Tu $u tsi t'en, VI, Ch. 1041). 8 Tan hui yao, Ch. 200, p. 14; also Fun Si wen kien ki %j j fig JL IS, Ch. 7, p. I b (ed. of Kifu ts'un $u), by Fun Yen f % of the T'ang. 4 Ibid., p. 15. 6 Pen ts'ao yen t, Ch. 18, p. I. 6 This is quoted from the Ts'ien lian lu "jtj ^ ffc, a work of the Tsin dynasty, in the Si leu kwo I'un ts'iu (T'ai p'in yu Ian, Ch. 972, p. I b). THE GRAPE-VINE 233 road to Turkistan, and was the centre from which Iranian ideas radiated into China. The curious point is that the Chinese, while they received the grape in the era of the Han from an Iranian nation, and observed the habit of wine-drinking among Iranians at large, acquired the art of wine- making as late as the T'ang from a Turkish tribe of Turkistan. The Turks of the Han period knew nothing of grapes or wine, quite natu- rally, as they were then restricted to what is now Mongolia, where soil and climatic conditions exclude this plant. Vine-growing, as a matter of course, is compatible solely with a sedentary mode of life; and only after settling in Turkistan, where they usurped the heritage of their Iranian predecessors, 1 did the Turks become acquainted with grape and wine as a gift of Iranians. The Turkish word for the grape, Uigur ozurn (other dialects uzum) , proves nothing along the line of historical facts, as speculated by VAMBERY. 2 It is even doubtful whether the word in question originally had the meaning " grape"; on the contrary, it merely seems to have signified any berry, as it still refers to the berries and seeds of various plants. The Turks were simply epigones and usurpers, and added nothing new to the business of vine-culture. In accordance with the introduction of the manufacture of grape- wine into China, we find this product duly noted in the Pen ts*ao of the T'ang, 3 published about the middle of the seventh century; further, in the Si liao pen ts'ao by Mori Sen j I5fe (second half of the seventh century), and in the Pen ts'ao $i i by C'en Ts'an-k'i Eft IK !, who wrote in the K'ai-yuan period (713-741). The T'an pen ts*ao also refers to the manufacture of vinegar from grapes. 4 The Pen ts*ao yen i, pub- lished in 1116, likewise enumerates grape- wine among the numerous brands of alcoholic beverages. The Lian se kun tse ki by Can Yue (6 6 7-73 o) 5 contains an anecdote to the effect that Kao-S'an offered to the Court frozen wine made from dried raisins, on which Mr. Kie made this comment: "The taste of grapes with thin shells is excellent, while grapes with thick shells are bitter of taste. They are congealed in the Valley of Eight Winds (Pa fun ku A R ^). This wine does not spoil in the course of years." 6 1 This was an accomplished fact by the end of the fourth century A.D. 2 Primitive Cultur des turko-tatarischen Volkes, p. 218. 3 Cen lei pen ts'ao, Ch. 23, p. 7. 4 Ibid., Ch. 26, p. i b. 5 See The Diamond, this volume, p. 6. 6 Pen ts*ao kan mu, Ch. 25, p. 14 b. A different version of this story is quoted in the Tai p'in yii Ian (Ch. 845, p. 6 b). 234 SlNO-lRANICA A recipe for making grape-wine is contained in the Pei San tsiu kin 4fc Ul ?B K, 1 a work on the different kinds of wine, written early in the twelfth century by Cu Yi-cufi 3c Ji *{*, known as Ta-yin Wen ; IS H. Sour rice is placed in an earthen vessel and steamed. Five ounces of apricot-kernels (after removing the shells) and two catties of grapes (after being washed and dried, and seeds and shells removed) are put together in a bowl of thin clay ($a p*en ffi rSi), 2 pounded, and strained. Three pecks of a cooked broth are poured over the rice, which is placed on a table, leaven being added to it. This mass, I suppose, is used to cause the grape-juice to ferment, but the description is too abrupt and by no means clear. So much seems certain that the question is of a rather crude process of fermentation, but not of distillation (see below). Sii T'in ^ 8, who lived under the Emperor Li Tsufi (1224-63) of the Southern Sung, went as ambassador to the Court of the Mongol Emperor Ogotai (1229-45). His memoranda, which represent the earliest account we possess of Mongol customs and manners, were edited by P'eii Ta-ya ^ ^C 51 of the Sung under the title Hei Ta H lio & H ^ $& ("Outline of the Affairs of the Black Tatars"), and pub- lished in 1908 by Li Wen-t'ien and Hu Se in the Wen yin lou yii ti ts'un $u* Su T'in informs us that grape-wine put in glass bottles and sent as tribute from Mohammedan countries figured at the headquarters of the Mongol Khan; one bottle contained about ten small cups, and the color of the beverage resembled the juice of the Diospyros kaki [known in this country as Japanese persimmons] of southern China. It was accordingly a kind of claret. The Chinese envoy was told that excessive indulgence in it might result in intoxication. 1 Ch. c, p. 19 b (ed. of Ci pu tsu ai ts'uA Su}. The work is noted by WYLIE (Notes on Chinese Literature, p. 150). 1 Literally, "sand-pot." This is a kind of thin pottery (colloquially called Sa kwo ffi |&) peculiar to China, and turned out at Hwai-lu (Ci-li), P'in-tin &>u and Lu-nan (San-si), and Yao-c"ou (Sen-si). Made of clay and sand with an admixture of coal-dust, so that its appearance presents a glossy black, it is extremely light and fragile; but, on account of their thin walls, water may be heated in these pots with a very small quantity of fuel. They are a money and time saving device, and hence in great demand among the poor, who depend upon straw and dried grass for their kitchen fire. With careful handling, such pots and pans may endure a long time. The proverb runs, "The sand-pot will last a generation if you do not hit it"; and there is another popular saying, "You may pound garlic in a sand-pan, but you can do so but once" (A. H. SMITH, Proverbs and Common Sayings from the Chinese, p. 204). Specimens of this ware from Yao-Sou may be seen in the Field Museum, others from Hwai-lu are in the American Museum of New York (likewise collected by the writer). The above text of the Sung period is the first thus ,far found by me which contains an allusion to this pottery. 1 This important work has not yet attracted the attention of our science. I hope to be able to publish a complete translation of it in the future. THE GRAPE-VINE 235 In his interesting notice "Le Nom turc du vin dans Odoric de Pordenone," 1 P. PELLIOT has called attention to the word bor as a Turkish designation of grape-wine, adding also that this word occurs in a Mongol letter found in Turfan and dated I398. 2 I can furnish additional proof for the fact that bor is an old Mongol word in the sense of wine, although, of course, it may have been borrowed from Turkish. In the Mongol version of the epic romance of Geser or Gesar Khan we find an enumeration of eight names of liquor, all supposed to be magically distilled from araki ("arrack, brandy "). These are: aradsa (araja), xoradsa or xuradsa, Siradsa, boradsa, takpa, tikpa, marba, mirba.* These terms have never been studied, and, with the exception of the first and third, are not even listed in Kovalevski's and Golstuntki's Mongol Dictionaries. The four last words are characterized as Tibetan by the Tibetan suffix pa or ba. Marwa (corresponding in meaning to Tibetan Fan) is well known as a word generally used throughout Sikkim and other Himalayan regions for an alcoholic beverage. 4 As to tikpa, it seems to be formed after the model of Tibetan tig-Pan, the liquor for settling (tig) the marriage-affair, presented by the future bridegroom to the parents of his intended. 5 The terms aradsa, xoradsa or xuradsa, Siradsa, and boradsa, are all provided with the same ending. The first is given by KOVALEVSKI* with the meaning "very strong koumiss, spirit of wine." A parallel is offered by Manchu in arfan ("a liquor prepared from milk"), while Manchu arjan denotes any alcoholic drink. The term xoradsa or xuradsa may be derived from Mongol xuru-t (-t being suffix of the plural), corresponding to Manchu kuru, which designates "a kind of cheese made from fermented mare's milk, or cheese prepared from cow's or mare's milk with the addition of sugar and sometimes pressed into forms." The word siradsa has been adopted by Schmidt and Kovalevski in their respective dictionaries as "wine distilled for the fourth time" or "esprit de vin quadruple;" but these explanations are simply based on the above passage of Geser, in which one drink is supposed to be 1 T*oung Pao, 1914, pp. 448-453. * Ramstedt's tentative rendering of this word by "beaver" is a double error: first, the beaver does not occur in Mongolia and is unknown to the Mongols, its easternmost boundary is formed by the Yenisei; second, bor as an animal-name means "an otter cub," and otter and beaver are entirely distinct creatures. 8 Text, ed. I. J. SCHMIDT, p. 65; translation, p. 99. Schmidt transcribes arasa, chorasa, etc., but the palatal sibilant is preferable. 4 Cf. H. H. RISLEY, Gazetteer of Sikkim, p. 75, where also the preparation is described. 1 JXSCHKE, Tibetan Dictionary, p. 364. e Dictionnaire mongol, p. 143. 236 SlNO-lRANICA distilled from the other. This process, of course, is purely fantastic, and described as a magical feat; there is no reality underlying it. The word boradsa, in my opinion, is derived from the Turkish word bor discussed by Pelliot; there is no Mongol word from which it could be explained. In this connection, the early Chinese account given above of foreign grape-wine among the Mongols gains a renewed significance. Naturally it was a rare article in Mongolia, and for this reason we hear but little about it. Likewise in Tibet grape-wine is scarcely used, being restricted to religious offerings in the temples. 1 The text of the Geser Romance referred to is also important from another point of view. It contains the loan-word ariki, from Arabic 'araq, which appears in eastern Asia as late as the Mongol epoch (below, p. 237). Consequently our work has experienced the influence of this period, which is visible also in other instances. 2 The foundation of the present recension, first printed at Peking in 1716, is indeed trace- able to the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries; many legends and motives, of course, are of a much older date. MARCO POLO relates in regard to T'ai-yuan fu, called by him Taianfu, the capital of San-si Province, "There grow here many excellent vines, supplying a great plenty of wine; and in all Cathay this is the only place where wine is produced. It is carried hence all over the country." 3 Marco Polo is upheld by contemporary Chinese writers. Grape-wine is mentioned in the Statutes of the Yuan Dynasty. 4 The Yin $an cen yao ffc Si IE S, written in 1331 (in 3 chapters) by Ho Se-hwi ^P $r Sf, contains this account: 5 "There are numerous brands of wine: that coming from QarS-Khoja (Ha-la-hwo && SS ^) 6 is very strong, that coming from Tibet ranks next. Also the wines from P'in-yan and T'ai- 1 Cf. T'oung Pao, 1914, p. 412. 2 Cf. ibid., 1908, p. 436. 8 YULE and CORDIER, The Book of Ser Marco Polo, Vol. II, p. 13. KLAPROTH (cf. Yule's notes, ibid., p. 16) was quite right in saying that the wine of that locality was celebrated in the days of the T'ang dynasty, and used to be sent in tribute to the emperors. Under the Mongols the use of this wine spread greatly. The founder of the Ming accepted the offering of wine from T'ai-yuan in 1373, but prohibited its being presented again. This fact is contained in the Ming Annals (cf. L. WIEGER, Textes historiques, p. 2011). 4 Yuan lien Ian % Jft- $ Ch. 22, p. 65 (ed. 1908). 6 Pen ts'ao kan mu, Ch. 25, p. 14 b. Regarding that work, cf. the Imperial Catalogue, Ch. 116, p. 27 b. 6 Regarding this name and its history see PELLIOT, Journal asiatique, 1912, I, p. 582. Qara-Khoja was celebrated for its abundance of grapes (BRETSCHNEIDER, Mediaeval Researches, Vol. I, p. 65). J. DUDGEON (The Beverages of the Chinese, p. 27), misreading the name Ha-so-hwo, took it for the designation of a sort of wine. Stuart (Chinese Materia Medica, p. 459) mistakes it for a transliteration of "hoi- THE GRAPE-VINE 237 yuan (in San-si) take the second rank. According to some statements, grapes, when stored for a long time, will develop into wine through a natural process. This wine is fragrant, sweet, and exceedingly strong: this is the genuine grape-wine." 1 The Ts*ao mu tse & /fc -J% written in 1378 by Ye Tse-k'i M -f* iff, contains the following information: " Under the Yuan dynasty grape- wine was manufactured in Ki-niii IK ^ and other circuits ! of San-si Province. In the eighth month they went to the T'ai-han Mountain :fc f? Ul 2 in order to test the genuine and adulterated brands: the genuine kind when water is poured on it, will float; the adulterated sort, when thus treated, will freeze. 3 In wine which has long been stored, there is a certain portion which even in extreme cold will never freeze, while all the remainder is frozen: this is the spirit and fluid secretion of wine. 4 If this is drunk, the essence will penetrate into a man's arm-pits B8? , and he will die. Wine kept for two or three years develops great poison." The first author who offers a coherent notice and intelligent discus- sion of the subject of grape-wine is Li Si-c"en at the end of the sixteenth century. 5 He is well acquainted with the fact that this kind of wine was anciently made only in the Western Countries, and that the method of manufacturing it was but introduced under the T'ang after the sub- jugation of Kao-6'aii. He discriminates between two types of grape- wine, the fermented 18 $ 3, of excellent taste, made from grape- juice with the addition of leaven in the same fashion as the ordinary native rice-wine (or, if no juice is available, dried raisins may be used), and the distilled ^ ffl. In the latter method "ten catties of grapes are taken with an equal quantity of great leaven (distillers' grains) and subjected to a process of fermentation. The whole is then placed in an earthen kettle and steamed. The drops are received in a vessel, and this liquid is of red color, and very pleasing." There is one question, however, left open by Li Si-2en. In a preceding notice on distillation JH JS he states that this is not an ancient method, but was practised only from the Yuan period; he then describes it in its application to rice- lands," or maybe "alcohol." The latter word has never penetrated into China in any form. Chinese a-la-ki does not represent the word "alcohol," as conceived by some authors, for instance, J. MACGOWAN (Journal China Brunch Roy. As. Soc., Vol. VII, 1873, p. 237); see the following note. 1 This work is also the first that contains the word a-la-ki fnf jfjlj ^ , from Arabic 'araq (see T'oung Pao, 1916, p. 483). 2 A range of mountains separating San-si from Ci-li and Ho-nan. 3 This is probably a fantasy. We can make nothing of it, as it is not stated how the adulterated wine was made. 4 This possibly is the earliest Chinese allusion to alcohol. 6 Pen ts'ao kan mu, Ch. 25, p. 14 b. 38 SlNO-lRANICA wine in the same manner as for grape-wine. Certain it is that distillation is a Western invention, and was unknown to the ancient Chinese. 1 Li Si-Sen fails to inform us as to the time when the distillation of grape- wine came into existence. If this process had become known in China under the T'ang in connection with grape-wine, it would be strange if the Chinese did not then apply it to their native spirits, but should have waited for another foreign impulse until the Mongol period. On the other hand, if the method due to the Uigur under the T'ang merely applied to fermented grape-wine, we may justly wonder that the Chinese had to learn such a simple affair from the Uigur, while centuries earlier they must have had occasion to observe this process among many Iranian peoples. It would therefore be of great interest to seize upon a document that would tell us more in detail what this method of manufacture was, to which the T'ang history obviously attaches so great importance. It is not very likely that distillation was involved; for it is now generally conceded that the Arabs possessed no knowledge of alcohol, and that distillation is not mentioned in any relevant litera- ture of the Arabs and Persians from the tenth to the thirteenth cen- tury. 2 The statement of Li Si-Sen, that distillation was first practised under the Mongols, is historically logical and in keeping with our present knowledge of the subject. It is hence reasonable to hold (at least for the present) also that distilled grape-wine was not made earlier in China than in the epoch of the Yuan. Mori Sen of the T'ang says advisedly that grapes can be fermented into wine, and the recipe of the Sung does not allude to distillation. In the eighteenth century European wine also reached China. A chest of grape-wine figures among the presents made to the Emperor K'aii-hi on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday in 1715 by the Jesuits Bernard Kilian Stumpf, Joseph Suarez, Joachim Bouvet, and Dornini- cus Parrenin. 3 P. OsBECK, 4 the pupil of Linne*, has the following notice on the importation of European wine into China: "The Chinese wine, which our East India traders call Mandarin wine, is squeezed out of a fruit which is here called Pausio, 6 and reckoned the same with our grapes. 1 Cf. BRETSCHNEIDER, Bot. Sin., pt. II, p. 155; J. DUDGEON, The Beverages of the Chinese, pp. 19-20; EDKINS, China Review, Vol. VI, p. 211. The process of distillation is described by H. B. GRUPPY, Samshu-Brewing in North China (Journal China Branch Roy. As. Soc., Vol. XVIII, 1884, pp. 163-164). a E. O. v. LIPPMANN, Abhandlungen, Vol. II, pp. 206-209; cf. also my remarks in American Anthropologist, 1917, p. 75. 1 Cf. Wan Sou Sen tien j| H J&, Ch. 56, p. 12. 4 A Voyage to China and the East Indies, Vol. I, p. 315 (London, 1771). 8 Apparently a bad or misprinted reproduction of p'u-t'ao. THE GRAPE-VINE 339 This wine was so disagreeable to us, that none of us would drink it. The East India ships never fail taking wine to China, where they often sell it to considerable advantage. The Xeres (sherry) wine, for which at Cadiz we paid thirteen piastres an anchor, we sold here at thirty- three piastres an anchor. But in this case you stand a chance of having your tons split by the heat during the voyage. I have since been told, that in 1754, the price of wine was so much lowered at Canton, that our people could with difficulty reimburse themselves. The Spaniards send wines to Manilla and Macao, whence the Chinese fetch a con- siderable quantity, especially for the court of Peking. The wine of Xeres is more agreeable here than any other sort, on account of its strength, and because it is not liable to change by heat. The Chinese are very temperate in regard to wine, and many dare not empty a single glass, at least not at once. Some, however, have learned from foreigners to exceed the limits of temperance, especially when they drink with them at free cost." Grape-wine is attributed by the Chinese to the Arabs. 1 The Arabs cultivated the vine and made wine in the pre-Islamic epoch. Good information on this subject is given by G. JACOB.* Theophrastus 3 states that in India only the mountain-country has the vine and the olive. Apparently he hints at a wild vine, as does also Strabo, 4 who says after Aristobulus that in the country of Musicanus (Sindh) there grows spontaneously grain resembling wheat, and a vine producing wine, whereas other authors affirm that there is no wine in India. Again, he states 8 that on the mountain Meron near the city Nysa, founded by Bacchus, there grows a vine which does not ripen its fruit; for, in consequence of excessive rains, the grapes drop before arriving at maturity. They say also that the Sydracae or Oxydracae are descendants of Bacchus, because the vine grows in their country. The element -dracae (drakai) is probably connected with Sanskrit drdk$d ("grape")- These data of the ancients are vague, and do not prove at all that the grape- vine has been cultivated in India from time immemorial, as inferred by JORET.* Geographically they only refer to the regions bordering on Iran. The ancient Chinese knew only of grapes in Kashmir (above, p. 222). The Wei $u 7 states that grapes were ex- 1 HIRTH, Chao Ju-kua, pp. 115, 121. 2 Altarabisches Beduinenleben, 26. ed., pp. 96-109. 3 Hist, plant., IV. iv, u. 4 XV, 22. XV. 1,8. Plantes dans 1'antiquitS, Vol. II, p. 280. 7 Ch. 102, p. 8. 240 SlNO-lRANICA ported from Pa-lai JJt IS (*Bwat-lai) in southern India. Huan Tsafi 1 enumerates grapes together with pears, crab-apples, peaches, and apricots, 2 as the fruits which, from Kashmir on, are planted here and there in India. The grape, accordingly, was by no means common in India in his time (seventh century). The grape is not mentioned in Vedic literature, and Sanskrit drdksd I regard with SPIEGEL 3 as a loan-word. Viticulture never was extensive or of any importance in Indian agriculture. Prior to the Moham- medan conquest, we have little precise knowledge of the cultivation of the vine, which was much fostered by Akbar. In modern times it is only in Kashmir that it has been received with some measure of success. Huan Tsaii 4 states that there are several brands of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages in India, differing according to the castes. The Ksatriya indulge in grape and sugar-cane wine. The Vaigya take rich wines fermented with yeast. The Buddhists and Brahmans partake of a syrup of grapes or sugar-cane, which does not share the nature of any wine. 5 In Jataka No. 183, grape-juice (muddikapanam) of in- toxicating properties is mentioned. Huan Yin 6 gives three Sanskrit words for various kinds of wine: (i) ^ It su-loj *su5-la, Sanskrit sura, explained as rice- wine 1 Ta Tan si yu ki, Ch. 2, p. 8. 2 Not almond-tree, as erroneously translated by JULIEN (Me"moires, Vol. I, p. 92). Regarding peach and apricot, see below, p. 539. 3 Arische Periode, p. 41. 4 Ta Tan si yu ki, Ch. 2, p. 8 b. 5 S. JULIEN (Me"moires, Vol. I, p. 93) translates wrongly, "qui different tout a fait du vin distilleV' Distilled wine was then unknown both to the Chinese and in India, and the term is not in the text. "Distillation of wines" is surely not spoken of in the Cukranlti, as conceived by B. K. SARKAR (The Sukraniti, p. 157; and Hindu Sociology, p. 1 66). 6 Yi ts'ie kin yin i, Ch. 24, p. 8 b. 7 This definition is of some importance, for in BOEHTLINGK'S Sanskrit Dictionary the word is explained as meaning "a kind of beer in ancient times, subsequently, however, in most cases brandy," which is certainly wrong. Thus also O. SCHRADER'S speculation (Sprachvergleichung, Vol. II, p. 256), connecting Finno-Ugrian sara, sur, etc. ("beer") with this word, necessarily falls to the ground. MACDONELL and KEITH (Vedic Index, Vol. II, p. 458) admit that "the exact nature of surd is not certain, it may have been a strong spirit prepared from fermented grains and plants, as Eggeling holds, or, as Whitney thought, a kind of beer or ale." It follows also from Jataka No. 512 that surd was prepared from rice. In Cosmas' Christian Topography (p. 362, ed. of Hakluyt Society) we have o7xoo-o6pa ("coconut- wine"); here sura means "wine," while the first element may be connected with Arabic ranej or ranj ("coco-nut"). THE GRAPE-VINE 241 (2) If 3B mi-li-ye, *mei-li(ri)-ya, answering to Sanskrit maireya, explained as a wine mixed from roots, stems, flowers, and leaves. 1 (3) ifc P mo-fa, *mwaS-do, Sanskrit madhu, explained as "grape- wine" (p'u-t'ao tsiu). The latter word, as is well known, is connected with Avestan mada (Middle Persian mai, New Persian mei), Greek jueflv, Latin temetum. Knowledge of grape-wine was conveyed to India from the West, as we see from the Periplus and Tamil poems alluding to the importation of Yavana (Greek) wines. 2 In the Raghuvamga (iv, 65), madhu doubtless refers to grape- wine; for King Raghu van- quished the Yavana, and his soldiers relieve their fatigue by enjoying madhu in the vine regions of the Yavana country. According to W. AiNSLiE, 3 the French at Pondicherry, in spite of the great heat of the Carnatic, are particularly successful in cultivating grapes; but no wine is made in India, nor is the fruit dried into raisins as in Europe and Persia. The Arabians and Persians, particularly the latter, though they are forbidden wine by the Koran, bestow much pains on the cultivation of the grape, and suppose that the different kinds possess distinguishing medicinal qualities. Wine is brought to India from Persia, where, according to TA VERNIER (1605-89), three sorts are made: that of Yezd, being very delicate; the Ispahan produce, being not so good; and the Shiraz, being the best, rich, sweet, and generous, and being obtained from the small grapes called ki$mi$, which are sent for sale to Hindustan when dried into raisins. 4 There are two brands of Shiraz wine, a red and a white, both of which are excellent, and find a ready market in India. Not less than four thou- sand tuns of Shiraz wine is said to be annually sent from Persia to different parts of the world. 5 The greatest quantity is produced in the district of Korbal, near the village of Bend Emir. 6 In regard to Assam, 1 Compare above (p. 222) the , wine of the Yue-cl. According to BOEHTLINGK, maireya is an intoxicating drink prepared from sugar and other substances. 2 V. A. SMITH, Early History of India, p. 444 (3d ed.). 3 Materia Indica, Vol. I, p. 157. 4 Compare above, p. 231. 8 ' ' Wines too , of every clime and hue, Around their liquid lustre threw; Amber Rosolli, the bright dew From vineyards of the Green-Sea gushing; And Shiraz wine, that richly ran As if that jewel, large and rare, The ruby, for which Kublai-Khan Offer'd a city's wealth, was blushing Melted within the goblets there!" THOMAS MOORE, Lalla Rookh. 6 AINSLEE, I.e., p. 473. 242 SlNO-lRANICA TA VERNIER* states that there are quantities of vines and good grapes, but no wine, the grapes being merely dried to distil spirits from. Wild vine grows in upper Siam and on the Malay Peninsula, and is said to furnish a rather good wine. 1 A wine-yielding plant of Central Asia is described in the Ku kin u ifr 4* & 3 by Ts'ui Pao S 15 of the fourth century, as follows: "The tsiu-pei-t'en SS W (" wine-cup creeper") has its habitat in the West- ern Regions (Si-yu). The creeper is as large as an arm; its leaves are like those of the ko 31 (Pachyrhizus thunbergianus, a wild-growing creeper); flowers and fruits resemble those of the wu-t'un (Sterculia platanifolia) , and are hard; wine can be pressed out of them. The fruits are as large as a finger and in taste somewhat similar to the tou-k*ou ]a H (Alpinia globosum); their fragrance is fine, and they help to digest wine. In order to secure wine, the natives get beneath the creepers, pluck the flowers, press the wine out, eat the fruit for digestion, and become intoxicated. The people of those countries esteem this wine, but it is not sent to China. Can K'ien obtained it when he left Ta-yuan (Fergana). This affair is contained in the Can K'ien Fu kwan li 36 il ffi SB iS ('Memoirs of Can K'ien's Journey')-" 4 This account is re- stricted to the Ku kin lu, and is not confirmed by any other book. Li Si-Sen's work is the only Pen ts'ao which has adopted this text in an abridged form. 6 Accordingly the plant itself has never been introduced into China; and this fact is sufficient to discard the possibility of an introduction by Can K'ien. If he had done so, the plant would have been disseminated over China and mentioned in the various early Pen ts'ao; it would have been traced and identified by our botanists. Possibly the plant spoken of is a wild vine, possibly another genus. The description, though by no means clear in detail, is too specific to be regarded as a mystification. The history of the grape-vine in China has a decidedly method- ological value. We know exactly the date of the introduction and 1 Travels in India, Vol. II, p. 282. 2 DILOCK PRINZ VON SIAM, Landwirtschaft in Siam, p. 167. 8 Ch. c, p. 2 b. The text has been adopted by the Su po wu li (Ch. 5, p. 2 b) and in a much abbreviated form by the Yu yan tsa tsu (Ch. 18, p. 6 b). It is not in the Pen ts'ao kan mu, but in the Pen ts'ao kan mu Si i (Ch. 8, p. 27). 4 HIRTH (Journal Am. Or. Soc., Vol. XXXVII, 1917, p. 91) states that this work is mentioned in the catalogue of the library of the Sui dynasty, but not in the later dynastic catalogues. We do not know when and by whom this alleged book was written; it may have been an historical romance. Surely it was not produced by Can K'ien himself. 6 See also T'u Su tsi t'en, XX, Ch. 112, where no other text on the subject is quoted. THE GRAPE-VINE 243 the circumstances which accompanied this important event. We have likewise ascertained that the art of making grape-wine was not learned by the Chinese before A.D. 640. There are in China several species of wild vine which bear no relation to the imported cultivated species. Were we left without the records of the Chinese, a botanist of the type of Engler would correlate the cultivated with the wild forms and assure us that the Chinese are original and independent viticulturists. In fact, he has stated 1 that Vitis thunbergii, a wild vine occurring in Japan, Korea, and China, seems to have a share in the development of Japanese varieties of vine, and that Vitis filifolia of North China seems to have influenced Chinese and Japanese vines. Nothing of the kind can be inferred from Chinese records, or has ever been established by direct observation. The fact of the introduction of the cultivated grape into China is wholly ujnknown to Engler. The botanical notes appended by him to HEHN'S history of the grape 2 have nothing whatever to do with the history of the cultivated species, but refer exclusively to wild forms. It is not botany, but historical research, that is able to solve the problems connected with the history of our cultivated plants. Dr. T. TANAKA of the Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, has been good enough to contribute the following notes on the history of the grape-vine in Japan: "The early history of the cultivation of the grape-vine (Vitis vinifera) in Japan is very obscure. Most of the early Japanese medical and botanical works refer to budo 36 3& (Chinese p*u-t*ao) as ebi, the name occurring in the Kojiki (compiled in A.D. 712, first printed in 1644) as yebikadzura* which is identified by J. MATSUMURA* as Vitis vinifera. It seems quite incomprehensible that the grape-vine, which is now found only in cultivated form, should have occurred during the mythological period as early as 660 B.C. The Honzd-wamyo ^ ^ fll & (compiled during the period 897~93P, first printed 1796) mentions o-ebi-kadzura as vine-grape, distinguishing it from ordinary ebi-kadzura, but the former is no longer in common use in distinction from the latter. The ebi-dzuru which should correctly be termed inu-ebi (false ebi plant), as suggested by Ono Ranzan, 5 is widely applied in Japan for 31 JC (Chinese yin-yti), and is usually identified as Vitis thunbergii, 1 Erlauterungen zu den Nutzpflanzen der gemassigten Zonen, p. 30. 8 Kulturpflanzen, pp. 85-91. 1 B. H. CHAMBERLAIN, Ko-ji-ki, p. xxxiv. 4 Botanical Magazine, Tokyo, Vol. VII, 1893, p. 139, 5 Honzd komoku keimS, ed. 1847, Ch. 29, p. 3. 244 SlNO-lRANICA but is an entirely different plant, with small, deeply-lobed leaves, copiously villose beneath. Ebi-kadzura is mentioned again in the Wamyd-ruiju$d ^P & SB 3 $ (compiled during the period 923-931, first edited in 1617), which gives budo as the fruit of Sikwatsu or Vitis coignetiae 1 , as growing wild in northern Japan. "These three plants are apparently mixed up in early Japanese literature, as pointed out by Arai Kimiyosi. 2 Describing budo as a food plant, the Honto Sokukan ^ 19 & ISi 3 mentions that the fruit was not greatly appreciated in ancient times; for this reason no mention was made of it in the Imperial chronicles, nor has any appropriate Japanese term been coined to designate the vine-grape proper. "In the principal vine-grape district of Japan, YamanaSi-ken (previously called Kai Province), were found a few old records, an account of which is given in Viscount Y. Fukuba's excellent discourse on Pomology. 4 An article on the same subject was published by J. DAUTREMER. 6 This relates to a tradition regarding the accidental dis- covery by a villager, Amenomiya Kageyu (not two persons), of the vine- grape in 1186 (Dautremer erroneously makes it 1195) a t the mountain of Kamiiwasaki Jb $ $$, not far from Kofu Jff. Its cultivation must have followed soon afterward, for in 1197 a few choice fruits were presented to the Sogun Yoritomo (1147-99). At the time of Takeda Harunobu (1521-73) a sword was presented to the Amenomiya family as a reward for excellent fruits which they presented to the Lord. Viscount Fukuba saw the original document relative to the official presentation of the sword, and bearing the date I549- 6 The descendants of this historical grape-vine are still thriving in the same locality around the original grove, widely recognized among horticulturists as a true Vitis vinifera. According to a later publication of Fukuba, 7 there is but one variety of it. Several introductions of Vitis vinifera took place in the early Meiji period (beginning 1868) from Europe and America. "The following species of Vitis are mentioned in Umemura's work Ino$okukwai-no-$okubutsu-$i ffc Jt $t* *L fil $0 t 8 as being edible: 1 MATSUMURA, Shokubutsu Mei-i, p. 380. 2 Toga jjC $t (completed in 1719), ed. 1906, p. 272. 1 Ch. 4, p. 50 (ed. of 1698). 4 Kwaju engei-ron jf^ HJ H Hj< ffe, privately published in 1892. 6 Situation de la vigne dans 1'empire du Japon, Transactions Asiatic Society of Japan, Vol. XIV, 1886, pp. 176-185. 6 Fukuba, op. cit., pp. 461-462. 7 Kwaju saibaijenSo ^ tsj Jfc *g ^, Vol. IV, 1896, pp. 119-120. 8 Vol. 4, 1906. THE GRAPE-VINE 245 " Yama-budO (Vitis coignetiae): fruit eaten raw and used for wine; leaves substituted for tobacco. "Ebi-dzuru (V. ihunbergii): fruit eaten raw, leaves cleaned and cooked; worm inside the cane baked and eaten by children as remedy for convulsions. " Sankaku-dzuru (V. flexuosa): fruit eaten raw. "Ama-dzuru \(V. sacchariferd) : fruit eaten raw; children are very fond of eating the leaves, as they contain sugar." THE PISTACHIO 3. Pistacia is a genus of trees or shrubs of the family Anacardiaceae, containing some six species, natives of Iran and western Asia, and also transplanted to the Mediterranean region. At least three species (Pistacia vera, P. terebinthus, and P. acuminatd) are natives of Persia, and from ancient times have occupied a prominent place in the life of the Iranians. Pistachio-nuts are still exported in large quantities from Afghanistan to India, where they form a common article of food among the well-to-do classes. The species found in Afghanistan and Baluchis- tan do not cross the Indian frontier. 1 The pistachio (Pistacia vera) in particular is indigenous to ancient Sogdiana and Khorasan, 2 and still is a tree of great importance in Russian Turkistan. 3 When Alexander crossed the mountains into Bactriana, the road was bare of vegetation save a few trees of the bushy terminthus or terebinthus. 4 On the basis of the information furnished by Alexander's scientific staff, the tree is mentioned by Theophrastus 5 as growing in the country of the Bactrians; the nuts resembling almonds in size and shape, but surpassing them in taste and sweetness, wherefore the people of the country use them in preference to almonds. Nicandrus of Colophon 6 (third century B.C.), who calls the fruit /3ioT or ^LTTOLKLOV, a word derived from an Iranian language (see below), says that it grows in the valley of the Xoaspes in Susiana. Posidonius, Dioscorides, Pliny, and Galenus know it also in Syria. Vitellius introduced the tree into Italy; and Flaccus Pompeius, who served with him, introduced it at the same time into Spain. 7 The youths of the Persians were taught to endure heat, cold, and rain; to cross torrents and to keep their armor and clothes dry; to pasture animals, to watch all night in the open air, and to subsist on wild fruit, as terebinths (Pistacia terebinthus), acorns, and wild pears. 8 1 WATT, Dictionary of the Economic Products of India, Vol. VI, p. 268. 8 JORET, Plantes dans 1'antiquite", Vol. II, pp. 47, 76. * S. KORZINSKI, Vegetation of Turkistan (in Russian), pp. 20, 21. 4 Strabo, XV. n, 10. 5 Hist, plant., IV. iv, 7. Theriaka, 890. 7 Pliny, xv, 22, 91. A. DE CANDOLLE (Origin of Cultivated Plants, p. 316) traces Pistacia vera only to Syria, without mentioning its occurrence in Persia. 8 Strabo, XV. in, 18. 246 THE PISTACHIO 247 The Persians appeared to the ancients as terebinth-eaters, and this title seems to have developed into a sort of nickname: when Astyages, King of the Medians, seated on his throne, looked on the defeat of his men through the army of Cyrus, he exclaimed, "Woe, how brave are these terebinth-eating Persians!" 1 According to Polyaenus, 2 terebinth- oil was among the articles to be furnished daily for the table of the Persian kings. In the Bundahisn, the pistachio-nut is mentioned to- gether with other fruits the inside of which is fit to eat, but not the outside. 1 "The fruits of the country are dates, pistachios, and apples of Paradise, with other of the like not found in our cold climate." 4 Twan C'en-gi U $ ^, in his Yu yan tsa tsu S il H ffl., written about A.D. 860 and containing a great amount of useful information on the plants of Persia and Fu-lin, has the following: "The hazel-nut (Corylus heterophylla) of the Hu (Iranians), styled a-yiie H B , grows in the countries of the West. 6 According to the statement of the barbarians, a-yiie is identical with the hazel-nuts of the Hu. In the first year the tree bears hazel-nuts, in the second year it bears a-ytie."* C'en Ts'aii-k'i W I8t H, who in the K'ai-yuan period (A.D. 713-741) wrote the Materia Medica Pen ts*ao Si i ^ ^ f& jft, states that "the fruits of the plant a-yue-hun H ft iS are warm and acrid of flavor, non-poisonous, cure catarrh of the bowels, remove cold feeling, and make people stout and robust, that they grow in the western countries, the barbarians saying that they are identical with the hazel-nut of the Hu SB t^ ?. During the first year the tree bears hazel-nuts, in the second year it bears a-yue-hun." Li Sun ^ #0, in his Hai yao pen ts'ao JS ^ ^ ^ (second half of the eighth century), states, "According to the Nan tou ki ^ $N 12 by Su Piao ^ l&, 7 the Nameless Tree (wu min mu ffifc ^ /fC) grows in the mountainous valleys of Lin-nan (Kwan-tun) . Its fruits resemble in appear- ance the hazel-nut, and are styled Nameless Fruits (wu min tse $fc 1 Nicolaus of Damaskus (first century B.C.), cited by HEHN, Kulturpflanzen, p. 424. * Strategica, IV. m, 32. 8 These fruits are walnut, almond, pomegranate, coconut, filbert, and chestnut. See WEST, Pahlavi Texts, Vol. I, p. 103. 4 MARCO POLO, Yule's edition, Vol. I, p. 97. 6 The editions of the Yu yan tsa tsu write | HJ, "in the gardens of the West"; but the T'u su tsi I* en (section botany, Ch. 311) and Ci wu min Si t'u k'ao, in repro- ducing this text, offer the reading 15 , which seems to me preferable. 6 Yu yan tsa tsujjH ^, Ch. 10, p. 3 b (ed. of Tsin tai pi Su). 7 This work is quoted in the TVi min yao Su, written by Kia Se-niu under the Hou Wei dynasty (A.D. 386-534). 248 SlNO-lRANICA ?). Persians $& $r IK designate them a-yile-hun fruits." 1 For the same period we have the testimony of the Arabic merchant Soleiman, who wrote in A.D. 851, to the effect that pistachios grow in China. 2 As shown by the two forms, a-yue of the Yu yan tsa tsu and a-yue-hun of the Pen ts'ao $i i and Hai yao pen ts*ao, the fuller form must repre- sent a compound consisting of the elements a-yue and hun. In order to understand the transcription a-yue, consideration of the following facts is necessary. The Old-Iranian word for the walnut has not been handed down to us, but there is good evidence to prompt the conclusion that it must have been of the type *agOza or *afigOza. On the one hand, we have Armenian engoiz, Ossetic angoza or anguz, and Hebrew egoz; 3 on the other hand, we meet in Yidgha, a Hindu-Kush language, the form oguzo, as compared with New Persian koz and goz.* The signification of this word is "nut" in general, and " walnut" in particular. Further, there is in Sanskrit the Iranian loan-word dkhota, aksoja, or aksoda, which must have been borrowed at an early date, as, in the last-named form, the word occurs twice in the Bower Manuscript. 5 It has survived in Hindustani as axrdt or dkrot. The actual existence of an East- Iranian form with the ancient initial a- is guaranteed by the Chinese transcription a-yue; for a-yiie M H answers to an ancient *a-nwie5 (nw'e5) or *a-gwie5, a-gwu5; 6 and this, in my opinion, is intended to represent the Iranian word for "nut" with initial a-, mentioned above; that is, *angwiz, afigwOz, agOz. Chinese hun answers to an ancient *7wun or wun. In regard to this Iranian word, the following information may be helpful. E. 1 If it is correct that the transcription a-yue-hun was already contained in the Nan lou ki (which it is impossible to prove, as we do not possess the text of this work), the transcription must have been based on an original prototype of early Sasanian times or on an early Middle- Persian form. This, in fact, is confirmed by the very character of the Sino-Iranian word, which has preserved the initial a-, while this one became lost in New Persian. It may hence be inferred that Li Sun's information is correct, and that the transcription a-yue-hun may really have been contained in the Nan cou ki, and would accordingly be pre-T'an. 2 M. REINAUD, Relation des voyages faits par les Arabes et les Persans dans 1'Inde et a la Chine, Vol. I, p. 22. 3 Whether Georgian nigozi and the local name Nlyovfa of Ptolemy (W. TOMASCHEK, Pamirdialekte, Sitzber. Wiener Akad., 1880, p. 790) belong here, I do not feel certain. Cf. HUBSCHMANN, Armenische Grammatik, p. 393. 4 In regard to the elision of initial a in New Persian, see HUBSCHMANN, Persische Studien, p. 120. 6 HOERNLE'S edition, pp. 32, 90, 121. 6 Regarding the phonetic value of ^ , see the detailed study of PELLIOT (Bull. de VEcole fran$aise, Vol. V, p. 443) and the writer's Language of the Yue-chi or Indo-Scythians. THE PISTACHIO 249 1 speaks of Terebinthus or Pistacea sylvestris in Persia thus: "Ea Pistaceae hortensi, quam Tfreophrastus Therebinthum Indicam vocat, turn magnitudine, turn totius ac partium figura persimilis est, nisi quod flosculos ferat fragrantiores, nuces vero praeparvas, insipidas; unde a descriptione botanica abstinemus. Copiosa crescit in recessibus montium brumalis genii, petrosis ac desertis, circa Schamachiam Mediae, Schirasum Persidis, in Luristano et Larensi territoriis. Mihi nullibi conspecta est copiosior quam in petroso monte circa Majin, pagum celebrem, una diaeta dissitum Sjirasd: in quo mihi duplicis varietatis indicarunt arborem; unam vulgariorem, quae generis sui retineat appellationem Diracht [diraxt, l tree '] Ben seu Wen; alteram rariorem, in specie Kasudaan [kasu-dan], vel, ut rustici pronunciant, Kasud&n dictam, quae a priori fructuum rubedine differat." ROEDIGER and PoxT 2 have added to this ben or wen a Middle-Persian form ven ("wild pista- chio"). In the Persian Dictionary edited by STEINGASS (p. 200) this word is given as ban or wan (also banak), with the translation "Persian turpentine seed." 3 VULLERS* writes it ban. SCHLIMMER S transcribes this word beneh. He identifies the tree with Pistacia acuminata and observes, "C'est 1'arbre qui fournit en Perse un produit assez semblable a la trmentine, mais plut6t mou que liquide, vu qu'on 1'obtient par des d^coupures, dont le produit se rassemble durant les grandes chaleurs dans un creux fait en terre glaise au pied de 1'arbre, de facon a ce que la matiere se'cre'te'e perd une grande partie de son huile essentielle avant d'etre enleve'e. Le rne'me produit, obtenu a Kerman dans un outre, fixe a Tarbre et enleve* aussit6t plein, e*tait a peu prs aussi liquide que la te're'benthine de Venise. ... La Pistacia acuminata est sauvage au Kordesthan persan et, d'apres Buhse, aussi a Reshm, Damghan et Dereghum (province de Yezd) ; Haussknecht la vit aussi a Kuh Kiluye et dans le Luristan." The same word we meet also in Kurd dariben, dar-i-ben ("the tree ben"), and in all probability in Greek reptpwdos, older forms rkpiuvQos and rpe/uflos. 6 Finally WATT* gives a BaluSi word ban, wan, wana, gwa, 1 Amoenitatura exotfcarum fasciculi V, p. 413 (Lemgoviae, 1712). 2 Zeitschr. Kunde d. MorgenL, Vol. V, 1844, p. 64. 3 This notion is also expressed by bandslb (cf. bindst, "turpentine"). 4 Lexicon persico-latinum, Vol. I, p. 184. * Terminologie, p. 465. 6 The Greek ending, therefore, is -0os, not -v8os, as stated by SCHRADER (in Hehn, Kulturpflanzen, 8th ed., p. 221); n adheres to the stem: tere-bin-Oos. 7 Commercial Products of India, p. 902 ; and Dictionary of the Economic Products of India, Vol. VI, p. 271. 250 SlNO-lRANICA gwaw, gwana, for Pistacia mutica (or P. terebinthus, var. mutica); this form comes nearest to the Chinese transcription. While a compound *agoz-van(vun), that is, "nut of pistachio," as far as I know, has not yet been traced in Iranian directly, its existence follows from the Chinese record of the term. An analogy to this com- pound is presented by Kurd kizvan, kezvdn, kazu-van, kasu-van ("pista- chio" or "terebinthus-tree"). 1 The Honzo kdmoku keimo (Ch. 25, fol. 24), written by Ono Ranzan /h ^ lH ll4, first published in 1804, revised in 1847 by Igu& Bosi # P il /,, his grandson, mentions the same plant K R j? -?, which reads in Japanese agetsu-konU. He gives also in Kana the names fusudasiu or fusudasu.* He states, "The plant is not known in Japan to grow wild. It used to come from foreign countries, but not so at present. A book called Zokyohi furoku Ifc %. $L PH" & mentions this plant, stating that agetsu-kon$i is the fruit of the tree c*a mu ffll ^C (in Japanese sakuboku) ." 3 *A. JABA, Dictionnaire kurde-francais, p. 333. Cf. above the kasu-ddn of Kaempfer. 2 These terms are also given by the eminent Japanese botanist MATSUMURA in his Shokubutsu mei-i (No. 2386), accompanied by the identification Pistacia vera. 8 This tradition is indeed traceable to an ancient Chinese record, which will be found in the Cen lei pen ts'ao of 1108 (Ch. 12, p. 55, ed. of 1583). Here the question is of the bark of the san or I' a tree /{flfl ^C $, mentioned as early as the sixth century in the Kwan li ^ iS of Kwo Yi-kun as growing in wild country of Kwan-nan Bf f^J (the present province of K wan-tun and part of Kwan-si), and described in a commentary of the Er ya as resembling the mulberry-tree. This, of course, is a wild tree indigenous to a certain region of southern China, but, as far as I know, not yet identified, presumably as the ancient name is now obsolete. The Nan lou ki by Su Piao (see above) says that the fruits of this tree are styled wu min tse $$ fa ^ (" nameless fruits"); hence the conclusion is offered by T'an Sen-wei, author of the Cen lei pen ts'ao, that this is the tree termed a-yue-hun by the Persians (that is, a cul- tivated Pistacia). This inference is obviously erroneous, as the latter was introduced from Persia into China either under the T'ang or a few centuries earlier, while the san or c'a tree pre-existed spontaneously in the Chinese flora. The only basis for this hazardous identification is given by the attribute "nameless." A solution of this problem is possible if we remember the fact that there is a wild Pistacia, Pistacia chinensis, indigenous to China, and if we identify with it the tree san or Va; then it is conceivable that the wild and the imported, cultivated species were correlated and combined under the same popular term wu min. MATSUMURA (op. cit., No. 2382) calls P. chinensis in Japanese drenju, adding the characters JjJ $ The word lien refers in China to Melia azedarach. The modern Chinese equivalent for P. chinensis is not known to me. The peculiar beauty of this tree, and the great age to which it lives, have attracted the attention of the indefatigable workers of our Department of Agriculture, who have already distributed thousands of young trees to parks throughout the country (see Yearbook of the U. S. Department of Agriculture 1916, p. 140, Washington, 1917). In the English and Chinese Standard Dictionary, the word "pistachio" is rendered by fei ffi which, however, denotes a quite dif- THE PISTACHIO 251 G. A. STUART^ has identified a-yiie hun-tse z with Pistacia vera, and this is confirmed by Matsumura. The Japanese name fusudasiu or fusudasu is doubtless connected with Persian pista, from Old Iranian *pistaka, Middle Persian *pistak, 3 from which is derived Greek PHTTCLKIOV, (^ITTCLKLOV, TnartLKiov or \l/iaro.Kiov y Latin psittacium, and our pistacia or pistachio. It is not known to me, however, to what date the Japanese word goes back, or through what channels it was received. In all likelihood it is of modern origin, the introduction into Japan being due to Europeans. In Chinese literature, the Persian word appears in the Geography of the Ming Dynasty, 4 in the transcription [ki-] pi-se-tan [M] 2 19, stated to be a product of Samarkand, the leaves of the tree resembling those of the San c'a Ul ^ (Camellia oleifera), and its fruit that of the yin hin 18 -3F (Salisburia adiantifolia). The Persian word, further, occurs in the new edition of the Kwan yii ki, entitled Tsen tin kwan yii ki *" ST R H IB. The original, the Kwan yii ki, was written by Lu Yin-yan 1^1 JS $if, and published during the Wan-li period in 1600. The revised and enlarged edition was prepared by Ts'ai Fan-pin ^ ft fift (hao Kiu-hia A ft) in 1686; a reprint of this text was issued in 1744 by the publishing-house Se-mei fan H H ^. Both this edition and the original are before me. The latter 6 mentions only three products under the heading "Samarkand"; namely, coral, amber, and ornamented cloth (hwa %ui pn^L^ 'ft* ) . The new edition, however, has fifteen additional items, the first of these being [ki-] pi-se-t*an, written as above, 7 stated to be a tree growing in the region of Samarkand. "The leaves of the tree," it is said, "resemble those of the san c*a (Camelia oleifera) ; the fruits have the appearance of the nut-like seeds of the yin hin (Salisburia adiantifolia), but are smaller." The word pi-se-fan doubtless represents the transcription of Persian ferent plant, Torreya nucifera. A revival on the part of the Chinese, of the good, old terms of their own language, would be very desirable, not only in this case, but likewise in many others. 1 Chinese Materia Medica, p. 334. 2 Wrongly transcribed by him o-yileh-chun-tzu. 3 These reconstructions logically result from the phonetic history of Iranian, and are necessitated by the existence of the Greek loan-word. Cf ., further, Byzantine pustux and fustox, Comanian pistac, and the forms given below (p. 252). Persian pista is identified with Pistacia vera by SCHLIMMER (Terminologie, p. 465). 4 Ta Min i t'un a, Ch. 89, p. 23. 6 WYLIE, Notes on Chinese Literature, p. 59. 6 Ch. 24, p. 6 b. 7 The addition of ki surely rests on an error (ScHOTT also reads pi-sc-t'an, which he presumably found in his text; see the following note). 2$2 SlNO-lRANICA pistdn ("a place abounding with pistachio-nuts"). 1 Again, the Persian word in the transcription pi-se-ta >& S ^ appears in the Pen ts*ao kan mu U i 2 by Cao Hio-min, who states that the habitat of the plant is in the land of the Mohammedans, and refers to the work Yin san ten yao 3 of 1331, ascribed by him to Hu-pi-lie M. >& 3$; that is, the Emperor Kubilai of the Yuan dynasty. We know, however, that this book was written in 1331 by Ho Se-hwi. 4 Not having access to this, I am unable to state whether it contains a reference to pi-se-ta, nor do I know whether the text of Cao Hio-min, as printed in the second edition of 1765, was thus contained in the first edition of his work, which was published in 1650. It would not be impossible that the tran- scription pi-se-ta t accurately corresponding to Persian pista, was made in the Mongol period; for it bears the ear-marks of the Yuan style of transcription. The Persian word pista (also pasta) has been widely disseminated: we find it in Kurd fystiq, Armenian fesdux and fstoiil, Arabic fistaq or fustaq, Osmanli fistiq? and Russian fistaSka. In the Yuan period the Chinese also made the acquaintance of mastic, the resinous product of Pistacia lentiscus* It is mentioned in the Yin San Zen yao, written in 1331, under its Arabic name mastaki, in the transcription $1 & % l!f ma-se-ta-ki. 7 Li Si-en knew only the medical properties of the product, but confessed his ignorance regarding the nature of the plant; hence he placed his notice of it as an appendix to cummin (&i-lo). The Wu tsa tsu 3L H 3EL, written in 1610, says that mastaki is produced in Turkistan and resembles the tsiao W (Zanth- oxylum y the fruit yielding a pepper-like condiment) ; its odor is very strong; it takes the place there pjE a condiment like pepper, and is beneficial to digestion. 8 The Persian word for "mastic" is kundurak (from kundur, "incense"), besides the Arabic loan-word mastaki or 1 As already recognized by W. SCHOTT (Topographic der Producte des chinesi- schen Reiches, Abh. Berl.Akad., 1842, p. 371), who made use only of the new edition. 2 Ch. 8, p. 19; ed. of 1765 (see above, p. 229). 8 Cf. above, p. 236. 4 BRETSCHNEIDER, Bot. Sin., pt. i, p. 213. 6 Hence Pegoletti's fistuchi (YULE, Cathay, new ed. by CORDIER, Vol. Ill, p. 167). Greek axlvm (Herodotus, iv, 177). 7 The Arabic word itself is derived from Greek tiaarlxn (from /uaorTafeu', "to chew"), because the resin was used as a masticatory. Hence also Armenian maz- tak'e. Spanish oLmdciga is derived from the Arabic, as indicated by the Arabic article a/, while the Spanish form mdsticis is based on Latin mastix. 8 Quoted in the Pen ts'ao kan mu Si i, Ch. 6, p. 12 b. The digestive property is already emphasized by Dioscorides (i, 90). THE PISTACHIO 253 mastaki. 1 The Persianized form is masdax; in Kurd it is mstekki. "On these mountains the Mastich Tree brings forth plenty of that gum, of which the country people make good profit. ... As for the Mastick Trees, they bore red berries, and if wounded would spew out the liquid resin from the branches; they are not very tall, of the bigness of our Bully Trees : Whether they bring forth a cod or not, this season would not inform me, nor can I say it agrees in all respects with the Lentisk Tree of Clusius." 2 The resin (mastic) occurs in small, irregular, yellowish tears, brittle, and of a vitreous fracture, but soft and ductile when chewed. It is used as a masticatory by people of high rank in India to preserve the teeth and sweeten the breath, and also in the preparation of a perfume. 8 It is still known in India as the "gum mastic of Rum." 4 The case of the pistachio (and there are several others) is interesting in showing that the Chinese closely followed the development of Iranian speech, and in course of time replaced the Middle-Persian terms by the corresponding New-Persian words. 1 ACHUNDOW, Abu Mansur, pp. 137, 267. 2 JOHN FRYER, New Account of East India and Persia, Vol. II, p. 202 (Hakluyt Soc., 1912). 8 WATT, Commercial Products of India, p. 902. 4 D. C. PHILLOTT, Journal As. Soc. Bengal, Vol. VI, 1910, p. 81. THE WALNUT 4. The Buddhist dictionary Fan yi min yi tsi H8 a? i& 3fe, compiled by Fa Yun fe 8, 1 contains a Chinese-Sanskrit name for the walnut (hu t*ao iK $6, Juglans regia) in the transcription po-lo-$i M !SI 6$, which, as far as I know, has not yet been identified with its Sanskrit equivalent. 2 According to the laws established for the Buddhist transcriptions, this formation is to be restored to Sanskrit paras*, which I regard as the feminine form of the adjective parasa, meaning "Persian" (derived from Parsa, "Persia"). The walnut, accordingly, as expressed by this term, was regarded in India as a tree or fruit sus- pected of Persian provenience. The designation parasi for the walnut is not recorded in Boehtlingk's Sanskrit Dictionary, which, by the way, contains many other lacunes. The common Sanskrit word for "walnut " is dkhota, aksoja, ak$osa* which for a long time has been regarded as a loan-word received from Iranian. 4 Pliny has invoked the Greek names bestowed on this fruit as testi- mony for the fact that it was originally introduced from Persia, the 1 Ch. 24, p. 27 (edition of Nanking). BUNYIU NANJIO (Catalogue of the Buddhist Tripitaka, No. 1640) sets the date of the work at 1151. WYLIE (Notes on Chinese Literature, p. 210) and BRETSCHNEIDER (Bot. Sin., pt. i, p. 94) say that it was completed in 1143. According to S. JULIEN (Me"thode, p. 13), it was compiled from 1143 to 1157. 1 BRETSCHNEIDER (Study and Value of Chinese Botanical Works, Chinese Recorder, Vol. Ill, 1871, p. 222) has given the name after the Pen ts'aokan mu, but has left it without explanation. 3 The last-named form occurs twice in the Bower Manuscript (HOERNLE'S edition, pp. 32, 90, 121). In Hindustani we have axrot or akrot. 4 F. SPIEGEL, Arische Periode, p. 40. The fact that the ancient Iranian name for the walnut is still unknown does not allow us to explain the Sanskrit word satisfac- torily. Its relation to Hebrew egoz, and Persian koz, goz (see below), is perspicuous. Among the Hindu-Kush languages, we meet in Yidgha the word oghuzoh (J. BIDDULPH, Tribes of the Hindoo Koosh, Appendices, p. CLXVII), which appears as a missing link between Sanskrit on the one hand and the Semitic-Armenian forms on the other hand: hence we may conjecture that the ancient Iranian word was something like *agoza, angoza; and this supposition is fully confirmed by the Chinese transcription a-yiie (above, p. 248). Large walnuts of India are mentioned by the traveller C'an Te toward the middle of the thirteenth century (BRETSCHNEIDER, Mediaeval Researches, Vol. I, p. 146). The walnuts of the province of Kusistan in Persia, which are much esteemed, are sent in great quantities to India (W. AINSLIE, Materia Indica, Vol. I, p. 464). 254 THE WALNUT 255 best kinds being styled in Greek Persicum and basilicon, 1 and these being the actual names by which they first became known in Italy. 2 Pliny himself employs the name nuces iuglandes. Although Juglans regia is indigenous to the Mediterranean region, the Greeks seem to have received better varieties from anterior Asia, hence Greek names like Kapva irepcriKCL or Kapva (nvwirLKa. 3 In fact, Juglans regia grows spontaneously in northern Persia and in Baluchistan; it has been found in the valleys of the Pskem and Ablatun at altitudes varying from 1000 to 1500 m. Another species (Juglans pterocarpa, (( Juglans with winged fruits") is met in the prov- inces of Ghilan and Mazanderan and in the vicinity of Astrabad. 4 A. ENGLER S states that the walnut occurs wild also in eastern Afghanis- tan at altitudes of from 2200 to 2800 m. Ibn Haukal extols the walnuts of Arrajan, Muqaddasl those of Kirman, and Istaxri those of the province of Jlruft. 6 In Fergana, Russian Turkistan, the walnut is cultivated in gardens; but the nuts offered for sale are usually derived from wild-growing trees which form complete forests in the mountains. 7 According to A. STEIN,* walnuts abound at Khotan. The same explorer found them at Yiil-arik and neighboring villages. 9 1 That is, "Persian nut" and "nut of the king," respectively, the king being the Basileus of Persia. These two designations are also given by Dioscorides (i, 178). 2 Et has e Perside regibus translatas indicio sunt Graeca nomina: optimum quippe genus earum Persicum atque basilicon vocant, et haec fuere prima nomina (Nat. hist., xv, 22, 87). 3 J. HOOPS, Waldbaume und Kulturpflanzen, p. 553. The Romans transplanted the walnut into Gallia and Germania during the first centuries of our era. Numerous walnuts have been brought to light from the wells of the Saalburg, testifying to the favor in which they were held by the Romans. The cultivation of the tree is commended in Charles the Great's Capitulare de villis and Garden Inventories. Its planting in Gaul is shown by the late Latin term nux gallica, Old French nois gauge, which survives in our "walnut" (German walnuss, Danish valnod, Old Norse valhnot, Anglo-Saxon wealh-hnutu) ; walk, wal, was the Germanic designation of the Celts (derived from the Celtic tribe Volcae), subsequently transferred to the Romanic peoples of France and Italy. 4 C. JORET, Plantes dans I'antiquite", Vol. II, p. 44. Joret (p. 92) states that the Persians cultivated nut-trees and consumed the nuts, both fresh and dried. The walnut is twice mentioned in the Bundahisn among the fruits serving as food, and among fruits the inside of which is fit to eat, but not the outside (WEST, Pahlavi Texts, Vol. I, pp. 101, 103; cf. also p. 275). 6 Erlauterungen zu den Nutzpflanzen der gemassigten Zonen, p. 22. 6 P. SCHWARZ, Iran im Mittelalter, pp. 114, 218, 241. 7 S. KORZINSKI, Sketches of the Flora of Turkistan, in Russian (Memoirs Imp. Russ. Ac., 8th ser., Vol. IV, No. 4, pp. 39, 53). 8 Ancient Khotan, Vol. I, p. 131. 9 Ruins of Desert Cathay, Vol. I, p. 152. 256 SlNO-lRANICA The New-Persian name for the walnut is koz and goz. 1 According to HUBSCHMANN, this word comes from Armenian. 2 The Armenian word is 8ngoiz; in the same category belongs Hebrew egoz, 3 Ossetic angoza, Yidghal oyuza, Kurd egwz, Gruzinian nigozi.* The Persian word we meet as a loan in Turkish koz and xoz. b The earliest designation in Chinese for the cultivated walnut is hu t*ao ffl ft ("peach of the Hu" : Hu being a general term for peoples of Central Asia, particularly Iranians) . As is set forth in the Introduction, the term hu ip prefixed to a large number of names of cultivated plants introduced from abroad. The later substitution hu or ho t'ao t^ $6 signifies " peach containing a kernel," or "seed-peach," so called because, while resembling a peach when in the husk, only the kernel is eaten. 6 In view of the wide dissemination of the Persian word, the question might be raised whether it would not be justifiable to recognize it also in the Chinese term hu t'ao fiS ft, although, of course, in the first line it means "peach of the Hu (Iranians)." There are a number of cases on record where Chinese designations of foreign products may simulta- neously convey a meaning and represent phonetic transcriptions. When we consider that the word hu SB was formerly possessed of an initial guttural sonant, being sounded *gu (?u) or *go, 7 the possibility that this word might have been chosen in imitation of, or with especial regard to, an Iranian form of the type goz, cannot be denied: the two- fold thought that this was the "peach styled go" and the "peach of the Go or Hu peoples" may have been present simultaneously in the minds of those who formed the novel term; but this is merely an hypothesis, which cannot actually be proved, and to which no great importance is to be attached. 1 Arabic joz; Middle Persian joz, joj. Kurd gvnz (guvnz), from govz, gdz (SociN, Grundr. iran. Phil., Vol. I, pt. 2, p. 268). Sariqoll ghauz (SHAW, Journal As. Soc. Bengal, 1876^.267). PuStu ughz, waghz. Another Persian designation for " walnut " is girdu or girdgan. 2 Grundr. iran. Phil., Vol. I, pt. 2, p. 8; Armen. Gram., p. 393. 8 Canticle vi, 10. Cf. Syriac gauza. 4 W. MILLER, Sprache der Osseten, p. 10; HUBSCHMANN, Arm. Gram., p. 393. 5 RADLOFF, Worterbuch der Turk-Dialecte, Vol. II, col. 628, 1710. In Osmanli jeviz. 6 The term ho t*ao is of recent date. It occurs neither under the T'ang nor under the Sung. It is employed in the Kwo su ^ S, a work on garden-fruits by Wan Si-mou EE tfr J|, who died in 1591, and in the Pen ts'ao kan mu. The latter remarks that the word ho /^ is sounded in the north like hu ^ , and that the sub- stitution thus took place, citing a work Min wu ci & $} jfe as the first to apply this term. 7 Compare Japanese go-ma $} jftc and go-fun j$ %fr . THE WALNUT 257 There is a tradition to the effect that the walnut was introduced into China by General Can K'ien. 1 This attribution of the walnut to Can K'ien, however, is a purely retrospective thought, which is not contained in the contemporaneous documents of the Han Annals. There are, in fact, as we have seen, only two cultivated plants which can directly be credited to the mission of Can K'ien to the west, the grape and the alfalfa. All others are ascribed to him in subsequent books. BRETSCHNEIDER, in his long enumeration of Can-K'ien plants, 2 has been somewhat uncritical in adopting the statements of such a recent work as the Pen ts'ao kan mu without even taking pains to ex- amine the sources there referred to. This subject requires a renewed critical investigation for each particular plant. As regards the walnut, Bretschneider was exposed to singular errors, which should be rectified, as they have passed into and still prominently figure in classical botani- cal and historical books of our time. According to Bretschneider, the walnut was brought from K'iang-hu ^1 W, and "K'iang" was at the time of the Han dynasty the name for Tibet. There is, of course, no such geographical name as "K'ian-hu"; but we have here the two ethnical terms, "K'iafi" and "Hu," joined into a compound. More- over, the K'iafi (anciently *Gian) of the Han period, while they may be regarded as the forefathers of the subsequent Tibetan tribes, did not inhabit the country which we now designate as Tibet; and the term "Hu" as a rule does not include Tibetans. What is said in this respect in the Pen ts'ao kan mu* is vague enough: it is a single sentence culled from the Tu kin pen ts'ao iK * 3 of Su Sun M ffi (latter part of the eleventh century) of the Sung period, which reads, "The original habitat of this fruit was in the countries of the K'iafi and the Hu" (Jib ^ ^ ffi ^ fiH). Any conclusion like an introduction of the walnut from "Tibet" cannot be based on this statement. Bretschneider's first victim was the father of the science of historical and geographical botany, A. DE CANDOLLE/ who stated, referring to him as his authority, "Chinese authors say that the walnut was introduced among them from Tibet, under the Han dynasty, by Chang- 1 The first to reveal this tradition from the Pen ts'ao kan mu was W. SCHOTT (Abh. Berl. Akad., 1842, p. 270). 2 Chinese Recorder, 1871, pp. 221-223; and Bot. Sin., pt. I, p. 25. Likewise Hirth, Toung Pao, Vol. VI, 1895, p. 439. Also GILES (Biographical Dictionary, p. 12) connects the walnut with Can K'ien. 3 Ch. 30, p. 1 6. 4 Origin of Cultivated Plants, p. 427. 258 SlNO-lRANICA kien, about the year 140-150 B.C." 1 In Hehn's " Kulturpflanzen "* we still read in a postscript from the hand of the botanist A. ENGLER, "Whether the walnut occurs wild in North China may be doubted, as according to Bretschneider it is said to have been imported there from Tibet." As will be seen below, a wild-growing species of Juglans is indeed indigenous to North China. As to the alleged feat of Can K'ien, the above-mentioned Su Sun, who lived during the Sung period in the latter part of the eleventh century, represents the source of this purely traditional opinion recorded by Bretschneider. Su Sun, after the above statement, continues, "At the time of the Han, when Can K'ien was sent on his mission into the Western Regions, he first obtained the seeds of this fruit, which was then planted in Ts'in (Kan-su) ; at a later date it gradually spread to the eastern parts of our country; hence it was named hu t* ao." 3 Su Sun's information is principally based on the Pen ts*ao of the Kia-yu period (1056-64) H Sft -fit K > ^; this work was preceded by the Pen ts'ao of the K'ai-pao period (968-976) ?M S ^ ^; and in the latter we meet the assertion that Can K'ien should have brought the walnut along from the Western Regions, but cautiously preceded by an on dit (2*) . 4 The oldest text to which I am able to trace this tradition is the Po wu U fil %} ; of Can Hwa 5i ^ (A.D. 23 2-300). 5 The spurious character of this work is well known. The passage, at any rate, existed, and was accepted in the Sung period, for it is reproduced in the T'ai p'in yu Ian. 6 We even find it quoted in the Buddhist dic- tionary Yi ts'ie kin yin i~~ ty f H H, 7 compiled by Yuan Yin 7C M about A.D. 649, so that this tradition must have been credited in the 1 Besides Bretschneider's article in the Chinese Recorder, de Candolle refers to a letter of his of Aug. 23, 1881, which shows that Bretschneider had not changed his view during that decade. Needless to add, that Can K'ien never was in Tibet, and that Tibet as a political unit did not exist in his time. Two distinct traditions are welded together in Bretschneider's statement. * Eighth edition (1911), p. 400. * en lei pen ts'ao, Ch. 23, p. 45 (edition of 1521). G. A. STUART (Chinese Materia Medica, p. 223) regards the "Tangut country about the Kukunor" as the locality of the tree pointed out in the Pen ts'ao. 4 The text of the K'ai-pao pen ts'ao is not reproduced in the Pen ts'ao kan mu> but will be found in the Ci wu min Si t'u k'ao, Ch. 17, p. 33. T'an Sen-wei |!f tR {5&> in his en lei pen ts'ao (Ch. 23, p. 44 b), has reproduced the same text in his own name. >mm H it lb (or g) m m m (Ch. 6, p. 4, of the Wu-c"an print). * Ch. 971, p. 8. 7 Ch. 6, p. 8 b (ed. of Nanking). In this text the pomegranate and grape are added to the walnut. In the same form, the text of the Po wu li is cited in the modern editions of the 7V min yao Su (Ch. 10, p. 4). THE WALNUT 259 beginning of the Tang dynasty. It is not impossible, however, that this text was actually written by Can Hwa himself, or at least that the tradition underlying it was formed during the fourth century; for, as will be seen, it is at that time that the walnut is first placed on record. Surely this legend is not older than that period, and this means that it sprang into existence five centuries after Can K'ien's lifetime. It should be called to mind that the Po wu ci entertains rather fantastic notions of this hero, and permits him to cross the Western Sea and even to reach Ta Ts'in. 1 It is, moreover, the Po wu ci which also credits to Can K'ien the introduction of the pomegranate and of ta or hu swan ^C (S3 ) IS or hu i (Allium scorodoprasum) . 2 Neither is this tradition contained in the texts of the Han period. The notion that Can K'ien really introduced the walnut in the second century B.C. must be posi- tively rejected as being merely based on a retrospective and unauthentic account. 3 The question now arises, Is there any truth in Su Sun's allegation that the walnut was originally produced in the country of the K'iaii? Or, in other words, are we entitled to assume the co-existence of two Chinese traditions, first, that the walnut was introduced into China from the regions of the Hu (Iranians) ; and, second, that another intro- duction took place from the land of the K'iaii, the forefathers of the Tibetans? 4 There is indeed an ancient text of the Tsin period from the first part of the fourth century, one of the earliest datable references to the walnut, in which its origin from the K'ian is formally admitted. This text is preserved in the T*ai p'in yu Ian as follows: "The mother of Liu T'ao f'J i@, 5 in her reply to the letter of Yu SI , princess of the country of Wu ^ 13, said, 'In the period Hien-ho Jfc ?P (A.D. 326-335, of the Tsin dynasty) I escaped from the rebellion 1 Ch. i, p. 3 b. 2 See below, p. 302. 3 The tan-K'ien legend is also known in Korea (Korea Review, Vol. II, 1902, P. 393)- 4 The term k'ian t'ao ^ $6 for the walnut is given, for instance, in the Hwa kin Jfc H , "Mirror of Flowers" (Ch. 3, p. 49), written by C'en Hao-tse ffi f|| -J* in 1688. He gives as synonyme also wan swi tse^jjf He -J- ("fruits of ten thousand years"). The term k'ian t'ao is cited also in the P'ei wen lai kwan k'iln fan p'u (Ch. 58, p. 24; regarding this work cf. BRETSCHNEIDER, Bot. Sin., pt. i, p. 70), and in the P'an San li jj| [I] J& (Ch.is, p. 2 b; published in 1755 by order of K'ien-luh). 5 The T'u su tsi e'en and Kwan k'iin fan p*u (Ch. 58, p. 25) write this name Niu Hfc. The Ko li kin yuan (Ch. 76, p. 5), which ascribes this text to the Tsin su, gives it as S. The Tan Sun pai k'un leu t'ie Jjf 7JC & ft ^C iffi (Ch. 99, p. 12) has, "The mother of Liu T'ao of the Tsin dynasty said, in reply to a state document, 'walnuts were originally grown in the country of the Western K'ian. 1 " 260 SlNO-lRANICA of Su Tsun Hit ift 1 into the Lin-nan mountains E! : Ul. The country of Wu sent a messenger with provisions, stating in the accompanying letter: 'These fruits are walnuts $) $fc and fei-tah ^ I8. 2 The latter come from southern China. The walnuts were originally grown abroad among the Western K'iafi (fi^tt^^S^^S). Their exterior is hard, while the interior is soft and sweet. Owing to their durability I wish to present them to you as a gift.' " 3 It is worthy of note, that, while the walnut is said in this text to hail from the Western K'ian, the term hu fao (not k'ian t'ao) is employed; so that we may infer that the intro- duction of the fruit from the Hu preceded in time the introduction from the K'ian. It is manifest also that in this narrative the walnut appears as a novelty. The Tibetan name of the walnut in general corresponds to a type tar-ka, as pronounced in Central Tibetan, written star-ka, star-ga, and dar-sga* The last-named spelling is given in the Polyglot Dic- tionary of K'ien-lun, 5 also in Jaschke's Tibetan Dictionary. The element ka or ga is not the well-known suffix used in connection with nouns, 6 but is an independent base with the meaning "walnut," as evidenced by Kanaurl ka (" walnut"). 7 The various modes of writing lead to a restitution */ar, dar, d'ar (with aspirate sonant). This word is found also in an Iranian dialect of the Pamir: in Waxi the walnut is called 1 He died in A.D. 328. His biography is in the Tsin Su, Ch. 100, p. 9. See also L. WIEGER, Textes historiques, p. 1086. 2 Literally, "flying stalk of grain." Bretschneider and Stuart do not mention this plant. Dr. T. Tanaka, assistant in the Bureau of Plant Industry, Department of Agriculture, Washington, tells me that fei-Zan is a synonyme of the fingered citrus (fu Sou kan $$ ^ iftj", Citrus chirocarpus) . He found this statement in the Honzo komoku keimd (Ch. 26, p. 18, ed. 1847) by Ono Ranzan, who on his part quotes the T'un ya $1 $| by Fan I-&. 3 The Tai p'in yu Ian reads *S ^ 5? C # $ M The Tan Sun pai k'un leu fie and the Tu S'u tsi ten, however, have ?Hl"&!lflfc^^S' " tn eir substance resembles the ancient sages, and I wish to present them," apparently a corruption of the text. 4 W. W. ROCKHILL (Diary of a Journey through Mongolia and Tibet, p. 340) gives taga as pronunciation in eastern Tibet. J. D. HOOKER (Himalayan Journals, p. 237) offers taga-$in (Sin, "tree") as Bhutia name. 5 Ch. 28, p. 55. 6 SCHIEFNER, Melanges asiatiques, Vol. I, pp. 380-382. 7 Given both by T. R. JOSHI (Grammar and Dictionary of the Kanawari Lan- guage, p. 80) and T. G. BAILEY (Kanauri-English Vocabulary, Journal Royal As. Soc., 1911, p. 332). Bailey adds to the word also the botanical term Juglans regia. The same author, further, gives a word ge as meaning "kernel of walnut; edible part of Pinus gerardiana"; while Joshi (p. 67) explains the same word as the "wild chestnut." Thus it seems that ge, ka, originally referred to an indigenous wild-grow- ing fruit, and subsequently was transferred to the cultivated walnut. THE WALNUT 261 tar. 1 This apparently is a loan-word received from the Tibetan, for in Sariqoll and other Pamir dialects we find the Iranian word ghoz. 2 Tarka is a genuine Tibetan word relating to the indigenous walnut, wild and cultivated, of Tibetan regions. In view of this state of affairs, it is certainly possible that the Chinese, in the beginning of the fourth century or somewhat earlier, received walnuts and their seeds also from Tibetan tribes, which resulted in the name K'ian t*ao. The Lepcha of Sikkim are acquainted with the walnut, for which they have an indigenous term, kdl-pdt, and one of their villages is even called "Walnut-Tree Foundation" (Kol-ban). 3 G. WATT 4 informs us that the walnut-tree occurs wild and cultivated in the temperate Himalaya and Western Tibet, from Kashmir and Nubra eastwards. W. ROXBURGH B says about Juglans regia, "A native of the mountainous countries immediately to the north and north-east of Hindustan, on the plains of Bengal it grows pretty well, but is not fruitful there." Another species of the same genus, /. plerococca Roxb., is indigenous in the vast forests which cover the hills to the north and east of the province of Silhet, the bark being employed for tanning, while J. regia is enlisted among the oil-yielding products. 6 J. D. HOOKER* is authority for the information that the walnut occurs wild in Sikkim, and is cultivated in Bhutan, where also Captain TURNER S found it growing in abundance. KiRKPATRiCK 9 met it in Nepal. In Burma it grows in the Ava Hills. In the Shan states east of Ava grows another species of Juglans, with smaller, almost globose, quite smooth nuts, but nothing is known about the tree itself. 10 The Tibetans certainly cultivate the walnut and appreciate it 1 R. B. SHAW, On the Ghalchah Languages (Journal As. Soc. Bengal, 1876, p. 267), writes the word tor. A. HUJLER (The Languages Spoken in the Western Pamir, p. 36, Copenhagen, 1912) writes tar, explaining the letter a as a "dark deep a, as in the French pas." 2 W. TOMASCHEK (Pamirdialekte, p. 790) has expressed the opinion that WaxJ tor, as he writes, is hardly related to Tibetan star-ga; this is not correct. 3 G. MAINWARING, Dictionary of the Lepcha Language, p. 30. 4 Dictionary of the Economic Products of India, Vol. IV, p. 550. 5 Flora Indica, p. 670. 6 N. G. MUKERJI, Handbook of Indian Agriculture, p. 233. 7 Himalayan Journals, p. 235; also RISLEY, Gazetteer of Sikkim, p. 92 (compare DARWIN, Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication, Vol. I, p. 445). 8 Account of an Embassy to the Court of the Teshoo Lama, p. 273. Also EDEN and PEMBERTON (Political Missions to Bootan, p. 198, Calcutta, 1895) mention the walnut in Bhutan. 9 Account of Nepaul, p. 81. 30 S. KURZ, Forest Flora of British Burma, Vol. II, p. 490 (Calcutta, 1877). 262 SlNO-lRANICA much. The tree is found everywhere in eastern Tibet where horti- culture is possible, and among the Tibetan tribes settled on the soil of Se-S'wan Province. W. W. RocKHiLL 1 even mentions that in the Ba-t'an region barley and walnuts are used in lieu of subsidiary coinage. Lieut.-Col. WADDELL* makes two references to cultivated walnut-trees in Central Tibet. The Chinese authors mention "Tibetan walnuts" as products of the Lhasa district. 8 While the Cah-K'ien tradition is devoid of historical value, and must be discarded as an historical fact, yet it is interesting from a psychological point of view; for it shows at least that, at the time when this fiction sprang into existence, the Chinese were under the impression that the walnut was not an indigenous tree, but imported from abroad. An autochthonous plant could not have been made the object of such a legend. A direct reference to the introduction of the cultivated walnut with an exact date is not extant in Chinese records, but the fact of such an introduction cannot reasonably be called into doubt. It is supported not only by the terms hu Vao and k'ian fao (" peach of the Hu," "peach of the K'iah"), but also by the circumstantial evidence that in times of antiquity, and even under the Han, no mention is made of the walnut. True it is, it is mentioned in the Kin kwei yao lio of the second century; but, as stated, this may be an interpolation. 4 Of all the data relating to this fruit, there is only one that may have a faint chance to be referred to the Han period, but even this possibility is very slight. In the Si kin tsa ki S f H ffi 5 it is said that in the gardens of the Saii-lin Park _L $fc #B of the Han emperors there were walnuts which had come from the Western Regions or Central Asia. The Si kin tsa ki t however, is the work of Wu Kun ^1 ^, who lived in the sixth century A.D., 8 and cannot be regarded as a pure source for tracing the culture of the Han. It is not difficult to see how this tradition arose. When the San-lin Park was established, the high dignitaries of the empire were called upon to contribute famed fruits and extraordinary trees of distant lands. We know that after the conquest of Nan-yue in in B.C. the Emperor Wu ordered southern products, like oranges, areca-nuts, 1 Diary of a Journey through Mongolia and Tibet, p. 347. s Lhasa and its Mysteries, pp. 307, 315. See also N. V. KtiNER, Description of Tibet (in Russian), Vol. I, pt. 2, p. 137. 1 ROCKHILL, Journal Royal As. Soc., 1891, p. 273. 4 Above, p. 205. Can Ki says or is made to say, "Walnuts must not be eaten in large quantity, for they rouse mucus and cause man to drink" (Ch. c, p. 27). 6 Ch. I, p. 6 (ed. of Han Wei ts'un $u). 8 WYLIE, Notes on Chinese Literature, p. 189; and CHAVANNES, TOUHI Pa*, 1906, p. 102. THE WALNUT 263 lun nan, li-ti, etc., to be brought to the capital C'an-nan, and to be planted in the Fu-li Palace $c H ST, founded in commemoration of the conquest of Nan-yue, whereupon many gardeners lost their lives when the crops of the li-ti proved a failure. 1 Several of his palaces were named for the fruits cultivated around them: thus there were a Grape-Palace and a Pear-Palace. Hence the thought that in this exposition of foreign fruits the walnut should not be wanting, easily impressed itself on the mind of a subsequent writer. Wu Kun may also have had knowledge of the Can-K'ien tradition of the Po wu ti, and thus believed himself consistent in ascribing walnuts to the Han palaces. Despite his ana- chronism, it is interesting to note Wu Kun's opinion that the walnut came from Central Asia or Turkistan. It is not probable that the walnut was generally known in China earlier than the fourth century A.D., under the Eastern Tsin 3fC S dynasty (265-41 9).* In the Tsin kun ko min S *& Bl ^fe, a description of the palaces of the Tsin emperors, written during that dynasty, 3 it is stated that there were eighty-four walnut-trees in the Hwa-lin Park 1 The palace Fu-li was named for the li-li $& $ (see Sanfu hwan t'u H $jf JS , Ch. 3, p. 9 b, ed. of Han Wei ts'un $u). 8 BRETSCHNEIDER (Bot. Sin., pt. i, p. 39) asserts that Juglans regia figures among the plants mentioned passingly in the Nan fan ts'ao mu twan by Ki Han ff ^, a minister of state under the Emperor Hui l of the Tsin dynasty (A.D. 290-306) . He does not give any particulars. There are only two allusions to the walnut, that I am able to trace in this work: in the description of the coco-nut, the taste of this fruit is likened to that of the walnut; and the flavor of the "stone chestnut" (5i-li ^J JH, Alcurites triloba) is compared with that of the same fruit. We know at present that the book in question contains interpolations of later date (see L. AUROUSSEAU, Bull, de l'Ecolefran$aise, Vol. XIV, 1914, p. 10); but to these the incidental mention of the walnut does not necessarily belong, as Ki Han lived under the Tsin. It is likewise of interest that the walnut is not dealt with as a special item in the Ts'i min yao $u, a work on husbandry and economic botany, written by Kia Se-niu jf ,> $$ of the Hou Wei dynasty (A.D. 386-534) ; see the enumeration of plants described in this book in BRETSCHNEIDER (op. cit., p. 78). In this case, the omission does not mean that the tree was unknown to the author, but it means only that it had then not attained any large economic importance. It had reached the palace-gardens, but not the people. In fact, Kia Se-niu, at least in one passage (Ch. 10, p. 48 b, ed. 1896), incidentally mentions the walnut in a quotation from the Kiao lou ki $ #1 ffi by Liu Hin-k'i 24 $ $J, where it is said, "The white yuan tree j ^fctsj [ evidently = |^fc] is ten feet high, its fruits being sweeter and finer than walnuts j $6." As the Kiao lou ki is a work relating to the products of Annam, it is curious, of course, that it should allude to the cultivated walnut, which is almost absent in southern China and Annam; thus it is possible that this clause may be an interpolation, but possibly it is not. The fact that the same work like- wise contains the tradition connecting the walnut with Can K'ien has been pointed out above. The tree pai yuan is mentioned again in the Pen ts*ao kan mu 3r i (Ch. 8, p. 23), where elaborate rules for the medicinal employment of the fruit are given. 8 BRETSCHNEIDER, Bot. Sin., pt. i, p. 202, No. 945. 264 SlNO-lRANICA ^ ^ H. 1 Another allusion to the walnut relative to the period Hien-ho (A.D. 326-335) has been noted above (p. 259). There is, further, a refer- ence to the fruit in the history of Su 13 , when, after the death of Li Hiufi ^ it in A.D. 334, Han Pao $$ 15 from Fu-fun ^ ft in Sen-si was appointed Grand Tutor (t'ai fu Jt fil) of his son Li K'i ^ ffiJ, and asked the latter to grant him seeds for the planting of walnut-trees, which, on account of his advanced age, he was anxious to have in his garden. 2 During the third or fourth century, the Chinese knew also that walnuts grew in the Hellenistic Orient. "In Ta Ts'in there are jujubes, jasmine, and walnuts," it is stated in the Wu Si wai kwo ci ^ B^ 9\> @ ; ("Memoirs of Foreign Countries at the time of the Wu"). 3 The Kwan ci 9c i by Kwo Yi-kun tf Jl 3^ 4 contains the following account: "The walnuts of C'en-ts'an Ef Jt 5 have a thin shell and a large kernel; those of Yin-p'in ^ Z P 6 are large, but their shells are brittle, and, when quickly pinched, will break." 7 Coming to the T'ang period, we encounter a description of the walnut in the Yu yan tsa tsu It Bl H $&., written about A.D. 86o, 8 from which the fact may be gleaned that the fruit was then much cultivated 1 Tai p'in yu Ian, I.e. 2 This story is contained in the Kwan wu kin ki Hf 3 ff IS (according to BRETSCHNEIDER, a work of the Sung literature). As the text is embodied in the T'ai p'in yu Ian, it must have been extant prior to A.D. 983, the date of Li Fan's cyclopaedia. 3 Presumably identical with the Wu si wai kwo cwan noted by PELLIOT (Bull, de VEcole fran^aise, Vol. IV, p. 270) as containing information secured by the mission of K'ari T'ai in the first part of the third century A.D. Cf. also Journal asiatique, 1918, II, p. 24. The Min Si ascribes walnuts to Ormuz (BRETSCHNEIDER, Notices of the Mediaeval Geography, p. 294). 4 This work is anterior to the year A.D. 527, as it is cited in the Svri kin lu of Li Tao-yuan, who died in that year. Kwo Yi-kun is supposed to have lived under the Tsin (A.D. 265-419). Cf. PELLIOT, Bull, de VEcole fran$ aise, Vol. IV, p. 412. 6 Now the district of Pao-ki in the prefecture of Fun-sian, Sen-si Province. 6 At the time of the Han period, Yin-p'in was the name for the present prefec- ture of Lufi-nan f| ^ in the province of Se-2'wan. There was also a locality of the same name in the prefecture of Kiai in the province of Kan-su, inhabited by the Ti, a Tibetan tribe (CHAVANNES, T'oung Pao, 1905, p. 525). 7 Tai p'in yu Ian, 1. c.; Ko ci kin yuan, Ch. 76, p. 5; Ci wu min Si t'u k'ao, I. c. This text is cited also by Su Sun in his T'u kin pen ts'ao. The earliest quotation that I can trace of it occurs in the Pei hu lu, written by Twan Kun-lu about A.D. 875 (Ch. 3, p. 4 b, ed. of Lu Sin-yuan), where, however, only the last clause in regard to the walnuts of Yin-p'in is given (see below, p. 268). 8 PELLIOT, T'oung Pao, 1912, p. 375. The text is in the T'u Su tsi I'en and Ci wu min Si t'u k'ao (I. c.). I cannot trace it in the edition of the Yu yan tsa tsu in the Tsin tai pi Su or Pai hai. THE WALNUT 265 in the northern part of China (ft ~H & S ), a statement repeated in the K*ai-pao pen ts'ao. The Yu yah tsa tsu, which is well informed on the cultivated plants of Western and Central Asia, does not contain the tradition relating to Can K'ien, but, on the other hand, does not speak of the tree as a novel introduction, nor does it explain its name. It begins by saying that "the kernel of the walnut is styled 'toad' ha-mo ffilll." 1 Mon Sen j ffc, who in the second half of the seventh century wrote the Si liao pen ts*ao? warns people from excessive indulgence in walnuts as being injurious to health. 3 The T*ai p'ih hwan yu ki ;fc ^ 5 ? IS, by Yo Si IB J& (published during the period T'ai-p'in, A.D. 976-981), mentions the walnut as being cultivated in the prefecture of Fun-sian JBL & in Sen-si Province, and in Kian 6ou $ $\ in San-si Province. 4 According to the Pen ts'ao kah mu, the term hu t'ao first appears in the Pen ts'ao of the K'ai-pao period (968-976) of the Sung dynasty, written by Ma Ci $1 j; that is to say, the plant or its fruit was then officially sanctioned and received into the pharmacopoeia for the first time. We have seen that it was certainly known prior to that date. K'ou Tsun-si ?S ^ I?, in his Pen ts*ao yen i ^ ^ ffr SI of m6, 5 has a notice on the medicinal application of the fruit. It is possible also to trace in general the route which the walnut has taken in its migration into China. It entered from Turkistan into Kan-su Province, as stated by Su Sun (see above, p. 258), and gradually spread first into Sen-si, and thence into the eastern provinces, but always remained restricted to the northern part of the country. Su Sun ex- pressly says that walnuts do not occur in the south, but only in the north, being plentiful in Sen-si and Lo-yan (Ho-nan Province), while those grown in K'ai-fun (Pien Scuff #1) were not of good quality. In the south only a wild-growing variety was known, which is discussed below. Wan Si-mou zE ifr S, a native of Kian-su, who died in 1591, states in his Kwo su ^ 6fi, a treatise on garden-fruits, that "the walnut is a northern fruit (pei kwo ft 5v), and thrives in mountains; that it is but rarely planted in the south, yet can be cultivated there." 6 Almost 1 This definition is ascribed to the Ts'ao mu tse ^L ;fC -J" in the Ko U kin yuan (Ch. 76, p. 5); that work was written by Ye Tse-k'i :| -J* isf in 1378 (WYLIE, Notes on Chinese Literature, p. 168). 2 BRETSCHNEIDER, Bot. Sin., pt. i, p. 45. 3 Tan Sun pai k*un leu t'ie, Ch. 99, p. 12. 4 Tai p'in hwan yu ki, Ch. 30, p. 4; Ch. 47, p. 4 (ed. of Kin-lin !w ku, 1882). 5 Ch. 1 8, p. 6 b (ed. of Lu Sin-yuan). 6 Also J. DE LOUREIRO (Flora cochinchinensis, p. 702) states that the habitat of Juglans regia is only in the northern provinces of China. 266 SlNO-lRANICA all the district and prefectural gazetteers of Sen-si Province enumerate the walnut in the lists of products. The " Gazetteer of San-tun" 1 mentions walnuts for the prefectures of Ts'i-nan, Yen-cou, and Ts'in- Cou, the last-named being the best. The Gazetteer of the District of Tun-no JK PP in the prefecture of Tai-nan in San-tun reports an abundance of walnuts in the river- valleys. An allusion to oil-production from walnuts is found in the " Gazetteer of Lu-nan," where it is said, "Of all the fruits growing in abundance, there is none comparable to the walnut. What is left on the markets is sufficient to supply the needs for lamp-oil." 3 Also under the heading "oil," walnut-oil is mentioned as a product of this district. 4 Juglans regia, in its cultivated state, has been traced by our botanists in San-tun, Kian-su, Hu-pei, Yun-nan, and Se-S'wan. 6 Wilson nowhere saw trees that could be declared spontaneous, and considers it highly improbable that Juglans regia is indigenous to China. His opinion is certainly upheld by the results of historical research. A wild species (Juglans mandshurica or cathayensis Dode) occurs in Manchuria and the Amur region, Ci-li, Hu-pei, Se-S'wan, and Yun- nan. 6 This species is a characteristic tree of the Amur and Usuri val- leys. 7 It is known to the Golde under the name kocoa or ko^oa, to the Managir as korlo, to the Gilyak as tiv-alys. The Golde word is of ancient date, for we meet it in the ancient language of the Juri, Juen, or NiuSi in the form xusu* and in Manchu as xosixa. The great antiquity of this word is pointed out by the allied Mongol word xusiga. The whole series originally applies to the wild and indigenous species, 1 San tun fun li, Ch. 9, p. 15. f Ch. 2, p. 32 (1829). 8 Quotation from Lu-nan li &jt ^) ]g, in the San cou tsun U $) ^ $| ,-g (General Gazetteer of San-Sou), 1744, Ch. 8, p. 3. 4 Ibid., Ch. 8, p. 9. Oil was formerly obtained from walnuts in France both for use at table and for varnishing and burning in lamps, also as a medicine sup- posed to possess vermifuge properties (AINSLIE, Materia Indica, Vol. I, p. 464). 8 See particularly C. S. SARGENT, Plantae Wilsonianae, Vol. Ill, pp. 184-185 (1916). J. ANDERSON (Report on the Expedition to Western Yunan, p. 93, Calcutta, 1871) mentions walnuts as product of Yun-nan. According to the Tien hai yu hen li (Ch. 10, p. i b; above, p. 228), the best walnuts with thin shells grow on the Yan-pi or Yan-p'ei River fi '/| fll of Yun-nan. 8 FORBES and HEMSLEY, Journal of the Linnean Society, Botany, Vol. XXVI, p. 493; SARGENT, op. cit., pp. 185 et seq. J. DE LOUREIRO (Flora cochinchinensis, p. 702), writing in 1788, has a species Juglans camirium (Annamese deau lai) "habitat agrestis cultaque in Cochinchina;" and a Juglans catappa (Annamese cay mo cua) ''habitat in sylvis Cochinchinae montanis." 7 GRUM-GRZIMAILO, Description of the Amur Province (in Russian), p. 313. 1 W. GRUBE, Schrift und Sprache der Juc'en, p. 93. THE WALNUT 267 Juglans mandshurica. Manchu xdsixa designates the tree, while its fruit is called xdwalama or xdwalame usixa (-ixa being a frequent ter- mination in the names of plants and fruits). The cultivated walnut is styled mase. 1 One of the earliest explorers of the Amur territory, the Cossack chieftain Poyarkov, who reached the Amur in 1644, reported that walnuts and hazel-nuts were cultivated by the Daur or Dahur on the Dseya and Amur. 2 The same species is known to the aboriginal tribes of Yun-nan. The Pa-yi and San style its fruit tw ai; z the Nyi Lo-lo, se-mi-ma-, the Ahi Lo-lo, sa-mi. The Cun-kia of Kwei-ou call it dsao; the Ya-'io Miao, li or &'; the Hwa Miao, klaeo\ while other Miao tribes have the Chinese loan-word he-dao. 4 The wild walnut has not remained unknown to the Chinese, and it is curious that it is designated San hu t'ao UJ 1$ tftj, the term Ian ("moun- tain") referring to wild-growing plants. The "wild Iranian peach" is a sort of linguistic anomaly. It is demonstrated by this term that the wild indigenous species was discovered and named by the Chinese only in times posterior to the introduction of the cultivated variety; and that the latter, being introduced from abroad, was not derived from the wild-growing species. The case is identical with that of the wild alfalfas and vines. C'en Hao-tse, who wrote a treatise on flowers in i688, 5 determines the difference between the cultivated and wild varieties thus: the former has a thin shell, abundant meat, and is easy to break; 6 the latter has a thick and hard shell, which must be cracked with a hammer, and occurs in Yen and Ts'i (Ci-li and San-tun). This observa- 1 K'ien-lun's Polyglot Dictionary, Ch. 28, p. 55. 8 L. v. SCHRENCK, Reisen und Forschungen im Amur-Lande, Vol. Ill, p. 160. 3 F. W. K. MULLER, Toung Pao, Vol. Ill, 1892, p. 26. 4 S. R. CLARKE, Tribes in South- West China, p. 312. 6 Hwa kin, Ch. 3, p. 49 b. 8 According to the Ci wu min Si t'u k'ao (Ch. 31, p. 3 b), the walnuts with thin shells grow only in the prefecture of Yun-p'in ^jt *p in Ci-li, being styled lu Zan ho t'ao fH H| %% $|y In C'an-li, which belongs to this prefecture, these nuts have been observed by F. N. MEYER (Agricultural Explorations in the Orchards of China, p. 51), who states, "Some trees produce small hard-shelled nuts of poor flavor, while others bear fine large nuts, with a really fine flavor, and having shells so thin that they can be cracked with the fingers like peanuts. Between these extremes one finds many gradations in hardness of shell, size, and flavor." "In England the walnut presents considerable differences, in the shape of the fruit, in the thickness of the husk, and in the thinness of the shell; this latter quality has given rise to a variety called the thin-shelled, which is valuable, but suffers from the attacks of titmice" (DARWIN, Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication, Vol. I, p. 445). A variety of walnut with thin shells grows on the Greek Island Pares (T. v. HELD- REICH, Nutzpflanzen Griechenlands, p. 59). 268 SlNO-lRANICA tion is quite to the point; the shell of the walnut gradually became more refined under the influence of cultivation. The earliest texts alluding to the wild walnut are not older than the T'ang period. The Pei hu lu At fi $fc, written by Twan Kun-lu l ^ J& about A.D. 87 5, 1 contains the following text concerning a wild walnut growing in the mountains of southern China: "The wild walnut has a thick shell and a flat bottom & Z P. In appearance it resembles the areca-nut. As to size, it is as large as a bundle of betel-leaves. 2 As to taste, it comes near the walnuts of Yin-p'in 3 and Lo-yu, but is different from these, inasmuch as it has a fragrance like apricot extract. This fragrance, however, does not last long, but will soon vanish. The Kwan li says that the walnuts of Yin- p'in have brittle shells, and that, when quickly pinched, the back of the kernel will break. Liu Si-lun $P ifr 1^, in his Sie lo yu yuan II SI >H ?S, remarks, with reference to the term hu t'ao, that the Hu take to flight like rams, 4 and that walnuts therefore are prophets of auspicious omens. Cen K'ien SB 3: 5 says that the wild walnut has no glumelle; it can be made into a seal by grinding off the nut for this purpose. Judging from these data, it may be stated that this is not the walnut occurring in the mountains of the south." 6 The Lin piao lui $(%.$&=&, by Liu Sun S'J 1ft of the T'ang period, 7 who lived under the reign of the Emperor Cao Tsun (A.D. 889-904), contains the following information on a wild walnut: "The slanting or glandular walnut (p'ien ho t*ao fi! t^ $6) is pro- duced in the country Can-pi fi ^. 8 Its kernel cannot be eaten. The 1 Cf . PELLIOT, Bull, de VEcole fran$aise, Vol. IX, p. 223. 2 Fu-liu, usually written $C {, is first mentioned in the Wu lu ti li li ^ gjfc i& 3 iS by Can Pu jJH ^J of the third or beginning of the fourth century (see Ts'i min yao su, Ch. 10, p. 32). It refers to Piper betle (BRETSCHNEIDER, Chinese Recorder, Vol. Ill, 1871, p. 264; C. IMBAULT-HUART, Le be"tel, Toung Pao, Vol. V, 1894, P- 313). The Chinese name is a transcription corresponding to Old Annamese bldu; Mi^son, Uy-16, and Hung plu; Khmer m-luw, Stien m-lu, Bahnar bo-lou, Kha b-lu ("betel"). 8 See above, p. 264. 4 A jocular interpretation by punning t'ao $Ij upon t'ao $& (both in the same tone). 6 Author of the lost Hu pen ts'ao SB ^ ^ (BRETSCHNEIDER, Bot. Sin., pt. I, p. 45). He appears to have been the first who drew attention to the wild walnut. His work is repeatedly quoted in the Pei hu lu. 6 Pei hu lu, Ch. 3, p. 4 b (ed. of Lu Sin-yuan). 7 Ch. B, p. 5 (ed. of Wu yin lien). 8 The two characters are wrongly inverted in the text of the work. In the text of the Pei hu lu that follows, the name of this country is given in the form Can-pei ^ $ From the mention of the Malayan Po-se in the same text, it follows that THE WALNUT 269 Hu $J people gather these nuts in abundance, and send them to the Chinese officials, designating them as curiosities 3^M. As to their shape, they are thin and pointed; the head is slanting like a sparrow's beak. If broken and eaten, the kernel has a bitter taste resembling that of the pine-seeds of Sin-ra if it & -f. 1 Being hot by nature, they are employed as medicine, and do not differ from the kernels of northern China." The Pei hu lu 2 likewise mentions the same variety of glandular wal- nut (p*ien ho-t'ao) as growing in the country Can-pei fi $>, shaped like the crescent of the moon, gathered and eaten by the Po-se, 3 having a very fine fragrance, stronger than the peach-kernels of China, but of the same effect in the healing of disease. The species here described may be identical with Juglans catha- yensis y called the Chinese butternut, usually a bush, but in moist woods forming a tree from twelve to fifteen metres tall; but I do not know that this plant occurs in any Malayan region. With reference to Can-pi, however, it may be identical with the fruit of Canarium com- mune (family Burseraceae) , called in Malayan kanari, in Javanese kenari. J. CRAWFURD/ who was not yet able to identify this tree, offers the following remarks: "Of all the productions of the Archipelago the one which yields the finest edible oil is the kanari. This is a large handsome tree, which yields a nut of an oblong shape nearly of the size of a walnut. The kernel is as delicate as that of a filbert, and abounds in oil. This Can-pi is a Malayan territory probably to be located on Sumatra. For this reason I am inclined to think that Can-pi f JJI is identical with Can-pei J| BjL ; that is, Jambi, the capital of eastern Sumatra (HiRTH and ROCKHILL, Chau Ju-kua, pp. 65, 66; see further GROENEVELDT, Notes on the Malay Archipelago, pp. 188, 196; and GERINI, Researches on Ptolemy's Geography, p. 565; Lin wai tai ta, Ch. 2, p. 12). From a phonetic point of view, however, the transcription 3 4fl, made in the T'ang period, represents the ancient sounds *can-pit, and would presuppose an original of the form *2ambit, fiambir, or jambir, whereas ^L is without a final con- sonant. The country Can-pei is first mentioned under the year A.D. 852 (^ 4* sixth year), when Wu-sie-ho ^ ffi J! and six men from there came to the Chinese Court with a tribute of local products (T'ai p'in hwan yu ki, Ch. 177, p. 15 b). A second embassy is on record in 871 (PELLIOT, Bull, de VEcole fran$ aise, Vol. IV, p. 347). 1 Pinus koraiensis Sieb. et Zucc. (J. MATSUMURA, Shokubutsu mei-i, pp. 266-267, ed. 1915), in Japanese losen-matsu ("Korean pine"); see also STUART, Chinese Materia Medica, p. 333. Sin-ra (Japanese Sin-ra, Siraki) is the name of the ancient kingdom of Silla, in the northern part of Korea. 2 Ch. 3, p. 5 (ed. of Lu Sin-yuan). 3 $l ^T certainly is here not Persia, for the Pei hu lu deals with the products of Kwafi-tun, Annam, and the countries south of China (PELLIOT, Bull, de VEcole fran$aise, Vol. IX, p. 223). See below, p. 468. The Pei hu lu has presumably served as the source for the text of the Lin piao lu i, quoted above. 4 History of the Indian Archipelago, Vol. I, p. 383. 270 SlNO-lRANICA is one of the most useful trees of the countries where it grows. The nuts are either smoked and dried for use, or the oil is expressed from them in their recent state. The oil is used for all culinary purposes, and is more palatable and finer than that of the coconut. The kernels, mixed up with a little sago meal, are made into cakes and eaten as bread. The kanari is a native of the same country with the sago tree, and is not found to the westward. In Celebes and Java it has been introduced in modern times through the medium of traffic." The Yu yan tsa tsu 1 speaks of a man hu t'ao II S9 $6 as "growing in the kingdom of Nan-ao ^ IB in Yun-nan; it is as large as a flat conch, and has two shells of equal size; its taste is like that of the cultivated walnut. It is styled also 'creeper in the land of the Man* (Man tun t'en-tse 8 ^Jl-?)." It will be remembered that Twan C'en-si, the author of this work, describes also the cultivated walnut (P. 264). The T'ai p*ih yii Ian contains another text attributed to the Lin piao lu i relating to a wild walnut, which, however, is not extant in the edition of this work published in the collection Wu yin tien in 1775. This text is as follows: "The large walnut has a thick and firm shell. It is larger than that of the areca-nut. 2 It has much meat, but little glumelle. It does not resemble the nuts found in northern China. It must be broken with an axe or hammer. The shell, when evenly smoothed over the bottom, is occasionally made into a seal, for the crooked structure of the shell (ko M) resembles the seal characters." 3 In the Lin wai tai ta ^ ^ ft ^, 4 written by Cou K'ii-fei JH * # in 1178, mention is made, among the plants of southern China and Tonking, of a "stone walnut (Si hu t'ao ^ $8 $fc), which is like stone, has hardly any meat, and tastes like the walnut of the north." Again, a wild species is involved here. I have not found the term Si hu t'ao in any other author. The various names employed by the T'ang writers for the wild 1 Ch. 19, p. 9 b (ed. of Tsin tai pi $u) ; or Ch. 19, p. 9 a (ed. of Pai hai). * This sentence, as well as the first, agrees with the definition given by the Pei hu lu with reference to a wild walnut (above, p. 268). 1 T'ai p'in yii Ian, Ch. 971, p. 8 b. The same text is cited by the Pen ts'ao kan mu and the Ko li kin yuan (Ch. 76, p. 5 b), which offer the reading San hu t'ao \lj SB $fc ("wild walnut") instead of "large walnut." The Kwan k'iinfan p'u (Ch. 58, p. 26) also has arranged this text under the general heading "wild walnut." The Pen ts'ao kan mu opens it with the sentence, "In the southern regions there is a wild walnut." The restriction to South China follows also from the text as given in the T'ai p'in yii Ian. 4 Ch. 8, p. 10 b (ed. of Ci pu tsu lai ts'un $u). THE WALNUT 371 varieties (p'ien hu fao, fan hu Vao, man hu t'ao, to hu t*ao) y combined with the fact that two authors describe both the varieties p'ien and fan, raise the question whether this nomenclature does not refer to different plants, and whether, aside from the wild walnut, other nuts may not also be included in this group. In this respect it is of interest to note that the hickory, recently discovered in Ce-kian by F. N. MEYER, and determined by SARGENT 1 under the name Carya cathayensis, is said by Meyer to be called shan-gho-to in the colloquial language; and this evidently is identical with our fan hu t'ao. This certainly does not mean that this term refers exclusively to the hickory, but only that locally the hickory falls also within the category of fan hu t'ao. The distribution of the hickory over China is not yet known, and the descriptions we have of fan hu t'ao do not refer to Ce-kian. In the P'an fan U 18: Ul ;, a description of the P'an mountains, 1 the term fan ho t'ao is given as a synonyme for the bark of Catalpa bungei (ts*iu p'i Iffc IJt), which is gathered on this mountain for medicinal purposes, presumably because the structure of this bark bears some superficial resemblance to that of a walnut. Wild walnuts, further, are mentioned as growing on Mount Si fu 2un ^5 ^ Uj , forming part of the Ma-ku Mountains & J6 Ul situated in Fu-cou Si J /H in the prefecture of Kien-6'aii ^ B ffi, Kian-si Province. 3 While the cultivated walnut was known in China during the fourth century under the Tsin dynasty, the wild species indigenous to south- ern China was brought to the attention of scholars only several cen- turies later, toward the close of the T'ang period. This case furnishes an excellent object-lesson, in that it reveals the fallacies to which botanists and others are only too frequently subject in drawing con- clusions from mere botanical evidence as to cultivated plants. The favorite argumentation is, that if, in a certain region, a wild and a corresponding cultivated species co-exist, the cultivated species is simply supposed to have been derived from the wild congener. This is a de- ceptive conclusion. The walnut (as well as the vine) of China offers a 1 Plantae Wilsonianae, Vol. Ill, p. 187. * Ch. 15, p. 2 b, of the edition published in 1755 by order of K'ien-lun. The P'an an is situated three or four days' journey east of Peking, in the province of Ci-li, the summit being crowned by an interesting Buddhist temple, and there being an imperial travelling-station at its foot. It was visited by me in September, 1901. F. N. MEYER (Agricultural Explorations in the Orchards of China, p. 52) says that in the Pangshan district east of Peking one may still find a few specimens of the real wild walnut growing in ravines among large bowlders in the mountains. 8 Ma-ku San U (Ch. 3, p. 6 b), written by members of the family Hwafi jf, and published in 1866 by the Tun t'ien u wu }pj| ; ^ |g. These mountains contain thirty-six caves dedicated to the Taoist goddess Ma-ku. 272 SlNO-lRANICA specific case apt to teach just the opposite: a wild walnut (probably in several species) is indigenous to China, nevertheless the species culti- vated in this area did not spring from domestic material, but from seeds imported from Iranian and Tibetan regions of Central Asia. The botanical dogma has been hurled against many deductions of Hehn: botanists proclaimed that vine, fig, laurel, and myrtle have been indigenous to Greece ana Italy in a wild state since time immemorial ; likewise pomegranate, cypress, and plantain on the Aegean Islands and in Greece; hence it was inferred that also the cultivations of these plants must have been indigenous, and could not have been introduced from the Orient, as insisted on by Hehn. This is nothing but a sophism: the botanists still owe us the proof that the cultivated species were really derived from indigenous stock. A species may indeed be indige- nous to a certain locality; and yet, as brought about by historical inter-relations of the peoples, the same or a similar species in the cultivated state may have been introduced from an outside quarter. It is only by painstaking historical research that the history of culti- vated plants can be exactly determined. ENGLER (above, p. 258) doubts the occurrence of the wild walnut in China, because a cultivated species was introduced there from Tibet ! It is plain now where such logic will lead us. Wilson deserves a place of honor among botanists, for, after close study of the subject in China, he recognized that "it is highly improbable that Juglans regia is indigenous to China." With reference to the walnut, conditions are the same in China as in the Mediterranean region: there also Juglans regia grows spontane- ously; still better, cultivated varieties reached the Greeks from Persia; the Greeks handed these on to the Romans; the Romans transplanted them to Gallia and Germania. Juglans regia occupies an extensive natural area throughout the temperate zone, stretching from the Mediterranean through Iran and the Himalaya as far as southern China and the Chinese maritime provinces. Despite this natural distribution, the fact remains that Iran has been the home and the centre of the best-cultivated varieties, and has transmitted these to Greece, to India, to Central Asia, and to China. Dr. T. TANAKA has been good enough to furnish the following infor- mation, extracted from Japanese literature, in regard to the walnut. "Translation of the notice on ko-to (kurumi), 'walnut,' from a Japanese herbal Yamato honzo ^C ?P ^ ^, by Kaibara Ekken jt M ^ ff (Ch. 10, p. 23), published in 1709. "Kurumi $8 #6 (koto). There are three sorts of walnut. The first is called oni-gurumi & SB $fc ('devil walnut'). It is round in shape, THE WALNUT 273 and has a thick, hard skin (shell), difficult to break; it has very little meat. In the Homo (Pen ts'ao, usually referring to the Pen ts'ao kan mu) it is called til tft $ (yama-gurumi, Ian hu t'ao). It is customary to open the shell by first baking it a little while in a bed of charcoal, and suddenly plunging it in water to cool off; then it is taken out of the fire, the shell is struck at the joint so that it is crushed, and the meat can be easily removed. The second variety is called hime-gurumi tf& ? J* ^ ('demoiselle walnut'), and has a thin shell which is somewhat flat in form; it is very easily broken when struck with an iron hammer at the joint. It has plenty of meat, is rich in oil, and has a better taste than the one mentioned before. The names 'devil' and 'demoiselle* are derived from the appearance of the nuts, the one being rough and ugly, while the other is beautiful. "The third variety, which is believed to have come from Korea, has a thin shell, easily cracked, with very little meat, but of the best quality. Mon Sen JnL BSfc (author of the Si liao pen ts'ao Jt Jj ^ ^, second half of the seventh century) says, 'The walnut, when eaten, increases the appetite, stimulates the blood-circulation, and makes one appear glossy and elegant. It may be considered as a good medicine of high merit.' For further details refer to the prescriptions of the Pen ts'ao. "Translation of the notice on walnut from the Honzo komoku keimd (Ch. 25, pp. 26-27) by Ono Ranzan; revised edition by Igu& BOsi of 1847 (first edition 1804). "koto, kurimi (walnut, Juglans regia L., var. sinensis Cas., ex MATSU- MURA, Shokubutsu Mei-i, ed. 1915, Vol. I, p. 189). "Japanese names: to-kurimi ('Chinese walnut'); cosen-kurimi (' Korean walnut ') . "Chinese synonymes: kaku-kwa (Jibutsu imei); tins 5 kyoho (ibid.); inpei cinkwa (ibid.); kokaku (Jibutsu konsu); kens' a (ibid.); to$u$i (Kunmo jikwai). "Names for kernels: kama (Roy a taisui-hen). "Other names for Ian hu t'ao: sankakuto (Hokuto-roku); banzai-Zi (Jonan Ho si); su (Kummo jikwai). "The real walnut originated in Korea, and is not commonly planted in Japan. "The leaves are larger than those of onigurumi (giant walnut, Juglans sieboldiana Maxim., ex Matsumura, I.e.). The shells are also larger, measuring more than i sun (1.193 inches) in length, and having more striations on the surface. The kernels are also larger, and have more folds. "The variety commonly planted in our country is onigurumi, the J74 SlNO-lRANICA abbreviated name of which is kurumi; local names are ogurumi (Prov- ince of Kaga), okkoromi (eastern provinces), and so on. This giant wal- nut grows to a large tree. Its leaves are much like those of the lacquer- tree (Rhus vernificera DC.) and a little larger; they have finely serrated margins. Its new leaves come out in the spring. It flowers in the autumn. "The flower-clusters resemble chestnut-catkins, but are much larger, ranging in length from six to seven sun; they are yellowish white and pendulous. A single flower is very small, like that of a chestnut. The fruit is peach-shaped and green, but turns black when ripe. The shells are very hard and thick, and can be opened by being put on the fire for a little while; then insert a knife in the slit or fissure between the shells, which thus break. The kernels are good for human food, and are also used for feeding little birds. "One species called hime-gurumi (' demoiselle walnut/ Juglans cordiformis Maxim., ex Matsumura, I.e.), or me-gurumi ('female wal- nut/ from the province of Kaga), has thin shells with fewer furrows, and the kernels can easily be taken out. Under the heading $ukai (ti-kie, explanatory information in the Pen ts*ao), this kind of walnut is de- scribed as 'a walnut produced in Cinso (C'en-ts'an, a place in Fun- sian fu, Sen-si, China) with thin shells and many surfaces,' so we call it Zinso-gurumi ('en-ts*an hu-t'ao). 1 This variety is considered the best of all yama-gurumi (San hu t'ao, wild walnuts), because no other variety has such saddle-shaped kernels entirely removable from the shells. "A species called karasu-gurumi ('crow walnut') is a product of the province of E&go; it has a shell that opens by itself when ripe, and looks like a crow's bill when opened, whence it is called 'crow walnut.* "Another variety from Oio-mura village of the Aidzu district is called gonroku-gurumi ('Gonroku's walnut'); it has a very small shell capable of being used as ojime ('string-fastener of a pouch'). This name is taken from the personal name of a man called Anazawa Gon- roku, in whose garden this variety originated. It is said that the same kind has been found in the province of Kai. "A variety found at Nosiro, province of UQ (Uzen and Ugo), is much larger in size, and has thinner shells, easily crushed by hand, so that the kernels may be taken out without using any tools. The name of this variety is therefore teuci-gurumi ('hand-crushed walnut ')." The most interesting point in these Japanese notes is presented by 1 Compare above, p. 264. THE WALNUT 175 the tradition tracing the cultivated walnut of Japan to Korea. The Koreans again have a tradition that walnuts reached them from China about fifteen hundred years ago in the days of the Silla Kingdom. 1 The Korean names for the fruit are derived from the Chinese: ho do being the equivalent of hu t'ao, kan do corresponding to k'ian t'ao, and ha do to ho t'ao. The Geography of the Ming Dynasty states that walnuts are a product of Korea. 1 1 Korea Review, Vol. II, 1902, p. 394. 1 Ta Mi* i run i, Ch. 89 p. 4 b. THE POMEGRANATE 5. A. DE CANDOLLE 1 sums up the result of his painstaking investi- gation of the diffusion of the pomegranate (Punica granatum, the sole genus with two species only within the family Punicaceae) as follows: "To conclude, botanical, historical, and philological data agree in show- ing that the modern species is a native of Persia and some adjacent countries. Its cultivation began in prehistoric time, and its early extension, first toward the west and afterwards into China, has caused its naturalization in cases which may give rise to errors as to its true origin, for they are frequent, ancient, and enduring." In fact, the pomegranate occurs spontaneously in Iran on stony ground, more particularly in the mountains of Persian Kurdistan, Baluchistan, and Afghanistan. I am in full accord with A. de Candolle's opinion, which, as will be seen, is signally corroborated by the investigation that fol- lows, and am not in the least disturbed by A. ENGLER'S view 2 that the pomegranate occurs wild in Greece and on the islands of the Grecian Archipelago, and that, accordingly, it is indigenous in anterior Asia and part of the Balkan Peninsula, while its propagation in Italy and Spain presumably followed its cultivation in historical times. First, as stated also by G. BuscHAN, 3 these alleged wild trees of Greece are not spontaneous, but have reverted from cultivation to a wild state. 4 Second, be this as it may, all ancient Greek accounts concerning the pomegranate relate exclusively to the cultivated, in no case to the wild species; and it is a gratuitous speculation of O. ScHRADER, 5 who follows suit with Engler, that the Greek word pod was originally applied to the indigenous wild species, and subsequently transferred to the cultivated one. As will be shown hereafter, the Greek term is a loan-word. The naturalization of the fruit in the Mediterranean basin is, as A. DE CANDOLLE justly terms it, an extension of the original 1 Origin of Cultivated Plants, p. 240. 2 In Hehn's Kulturpflanzen, p. 246 (8th ed.). 3 Vorgeschichtliche Botanik, p. 159. 4 I am unable, however, to share Buschan's view that the wild specimens of Iran and north-western India also belong to this class; that area is too extensive to allow of so narrow an interpretation. In this case, Buschan is prejudiced in order to establish his own hypothesis of an indigenous origin of the tree in Arabia (see below). 6 In Hehn's Kulturpflanzen, p. 247. 276 THE POMEGRANATE 277 area; and Hehn is quite right in dating its cultivation on the part of the Greeks to a time after the Homeric epoch, and deriving it from Asia Minor. G. BuscHAN 1 holds that Europe is out of the question as to the indigenous occurrence of the pomegranate, and with regard to Punica protopunica, discovered by Balfour on the Island of Socotra, proposes Arabia felix as the home of the tree; but he fails to explain the diffusion of the tree from this alleged centre. He opposes Loret's conclusions with reference to Egypt, where he believes that the tree was naturalized from the time of the Eighteenth Dynasty; but he overlooks the prin- cipal point made by Loret, namely, that the Egyptian name is a Semitic loan-word. 2 Buschan's theory conflicts with all historical facts, and has not been accepted by any one. The pomegranate-tree is supposed to be mentioned in the Avesta under the name haddnaepata* the wood serving as fuel, and the juice being employed in sacrificial libations; but this interpretation is solely given by the present ParsI of India and Yezd, and is not certain. The fruit, however, is mentioned in Pahlavi literature (above, p. 193). There are numerous allusions to the pomegranate of Persia on the part of Mohammedan authors and European travellers, and it would be of little avail to cite all these testimonies on a subject which is perfectly well known. Suffice it to refer to the Fdrs Ndmah* and to give the following extract from A. OLEARIUS : 6 " Pomegranate-trees, almond-trees, and fig-trees grow there with- out any ordering or cultivation, especially in the Province of Kilan, where you have whole forests of them. The wild pomegranates, which you find almost every where, especially at Karabag, are sharp or sowrith. 1 Vorgeschichtliche Botanik, p. 159. 2 This fact was simultaneously and independently found by an American Egyptologist, CH. E. MOLDENKE (ttber die in altagyptischen Texten erwahnten Baume, p. 115, doctor dissertation of Strassburg, Leipzig, 1887); so that LORET (Flore pharaonique, p. 76) said, "Moldenke est arrive" presque en me"me temps que moi, et par des moyens diffe"rents, ce qui donne une entiere certitude a notre d6- couverte commune, a la determination du nom e'gyptien de la grenade." See also C. JORET, Plantes dans I'antiquite", Vol. I, p. 117. Buschan's book appeared in 1895; nevertheless he used Loret's work in the first edition of 1887, instead of the second of 1892, which is thoroughly revised and enlarged. 3 For instance, Yasna, 62, 9; 68, I. Cf. also A. V. W. JACKSON, Persia Past and Present, p. 369. 4 G. LE STRANGE, Description of the Province of Pars in Persia, p. 38 (London, 1912). See also D'HERBELOT, Biblioth6que orientale, Vol. Ill, p. 188; and F. SPIEGEL, Eranische Altertumskunde, Vol. I, p. 252. 6 Voyages of the Ambassadors to the Great Duke of Muscovy, and the King of Persia (1633-39), p. 232 (London, 1669). 278 SlNO-lRANICA They take out of them the seed, which they call Nardan, wherewith they drive a great trade, and the Persians make use of it in their sawces, whereto it gives a colour, and a picquant tast, having been steep'd in water, and strain'd through a cloath. Sometimes they boyl the juyce of these Pomegranates, and keep it to give a colour to the rice, which they serve up at their entertainments, and it gives it withall a tast which is not unpleasant. . . . The best pomegranates grow in Jescht, and at Caswin, but the biggest, in Karabag." Mirza Haidar mentions a kind of pomegranate peculiar to Baluris- tan (Kafiristan), sweet, pure, and full-flavored, its seeds being white and very transparent. 1 "Grapes, melons, apples, and pomegranates, all fruits, indeed, are good in Samarkand." 2 The pomegranates of Khojand were renowned for their excellence. 3 The Emperor Jahangir mentions in his Memoirs the sweet pomegranates of Yazd and the subacid ones of Farrah, and says of the former that they are celebrated all over the world. 4 J. CRAWFURD 8 remarks, "The only good pomegranates which, indeed, I have ever met with are those brought into upper India by the cara- vans from eastern Persia." The Yu yan tsa tsu 6 states that the pomegranates of Egypt %J$ft1$. (Wu-se-li, *Mwir-si-li, Mirsir) 7 in the country of the Arabs (Ta-si, *Ta-d2ik) weigh up to five and six catties. Also in regard to the pomegranate we meet the tradition that its introduction into China is due to General Can K'ien. In the same manner as in the case of the walnut, this notion looms up only in post-Han authors. It is first recorded by Lu Ki Bl $8, who lived under the Western Tsin dynasty (A.D. 265-313), in his work Yu ti yun $u & f& llf. This text has been handed down in the Ts'i min yao $u of Kia Se-niu of the sixth century. 8 There it is said that Can K'ien, while an envoy of the Han in foreign countries for eighteen years, obtained t*u-lin ^ W, this term being identical with nan-$i-liu jf 15 VS. This tradition is repeated in the Po wu i 9 of Can Hwa and in the 1 ELIAS and Ross, Tarikh-i-Rashidi, p. 386. a A. S. BEVERIDGE, Memoirs of Babur, p. 77. 3 Ibid., p. 8. They are also extolled by Ye-lu C'u-ts'ai (BRETSCHNEIDER, Mediae- val Researches, Vol. I, p. 19). 4 H. M. ELLIOT, History of India as told by Its Own Historians, Vol. VI, p. 348 . 8 History of the Indian Archipelago, Vol. I, p. 433. 8 $8 36 Ch. 10, p. 4 b (ed. of Tsin tai pi Su). 7 Old Persian Mudraya, Hebrew Mizraim, Syriac Mezroye. 8 Ch. 4, p. 14 b (new ed., 1896). 9 See above, p. 258. THE POMEGRANATE 279 Tu i li 39 M ;, written by Li Yu ^ % (or Li Yuan %) of the Tang dynasty. Another formal testimony certifying to the acceptance of this creed at that period comes from Fun Yen 3Nf iSC of the Tang in his Fun Si wen kien ki M & ffi & 12 ,* who states that Can K'ien obtained in the Western Countries the seeds of Si-liu 35 f and alfalfa (mu-su), and that at present these are to be found everywhere in China. Under the Sung this tradition is repeated by Kao C'en iti ^c. 2 C'en Hao-tse, in his Hwa kin* published in 1688, states it as a cold- blooded fact that the seeds of the pomegranate came from the country Nan-si or An-si (Parthia), and that Can K'ien brought them back. There is nothing to this effect in Can K'ien's biography, nor is the pomegranate mentioned in the Annals of the Han. 4 The exact time of its introduction cannot be ascertained, but the tree is on record no earlier than the third and fourth centuries A.D. 5 Li Si-Sen ascribes the term nan-$i-liu to the Pie lu J5!l ^, but he cites no text from this ancient work, so that the case is not clear. 6 The earliest author whom he quotes regarding the subject is Tao Hun-kin (A.D. 452-536), who says, "The pomegranate, particularly as regards its blossoms, is charming, hence the people plant the tree in large numbers. It is also esteemed, because it comes from abroad. There are two varieties, the sweet and the sour one, only the root of the latter being used by physicians." According to the Ts*i min yao $u, Ko Hun 1 8 of the fourth century, in his Pao p*u tse JB tt ?, speaks of the occurrence of bitter liu "\5 1S on stony mountains. These, indeed, 1 Ch. 7, p. i b (ed. of Ki fu ts'un Su). 2 Si wu ki yuan !j % J6 ]jj( (ed. of Si yin Man ts'un $u), Ch. 10, p. 34 b. 3 Ch. 3, p. 37, edition of 1783; see above, p. 259. 4 The Can-K'ien legend is repeated without criticism by BRETSCHNEIDER (Bot. Sin., pt. i, p. 25; pt. 3, No. 280), so that A. DE CANDOLLE (Origin of Cultivated Plants, p. 238) was led to the erroneous statement that the pomegranate was intro- duced into China from Samarkand by Can K'ien, a century and a half before the Christian era. The same is asserted by F. P. SMITH (Contributions towards the Materia Medica of China, p. 176), G. A. STUART (Chinese Materia Medica, p. 361), and HIRTH (T*oung Pao, Vol. VI, 1895, p. 439). 6 It is mentioned in the Kin kwei yao lio (Ch. c, p. 27) of the second century A.D., "Pomegranates must not be eaten in large quantity, for they injure man's lungs." As stated (p. 205), this may be an interpolation in the original text. 6 The Pie lu is not quoted to this effect in the Cen lei pen ts'ao (Ch. 22, p. 39), but the Ci wu min Si t*u k'ao (Ch. 15, p. 102; and 32, p. 36 b) gives two different extracts from this work relating to our fruit. In one, its real or alleged medical prop- erties are expounded; in the other, different varieties are enumerated, while not a word is said about foreign origin. I am convinced that in this form these two texts were not contained in the Pie lu. The question is of no consequence, as the work itself is lost, and cannot be dated exactly. All that can be said with certainty is that it existed prior to the time of T'ao Hun-kin. 280 SlNO-lRANICA are the particular places where the pomegranate thrives. Su Sun of the Sung period states that the pomegranate was originally grown in the Western Countries (S* yii ffi $S), and that it now occurs everywhere; but neither he nor any other author makes a positive statement as to the time and exact place of origin. The Yao sin lun, Pen ts'ao si i, and Pen ts'ao yen i l give merely a botanical notice, but nothing of his- torical interest. The pomegranate (si-liu) is mentioned in the "Poem on the Capital of Wu" ^ U 8R by Tso Se & J&, who lived in the third century under the Wu dynasty (A.D. 222-280). P'an Yo iS -r, a poet of the fourth century A.D., says, "Pomegranates are the most singular trees of the empire and famous fruits of the Nine Provinces. 2 A thousand seed- cases are enclosed by the same membrane, and what looks like a single seed in fact is ten/' The Tsin Lun nan k'i ku lu W 81 ^ jfi Jg & (" Annotations on the Conditions of the period Lun-nan [A.D. 397-402] of the Tsin Dy- nasty") contains the following note: 3 "The pomegranates (nan si liu) of the district Lin-yuan IS Sc in Wu-liii B IS 4 are as large as cups; they are not sour to the taste. Each branch bears six fruits." Lu Hui l^ftB of the Tsin dynasty, in his Ye lun ki US 3* ffi, 5 states that in the park of Si Hu ^ fit there were pomegranates with seeds as large as cups, and they were not sour. Si Hu or Si Ki-lufi 3? ^ fl ruled from A.D. 335 to 349, under the appellation T'ai Tsu ;Jc IB. of the Hou Cao dynasty, as "regent celestial king" (ku-se t'ien wan), and shifted the capital to Ye ISi$, the present district of Lin-fen B$ f, in the pre- fecture of Can-te ^ IS in Ho-nan. 6 The pomegranate is mentioned in the Ku kin Zu "ifr ^ ft, 7 written by Ts'ui Pao -S f5 during the middle of the fourth century, with reference to the pumelo W (Citrus grandis), the fruit of which is com- pared in shape with the pomegranate. The Ts'i min yao Su (I.e.) gives rules for the planting of pomegranates. 1 Ch. 1 8, p. 7 (ed. of Lu Sin-yuan); the other texts see in Cert lei pen ts'ao, I. c. 2 JL ^H , the ancient division of China under the Emperor Yu. 8 T'ai p'iA yii Ian, Ch. 970, p. 4 b. Regarding the department of records styled k'i ku tu, see The Diamond, p. 35. In the Yuan kien lei han (Ch. 402, p. 2) the same text is credited to the Sun Su. 4 In Hu-nan Province. 5 Ed. of Wu yin tien, p. 12. 6 Regarding his history, see L. WIEGER, Textes historiques, pp. 1095-1100. BRETSCHNEIDER'S (Bot. Sin., pt. I, p. 211) note, that, besides the Ye lun ki of Lu Hui, there isjanother work of the same name by Si Hu, is erroneous; Si Hu is simply the "hero" of the Ye lun ki. 1 Ch. c, p. i (ed. of Han Wei ts'un Su or Ki fu ts'un Su). Cf. also below, p. 283. THE POMEGRANATE 281 The Annals of the Liu Sung Dynasty, A.D. 420-477 (SunSu), contain the following account: "At the close of the period Yiian-kia % 51 (A.D. 424-453), when T'ai Wu (A.D. 424-452) * ^ of the Wei dynasty conquered the city Ku jtfci^, 1 he issued orders to search for sugar- cane and pomegranates (nan Si liu). Can C'aii 3fi H said that pome- granates (Si-liu) come from Ye." This is the same locality as mentioned above. The Stan kwo ki H H IB 2 reports that in the district of Luii-kan H O /IS 3 there are good pomegranates (Si liu). These various examples illustrate that in the beginning the tree was considered as peculiar to certain localities, and that accordingly a gradual dissemination must have taken place. Apparently no ancient Chinese author is informed as to the locality from which the tree originally came, nor as to the how and when of the transplantation. The Kwan U I? JS, written by Kwo Yi-kun SB il ^ prior to A.D. 527, as quoted in the Ts'i min yao Su, discriminates between two varie- ties of pomegranate (nan Si liu), a sweet and a sour one, in the same manner as T'ao Hun-kin. 4 This distinction is already made by Theo- phrastus. 5 As stated above, there was also a bitter variety. 6 It is likewise a fact of great interest that we have an isolated instance of the occurrence of a pomegranate-tree that reverted to the wild state. The Lu San ki Jf Ul fffi 7 contains this notice: "On the summit of the Hian-lu fun ?J^ ('Censer-Top') there is a huge rock on which several people can sit. There grows a wild pomegranate (San Si-liu ill ~fi t) drooping from the rock. In the third month it produces blos- soms. In color these resemble the [cultivated] pomegranate, but they 1 Modern Cen-tin fu in Ci-li Province. 2 Thus in T'ai p*in yu Ian, Ch. 970, p. 5 b; the Ts'i min yao Su (Ch. 4, p. 14) ascribes the same text to the Kin k'ou ki JEjl P ffS. 3 At present the district which forms the prefectural city of Sun-te in Ci-li Province. 4 Above, p. 279. 5 Historia plantarum, II. II, 7. 6 Pliny (XIII, 113) distinguishes five varieties, dulcia, acria, mixta, acida, vinosa. 7 T*ai p*in yu Ian, Ch. 970, p. 5. The Lu Mountain is situated in Kian-si Prov- ince, twenty-five li south of Kiu-kian. A work under the title Lu San ki was written by C'en Lin-ku $ft & ^ in the eleventh century (WYLIE, Notes on Chinese Liter- ature, p. 55); but, as the T'ai p'in yil Ian was published in A.D. 983, the question here must be of an older work of the same title. In fact, there is a Lu San ki by Kin Si ^ y^ of the Hou Cou dynasty; and the Yuan kien lei nan (Ch. 402, p. 2) ascribes the same text to the Cou Kin Si Lu Ian ki. The John Crerar Library of Chicago (No. 156) possesses a Lu San siao ti in 24 chapters, written by Ts'ai Yin ^ ^ and published in 1824. 282 SlNO-lRANICA are smaller and pale red. When they open, they display a purple calyx of bright and attractive hues." A poem of Li Te-yu ^ ^ ffir (787-849) opens with the words, "In front of the hut where I live there is a wild pomegranate." 1 Fa Hien & IS, the celebrated Buddhist traveller, tells in his Fu kwo ki ^ H IE ("Memoirs of Buddhist Kingdoms"), written about A.D. 420, that, while travelling on the upper Indus, the flora differed from that of the land of Han, excepting only the bamboo, pomegranate, and sugar-cane. 2 This passage shows that Fa Hien was familiar with that tree in China. Huan Tsan observed in the seventh century that pome- granates were grown everywhere in India. 3 Soleiman (or whoever may be the author of this text), writing in A.D. 851, emphasizes the abun- dance of the fruit in India. 4 Ibn Batata says that the pomegranates of India bear fruit twice a year, and emphasizes their fertility on the Maldive Islands. 5 Seedless pomegranates came to the household of the Emperor Akbar from Kabul. 6 The pomegranate occurred in Fu-nan (Camboja), according to the Nan Ts'i $u or History of the Southern Ts'i (A.D. 479-501), compiled by Siao Tse-hien in the beginning of the sixth century. 7 It is mentioned again by Cou Ta-kwanof the Yuan dynasty, in his book on the "Customs of Camboja." 8 In Han-Sou, large and white pomegranates were styled yu liu 3i IS ("jade" liu), while the red ones were regarded as inferior or of second quality. 9 The following ancient terms for the pomegranate, accordingly, are on record: (i) ^ tt t'u-lin, *du-lim. Aside from the Po wu &', this term is used by the Emperor Yuan of the Liang dynasty in a eulogy of the fruit. 10 HiRTH 11 identified this word with an alleged Indian darim; and, according to him, Can K'ien must have brought the Indian name to J Li wei kun pie tsi, Ch. 2, p. 8 (Ki fu ts'un Su, t'ao 10). 2 Cf. J. LEGGE, A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms, p. 24. 3 Ta Tan si yu ki, Ch. 2, p. 8 b (S. BEAL, Buddhist Records of the Western World, Vol. I, p. 88). 4 M. RteiNAUD, Relation des voyages, Vol. I, p. 57. 5 DEFREMERY and SANGUINETTI, Voyages d'Ibn Batoutah, Vol. Ill, p. 129. 6 H. BLOCHMANN, Ain I Akbari, Vol. I, p. 65. 7 PELLIOT, Le Fou-nan, Bull, de VEcole frangaise, Vol. Ill, p. 262. 8 PELLIOT, ibid., Vol. II, p. 168. 9 Mon Han lu ^ *& $& by Wu Tse-mu ^ g $C of the Sung (Ch. 18, p. 5 b; ed. of Ci pu tsu lai ts'un Su). 10 Yuan kien lei han, Ch. 402, p. 3 b. Further, in the lost Hu pen ts'ao, as follows from a quotation in a note to the Pei hu lu (Ch. 3, p. 12). 11 Toung Pao, Vol. VI, 1895, p. 439. THE POMEGRANATE 283 China. How this would have been possible, is not explained by him. The Sanskrit term for the pomegranate (and this is evidently what Hirth hinted at) is dadima or dalima, also dddimva, which has passed into Malayan as dellma. 1 It is obvious that the Chinese transcription bears some relation to this word; but it is equally obvious that the Chinese form cannot be fully explained from it, as it leads only to *du-lim, not, however, to dalim. There are two possibilities: the Chinese transcription might be based either on an Indian vernacular or Apabhramca form of a type like *dulim, *dudim, 2 or on a word of the same form belonging to some Iranian dialect. The difficulty of the problem is enhanced by the fact that no ancient Iranian word for the fruit is known to us. 3 It appears certain, however, that no Sanskrit word is intended in the Chinese transcription, otherwise we should meet the latter in the Sanskrit-Chinese glossaries. The fact remains that these, above all the Fan yi min yi tsi, do not contain the word t'u-lin; and, as far as I know, Chinese Buddhist literature offers no allusion to the pomegranate. Nor do the Chinese say, as is usually stated by them in such cases, that the word is of Sanskrit origin; the only positive information given is that it came along with General Can K'ien, which is to say that the Chinese were under the im- pression that it hailed from some of the Iranian regions visited by him. *Dulim, dulima, or *durim, durima, accordingly, must have been a designation of the pomegranate in some Iranian language. (2) fir 3 tan-Zo t *dan-zak, dan-yak, dan-n'iak. This word appears in the Ku kin cu* and in the Yu yan tsa tsu. 5 Apparently it represents a transcription, but it is not stated from which language it is derived. In my estimation, the foundation is an Iranian word still unknown to us, but congeners of which we glean from Persian ddnak ("small grain")? 1 J. CRAWFURD (History of the Indian Archipelago, Vol. I, p. 433) derives this word from the Malayan numeral five, with reference to the five cells into which the fruit is divided. This, of course, is a mere popular etymology. There is no doubt that the fruit was introduced into the Archipelago from India; it occurs there only cultivated, and is of inferior quality. On the Philippines it was only introduced by the Spaniards (A. DE MORGA, Philippine Islands, p. 275, ed. of Hakluyt Society).. 2 The vernacular forms known to me have the vowel a; for instance, Hindustani darim, Bengali ddlim, dalim or darim; Newari, dhade. The modern Indo-Aryan languages have also adopted the Persian word anar. 8 In my opinion, the Sanskrit word is an Iranian loan-word, as is also Sanskrit karaka, given as a synonyme for the pomegranate in the Amarakosa. The earliest mention of dd^ima occurs in the Bower Manuscript; the word is absent in Vedic literature. 4 At least it is thus stated in cyclopaedias; but the editions of the work, as reprinted in the Han Wei ts'un $u and Kifu ts'un su, do not contain this term. 6 Ch. 1 8, p. 3 b (ed. of Pai hai). 284 SlNO-lRANICA ddna ("grain, berry, stone of a fruit, seed of grain or fruit "), ddngu ("kind of grain"), Sina danu ("pomegranate"); 1 Sanskrit dhanika, dhanyaka, or dhamyaka ("coriander"; properly "grains"). The no- tion conveyed by this series is the same as that underlying Latin granatum, from granum ("grain"); cf. Anglo-Saxon cornappel and English pomegranate ("apple made up of grains"). (3) 3c ^J J nan si liu or 35 t Si liu. This transcription is generally taken in the sense "the plant liu of the countries Nan and Si, or of the country Nan-i." This view is expressed in the Po wu i, which, as stated, also refers to the Can-K'ien legend, and to the term t'u-lin, and continues that this was the seed of the liu of the countries Nan and Si; hence, on the return of Can K'ien to China, the name nan-si-liu was adopted. 2 Bretschneider intimates that Nan and Si were little realms dependent on K'an at the time of the Han. Under the T'ang, the name Nan referred to Bukhara, and Si to TaSKend; but it is hardly credible that these two geographical names (one does not see for what reason) should have been combined into one, in order to designate the place of provenience of the pomegranate. It is preferable to assume that $ ^5 nan $i, *an-sek, an-sak, ar-sak, represents a single name and answers to Arsak, the name of the Parthian dynasty, being on a par with 3c U. nan-si, *Ar-sik, and jc IS nan-si, *Ar-sai. In fact, :: 35 is the best possible of these transcriptions. We should expect, of course, to receive from the Chinese a specific and interesting story as to how and when this curious name, which is unique in their botanical nomenclature, was transmitted; 8 but nothing of the kind appears to be on record, or the record, if it existed, seems to have been lost. It is manifest that also the plant-name liu (*riu, r'u) presents the tran- scription of an Iranian word, and that the name in its entirety was adopted by the Chinese from an Iranian community outside of Parthia, which had received the tree or shrub from a Parthian region, and there- fore styled it "Parthian pomegranate." It is not likely that the tree was transplanted to China directly from Parthia; we have to assume rather that the transplantation was a gradual process, in which the 1 W. LEITNER, Races and Languages of Dardistan, p. 17. 2 It is not correct, as asserted by BRETSCHNEIDER (Chinese Recorder, 1871, p. 222), to say that this definition emanates from Li Si-gen, who, in fact, quotes only the Po wu i, and presents no definition of his own except that the word liu means ^ liu ("goitre"); this, of course, is not to be taken seriously. In Jehol, a variety of pomegranate is styled hai $$ liu (O. FRANKE, Beschreibung des Jehol- Gebietes, p. 75); this means literally, "liu from the sea," and signifies as much as "foreign liu." 3 Cf . nan-si hian ^C JS ^ ("Parthian incense") as designation for styrax benzoin (p. 464). THE POMEGRANATE 285 Iranian colonies outside of Iran proper, those of Sogdiana and Turkis- tan, played a prominent part. We know the Sogdian word for the pomegranate, which is written n'r'kh, and the reading of which has been reconstructed by R. GAUTHiox 1 in the form *narak(a), developed from *anar-aka. This we meet again in Persian anar, which was adopted in the same form by the Mongols, while the Uigur had it as nara. At all events, however, it becomes necessary to restore, on the basis of the Chinese transcription, an ancient *riu, *ru, of some Iranian dialect. This lost Iranian word, in my opinion, presents also the foundation of Greek /$6a or potd, the origin of which has been hitherto unexplained or incorrectly explained, 2 and the Semitic names, Hebrew rimmon, Arabic rummdn, Amharic riiman, Syriac rumond, Aramaic rummdna, from which Egyptian arhmdni or anhmdnl (Coptic erman or herman) is derived. 3 (4) 3? $ %o-liu, *zak (yak, n'iak)-liu (riu). This hybrid compound, formed of elements contained in 2 and 3, is found in the dictionary Kwan ya K 5S, written by Can Yi 36 Si about A.D. 265. 4 It is also employed by the poet P'an Yo of the fourth century, mentioned above. 5 Eventually also this transcription might ultimately be traced to an Iranian prototype. Japanese zakuro is based on this Chinese form. 6 While the direct historical evidence is lacking, the Chinese names of the tree point clearly to Iranian languages. Moreover, the tree itself is looked upon by the Chinese as a foreign product, and its first intro- duction into China appears to have taken place in the latter part of the third century A.D. In my opinion, the pomegranate-tree was transplanted to India, 1 Essai sur le vocalisme du sogdien, p. 49. Cf. also Armenian nrneni for the tree and nurn for the fruit. 2 The etymologies of the Greek word enumerated by SCHRADER (in Hehn, Kulturpflanzen, p. 247) are so inane and far-fetched that they do not merit dis- cussion. It is not necessary, of course, to hold that an immediate transmission of the Persian word took place, but we must look to a gradual propagation and to missing links by way of Asia Minor. According to W. MUSS-ARNOLT (Transactions Am. Phil. Assoc., Vol. XXIII, 1892, p. no), the Cyprian form ftvdla forbids all connection with the Hebrew. It is not proved, however, that this dialectic word has any connection with f>6a ; it may very well be an independent local development. 3 V. LORET, Flore pharaonique, p. 76. Portuguese roma, romeira, from the Arabic; Anglo-Saxon read-appel. 4 This is the date given by WAITERS (Essays on the Chinese Language, p. 38). BRETSCHNEIDER (Bot. Sin., pt. i, p. 164) fixes the date at about 227-240. 5 T'an lei han, Ch. 183, p. 9. 6 Written also fjj ^. E. KAEMPFER (Amoenitates exoticae, p. 800) already mentions this term as dsjakurjo, vulgo sakuro, with the remark, "Rara est hoc coelo et fructu ingrato." 286 SlNO-lRANICA likewise from Iranian regions, presumably in the first centuries of our era. The tree is not mentioned in Vedic, Pali, or early Sanskrit literature; and the word ddlima, dddima, etc., is traceable to Iranian *dulim(a), which we have to reconstruct on the basis of the Chinese transcription. The Tibetans appear to have received the tree from Nepal, as shown by their ancient term bal-poi seu-sin ("seu tree of Nepal")- 1 From India the fruit spread to the Malayan Archipelago and Camboja. Both Cam dalim and Khmer iatim 2 are based on the Sanskrit word.. The variety of pomegranate in the kingdom of Nan-ao in Yun-nan, with a skin as thin as paper, indicated in the Yu yan tsa tsu? may also have come from India. J. ANDERSON 4 mentions pome- granates as products of Yun-nan. Pomegranate-wine was known throughout the anterior Orient at an early date. It is pointed out under the name asis in Cant. VIII, 2 (Vulgata: mustum) and in the Egyptian texts under the name $edeh-it. 6 Dioscorides 8 speaks of pomegranate- wine (poirrjs olvos). Ye-lu C'u- ts'ai, in his Siyulu (account of his journey to Persia^ 1219-24), speak- ing of the pomegranates of Khojand, which are "as large as two fists and of a sour-sweet taste," says that the juice of three or five fruits is pressed out into a vessel and makes an excellent beverage. 7 In the country Tun-sun 21 (Tenasserim) there is a wine-tree resembling the pomegranate; the juice of its flowers is gathered and placed in jars, whereupon after several days it turns into good wine. 8 The inhabitants of Hai-nan made use of pomegranate-flowers in fermenting their wine. 9 I have not found any references to pomegranate-wine prepared by the Chinese, nor is it known to me that they actually make such wine. It is known that the pomegranate, because of its exuberant seeds, is regarded in China as an emblem alluding to numerous progeny; it has become an anti-race-suicide symbol. The oldest intimation of this symbolism looms up in the Pei Si 4t Jfe, where it is told that two pome- granates were presented to King Nan-te 5 ^ of Ts'i 3 on the occasion 1 This matter has been discussed by me in T'oung Pao, 1916, pp. 408-410. In Lo-lo we have sa-bu-se in the A-hi dialect and se-bu-se in Nyi. Sa or se means "grain " (corresponding to Tibetan sa in sa-bon, "seed"). The last element se signifies "tree." The fruit is se-bu-ma (ma, "fruit"). 2 AYMONIER and CABATON, Dictionnaire dam-franfais, p. 220. 8 Ch. 18, p. 3 b. 4 Report on the Expedition to Western Yunan, p. 93 (Calcutta, 1871). 6 V. LORET, Flore pharaonique, pp. 77, 78. ' v, 34- 7 BRETSCHNEIDER, Mediaeval Researches, Vol. I, p. 19. 8 Lian Su, Ch. 54, p. 3. 9 HIRTH, Chau Ju-kua, p. 177. THE POMEGRANATE 287 of his marriage to the daughter of Li Tsu-sou ffi$C. The latter explained that the pomegranate encloses many seeds, and implies the wish for many sons and grandsons. Thus the fruit is still a favorite marriage gift or plays a r61e in the marriage feast. 1 The same is the case in modern Greece. Among the Arabs, the bride, when dismounting before the tent of the bridegroom, receives a pomegranate, which she smashes on the threshold, and then flings the seeds into the interior of the tent. 2 The Arabs would have a man like the pomegranate, bitter- sweet, mild and affectionate with his friends in security, but tempered with a just anger if the time call him to be a defender in his own or in his neighbor's cause. 3 1 See, for instance, H. DOR, Recherches sur les superstitions en Chine, pt. I , Vol. II, p. 479- 2 A. MUSIL, Arabia Petraea, Vol. Ill, p. 191. 8 C. M. DOUGHTY, Travels in Arabia Deserta, Vol. I, p. 564. SESAME AND FLAX 6. In A. DE CANDOLLE'S book 1 we read, "Chinese works seem to show that sesame was not introduced into China before the Christian era. The first certain mention of it occurs in a book of the fifth or sixth century, entitled Ts*i min yao $u. Before this there is confusion between the name of this plant and that of flax, of which the seed also yields an oil, and which is not very ancient in China." Bretschneider is cited as the source for this information. It was first stated by the latter that, according to the Pen ts'ao, hu ma $! K (Sesamum orientate) was brought by Can K'ien from Ta-yuan. 2 In his "Botanicon Sinicum" 3 he asserts positively that hu ma, or foreign hemp, is a plant introduced from west- ern Asia in the second century B.C. 4 The same dogma is propounded by STUART. 5 All that there is to this theory amounts to this. T'ao Hun-kin (A.D. 451-536) is credited in the Pen ts'ao kan mu Q with the statement that "huma 81 jft ('hemp of the Hu') originally grew in Ta-yuan (Fergana) ^ ^ 3^C ^E, 7 and that it hence received the name hu ma ('Iranian hemp')." He makes no reference to Can K'ien or to the time when the introduction must have taken place; and to every one familiar with Chinese records the passage must evoke suspicion through its lack of precision and chronological and other circumstantial evi- dence. The records regarding Ta-yuan do not mention hu ma, nor does this term ever occur in the Annals. Now, T'ao Hun-kin was a Taoist adept, a drug-hunter and alchemist, an immortality fiend; he never crossed the boundaries of his country, and certainly had no special information concerning Ta-yuan. He simply drew on his imagination by arguing, that, because mu-su (alfalfa) and grape sprang 1 Origin of Cultivated Plants, p. 420. 2 Chinese Recorder, 1871, p. 222; adopted by HIRTH, Toung Pao, Vol. VI, 1895, p. 439, and maintained again in Journal Am. Or. Soc., 1917, p. 92. 3 Pt. II, p. 206. 4 Ibid., p. 204, he says, however, that the Pen ts'ao does not speak of flax, and that its introduction must be of more recent date. This conflicts with his statement above. 5 Chinese Materia Medica, p. 404. 6 Ch. 22, p. i. Likewise in the earlier Gen lei pen ts'ao, Ch. 24, p. I b. 7 This tradition is reproduced without any reference in the Pen ts'ao yen i of 1116 (Ch. 20, p. i, ed. of Lu Sin-yuan). 288 SESAME AND FLAX 289 from Ta-yuan (that is, a Hu country), hu ma also, being a Hu plant, must likewise have emanated from that quarter. Such vagaries cannot be accepted as history. All that can be inferred from the passage in question is that T'ao Hun-kin may have been familiar with hu ma. Li Si-Sen, quoting the Mon k*i pi fan Or S Ife by Sen Kwa $6 ffi 1 of the eleventh century, says, "In times of old there was in China only 1 great hemp' ta ma zJcftfc (Cannabis sativa) growing in abundance. The envoy of the Han, Can K'ien, was the first to obtain the seeds of oil-hemp vft jft 2 from Ta-yuan; hence the name hu ma in distinction from the Chinese species ta ma." The Can-K'ien tradition is further voiced in the T*un Zi of Cen Tsiao (1108-62) of the Sung. 3 The T*ai p'in yil Ian* published in A.D. 983, quotes a Pen fc'ao kin of unknown date as saying that Can K'ien obtained from abroad hu ma and hu tou. 5 This legend, accordingly, appears to have arisen under the Sung (A.D. 960-1278); that is, over a millennium after Can K'ien's lifetime. And then there are thinking scholars who would make us accept such stuff as the real history of the Han dynasty! In the T'ang period this legend was wholly unknown: the T'an Pen ts'ao does not allude to any introduction of hu ma, nor does this work speak of Can K'ien in this connection. A serious book like the T*u kin pen fc'ao of Su Sun, which for the first time has also introduced the name yu ma ("oil hemp"), says only that the plant originally grew in the territory of the Hu, that in appear- ance it is like hemp, and that hence it receives the name hu ma. Unfortunately it is only too true that the Chinese confound Sesamum indicum (family Pedaliaceae) and Linum usitatissimum (family Linaceae) in the single term hu ma ("Iranian hemp"); the only apparent reason for this is the fact that the seeds of both plants yield an oil which is put to the same medicinal use. The two are totally different plants, nor do they have any relation to hemp. Philologically, the case is somewhat analogous to that of hu tou (p. 305). It is most probable that the two are but naturalized in China and introduced from Iranian regions, for both plants are typically ancient West- Asiatic cultivations. The alleged wild sesame of China 6 is doubtless an escape from cultivation. 1 This is the author wrongly called "Ch'en Ts'ung-chung " by BRETSCHNEIDER (Bot. Sin., pt. II, p. 377). Ts'un-c"un ^ tf* is his hao. 2 A synonyme of hu ma. 3 Ch. 75, p. 33. 4 Ch. 841, p. 6b. 5 See below, p. 305. 6 FORBES and HEMSLEY, Journal Linnean Soc., Vol. XXVI, p. 236. 2QO SlNO-lRANICA Herodotus 1 emphasizes that the only oil used by the Babylonians is made from sesame. Sesame is also mentioned among their products by the Babylonian priest Berosus (fourth century B.C.). 2 Aelius Callus, a member of the Equestrian order, carried the Roman arms into Arabia, and brought back from his expedition the report that the Nomades (nomads) live on milk and the flesh of wild animals, and that the other peoples, like the Indians, express a wine from palms and oil from sesame. 3 According to Pliny, sesame comes from India, where they make an oil from it, the color of the seeds being white. 4 Both the seeds and the oil were largely employed in Roman pharmacology. 5 Megasthenes 6 mentions the cultivation of sesame in India. It likewise occurs in the Atharva Veda and in the Institutes of Manu (Sanskrit tila)* A. DE CANDOLLE'S view 8 that it was introduced into India from the Sunda Isles in prehistoric times, is untenable. This theory is based on a purely linguistic argument: "Rumphius gives three names for the sesame in these islands, very different one from the other, and from the Sanskrit word, which supports the theory of a more ancient existence in the archipelago than on the continent." This alleged evidence proves nothing whatever for the history of the plant, but is merely a fact of language. 9 There can now be no doubt that from a botanical viewpoint the home of the genus is in tropical Africa, where twelve species occur, while there are only two in India. 10 In the Fan yi min yi tsi, 11 a Sanskrit synonyme of "sesame" is given as PU $1 @ & flW a-t'i-mu-to-k'ie, *a-di-muk-ta-g'a, i.e., Sanskrit adhi- muktaka, which is identified with ku-$en (see below) and hu-ma. An old gloss explains the term as "the foreign flower of pious thoughtful- ness" (San se i hwa 8 & Jl U), an example of which is the lighting of a lamp fed with the oil oC three flowers (sandal, soma, and campaka \Michelia champaca]) and the placing of this lamp on the altar of the 1 1, 193- 2 MULLER, Fragmenta historiae graecae, Vol. II, p. 496. Regarding Egypt, see V. LORET, Flore pharaonique, p. 57. 8 Pliny, vi, 28, 161. 4 Sesama ab Indis venit. Ex ea et oleum faciunt; colos eius candidus (xvin, 22, 96). 8 Pliny, XXH, 64, 132. Strabo, XV. i, 13. 7 JORET, Plantes dans I'antiquit^, Vol. II, p. 269. 8 Origin of Cultivated Plants, p. 422. 9 The Malayan languages possess a common name for Sesamum indicum: Javanese and Malayan lena, Batak lona, Cam lend or land; Khmer lono. 10 A. ENGLER, Pflanzenfamilien, Vol. IV, pt. 3 b, p. 262. 11 Ch. 8, p. 6 (see above, p. 254). SESAME AND FLAX 291 Triratna. 1 From the application of adhimuktdka it becomes self-evident also that sesame-oil must be included in this series. The frequent mention of this oil for sacred lamps is familiar to all readers of the Buddhist Jataka. The above Sanskrit-Chinese Dictionary adds the following comment: "This plant is in appearance like the 'great hemp* (Cannabis sativa). It has red flowers and green leaves. Its seeds can be made into oil; also they yield an aromatic. According to the Tsun kin yin nie lun ? H 31 JR ffe, sesame (ku-$en) is originally charcoal, and, while for a long time buried in the soil, will change into sesame. In the western countries (India) it is customary in anointing the body with fragrant oil to use first aromatic flowers and then to take sesame- seeds. These are gathered and soaked till thoroughly bright; afterwards they proceed to press the oil out of the sesame, which henceforth be- comes fragrant." Of greater importance for our purpose is the antiquity of sesame in Iran. According to Herodotus 2 , it was cultivated by the Chorasmians, Hyrcanians, Parthians, Sarangians, and Thamanaeans. In Persia sesame-oil was known at least from the time of the first Achaemenides. 3 G. WATT* even looks to Persia and Central Asia as the home of the species; he suggests that it was probably first cultivated somewhere between the Euphrates valley and Bukhara south to Afghanistan and upper India, and was very likely diffused into India proper and the Archipelago, before it found its way to Egypt and Europe. Sesamum indicum (var. subindiwswn Dl.) is cultivated in Russian Turkistan and occupies there the first place among the oil-producing plants. It thrives in the warmest parts of the valley of Fergana, and does not go beyond an elevation of two thousand five hundred feet. It is chiefly cultivated in the districts of Namanga and Andijan, though not in large quantity. 5 Its Persian name is kunjut. While there is no doubt that this species was introduced into China from Iranian regions, the time as to when this introduction took place remains obscure. First, there is no historical and dependable record of this event; second, the confusion brought about by the Chinese in treating this subject is almost hopeless. Take the earliest notice of hu ma cited by the Pen ts'ao and occurring in the Pie lu: "Hu ma is also called ku-$en E 0. It grows on the rivers and in the marshes of 1 Cf . EITEL, Handbook of Chinese Buddhism, p. 4. 2 HI, 117. 3 JORET, op. cit. t Vol. II, p. 71. Sesame is mentioned in Pahlavi literature (above, p. 193). 4 Gingelly or Sesame Oil, p. n (Handbooks of Commercial Products, No. 21). 5 S. KORZINSKI, Vegetation of Turkistan (in Russian), p. 50. 292 SlNO-lRANICA San-tan Ji J (south-eastern portion of San-si), and is gathered in the autumn. What is called ts*in %an W j| are the sprouts of the ku-sen. They grow in the river-valleys of Gun-yuan 4 1 $K (Ho-nan)." Nothing is said here about a foreign introduction or a cultivation; on the con- trary, the question evidently is of an indigenous wild swamp-plant, possibly Mulgedium sibiriacum. 1 Both Sesamum and Linum are thor- oughly out of the question, for they grow in dry loam, and sesame espe- cially in sandy soil. Thus suspicion is ripe that the terms hu ma and ku-sen originally applied to an autochthonous plant of San-si and Ho-nan, and that hu ma in this case moves on the same line as the term hu Sen in the Li sao (p. 195). This suspicion is increased by the fact that hu ma occurs in a passage ascribed to Hwai-nan-tse, who died in 122 B.C., and cited in the T'ai p'in yu Ian? Moreover, the Wu si (or p*u) pen ts'ao, written in the first half of the third century by Wu P'u ^ If, in describing hu ma, alludes to the mythical Emperor Sen-nun and to Lei kun If &, a sage employed by the Emperor Hwan in his efforts to perfect the art of healing. The meaning of kit-Sen is "the great superior one." The later authors regard the term as a variety of Sesamum, but give varying definitions of it: thus, T'ao Hun-kin states that the kind with a square stem is called kit-Sen (possibly Mulgedium), that with a round stem hu ma. Su Kun of the T'ang says that the plant with capsules (kio ft ) of eight ridges or angles (pa len A IS) is called kii-$en; that with quadrangular capsules, hu ma. The latter definition would refer to Sesamum indicum, the capsule of which is oblong quadrangular, two-valved and two-celled, each cell containing numerous oily seeds. Mori Sen J!L fJfc, in his Si liao pen fsao (written in the second half of the seventh century), observes that "the plants cultivated in fertile soil produce octangular capsules, while those planted in mountainous fields have the capsules quadrangular, the distinction arising from the difference of soil conditions, whereas the virtues of the two varieties are identical. Again, Lei Hiao IS 5C of the fifth century asserts that ku-sen is genuine, when it has seven ridges or angles, a red color, and a sour taste, but that it is erroneous to style hu ma the octangular capsules with two pointed ends, black in color, and furnishing a black oil. There is no doubt that in these varying descriptions entirely different plants are visualized. Kao C'en of the Sung, in his Si wu ki yuan? 1 STUART, Chinese Materia Medica, p. 269. This identification, however, is uncertain. 2 Ch. 989, p. 6 b. 3 Ch. 10, p. 29 b (see above, p. 279). SESAME AND FLAX 293 admits that it is unknown what the hu ma spoken of in the Pen-ts*ao literature really is. I have also prepared a translation of Li Si-cen's text on the subject, which Bretschneider refrained from translating; but, as there are several difficult botanical points which I am unable to elucidate, I prefer to leave this subject to a competent botanist. In substance Li Si-cen understands by hu ma the sesame, as follows from his use of the modern term ci ma Bit $jt. He says that there are two crops, an early and a late one, 1 with black, white, or red seeds; but how he can state that the stems are all square is unintelligible. The criticism of the statements of his predecessors occupies much space, but I do not see that it enlight- ens us much. The best way out of this difficulty seems to me Stuart's suggestion that the Chinese account confounds Sesamum, Linum, and Mulgedium. The Japanese naturalist Ono Ranzan 2 is of the same opinion. He says that there is no variety of sesame with red seed, as asserted by Li Si-en (save that the black seeds of sesame are reddish in the immature stage), and infers that this is a species of Linum which always produces red seeds exclusively. Ono also states that there is a close correlation between the color of the seeds and the angles of the capsules: a white variety will always produce two or four-angled cap- sules, while hexangular and octangular capsules invariably contain only black seeds. Whether or in how far this is correct I do not know. The confusion of Sesamum and Linum arose from the common name hu ma, but unfortunately proves that the Chinese botanists, or rather pharma- cists, were bookworms to a much higher degree than observers; for it is almost beyond comprehension how such radically distinct plants can be confounded by any one who has even once seen them. In view of this disconsolate situation, the historian can only beg to be excused. 7. It is a point of great culture-historical interest that the Chinese have never utilized the flax-fibre in the manufacture of textiles, but that hemp has always occupied this place from the time of their earliest antiquity. 3 This is one of the points of fundamental diversity between East-Asiatic and Mediterranean civilizations, there hemp, and here flax, as material for clothing. There are, further, two important facts to be considered in this connection, first, that the Aryans 1 In S. COULING'S Encyclopaedia Sinica (p. 504) it is stated that in China there is only one crop, but late and early varieties exist. 2 Honzo komoku keimo, Ch. 18, p. 2. . 3 In a subsequent study on the plants and agriculture of the Indo-Chinese, I hope to demonstrate that the Indo-Chinese nations, especially the Chinese and Tibetans, possess a common designation for "hemp," and that hemp has been cultivated by them in a prehistoric age. There also the history of hemp will be discussed. 294 SlNO-lRANICA (Iranians and Indo- Aryans) possess an identical word for "hemp" (Avestan bangha, Sanskrit bhangd), while the European languages have a distinct designation, which is presumably a loan-word pointing to Finno-Ugrian and Turkish; and, second, that there is a common Old-Turkish word for "hemp" of the type kandir, which stands in some relation to the Finno-Ugrian appellations. 1 It is most likely that the Scythians brought hemp from Asia to Europe. 2 On the other hand, it is well known what vital importance flax and linen claimed in the life of the Egyptians and the classical peoples. 3 Flax is the typically European, hemp the typically Asiatic textile. Surely Linum usitatissimum was known in ancient Iran and India. It was and is still wild in the districts included between the Persian Gulf, the Caspian Sea, and the Black Sea. 4 It was probably introduced into India from Iran, but neither in India nor in Iran was the fibre ever used for garments: the plant was only culti- vated as a source of linseed and linseed-oil. 5 Only a relatively modern utilization of flax-fibres for weaving is known from a single locality in Persia, Kazirun, in the province of Fars. This account dates from the beginning of the fourteenth century, and the detailed description given of the process testifies to its novelty and exceptional character. 6 This exception confirms the rule. The naturalization of Linum in China, of course, is far earlier than the fourteenth century. As regards the utilization of Linum, the Chinese fall in line with Iranians and Indo- Aryans; and it is from Iranians that they received the plant. The case is a clear index of the fact that the Chinese never were in direct contact with the Mediterranean culture-area, and that even such culti- vated plants of this area as reached them were not transmitted from there directly, but solely through the medium of Iranians. The case is further apt to illustrate how superficial, from the viewpoint of tech- nical culture, the influence of the Greeks on the Orient must have been since Alexander's campaign, as an industry like flax-weaving was not promoted by them, although the material was offered there by nature. For botanical reasons it is possible that Linum usitatissimum was introduced into China from Fergana. There it is still cultivated, and only for the exclusive purpose of obtaining oil from the seeds. 7 As has 1 Z. GOMBOCZ, Bulgarisch-turkische Lehnworter, p. 92. 2 Cf. for the present, A. DE CANDOLLE, Origin of Cultivated Plants, p. 148. 8 Pliny, xix, 1-3; H. BLTJMNER, Technologic, Vol. I, 2d ed., p. 191. 4 A. DE CANDOLLE, Origin of Cultivated Plants, p. 130. * See the interesting discussion of WATT, Commercial Products of India, p. 721. 6 G. LE STRANGE, Description of the Province of Fars in Persia, p. 55. 7 S. KORZINSKI, Vegetation of Turkistan (in Russian), p. 51. SESAME AND FLAX 295 been pointed out, the plant is indigenous also in northern Persia, and must have been cultivated there from ancient times, although we have no information on this point from either native documents or Greek authors. 1 BRETSCHNEiDER 2 says that "flax was unknown to the ancient Chinese; it is nowadays cultivated in the mountains of northern China (probably also in other parts) and in southern Mongolia, but only for the oil of its seeds, not for its fibres; the Chinese call it hu ma ('foreign hemp'); the Pen ts'ao does not speak of it; its introduction must be of more recent date." This is erroneous. The Pen ts*ao includes this species under the ambiguous term hu ma; and, although the date of the introduction cannot be ascertained, the event seems to have taken place in the first centuries of our era. At present, the designation hu ma appears to refer solely to flax. A, HENRY* states under this heading, "This is flax (Linum usitatis- simum), which is cultivated in San-si, Mongolia, and the mountainous parts of Hu-pei and Se-S'wan. In the last two provinces, from personal observation, flax would seem to be entirely cultivated for the seeds, which are a common article in Chinese drug-shops, and are used locally for their oil, utilized for cooking and lighting purposes." In another paper, 4 the same author states that Linum usitatissimum is called at Yi-c'afi, Se-S'wan, San Zi ma tfj Ba 5 K ("mountain sap-hemp"), and that it is cultivated in the mountains of the Patufi district, not for the fibre, but for the oil which the seed yields. Chinese hu ma has passed into Mongol as xuma (khuma) with the meaning "sesame," 6 and into Japanese as goma, used only in the sense of Sesamum indicum? while Linum usitatissimum is in Japanese ama or i&nen-ama* Yao Min-hwi $fc ^ J, in his book on Mongolia (Mon-ku &'),* mentions hu ma among the products of that country. There are several wild-growing species of Linum in northern China and Japan, ya ma 1 JORET, Plantes dans 1'antiquitS, Vol. II, p. 69. 2 Bot. Sin., pt. II, p. 204. 8 Chinese Jute, p. 6 (publication of the Chinese Maritime Customs, Shanghai, 1891). 4 Chinese Names of Plants, p. 239 (Journal China Branch Royal As. Soc. t Vol. XXII, 1887). 6 The popular writing ^, according to the Pen ts*ao kan mu, is incorrect. 6 KOVALEVSKI, Dictionnaire mongol, p. 934. 7 MATSUMURA, No. 2924. 8 Ibid., No. 1839. 8 Ch. 3, p. 41 (Shanghai, 1907). 2Q6 SlNO-lRANICA 55 Jtt (Japanese nume-goma or aka-goma), Linum perenne, and Japanese matsuba-ninjin or matsuba-nade&ko, Linum possarioides. 1 FORBES and HEMSLEY, 2 moreover, enumerate Linum nutans for Kan-su, and L. stelleroides for Ci-li, San-tun, Manchuria, and the Korean Archipelago. In northern China, Linum sativum (San-si hu ma tfj 15 iK Jfit ) is cultivated for the oil of its seeds. 3 1 MATSUMURA, Nos. 1837, 1838; STUART, Chinese Materia Medica, p. 242. 2 Journal Linnean Soc., Vol. XXIII, p. 95. 8 This species is figured and described in the i wu min Si t'u k'ao. THE CORIANDER 8. The Po wu &', faithful to its tendencies regarding other Iranian plants, generously permits General Can K'ien to have also brought back from his journey the coriander, hu swi $J I? (Coriandrum sativnm). 1 Li Si-en, and likewise K'an-hi's Dictionary, repeat this statement without reference to the Po wu &'; 2 and of course the credulous com- munity of the Changkienides has religiously sworn to this dogma. 3 Needless to say that nothing of the kind is contained in the General's biography or in the Han Annals. 4 The first indubitable mention of the plant is not earlier than the beginning of the sixth century A.D.; that is, about six centuries after the General's death, and this makes some difference to the historian. 5 The first Pen ts'ao giving the name hu-swi is the Si liao pen ts'ao, written by Mori Sen in the seventh century, followed by the Pen ts'ao & i of C'en Ts'an-k'i in the first half of the eighth century. None of these authors makes any observation on foreign introduction. In the literature on agriculture, the cultivation of the coriander is first described in the Ts*i min yao $u of the sixth century, where, however, nothing is said about the origin of the plant from abroad. An interesting reference to the plant occurs in the Buddhist dic- tionary Yi ts'ie kin yin i (I.e.), where several variations for writing 1 This passage is not a modern interpolation, but is of ancient date, as it is cited in the Yi ts'ie kin yin i, Ch. 24, p. 2 (regarding this work, see above, p. 258). Whether it was contained in the original edition of the Po wu i, remains doubtful. 2 Under ]$} ("garlic") K'an-hi cites the dictionary Tan yiin, published by Sun Mien in A.D. 750, as saying that the coriander is due to Can K'ien. 3 BRETSCHNEIDER, Chinese Recorder, 1871, p. 221, where the term hu-swi is wrongly identified with parsley, and Bot. Sin., pt. I, p. 25; HIRTH, T'oung Pao, Vol. VI, 1895, p. 439. 4 The coriander is mentioned in several passages of the Kin kwei yao lio by the physician Can Cun-km of the second century A.D.; but, as stated above (p. 205), there is no guaranty that these passages belonged to the original edition of the work. "To eat pork together with raw coriander rots away the navel" (Ch. c, p. 23 b). "In the fourth and eighth months do not eat coriander, for it injures the intellect " (ibid., p. 28). "Coriander eaten for a long time makes man very forgetful; a patient must not eat coriander or hwan-hwa ts'ai 31 ^ f| (Lampsana apogonoides)," ibid., p. 29. 6 An incidental reference to hu swi is made in the Pen ts'ao kan mu in the description of the plant Man er (see BRETSCHNEIDER, Bot. Sin., pt. II, No. 438), and ascribed to Lu Ki, who lived in the latter part of the third century A.D. In my opinion, this reading is merely due to a misprint, as there is preserved no description of the hu-swi by Lu Ki. 297 298 SlNO-lRANICA the character swi are given, also the synonymes hian is* at ^ 3 ("fragrant vegetable") and hian sun ^ H. 1 In Kian-nan the plant was styled hu swi ffl |g, also hu ki ffi ||, the pronunciation of the latter character being explained by JfiS k*i y *gi. The coriander belongs to the five vegetables of strong odor (p. 303) forbidden to the geomancers and Taoist monks. 2 I have searched in vain for any notes on the plant that might elucidate its history or introduction; but such do not seem to exist, not even in the various Pen ts'ao. As regards the Annals, I found only a single mention in the Wu Tai &, 3 where the coriander is enumerated among the plants cultivated by the Uigur. In tracing its foreign origin, we are thrown back solely on the linguistic evidence. The coriander was known in Iran: it is mentioned in the Bundahisn. 4 Its medical properties are discussed in detail by Abu Mansur in his Persian pharmacopoeia. 5 SCHLIMMER* observes, "Se cultive presque partout en Perse comme plante potagere; les indigenes le croient antiaphrodisiaque et plus spe*cialement aneantissant les ejections." It occurs also in Fergana. 7 It was highly appreciated by the Arabs in their pharmacopoeia, as shown by the long extract devoted to it by Ibn al-Baitar. 8 In India it is cultivated during the cold season. The San- skrit names which have been given on p. 284, mean simply " grain," and are merely attributes, 9 not proper designations of the plant, for which in fact there is no genuine Sanskrit word. As will be seen below, Sanskrit kustumburu is of Iranian origin; and there is no doubt in my mind that the plant came to India from Iran, in the same manner as it appears to have spread from Iran to China. SB 15 or |g hu-swi, *ko(go)-swi (su), appears to be the transcription of an Iranian form *koswi, koswi, goswi. Cf. Middle Persian go$niz; 1 Two dictionaries, the Tse yuan ^ $B an d Yiin Ho ^ Vtfe, are quoted in this text, but their date is not known to me. As stated in the Pen ts* ao si i and Si wu ki yuan (Ch. 10, p. 30; above, p. 279), the change from hu swi to hian swi was dictated by a taboo imposed by Si Lo ^ Ipj (A.D. 273-333), who was himself a Hu (cf. below, p. 300) ; but we have no contemporaneous account to this effect, and the attempt at explanation is surely retrospective. 1 Pen ts'ao kan mu, Ch. 26, p. 6 b; and STUART, Chinese Materia Medica, p. 28. 8 Ch. 74, P- 4- 4 Above, p. 192. 5 ACHUNDOW, Abu Mansur, p. 112. 6 Terminologie, p. 156. T S. KORZINSKI, Vegetation of Turkistan (in Russian), p. 51. 8 L. LECLERC, Traite" des simples, Vol. Ill, pp. 170-174. 9 Such are also the synonymes sukftnapatra, tikfnapatra, tikjnaphala ("with leaves or fruits of sharp taste"). THE CORTANDER 299 New Persian ki$niz, kuniz, and gi$niz, also Suniz-, 1 Kurd ksnis or Turkish ki$ni$; Russian ktinets; Aramaic kusbarta and kusbar (Hebrew gad, Punic yol5, are unconnected), Arabic kozbera or kosberet; Sanskrit kustumburu and kustumbari; Middle and Modern Greek Kowfiapas* and KLavvrjT^i. According to the Hut k'ian a, the coriander is called in Turkistan (that is, in Turk!) yun-ma-su 3K M 3if . It is commonly said that the coriander is indigenous to the Mediter- ranean and Caucasian regions (others say southern Europe, the Levant, etc.), but it is shown by the preceding notes that Iran should be included in this definition. I do not mean to say, however, that Iran is the ex- clusive and original home of the plant. Its antiquity in Egypt and in Palestine cannot be called into doubt. It has been traced in tombs of the twenty-second dynasty (960-800 B.C.), 8 and Pliny 4 states that the Egyptian coriander is the best. In Iran the cultivation seems to have been developed to a high degree; and the Iranian product was propa- gated in all directions, in China, India, anterior Asia, and Russia. The Tibetan name for the coriander, M-SU, may be connected with or derived from Chinese hu-sui. L. A. WADDELL B saw the plant culti- vated in a valley near Lhasa. It is also cultivated in Siam. 6 Coriander was well known in Britain prior to the Norman Con- quest, and was often employed in ancient Welsh and English medicine and cookery. 7 Its Anglo-Saxon name is cellendre, coliandre, going back to Greek koridndron, koriannon. 1 Another Persian word is bughunj. According to STEINGASS (Persian Diction- ary), talki or tdlgi denotes a "wild coriander." 2 The second element of the Arabic, Sanskrit, and Greek words seems to bear some relation to Coptic bersiu, beresu (V. LORET, Flore pharaonique, p. 72). In Greece, coriander is still cultivated, but only sparsely, near TJieben, Corinth, and Cyparissia (Tn. v. HELDREICH, Nutzpflanzen Griechenlands, p. 41). 3 V. LORET, op. cit., p. 72; F. WOENIG, Pflanzen im alten Aegypten, p. 225. 4 xx, 20, 82. 5 Lhasa, p. 316. ' PALLEGOIX, Description du royaume thai, Vol. I, p. 126. 7 FUteKiGER and HANBURY, Pharmacographia, p. 329. THE CUCUMBER 9. Another dogma of the Changkienomaniacs is that the renowned General should have also blessed his countrymen with the introduction of the cucumber (Cucumis sativus), styled hu kwa $3 jR ("Iranian melon") or hwan kwa !lt JR ("yellow melon"). 1 The sole document on which this opinion is based is presented by the recent work of Li Si-6en, 2 who hazards this bold statement without reference to any older authority. Indeed, such an earlier source does not exist: this bit of history is concocted ad hoc, and merely suggested by the name hu kwa. Any plants formed with the attribute hu were ultimately palmed off on the old General as the easiest way out of a difficult problem, and as a comfortable means of saving further thought. Li Si-5en falls back upon two texts only of the T'ang period, the Pen ts'ao Si i, which states that the people of the north, in order to avoid the name of Si Lo 15 Si (A.D. 273-333), who was of Hu descent, tabooed the term hu kwa, and replaced it by hwan kwa; 3 and the Si i lu Jn'SLUfc by Tu Pao tt 5K, who refers this taboo to the year 608 (fourth year of the period Ta-ye of the Sui dynasty). 4 If this information be correct, we gain a chronological clew as to the terminus a quo: the cucumber appears to have been in China prior to the sixth century A.D. Its culti- vation is alluded to in the Ts*i min yao $u from the beginning of the sixth century, provided this is not an interpolation of later times. 6 According to ENGLER/ the home of the cucumber would most prob- 1 BRETSCHNEIDER, Chinese Recorder, 1871, p. 21 (accordingly adopted by DE CANDOLLE, Origin of Cultivated Plants, p. 266); STUART, Chinese Materia Medica, p. 135. In Japanese, the cucumber is ki-uri. * Pen ts'ao kan mu, Ch. 28, p. 5 b. 1 A number of other plant-names was hit by this taboo (cf . above, p. 298) : thus the plant lo-lo jft 1$) (Ocimum basilicum), which bears the same character as Si Lo's personal name, as already indicated in the Ts'i min yao Su (see also Si wu ki yuan, Ch. 10, p. 30 b; Ci wu min Si t'u k'ao, Ch. 5, p. 34; and Pen ts'ao kan mu, Ch. 26, p. 22 b). He is said to have also changed the name of the myrobalan ho-li-lo (below, p. 378) into ho-tse fpf -J*. There is room for doubt, however, whether any of these plants existed in the China of his time; the taboo explanations may be makeshifts of later periods. 4 This is the Ta ye Si i lu (Records relative to the Ta-ye period, 605-618), mentioned by BRETSCHNEIDER (Bot. Sin., pt. i, p. 195), The Pen ts'ao kan mu (Ch. 22, p. i) quotes the same work again on the taboo of the term hu ma (p. 288), which in 608 was changed into kiao ma ^ jpfrjc. 6 Cf. Ci wu min Si t'u k'ao, Ch. 5, p. 43. 8 In Hehn, Kulturpflanzen, p. 323. 300 THE CUCUMBER 301 ably be in India; and WATT 1 observes, "There seems to be no doubt that one at least of the original homes of the cucumber was in North India, and its cultivation can be traced to the most ancient classic times of Asia." DE CANDOLLE 2 traces the home of the plant to northwestern India. I am not yet convinced of the correctness of this theory, as the historical evidence in favor of India, as usual in such cases, is weak; 3 and the cultivation of the cucumber in Egypt and among the Semites is doubtless of ancient date. 4 At any rate, this Cucurbitacea belongs to the Egypto-West-Asiatic cujture-sphere, and is not indigenous to China. There is, however, no trace of evidence for the gratuitous speculation that its introduction is due to General Can K'ien. The theory that it was transmitted from Iranian territory is probable, but there is thus far no historical document to support it. The only trace of evidence thereof appears from the attribute Hu. Abu Mansur mentions the cucumber under the name qittd, adding the Arabic-Persian xiydr and kawanda in the language of Khorasan. 5 The word xiydr has been adopted into Osmanli and into Hindustani in the form xlrd. Persian xdwuf or xdwa$ denotes a cucumber kept for seed; it means literally "ox-eye" (gdv-a$; Avestan a$i, Middle Persian o, Sanskrit aksi, "eye"), corresponding to Sanskrit gavdk$i ("a kind of cucumber"). A Pahlavi word for "cucumber" is vdtrah, which developed into New Persian bddran, bdlan, or varan (Afghan bddran). 6 1 Commercial Products of India, p. 439. In Sanskrit the cucumber is trapu$a. 2 Op. cit., p. 265. 3 Such a positive assertion as that of de Candolle, that the cucumber was cultivated in India for at least three thousand years, cannot be accepted by any serious historian. 4 V. LORET, Flore pharaonique, p. 75; C. JORET, Plantes dans I'antiquite*, Vol. I, p. 61. 5 ACHUNDOW, Abu'Mansur, p. 106. 6 This series is said to mean also "citron." The proper Persian word for the latter fruit is turunj (Afghan turanj, Baluc"i trunj). The origin of this word, as far as I know, has not yet been correctly explained, not even by HUBSCHMANN (Armen . Gram., p. 266). VULLERS (Lexicon persico-latinum, Vol. I, p. 439) tentatively suggests derivation from Sanskrit suranga, which is surely impossible. The real source is presented by Sanskrit matulurtga ("citron," Citrus medico). CHIVE, ONION, AND SHALLOT 10. Although a number of alliaceous plants are indigenous to China, 1 there is one species, the chive (Allium scorodoprasum; French rocambole], to which, as already indicated by its name hu swan fi9 %& or hu $J ("garlic of the Hu, Iranian garlic"), a foreign origin is ascribed by the Chinese. Again, the worn-out tradition that also this introduction is due to Can K'ien, is of late origin, and is first met with in the spurious work Po wu ci, and then in the dictionary T'an yun of the middle of the eighth century. 2 Even Li Si-Sen 3 says no more than that "people of the Han dynasty obtained the hu swan from Central Asia." It seems difficult, however, to eradicate a long-established prejudice or an error even from the minds of scholars. In 1915 I endeavored to rectify it, especially with reference to the wrong opinion expressed by Hirth in 1895, that garlic in general must have been introduced into China for the first time by Can K'ien. Nevertheless the same misconception is repeated by him in 191 7, 4 while a glance at the Botanicon Sinicum 8 would have convinced him that at least four species of Allium are of a prehistoric antiquity in China. The first mention of this Central- Asiatic or Iranian species of Allium is made by T'ao Hun-kin (A.D. 45 1-536) , provided the statement attributed to him in the Cen lei pen ts*ao and Pen ts'ao kan mu really emanates from him. 6 When the new A Ilium was introduced, the necessity was felt of distinguishing it from the old, indigenous Allium sativum, that was designated by the plain root- word swan. The former, accordingly, was characterized as ta swan Jtijfr ("large Allium"); the latter, as siao /J^ swan ("small Allium"). This distinction is said to have first been recorded by T'ao Hun-kin. Also the Ku kin Zu is credited with the mention of hu swan; this, how- ever, is not the older Ku kin u by Ts'ui Pao of the fourth century, but, as expressly stated in the Pen ts'ao, the later re-edition by Fu Hou 1 Cf. T'oung Pao, 1915, pp. 96-99. 2 BRETSCHNEIDER, Bot. Sin., pt. Ill, No. 244. 1 Pen ts'ao kan mu, Ch. 26, p. 6 b. 4 Journal Am. Or. Soc., Vol. XXXVII, p. 92. 1 Pt. II, Nos. 1-4, 63, 357-360, and III, Nos. 240-243. The Kin kwei yao Ho (Ch. c, p. 24 b) of the second century A.D. mentions hu swan, but this in all probability is a later interpolation (above, p. 205). 302 CHIVE, ONION, AND SHALLOT 303 of the tenth century. However, this text is now inserted in the older Ku kin u, l which teems with interpolations. Ta swan is mentioned also as the first among the five vegetables of strong odor tabooed for the Buddhist clergy, the so-called wu hun 3 $. 2 This series occurs in the Brahmajala-sutra, translated in A.D. 406 by Kumarajlva. 3 If the term ta swan was contained in the original edition of this work, we should have good evidence for carry- ing the date of the chive into the Eastern Tsin dynasty (A.D. 317-419). 11. There is another cultivated species of Allium (probably A. fistulosum) derived from the West. This is first mentioned by Sun Se- miao ii & jH, 4 in his Ts'ien kin Si U f & & ?p (written in the begin- ning of the seventh century), under the name hu ts'un ^ M., because ,j- t^ the root of this plant resembles the hu swan m #3>. It was usually styled swan-ts'un m %H or hu $1 ts'un (the latter designation in the K'ai pao pen ts'ao of the Sung). In the Yin san len yao (p. 236), written in 1331 under the Yuan, it is called hui-hui ts'un @ 1 (" Mohammedan onion"). 8 This does not mean, however, that it was only introduced by Mohammedans; but this is simply one of the many favorite alter- ations of ancient names, as they were in vogue during the Mongol epoch. This Allium was cultivated in Se-c'wan under the T'ang, as stated by Mon Sen " I5fc in his Si liao pen ts'ao, written in the second half of the seventh century. Particulars in regard to the introduction are not on record. 12. There is a third species of Allium, which reached China under the T'ang, and which, on excellent evidence, may be attributed to Persia. In A.D. 647 the Emperor T'ai Tsun solicited from all his tribu- tary nations their choicest vegetable products, 6 and their response to the imperial call secured a number of vegetables hitherto unknown in China. One of these is described as follows: "Hun-t*i onion W SI M resembles in appearance the onion (ts'un, Allium fistulosum), but is whiter and more bitter. On account of its smell, it serves as a remedy. 1 Ch. c, p. 3 b. 2 This subject is treated in the Pen ts*ao kan mu (Ch. 26, p. 6 b) under the article swan, and summed up by STUART (Chinese Materia Medica, p. 28) See, further, DE GROOT, Le Code du Mahayana en Chine, p. 42, where the five plant- names are unfortunately translated wrongly (hin-k'u, "asafoetida" [seep. 361], is given an alleged literal translation as 'Me lys d'eau montant"!), and CHAVANNES and PELLIOT, Traite" maniche'en, pp. 233-235. 3 BUNYIU NANJIO, Catalogue of the Buddhist Tripi^aka, No. 1087. 4 Cf. below, p. 306. 6 Pen ts'ao kan mu, Ch. 26, p. 5. 6 We shall come back to this important event in dealing with the history of the spinach. 304 SlNO-lRANICA In its appearance it is like lan-lin-tun 10 1 %., 1 but greener. When dried and powdered, it tastes like cinnamon and pepper. The root is capable of relieving colds." 2 The Fun Si wen kien ki* adds that hun-t'i came from the Western Countries (5* yu). Hun-t'i is a transcription answering to ancient *gwun-de, and corresponds to Middle Persian gandena, New Persian gandand, Hindi gandand, Bengali gundina (Sanskrit mleccha-kanda, "bulb of the bar- barians")? possibly the shallot (Allium ascalonicum; French echalotte, ciboule) or A. porrum, which occurs in western Asia and Persia, but not in China. 4 Among the vegetables of India, Huan Tsan 5 mentions $ fi hun-t'o (*hun-da) ts'ai. JULIEN left this term untranslated; SEAL did not know, either, what to make of it, and added in parentheses kandu with an interrogation-mark. WATTERS G explained it as "kunda (properly the olibanum-tree)." This is absurd, as the question is of a vegetable culti- vated for food, while the olibanum is a wild tree offering no food. More- over, hun cannot answer to kun; and the Sanskrit word is not kunda, but kundu or kunduru. The mode of writing, hun, possibly is intended to allude to a species of Allium. Huan Tsan certainly transcribed a Sanskrit word, but a Sanskrit plant-name of the form hunda or gunda is not known. Perhaps his prototype is related to the Iranian word previously discussed. 1 The parallel text in the Ts'efu yuan kwei (Ch. 970, p. 12) writes only lin-tun. This plant is unidentified. 2 T'an hut yao, Ch. 100, p. 3 b; and Ch. 200, p. 14 b. 3 Ch. 7, p. i b (above, p. 232). 4 A. DE CANDOLLE, Origin of Cultivated Plants, pp. 68-71; LECLERC, Traite" des simples, Vol. Ill, pp. 69-71; ACHUNDOW, Abu Mansur, pp. 113, 258. Other Persian names are tdrd and kawar. They correspond to Greek vp&crov, Turkish prdsa, Arabic kurdt. The question as to whether the species ascalonicum or porrum should be understood by the Persian term gdnddnd, I have to leave in suspense and to refer to the decision of competent botanists. SCHLIMMER (Terminologie, p. 21) identifies Persian gdnddnd with Allium porrum; while, according to him, A. ascalon- icum should be musir in Persian. VULLERS (Lexicon persico-latinum, Vol. II, p. 1036) translates the word by "porrum." On the other hand, STUART (Chinese Materia Medica, p. 25), following F. P. Smith, has labelled Chinese hiai $J, an Allium anciently indigenous to China, as A. ascalonicum. If this be correct, the Chinese would certainly have recognized the identity of the foreign hun-t'i with hiai, provided both should represent the same species, ascalonicum. Maybe also the two were identical species, but differentiated by cultivation. 6 Ta T'an si yu ki, Ch. 2, p. 8 b. 6 On Yuan Chwang's Travels, Vol. I, p. 178. GARDEN PEA AND BROAD BEAN 13. Among the many species of pulse cultivated by the Chinese, there are at least two to which a foreign origin must be assigned. Both are comprised under the generic term hu ton fi9 -9. ("bean of the Hu," or "Iranian bean"), but each has also its specific nomenclature. It is generally known that, on account of the bewildering number of species and variations and the great antiquity of their cultivation, the history of beans is fraught with graver difficulties than that of any other group of plants. The^cpmmon or garden pea (Pisum sativum) is usually styled wan tou !$5 5L (Japanese $iro-endo), more rarely ts'in siao ton W /J* S ("green small pulse"), ts'in pan tou W E _5L ("green streaked pulse"), and ma lei fK ^ . A term ^ J9. pi tou, *pit (pir) tou, is regarded as characteristic of the T'ang period; while such names as hu tou y Zun $u 3ft it ("pulse of the Zufi"), 1 and hui-hu tou IS S ("pulse of the Uigur;" in the YinjSan Zen yao of the Mongol period changed also into hui-hui tou @ S, "Mohammedan pulse") are apt to bespeak the foreign origin of the plant. 2 Any document alluding to the event of the introduction, however, does not appear to exist in Chinese records. The term hu tou occurs in the present editions of the Ku kin lu? hu-$a fit & being given as its synonyme, and described as "resembling the li tou H .2., but larger, the fruit of the size of a child's fist and eatable." The term li tou is doubtfully identified with Mucuna capitata;* but the species of the Ku kin u defies exact identification; and, as is well known, this book, in its present form, is very far from being able to claim abso- lute credence or authenticity. Also the Kwan &', written prior to A.D. 5 2 7, contains the term hu tou; 5 but this name, unfortunately, is ambig- uous. Li Si-Sen acquiesces in the general statement that the pea has come from the Hu and Zun or from the Western Hu (Iranians) ; he cites, however, a few texts, which, if they be authentic, would permit us to 1 This term is ambiguous, for originally it applies to the soy-bean (Glycine hispida), which is indigenous to China. 2 Cf. Pen ts'ao kan mu, Ch. 24, p. 7; and Kwan k'unfan p'u, Ch. 4, p. u. The list of the names for the pea given by BRETSCHNEIDER (Chinese Recorder, 1871, p. 223) is rather incomplete. 3 Ch. B, p. i b. 4 STUART, Chinese Materia Medica, p. 269. The word li is also written J|. 5 Tai p'in yu Ian, Ch. 841, p. 6 b. 305 306 SlNO-lRANICA fix approximately the date as to when the pea became known to the Chinese. Thus he quotes the Ts'ien kin Jan ^f* 4 ~}j of the Taoist adept Sun Se-miao 3& & i&, 1 of the beginning of the seventh century, as mentioning the term hu tou with the synonymes ts'in siao tou and ma-lei. The Ye lun ki 2 of the fourth century A.D. is credited with the statement that, when Si Hu^ tabooed the word hu $J, the term hu tou was altered into kwo tou H5 a ("bean of the country," "national bean"). Accord- ing to Li Si-cen, these passages allude to the pea, for anciently the term hu tou was in general use instead of wan tou. He further refers to the T*an Si 8f $, as saying that the pi tou comes from the Westerta 2un and the land of the Uigur, and to the dictionary Kwan ya by Can Yi (third century A.D.) as containing the terms pi tou, wan tou, and liu tou "S -9.. It would be difficult to vouchsafe for the fact that these were really embodied in the editio princeps of that work; yet it would not be impossible, after all, that, like the walnut and the pomegranate, so also the pea made its appearance on Chinese soil during the fourth century A.D. There can be no doubt of the fact that it was cultivated in China under the T'ang, and even under the Sui (A.D. 590-617). In the account of Liu-kiu (Formosa) it is stated that the soil of the island is advantageous for the cultivation of hu tou? Wu K'i-tsiin 4 contradicts Li Si-Sen's opinion, stating that the terms hu tou and wan tou apply to different species. None of the Chinese names can be regarded as the transcription of an Iranian word. Pulse played a predominant part in the nutrition of Iranian peoples. The country Si (Tashkend) had all sorts of pulse. 8 Abu Mansur discusses the pea under the Persian name xullar and the Arabic julban* Other Persian words for the pea are nujud and gergeru or xereghan. 7 A wild plant indigenous to China is likewise styled hu tou. It is first disclosed by C'en Ts'an-k'i of the T'ang period, in his Pen ts'ao $ii, as growing wild everywhere in rice-fields, its sprouts resembling the bean. In the Ci wu min Si t*u k'ao 8 we meet illustrations of two wild 1 Regarding this author, see WYLIE, Notes on Chinese Literature, pp. 97, 99; BRETSCHNEIDER, Bot. Sin., pt. I, p. 43; L. WIEGER, Taoisme, le canon, pp. 142, 143, 182; PELLIOT, Bull, de I'Ecolefranfaise, Vol. IX, pp. 435-438. 1 See above, p. 280. 1 Sui Su, Ch. 81, p. 5 b. 4 Ci wu min Si t'u k'ao, Ch. 2, p. 150. 8 T*ai p'ift hwan yii ki, Ch. 186, p. 7 b. 6 ACHUNDOW, Abu Mansur, pp. 41, 223. 7 The latter is given by SCHLIMMER (Terminologie, p. 464). Ch. 2, pp. II, 15. GARDEN PEA AND BROAD BEAN 307 plants. One is termed hui-hui tou ("Mohammedan bean"), first men- tioned in the Kin hwan pen ts'ao of the fourteenth century, called also na-ho tou M fe -2., the bean being roasted and eaten. The other, named hu tou, is identified with the wild hu tou of C'en Ts'an-k'i; and Wu K'i-tsiin, author of the Ci wu mih H t'u k*ao, adds the remark, "What is now called hu tou grows wild, and is not the hu tou [that is, the pea] of ancient times." 14. On the other hand, the term hu tou {$ SL refers also to Faba sativa (F. vulgaris, the vetch or common bean), according to BRET- SCHNEIDER, 1 "one of the cultivated plants introduced from western Asia into China, in the second century B.C., by the famous general Chang K'ien." This is an anachronism and a wild statement, which he has not even supported by any Chinese text. 2 The history of the species in China is lost, or was never recorded. The supposition that it was introduced from Iran is probable. It is mentioned under the name pag (gdvirs) in the Bundahisn as the chief of small-seeded grains. 8 Abu Mansur has it under the Persian name bdqild or bdqld.* Its culti- vation in Egypt is of ancient date. 5 15. Ts'an tou H 5 ("silkworm bean," so called because in its shape it resembles an old silkworm), Japanese soramame, the kidney- bean or horse-bean (Viciafaba), is also erroneously counted by BRET- SCHNEIDER 8 among the Caii-K'ien plants, without any evidence being produced. It is likewise called hu tou ffl 5, but no historical documents touching on the introduction of this species are on record. It is not mentioned in T'ang or Sung literature, and seems to have been intro- duced not earlier than the Yuan period (1260-1367). It is spoken of in the Nun Su It S ("Book on Agriculture") of Wan Cen 3: M of that period, and in the Kiu hwan pen ts'ao ?8fc 5E ^ & of the early 1 Bot. Sin., pt. II, No. 29. 2 The only text to this effect that I know of is the Pen ts'ao kin, quoted in the T'ai p'in yu Ian (Ch. 841, p. 6 b), which ascribes to Can K'ien the introduction of sesame and hu tou; but which species is meant (Pisum sativum, Faba sativa, or Viciafaba) cannot be guessed. The work in question certainly is not the Pen ts % ao kin of Sen- nun, but it must have existed prior to A.D. 983, the date of the publication of the T*ai p'in yu Ian. 1 WEST, Pahlavi Texts, Vol. I, p. 90. 4 ACHUNDOW, Abu Mansur, p. 20. * V. LORET, Flore pharaonique, p. 94. 6 Chinese Recorder, 1871, p. 221 (thus again reiterated by DE CANDOLLE, Origin of Cultivated Plants, p. 318). The Kwan k'iin fan p'u (Ch. 4, p. 12 b) refers the above text from the T'ai p'in yii Ian to this species, but also to the pea. This con- fusion is hopeless. 308 SlNO-lRANICA Ming, 1 which states that "now it occurs everywhere." Li Si-Sen says that it is cultivated in southern China and to a larger extent in Se- 'wan. Wan Si-mou 3: ifr S, who died in 1591, in his Hio pu tsa $u ^ HI $1 0S, a work on horticulture in one chapter, 2 mentions an espe- cially large and excellent variety of this bean from Yun-nan. This is also referred to in the old edition of the Gazetteer of Yun-nan Province (Kiu Yun-nan fun Si) and in the Gazetteer of the Prefecture of Mun- hwa in Yun-nan, where the synonyme nan tou 1M fit ("southern bean") is added, as the flower turns its face toward the south. The New-Persian name of the plant is bageld* 1 Ci wu min Si t'u k'ao, Ch. 2, p. 142. BRETSCHNEIDER (Bot. Sin., pt. i, p. 52) has recognized Vicia faba among the illustrations of this work. 2 Cf. the Imperial Catalogue, Ch. 116, p. 37 b. 3 SCHLIMMER, Terminologie, p. 562. Arabic bdqild. Finally, the Fan yi min yi tsi (section 27) offers a Sanskrit term $fl fjfl wu-kia, "mwut-g'a, translated by hu tou and explained as "a green bean." The corresponding Sanskrit word is mudga (Phaseolus mungo), which the Tibetans have rendered as mon sran rdeu, the term Mon alluding to the origin from northern India or Himalayan regions (Mem. Soc. finno-ougrienne, Vol. XI, p. 96). The Persians have borrowed the Indian word in the form mung, which is based on the Indian vernacular munga or mungu (as in Singha- lese; Pali mugga). Phaseolus mungo is peculiar to India, and is mentioned in Vedic literature (MACDONELL and KEITH, Vedic Index, Vol. II, p. 166). SAFFRON AND TURMERIC 1 6. Saffron is prepared from the deep orange-colored stigmas, with a portion of the style, of the flowers of Crocus sativus (family Irideae). The dried stigmas are nearly 3 cm long, dark red, and aro- matic, about twenty thousand of them making a pound, or a grain containing the stigmas and styles of nine flowers. It is a small plant with a fleshy bulb-like corm and grassy leaves with a beautiful purple flower blossoming in the autumn. As a dye, condiment, perfume, and medicine, saffron has always been highly prized, and has played an important part in the history of commerce. It has been cultivated in western Asia from remote ages, so much so that it is unknown in a wild state. It was always an expensive article, restricted mostly to the use of kings and the upper classes, and therefore subject to adulteration and substitutes. 1 In India it is adulterated with safflower (Carihamus tinctorius} , which yields a coloring-agent of the same deep-orange color, and in Oriental records these products are frequently confused. Still greater confusion prevails between Crocus and Curcuma (a genus of Zingiberaceae) , plants with perennial root-stocks, the dried tubers of which yield the turmeric of commerce, largely used in the composition of curry-powder and as a yellow dye. It appears also that the flowers of Memecylon tinctorium were substituted for saffron as early as the seventh century. The matter as a subject of historical research is there- fore somewhat complex. Orientalists have added to the confusion of Orientals, chiefly being led astray by the application of our botanical term Curcuma, which is derived from an Oriental word originally relating to Crocus, but also confounded by the Arabs with our Curcuma. It cannot be too strongly emphasized that Sanskrit kunkuma strictly denotes Crocus sativus, but never our Curcuma or turmeric (which is Sanskrit haridra)* and 1 Pliny already knew that there is nothing so much adulterated as saffron (adulteratur nihil aeque. xxi, 17, 31). E. WIEDEMANN (Sitzber. Phys.-med. Soz. Erl., 1914, pp. 182, 197) has dealt with the adulteration of saffron from Arabic sources. According to WATT (Commercial Products of India, p, 430), it is too expensive to be extensively employed in India, but is in request at princely marriages, and for the caste markings of the wealthy. 2 This is not superfluous to add, in view of the wrong definition of kunkuma given by EITEL (Handbook of Chinese Buddhism, p. 80). Sanskrit kdvera ("saffron") and kaveri ("turmeric") do not present a confusion of names, as the two words are derived from the name of the trading-place Kavera, Chaveris of Ptolemy and Caber of Cosmas (see MACCRINDLE, Christian Topography of Cosmas, p. 367). 309 310 SlNO-lRANICA that our genus Curcuma has nothing whatever to do with Crocus or saffron. As regards Chinese knowledge of saffron, we must distinguish two long periods, first, from the third century to the T'ang dynasty inclusive, in which the Chinese received some information about the plant and its product, and occasionally tribute-gifts of it; and, second, the Mongol period (1260-1367), when saffron as a product was actually imported into China by Mohammedan peoples and commonly used. This second period is here considered first. Of no foreign product are the notions of the Chinese vaguer than of saffron. This is chiefly accounted for by the fact that Crocus sativus was hardly ever transplanted into their country, 1 and that, although the early Buddhist travellers to India caught a glimpse of the plant in Kashmir, their knowledge of it always remained rather imperfect. First of all, they confounded saffron with safiflower (Carthamus tinctori- us), as the products of both plants were colloquially styled "red flower" (huh hwa SC^tE). Li Si-cen 2 annotates, "The foreign (fan HI) or Tibetan red flower [saffron] comes from Tibet (Si-fan), the places of the Mohammedans, and from Arabia (T'ien-fan 5^ if). It is the hun-lan [Carthamus] of those localities. At the time of the Yuan (1260-1367) it was used as an ingredient in food-stuffs. According to the Po wu ci of Can Hwa, Can K'ien obtained the seeds of the hun-lan [Carthamus] in the Western Countries (Siyii), which is the same species as that in question [saffron], although, of course, there is some difference caused by the different climatic conditions. ' ' It is hence erroneous to state, as asserted by F. P. SMITH, 3 that "the story of Can K'ien is repeated for the saffron as well as for the safflower;" and it is due to the utmost con- fusion that STUART 4 writes, "According to the Pen-ts'ao, Crocus was brought from Arabia by Can K'ien at the same time that he brought the safflower and other Western plants and drugs." Can K'ien in Arabia! The Po wu li speaks merely of safflower (Carthamus) , not of saffron (Crocus), two absolutely distinct plants, which even belong to different families; and there is no Chinese text whatever that would link the saffron with Can K'ien. In fact, the Chinese have nothing to say re- 1 It is curious that the Armenian historian Moses of Khorene, who wrote about the middle of the fifth century, attributes to China musk, saffron, and cotton (YuLE, Cathay, Vol. I, p. 93). Cotton was then not manufactured in China; likewise is saffron cultivation out of the question for the China of that period. 2 Pen ts'ao kan mu, Ch. 15, p. 14 b. 8 Contributions towards the Materia Medica of China, p. 189. 4 Chinese Materia Medica, p. 131. SAFFRON AND TURMERIC 311 garding the introduction or cultivation of saffron. 1 The confusion of Li Si-Sen is simply due to an association of the two plants known as "red flower." Safflower is thus designated in the TW min yao $u, further by Li Gun ^ 4 1 of the T'ang and in the Sun &', where the yen-ci red flower is stated to have been sent as tribute by the prefecture of Hin-yuan J^ 7C in Sen-si. 2 The fact that Li Si-cen in the above passage was thinking of saffron becomes evident from two foreign words added to his nomen- clature of the product: namely, V ffe !fi ki-fu-lan and 8fc fc IP sa-fa- tsi. The first character in the former transcription is a misprint for && tsa (*tsap, dzap); the last character in the latter form must be emen- dated into &P /aw. 3 Tsa-fu-lan and sa-fa-lan (Japanese sqfuran, Siamese faran), as was recognized long ago, represent transcriptions of Arabic za'ferdn or za'faran, which, on its part, has resulted in our "saf- 1 BRETSCHNEIDER (Chinese Recorder, 1871, p. 222) asserts that saffron is not cultivated in Peking, but that it is known that it is extensively cultivated in other parts of China. I know nothing about this, and have never seen or heard of any saffron cultivation in China, nor is any Chinese account to that effect known to me. Crocus sativus is not listed in the great work of F. B. FORBES and W. B. HEMSLEY (An Enumeration of All the Plants known from China Proper, comprising Vols. 23, 26, and 36 of the Journal of the Linnean Society}, the most comprehensive syste- matic botany of China. ENGLER (in Hehn, Kulturpflanzen, p. 270) says that Crocus is cultivated in China. WATT (Dictionary, Vol. II, p. 593) speaks of Chinese saffron imported into India. It is of especial interest that Marco Polo did not find saffron in China, but he reports that in the province of Fu-kien they have "a kind of fruit, resembling saffron, and which serves the purpose of saffron just as well" (YULE, Marco Polo, Vol. II, p. 225). It may be, as suggested by Yule after Fliickiger, that this is Gardenia florida, the fruits of which are indeed used in China for dyeing-pur- poses, producing a beautiful yellow color. On the other hand, the Pen ts'ao kan mu Si i (Ch. 4, p. 14 b) contains the description of a "native saffron" (t'u hun hwa -fc j|t ^, in opposition to the "Tibetan red flower" or genuine saffron) after the Con- tinued Gazetteer of Fu-kien jj) jjjt |J[ ;, as follows: "As regards the native saffron, the largest specimens are seven or eight feet high. The leaves are like those of the p'i-p'a $ | (Eriobotrya japonicd), but smaller and without hair. In the autumn it produces a white flower like a grain of maize (su-mi 5H 7^, Zea mays). It grows in Fu-cou and Nan-nen-cou ffj JlH >}\\ [now Yan-kian |j| in K wan-tun] in the mountain wilderness. That of Fu-cou makes a fine creeper, resembling the fu-yun (Hibiscus mutabilis), green above and white below, the root being like that of the ko Ifij (Pachyrhizus thunbergianus). It is employed in the pharmacopoeia, being finely chopped for this purpose and soaked overnight in water in which rice has been scoured; then it is soaked for another night in pure water and pounded: thus it is ready for prescriptions." This species has not been identified, but may well be Marco Polo's pseudo-saffron of Fu-kien. 2 Tu Su tsi Fen, XX, Ch. 158. 3 Cf. WATTERS, Essays on the Chinese Language, p. 348. This transcription, however, does not prove, as intimated by Watters, that "this product was first imported into China from Persia direct or at least obtained immediately from Persian traders." The word zafardn is an Arabic loan-word in Persian, and may have been brought to China by Arabic traders as well. 312 SlNO-lRANICA fron." 1 It is borne out by the very form of these transcriptions that they cannot be older than the Mongol period when the final consonants had disappeared. Under the T'ang we should have *dzap-fu-lam and *sat-fap-lan. This conclusion agrees with Li Si-Sen's testimony that saffron was mixed with food at the time of the Yuan, an Indo-Persian custom. Indeed, it seems as if not until then was it imported and used in China; at least, we have no earlier document to this effect. Saffron is not cultivated in Tibet. There is no Crocus tibetan us, as tentatively introduced by PERROT and HuRRiER 2 on the basis of the Chinese term "Tibetan red flower." This only means that saffron is exported from Tibet to China, chiefly to Peking; but Tibet does not produce any saffron, and imports it solely from Kashmir. STUART 3 says that "Ts*an hun hwa W> itt ~fe ('Red flower from Tsan,' that is, Central Tibet) is given by some foreign writers as another name for saffron, but this has not been found mentioned by any Chinese writer." In fact, that term is given in the Pen ts*ao kan mu Si * 4 and the Ci wu min Si t'u k*ao of i848, B where it is said to come from Tibet (Si-tsan) and to be the equivalent of the Fan hun hwa of the Pen ts'ao kan mu. Ts*an hwa is still a colloquial name for saffron in Peking; it is also called simply hun hwa ("red flower"). 8 By Tibetans in Peking I heard it designated gur-kum, sa-ka-ma, and dri-bzah ("of good fragrance"). Saffron is looked upon by the Chinese as the most valuable drug sent by Tibet, ts'an hian ("Tibetan incense") ranking next. Li Si-en 7 holds that there are two yii-kin flit 4, the yii-kin aromatic, the flowers of which only are used; and the yii-kin the root of which is employed. The former is the saffron (Crocus sativus); the latter, a Curcuma. As will be seen, however, there are at least three yii-kin. Of the genus Curcuma, there are several species in China and Indo-China, C. leucorrhiza (yii-kin), C. longa (kian hwan H or :c 3f, 1 The Arabs first brought saffron to Spain; and from Arabic za'fardn are derived Spanish azafran, Portuguese agafrao or azafrao, Indo-Portuguese safrao, Italian zafferano, French safran, RumanAn sofrdn. The same Arabic root (*a$fur, "yellow") has supplied also those Romance words that correspond to our safflow, safflower (Carthamus tinctorius), like Spanish azafranillo, alazor, Portuguese agafroa, Italian asforo, French safran; Old Armenian zavhran, New Armenian zafran; Russian safran; Uigur sakparan. 2 Mat. me"d. et pharmacope'e sino-annamites, p. 94. 8 Chinese Materia Medica, p. 132. 4 Ch. 4, p. 14 b. 6 Ch. 4, p. 35 b. It should be borne in mind that this name is merely a modern colloquialism, but hun hwa, when occurring in ancient texts, is not "saffron," but "safflower" (Carthamus tinctorius) ; see below, p. 324. 7 Pen ts'ao kan mu, Ch. 14, p. 18. SAFFRON AND TURMERIC 313 " ginger-yellow"), C. pallida, C. petiolata, C. zedoaria. Which particular species was anciently known in China, is difficult to decide; but it appears that at least one species was utilized in times of antiquity. Curcuma longa and C. leucorrhiza are described not earlier than theT'ang period, and the probability is that either they were introduced from the West; or, if on good botanical evidence it can be demonstrated that these species are autochthonous, 1 we are compelled to assume that superior cultivated varieties were imported in the T'ang era. In regard to yil-kin (C. leucorrhiza), Su Kun of the seventh century observes that it grows in Su (Se-'wan) and Si-z"un, and that the Hu call it $1 ma-$M, *mo-dzut (dzut), 2 while he states with reference to kian- hwan (C. longa) that the Zun 3JG A call it | $u, *d2ut (dzut, dzur) ; he also insists on the close resemblance of the two species. Likewise C'en Ts'an-k'i, who wrote in the first part of the eighth century, states concerning kian-hwan that the kind coming from the Western Bar- barians (Si Fan) is similar to yu-kin and $u yao H IS. 3 Su Sun of the Sung remarks that yil-kin now occurs in all districts of Kwan-tuii and Kwan-si, but does not equal that of Se-c'wan, where it had previously existed. K'ou Tsun-sl 4 states that yu-kin is not aromatic, and that in his time it was used for the dyeing of woman's clothes. Li Si-cen re- minds us of the fact that yu-kin was a product of the Hellenistic Orient (Ta Ts'in) : this is stated in the Wei lio of the third century, 5 and the Lion $u 6 enumerates yu-kin among the articles traded from Ta Ts'in to western India. 7 The preceding observations, in connection with the foreign names 1 According to LOUREIRO (Flora Cochin-Chinensis, p. 9), Curcuma longa grows wild in Indo-China. 2 This foreign name has not been pointed out by Bretschneider or Stuart or any previous author. 3 This term is referred (whether correctly, I do not know) to K&mpferia pundurata (STUART, Chinese Materia Medica, p. 227). Another name for this plant is J|g ^ j$c p'un-no su (not mou), *bun-na. Now, Ta Min states that the Curcuma growing on Hai-nan is ^fr ^ Jt p*un-no su, while that growing in Kian-nan is kian-hwan (Curcuma longa}. K&mpferia belongs to the same order as Curcuma, Scitamineae. According to Ma Ci of the Sung, this plant grows in Si-zun and in all districts of Kwan-nan; it is poisonous, and the people of the West first test it on sheep: if these refuse to eat it, it is discarded. Chinese p'un-no, *bun-na, looks like a transcription of Tibetan bon-na, which, however, applies to aconite. 4 Pen ts'ao yen i, Ch. 10, p. 3. 5 San kwo ci, Ch. 30, p. 13. 6 Ch. 78, p. 7. 7 The question whether in this case Curcuma or Crocus is meant, cannot be decided; both products were known in western Asia. C'en Ts'an-k'i holds that the yu-kin of Ta Ts'in was safflower (see below). 314 SlNO-lRANICA u and ma-$u, are sufficient to raise serious doubts of the indigenous character of Curcuma; and for my part, I am strongly inclined to believe that at least two species of this genus were first introduced into Se-c'wan by way of Central Asia. This certainly would not exclude the possi- bility that other species of this genus, or even other varieties of the imported species, pre-existed in China long before that time; and this is even probable, in view of the fact that a fragrant plant yii %H, which was mixed with sacrificial wine, is mentioned in the ancient Cou li, the State Ceremonial of the Cou Dynasty, and in the Li ki. The com- mentators, with a few exceptions, agree on the point that this ancient yil was a yu-kin; that is, a Curcuma. 1 In India, Curcuma longa is extensively cultivated all over the coun- try, and probably so from ancient times. The plant (Sanskrit haridrd) is already listed in the Bower Manuscript. From India the rhizome is exported to Tibet, where it is known as yun-ba or skyer-pa, the latter name originally applying to the barberry, the wood and root of which, like Curcuma, yield a yellow dye. Ibn al-Baitar understands by kurkum the genus Curcuma, not Cro- cus, as is obvious from his definition that it is the great species of the tinctorial roots. These roots come from India, being styled hard in Persian; this is derived from Sanskrit haridrd (Curcuma longa). Ibn Hassan, however, observes that the people of Basra bestow on hard the name kurkum, which is the designation of saffron, and to which it is assimilated; but then he goes on to confound saffron with the root of wars, which is a Memecylon (see below). 2 Turmeric is called in Persian zird-cube or darzard (" yellow wood"). According to GARCIA DA ORTA, it was much exported from India to Arabia and Persia; and there was unanimous opinion that it did not grow in Persia, Arabia, or Turkey, but that all comes from India. 3 The name yil-kin, or with the addition hian (" aromatic"), 4 is fre- quently referred in ancient documents to two different plants of Indian and Iranian countries, Memecylon tinctorium and Crocus sativus, the 1 Cf. BRETSCHNEIDER, Bot. Sin., pt. II, No. 408. 2 LECLERC, Traite" des simples, Vol. Ill, p. 167. 8 C. MARKHAM, Colloquies, p. 163. 4 As a matter of principle, the term yu-kin hian strictly refers to saffron. It is this term which BRETSCHNEIDER (Bot. Sin., pt. II, No. 408) was unable to identify, and of which STUART (Chinese Materia Medica, p. 140) was compelled to admit, "The plant is not yet identified, but is probably not Curcuma. 1 ' The latter remark is to the point. The descriptions we have of yu-kin hian, and which are given below, exclude any idea of a Curcuma. The modern Japanese botanists apply the term yu-kin hian (Japanese ukkonko) to Tulipa gesneriana, a flower of Japan (MATSUMURA, No. 3193)- SAFFRON AND TURMERIC 315 latter possibly confounded again with Curcuma. 1 It is curious that in the entire Pen-ts'ao literature the fact has been overlooked that under the same name there is also preserved the ancient description of a tree. This fact has escaped all European writers, with the sole exception of PALLADIUS. In his admirable Chinese-Russian Dictionary 2 he gives the following explanation of the term yu-kin: "Designation of a tree in Ki-pin; yellow blossoms, which are gathered, and when they begin to wither, are pressed, the sap being mixed with other odorous sub- stances; it is found likewise in Ta Ts'in, the blossoms being like those of saffron, and is utilized in the coloration of wine." A description of this tree yii-kin is given in the Buddhist dictionary Yi ts'ie kin yin i s of A.D. 649 as follows: "This is the name of a tree, the habitat of which is in the country Ki-pin B 9. (Kashmir). Its flowers are of yellow color. The trees are planted from the flowers. One waits till they are faded; the sap is then pressed out of them and mixed with other substances. It serves as an aromatic. The grains of the flowers also are odoriferous, and are likewise employed as aro- matics." I am inclined to identify this tree with Memecylon tinctorium, M. edule, or M. capitellatum (Melastomaceae), a very common, small tree or large shrub in the east and south of India, Ceylon, Tenasserim, and the Andamans. The leaves are employed in southern India for dyeing a " delicate yellow lake." The flowers produce an evanescent yellow. 4 In restricting the habitat of the tree to Kashmir, Hiian Yin is doubtless influenced by the notion that saffron (yu-kin) was an exclusive product of Kashmir (see below). The same tree is described by Abu Mansur under the name wars as a saffron-like plant of yellow color and fragrant, and employed by Arabic women for dyeing garments. 5 The ancients were not acquainted 1 A third identification has been given by BRETSCHNEIDER (Chinese Recorder, 1871, p. 222), who thought that probably the sumbul (Sumbulus moschatus) is meant. This is a mistaken botanical name, but he evidently had in mind the so-called musk- root of Euryangium or Ferula sumbul, of musk-like odor and acrid taste. The only basis for this identification might be sought in the fact that one of the synonym es given for yu-kin hian in the Pen ts'ao is ts'ao se hian J=pL jff ^ ("vegetable musk"); this name itself, however, is not explained. Saffron, of course, has no musk odor; and the term ts'ao se hian surely does not relate to saffron, but is smuggled in here by mistake. The Tien hai yii hen ci (Ch. 3, p. I b, see above, p. 228) also equates yu- kin hian with ts*ao se hian, adding that the root is like ginger and colors wine yel- low. This would decidedly hint at a Curcuma. Z Vol. II, p. 202. 3 Ch. 24, p. 8 (cf. Beginnings of Porcelain, p. 115; and above, p. 258). 4 WATT, Dictionary of the Economic Products of India, Vol. V, p. 227. 6 ACHUNDOW, Abu Mansur, p. 145. 316 SlNO-lRANICA with this dye. Abu Hanifa has a long discourse on it. 1 Ibn Hassan knew the root of wars, and confounded it with saffron. 2 Ibn al-Baitar offers a lengthy notice of it. 3 Two species are distinguished, one from Ethiopia, black, and of inferior quality; and another from India, of a brilliant red, yielding a dye of a pure yellow. A variety called barida dyes red. It is cultivated in Yemen. Also the association with Cur- cuma and Crocus is indicated. Isak Ibn Amran remarks, "It is said that wars represents roots of Curcuma, which come from China and Yemen"; and Ibn Massa el-Basri says, "It is a substance of a brilliant red which resembles pounded saffron." This explains why the Chinese included it in the term yu-kin. LECLERC also has identified the wars of the Arabs with Memecylon tinctorium, and adds, "L'ouars n'est pas le produit exclusif de 1'Arabie. On le rencontre abondamment dans 1'Inde, notamment aux environs de Pondiche*ry qui en a envoye* en Europe, aux dernieres expositions. II s'appelle kana dans le pays." 4 The Yamato honzo speaks of yu-kin as a dye-stuff coming from Siam; this seems to be also Memecylon. The fact that the Chinese included the product of Memecylon in the term yu-kin appears to indicate that this cheap coloring-matter was substituted in trade for the precious saffron. While the Chinese writers on botany and pharmacology have over- looked yu-kin as the name of a tree, they have clearly recognized that the term principally serves for the designation of the saffron, the product of the Crocus sativus. This fact is well borne out by the descriptions and names of the plant, as well as by other evidence. The account given of Central India in the Annals of the Liang Dynasty 5 expressly states that yu-kin is produced solely in Kashmir (Ki-pin), that its flower is perfectly yellow and fine, resembling the flower fu-yun (Hibiscus mutabilis) . Kashmir was always the classical land famed for the cultivation of saffron, which was (and is) thence exported to India, Tibet, Mongolia, and China. In Kashmir, Uddiyana, 1 ACHUNDOW, Abu Mansur, p. 272. 2 LECLERC, Traite" des simples, Vol. Ill, p. 167. 8 Ibid., p. 409, 4 Arabic wars has also been identified with Flemingia congesta (WATT, Diction- ary, Vol. Ill, p. 400) and Mallotus philippinensis (ibid., Vol. V, p. 114). The whole subject is much confused, particularly by FLUCKIGER and H ANBURY (Pharma- cographia, p. 573; cf. also G. JACOB, Beduinenleben, p. 15, and Arab. Geographen, p. 166), but this is not the place to discuss it. The Chinese description of the yu-kin tree does not correspond to any of these plants. 6 Lian $u, Ch. 54, p. 7 b. This work was compiled by Yao Se-lien in the first half of the seventh century from documents of the Liang dynasty, which ruled from A.D. 502 tO 556. SAFFRON AND TURMERIC 317 and Jaguda (Zabulistan) it was observed by the famous pilgrim Huan Tsan in the seventh century. 1 The Buddhist traveller Yi Tsiii (671-695) attributes it to northern India. 2 The earliest description of the plant is preserved in the Nan cou i wu ci, written by Wan Cen in the third century A.D., 3 who says, "The habitat of yu-kin is in the country Ki-pin (Kashmir), where it is culti- vated by men, first of all, for the purpose of being offered to the Buddha. After a few days the flower fades away, and then it is utilized on account of its color, which is uniformly yellow. It resembles the fu-yun (Hibiscus) and a young lotus (Nelumbium speciosum), and can render wine aromatic." This characteristic is fairly correct, and unequivocally applies to the Crocus, which indeed has the appearance of a liliaceous plant, and therefore belongs to the family Irideae and to the order Liliiflorae. The observation in regard to the short duration of the flowers is to the point. 4 In A.D. 647 the country Kia-p'i f8U iJt in India offered to the Court yu-kin hian, which is described on this occasion as follows: "Its leaves are like those of the mai-men-tun P9 % (Ophiopogon spicatus). It blooms in the ninth month. In appearance it is similar to fu-yun (Hibiscus mutabilis) . It is purple-blue $? 1 in color. Its odor may be perceived at a distance of several tens of paces. It flowers, but does not bear fruit. In order to propagate it, the root must be taken." 5 1 S. JULIEN, Me"moires sur les centimes occidentales, Vol. I, pp. 40, 131; Vol. II, p. 187 (s^ory of the Saffron-Stupa, ibid., Vol. I, p. 474; or S. BEAL, Buddhist Records, Vol. TI, p. 125); W. W. ROCKHILL, Life of the Buddha, p. 169; S. Lvi, Journal asiatiquc 1915, I, pp. 83-85. 2 TAKAKUSU'S Tanslation, p. 128; he adds erroneously, "species of Curcuma." 3 Pen ts'ao kan v, Ch. 14, p. 22. 4 Compare Pliny's (xxi, 17, 34) description of Crocus: "Floret vergiliarum occasu paucis diebus folioque florem expellit. Viret bruma et colligitur; siccatur umbra, melius etiam hiberna." 5 T'an hui yao, Ch. 200, pp. 14 a-b. This text was adopted by the Pen ts'ao kan mu (Ch. 14, p. 22), which quotes it from the T'ang Annals. Li Si-Sen comments that this description agrees with that of the Nan cou i wu U, except in the colors of the flower, which may be explained by assuming that there are several varieties; in this he is quite correct. The flower, indeed, occurs in a great variation of colors, purple, yellow, white, and others. W. WOODVILLE (Medical Botany, Vol. IV, p. 763) gives the following description of Crocus: "The root is bulbous, perennial: the flower appears after the leaves, rising very little above the ground upon a slender succulent tube: the leaves rise higher than the flower, are linear, simple, radical, of a rich green colour, with a white line running in the centre, and all at the base inclosed along with the tube of the flower in a membranous sheath. The flower is large, of a bluish purple, or lilac colour: the corolla consists of six petals, which are nearly elliptical, equal, and turned inwards at the edges. The filaments are three, short, tapering, and support long erect yellow antherae. The germen is roundish, from 318 SlNO-lRANICA The last clause means that the plant i propagated from bulbs. There is a much earlier tribute-gift of saffron on record. In A.D. 519, King Jayavarman of Fu-nan (Camboja) offered saffron with storax and other aromatics to the Chinese Court. 1 Accordingly we have to assume that in the sixth century saffron was traded from India to Camboja. In fact we know from the T'ang Annals that India, in her trade with Camboja and the anterior Orient, exported to these coun- tries diamonds, sandal-wood, and saffron. 2 The T'ang Annals, further, mention saffron as a product of India, Kashmir, Uddiyana, Jaguda, and Baltistan. 3 In A.D. 719 the king of Nan (Bukhara) presented thirty pounds of saffron to the Chinese Emperor. 4 Li Si-cen has added to his notice of yii-kin hian a Sanskrit name 3K & If 'a-ku-mo, *d2a-gu-ma, which he reveals from the Suvar- naprabhasa-sutra. 5 This term is likewise given, with the translation yii-kin , in the Chinese-Sanskrit Dictionary Fan yi min yi tsi. 6 This name has been discussed by me and identified with Sanskrit jaguda through the medium of a vernacular form *jaguma, the ending -ma corresponding to that of Tibetan Sa-ka-ma. 1 A singular position is taken by C'en Ts'an-k'i, who reports, " Yii-kin aromatic grows in the country Ta Ts'in. It flowers in the second or third month, and has the appearance of the hun-lan (safflower, Car- thamus tinctorius) . 8 In the fourth or fifth month the flowers are gathered and make an aromatic." This, of course, cannot refer to the saffron which blooms in September or October. C'en Ts'an-k'i has created confusion, and has led astray Li Si-cen, who wrongly enumerates hun- lan hwa among the synonymes of yii-kin hian. The inhabitants of Ku-lin (Quilon) C KH rubbed their bodies with which issues a slender style, terminated by three long convoluted stigmata, of a deep yellow colour. The capsule is roundish, three-lobed, three-celled, three-valved, and contains several round seeds. It flowers in September and October." 1 According to the Lian $u; cf. PELLIOT, Bull, de VEcolefran$aise, Vol. Ill, p. 270. 2 Tan $u, Ch. 221 A, p. 10 b. 3 Kiu Tan su, Ch. 221 B, p. 6; 198, pp. 8 b, 9; Tan $u, Ch. 221 A, p. 10 b; cf. CHAVANNES (Documents sur les Tou-kiue occidentaux, pp. 128, 150, 160, 166), whose identification with Curcuma longa is not correct. 4 CHAVANNES, ibid., p. 203. 6 The passage in which Li Si-Sen cites this term demonstrates clearly that he discriminated well between Crocus and Curcuma; for he adds that "6'a-ku-mo is the aromatic of the yii-kin flower (Crocus), but that, while it is identical in name with the yii-kin root (Curcuma) utilized at the present time, the two plants are different." 6 Ch. 8, p. 10 b. 7 Toung Pao, 1916, p. 458. 8 See below, p. 324. SAFFRON AND TURMERIC 319 yu-kin after every bath, with the intention of making it resemble the "gold body" of a Buddha. 1 Certainly they did not smear their bodies with " turmeric," 2 which is used only as a dye-stuff, but with saffron. Annamese mothers rub the bodies of their infants with saffron-powder as a tonic to their skin. 3 The Ain-i Akbari, written 1597 in Persian by Abul Fazl 'Allami (1551-1602), gives detailed information on the saffron cultivation in Kashmir, 4 from which the following extract may be quoted: "In the village of Pampur, one of the dependencies of Vlhi (in Kashmir), there are fields of saffron to the extent of ten or twelve thousand bighas, a sight that would enchant the most fastidious. At the close of the month of March and during all April, which is the season of cultivation, the land is plowed up and rendered soft, and each portion is prepared with the spade for planting, and the saffron bulbs are hard in the ground. In a month's time they sprout, and at the close of September, it is at its full growth, shooting up somewhat over a span. The stalk is white, and when it has sprouted to the height of a finger, one bud after another begins to flower till there are eight flowers. It has six lilac-tinted petals. Usually among six filaments, three are yellow and three ruddy. The last three yield the saffron. [There are three stamens and three stigmas in each flower, the latter yielding the saffron.] When the flowers are past, leaves appear upon the stalk. Once planted it will flower for six years in succession. The first year, the yield is small : in the second as thirty to ten. In the third year it reaches its highest point, and the bulbs are dug up. If left in the same soil, they gradually deteriorate, but if taken up, they may be profitably transplanted." The Emperor Jahangir was deeply impressed by the saffron planta- tions of Kashmir, and left the following notes in his Memoirs: 5 "As the saffron was in blossom, his Majesty left the city to go to Pampur, which is the only place in Kashmir where it flourishes. Every parterre, every field, was, as far as the eye could reach, covered with flowers. The stem inclines toward the ground. The flower has five petals of a violet color, and three stigmas producing saffron are found within it, and that is the purest saffron. In an ordinary year, 400 1 Lin wai tai ta, Ch. 2, p. 13. 2 HIRTH, Chau Ju-kua, p. 91. 3 PERROT and HURRIER, Mat. me"d. et pharmacope*e sino-annamites, p. 94. Cf. also MARCO POLO'S observation (YULE'S edition, Vol. II, p. 286) that the faces of stuffed monkeys on Java are daubed with saffron, in order to give them a manlike appearance. 4 Translation of H. BLOCHMANN, Vol. I, p. 84; Vol. II, p. 357. 6 H. M. ELLIOT, History of India as told by Its Own Historians, Vol. VI, p. 375 320 SlNO-lRANICA maunds, or 3200 Khurasan! maunds, are produced. Half belongs to the Government, half to the cultivators, and a sir sells for ten rupees; but the price sometimes varies a little. It is the established custom to weigh the flowers, and give them to the manufacturers, who take them home and extract the saffron from them, and upon giving the extract, which amounts to about one-fourth weight of the flower, to the public officers, they receive in return an equal weight of salt, in lieu of money wages." The ancient Chinese attribute saffron not only to Kashmir, but also to Sasanian Persia. The Cou $u l enumerates yu-kin among the products of Po-se (Persia) ; so does the Sui $u. 2 In fact, Crocus occurs in Persia spontaneously, and its cultivation must date from an early period. Aeschylus alludes to the saffron-yellow footgear of King Darius. 3 Saffron is mentioned in Pahlavi literature (above, p. 193). The plant is well attested for Derbend, Ispahan, and Transoxania in the tenth century by Istaxri and Edrisi. 4 Yaqut mentions saffron as the principal production of Rud-Derawer in the province Jebal, the ancient Media, whence it was largely exported. 5 Abu Mansur describes it under the Arabic name zafardn. 6 The Armenian consumers esteem most highly the saffron of Khorasan, which, however, is marketed in such small quantities that the Persians themselves must fill the demand with exportations from the Caucasus. 7 According to SCHLIMMER, S part of the Persian saffron comes from Baku in Russia, another part is culti- vated in Persia in the district of Kain, but in quantity insufficient to fill the demand. In two places, Rudzabar (identical with the above Rud-Derawer), a mountainous tract near Hamadan, and Mount Derbend, where saffron cultivation had been indicated by previous writers, he was unable to find a trace of it. It is most probable that it was from Persia that the saffron-plant was propagated to Kashmir. A reminiscence of this event is preserved in the Sanskrit term vdhtika, a synonyme of "saffron," which means "originating from the Pahlava." g The Buddhists have a legend to the 1 Ch. 50, p. 6. 2 Ch. 83, p. 7 b; also Wei $u, Ch. 102, p. 5 b. 8 HEHN, Kulturpflanzen, p. 264. 4 A. JAUBERT, Geographic, pp. 168, 192. 6 B. DE MEYNARD, Dictionnaire ge"ogr. de la Perse, p. 267. See also G. FER- RAND, Textes relatifs a rExtreTne-Orient, Vol. II, pp. 618, 622. 6 ACHUNDOW, Abu Mansur, p. 76. 7 E. SEIDEL, Mechithar, p. 151. CHARDIN (Voyages en Perse, Vol. II, p. 14) even says that the saffron of Persia is the best of the world. 8 Terminologie, p. 165. 9 Cf. T'oung Pao, 1916, p. 459. \ SAFFRON AND TURMERIC 321 effect that Madhyantika, the first apostle of Buddha's word in Kashmir, planted the saffron there. 1 If nothing else, this shows at least that the plant was regarded as an introduction. The share of the Persians in the distribution of the product is vividly demonstrated by the Tibetan word for "saffron, "kur-kum, gur-kum,gur-gum, which is directly traceable to Persian kurkum or karkam, but not to Sanskrit kunkuma. 2 The Tibetans carried the word to Mongolia, and it is still heard among the Kalmuk on the Wolga. By some, the Persian word (Pahlavi kulkem) is traced to Semitic, Assyrian karkuma, Hebrew karkom, Arabic kurkum; while others regard the Semitic origin as doubtful. 3 It is beyond the scope of this notice to deal with the history of saffron in the west and Europe, on which so much has been written. 4 From the preceding investigation it follows that the word yu-kin & &, owing to its multiplicity of meaning, offers some difficulty to the translator of Chinese texts. The general rule may be laid down that yu-kin, whenever it hints at a plant or product of China, denotes a species of Curcuma, but that, when used with reference to India, Indo- China, and Iran, the greater probability is in favor of Crocus. The term yu-kin hian ("yu-kin aromatic"), with reference to foreign countries, almost invariably appears to refer to the latter plant, which indeed served as an aromatic; while the same term, as will be seen below, with reference to China, again denotes Curcuma. The question may now be raised, What is the origin of the word yu-kin? And what was its original meaning? In 1886 HiRTH 5 identified yu-kin with Persian karkam ("saffron"), and restated this opinion in 19 n, 6 by falling back on an ancient pronunciation *hat-kam. Phonetically this is not very con- vincing, as the Chinese would hardly have employed an initial h for 1 ScHiEFNER, Taranatha, p. 13; cf. also J. PRZYLUSKI, Journal asiatique, 1914 II, P- 537- 2 T'oung Pao, 1916, p. 474. Cf. also Sogdian kurkumba and Tokharian kurkama. 3 HORN, Grundriss der iranischen Philologie, Vol. I, pt. 2, p. 6. Besides kurkum, there are Persian kdkbdn and kafiSa, which denote "saffron in the flower." Old Armenian k'rk'um is regarded as a loan from Syriac kurkemd (HUBSCHMANN, Armen. Gram., p. 320). 4 In regard to saffron among the Arabs, see LECLERC, Traite" des simples, Vol. II, pp. 208-210. In general cf. J. BECKMANN, Beytrage zur Geschichte der Erfindungen, 1784, Vol. II, pp. 79-91 (also in English translation); FLUCKIGER and HANBURY, Pharmacographia, pp. 663-669; A. DE CANDOLLE, Geographic botanique, p. 857, and Origin of Cultivated Plants, p. 166; HEHN, Kulturpflanzen (8th ed.), pp. 264-270; WATT, Dictionary, Vol. II, p. 592; W. HEYD, Histoire du commerce du levant, Vol. II, p. 668, etc. B Journal China Branch Roy. As. Soc., Vol. XXI, p. 221. 6 Chau Ju-kua, p. 91. 322 SlNO-lRANICA the reproduction of a foreign k; but the character yu in transcriptions usually answers to *ut, ud. The whole theory, however, is exposed to much graver objections. The Chinese themselves do not admit that yu-kin represents a foreign word; nowhere do they say that yii-kin is Persian, Sanskrit, or anything of the sort; on the contrary, they regard it as an element of their own language. Moreover, if yu-kin should originally designate the saffron, how, then, did it happen that this alleged Persian word was transferred to the genus Curcuma, some species of which are even indigenous to China, and which, at any rate, has been acclimated there for a long period? The case, indeed, is not simple, and requires closer study. Let us see what the Chinese have to say con- cerning the word yu-kin. PELLiox 1 has already clearly, though briefly, outlined the general situation by calling attention to the fact that as early as the beginning of the second century, yu-kin is mentioned in the dictionary Swo wen as the name of an odoriferous plant, offered as tribute by the people of Yu, the present Yu-lin in Kwan-si Province; hence he inferred that the sense of the word should be "gold of Yu," in allusion to the yellow color of the product. We read in the Sim kin tu & K Sk 2 as follows: "The district Kwei-lin tie. tt %$ of the Ts'in dynasty had its name changed into the Yu-lin district ^ ^P in the sixth year of the period Yuan-tin (in B.C.) of the Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty. Wan Man made it into the Yu-p'in district if Z P. Yin Sao JBI Bft [second century A.D.], in his work Ti li fun su ki $L SI R f&fti, says, 'The Cou li speaks of the yu Zen^HA. ('officials in charge of the plant yU'), who have charge of the jars serving for libations; when- ever libations are necessary for sacrifices or for the reception of guests, they attend to the blending of the plant yu with the odoriferous wine Fan, pour it into the sacred vases, and arrange them in their place.' 3 Yu is a fragrant plant. Flowers of manifold plants are boiled and mixed with wine fermented by means of black millet as an offering to the spirits: this is regarded by some as what is now called yii-kin hian %H & ^ (Curcuma) ; while others contend that it was brought as tribute by the people of Yu, thus connecting the name of the plant with that of the clan and district of Yu." The latter is the explanation 1 Butt, de VEcole frangaise, Vol. Ill, p. 270. 2 This work is a commentary to the Swi kin, a canonical book on water-courses, supposed to have been written by San K'in under the Later Han dynasty, but it was elaborated rather in the third century. The commentary is due to Li Tao-yiian of the Hou Wei period, who died in A.D. 527 (his biography is in Wei su, Ch. 89; Pei si, Ch. 27). Regarding the various editions of the work, see PELLIOT, Butt, de V Ecole franqaise, Vol. VI, p. 364, note 4. 3 Cf. BIOT, Le Tcheou-li, Vol. I, p. 465. SAFFRON AND TURMERIC 323 favored by the Swo wen. 1 Both explanations are reasonable, but only one of the two can be correct. 2 My own opinion is this: yii is an ancient Chinese name for an indigenous Chinese aromatic plant; whether Curcuma or another genus, can no longer be decided with certainty. 3 The term yu-kin means literally "gold of the yu plant," "gold" re- ferring to the yellow rhizome, 4 yu to the total plant-character; the con- crete significance, accordingly, is "yw-rhizome" or "yu-root." I do not believe, however, that yu-kin is derived from the district or clan of Yu; for this is impossible to assume, since yu as the name of a plant existed prior to the name of that district. This is clearly evidenced by the text of the Swi kin Zu: for it was only in in B.C. that the name Yii-lin ("Grove of the Yu Plant") came into existence, being then substituted for the earlier Kwei-lin ("Grove of Cinnamomum cassia"). It is the plant, consequently, which lent its name to the district, not the dis- trict which named the plant. As in so many cases, the Chinese con- found cause and effect. The reason why the name of this district was altered into Yii-lin is now also obvious. It must have been renowned under the Hail for the wealth of its yu-kin plants, which was less con- spicuous under the Ts'in, when the cassia predominated there. At any rate, yu-kin is a perfectly authentic and legitimate constituent of the Chinese language, and not a foreign word. It denotes an indig- enous Curcuma; while under the T'ang, as we have seen, additional species of this genus may have been introduced from abroad. The word yu-kin then underwent a psychological treatment similar to yen-U: as yen-ci, "safflower," was transformed to any cosmetic or rouge, so yu-kin ' 'turmeric," was grafted on any dyes producing similar tinges of yellow. Thus it was applied to the saffron of Kashmir and Persia. 1 The early edition of this work did not contain the form yu-kin, but merely the plain, ancient yu. Solely the Fan yi min yi tsi (Ch. 8, p. 10 b) attributes ( I believe, erroneously) the term yu-kin to the Swo wen. 2 Li i-<5en says that the district Yu-lin of the Han period comprises the territory of the present cou >ft\ of Sim Vf|, Liu $P, Yun f , and Pin jj| of Kwan-si and Kwei- 6ou, and that, according to the Ta Min i Vun ci, only the district of Lo-c'en it ^ in Liu-cou fu (Kwan-si) produces yu-kin hian, which is that here spoken of (that is, Crocus), while in fact Curcuma must be understood. 3 There is also the opinion that the ancient yu must be a plant similar to Ian H5, an orchidaceous plant (see the P*i ya of Lu Tien and the T*un ci of Cen Tsiao). 4 PALLEGOIX (Description du royaume Thai ou Siam, Vol. I, p. 126) says, "Le curcurfia est une racine bulbeuse et charnue, d'un beau jaune d'or." SAFFLOWER 17. A. DE CANDOLLE, 1 while maintaining that the cultivation of safflower 2 (Carthamus tinctorius) is of ancient date both in Egypt and India, asserts on Bretschneider's authority that the Chinese received it only in the second century B.C., when Can K'ien brought it back from Bactriana. The same myth is repeated by STUART. S The biography of the general and the Han Annals contain nothing to this effect. Only the Po wu Zi enumerates hwan Ian jK ii in its series of Can-K'ien plants, adding that it can be used as a cosmetic (yen-U ffi 5i). 4 The Ku kin cu, while admitting the introduction of the plant from the West, makes no reference to the General. The 7sV min yao $u discusses the method of cultivating the flower, but is silent as to its introduction. The fact of this introduction cannot be doubted, but it is hardly older than the third or fourth century A.D. under the Tsin dynasty. The introduction of safflower drew the attention of the Chinese to an indigenous wild plant (Basella rubrd) which yielded a similar dye and cosmetic, and both plants and their products were combined or confounded under the common name yen-H. Basella rubra, a climbing plant of the family Basellaceae, is largely cultivated in China (as well as in India) on account of its berries, which contain a red juice used as a rouge by women and as a purple dye for making seal-impressions. This dye was the prerogative of the highest 1 Origin of Cultivated Plants, p. 164. 2 Regarding the history of this word, see YULE, Hobson-Jobson, p. 779. 8 Chinese Materia Medica, p. 94. It is likewise an erroneous statement of Stuart that Tibet was regarded by the Chinese as the natural habitat of this plant. This is due to a confusion with the term Si-ts'an hun hwa ("red flower of Tibet "), which refers to the saffron, and is so called because in modern times saffron is imported into China from Kashmir by way of Tibet (see p. 312). Neither Carthamus nor saffron is grown in the latter country. 4 Some editions of the Po wu li add, "At present it has also been planted in the land of Wei |)| (China)," which might convey the impression that it had only been introduced during the third century A.D., the lifetime of Can Hwa, author of that work. In the commentary to the Pei hu lu (Ch. 3, p. 12), the Po wu li is quoted as saying, "The safflower (hun hwa JC ffi, 'red flower') has its habitat in Persia, Su-le (Kashgar), and Ho-lu $f jjjfc. Now that of Lian-han |j g| is of prime quality, a tribute of twenty thousand catties being annually sent to the Bureau of Weaving and Dyeing." The term hun hwa in the written language does not refer to "saffron," but to "safflower." Java produced the latter (Javanese kasumba), not saffron, as translated by HIRTH (Chau Ju-kua, p. 78). The Can-K'ien story is repeated in the Hwa kin of 1688 (Ch. 5, p. 24 b). 324 SAFFLOWER 325 boards of the capital, the prefects of Sun-t'ien and Mukden, and all provincial governors. 1 Under the name lo k'wei $ H it is mentioned by T'ao Hun-kin (A.D. 451-536), who refers to its cultivation, to the employment of the leaves as a condiment, and to the use of the berries as a cosmetic. 2 This probably came into use after the introduction of safflower. The Ku kin u* written by Ts'ui Pao in the middle of the fourth century, states, "The leaves of yen-ci 3? ^ resemble those of the thistle (ki 15) and the p'u-kun $f & (Taraxacum officinalis). Its habitat is in the Western Countries H Ji, where the natives avail them- selves of the plant for dyeing, and designate it yen-li % 1&, while the Chinese call it hun-lan ($[ 1 'red indigo/ Carthamus tinctorius} \ and the powder obtained from it, and used for painting the face, is styled yen-ci Jen f&". [At present, because people value a deep-red color &, they speak of the yen-ti flower which dyes; the yen-U flower, however, is not the dye-plant yen-Zi, but has its own name, hun-lan (Carthamus tinctorius). Of old, the color intermediate between Vi 7$ and white is termed hun itt, and this is what is now styled hun-lan.] " 4 It would follow from this text that Basella was at an early date con- founded with Carthamus, but that originally the term yen-ci related to Carthamus only. The Pei hu lu 5 contains the following information in regard to the yen-ti flower: "There is a wild flower growing abundantly in the rugged mountains of Twan-ou SS ffl. 6 Its leaves resemble those of the Ian E (Indigoferd) ; its flowers, those of the liao (Polygonum, prob- ably P. tinctorium). The blossoms H, when pulled out, are from two to three inches long, and yield a green-white pigment. It blooms in the first month. The natives gather the bursting seeds while still in their shells, in order to sell them. They are utilized in the preparation of a cosmetic iS ;S i^, and particularly also for dyeing pongee and other silks. Its red is not inferior to that of the Ian flower. Si Ts'o-S'i 1 P. HOANG, Melanges sur I'administration, pp. 80-81. 2 BRETSCHNEIDER, Bot. Sin., pt. II, No. 148; pt. Ill, No. 258. 3 Ch. c, p. 5 (ed. of Han Wei ts'un sii). In regard to the historicity of this work, the critical remarks of the Imperial Catalogue (cf . WYLIE, Notes on Chinese Litera- ture, p. 159) must be kept in mind. Cf. also above, p. 242. 4 The passage enclosed in brackets, though now incorporated in the text of the Ku kin u, is without any doubt later commentatorial wisdom. This is formally corroborated by the Pei hu lu (Ch. 3, p. 12), which omits all this in quoting the relevant text of the Ku kin lu. 5 Ch. 3, p. ii (see above, p. 268). 6 Name of the prefecture of Cao-k'in jjl HI in Kwan-tun Province. This wild flower is Basella, rubra. 326 SlNO-lRANICA !? 1? 1S, in his Yu sie Si lun $u H IS f *\* ifr, says, 1 'These are hun- lan (Carthamus): 2 did you know these previously, Sir, or not? The people of the north gather these flowers, and dye materials a red-yellow by rubbing their surface with it. The fresh blossoms are made into a cosmetic. 3 Women, when dressing, use this pigment, it being the fashion to apply only a piece the size of a small bean. When distributed evenly, the paint is pleasing, as long as it is fresh. In my youth I observed this cosmetic again and again; and to-day I have for the first time beheld the hun-lan flower. Afterwards I shall raise its seeds for your benefit, Sir. The Hiun-nu styled a wife yen-li (RJ &, 4 a word just as pleasing as yen-li #8 5 ('cosmetic ') . The characters $9 and #3 have the same sound yen-, the character J has the sound 5i &'. I expect you knew this before, Sir, or you may read it up in the Han Annals.' Cen K'ien SB ft 5 says that a cosmetic may be prepared from pomegranate flowers." 6 The curious word yen-li has stirred the imagination of Chinese scholars. It is not only correlated with the Hiuii-nu word yen-ti, as was first proposed by Si Ts'o-6'i, but is also connected with a Yen-Si mountain. Lo Yuan, in his Er ya i, remarks that the Hiun-nu had a Yen-i mountain, and goes on to cite a song from the Si ho kiu Si 15 W iff ^, 7 which says, "If we lose our K'i-lien mountain tfP 31 llj, 8 we cause our herds to diminish in number; if we lose our Yen-i mountain, we cause our women to go without paint. " J The Pei pien pei tui At jft ifi f, a work of the Sung period, states, "The yen-ti 3S ~& of the Yen-ci mountain ^t j UJ is the yen-U $5 Ba of the present time. This moun- 1 This author is stated to have lived under the Tsin dynasty (A.D. 265-419) in the T'u Su tsi t'en, XX, Ch. 158, where this passage is quoted; but his book is there entitled Yu yen wan Su $L ^ 3 lip. The same passage is inserted in the Er ya i of Lo Yiian $31 H$l of the twelfth century, where the title is identical with that given above. 2 In the text of the T'u Su: "At the foot of the mountain there are hun Ian." 1 Carthamus was already employed for the same purposes in ancient Egypt. 4 This is the Hiun-nu word for a royal consort, handed down in the Han Annals (Ts'ien Han $u, Ch. 94 A, p. 5). See my Language of the Yue-chi, p. 10. 6 Author of the lost Hu pen ts'ao (above, p. 268). 6 Then follow a valueless anecdote anent a princess of the T'ang dynasty pre- paring a cosmetic, and the passage of the Ku kin cu given above. 7 Mentioned in the T'ang literature, but seems to date from an earlier period (BRETSCHNEIDER, Bot. Sin., pt. i, p. 190). 8 A mountain-range south-west of Kan &>u in Kan-su (Si ki, Ch. 123, p. 4). The word k'i-lien belongs to the language of the Hiun-nu and means "heaven." In my opinion, it is related to Manchu kulun, which has the same meaning. The interpretations given by WAITERS (Essays, p. 362) and SHIRATORI (Sprache der Hiung-nu, p. 8) are not correct. 9 The same text is quoted in the commentary to the Pei hu lu (Ch. 3, p. II b). SAFFLOWER 327 tain produces hun-lan (Carthamus) which yields yen-ti (' cosmetic ')" All this, of course, is pure fantasy inspired by the homophony of the two words yen-li (" cosmetic") and Hiun-nu yen-ci (" royal consort"). Another etymology propounded by Fu Hou f l in his Cun hwa ku kin cu ^Hiffr^S: (tenth century) is no more fortunate: he explains that yen-li is produced in the country Yen iS, and is hence styled J8& SB yen-li ("sap of Yen"). Yen was one of the small feudal states at the time of the Cou dynasty. This is likewise a philological afterthought, for there is no ancient historical record to the effect that the state of Yen should have produced (exclusively or pre-eminently) Basella or Carthamus. It is perfectly certain that yen-Si is not Chinese, but the transcription of a foreign word: this appears clearly from the ancient form $ 5:, which yields no meaning whatever; j, as is well known, being a favorite character in the rendering of foreign words. This is further corroborated by the vacillating modes of writing the word, to which Li Si-Sen adds 1& Ififc, 1 while he rejects as erroneous K J8 and US ;, and justly so. Unfortunately we are not informed as to the country or language from which the word was adopted: the Ku kin tu avails itself only of the vague term Si fan (" Western Countries"), where Carthamus was called yen-Zi; but in no language known to me is there any such name for the designation of this plant or its product. The Sanskrit name for safflower is kusumbha; and if the plant had come from India, Chinese writers would certainly not have failed to express this clearly. The supposition therefore remains that it was introduced from some Iranian region, and that yen-Si represents a word from an old Iranian dialect now extinct, or an Iranian word somehow still unknown. The New-Persian name for the plant is gawdZlla; in Arabic it is qurtum. 2 Li Si-Sen distinguishes four kinds of yen-Si: (i) From Carthamus tinctorius, the juice of the flowers of which is made into a rouge (the information is chiefly drawn from the Ku kin u, as cited above). (2) From Basella rubra, as described in the Pei hu lu. (3) From the $an-liu Uj IS flower [unidentified, perhaps a wild pomegranate: above, p. 281], described in the Hu pen ts'ao. (4) From the tree producing gum lac (tse-kun ^ IfJP), 3 this product being styled $! % Ha hu yen-Si ("foreign cosmetic") and described in the Nan hai yao p'u IS fS l? IS of Li Sim ^ *ij. 4 "At present," Li Si-cen continues, "the southerners 1 Formed with the classifier 155, "red." - ACHUNDOW, Abu Mansur, p. 105. 3 See below, p. 476. 4 He lived in the second half of the eighth century. 328 SlNO-lRANICA make abundant use of tse-kun cosmetic, which is commonly called tse-kun. In general, all these substances may be used as remedies in blood diseases. 1 Also the juice from the seeds of lo k'wei $ $ (Basella rubra) may be taken, and, mixed evenly with powder, may be applied to the face. Also this is styled hu yen-ti" Now it becomes clear why Basella rubra, a plant indigenous to China, is termed hu yen-li in the T'un ti of Ceil Tsiao and by Ma Ci of the tenth century: this name originally referred to the cosmetic furnished by Butea frondosa or other trees on which the lac-insect lives, 2 trees growing in Indo-China, the Archipelago, and India. This product, accordingly, was foreign, and hence styled "foreign cosmetic" or "cosmetic of the barbarians" (hu yen-Zi). Since Basella was used in the same manner, that name was ultimately transferred also to the cosmetic furnished by this indigenous plant. What is not stated by Li Si-6en is that yen-ti is also used with reference to Mirabilis jalapa, because from the flowers of this plant is derived a red coloring-matter often substituted for carthamine. 3 It is obvious that the term yen-ti has no botanical value, and for many centuries has simply had the meaning "cosmetic." Fan C'eii-ta (1126-93), in his Kwei hai yii hen ft, 4 mentions ¥-ti K BH tree, strong and fine, with a color like yen-ci (that is, red), good for making arrowheads, and growing in Yuri ou, also in the caves of this department, and in the districts of Kwei-lin, in Kwan-si Province. A. HENRY 5 gives for Yi-'aii in Se-S'wan a plant-name yen-li ma $1 SB fit ("cosmetic hemp"), identified with Patrinia villosa. 1 On account of the red color of the berries. 3 See p. 478. 8 STUART, Chinese Materia Medica, p. 264; MATSUMURA, No. 2040; PERROT and HURRIER, Matiere me"dicale et pharmacope'e sino-annamites, p. 116, where lo-k*wei is erroneously given as Chinese name of the plant. 4 Ed. of Ci pu tsu lai ts*un $u, p. 28 b. 5 Chinese Names of Plants, p. 239 (Journal China Branch Roy. As. Soc., Vol. XXII, 1887). JASMINE 1 8. The Nan fan ts'ao mu Zwan & 3t ^ /fc JK, the oldest Chinese work devoted to the botany of southern China, attributed to Ki Han H &, a minister of the Emperor Hwei 8 (A.D. 290-309), contains the following notice: 1 "The ye-si-min tff> & 3% flower and the mo-li M M flower (Jas- minum officinale, family Oleaceae) were brought over from western countries by Hu people $5 A, and have been planted in Kwan-tun (Nan hai Si $J). The southerners are fond of their fragrant odor, and therefore cultivate them . . . The mo-li flower resembles the white variety of ts'ian-mi ^ H (Cnidium monnieri), and its odor exceeds that of the ye-si-min." In another passage of the same work 2 it is stated that the U-kia JB V flower (Lawsonia alba)* ye-si-min, and mo-li were introduced by Hu people from the country Ta Ts'in; that is, the Hellenistic Orient. The plant ye-si-min has been identified with Jasminum officinale; the plant mo-li, wiih Jasminum sambac. Both species are now cultivated in China on account of the fragrancy of the flowers and the oil that they yield. 4 The passage of the Nan fan ts*ao mu Zwan, first disclosed by BRET- SCHNEIDER/ has given rise to various misunderstandings. HiRTH 6 remarked, "This foreign name, which is now common to all European languages, is said to be derived from Arabic-Persian jasamm [read ydsmm}, and the occurrence of the word in a Chinese record written about A.D. 300 shows that it must have been in early use." WAITERS 7 regarded ydsmm as "one of the earliest Arabian words to be found in Chinese literature." It seems never to have occurred to these authors 1 Ch. A, p. 2 (ed. of Han Wei ts'un $u). 2 Ch. B, p. 3. 8 See below, p. 334. 4 The sambac is a favored flower of the Chinese. In Peking there are special gardeners who cultivate it exclusively. Every day in summer, the flower-buds are gathered before sunrise (without branches or leaves) and sold for the purpose of perfuming tea and snuff, and to adorn the head-dress of Chinese ladies. Jasminum officinale is not cultivated in Peking (BRETSCHNEIDER, Chinese Recorder, Vol. Ill, 1871, p. 225). 5 Chinese Recorder, Vol. Ill, p. 225. 6 China and the Roman Orient, p. 270. 7 Essays on the Chinese Language, p. 354. 329 330 SlNO-lRANICA that at this early date we know nothing about an Arabic or Persian language; and this rapprochement is wrong, even in view of the Chinese work itself, which distinctly says that both ye-si-min and mo-li were introduced from Ta Ts'in, the Hellenistic Orient. PELLiOT 1 observes that the authenticity of the Chinese book has never been called into doubt, but expresses surprise at the fact that jasmine figures there under its Arabic name. But Arabic is surely excluded from the languages of Ta Ts'in. Moreover, thanks to the researches of L. AUROUSSEAU, 2 we now know that the Nan fan ts'ao mu cwan is impaired by inter- polations. The passage in question may therefore be a later addition, and, at all events, cannot be enlisted to prove that prior to the year 300 there were people from western Asia in Canton. 3 Still less is it credible that, as asserted in the Chinese work, the Nan yue kin ki S) 1^ fl fffi ascribed to Lu Kia H H, who lived in the third and second centuries B.C., should have alluded to the two species of Jasminum.* In fact, this author is made to say only that in the territory of Nan Yiie the five cereals have no taste and the flowers have no odor, and merely that these flowers are particularly fragrant. Their names are not given, and it is Ki Han who refers them to ye-si-min and mo-li. It is out of the question that at the time of Lu Kia these two foreign plants should have been introduced over the maritime route into southern China; Lu Kia, if he has written this passage, may have as well had two other flowers in mind. The fact must not be overlooked, either, that the alleged introduction from Ta Ts'in is not contained in the historical texts relative to that country, nor is it confirmed by any other coeval or subsequent source. The Pei hu lu 5 mentions the flower under the names ye-si-mi W S 35 and white mo-li & %> M ffi as having been transplanted to China by Persians, like the p'i-Si-Sa or gold-coin flower. 6 The Yu yan tsa tsu has furnished a brief description of the plant, 7 stating that its habitat is in Fu-lin and in Po-se (Persia). The Pen ts'ao kan mu, Kwan k'un fan p*u, 8 and Hwa kin 9 state that the habitat of jasmine (mo-li) was 1 Bull, de VEcole franc aise, Vol. II, p. 146. 2 See above, p. 263. 3 HIRTH, Chau Ju-kua, p. 6, note i. 4 This point is discussed neither by Bretschneider nor by Hirth, who do not at all mention this reference. 6 Ch. 3, p. 1 6 (see above, p. 268). 6 See below, p. 335. 7 Translated by HIRTH, Journal Am. Or. Soc., Vol. XXX, 1910, p. 22. s Ch. 22, p. 8 b. Ch. 4, p. 9. JASMINE 331 originally in Persia, and that it was thence transplanted into Kwari- tun. The first-named work adds that it is now (sixteenth century) cultivated in Yun-nan and Kwan-tun, but that it cannot stand cold, and is unsuited to the climate of China. The Tan k'ien tsun lu fir ifr It SSk of Yan Sen il W (1488-1559) is cited to the effect that "the name nai ^ used in the north of China is identical with what is termed in the Tsin Annals t tsan nai hwa 3jj (' hair-pin') ^ 3E. 1 As regards this flower, it entered China a long time ago." Accordingly we meet in Chinese records the following names for jasmine: 2 (1) JfP 3 3? ye-si-min, * ya-sit(siS)-min, = Pahlavi yasmm, New Persian ydsamln, ydsmin, ydsmun, Arabic yasmin, or !? ^ m ye -si-mi y *ya-sit-mit (in Yu yan tsa tsu)= Middle Persian *yasmir (?). 3 Judging from this philological evidence, the statement of the Yu yan tsa tsu, and Li Si-cen's opinion that the original habitat of the plant was in Persia, it seems preferable to think that it was really introduced from that country into China. The data of the Nan fan ts'ao mu Iwan are open to grave suspicion; but he who is ready to accept them is com- pelled to argue, that, on the one hand, the Persian term was extant in western Asia at least in the third century A.D., and that, on the other hand, the Indian word mallika (see No. 2) had reached Ta Ts'in about the same time. Either suggestion would be possible, but is not con- firmed by any West-Asiatic sources. 4 The evidence presented by the Chinese work is isolated; and its authority is not weighty enough, the relation of the modern text to the original issue of about A.D. 300 is too obscure, to derive from it such a far-reaching conclusion. The Persian- Arabic word has become the property of the entire world: all European languages have adopted it, and the Arabs diffused it along the east coast of Africa (Swahili yasmini, Madagasy dzasimini). (2) ^ M or ^ ^5 mo-li? *mwat(mwal)-li=wa//?, transcription of 1 This is the night-blooming jasmine (Nyctanthes arbor tristis), the musk-flower of India (STUART, Chinese Materia Medica, p. 287). 2 There are numerous varieties of Jasminum, about 49 to 70 in India, about 39 in the Archipelago, and about 15 in China and Japan. 3 From the Persian loan-word in Armenian, yasmik, HUBSCHMANN (Armen. Gram., p. 198) justly infers a Pahlavi *yasmlk, beside yasmin. Thus also *yasmlt or *yasmlr may have existed in Pahlavi. 4 It is noteworthy also that neither Dioscorides nor Galenus was acquainted with jasmine. 5 For the expression of the element li are used various other characters which may be seen in the Kwan k'un fan p'u (Ch. 22, p. 8 b); they are of no importance for the phonetic side of the case. 332 SlNO-lRANICA Sanskrit mallika (Jasminum sambac), Tibetan mal-li-ka, Siamese ma-li, 1 Khmer maly or mlih, Cam molih. Malayan melati is derived from Sanskrit malafi, which refers to Jasminum grandiflorum. Mongol melirge is independent. Hirth's identification with Syriac molo 2 must be rejected. (3) ffc 3c san-mo y *san-mwat (Fukien mwak). This word is given in the Nan fan ts*ao mu Zwan* as a synonyme of Lawsonia alba, furnish- ing the henna; but a confusion has here arisen, for the transcription does not answer to any foreign name of Lawsonia, but apparently cor- responds to Arabic zanbaq ("jasmine"), from which the botanical term sambac is derived. It is out of the question that this word was known to Ki Han: it is clearly an interpolation in his text. (4) St^S man hwa ("man flower") occurs in Buddhist literature, and is apparently an abridgment of Sanskrit sumana (Jasminum grandi- florum), which has been adopted into Persian as suman or saman. Jasminum officinale occurs in Kashmir, Kabul, Afghanistan, and Persia; in the latter country also in the wild state. Jasmine is discussed in Pahlavi literature (above, p. 192) and in the Persian pharmacopoeia of Abu Mansur. 4 C'aii Te noticed the flower in the region of Samarkand. 5 It grows abundantly in the province of Pars in Persia. 8 Oil of jasmine is a famous product among Arabs and Persians, being styled in Arabic duhn az-zanbaq. Its manufacture is briefly described in Ibn al-Baitar's compilation. 7 According to Istaxrl, there is in the province of Darabejird in Persia an oil of jasmine that is to be found nowhere else. Sabur and Slraz were renowned for the same product. 8 The oil of jasmine manufactured in the West is mentioned in the Yu yan tsa tsu as a tonic. It was imported into China during the Sung period, as we learn from the Wei lio U S, 9 written by Kao Se-sun iS ISt B, who lived toward the end of the twelfth and in the beginning of the thirteenth century. Here it is stated, "The ye-si-min flower is a flower of the western countries, snow-white in color. The Hu $J (Iranians or foreigners) bring it to Kiao-ou and Canton, and every one 1 PALLEGOIX, Description du royaume Thai, Vol. I, p. 147. 2 Journal Am. Or. Soc., Vol. XXX, 1910, p. 23. 8 Ch. B, p. 3. See below, p. 334. 4 AcHUNDOW, Abu Mansur, p. 147. 6 BRETSCHNEIDER, Mediaeval Researches, Vol. I, p. 131. 6 G. LE STRANGE, Description of the Province of Pars, p. 51. 7 L. LECLERC, Traite" des simples, Vol. II, p. in. 8 P. SCHWARZ, Iran, pp. 52, 94, 97, 165. Ch. 9, p. 9. JASMINE 333 is fond of its fragrance and plants this flower. According to the Kwan Zou t'u kin IS >H1 H S ('Gazetteer of Kwan-tufi Province 7 ), oil of jasmine is imported on ships; for the Hu gather the flowers to press from them oil, which is beneficial for leprosy M JIL 1 When this fatty substance is rubbed on the palm of the hand, the odor penetrates through the back of the hand." 1 According to the Arabs, it is useful as a preventive of paralysis and epilepsy (LECLERC, /. c.). HENNA 19. It is well known that the leaves of Lawsonia alba or L. inermis, grown all over southern China, are extensively used by women and children as a finger-nail dye, and are therefore styled U kia hwa 3& ^E ("finger-nail flower"). 1 This flower is mentioned in the Sanfu hwan t*u, 2 of unknown authorship and date, as having been transplanted from Nan Yiie (South China) into the Fu-li Palace at the time of the Han Emperor Wu (140-87 B.C.). This is doubtless an anachronism or a subsequent interpolation in the text of that book. The earliest datable reference to this plant is again contained in the Nan fan ts'ao mu Iwan by Ki Han, 3 by whom it is described as a tree from five to six feet in height, with tender and weak branches and leaves like those of the young elm- tree tfe (Ulmus campestris), the flowers being snow-white like ye-si-min and mo-li, but different in odor. As stated above (p. 329), this work goes on to say that these three plants were introduced by Hu people from Ta Ts'in, and cultivated in Kwafi-tun. 4 The question arises again whether this passage was embodied in the original edition. It is some- what suspicious, chiefly for the reason that Ki Han adds the synonyme san-mo, which, as we have seen, in fact relates to jasmine. The Pei hu lu, 5 written about A.D. 875 by Twan Kun-lu, contains the following text under the heading &' kia hwa: "The finger-nail flower is fine and white and of intense fragrance. The barbarians HI A now plant it. Its name has not yet been explained. There are, further, the jasmine and the white mo-li. All these were transplanted to China by the Persians (Po-se). This is likewise the case with the p'i-$i-$a Pttt/ 5 ?J? (or 'gold coin') flower (Inula chinensis). Originally it was only produced abroad, but in the second year of the period Ta-t'uii :fc 1^1 (A.D. 536 of the Liang dynasty) it came to China for the first time (#p 2fc ^dl)." In the Yu yan tsa tsu, G written about fifteen years earlier, we read, "The gold-coin flower 4 il ffi, it is said, was originally produced abroad. In the second year of the period Ta-t'uii of the 1 Cf. Notes and Queries on China and Japan, Vol. I, 1867, pp. 40-41. STUART, Chinese Materia Medica, p. 232. 2 Ch. 3, p. 9 b (see above, p. 263). 3 Ch. B, p. 3 (ed. of Han Wei ts'uh Iw). 4 Cf. also HIRTH, China and the Roman Orient, p. 268. 6 Ch. 3, p. 16 (see above, p. 268). 6 Ch. 19, p. 10 b. 334 V HENNA 335 Liang (A.D. 536) it came to China. At the time of the Liang dynasty, people of Kin ou M ffl used to gamble in their houses at backgammon with gold coins. When the supply of coins was exhausted, they resorted to gold-coin flowers. Hence Yu Hun ft A said, 'He who obtains flowers makes money.' " The same work likewise contains the following note: 1 "PV-&-.foPttt P ^ is a synonyme for the gold-coin flower, 2 which was originally produced abroad, and came to China in the first year of the period Ta-t'un of the Liang (A.D. 535)." The gold-coin flower vis- ualized by Twan Kun-lu and Twan C'en-si assuredly cannot be Inula chinensis, which is a common, wild plant in northern China, and which is already mentioned in the Pie lu and by T'ao Hun-kin. 3 It is patent that this flower introduced under the Liang must have been a different species. The only method of solving the problem would be to determine the prototype of p*i-si-$a, which is apparently the transcription of a foreign word. It is not stated to which language it belongs; but, judging from appearances, it is Sanskrit, and should be traceable to a form like *vislsa (or *vicesa). Such a Sanskrit plant-name is not to be found, however. Possibly the word is not Sanskrit. 4 The Pei hu lu, accordingly, conceives the finger-nail flower as an introduction due to the Persians, but does not allude to its product, the henna. I fail to find any allusion to henna in other books of the T'ang period. I am under the impression that the use of this cosmetic did not come into existence in China before the Sung epoch, and that the practice was then introduced (or possibly only re-introduced) by Mohammedans, and was at first restricted to these. It is known that also the leaves of Impatiens balsamina (fun sien IH fill) mixed with alum are now used as a finger-nail dye, being therefore styled Zan ci kia ts'ao K* |g ^ ^ ("plant dyeing finger-nails"), 5 a term first appearing in the Kiu hwan pen ts*ao, published early in the Ming period. The earliest source that mentions the practice is the Kwei sin tsa si 1 ^ 1 Ch. 19, p. 10 a. 2 The addition of Ff* before kin in the edition of Pai hai surely rests on an error. 3 Cf. also BRETSCHNEIDER, Bot. Sin., pt. Ill, p. 158. 4 The new Chinese Botanical Dictionary (p. 913) identifies the gold-coin flower with Inula britannica. In Buddhist lexicography it is identified with Sanskrit jdti (Jasminum grandiflorum; cf. EITEL, Handbook, p. 52). The same word means also "kind, class"; so does likewise vi$esa, and the compound jati- vi$e$a denotes the specific characters of a plant (HOERNLE, Bower Manuscript, p. 273). It is therefore possible that this term was taken by the Buddhists in the sense of "species of Jasminum," and that finally vi$e$a was retained as the name of the flower. 5 STUART, Chinese Materia Medica, p. 215; Pen ts'ao kan mu, Ch. 17 B, p. 12 b. 336 SlNO-lRANICA H Ufa 1 by Cou Mi J9 $? (1230-1320), who makes the following ob- servation: "As regards the red variety of the fun sien flower (Impatiens balsamina), the leaves are used, being pounded in a mortar and mixed with a little alum. 2 The finger-nails must first be thoroughly cleaned, and then this paste is applied to them. During the night a piece of silk is wrapped around them, and the dyeing takes effect. This process is repeated three or five times. The color resembles that of the yen-Zi (Basella rubrum). Even by washing it does not come off, and keeps for fully ten days. At present many Mohammedan women are fond of using this cosmetic for dyeing their hands, and also apply it to cats and dogs for their amusement." The Pen ts'ao kan mu quotes only the last clause of this text. From what Cou Mi says, it does not appear that the custom was of ancient date; on the contrary, it does not seem to be older than the Sung period. None of the early Pen ts'ao makes mention of Lawsonia. It first appears in the Pen ts'ao kan mu. All that Li Si-Sen is able to note amounts to this: that there are two varieties, a yellow and a white one, which bloom during the summer months; that its odor resembles that of mu-si /fc JP (Osmanthus fragrans) ; and that it can be used for dyeing the finger-nails, being superior in this respect to the fun sien flower (Impatiens balsamina). Cen Kan-Sun 9$ M *%*, an author of the Sung period, mentions the plant under the name i hian hwa && 3& ("flower of peculiar fragrance"). It has generally been believed hitherto that the use of henna and the introduction of Lawsonia into China are of ancient date; but, in fact, the evidence is extremely weak. In my opinion, as far as the em- ployment of henna is concerned, we have to go down as far as the Sung period. It is noteworthy also that no foreign name of ancient date, either for the plant or its product, is on record. F. P. SMITH and STUART parade the term $$ |ft hai-na (Arabic hinna) without giving a reference. The very form of this transcription shows that it is of recent date: in fact, it occurs as late as the sixteenth century in the Pen ts'ao kan mu? then in the K'iinfan p'u of 1630* and the Nun Zen ts'uan su H. Ifc dr it^, published in 1619 by Su Kwan-k'i ^ 36 , the friend and supporter of the Jesuits. It also occurs in the Hwa kin of i688. 5 It is well known what extensive use of henna (Arabic hinnd, hence 1 ft * Jb P. 17 (ed. of Pai hai). 2 In this manner the dye is also prepared at present. 3 Ch. 17 B, p. 12 b. 4 Kwan k'iin fan p'u, Ch. 26, p. 4 b. The passages of the first edition are especially indicated. 6 Ch. 5, p. 23 b. HENNA 337 Malayan inei) has been made in the west from ancient times. The Egyptians stained their hands red with the leaves of the plant 1 (Egyp- tian puqer, Coptic kuper or khuper, Hebrew kopher, Greek KUTTPOS). All Mohammedan peoples have adopted this custom; and they even dye their hair with henna, also the manes, tails, and hoofs of horses. 2 The species of western Asia is identical with that of China, which is sponta- neous also in Baluchistan and in southern Persia. 3 Ancient Persia played a prominent r61e as mediator in the propagation of the plant. 4 "They [the Persians] have also a custom of painting their hands, and, above all, their nails, with a red color, inclining to yellowish or orange, much near the color that our tanners nails are of. There are those who also paint their feet. This is so necessary an ornament in their married women, that this kind of paint is brought up, and distributed among those that are invited to their wedding dinners. They there- with paint also the bodies of such as dye maids, that when they appear before the Angels Examinants, they may be found more neat and handsome. This color is made of the herb, which they call Chinne, which hath leaves like those of liquorice, or rather those of myrtle. It grows in the Province of Erak, and it is dry'd, and beaten, small as flower, and there is put thereto a little of the juyce of sour pomegranate, or citron, or sometimes only fair water; and therewith they color their hands. And if they would have them to be of a darker color, they rub them afterwards with wall-nut leaves. This color will not be got off in fifteen days, though they wash their hands several times a day." 5 It 1 V. LORET, Flore pharaonique, p. 80; WCENIG, Pflanzen im alten Aegypten, P- 349- 2 L. LECLERC, Traite" des simples, Vol. I, p. 469; G. JACOB, Studien in arabischen Geographen, p. 172; A. v. KREMER, Culturgeschichte des Orients unter den Chalifen, Vol. II, p. 325. 8 C. JORET, Plantes dans 1'antiquite", Vol. II, p. 47. 4 SCHWEINFURTH, Z. Ethnologie, Vol. XXIII, 1891, p. 658. 5 A. OLEARIUS, Voyages of the Ambassadors to the Great Duke of Muscovy and the King of Persia (1633-39), P- 2 34 (London, 1669). I add the very exact description of the process given by SCHLIMMER (Terminologie, p. 343): "C'est avec la poudre fine des feuilles seches de cette plante, largement cultive'e dans le midi de la Perse, que les indigenes se colorent les cheveux, la barbe et les ongles en rouge- orange. La poudre, forme en pate avec de 1'eau plus ou moins chaude, est applique"e sur les cheveux et les ongles et y reste pendant une ou deux heures, ayant soin de la tenir constamment humide en empechant 1'evaporation de son eau; apres quoi la partie est lave"e soigneusement; 1'effet de 1'application du henna est de donner une couleur rouge-orange aux cheveux et aux ongles. Pour transformer cette couleur rougeatre en noir luisant, on enduit pendant deux ou trois autres heures les cheveux ou la barbe d'une seconde pate forme'e de feuilles pulverise'es finement d'une espece d'indigof ere, cultiv6e sur une large e"chelle dans la province de Kerman. Ces mani- pulations se pratiquent d'ordinaire au bain persan, ou la chaleur humide diminue 338 SlNO-lRANICA seems more likely that the plant was transmitted to China from Persia than from western Asia, but the accounts of the Chinese in this case are too vague and deficient to enable us to reach a positive conclusion. In India, Lawsonia alba is said to be wild on the Coromandel coast. It is now cultivated throughout India. The use of henna as a cosmetic is universal among Mohammedan women, and to a greater or lesser extent among Hindu also; but that it dates "from very ancient times," as stated by WATT, 1 seems doubtful to me. There is no ancient Sanskrit term for the plant or the cosmetic (mendhl or mendkika is Neo-Sanskrit), and it would be more probable that its use is due to Mohammedan influence. JoRET 2 holds that the tree, although it is perhaps indigenous, may have been planted only since the Mohammedan invasion. 3 FRANCOIS PYRARD, who travelled from 1601 to 1610, reports the henna-furnishing plant on the Maldives, where it is styled innapa (^hmd-fai, "henna-leaf"). "The leaves are bruised," he remarks, "and rubbed on their hands and feet to make them red, which they esteem a great beauty. This color does not yield to any washing, nor until the nails grow, or a fresh skin comes over the flesh, and then (that is, at the end of five or six months) they rub them again." 4 singulierement la dure"e de 1'op^ration." While the Persians dye the whole of their hands as far as the wrist, also the soles of their feet, the Turks more commonly only tinge the nails; both use it for the hair. 1 Commercial Products of India, p. 707. 2 Plantes dans I'antiquit6, Vol. II, p. 273. 3 Cf. also D. HOOPER, Oil of Lawsonia alba, Journal As. Soc. Bengal, Vol. IV, 1908, p. 35- 4 Voyage of F. Pyrard, ed. by A. GRAY, Vol. II, p. 361 (Hakluyt Society). The first edition of this work appeared in Paris, 1611. THE BALSAM-POPLAR 20. Under the term hu fun (Japanese koto) 8 fl3 ("t'ung tree of the Hu, Iranian Paulownia imperialism" that is, Populus balsamifera) , the Annals of the Former Han Dynasty mention a wild-growing tree as characteristic of the flora of the Lob-nor region; for it is said to be plentiful in the kingdom of San-san HP H. 1 It is self-evident from the nomenclature that this was a species new to the Chinese, who discovered it in their advance through Turkistan in the second century B.C., but that the genus was somewhat familiar to them. The commentator Mon K'an states on this occasion that the hu fun tree resembles the mulberry (Morus alba), but has numerous crooked branches. A more elaborate annotation is furnished by Yen 5i-ku (A.D. 579-645), who comments, "The hu fun tree resembles the fun fll (Paulownia im- perialis), but not the mulberry; hence the name hu fun is bestowed upon it. This tree is punctured by insects, whereupon flows down a juice, that is commonly termed hu fun lei $} fl? M ( l hu-fun tears'), because it is said to resemble human tears. 2 When this substance penetrates earth or stone, it coagulates into a solid mass, somewhat on the order of rock salt, called wu-fun kien fif fl? fifc ('natron of the wu-fun tree/ Sterculia platanifolia) . It serves for soldering metal, and is now used by all workmen." 3 The Tun tien 3 ft, written by Tu Yu tt ffi between the years 766 and 801, says that "the country Lou IS 4 among the Si 2un ffi 3& produces an abundance of tamarisks $P (Tamarix chinensis), hu fun, and pai ts'ao 6 ^ ('white herb or grass'), 5 the latter being eaten by 1 Ts'ien Han Su, Ch. 96 A, p. 3 b. Cf. A. WYLIE, Journal Anthropological In- stitute, Vol. X, 1 88 1, p. 25. 2 Pliny (xn, 1 8, 33) speaks of a thorny shrub in Ariana on the borders of India, valuable for its tears, resembling the myrrh, but difficult of access on account of the adhering thorns (Contermina Indis gens Ariana appellatur, cui spina lacrima pretiosa murrae simili, difficili accessu propter aculeos adnexos). It is not known what plant is to be understood by the Plinian text; but the analogy of the "tears" with the above Chinese term is noteworthy. 3 This text has been adopted by the T'ai p'in hwan yu ki (Ch. 181, p. 4) in describing the products of Lou-Ian. 4 Abbreviated for Lou-Ian ^ 10. the original name of the kingdom of San-San. 5 This is repeated from the Han Annals, which add also rushes. The "white grass" is explained by Yen Si-ku as "resembling the grass yu ^ (Setariaviridis), but finer and without awns; when dried, it assumes a white color, and serves as fodder for cattle and horses." 339 340 SlNO-lRANICA cattle and horses. The hu fun looks as if it were corroded by insects. A resin flows down and comes out of this tree, which is popularly called 'hu-fun tears'. It can be used for soldering gold (or metal) and silver. In the colloquial language, they say also lii & instead of lei, which is faulty." 1 The T*an pen ts*ao* is credited with this statement: "Hu fun lei is an important remedy for the teeth. At present this word is the name of a place west of Aksu. The tree is full of small holes. One can travel for several days and see nothing but hu fun trees in the forests. The leaves resemble those of the fun (Paulownia). The resin which is like glue flows out of the roots." The Lin piao lu & states positively that hu fun lei is produced in Persia, being the sap of the hu fun tree, and adds that there are also "stone tears," Si lei 35 3H, which are collected from stones. Su Kun, the reviser of the Pen ts*ao of the T'ang, makes this ob- servation: 4 "Hu fun lei is produced in the plains and marshes as well as in the mountains and valleys lying to the west of Su-5ou llf *K\. In its shape it resembles yellow vitriol (hwah fan ift i), 5 but is far more solid. The worm-eaten trees are styled hu fun trees. When their sap filters into earth and stones, it forms a soil-made product like natron. This tree is high and large, its bark and leaves resembling those of the white poplar and the green fun ff ffil. It belongs to the family of mulberries, and is hence called hu fun tree. Its wood is good for making implements." Han Pao-sen ?? ffi. ^, who edited the Su pen ts'ao a ^ ^ about the middle of the tenth century, states, "The tree occurs west of Liari- cbu i^ M (in Kan-su). In the beginning it resembles a willow; when it has grown, it resembles a mulberry and the fun. Its sap sinks into the soil, and is similar to earth and stone. It is used as a dye like the ginger-stone (kian $i K^?). 6 It is extremely salty and bitter. It is dissolved by the application of water, and then becomes like alum shale or saltpetre. It is collected during the winter months." Ta Min ;Jc $!, who wrote a Pen ts'ao about A.D. 970, says with reference to this tree, "There are two kinds, a tree-sap which is not employed in the pharmacopoeia, and a stone-sap collected on the 1 Cf. Cen lei pen ts*ao, Ch. 13, p. 33. 2 As quoted in the Ci wu min Si t'u k'ao, Ch. 35, p. 8 b. 3 Ch. B, p. 7 a (see above, p. 268). 4 Cen lei pen ts'ao, I.e. 6 F. DE MfLY, Lapidaire chinois, p. 149. 6 A variety of stalactite (see F. DE MLY, Lapidaire chinois, p. 94; GEERTS, Produits, p. 343; Cen lei pen ts'ao, Ch. 5, p. 32). THE BALSAM-POPLAR 341 surface of stones; this one only is utilized as a medicine. It resembles in appearance small pieces of stone, and those colored like loess take the first place. The latter are employed as a remedy for toothache." Su Sun, in his Tu kin pen ts*ao, remarks that it then occurred among the Western Barbarians (Si Fan), and was traded by merchants. He adds that it was seldom used in the recipes of former times, but that it is now utilized for toothache and regarded as an important remedy in families. Li Si-Sen 1 refers to the chapter on the Western Countries (5^ yii ^wan) in the Han Annals, stating that the tree was plentiful in the country Ku-si ^ SP (Turf an). No such statement is made in the Annals of the Han with regard to this country, but, as we have seen, only with reference to San-san. 2 He then gives a brief resume of the matter, setting down the two varieties of "tree-tears" and "stone- tears." The Ming Geography mentions hu fun lei as a product of Kami. The Kwan yu ki z notices it as a product of the Chikin Mongols between Su-ou and Sa-ou. The Si yii wen kien lu* written in 1777, states in regard to this tree that it is only good as fuel on account of its crooked growth: hence the natives of Turkistan merely call it odon or otun, which means "wood, fuel" in Turkish. 5 The tree itself is termed in Turkl tograk. The Hui k'ian & 6 likewise describes the hu t'un tree of Kami, saying that the Mohammedans use its wood as fuel, but that some with ornamental designs is carved into cases for writing-brushes and into saddles. BRETSCHNEiDER 7 has identified this tree with Populus euphratica, the wood of which is used as fuel in Turkistan. It is not known, however, that this tree produces a resin, such as is described by the Chinese. Moreover, this species is distributed through northern China; 8 while all Chinese records, both ancient and modern, speak of the hu fun 1 Pen ts'ao kan mu, Ch. 34, p. 22. 2 There is a passage in the Swi kiri cu where the hu t*un is mentioned, and may be referred to Ku-i (CHAVANNES, T'oung Pao, 1905, p. 569). 3 Above, p. 251. 4 Ch. 7, p. 9 (WYLIE, Notes on Chinese Literature, p. 64). 6 This passage has already been translated correctly by W. SCHOTT (Abh. Berl. Ak., 1842, p. 370). It was not quite comprehended by BRETSCHNEIDER (Mediaeval Researches, Vol. II, p. 179), who writes, "The characters hu t'ung here are intended to render a foreign word which means 'fuel'." 6 Above, p. 230. 7 Mediaeval Researches, Vol. II, p. 179. 8 FORBES and HEMSLEY, Journal Linnean Society, Vol. XXVI, p. 536. 342 SlNO-lRANICA exclusively as a tree peculiar to Turkistan and Persia. The correct identification of the tree is Populus balsamifera, var. genuina Wesm. 1 The easternmost boundary of this tree is presented by the hills of Kumbum east of the Kukunor, which geographically is part of Central Asia. The same species occurs also in Siberia and North America; it is called Hard by the French of Canada. It is met with, further, wild and cultivated, in the inner ranges of the north-western Himalaya, from Kunawar, altitude 8000 to 13000 feet, westwards. In western Tibet it is found up to 14000 feet. 2 The buds contain a balsam-resin which is considered antiscorbutic and diuretic, and was formerly im- ported into Europe under the name baume facot and tacamahaca 8 com- munis (or vulgaris). WATT says that he can find no account of this exudation being utilized in India. It appears from the Chinese records that the tree must have been known to the Iranians of Central Asia and Persia, and we shall not fail in assuming that these were also the discoverers of the medical properties of the balsam. It is quite credible that it was efficacious in alleviating pain caused by carious teeth, as it would form an air-tight coating around them. 1 MATSUMURA, Shokubutsu mei-i, No. 2518. 8 G. WATT, Dictionary of the Economic Products of India, Vol. VI, p. 325. 1 The tacamahaca (a word of American-Indian origin) was first described by NICOLOSO DE MONARDES (Dos libros el uno que trata de todas las cosas que traen de nuestras Indias Occidentales, Sevilla, 1569) : " Assi mismo traen de nueva Espafia otro genero de Goma, o resina, que llaman los Indios Tacamahaca. Y este mismo nombre dieron nuestros Espanoles. Es resina sacada por incision de un Arbol grande como Alamo, que es muy oloroso, echa el fruto Colorado como simiente de Peonia. Desta Resina o goma, usan mucho los Indios en sus enfermedades, mayor- mente en hinchazones, en qualquiera parte del cuerpo que se engendran, por que las ressuelue madura, y deshaze marauillosamente," etc. A copy of this very scarce work is in the Edward E. Ayer collection of the Newberry Library, Chicago; likewise the continuation Segunda parte del libro, de las cosas que se traen de nuestras Indias Occidentales (Sevilla, 1571). MANNA 21. The word "manna," of Semitic origin (Hebrew man, Arabic mann), has been transmitted to us through the medium of Greek ^vva in the translation of the Septuaginta and the New Testament. Manna is a saccharine product discharged from the bark or leaves of a number of plants under certain conditions, either through the puncture of insects or by making incisions in the trunk and branches. Thus there are mannas of various nature and origin. The best-known manna is the exudation of Fraxinus ornus (or Ornus europaea), the so-called manna- ash, occurring in the Mediterranean region and Asia Minor. 1 The chief constituent of manna is manna-sugar or mannite, which occurs in many other plants besides Fraxinus. The Annals of the Sui Dynasty ascribe to the region of Kao-c'an iSJ II (Turf an) a plant, styled yan ts*e ^ lW ("sheep-thorn"), the upper part of which produces honey of very excellent taste. 2 C'en Ts'an-k'i, who wrote in the first part of the eighth century, states that in the sand of Kiao-ho 3? W (Yarkhoto) there is a plant with hair on its top, and that in this hair honey is produced; it is styled by the Hu (Iranians) S ft ( = ffr) $k k*ie-p*o-lo, *k'it(k'ir)-bwu5-la. 3 The first element apparently corresponds to Persian xdr ("thorn") or the dialectic form yar;* the second, to Persian burra or bura ("lamb"), 5 so that the Chinese term yan ts'e presents itself as a literal rendering of the Persian (or rather a Middle-Persian or Sogdian) expression. In New Persian the term xar-i-$utur ("camel-thorn") is used, and, according to AITCHISON, also ocar-i-buzi ("goat's thorn"). 6 It is noteworthy that the Chinese have preserved a Middle-Persian word for "manna," which has not yet been traced in an Iranian source. The plant (Hedysarum alhagi), widely diffused over all the arid lowlands 1 Cf . the excellent investigation of D. HANBURY, Science Papers, pp. 355-368. 2 Sui $u, Ch. 83, p. 3 b. The same text is also found in the Wei $u and Pei Si; in the T'ai p'in hwan yu ki (Ch. 180, p. n b) it is placed among the products of Ku-Si ^ ftp in Turf an. s STUART (Chinese Materia Medica, p. 258) erroneously writes the first char- acter IB . He has not been able to identify the plant in question. 4 P. HORN, Grundriss der iranischen Philologie, Vol. I, pt. 2, p. 70. 6 In dialects of northern Persia also varre, varra, and werk (J. DE MORGAN, Mission en Perse, Vol. V, p. 208). 6 Cf. D. HOOPER, Journal As. Soc. Bengal, Vol. V, 1909, p. 33. 343 344 SlNO-lRANICA of Persia, furnishes manna only in certain districts. Wherever it fails to yield this product, it serves as pasture to the camels (hence its name "thorn of camels"), and, according to the express assurance of SCHLIM- MER, 1 also to the sheep and goats. "Les indigenes des contrees de la Perse, ou se fait la re"colte de teren-djebin, me disent que les pasteurs sont obliges par les institutions communales de s'eloigner avec leurs troupeaux des plaines ou la plante mannifere abonde, parce que les moutons et chevres ne manqueraient de faire avorter la re"colte." In regard to a related species (Hedysarum semenowi), S. KoRsSiNSKi 2 states that it is particularly relished by the sheep which fatten on it. The Lian se kun tse ki & R9 & ? IS 3 is cited in the Pen ts'ao kan mu as follows: "In Kao-'an there is manna (ts'e mi ffl 3C). Mr. Kie fa & says, In the town Nan-p'in Si Z P 4 ftfc the plant yan ts'e is devoid of leaves, its honey is white in color and sweet of taste. The leaves of the plant yan ts'e in Salt City (Yen c'eii 9L ftJt) are large, its honey is dark W in color, and its taste is indifferent. Kao-c"'an is the same as Kiao-ho, and is situated in the land of the Western Barbarians (Si Fan S 16) ; 5 at present it forms a large department (ta &?w :*C #!)." Wan Yen-te, who was sent on a mission to Turfan in A.D. 981, mentions the plant and its sweet manna in his narrative. 6 Cou K'u-fei, who wrote the Lin wai tai ta in 1178, describes the "genuine manna (sweet dew)" M ~fr % of Mosul (to Sr ftE Wu-se-li) as follows: 7 "This country has a number of famous mountains. When the autumn-dew falls, it hardens under the influence of the sun-rays into a substance of the appearance of sugar and hoar-frost, which is gathered and consumed. It has purifying, cooling, sweet, and nutritious qualities, and is known as genuine manna." 8 Wan Ta-yuan i i< *H, in his Tao i li lio H ^ ;6 %> of I349, 9 has 1 Terminologie, p. 357. 2 Vegetation of Turkistan (in Russian), p. 77. 3 The work of Can Yue (A.D. 667-730) ; see The Diamond, this volume, p. 6. 4 Other texts write ^ hu. 5 This term, which in general denotes Tibet, but certainly cannot refer to Tibet in this connection, has evidently misled STUART (Chinese Materia Medica, p. 258) into saying that the substance is spoken of as coming from Tangut. 9 Cf. W. SCHOTT, Zur Uigurenfrage II, p. 47 (Abh. Berl. Akad., 1875). 7 Ch. 3, p. 3 b (ed. of Ci pu tsu lai ts'un $u). Regarding the term kan lu, which also translates Sanskrit amrita, see CHAVANNES and PELLIOT, Traite" maniche'en, p. 155- 8 The same text with a few insignificant changes has been copied by Cao Zu-kwa (HiRTH's translation, p. 140). 9 Regarding this work, cf. PELLIOT, Bull, de VEcole fransaise, Vol. IV, p. 255. MANNA 345 the following note regarding manna (kan lu) in Ma-k'o-se-li: 1 "Every year during the eighth and ninth months it rains manna, when the people make a pool to collect it. At sunrise it will condense like water- drops, and then it is dried. Its flavor is like that of crystallized sugar. They also store it in jars, mixing it with hot water, and this beverage serves as a remedy for malaria. There is an old saying that this is the country of the Amritaraja-tathagata ~H* R 3: #B 2fc." 2 Li Si-cen, after quoting the texts of C'en Ts'an-k'i, the Pei Si, etc., 8 arrives at the conclusion that these data refer to the same honey-bearing plant, but that it is unknown what plant is to be understood by the term yan ts'e. The Turkl name for this plant is yantaq, and the sweet resin accumu- lating on it is styled yantaq Sakarl ("yantaq sugar")- 4 The modern Persian name for he manna is tar-angubln (Arabic terenjobin; hence Spanish tereniabin) ; and the plant which exudates the sweet substance, as stated, is styled %ar-i-$utur (" camel-thorn"). The manna suddenly appears toward the close of the summer during the night, and must be gathered during the early hours of the morning. It is eaten in its natural state, or is utilized for syrup (Sire) in Central Asia or in the sugar-factories of Meshed and Yezd in Persia. 5 The Persian word became known to the Chinese from Samarkand in the tran- scription ta-lan-ku-pin 31 W "i& 5C. 6 The product is described under the title kan lu ~H* 1$ ("sweet dew") as being derived from a small plant, one to two feet high, growing densely, the leaves being fine like those of an Indigo/era (Ian). The autumn dew hardens on the surface of the stems, and this product has a taste like sugar. It is gathered and boiled into sweetmeats. Under the same name, kan-lu, the Kwan yu ki 7 describes a small plant of Samarkand, on the leaves of which accumu- lates in the autumn a dew as sweet in taste as honey, the leaves resem- 1 Unidentified. It can hardly be identified with Mosul, as intimated by ROCKHILL. 2 ROCKHILL, T'oung Pao, 1915, p. 622. This Buddhist term has crept in here owing to the fact that kan lu ("sweet dew") serves as rendering of Sanskrit amr.ita ("the nectar of the gods") and as designation for manna. s Also the Yu yan tsa tsu, but this passage refers to India and to a different plant, and is therefore treated below in its proper setting. 4 A. v. LE COQ, Sprichworter und Lieder aus Turfan, p. 99. If the supposition of B. MUNKACSI (Keleti szemle, Vol. XI, 1910, p. 353) be correct, that Hungarian gyanta (gydnta, jdnta, gyenta, "resin") and gyantdr ("varnish") may be Turkish loan-words, the above Turkl name would refer to the resinous character of the plant. 5 VAMBRY, Skizzen aus Mittelasien, p. 189. 6 Ta Min i t'un 6i, Ch. 89, p. 23. 7 Ch. 24, p. 26, of the edition printed in 1744; this passage is not contained in the original edition of 1600 (cf. above, p. 251, regarding the various editions). 346 SlNO-lRANICA bling those of an Indigof era (Ian) ; and in the same work 1 this plant is referred to Qara-Khoja A #1 under the name yan ts'e. Also the Ming Annals 2 contain the same reference. The plant in question has been identified by D. HANBURY with the camel-thorn (Alhagi camelorum), a small spiny plant of the family Leguminosae, growing in Iran and Turkistan. 3 In the fourteenth century, ODORIC of Pordenone found near the city Huz in Persia manna of better quality and in greater abundance than in any part of the world. 4 The Persian-Arabic manna was made known in Europe during the sixteenth century by the traveller and naturalist PIERRE BELON DU MONS (i5i8-64), 5 who has this account: "Les Caloieres auoyt de la Mane liquide recueillie en leurs montagnes, qu'ils appellent Tereniabin, a la difference de la dure: Car ce que les autheurs Arabes ont appelle* Tereniabin, est garde en pots de terre comme miel, et la portent vendre au Caire : qui est ce qu' Hippocrates nomma miel de Cedre, et les autres Grecs ont nomine* Rose"e du mont Liban: qui est differente a la Manne blanche seiche. Celle que nous auons en France, apporte*e de Brianson, recueillie dessus les Meleses a la sornmite' des plus hautes montagnes, est dure, differente & la susdicte. Parquoy estant la Manne de deux sortes, Ion en trouve au Caire de 1'vne et de Pautre es boutiques des marchands, exposed en vente. L'vne est appellee Manne, et est dure: Pautre Tereniabin, et est liquide: et pource qu'en auons fait plus long discours au liure des arbres tousiours verds, n'en dirons autre chose en ce lieu." The Briancon manna men- tioned by Belon is collected from the larch-trees (Pinus larix) of south- ern France. 6 GARCIA DA ORTA T described several kinds of manna, one brought to Ormuz from the country of the Uzbeg under the name xirquest or xircast, ''which means the milk of a tree called quest, for xir [read &r] is milk in the Persian language, so that it is the dew that falls 1 Ch. 24, p. 6, of the original edition; and Ch. 24, p. 30 b, of the edition of 1744. 2 Ch. 329 (cf. BRETSCHNEIDER, Mediaeval Researches, Vol. II, p. 192). 3 The plant is said to occur also in India (Sanskrit vi^dlada and gandhari; that is, from Gandhara), Arabia, and Egypt, but, curiously, in those countries does not produce a sugar-like secretion. Consequently it cannot be claimed as the plant which furnished the manna to the Israelites in the desert (see the Dictionnaire de la Bible by F. VIGOUROUX, Vol. I, col. 367). The manna of northern India became known to the Chinese in recent times (see Lu Van kun i 't jj[ JJ & &, |^, p. 44, in Ts'ifi lao fan ts'un Su). 4 YULE, Cathay, new ed., Vol. II, p. 109; CORDIER'S edition of Odoric, p. 59. 6 Les Observations de plusieurs singularitez, pp. 228-229 (Anvers, 1555). 6 FLUCKIGER and HANBURY, Pharmacographia, p. 416. 7 C. MARKHAM, Colloquies, p. 280. MANNA 347 from these trees, or the gum that exudes from them. 1 The Portuguese corrupted the word to siracost." The other kind he calls tiriam-jabim or trumgibim (Persian tdr-angubln) . "They say that it is found among the thistles and in small pieces, somewhat of a red color. It is said that they are obtained by shaking the thistles with a stick, and that they are larger than a coriander-seed when dried, the color, as I said, between red and vermilion. The vulgar hold that it is a fruit, but I believe that it is a gum or resin. They think this is more wholesome than the kind we have, and it is much used in Persia and Ormuz." "Another kind comes in large pieces mixed with leaves. This is like that of Cala- bria, and is worth more money, coming by way of Bacora, a city of renown in Persia. Another kind is sometimes seen in Goa, liquid in leather bottles, which is like coagulated white honey. They sent this to me from Ormuz, for it corrupts quickly in our land, but the glass flasks preserve it. I do not know anything more about this medicine." JOHN FRYER 2 speaks of the mellifluous dew a-nights turned into manna, which is white and granulated, and not inferior to the Calabrian. According to G. WATT, S shirkhist is the name for the white granular masses found in Persia on the shrub Cotoneaster nummularia; white taranjabin ( = tar-angubiri) is obtained from the camel-thorn (Alhagi camelorum and A. maurorum), growing in Persia, and consisting of a peculiar sugar called melezitose and cane-sugar. The former is chiefly brought from Herat, and is obtained also from Atraphaxis spinosa (Polygonaceae) . 4 It is thus demonstrated also from a philological and historical point of view that the yan ts'e and k*ie-p'o-lo of the Chinese represent the species Alhagi camelorum. Another Persian name for manna is xoSkenjubin, which means "dry- honey." An Arabic tradition explains it as a dew that falls on trees in the mountains of Persia; while another Arabic author says, "It is dry honey brought from the mountains of Persia. It has a detestable odor. It is warm and dry, warmer and dryer than honey. Its properties in general are more energetic than those of honey." 6 This product, called 1 Garcia's etymology is only partially correct. The Persian word is sir-xest, which means "goat's milk." Hence Armenian UrixiSd, SirxeSd, SimxuSg, or SiraxuZ (cf. E. SEIDEL, Mechithar, p. 210). 1 New Account of East India and Persia, Vol. II, p. 201. 8 Agricultural Ledger, 1900, No. 17, p. 188. 4 See FLtfcKiGER and H ANBURY, op. ciL, p. 415. According to SCHLIMMER (Terminologie, p. 357), this manna comes from Herat, Khorasan, and the district Lor-ehrestanek. 5 L. LECLERC, Traite" des simples, Vol. II, p. 32. 348 SlNO-lRANICA in India guzangabin, is collected from the tamarisk (Tamarix gallica, var. manmfera Ehrenb.) in the valleys of the Peninsula of Sinai and also in Persia. 1 In the latter country, the above name is likewise applied to a manna obtained from Astragalus florulentus and A. adscendens in the mountain-districts of Chahar-Mahal and Faraidan, and especially about the town of Khonsar, south-west of Ispahan. The best sorts of this manna, which are termed gaz-alefi or gaz-khonsar (from the prov- ince Khonsar) , are obtained in August by shaking it from the branches, the little drops finally sticking together and forming a dirty, grayish- white, tough mass. According to ScHLiMMER, 2 the shrub on which this manna is formed is common everywhere, without yielding, however, the slightest trace of manna, which is solely obtained in the small province Khonsar or Khunsar. The cause for this phenomenon is sought in the existence there of the Coccus mannifer and in the absence of this insect in other parts of the country. Several Persian physicians of Ispahan, and some European authors, have attributed to the puncture of this insect the production of manna in Khonsar; and Schlimmer recommends transporting and acclimatizing the insect to those regions where Tamarix grows spontaneously. It has been stated that the earliest allusion to tamarisk-manna is to be found in Herodotus, 3 who says in regard to the men of the city Callatebus in Asia Minor that they make honey out of wheat and the fruit of the tamarisk. The case, however, is different; Herodotus does not allude to the exudation of the tree. STUART 4 states that tamarisk-manna is called Pen Zu $H ?L. The tamarisk belongs to the flora of China, th-ee species of it being known. 5 The Chinese, as far as I know, make no re t?rence to a manna from any of these species; and the term pointed out by Stuart merely refers to the sap in the interior of the tree, which, according to the Pen ts'ao, is used in the Materia Medica. Cen Tsiao JIB KS of the Sung period, in his T'un li 5 ^, 6 simply defines e'en Zu as "the sap in the wood or trunk of the tamarisk." 7 1 See particularly D. HOOPER, Tamarisk Manna, Journal As. Soc. Bengal, Vol. V, 1909, pp. 31-36. 2 Terminologie, p. 359. 3 vii, 31. 4 Chinese Materia Medica, p. 259. 5 BRETSCHNEIDER, Bot. Sin., pt. II, No. 527; Pen ts'ao kan mu, Ch. 35 B, p. 9. 6 Ch. 76, p. 12. 7 The Turkl name for the tamarisk is yulgun. In Persian it is styled gaz or gazm (Kurd gazo or gezu}, the fruit gazmazak or gazmazu (gaz basrah, the manna of the tree); further, balangmuU, balangmusk, or balanjmusk, and Arabic-Persian kizmazaj. MANNA 349 There is, further, an oak-manna collected from Quercus vallonea Kotschy and Q. persica. These trees are visited in the month of August by immense numbers of a small white Coccus, from the puncture of which a saccharine fluid exudes, and solidifies in little grains. The people go out before sunrise, and shake the grains of manna from the branches on to linen cloths spread out beneath the trees. The exudation is also collected by dipping into vessels of hot water the small branches on which it is formed, and evaporating the saccharine solution to a syrupy consistence, which in this state is used for sweetening food, or is mixed with flour to form a sort of cake. 1 Aside from the afore-mentioned mannas, ScniiMMER 2 describes two other varieties which I have not found in any other author. One he calls in Persian &ker eighal (" sugar eighal"), saying that it is produced by the puncture of a worm in the plant. This worm he has himself found in fresh specimens. This manna is brought to Teheran by the farmers of the Elburs, Lawistan, and Dimawend, but the plant occurs also in the environment of Teheran and other places. Although this manna almost lacks sweetness, it is a remarkable pectoral and alleviates obstinate coughs. The other is the manna of Apocynum syriacum, known in Persia as Siker al-o$r and imported from Yemen and Hedjaz. According to the Persian pharmacologists, it is the product of a nocturnal exudation solidified during the day, similar to small pieces of salt, either white, or gray, and even black. It is likewise employed medicinally. Manna belonged to the food-products of the ancient Iranians, and has figured in their kitchen from olden times. When the great king so- journed in Media, he received daily for his table a hundred baskets full of manna, each weighing ten mines. It was utilized like honey for the sweetening of beverages. 3 I am inclined to think that the Iranians diffused this practice over Central Asia. The Yu yah tsa tsu has a reference to manna of India, as follows: "In northern India there is a honey-plant growing in the form of a creeper with large leaves, without withering yi the autumn and winter. While it receives hoar-frost and dew, it forms the honey." According to G. WATT, 4 some thirteen or fourteen plants in India are known to and HANBURY, Pharmacographia, p. 416; HANBURY, Science Papers, p. 287; SCHLIMMER (Terminologie, p. 358) attributes the oak-manna to the mountains of Kurdistan in Persia. 2 Terminologie, p. 359. 3 C. JORET, Plantes dans I'antiquit6, Vol. II, p. 93. Regarding manna in Persia, see also E. SEIDEL, Mechithar, p. 163. 4 Commercial Products of India, p. 929. 350 SlNO-lRANICA yield, under the parasitic influence of insects or otherwise, a sweet fluid called "manna." This is regularly collected and, like honey, enters more largely than sugar into the pharmaceutical preparations of the Hindu. The silicious concretion of crystalline form, found in the culms or joints of an Indian bamboo (Bambusa arundinacea) and known as tabashir, is styled in India also " bamboo manna," decidedly a misnomer. On the other hand, a real manna has sometimes been discovered on the nodes of certain species of bamboo in India. 1 The subject of tabashir has nothing to do with manna, nor with Sino-Iranian relations; but, as the early history of this substance has not yet been correctly expounded, the following brief notes may not be unwelcome. 2 Specimens of tabashir, procured by me in China in 1902, are in the American Museum of Natural History in New York. 3 We now know that tabashir is due to an ancient discovery made in India, and that at an early date it was traded to China and Egypt. In recent years the very name has been traced in the form tabasis (rd/Sacris) in a Greek papyrus, where it is said that the porous stone is brought down [to Alexandria] from [upper] Egypt: the articles of Indian commerce were shipped across the Red Sea to the Egyptian ports, and then freighted on the Nile downward to the Delta. 4 The Indian origin of the article is evidenced, above all, by the fact that the Greek term tabasis (of the same phonetic appearance as Persian tabaSir) is connected with Sanskrit tavak-ksira (or tvak-ksira; ksira, " vegetable juice"), and permits us to reconstruct a Prakrit form taba&ra; for the Greek importers or exporters naturally did not derive the word from Sanskrit, but from a vernacular idiom spoken somewhere on the west coast of India. Or, we have to assume that the Greeks received the word from the Persians, and the Persians from an Indian Prakrit. 6 The Chinese, in like manner, at first imported the article from India, calling it "yellow of India" (Tien-tu hwan ^ * 36). It is first men- tioned under this designation as a product of India in the Materia Medica published in the period K'ai-pao (A.D. 968-976), the K*ai pao 1 See G. WATT, Agricultural Ledger, 1900, No. 17, pp. 185-189. 2 The latest writer on the subject, G. F. KUNZ (The Magic of Jewels and Charms, pp. 233-235, Philadelphia, 1915), has given only a few historical notes of mediaeval origin. 3 Cat. No. 70, 13834. This is incidentally mentioned here, as Dr. Kunz states that very little of the material has reached the United States. 4 H. DIELS, Antike Technik, p. 123. 6 The Persian tabasir is first described by Abu Mansur (ACHUNDOW, p. 95), and is still eaten as a delicacy by Persian women (ibid., p. 247). In Armenian it is dabaSir. TABASHIR 351 pen ts'ao; but at the same time we are informed that it was then obtained from all bamboos of China, 1 and that the Chinese, according to their habit, adulterated the product with scorched bones, the arrowroot from Pachyrhizus angulatus, and other stuff. 2 The Pen ts'ao yen i of in6 3 explains the substance as a natural production in bamboo, yellow like loess. The name was soon changed into " bamboo-yellow' 3 (lu hwan 13* 3?) or " bamboo-grease " (Zukao)* It is noticeable that the Chinese do not classify tabashir among stones, but conceive it as a production of bamboo, while the Hindu regard it as a kind of pearl. The earliest Arabic author who has described the substance is Aba Dulaf, who lived at the Court of the Samanides of Bokhara, and travelled in Central Asia about A.D. 940. He says that the product comes from Mandurapatan in northwestern India (Abulfeda and others state that Tana on the island of Salsette, twenty miles from Bombay, was the chief place of production), and is exported from there into all countries of the world. It is produced by rushes, which, when they are dry and agitated by the wind, rub against one another; this motion develops heat and sets them afire. The blaze sometimes spreads over a surface of fifty parasangs, or even more. Tabashir is the product of these rushes. 5 Other Arabic authors cited by Ibn al-Baitar derive the substance from the Indian sugarcane, and let it come from all coasts of India; they dwell at length on its medicinal properties. 6 GARCIA DA ORTA (1563), who was familiar with the drug, also mentions the burning of the canes, and states it as certain that the reason they set fire to them is to reach the heart; but sometimes they do not follow tihis practice, as appears from many specimens which are untouched by fire. He justly says that the Arabic name (taba&r, in his Portuguese spelling tabaxir) is derived from the Persian, and means "milk or juice, or moisture." The ordinary price for the product in Persia and Arabia was its weight in silver. The canes, lofty and large like ash-trees, 1 The Cen lei pen ts^ao (Ch. 13, p. 48) cites the same text from a work Lin hai & IS 'S S> apparently an other work than the Lin hai i wu li mentioned by BRET- SCHNEIDER (Bot. Sin., pt. i, p. 169). 2 The following assertion by STUART (Chinese Materia Medica, p. 64)is erroneous: "The Chinese did not probably derive the substance originally from India, but it is possible that the knowledge of its medicinal uses were derived from that country, where it has been held in high esteem from very early times." The knowledge of this product and the product itself first reached the Chinese from India, and nat- urally induced them to search for it in their own bamboos. 1 Ch. 14, p. 4 b (ed. of Lu Sin-yuan). 4 Pen ts'ao kan mu, Ch. 37, p. 9. 8 G. FERRAND, Textes relatifs I'ExtreTne-Orient, p. 225. 6 L. LECLERC, Traite" des simples, Vol. II, pp. 399-401. 352 SlNO-lRANICA according to his statement, generate between the knots great humidity, like starch when it is much coagulated. The Indian carpenters, who work at these canes, find thick juice or pith, which they put on the lum- bar region or reins, and in case of a headache on the forehead; it is used by Indian physicians against over-heating, external or internal, and for fevers and dysentery. 1 The most interesting of all accounts remains that of ODORIC OF PORDENONE (died in 1331), who, though he does not name the product and may partially confound it with bezoar, alludes to certain stones found in canes of Borneo, "which be such that if any man wear one of them upon his person he can never be hurt or wounded by iron in any shape, and so for the most part the men of that country do wear such stones upon them." 2 J. A. DE MANDELSLO S gives the following notice of tabashir: "It is certain that on the coast of Malabar, Coromandel, Bisnagar, and near to Malacca, this sort of cane (called by the Javians mambu [bam- boo] ) produces a drug called sacar mambus, that is, sugar of mambu. The Arabians, the Persians, and the Moores call it tabaxir, which in their language signifies a white frozen liquor. These canes are as big as the body of a poplar, having straight branches, and leaves something longer than the olive-tree. They are divided into divers knots, wherein there is a certain white matter like starch, for which the Persians and Arabians give the weight in silver, for the use they make of it in physick, against burning feavers, and bloudy fluxes, but especially upon the first approaches of any disease." 1 C. MARKHAM, Colloquies of Garcia da Orta, pp. 409-414. A list of Sanskrit synonymes for tabashir is given by R. SCHMIDT (ZDMG, Vol. LXV, 1911, p. 745). 2 YULE, Cathay, new ed. by CORDIER, Vol. II, p. 161. 3 Voyages and Travels, p. 120 (London, 1669). ASAFCETIDA 22. The riddles of asafcetida begin with the very name: there is no adequate explanation of our word asa or assa. The new Oxford English Dictionary ventures to derive it from Persian dzd or aza. This word, however, means nothing but " mastic," a product entirely different from what we understand by asafcetida (p. 2 5 2) . In no Oriental language is there a word of the type asa or aza with reference to this product, so it could not have been handed on to Europe by an Oriental nation. KAEMPFER, who in 1687 studied the plant in Laristan, and was fairly familiar with Persian, said that he was ignorant of the origin of the European name. 1 LITTRE, the renowned author of the Dictionnaire frangais, admits that the origin of asa is unknown, and wisely abstains from any theory. 2 The supposition has been advanced that asa was developed from the laser or laserpitium of Pliny (xix, 5), the latter having thus been mutilated by the druggists of the middle ages. This etymology, first given by GARCIA DA ORTA, S has been indorsed by E. BoRSZczow, 4 a Polish botanist, to whom we owe an excellent investigation of the asa-furnishing plants. Although this explanation remains as yet unsatisfactory, as the alleged development from laser to asa is merely inferred, but cannot actually be proved from mediaeval documents, 5 it is better, at any rate, than the derivation from the Persian. Asafcetida is a vegetable product consisting of resin, gum, and essential oil in varying proportions, the resin generally amounting to more than one-half, derived from different umbelliferous plants, as Ferula narthex, alliacea, fcetida, persica, and scorodosma (or Scorodosma 1 Amoenitates exoticae, p. 539. 2 The suggestion has also been made that asa may be derived from Greek asi (?) ("disgust") or from Persian anguza ("asafoetida"); thus at least it is said by F. STUHLMANN (Beitrage zur Kulturgeschichte Ostafrikas, p. 609). Neither is con- vincing. The former moves on the same high level as Li Si-c"en's explanation of a-wei ("The barbarians call out a, expressing by this exclamation their horror at the abominable odor of this resin"). 3 C. MARKHAM, Colloquies, p. 41. JOHN PARKINSON (Theatrum botanicum, p. 1569, London, 1640) says, "There is none of the ancient Authours either Greeke, Latine, or Arabian, that hath made any mention of Asa, either dulcis or faztida, but was first depraved by the Druggists and Apothecaries in forraigne parts, that in stead of Laser said Asa, from whence ever since the name of Asa hath continued." 4 MSmoires de VAcad. de St. Pttersbourg, Vol. Ill, No. 8, 1860, p. 4. 5 DUCANGE does not even list the word "asafcetida." 353 354 SlNO-lRANICA fatidum). 1 It is generally used in India as a condiment, being espe- cially eaten with pulse and rice. Wherever the plant grows, the fresh leaves are cooked and eaten as a green vegetable, especially by the natives of Bukhara, who also consider as a delicacy the white under part of the stem when roasted and flavored with salt and butter. In the pharmacopoeia it is used as a stimulant and antispasmodic. Abu Mansur, the Persian Li 5i-en of the tenth century, discrimi- nates between two varieties of asafcetida (Persian anguydn, Arabic anjuddn), a white and a black one, adding that there is a third kind called by the Romans sesalius. It renders food easily digestible, strength- ens the stomach, and alleviates pain of the joints in hands and feet. Rubbed into the skin, it dispels swellings, especially if the milky juice of the plant is employed. The root macerated in vinegar strengthens and purifies the stomach, promotes digestion, and acts as an appetizer. 2 The Ferula and Scorodosma furnishing asafcetida are typically Iranian plants. According to Abu Hanifa, n asa grows in the sandy plains extending between Bost and the country Klkan in northern Persia. Abu Mansur designates the leaves of the variety from Sarachs near Merw as the best. According to Istaxrl, asa was abundantly produced in the desert between the provinces Seistan and Makran; according to Edrlsi, in the environment of Kaleh Bust in Afghanistan. KAEMPFER observed the harvest of the plant in Laristan in 1687, and gives the following notice on its occurrence: 4 "Patria eius sola est Persia, non Media, Libya, Syria aut Cyrenaica regio. In Persia plant am hodie alunt saltern duorum locorum tractus, videlicet campi montesque circa Heraat, emporium provinciae Chorasaan, et jugum montium in provincia Laar, quod a flumine Cuur adusque urbem Congo secundum Persici sinus tractum extenditur, duobus, alibi tribus pluribusve para- sangis a litore." Herat is a renowned place of production, presumably the exclusive centre of production at the present day, whence the product is shipped to India. The exact geographical distribution has been well outlined by E. BoRSZczow. 5 Aside from Persia proper, Scorodosma occurs also on the Oxus, on the Aral Sea, and in an isolated spot on the east coast of the Caspian Sea. Judging from Chinese accounts, plants yielding asa appear to have occurred also near Khotan (see below), Turf an, and 1 The genus Ferula contains about sixty species. 2 ACHUNDOW, Abu Mansur, p. 8. 8 LECLERC, Traite" des simples, Vol. I, p. 142. 4 Amoenitates exoticae, p. 291. 5 Ferulaceen der aralo-caspischen Wuste (MSmoires de I'Acad. de St. Piter s- bourg, Vol. Ill, No. 8, 1860, p. 16). ASAFCETIDA 355 Shahrokia. 1 We do not know, however, what species here come into question. Cao Zu-kwa states that the home of asafcetida is in Mu-ku-lan ^C {^ IB, in the country of the Ta-sl (Ta-d2ik, Arabs). 2 Mu-kii-lan is identical with Mekran, the Gedrosia of the ancients, the Maka of the Old-Persian inscriptions. Alexander the Great crossed Gedrosia on his campaign to India, and we should expect that his scientific staff, which has left us so many valuable contributions to the flora of Iran and north-western India, might have also observed the plant furnishing asafcetida; in the floristic descriptions of the Alexander literature, how- ever, nothing can be found that could be interpreted as referring to this species. H. BRETZL S has made a forcible attempt to identify a plant briefly described by Theophrastus, 4 with Scorodosma fcetidum; and A. HoRT, 5 in his new edition and translation of Theophrastus, has followed him. The text runs thus: "There is another shrub [in Aria] as large as a cabbage, whose leaf is like that of the bay in size and shape. And if any animal should eat this, it is certain to die of it. Wherefore, wherever there were horses, they kept them under control" [that is, in Alexander's army]. This in no way fits the properties of Ferula or Scorodosma, which is non-poisonous, and does not hurt any animal. It is supposed also that the laser pitium or silphion and laser of Pliny 6 should, at least partially, relate to asafcetida; this, however, is rejected by some authors, and appears to me rather doubtful. GARCIA DA ORTA ? has already denied any connection between that plant of the ancients and asa. L. LECLERC S has discussed at length this much-dis- puted question. The first European author who made an exact report of asafcetida 1 BRETSCHNEIDER, Mediaeval Researches, Vol. II, pp. 193, 254. The inter- pretation of lu-wei ("rushes") as asafoetida in the Si yu ki (ibid., Vol. I, p. 85) seems to me a forced and erroneous interpretation. 2 HIRTH and ROCKHILL, Chao Ju-kua, p. 224. 3 Botanische Forschungen des Alexanderzuges, p. 285. 4 Histor. plant., IV. iv, 12. 5 Vol. I, p. 321. 6 xix, 15. The Medic juice, called silphion, and mentioned as a product of Media by Strabo (XI. xm, 7), might possibly allude to a product of the nature ol asafcetida, especially as it is said in another passage (XV. n, 10) that silphion grew in great abundance in the deserts of Bactriana, and promoted the digestion of the raw flesh on which Alexander's soldiers were forced to subsist there. According to others, the silphion of the ancients is Thapsia garganica (ENGLER, Pflanzenfamilien, Vol. Ill, pt. 8, p. 247). Regarding the Medic oil (oleum Medicum) see Ammianus Marcellinus, xxm, 6. 7 C. Markham, Colloquies, p. 44. 8 Traite" des simples, Vol. I, p. 144. 356 SlNO-lRANICA was GARCIA DA ORTA in 1563. However, living and studying in Goa, India, he did not learn from what plant the product was derived. On its use in India he comments as follows: "The thing most used through- out India, and in all parts of it, is that Assa-fetida, as well for medicine as in cookery. A great quantity is used, for every Gentio who is able to get the means of buying it will buy it to flavor his food. The rich eat much of it, both Banyans and all the Gentios of Cambay, and he who imitates Pythagoras. These flavor the vegetables they eat with it; first rubbing the pan with it, and then using it as seasoning with every- thing they eat. All the other Gentios who can get it, eat it, and laborers who, having nothing more to eat than bread and onions, can only eat it when they feel a great need for it. The Moors all eat it, but in smaller quantity and only as a medicine. A Portuguese merchant highly praised the pot-herb used by these Banyans who bring this Assa-fetida, and I wished to try it and see whether it pleased my taste, but as I do not know our spinach very well, it did not seem so palatable to me as it did to the Portuguese who spoke to me about it. There is a respected and discreet man in these parts, holding an office under the king, who eats Assa-fetida to give him an appetite for his dinner, and finds it very good, taking it in doses of two drachms. He says there is a slightly bitter taste, but that this is appetising like eating olives. This is before swallowing, and afterwards it gives the person who takes it much con- tent. All the people in this country tell me that it is good to taste and to smell." CHR. ACOSTA or DA CosxA 1 gives the following account: "Altiht, anjuden, Assa fetida, dulce y odorata medicina (de que entre los Doc- tores ha auido differentia y controuersia) es ona Goma, que del Coragone traen a Ormuz, y de Ormuz a la India, y del Guzarate y del reyno Dely (tierra muy fria) la qual por la otra parte confina con el Coragone, y con la region de Chiruan, como siente Auicena. Esta Goma es llamada de los Arabics Altiht, y Antit, y delos Indies Ingu, o Ingara. El arbol de adonde mana, se llama Anjuden, y otros le llaman Angeydan. " La Assa se aplica para leuatar el miembro viril, cosa muy vsada en aquellas partes : y no viene a proposito para la diminution del coito, vsar del tal gumo de Regaliza. Y en las diuisiones pone Razis Altiht por meditina para las fiestas de Venus: y Assa dulcis no la pone Doctor Arabe, ni Griego, ni Latino, que sea de autoridad, porque Regaliza se llama en Arabic Cuz, y el gumo del cozido, y reduzido en forma de Arrope, le llaman los Arabes Robalcuz, y los Espafioles corrompiendole 1 Tractado de las drogas, y medicinas de las Indias orientates, p. 362 (Burgos, 1578). ASAFCETIDA 357 el nombre le llaman Rabacuz. De suerte que Robalcuz en Arabic, quiere dezir c.umo basto de Regaliza: porque Rob, es cumo basto, y Al, ar- ticulo de genitiuo, de, y Cuz, regaliza, y todo junto significa cumo basto de Regaliza: y assi no se puede llamar a este gumo Assa dulcis. Los Indies la loan para el estomago, para facilitar el vientre, y para consumir las ventosidadas. Tambien curan con esta medicina los cauallos, que echan mucha ventosidad. En tanto tienen esta medicina que le llama aquella gente, principalmente la de Bisnaguer, manjar delos Dioses." JOHN FRYER 1 relates, "In this country Assa Fcetida is gathered at a place called Descoon; 2 some deliver it to be the juice of a cane or reed inspissated; others, of a tree wounded: It differs much from the stink- ing stuff called Hing, it being of the Province of Carmania: 3 This latter is that the Indians perfume themselves with, mixing it in all their pulse, and make it up in wafers to correct the windiness of their food, which they thunder up in belchings from the crudities created in their stom- achs; never thinking themselves at ease without this Theriac: And this is they cozen the Europeans with instead of Assa F&tida, of which it bears not only the smell, but color also, only it is more liquid." J. A. DE MANDELSLO 4 reports as follows: "The Hingh, which our drugsters and apothecaries call Assa fcetida, comes for the most part from Persia, but that which the Province of Utrad produces in the Indies is the best, and there is a great traffick driven in it all over Indosthan. The plant which produces it is of two kinds; one grows like a bush, and hath small leaves, like rice, and the other resembles a turnip-leaf, and its greenness is like that of fig-tree leaves. It thrives best in stony and dry places, and its gum begins to come forth towards the latter end of summer, so that it must be gathered in autumn. The traffick of it is so much the greater in those parts, upon this account, that the Benjans of Guzuratta make use of it in all their sawces, and rub their 1 New Account of East India and Persia, Vol. II, p. 195 (Hakluyt Soc., 1912). 2 Kuh-i Dozgan, west of Kuristan. 8 Ring is mentioned by FRYER (Vol. I, p. 286) as in use among the natives of southern India, "to correct all distempers of the brain, as well as stomach," "a sort of liquid Assa Fcetida, whereby they smell odiously." This is the product of Ferula alliacca, collected near Yezd in Khorasan and in the province of Kerman, and chiefly used by the natives of Bombay (FLtteKiGER and HANBURY, Pharmacographia, pp. 319-320; WATT, Commercial Products of India, p. 534). Fryer's distinction be- tween hing and asafcetida shows well that there were different kinds and grades of the article, derived from different plants. Thus there is no reason to wonder that the Chinese Buddhist authors discriminate between hingu and a-wei (CHAVANNES and PELLIOT, Trait6 maniche'en, p. 234); the l*ou ts'ai ("stinking vegetable") is probably also a variety of this product. 4 Voyages and Travels, p. 67 (London, 1669). 3 $8 SlNO-lRANICA pots and drinking vessels therewith, by which means they insensibly accustom themselves to that strong scent, which we in Europe are hardly able to endure." The Chinese understand by the term a-wei products of two different plants. Neither Bretschneider nor Stuart has noted this. Li Si-Sen 1 states that " there are two kinds of a-wei, one an herb, the other a tree. The former is produced in Turkistan (Si yu), and can be sun- dried or boiled: this is the kind discussed by Su Kun. The latter is produced among the Southern Barbarians (Nan Fan), and it is the sap of the tree which is taken: this is the kind described by Li Sun, Su Sun, and C'en C'en." Su Kun of the T'ang period reports that 11 a-wei grows among the Western Barbarians (Si Fan) and in K'un- lun. 2 Sprouts, leaves, root, and stems strongly resemble the pai li Q 3 (Angelica anomald). The root is pounded, and the sap extracted from it is dried in the sun and pressed into cakes. This is the first quality. Cut-up pieces of the root, properly dried, take the second rank. Its prominent characteristic is a rank odor, but it can also stop foul smells; indeed, it is a strange product. The Brahmans say that hiin-kit (Sanskrit hingu, see below) is the same as a-wei, and that the coagulated juice of the root is like glue; also that the root is sliced, dried in the sun, and malodorous. In the western countries (India) its consumption is forbidden. 8 Habitual enjoyment of it is said to do away with foul breath. The barbarians (-$C A) prize it as the Chinese do pepper." This, indeed, relates to the plant or plants yielding asa, and Li Si-Sen comments that its habitat is in Hwo Sou (Qar5-Khoja) and Sa-lu-hai-ya (Shahrokia). 4 Curiously enough, such a typical Iran- ian plant is passed over with silence in the ancient historical texts relative to Sasanian Persia. The only mention of it in the pre-T'ang Annals occurs in the Sui $u b with reference to the country Ts'ao $t north of the Ts'un-lin (identical with the Ki-pin of the Han), while the T'ai p'in hwan yii ki* ascribes a-wei to Ki-pin. The Yu yan tsa tsu 7 contains the following account of the product: 1 Pen ts'ao kan mu, Ch. 34, p. 21. 2 K'un-lun is given as place of production in the Kwan i, written prior to A.D. 527, but there it is described as the product of a tree (see below). 8 It was prohibited to the monks of the Mahayana (cf. S. Lvi, Journal asiatiquc, 1915, I, p. 87). 4 BRETSCHNEIDER, Mediaeval Researches, Vol. II, pp. 253, 254, also 193. 6 Ch. 83, p. 8 (also in the Pei Si). 6 Ch. 182, p. 12 b. 7 Ch. 18, p. 8 b. ASAFGETIDA 359 "A-wei is produced in Gazna fto E8 l (*Gia-ja-na); 1 that is, in north- ern India. In Gazna its name is hin-yti (Sanskrit hingu). Its habitat is also in Persia, where it is termed a-yu-tsie (see below). The tree grows to a height of eight and nine feet. 2 The bark is green and yellow. In the third month the tree forms leaves which resemble a rodent's ear. It does not flower, nor does it produce fruit. The branches, when cut, have a continuous flow of sap like syrup, which consolidates, and is styled a-wei. The monk from the country Fu-lin, Wan W by name, and the monk from Magadha, T'i-p'o $1 SI (*De-bwa, Sanskrit Deva), agree in stating that the combination 3 of the sap with rice or beans, and powdered, forms what is called a-wei"* Another description of a-wei by the Buddhist monk Hwei Zi S , born in A.D. 680, has been made known by S. Lfevi. 6 The Chinese pil- grim points out that the plant is lacking in China, and is not to be seen in other kingdoms except in the region of Khotan. The root is as large as a turnip and white; it smells like garlic, and the people of Khotan feed on this root. The Buddhist pilgrim Yi Tsifi, who travelled in A.D. 671-695, reports that a-wei is abundant in the western limit of India, and that all vegetables are mixed with it, clarified butter, oil, or any spice. 6 Li Sim, who wrote in the second half of the eighth century, states that, " according to the Kwan ci, a-wei grows in the country K'un-lun; it is a tree with a ;sap of 'the appearance of the resin of the peach-tree. That which is black in color does not keep; that of yellow color is the best. Along the Yangtse in Yun-nan is found also a variety like the one imported in ships, juicy, and in taste identical with the yellow brand, but not yellow in color." Su Sun of the Sung period remarks that there is a-wei only in Kwafi-ou (Kwafi-tun), and that it is the coagulated sap of a tree, which does not agree with the statement of Su Kun. C'en C'efi R $s a distinguished physician, who wrote the Pen ts'ao 1 In the Pen ts'ao kan mu, where the text is quoted from the Hai yao pen ',s'ao of Li Sun, Persia is coupled with Gazna. Gazna is the capital of Jagutfa, the Tsao- ku-c'a of Hiian Tsan, the Zabulistan of the Arabs. Huan Tsan reported that asafoetida is abundant there (S. JULIEN, Me"moires sur les contre"es occidentales, Vol. II, p. 187. Cf. S. L6vi, Journal asiatique, 1915, I, p. 83). 2 Thus in the text of the Pen ts'ao; in the edition of Pai hai: eighty or ninety feet. In fact, the stems of Ferula reach an average height of from eight to ten feet. 3 Instead of $P of the text I read jf P with the Pen ts'ao. 4 The translation of this passage by HIRTH (Chau Ju-kua, p. 225) does not render the sense correctly. The two monks mean to say that the sap or resin is a condiment added to a dish of rice or beans, and that the whole mixture bears the name a-wei. 5 Journal asiatique, 1915, I, p. 89. 6 TAKAKUSU, I-tsing, pp. 128, 137. 360 SlNO-lRANICA pie $wo about A.D. 1090, says, "A-wei is classed among trees. People of Kian-su and Ce-kian have now planted it. The odor of the branches and leaves is the same, but they are tasteless and yield no sap." The above K'un-lun refers to the K'un-lun of the Southern Sea; 1 and Li Si-en comments that "this tree grows in Sumatra and Siam, and that it is not very high. The natives take a bamboo tube and stick it into the tree; the tube gradually becomes filled with the sap of the tree, and during the winter months they smash the tube and obtain the sap." Then he goes on to tell the curious tale of the sheep, in the same manner as Cao Zu-kwa. 2 Cao Zu-kwa's notice that the resin is gathered and packed in skin bags is correct; for GARCIA DA ORTA 3 reports that the gum, obtained by making cuts in the tree, is kept in bullock's hides, first anointed with blood, and then mixed with wheat flour. It is more difficult to account for the tradition given by the Chinese author, that, in order to neutralize the poison of the plant, a sheep is tied to the base of the tree and shot with arrows, whereupon the poison filters into the sheep that is doomed to death, and its carcass forms the asafcetida. This bit of folk-lore was certainly transmitted by Indian, Persian, or Arabic navigators, but any corresponding Western tradition has not yet been traced. Hobeich Ibn el-Hacen, quoted by Ibn al-Baitar, 4 insists on the poisonous action of the plant, and says that the harvests succeed in Sind only when asa is packed in a cloth and suspended at -the mouth of water-courses, where the odor spread by the harvest will kill water-dogs and worms. Here we likewise meet the notion that the poisonous properties of the plant are capable of killing animals, and the sheep of the Chinese tradition is obviously suggested by the simile of white sheep-fat and the white vegetable fat of asa. In reality, sheep and goats are fond of the plant and fatten on it. 5 The asa ascribed to the country Ts'eii-t'an in the Sun & 6 was surely an imported article. 1 Not to the K'un-lun mountains, as assumed by STUART (Chinese Materia Medica, p. 173). 2 Needless to say, this Malayan asafoetida can have been but a substitute; but to what plant it refers, I am unable to say. The Tun si yan k'ao (Ch. 2, p. 18; 3, p. 6 b), published in 1618, mentions a-wei as product of Siam and Java. T'an Ts'ui IS 2^, in his Tien hai yii hen i, written in 1799 (Ch. 3, p. 4, ed. of Wen yin lou yu ti ts'un ), states that the a-wei of Yun-nan is produced in Siam, being imported from Siam to Burma and brought from Burma up the Kin-Sa kian. 3 C. MARKHAM, Colloquies, p. 47. 4 LECLERC, Trait6 des simples, Vol. I, p. 447. 6 E. KAEMPFER, Amoenitates exoticae, p. 540; C. JORET, Plantes dans 1'antiquite", Vol. II, p. 100. 8 Ch. 490; cf. HIRTH, Chao Ju-kua, p. 127. I am not convinced that Ts'en-t'an is identical with Ts 'en-pa or Zanguebar. ASAFCETIDA 361 In regard to the modern employment of the article, S. W. WILLIAMS 1 writes, "It is brought from Bombay at the rate of $15 a picul, and ranks high in the Materia Medicaof the Chinese physician; it is exhibited in cholera, in syphilitic complaints and worms, and often forms an ingredient in the pills advertised to cure opium-smokers." It is chiefly believed, however, to assist in the digestion of meat and to correct the poison of stale meats (ptomaine poisoning), mushrooms, and herbs. 2 In Annam it is carried in small bags as a preventive of cholera. 3 The following ancient terms for asafcetida are on record: (1) Persian P3 BE 18 a-yti-tsie, *a-nu-zet = Middle Persian *anguzad; New Persian anguZa, anguZad, anguydn, anguwdn, angudan, angi&ak (stem awgtt-h2a derived from the name of Gazni or Gazna, the capital of Zabulistan, which, according to Huan Tsan, was the habitat of the plant. A Mon- gol word of this type is not listed in the Mongol dictionaries of Kova- levski and Golstunski, but doubtless existed in the age of the Yuan, 1 Chinese Commercial Guide, p. 80. 2 STUART, Chinese Materia Medica, p. 174. 8 PERROT and HURRIER, Mat. m6d. et phannacope'e sino-annamites, p. 161. 4 Cf. Sanskrit jatuka (literally, "gum, lac ") = asaf oetida. HUBSCHMANN, Armen. Gram., p. 98. 6 D'HERBELOT (Bibliotheque orientale, Vol. I, p. 226; Vol. II, p. 327) derived the Persian word (written by him angiu, engiu, ingu; Arabic ingiu, ingudan) from Indian henk and hengu, ingu, for the reason that in India this drug is principally used; this certainly is not correct. 6 Cf. Toung Pao, 1915, pp. 274-275. 362 SlNO-lRANICA v when the Mongols introduced the condiment into China under that name, while they styled the root S M yin-tan. In modern Mongol, the name of the product is singun, which is borrowed from the Tibetan word mentioned below. In the Tibetan dialect of Ladakh, asafcetida is called hin or sip. 1 The name sip or sup was reported by FALCONER, who was the first to discover in 1838 Ferula narthex in western Tibet on the slopes of the mountains dividing Ladakh from Kashmir. 2 The word sip, however, is not generally Tibetan, but only of local value; in all probability, it is not of Tibetan origin. The common Tibetan word is $in-kun, which differs from the Iranian and Indian terms, and which, in view of the fact that the plant occurs in Tibetan regions, may be a purely Tibe- tan formation. Finally it may be mentioned that, according to BORSZCZOW/ Scorodosma is generally known to the inhabitants of the Aralo-Caspian territory under the name sasyk-karai or keurok-kurai, which means as much as ''malodorous rush." The Bukharans call it sasyk-kawar or simply kawar. 1 RAMSAY, Western Tibet, p. 7. 2 Transactions Linnean Soc., Vol. XX, pt. I, 1846, pp. 285-291. 3 Op. cit., p. 25. GALBANUM 23. There is only a single Chinese text relative to galbanum, which is contained in the Yu yan tsa tsu, 1 where it is said, "P*i-ts*i ail 2 ^ (*bit-dzi, bir-zi, bir-zai) is a product of the country Po-se (Persia). In Fu-lin it is styled f I %J 3H fll han-p'o-ti-fa (*xan-bwi5-li-da). 8 The tree grows to a height of more than ten feet, with a circumference of over a foot. Its bark is green, thin, and extremely bright. The leaves resemble those of the asafcetida plant (a-wei), three of them growing at the end of a branch. It does not flower or bear fruit. In the west- ern countries people are accustomed to cut the leaves in the eighth month; and they continue to do this more and more till the twelfth month. The new branches are thus very juicy and luxuriant; without the trimming process, they would infallibly fade away. In the seventh month the boughs are broken off, and there is a yellow sap of the appearance of honey and slightly fragrant, which is medicinally em- ployed in curing disease." Hirth has correctly identified the transcription p'i-ts*i with Persian forzai, which, however, like the other Po-se words in the Yu yan tsa tsu, must be regarded as Pahlavi or Middle Persian; 4 and the Fu-lin han- p'o-li-fa he has equated with Aramaic xelbanita, the latter from Hebrew xelbendh, one of the four ingredients of the sacred perfume (Exodus, xxx, 34-38). This is translated by the Septuaginta xaXjS&pq and by the Vulgate galbanum. The substance is mentioned in three passages 1 Ch. 18, p. ii b. 2 HIRTH, who is the first to have translated this text (Journal Am. Or. Soc. Vol. XXX, p. 21), writes this character with the phonetic element Hf , apparently in agreement with the edition of the Tsin tai pi $u; but this character is not author- ized by K'an-hi, and it is difficult to see how it could have the phonetic value p'i; we should expect ni. The above character is that given by K'an-hi, who cites under it the passage in question. It is thus written also in the Min hian p'u & fff by Ye T'in-kwei ^ S S (p- 10, ed. of Hian yen ts'un su) and in the Pen ts'ao kan mu (Ch. 33, p. 6), where the pronunciation is explained by $3 *biet. The editors of cyclopaedias were apparently staggered by this character, and most of them have chosen the phonetic man, which is obviously erroneous. None of our Chinese dictionaries lists the character. 3 The Pen ts'ao kan mu (I. c.) annotates that the first character should have the sound ^ffr to, *dwat, which is not very probable. 4 There are also the forms plrzed, bdrzed (LECLERC, Traite" des simples, Vol. I, p. 201), berzed, barije, and bazrud; in India bireja, ganda-biroza. Another Persian term given by SCHLIMMER (Terminologie, p. 294) is 363 364 SlNO-lRANICA by Theophrastus: 1 it is produced in Syria from a plant called Trava ("all-heal"); it is only the juice (OTTOS) which is called xaXjSdpq, and which "was used in cases of miscarriage as well as for sprains and such-like troubles, also for the ears, and to strengthen the voice. The root was used in childbirth, and for flatulence in beasts of burden, further in making the iris-perfume (Ipivov pvpov) because of its fra- grance; but the seed is stronger than the root. It grows in Syria, and is cut at the time of wheat-harvest/' 2 Pliny says that galbanum grows on the mountain Amanus in Syria as the exudation from a kind of ferula of the same name as the resin, sometimes known as stagonitis* Its medicinal employment is treated by him in detail. 4 DioscoRiDES 5 explains it as the gum of a plant which has the form of a ferula, growing in Syria, and called by some metopion. Abu Mansur 8 discusses the drug under the Arabic name quinna and the Persian name barzad. During the middle ages galbanum was well known in Europe from the fourteenth century onward. 7 The philological result is confirmed by the botanical evidence, although Twan C'en-si's description, made from an oral report, not as an eye-witness, is naturally somewhat deficient; but it allows us to recognize the characteristics of a Ferula. It is perfectly correct that the leaves resemble those of the asafoetida Ferula, as a glance at the ex- cellent plates in the monograph of BORSZCZOW (op. tit.) will convince one. It is likewise correct that the leaves grow at the ends of the twigs, and usually by threes. It is erroneous, however, that the tree does not flower or bear fruit. 8 The process of collecting the sap is briefly but well described. Nothing positive is known about the importation of gal- banum into China, although W. AINSLIE* stated in 1826 that it was 1 Histor. plant., IX. I, 2; IX. vn, 2; IX. ix, 2. The term occurs also in the Greek papyri. a Cf. the new edition and translation of Theophrastus by A. HORT (Vol. II, p. 261). I do not see how the term "balsam of Mecca" (ibid., p. 219), which is a misnomer anyhow, can be employed in the translation of an ancient Greek author. a Dat et galbanum Syria in eodem Amano monte e ferula, quae eiusdem nominis, resinae modo; stagonitim appellant (xii, 56, 126). 4 xxiv, 13. 8 in, 87 (cf. LECLERC, Traite" des simples, Vol. Ill, p. 115). 6 ACHUNDOW, Abu Mansur, p. 108. 7 See, for instance, K. v. MEGENBERG, Buch der Natur (written in 1349-50), ed. F. Pfeiffer, p. 367; FLUCKIGER and HANBURY, Pharmacographia, p. 321. 8 The fruits are already mentioned by Theophrastus (Hist, plant., IX. ix, 2) as remedies. 9 Materia Indica, Vol. I, p. 143. GALBANUM 365 sent from Bombay to China, and SxuART 1 regards this as entirely probable; but this is merely a supposition unsupported by any tangible data: no modern name is known under which the article might come. The three names given for galbanum in the English-Chinese Standard Dictionary are all wrong: the first, a-yii, refers to asafcetida (see above, p. 361) ; 2 the second, $8, denotes Liquidambar orientalis; and the third, pai sun hian ("white pine aromatic "), relates to Pinus bungeana. The Pen ts'ao kanmu 3 has the notice on p'i-ts'i as an appendix to "manna." Li Si-6en, accordingly, did not know the nature of the product. He is content to cite the text of the Yu yan tsa tsu and to define the medical properties of the substance after C'en Ts'an-k'i of the T'ang. Only under the T'ang was galbanum known in China. The trees from which the product is obtained are usually identified with Ferula galbaniflua and F. rubricaulis or erubescens, both natives of Persia. The Syrian product used by the Hebrews and the ancients was apparently derived from a different though kindred species. F. rubricaulis, said by the botanist Buhse to be called in Persian khas- suih* is diffused all over northern Persia and in the Daena Mountains in the southern part of the country; it is frequent in the Demawend and on the slopes of the Alwend near Hamadan. 5 No incisions are made in the plant: the sap flowing out of the lower part of the stalks and from the base of the leaves is simply collected. The gum is amber-yellow, of not disagreeable, strongly aromatic odor, and soon softens between the fingers. Its taste is slightly bitter. Only in the vicinity of Hamadan, where the plant is exuberant, has the collecting of galbanum developed into an industry. SCHLIMMER* distinguishes two kinds, a brown and a white-yel- lowish galbanum. The former (Persian barzed or barije), the product of Ferula galbaniflua, is found near De Gerdon in the mountains Sa-ute- polagh between Teheran and Gezwin, in the valleys of Lars (Elburs), Khereghan, and Sawe, where the villagers gather it under the name balubu. The latter kind is the product of Dorema anchezi Boiss., en- 1 Chinese Materia Medica, p. 181. 2 This is the name given' for galbanum by F. P. SMITH (Contributions towards the Materia Medica, p. 100), but it is mere guesswork. 3 Ch. 33, p. 6. 4 Evidently identical with what WATT (Commercial Products of India, p. 535) writes khassnib, explaining it as a kind of galbanum from Shlraz. LOEW (Aram. Pflanzennamen, p. 163) makes kassnih of this word. The word intended is apparently the kasni mentioned above (p. 361). 5 BORSZCZOW, op. cit., p. 35. 6 Terminologie, p. 295. 366 SlNO-lRANICA countered by Buhse in the low mountains near Reshm (white galbanum). Galbanum is also called kilyanl in Persian. Borszczow has discovered in the Aralo-Caspian region another species of Ferula, named by him F. schair from the native word lair (= Persian ftr, " milk-juice") for this plant. The juice of this species has the same properties as galbanum; also the plant has the same odor. Abu Mansur 1 mentions a Ferula under the name sakbinaj (Arabic form, Persian sakfona), which his translator, the Persian physician Achundow, has identified with the Sagapenum resin of Ferula persica, said to be similar to galbanum and to be gathered in the mountains of Luristan. According to FLI^CKIGER and HANBURY, Z the botanical origin of Sagapenum is unknown; but there is no doubt that this word (o-ayairrivov in Dioscorides, in, 95, and Galenus; sacopenium in Pliny, xn, 56), in mediaeval pharmacy often written serapinum, is derived from the Persian word. The galbanum employed in India is imported from Persia to Bom- bay. WATT 3 distinguishes three kinds known in commerce, Levant, Persian solid, and Persian liquid. The first comes from Shiraz, the second has an odor of turpentine, and the third is the gaoshir or jawa- shir; the latter being a yellow or greenish semi-fluid resin, generally mixed with the stems, flowers, and fruits of the plant. It is obtained from the stem, which, when injured, yields an orange-yellow gummy fluid. Generally, however, the galbanum of commerce forms round, agglu- tinated tears, about the size of peas, orange-brown outside, yellowish- white or bluish-green inside. The odor is not disagreeable, like that of asafcetida, and the taste is bitter. Galbanum consists of about 65 per cent resin, 20 per cent gum, and from 3 to 7 per cent volatile oil. 1 ACHUNDOW, Abu Mansur, p. 84. 2 Pharmacographia, p. 342. 3 Commercial Products of India, p. 535. OAK-GALLS \ 24. Oak-galls (French noix de galles, Portuguese galhas) are globular excrescences caused by the gall-wasp (Cynips quercus folii) puncturing the twigs, leaves, and buds, and depositing its ova in several species of oak (chiefly Quercus lusitanica var. infectoria), to be found in Asia Minor, Armenia, Syria, and Persia. In times of antiquity, galls were employed for technical and medicinal purposes. In consequence of their large percentage (up to 60 per cent) of tannic or Gallo-tannic acid, they served for tanning, still further for the dyeing of wool and the manufacture of ink. 1 Both Theophrastus 2 and Dioscorides 3 men- tion galls under the name KT//CIS. Abu Mansur describes galls under the Arabic name a/s. 4 The greater part of the galls found in Indian bazars come from Persia, being brought by Arab merchants. 5 The Sanskrit name mdjuphala (phala, "fruit") is plainly a loan-word from the Persian mdzu. In Chinese records, oak-galls are for the first time mentioned under the term wu-$i-tse $ 'ft ? as products of Sasanian Persia. 6 They first became known in China under the T'ang from Persia, being intro- duced in the Materia Medica of the T'ang Dynasty (Tan pen ts'ao). The Tan pen Zu Jl # i states that they grow in sandy deserts, 7 and that the tree is like the tamarisk (pen 116 ). A commentary, cited as kin cu ^ tt, adds that they are produced in Persia, while the Cen lei pen ts'ao* says that they grow in the country of the Western 2un (Iranians). The Yu yah tsa tsu g gives a description of the plant as follows: " Wu-&-tse $& J5 ~? are produced in the country Po-se (Persia), 1 BLUMNER, Technologic, Vol. I, 26. ed., pp. 251, 268. 2 Hist, plant., III. vm, 6. 3 1, 146 (cf. LECLERC, Traite* des simples, Vol. II, p. 457). See also Pliny, xm 63; xvi, 26; xxiv, 109. 4 ACHUNDOW, Abu Mansur, p. 98. 5 W. AINSLIE, Materia Indica, Vol. I, p. 145; WATT, Commercial Products of India, p. 911. 6 Sui su, Ch. 83, p. 7 b. 7 According to another reading, "in sandy deserts of the Western Zun" (that is, Iranians). 8 Ch. 14, p. 20. 9 Ch. 1 8, p. 9. 367 368 SlNO-lRANICA where they are styled J^ ftS mo-tsei, *mwa-d2ak. 1 The tree grows to a height of from six to seven feet, 2 with a circumference of from eight to nine feet. The leaves resemble those of the peach, but are more oblong. It blossoms in the third month, the flowers being white, and their heart reddish. The seeds are round like pills, green in the beginning, but when ripe turning to yellow-white. Those punctured by insects and perforated are good for the preparation of leather; those without holes are used as medicine. This tree alternately produces galls one year and acorns ($C 9 -f pa-lu tse, *bwa6-lu; Middle Persian *ballu, barru [see below], New Persian balut), the size of a finger and three inches long, the next." 3 The latter notion is not a Chinese fancy, but the reproduction of a Persian belief. 4 The Geography of the Ming (Ta Min i fun &') states that galls are produced in the country of the Arabs (Ta-Si) and all barbarians, and that the tree is like the camphor-tree (Laurus camphor a), the fruits like the Chinese wild chestnuts (mao-li IP 3fl) . The Chinese transcriptions of the Iranian name do not "all repre- sent Persian mazu" as reiterated by Hirth after Watters, but repro- duce older Middle-Persian forms. In fact, none of the Chinese render- ings can be the equivalent of mazu. (1) IP ftfi (Yu yan tsa tsu) mo-tsei, *mwa-dz*ak (dzak, zak), answers to a Middle Persian *madz"ak (madzak or mazak). (2) M ^ mo-&, *mak-zak, = Middle Persian *maxzak. (3) & ^ wu-&, *mwu-zak, = Middle Persian *muzak. (4) iS. ^f mu-U y *mut-zak, = Middle Persian *muzak. Compare with these various forms Tamil matakai, Telugu matikai, and the magican of Barbosa. (5) Jj! 3 5 mo-t'u, *mwa-du, = Middle Persian *madu. ^ $ & $a-mu-lii (in Cao 2u-kwa), *sa-mut-lwut, answers to Iranian 1 Instead of tsei, some editions write & tso (*dzak, dzak), which is phonetically the same. 2 The text has 3Jt, which should be corrected into K-. for tne tree seldom rises higher than six feet. 8 The text of the following last clause is corrupted, and varies in the different editions; it yields no acceptable sense. HIRTH'S translation (Chao Ju-kua, p. 215) is not intelligible to me. WATTERS (Essays on the Chinese Language, p. 349) is certainly wrong in saying that "the Chinese do not seem to know even yet the origin of these natural products" (oak-galls); this is plainly refuted by the above description. The T'u $u tsi Veh (XX, Ch. 310) and Ci wu min Si t'u k'ao (Ch. 35, p. 21) even have a tolerably good sketch of the tree, showing galls on the leaves. 4 E. SEIDEL, Mechithar, p. 127. 6 The character 3fc Va in Cao Zu-kwa, and thus adopted by HIRTH (p. 2 15), is an error. OAK-GALLS 369 $ah-balut ("the edible chestnut," Castanea vulgaris), which appears in the Bundahisn (above, p. 193), as correctly identified by Hirth; but iff 3L p'u-lu and pa-lii of the Yu yan tsa tsu (see above) would indicate that the Chinese heard bulu and balu without a final /, and such forms may have existed in Middle-Persian dialects. In fact, we have this type in the dialect of the Kurd in the form berru, and in certain Kurd dialects baril and barru. 1 1 Cf. J. DE MORGAN, Mission scientifique en Perse, Vol. V, p. 133. The Iranian term means literally "acorn of the Shah, royal acorn," somehow a certain analogy to Greek Ai6s /SAXavos ("acorn of Zeus"). The origin of Greek Kaar&vaiov or K&CTTOLVOV is sought in Armenian kask ("chestnut") and kaskeni ("chestnut-tree"; see SCHRADER in Hehn, Kulturpflanzen, p. 402). According to the Armenian Geog. raphy of Moses of Khorene, the tree flourished in the Old-Armenian provinc e Duruperan (Daron); according to Galenus, near Sardes in Asia Minor; according to Baud, on Cyprus; according to Abu Mansur, also in Syria; while, according to the same author, Persia imported chestnuts from Adherbeijan and Arran; according to Schlimmer, from Russia (E. SEIDEL, Mechithar, p. 152). It is striking that the Chinese did not see the identity of the Iranian term with their / Jj| f the common chestnut, several varieties of which grow in China. INDIGO 25. As indicated by our word "indigo" (from Latin indicum), this dye-stuff took its origin from India. The indigo-plant (Indigofera tinctoria), introduced into Persia from India, is discussed by Abu Man- sur under the name nil or Ilia. The leaves are said to strengthen the hair. The hair, if previously dyed with henna, becomes brilliant black from the pounded leaves of the plant. Another species, I. linifolia, is still used in Persia for dyeing beard and hair black. 1 The Persian words are derived from Sanskrit nila, as is likewise Arabic mlej. 2 Also nili hindi (" Indian indigo") occurs in Persian. GARCIA DA ORTA has handed down a form on*/, 8 and in Spanish the plant is called anil (Portuguese and Italian anil). 4 It may be permissible to assume that indigo was first introduced into Sasanian Persia under the reign of Khosrau I AnOSarwan (A.D. 531-579); for Masudl, who wrote about A.D. 943, reports that this king received from India the book Kallla wa Dimna, the game of chess, and the black dye-stuff for the hair, called the Indian. 5 Under the designation ts'in tai W $5 ("blue cosmetic for painting the eyebrows") the Chinese became acquainted with the true indigo and the Iranian practice mentioned above. The term is first on record as a product of Ts'ao ftSf (Jagu(Ja) 6 and Ku-lan 4H SB in the vicinity of Tokharestan; 7 during the T'ang period, the women of Fergana did not employ lead-powder, but daubed their eyebrows with ts'in tai. 8 Ma Ci of the tenth century says that "ts*in tai came from the country Po-se (Persia), but that now in T'ai-yuan, Lu-lin, Nan-k'an, and other 1 ACHUNDOW, Abu Mansur, pp. 144, 271. SCHLIMMER (Terminologie, p. 395) gives ringi rl$ and wesme as Persian words for indigo-leaves. 2 LECLERC, Trait6 des simples, Vol. Ill, p. 384. 1 C. MARKHAM, Colloquies, p. 51. The form anil is also employed by F. PYRARD (Vol. II, p. 359, ed. of Hakluyt Society), who says that indigo is found only in the kingdom of Cambaye and Surat. 4 ROEDIGER and POTT (Z. /. Kunde d. Morg., Vol. VII, p. 125) regard this prefix a as the Semitic article (Arabic al-nil, an-nil). 6 BARBIER DE MEYNARD and PAVET DE COURTEILLE, Les Prairies d'or, Vol. II, p. 203. 8 Sui $u, Ch. 83, p. 8 (see above, p. 317). 7 T*ai p'iA hwan yu ki, Ch. 186, p. 12. It was also found in Ki-pin (ibid., Ch. 182, p. 12 b). *Ibid., Ch. 181, p. 13 b. 370 INDIGO 371 places, a dye-stuff of similar virtues is made from tien Wi (the indigenous Polygonum tinctorium)" 1 Li Si-Sen holds the opinfon that the Persian ts'in tai was the foreign lan-tien H 85: (Indigo/era tinctoria). It must not be forgotten that the genus Indigo/era comprises some three hundred species, and that it is therefore impossible to hope for exact identifica- tions in Oriental records. Says G. WATT 2 on this point, "Species of Indigofera are distributed throughout the tropical regions of the globe (both in the Old and New Worlds) with Africa as their headquarters. And in addition to the Indigoferas several widely different plants yield the self-same substance chemically. Hence, for many ages, the dye prepared from these has borne a synonymous name in most tongues, and to such an extent has this been the case that it is impossible to say for certain whether the nlla of the classic authors of India denoted the self -same plant which yields the dye of that name in modern com- merce." " Indigo," therefore, is a generalized commercial label for a blue dye-stuff, but without botanical value. Thus also Chinese indigo is yielded by distinct plants in different parts of China. 3 It is singular that the Chinese at one time imported indigo from Persia, where it was doubtless derived from India, and do not refer to India as the principal indigo-producing country. An interesting article on the term ts*in tai has been written by HiRTH. 4 1 Pen ts*ao kan mu, Ch. 16, p. 25 b. 2 Commercial Products of India, p. 663. 3 BRETSCHNEIDER, Bot. Sin., pt. II, p. 212. 4 Chinesische Studien, pp. 243-258. RICE 26. While rice is at present a common article of food of the Persian people, being particularly enjoyed as pilau, 1 it was entirely unknown in the days of Iranian antiquity. No word for "rice" appears in the Avesta. 2 Herodotus 3 mentions only wheat as the staple food of the Persians at the time of Cambyses. This negative evidence is signally confirmed by the Chinese annals, which positively state that there is no rice or millet in Sasanian Persia; 4 and on this point Chinese testi- mony carries weight, since the Chinese as a rice-eating nation were always anxious to ascertain whether rice was grown and consumed by foreign peoples. Indeed, the first question a travelling Chinese will ask on arrival at a new place will invariably refer to rice, its qualities and valuations. This is conspicuous in the memoirs of Can K'ien, the first Chinese who travelled extensively across Iranian territory, and carefully noted the cultivation of rice in Fergana (Ta-yuan), fur- ther for Parthia (An-si), and T'iao-6i (Chaldasa). The two last-named countries, however, he did not visit himself, but reported what he had heard about them. In the Sasanian epoch, Chinese records tell us that rice was plentiful in Kuca, KaSgar (Su-lek), Khotan, and Ts'ao Qaguola) north of the Ts'ufi-lin; 6 also in Si (Tashkend). 6 On the other hand, Aristobulus, a companion of Alexander on his expedition in Asia and author of an Alexander biography written after 285 B.C., states that rice grows in Bactriana, Babylonia, Susis, and in lower Syria; 7 and Diodorus 8 likewise emphasizes the abundance of rice in Susi- 1 Toung Pao, 1916, p. 481. 2 MODI, in Spiegel Memorial Volume, p. xxxvu. 3 III, 22. 4 Wei $u, Ch. 102, pp. 5 b-6 a; Cou $u, Ch. 50, p. 6. Tabari (translation of NdLDEKE, p. 244) mentions rice among the crops taxed by Khusrau I (A.D. 531-578); but this is surely an interpolation, as in the following list of taxes rice is not men- tioned, while all other crops are. Another point to be considered is that in Arabic manuscripts, when the diacritical marks are omitted, the word birinj may be read as well naranj, which means "orange" (cf. OUSELEY, Oriental Geography of Ebn Haukal, p. 221). 6 Sui $u, Ch. 83, pp. 5 b, 7 b. 8 Tai p'in hwan yu ki, Ch. 186, p. 7 b. ' Strabo, XV. I, 18. 8 xix, 13. 372 RICE 373 ana. From these data HEHN 1 infers that under the rule of the Persians, and possibly inconsequence of their rule, rice-cultivation advanced from the Indus to the Euphrates, and that from there came also the Greek name opva. This rice-cultivation, however, can have been but sporadic and along the outskirts of Iran; it did not affect Persia as a whole. The Chinese verdict of "no rice" in Sasanian Persia appears to me con- clusive, and it further seems to me that only from the Arabic period did the cultivation of rice become more general in Persia. This con- clusion is in harmony with the account of Hwi Cao 3R fe, a traveller in the beginning of the eighth century, who reports in regard to the people of Mohammedan Persia that they subsist only on pastry and meat, but have also rice, which is ground and made into cakes. 2 This conveys the impression that rice then was not a staple food, but merely a side-issue of minor importance. Yaqut mentions rice for the prov- inces Khuzistan and Sabur. 3 Abu Mansur, whose work is largely based on Arabic sources, is the first Persian author to discuss fully the subject of rice. 4 Solely a New-Persian word for "rice" is known, namely birinj or gurinj (Armenian and Ossetic brinj), which is usually regarded as a loan-word from Sanskrit vrihi; Afghan vriXe (with Greek 6pua, /3p#a) is still nearer to the latter. In view of the historical situation, the reconstruction of an Avestan *verenja 5 or an Iranian *vrinji, 8 and the theory of an originally Aryan word for "rice," seem to me inadmissible. 1 Kulturpflanzen, p. 505. 2 HIRTH, Journal Am. Or. Soc., Vol. XXXIII, 1913, pp. 202, 204, 207. 3 B. DE MEYNARD, Dictionnaire gographique de la Perse, pp. 217, 294. 4 AcnuNDow, Abu Mansur, p. 5. J. SCHILTBERGER (1396-1427), in his Bondage and Travels (p. 44, ed. of Hakluyt Society, 1879) speaks of the "rich country called Gilan, where rice and cotton alone is grown." 5 P. HORN, Neupersische Etymologic, No. 208. 6 H. HtfBSCHMANN, Persischc Studien, p. 27. PEPPER 27. The pepper-plant (hu tsiao, Japanese ko$o, $1 V&, Piper nigrum) deserves mention in this connection only inasmuch as it is listed among the products of Sasanian Persia. 1 Ibn Haukal says that pepper, sandal, and various kinds of drugs, were shipped from Slraf in Persia to all quarters of the world. 2 Pepper must have been introduced into Persia from India, which is the home of the shrub. 3 It is already enumerated among the plants of India in the Annals of the Han Dynasty. 4 The Yu yah tsa tsu b refers it more specifically to Magadha, 6 pointing out its Sanskrit name marica or marica in the transcription Bfc J3. : mei- li-ci. 1 The term hu tsiao shows that not all plants whose names have the prefix hu are of Iranian origin: in this case hu distinctly alludes to India. 8 Tsiao is a general designation for spice-plants, principally belonging to the genus Zanthoxylon. Li Si-Sen 9 observes that the black pepper received its name only for the reason that it is bitter of taste and resembles the tsiao, but that the pepper-fruit in fact is not a tsiao. It is interesting to note that the authors of the various Pen ts'ao seem to have lost sight of the fact of the Indian origin of the plant, and do not even refer to the Han Annals. Su Kun states that hu tsiao grows among the Si 2un, which plainly shows that he took the word hu in the sense of peoples of Central Asia or Iranians, and substituted for it 1 Sui Su, Ch. 83, p. 7 b; Cou Su, Ch. 50, p. 6; and Wei Su, Ch. 102, p. 6. According to HIRTH (Chau Ju-kua, p. 223), this would mean that pepper was brought to China by Persian traders from India. I am unable to see this point. The texts in question simply give a list of products to be found in Persia, and say nothing about exporta- tion of any kind. 8 W. OUSELEY, Oriental Geography of Ebn Haukal, p. 133. Regarding the for- mer importance of Slraf, which "in old times was a great city, very populous and full of merchandise, being the port of call for caravans and ships," see G. LE STRANGE, Description of the Province of Pars, pp. 41-43. * In New Persian, pepper is called pilpil (Arabicized filfil, fulful), from the Sanskrit pippatt. 4 Hou Han Su, Ch. 118, p. 5 b. 8 Ch. 18, p. II. 6 Cf . Sanskrit magadha as an epithet of pepper. T In fact, this form presupposes a vernacular type *meriSi. 8 Hu tsiao certainly does not mean "Western Barbarians (Tartar) pepper," as conceived by WAITERS (Essays on the Chinese Language, p. 441). What had the "Tartars" to do with pepper? The Uigur adopted simply the Sanskrit word in the form mur. Pen ts'ao kan mu, Ch. 32, p. 3 b. 374 PEPPER 375 its synonyme Si Zun; at least, it appears certain that the latter term bears no reference to India. Li Si-cen gives as localities where the plant is cultivated, "all countries of the Southern Barbarians (Nan Fan), Kiao-Si (Annam), Yun-nan, and Hai-nan." Another point of interest is that in the T*an pen ts'ao of Su Kun appears a species called San hu tsiao ill $8 IK or wild pepper, described as resembling the cultivated species, of black color, with a grain the size of a black bean, acrid taste, great heat, and non-poisonous. This plant-name has been identified with Lindera glauca by A. HENRY/ who says that the fruit is eaten by the peasants of Yi-6'an, Se-'wan. The same author offers a ye hu-tsiao ("wild pepper"), being Zanihoxy- lum setosum. Piper longum or Chavica roxburghii, Chinese 2j! $ or Si pi-po, *pit-pat(pal), from Sanskrit pippall, is likewise attributed to Sasanian Persia. 2 This pepper must have been also imported into Iran from India, for it is a native of the hotter parts of India from Nepal east- ward to Assam, the Khasia hills and Bengal, westward to Bombay, and southward to Travancore, Ceylon, and Malacca. 3 It is therefore surprising to read in the Pen ts'ao of the T'ang that pi-po grows in the country Po-se: this cannot be Persia, but refers solely to the Malayan Po-se. For the rest, the Chinese were very well aware of the Indian origin of the plant, as particularly shown by the adoption of the San- skrit name. It is first mentioned in the Nan fan ts'ao mu cwan, unless it be there one of the interpolations in which this work abounds, but it is mixed up with the betel-pepper (Chavica betel). 1 Chinese Names of Plants, No. 45. 2 Ccu su, Ch. 50, p. 6. 3 WATT, Commercial Products of India, p. 891. SUGAR 28. The sugar-cane (Saccharum officinarum) is a typically Indian or rather Southeast-Asiatic, and merely a secondary Iranian culti- vation, but its history in Iran is of sufficient importance to devote here a few lines to this subject. The Sui Annals 1 attribute hard sugar (Si-mi ^ U, literally, " stone honey") and pan-mi 3* 3* ("half honey") to Sasanian Persia and to Ts'ao (Jaguda). It is not known what kind of sugar is to be understood by the latter term. 2 Before the advent of sugar, honey was the universal ingredient for sweetening food-stuffs, and thus the ancients conceived the sugar of India as a kind of honey obtained from canes without the agency of bees. 3 The term Si-mi first appears in the Nan fan ts'ao mu cwan* which contains the first de- scription of the sugar-cane, and refers it to Kiao- is a well-known botanical name for a rhamnaceous tree (not an orange), Hovenia dulcis. "Change of an orange-tree into a bramble" is nonsense in itself. CUMMIN 34. Under the foreign term i^ SI &-lo, *2i-la, the Chinese have not described the fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), as erroneously asserted by WATTERS 1 and STUART, 2 but cummin (Cuminum cyminum) and caraway (Carum carui). This is fundamentally proved by the prototype, Middle Persian %ira or zira, Sanskrit jlra, of which U-lo (*zi-la) forms the regular transcription. 3 In India, fira refers to both cummin and caraway. 4 Although Cuminum is more or less cultivated in most prov- inces of India, except Bengal and Assam, there is, according to WATT, fairly conclusive evidence that it is nowhere indigenous; but in several districts it would appear to be so far naturalized as to have been re- garded as "wild," even by competent observers. No doubt, it was transmitted to India from Iran. Cummin was known to the ancient Persians, being mentioned in the inscription of Cyrus at Persepolis, 5 and at an early period penetrated from Iran to Egypt on the one hand, and to India on the other. 6 Avicenna distinguishes four varieties of cummin (Arabic kammun), 7 that of Kirman, which is black; that of Persia, which is yellow and more active than the others; that of Syria, and the Nabathaean. 8 Each variety is both spontaneous and cultivated. Abu Mansur regards that of Kirman as the best, and styles it zlre-i kirmdn* This name, accord- ing to ScHLiMMER, 10 would refer to caraway, also called zlre-i siah, 11 while cummin is styled in Persian zlre-i sebze or sefid. Caraway (Carum 1 Essays on the Chinese Language, p. 440. He even adds "coriander," which is hu swi (p. 297). 2 Chinese Materia Medica, p. 176. Fennel is hwi hian ]lj ^jf, while a synonyme of cummin is siao hwi, hian ("small fennel"). 3 In the same form, the word occurs in Tibetan, zi-ra (T'oung Pao, 1916, p. 475). 4 G. WATT, Commercial Products of India, p. 442. 5 JORET, Plantes dans I'antiquit6, Vol. II, p. 66. 6 Ibid., p. 258. 7 Hebrew kammon, Assyrian kamanu, resulting in Greek K&fjuvov, Latin cumt- num, cyminum, or ciminum; Armenian caman; Persian kamun. 8 LECLERC, Trait6 des simples, Vol. Ill, p. 196. 9 ACHUNDOW, Abu Mansur, pp. 112, 258. 10 Terminologie, p. 112. 11 In India, the Persian word siah refers to the black caraway (Carum bulbocasta- num), which confirms Schlimmer's opinion. Also Avicenna's black cummin of Kirman apparently represents this species. This plant is a native of Baluchistan, Afghanistan, Kashmir, and Lahul, mainly occurring as a weed in cultivated land. 383 384 SlNO-lRANICA carui), however, is commonly termed in Persian loh-zire ("cummin of the Shah") or zire-i ruml ("Byzantine or Turkish cummin"). 1 While the philological evidence would speak in favor of a trans- mission of cummin from Persia to China, this point is not clearly brought out by our records. C'en Ts'an-k'i, who wrote in the first half of the eighth century, states that $i-lo grows in Fu-si $? If (Bhoja, Sumatra). Li Sun, in his Hai yao pen ts*ao, says after the Kwan Zou ki K ffl IS that the plant grows in the country Po-se; 2 and Su Sun of the Sung notes that in his time it occurred in Lin-nan (Kwan-tun) and adjoining regions. Now, the Kwan Ion ki is said to have been written under the Tsin dynasty (A.D. 265-420) ; 3 and, as will be shown below in detail, the Po-se of Li Sun almost invariably denotes, not Persia, but the Malayan Po-se. Again, it is Li Sun who does not avail himself of the Iranian form &-/0=ira, but of the Sanskrit form jiraka, possibly conveyed through the medium of the Malayan Po-se. Li Si-Sen has entered under U-lo another foreign word in the form ^ il: ft ts'e-mou-lo (*dz"i-mu-lak), which he derived from the K*ai pao pen ts*ao, and which, in the same manner as $i-lo, he stamps as a foreign word. This transcription has hitherto defied identification, 4 because it is incorrectly recorded. It is met with correctly in the Cen lei pen ts*ao b in the form S ft ts*e-lo, *d2i-lak(rak), and this answers to Sanskrit firaka. This form is handed down in the Hai yao pen ts'ao, written by Li Sun in the eighth century. Thus we have, on the one hand a Sanskrit form jiraka, conveyed by the Malayan Po-se to Kwan- tun in the T'ang period, and on the other hand the Iranian type Si- lo =Zira, which for phonetic reasons must likewise go back to the era of the T'ang, and which we should suppose had migrated overland to China. The latter point, for the time being, remains an hypothesis, which will perhaps be elucidated by the documents of Turkistan. 1 Corresponding to Arabic kardwyd, the source of our word caraway. 2 The Gen lei pen teVo 'Oh. 13, p. 27 b) repeats this without citing a source. 3 Cf. below, p. 475. 4 STUART, Chinese Materia Medica, p. 176. 6 Ch. 13, p. 17 b. THE DATE-PALM 35. The Chinese records of the date-palm (Phoenix dactyliferd) contain two points that are of interest to science: first, a contribution to the geographical distribution of the tree in ancient times; and, second, a temporary attempt at acclimating it in China. The tree is not indigenous there. It is for the first time in the T'ang period that we receive some information about it; but it is mentioned at an earlier date as a product of Sasanian Persia in both the Wei Su and Sui $u, under the name ts'ien nien tsao T ^F 31 (" jujubes of thousand years," the jujube, Zizyphus vulgaris, being a native of China). 1 In the Yu yah tsa tsu, 2 the date is styled Po-se tsao jft Sf 3R ("Persian jujube"), with the observation that its habitat is in Po-se (Persia), or that it comes from there. 3 The Persian name is then given in the form US I? k'u-man, *k'ut(k'ur)-man, which would correspond to a Middle Persian *xurman (*khurmang), Pazand and New Persian xurma, that was also adopted by Osmanli and Neo-Greek, xovpjuas ("date") and Koup/zoSijA ("date- palm"), Albanian korme* The T'ah $u 5 writes the same word l& ^ hu-man, *gu5(gur)-man, answering to a Middle-Persian form *gurman or *kurman. The New-Persian word is rendered jS @ JK k'u-lu(ru)-ma in the Pen ts'ao kah mu; & this is the style of the Yuan transcriptions, 7 1 This name was bestowed upon the tree, not, as erroneously asserted by HIRTH (Chau Ju-kua, p. 210), "evidently on account of the stony hardness of the dates on reaching China," but, as stated in the Pen ts'ao kan mu (Ch. 31, p. 8), owing to the long-enduring character of the tree ^ tsj fe j$ ty\ -{&. The same explanation holds good for the synonyme wan sui tsao ("jujube of ten thousand or numerous years"). Indeed, this palm lives to a great age, and trees of from one to two hundred years old continue to produce their annual crop. 2 Ch. 1 8, p. 10. 3 The same term, Po-se tsao, appears in a passage of the Pei hu lu (Ch. 2, p. 9 b), where the trunk and leaves of the sago-palm (Sag o rumphii) are compared with those of the date. 4 In Old Armenian of the fifth century we have the Iranian loan-word armav, and hence it is inferred that the x of Persian was subsequently prefixed (HiiBSCH- MANN, Persische Studien, p. 265; Armen. Gram., p. in). The date of the Chinese transcriptions proves that the initial x existed in Pahlavi. 5 Ch. 221 B, p. 13. 6 Ch. 31, p. 21. It is interesting to note that Li Si-gen endeavors to make out a distinction between k'u-man and k'u-lu-ma by saying that the former denotes the tree, the latter the fruit; but both, in his opinion, are closely allied foreign words. 7 The T'ang transcription, of course, is not "probably a distorted transcription of khurma," as asserted by BRETSCHNEIDER (Chinese Recorder, 1871, p. 266), but, on the contrary, is very exact. 385 386 SlNO-lRANICA and first occurs in the Co ken lu $5 $ $fr, published in 1366. The Persian word has also migrated into the modern Aryan languages of Iriia, as well as into the Malayan group: Javanese kurma; Cam kuramo; Malayan, Dayak, and Sunda korma; Bugi and Makassar koromma; also into Khmer: romo, lomo, amo. Following is the description of the tree given in the Yu yan tsa tsu: "It is thirty to forty feet in height, 1 and has a circumference of from five to six feet. The leaves resemble those of the f u fen dt Ji (a kind of rattan), and remain ever green. It blooms in the second month. The blossoms are shaped like those of the banana, and have a double bottom. They open gradually; and in the fissure are formed more than ten seed-cases, two inches long, yellow and white in color. When the kernel ripens, the seeds are black. In their appearance they resemble dried jujubes. They are good to eat and as sweet as candy." Another foreign word for the date is handed down by C'en Ts'an-k'i in his Pen ts*ao Si i, in the form 1$ Wt wu-lou, *bu-nu. He identifies this term with the "Persian jujube," which he says grows in Persia, and has the appearance of a jujube. Li Si-Sen annotates that the mean- ing of this word is not yet explained. Neither Bretschneider nor any one else has commented on this name. It is strikingly identical with the old Egyptian designation of the date, bunnu. 2 It is known that the Arabs have an infinite number of terms for the varieties of the date and the fruit in its various stages of growth, and it may be that they likewise adopted the Egyptian word and transmitted it to China. The common Arabic names are nakhl and tamr (Hebrew tamar, Syriac temar). On the other hand, the relation of wu-lou to the Egyptian word may be accidental, if we assume that wu-lou was originally the designa- tion of Cycas revoluta (see below), and was only subsequently trans- ferred to the date-palm. The Lin piao lu i 3 by Liu Sun contains the following interesting account: "In regard to the date ('Persian jujube'), this tree may be seen in the suburbs of Kwaii-Sou (Canton). The trunk of the tree is entirely without branches, is straight, and rises to a height of from thirty to forty feet. The crown of the tree spreads in all directions, and forms over ten branches. The leaves are like those of the 'sea coir-palm 1 1 It even grows to a height of sixty or eighty feet. 2 V. LORET, Flore pharaonique, p. 34. I concur with Loret in the opinion that the Egyptian word is the foundation of Greek olvi. The theory ^of HEHN (Kul- turpflanzen, p. 273) and upheld by SCHRADER (ibid., p. 284), that the latter might denote the Phoenician tree, does not seem to me correct. a Ch. B, p. 4 (see above, p. 268). THE DATE-PALM 387 (hai tsun $J $?, Chamaerops excelsa). 1 The trees planted in Kwan-Sou bear fruit once in three or five years. The fruits resemble the green jujube growing in the north, but are smaller. They turn from green to yellow. When the leaves have come out, the fruit is formed in clusters, each cluster generally bearing from three to twenty berries, which require careful handling. The foreign as well as the domestic kind is consumed in our country. In color it resembles that of granulated sugar. Shell and meat are soft and bright. Baked into cakes or steamed in water, they are savory. The kernel is widely different from that of the jujube of the north. The two ends are not pointed [as in the jujube], but doubly rolled up and round like a small piece of red kino 3?t 8K. 2 They must be carefully handled. When sown, no shoots sprout forth for a long time, so that one might suppose they would never mature." The date is clearly described in this text; and we learn from it that the tree was cultivated in Kwaii-tun, and its fruit was also imported during the T'ang period. As Liu Sun, author of that work, lived under the Emperor Cao Tsun (A.D. 889-904), this notice refers to the end of the ninth century. 3 A. DE CANDOLLE 4 states erroneously that the Chinese received the tree from Persia in the third century of our era. In his note on the date, headed by the term wu-lou tse, Li Si-en 5 has produced a confusion of terms, and accordingly brought together 1 In the text of this work, as cited in the Pen ts'ao kan mu, this clause is worded as follows: "The leaves are like those of the tsun-lu |<| fl|J (Chamaerops excelsa), and hence the people of that locality style the tree [the date] hai tsun ('sea,' that is, 'foreign coir-palm')." This would indeed appear more logical than the passage above, rendered after the edition of Wu yin tien, which, however, must be regarded as more authoritative. Not only in this extract, but also in several others, does the Pen ts'ao kan mu exhibit many discrepancies from the Wu yin tien edition; this subject should merit closer study. In the present case there is only one other point worthy of special mention; and this is, that Li Si-gen, in his section of nomenclature, gives the synonyme ^ jfj fan tsao ("foreign jujube") with reference to the Lin piao lu i. This term, however, does not occur in the text of this work as trans- mitted by him, or in the Wu yin tien edition. The latter has added a saying of the Emperor Wen jjfc of the Wei dynasty, which has nothing to do with the date, and in which is found the phrase jL jR fan tsao ("all jujubes"). In other editions, fan ("foreign") was perhaps substituted for this fan, so that the existence of the synonyme established by Li and adopted by Bretschneider appears to be very doubtful. 2 See below, p. 478. * It is singular that Bretschneider, who has given a rather uncritical digest of the subject from the Pen ts'ao, does not at all mention this transplantation of the tree. To my mind, this is the most interesting point to be noted. Whether date- palms are still grown in K wan- tun, I am not prepared to say; but, as foreign authors do not mention the fact, I almost doubt it. 4 Origin of Cultivated Plants, p. 303. 5 Pen ts*ao kan mu, Ch. 31, p. 8. 388 SlNO-lRANICA a number of heterogeneous texts. BRETSCHNEiDER 1 has accepted all this in good faith and without criticism. It is hardly necessary to be a botanist in order to see that the texts of the Nan fan ts'ao mu Iwan and Co ken lu, alleged to refer to the date, bear no relation to this tree. 2 The hai tsao K 31 described in the former work 3 may very well refer to Cycas rewluta* The text of the other book, which Bretschneider does not quote by its title, and erroneously characterizes as "a writer of the Ming," speaks of six "gold fruit" (kin kwo ^ :Jft) trees growing in C'en-tu, capital of Se-c'wan, and, according to an oral tradition, planted at the time of the Han. Then follows a description of the tree, the foreign name of which is given as k'u-lu-ma (see above), and which, according to Bretschneider, suits the date-palm quite well. It is hardly credible, however, that this tree could ever thrive in the climate of Se-6'wan, and Bretschneider himself admits that the fruit of Salisburia adiantifolia now bears also the name kin kwo. Thus, despite the fact that the Persian name for the date is added, the passage of the Co ken lu is open to the suspicion of some misunderstanding. Not only did the Chinese know that the date is a product of Persia, but they knew also that it was utilized as food by certain tribes of the 1 Chinese Recorder, 1871, pp. 265-267. 2 Bretschneider, it should be understood, was personally acquainted with only the flora of Peking and its environment; for the rest, his familiarity with Chinese plants was mere book-knowledge, and botany as a science was almost foreign to him. Research in the history of cultivated plants was in its very beginning in his days; and his methods relating to such subjects were not very profound, and were rather crude. 3 Ch. B, p. 4. Also Wu K'i-tsun, author of the Ci wu miii Si t'u k'ao (Ch. 17, p. 21), has identified the term wu-lou-tse with hai tsao. 4 STUART, Chinese Materia Medica, p. 140; but Stuart falls into the other ex- treme by identifying with this species also the terms Po-se tsao, ts'ien nien tsao, etc., which without any doubt relate to the date. In Bretschneider's translation of the above text there is a curious misunderstanding. We read there, "In the year 285 A.D. Lin-yi offered to the Emperor Wu-ti a hundred trees of the hai tsao. The prince Li-sha told the Emperor that in his travels by sea he saw fruits of this tree, which were, without exaggeration, as large as a melon." The text reads, "In the fifth year of the period T'ai-k'an (A.D. 284), Lin-yi presented to the Court a hundred trees. Li Sao-kun ifi ty ;" (the well-known magician) said to the Emperor Wu of the Han, ' During my sea- voyages I met Nan-k'i Sen $ $8 ^fe (the magician of the Blest Islands), who ate jujubes of the size of a gourd, which is by no means an exaggeration.' " The two events are not interrelated; the second refers to the second century B.C. Neither, however, has anything to do with the date. The working of Chinese logic is visibly manifest: the sea- travels of Li Sao-kun are combined with his fabulous jujube into the sea- jujube (hai tsao), and this imaginary product is associated with a real tree of that name. Li Si-Sen's example shows at what fancies the Chinese finally arrive through their wrong associations of ideas; and Bret- Schneider's example finally demonstrates that any Chinese data must first be taken under our microscope before being accepted by science. THE DATE-PALM 389 East-African coast. The early texts relating to Ta Ts'in do not mention the palm; but at the end of the article Fu-lin (Syria), the Tan $u speaks of two countries, HI $$> Mo-lin (*Mwa-lin, Mwa-rin) and ^ l# HI Lao-p'o-sa (*Lav-bwi5-sar), as being situated 2000 li south-west of Fu-lin, and sheltering a dark-complexioned population. The land is barren, the people feed their horses on dried fish, and they themselves subsist on dates. 1 BRETSCHNEiDER 2 was quite right in seeking this locality in Africa, but it is impossible to accept his suggestion that "perhaps the Chinese names Mo-lin and Lao-p'o-sa are intended to express the country of the Moors (Mauritania) or Lybia." HIRTH S did not discuss this weak theory, and, while locating the countries in question along the west coast of the Red Sea, did not attempt to identify the transcriptions. According to Ma Twan-lin, the country Mo-lin is situated south-west of the country ?& US. H Yan-sa-lo, which Hirth tentatively equated with Jerusalem. This is out of the question, as Yan-sa-lo answers to an ancient An-sa5(sar)-la(ra). 4 Moreover, it is on record in the T'ai p'in hwan yu ki 5 that Mo-lin is south-west of fr HI H P'o-sa-lo (*BwiS-sa5-la), so that this name is clearly identical with that of Ma Twan-lin and the transcription of the T'ang Annals. In my opinion, the transcription *Mwa-lin is intended for the Malindi of Edrisi or Mulanda of Yaqut, now Malindi, south of the Equator, in Seyidieh Province of British East Africa. Edrisi describes this place as a large city, the inhabitants of which live by hunting and fishing. They salt sea-fish for trade, and also exploit iron-mines, iron being the source of their wealth. 6 If this identification be correct, the geographical definition of the T'ang Annals (2000 li south-west of Fu-lin) is, of course, deficient; but we must not lose sight of the fact that these data rest on a hearsay report hailing from Fu-lin, and that, generally speaking, Chinese calculations of distances on sea-routes are not to be taken too seriously. 7 Under the Ming, the same country appears as j$E W Ma-lin, the king of which sent an embassy to China in 1415 with a gift of 1 In the transcription hu-man, as given above, followed by the explanation that this is the "Persian jujube." The date is not a native of eastern Africa, nor does it .thrive in the tropics, but it was doubtless introduced there by the Arabs (cf. F. STORBECK, Mitt. Sem. Or. Spr., 1914, II, p. 158; A. ENGLER, Nutzpflanzen Ost- Afrikas, p. 12). 2 Knowledge possessed by the Chinese of the Arabs, p. 25. 3 China and the Roman Orient, p. 204. 4 If Mo-lin was on the littoral of the Red Sea, it would certainly be an absurdity to define its location as south-west of Jersualem. 6 Ch. 184, p. 3. 6 DOZY and DE GOEJE, Edrlsl's description de 1'Afrique, p. 56 (Leiden, 1866). 7 Cf. Chinese Clay Figures, pp. 80-81, note. 390 SlNO-lRANICA giraffes. 1 It likewise appears in the list of countries visited by Cen Ho, 2 where Ma-lin and La-sa JJ $ft are named, the latter apparently being identical with the older Lao-p'o-sa. 3 The Chinese knew, further, that the date thrives in the country of the Arabs (Ta-i), 4 further, in Oman, Basra, and on the Coromandel Coast. 5 It is pointed out, further, for Aden and Ormuz. 6 There is no doubt that the date-palm has existed in southern Persia from ancient times, chiefly on the littoral of the Persian Gulf and in Mekran, Baluchistan. It is mentioned in several passages of the Bundahisn. 7 Its great antiquity in Babylonia also is uncontested (Assyrian gi&mmaru) . 8 Strabo 9 reports how Alexander's army was greatly distressed on its march through the barren Gedrosian desert. The supplies had to come from a distance, and were scanty and un- frequent, so much so that the army suffered greatly from hunger, the beasts of burden dropped, and the baggage was abandoned. The army was saved by the consumption of dates and the marrow of the palm- tree. 10 Again he tells us that many persons were suffocated by eating unripe dates. 11 Philostratus speaks of a eunuch who received Apollonius of Tyana when he entered the Parthian kingdom, and offered him dates of amber color and of exceptional size. 12 In the Province of Pars, the date-palm is conspicuous almost everywhere. 13 In Babylon, Persian and Aramaic date-palms were distinguished, the former being held in greater esteem, as their meat perfectly detaches itself from the stone, while it partially adheres in the Aramaic date. 14 The same distinction 1 Ta Min i t'un i, Ch. 90, p. 24. a Min Si, Ch. 304. I It is not Ma-lin-la-sa, the name of a single country, as made out by GROENE- VELDT (Notes on the Malay Archipelago, p. 170). 4 T'ai p'in hwan yii ki, Ch. 186, p. 15 b. 6 HIRTH, Chau Ju-kua, pp. 133, 137, 96. 'RocKHiLL, T'oung Pao, 1915, p. 609. The word to-$a-pu, not explained by him, represents Arabic dusab ("date-wine"; see LECLERC, Traite" des simples, Vol. II, p. 49). NOLDEKE (Persische Studien, II, p. 42) explains this word from du$ ("honey") and Persian db ("water"). 7 Above, p. 193. 8 Herodotus, i, 193; E. BONAVIA, Flora of the Assyrian Monuments, p. 3; HANDCOCK, Mesopotamian Archaeology, pp. 12-13. 9 xv, 2, 7. 10 Cf. Theophrastus, Histor. plant., IV. iv, 13. II Ibid., IV. iv, 5; and Pliny, xm, 9. 12 C. JORET, Plantes dans 1'antiquite", Vol. II, p. 93. 13 G. LE STRANGE, Description of the Province of Pars, pp. 31, 33, 35, 39, 40, etc. 14 1. LOEW, Aramaeische Pflanzennamen, p. 112. THE DATE-PALM 391 was made in the Sasanian empire: in the tax laws of Khosrau I (A.D. 531-578), four Persian date-palms were valued and taxed equally with six common ones. 1 As already remarked, the Wei and Sm Annals attribute the date to Sasanian Persia, and the date is mentioned in Pahlavi literature (above, p. 193). At present dates thrive in the low plains of Kerman and of the littoral of the Persian Gulf; but the crops are insufficient, so that a considerable importation from Bagdad takes place. 2 A. DE CANDOLLE 3 asserts, "No Sanskrit name is known, whence it may be inferred that the plantations of the date-palm in western India are not very ancient. The Indian climate does not suit the species." There is the Sanskrit name kharjura for Phoenix sylvestris, that already occurs in the Yajurveda. 4 This is the wild date or date-sugar palm, which is indigenous in many parts of India, being most abundant in Bengal, Bihar, on the Coromandel Coast, and in Gujarat. The edible date (P. dactylifera) is cultivated and self-sown in Sind and the southern Panjab, particularly near Multan, Muzaffargarh, the Sind Sagar Doab, and in the Trans-Indus territory. It is also grown in the Deccan and Gujarat. 5 Its Hindi name is khajura, Hindustani khajur, from Sanskrit kharjura. It is also called sindhi, seindi, sendri, which names allude to its origin from Sind. Possibly Sanskrit kharjura and Iranian khurma(n), at least as far as the first element is concerned, are anciently related. 1 NOLDEKE, Tabari, p. 245. 2 SCHLIMMER, Terminologie, p. 175. 3 Origin of Cultivated Plants, p. 303. 4 MACDONELL and KEITH, Vedic Index, Vol. I, p. 215. 5 G. WATT, Commercial Products of India, pp. 883, 885. THE SPINACH 36. In regard to the spinach (Spinacia oleracea), BRETSCHNEiDER 1 stated that "it is said to come from Persia. The botanists consider western Asia as the native country of spinach, and derive the names Spinacia, spinage, spinat, epinards, from the spinous seeds; but as the Persian name is esfinadsh, our various names would seem more likely to be of Persian origin." The problem is not quite so simple, however. It is not stated straightforwardly in any Chinese source that the spinach comes from Persia; and the name "Persian vegetable" (Po-se ts'ai) is of recent origin, being first traceable in the Pen ts*ao kan mu, where Li Si-Sen himself ascribes it to a certain Fan Si-yin ~i) it BL Strangely enough, we get also in this case a taste of the Can-K'ien myth. At least, H. L. JoLY 2 asserts, "The Chinese and Japanese Reposi- tory says that Chang K'ien brought to China the spinach." The only Chinese work in which I am able to find this tradition is the T'un li 38 ;S, 3 written by Ceri Tsiao JIB ffi of the Sung dynasty, who states in cold blood that Can K'ien brought spinach over. Not even the Pen ts'ao kan mu dares repeat this fantasy. It is plainly devoid of any value, in view of the fact that spinach was unknown in the west as far back as the second century B.C. Indeed, it was unfamiliar to the Semites and to the ancients. It is a cultivation that comes to light only in mediaeval times. In perfect agreement with this state of affairs, spinach is not men- tioned in China earlier than the T'ang period. As regards the literature on agriculture, the vegetable makes its first appearance in the Cun su $u fi & fir, written toward the end of the eighth century. ; Here it is stated that the spinach, po-lin $ H (*pwa-lin), came from the country Po-liii $k f|@ (*Pwa-lin, Palinga). The first Pen ts'ao that speaks of the spinach is the Cen lei pen ts'ao written by T'an Sen-wei in A.D. no8. 5 This Materia Medica describes altogether 1746 articles, compared with 1118 which are treated in the Kia yu pu u pen ts'ao (published in the period Kia-yu, A.D. 105664), so that 628 new ones were added. These are expressly so designated in 1 Chinese Recorder, 1871, p. 223. 2 Legend in Japanese Art, p. 35. 3 Ch. 75, p. 32 b. 4 BRETSCHNEIDER, Bot. Sin., pt. i, p. 79. 6 Ch. 29, p. 14 b (print of 1587). 392 THE SPINACH 393 the table of contents preceding each chapter, and spinach ranks among these novelties. Judging from the description here given, it must have been a favorite vegetable in the Sung period. It is said to be particularly beneficial to the people in the north of China, who feed on meat and flour (chiefly in the form of vermicelli), while the southerners, who subsist on fish and turtles, cannot eat much of it, because their water food makes them cold, and spinach brings about the same effect. 1 The Kia yu (or hwa) lu B M (or IS) $fr by Liu Yu-si t'J 3 fll (A.D. 772-842) is cited to the effect that "po-lin 3t || was originally in the western countries, and that its seeds came thence to China 2 in the same manner as alfalfa and grapes were brought over by Can K'ien. Originally it was the country of Po-lin $tt i$, and an error arose in the course of the transmission of the word, which is not known to many at this time." The first and only historical reference to the matter that we have occurs in the T'an hui yao? where it is on record, "At the time of the Emperor T'ai Tsun (A.D. 627-649), in the twenty-first year of the period Cen-kwan (A.D. 647), Ni-p'o-lo (Nepal) sent to the Court the vegetable po-lin 1$ IS, resembling the flower of the hun-lan H H (Carthamus tinctorius), the fruit being like that of the tsi-li H H (Tribulus ter- restris). Well cooked, it makes good eating, and is savory." 4 This text represents not only the earliest datable mention of the vegetable in Chinese records, but in general the earliest reference to it that we thus far possess. This document shows that the plant then was a novelty not only to the Chinese, but presumably also to the people of Nepal; otherwise they would not have thought it worthy of being sent as a gift to China, which was made in response to a request of the 1 JOHN GERARDE (The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes, p. 260, London, 1597) remarks, "Spinach is evidently colde and moist, almost in the second degree, but rather moist. It is one of the potherbes whose substance is waterie." 2 According to another reading, a Buddhist monk (sen) is said to have brought the seeds over, which sounds rather plausible. G. A. STUART remarks that the herb is extensively used by the monks in their lenten fare. 3 Ch. 200, p. 14 b (also Ch. 100, p. 3 b). Cf. Ts'efu yuan kwei, Ch. 970, p. 12, and Pei hu lu, Ch. 2, p. 19 b (ed. of Lu Sin-yuan). 4 The T'ai p'in yu Ian (Ch. 980, p. 7) attributes this text to the T'ang Annals. It is not extant, however, in the account of Nepal inserted in the two Tan lu, nor in the notice of Nepal in the T'an hui yao. Pen ts'ao kan mu, T'u su tsi e'en, and Ci wu min si Vu k'ao (Ch. 5, p. 37) correctly cite the above text from the T'an hui yao, with the only variant that the leaves of the po-lin resemble those of the hun- lan. The Fun si wen kien ki (Ch. 7, p. i b) by Fun Yen of the ninth century (above, p. 232), referring to the same introduction, offers a singular name for the spinach in the form $fc H J |j| po-lo-pa-tsao, *pa-la-bat-tsaw, or, if tsao, denot- ing several aquatic plants, does not form part of the transcription, *pa-la-bat(bar). 394 SlNO-lRANICA Emperor T'ai Tsuh that all tributary nations should present their choicest vegetable products. Yuan Wen A 3$C, an author of the Sung period, in his work Wen yu kien p'in US f$ M Jrly states that the spinach (po-lin) comes from (or is produced in) the country Ni-p'o-lo (Nepal) in the Western Regions. 2 The Kia yu pen ts'ao, compiled in A.D. 1057, is the first Materia Medica that introduced the spinach into the pharma- copoeia. 3 The colloquial name is po ts'ai t^S ("po vegetable"), po being abbreviated for po-lin. According to Wan Si-mou : 1iir (who died in 1591), in his Kwa su su JR IS S, the current name in northern China is Pi ken ts*ai ffi ffi 3S (" red-root vegetable"). The Kwan k'unfan p*u uses also the term yin-wu ts*ai ("parrot vegetable"), named for the root, which is red, and believed to resemble a parrot. Aside from the term Po-se ts'ai, the Pen ts'ao kan mu &' i* gives the synonymes hun ts'ai &C3K ("red vegetable") and yan ff ts'ai ("foreign vegetable"). Another designation is $an-hu ts'ai ("coral vegetable"). A rather bad joke is perpetrated by the Min $u ISJ S, a description of Fu-kien Province written at the end of the sixteenth or beginning of the seventeenth centttry, where the name po-lin is explained as Jfe It po len ("waves and edges"), because the leaves are shaped like wave- patterns and have edges. There is nothing, of course, that the Chinese could not etymologize. 5 There is no account in the traditions of the T'ang and Sung periods to the effect that the spinach was derived from Persia; and in view of the recent origin of the term "Persian vegetable," which is not even explained, we are tempted at the outset to dismiss the theory of a Persian origin. STUART G even goes so far as to say that, "as the Chinese have a tendency to attribute everything that comes from the south- west to Persia, we are not surprised to find this called Po-se ts*ao, 'Per- 1 Ch. 4, p. ii b (ed. of Wu yin Hen, 1775). 2 ft 5ft ffi B % H ^ H H- This could be translated also, "in the Western Regions and in the country Ni-p'o-lo." 3 Ci wu min Si /' k'ao, Ch. 4, p. 38 b. 4 Ch. 8, p. 87 b. 6 Of greater interest is the following fact recorded in the same book. The spinach in the north of China is styled "bamboo (cu ft) po-lin," with long and bitter stems; that of Fu-kien is termed "stone (Si ^J) po-lin," and has short and sweet stems. The Min Su, in 154 chapters, was written by Ho K'iao-yuan $5 ^ JH from Tsin-kian in Fu-kien; he obtained the degree of tsin Si in 1586 (cf. Cat. of the Imperial Library, Ch. 74, p. 19). 8 Chinese Materia Medica, p. 417. THE SPINACH 395 sian vegetable.' ' n There is, however, another side to the case. In all probability, as shown by A. DE CANDOLLE, Z it was Persia where the spinach was first raised as a vegetable; but the date given by him, "from the time of the Graeco-Roman civilization," is far too early. 3 A. de Candolle's statement that the Arabs did not carry the plant to Spain has already been rectified by L. LECLERC; 4 as his work is usually not in the hands of botanists or other students using de Candolle, this may aptly be pointed out here. According to a treatise on agriculture (Kitab el-faldha) written by Ibn al-Awwam of Spain toward the end of the eleventh century, spinach was cultivated in Spain at that time. 5 Ibn Haddjaj had then even written a special treatise on the cultivation of the vegetable, saying that it was sown at Sevilla in January. From Spain it spread to the rest of Europe. Additional evidence is afforded by the very name of the plant, which is of Persian origin, and was carried by the Arabs to Europe. The Persian designation is aspanah, aspandj or asfindj; Arabic isfenah or isbenah. Hence Mediaeval Latin spinachium or spinariumf Spanish 1 The outcry of WAITERS (Essays on the Chinese Language, p. 347) against the looseness of the term Po-se, and his denunciation of the "Persian vegetable" as "an example of the loose way in which the word is used," are entirely out of place. It is utterly incorrect to say that "they have made it include, beside Persia itself, Syria, Turkey, and the Roman Empire, and sometimes they seem to use it as a sort of general designation for the abode of any barbarian people to the south-west of the Middle Kingdom." Po-se is a gpod transcription of Parsa, the native designa- tion of Persia, and strictly refers to Persia and to nought else. When F. P. Smith applied the name po-ts*ai to Convolvulus reptans, this was one of the numerous confusions and errors to which he fell victim. Likewise is it untrue, as asserted by Watters, that the term has been applied even to beet and carrot and other vegetables not indigenous in Persia. As on so many other points, Watters was badly informed on this subject also. 2 Origin of Cultivated Plants, pp. 98-100. 3 This conclusion, again, is the immediate outcome of Bretschneider's Chang- kienomania: for A. DE CANDOLLE says, " Bretschneider tells us that the Chinese name signifies 'herb of Persia,' and that Western vegetables were commonly intro- duced into China a century before the Christian era." 4 TraitS des simples, Vol. I, p. 61. 5 L. LECLERC, Histoire de la me"decine arabe, Vol. II, p. 112. The Arabic work has been translated into French by CLEMENT-MULLET under the title Ibn al Awwam, le livre de I'agriculture (2 vols., Paris, 1864-67). De Candolle's erroneous theory that "the European cultivation must have come from the East about the fifteenth century," unfortunately still holds sway, and is perpetuated, for instance, in the last edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. 6 The earliest occurrence of this term quoted by Du CANGE refers to the year 1351, and is contained in the Transactio inter Abbatem et Monachos Crassenses. Spinach served the Christian monks of Europe as well as the Buddhists of China. O. SCHRADER (Reallexikon, p. 788) asserts that the vegetable is first mentioned by Albertus Magnus (1193-1280) under the name spinachium, but he fails to give a 396 SlNO-lRANICA espinaca, Portuguese espinafre or espinacio, Italian spinace or spinaccio, Provencal espinarc, Old French espinoche or epinoche, French epinard. 1 The Persian word was further adopted into Armenian spanax or asbanax, Turkish spandk or ispandk, Comanian yspanac, Middle Greek spinakion, Neo-Greek spanaki(on) or spanakia (plural). There are various spellings in older English, like spynnage, spenege, spinnage, spinage, etc. In English literature it is not men- tioned earlier than the sixteenth century. W. TURNER, in his "Herball" of 1568, speaks of "spinage or spinech as an her be lately found and not long in use." However, in the latter part of the sixteenth century, spinach was well known and generally eaten in England. D. REMBERT DoooENS 2 describes it as a perfectly known subject, and so does JOHN GERARDE, S who does not even intimate that it came but recently into use. The names employed by them are Spanachea, Spinachia, Spinacheum olus, Hispanicum olus, English spinage and spinach. JOHN PARKINSON 4 likewise gives a full description and recipes for the preparation of the vegetable. The earliest Persian mention of the spinach, as far as I know, is made in the pharmacopoeia of Abu Mansur. 5 The oldest source cited by Ibn al-Baitar (i 197-1 248) 6 on the subject is the "Book of Nabathaean Agriculture" (Falaha nabatiya), which pretends to be the Arabic trans- lation of an ancient Nabathsean source, and is believed to be a forgery of the tenth century. This book speaks of the spinach as a known vegetable and as the most harmless of all vegetables; but the most interesting remark is that there is a wild species resembling the culti- vated one, save that it is more slender and thinner, that the leaves are specific reference. It is a gratuitous theory of his that the spinach must have been brought to Europe by the Crusaders; the Arabic importation into Spain has escaped him entirely. 1 The former derivation of the word from "Spain" or from spina ("thorn"), in allusion to the prickly seeds, moves on the same high level as the performance of the Min $u. Littre* cites Me"nagier of the sixteenth century to the effect, "Les espinars sont ainsi appelle"s a cause de leur graine qui est espineuse, bien qu'il y en ait de ronde sans piqueron." In the Supplement, Littre* points out the oriental origin of the word, as established by Devic. 2 A Niewe Herball, or Historic of Plants, translated by H. LYTE, p. 556 (Lon- don, 1578). 8 The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes, p. 260 (London, 1597). 4 Paradisus in sole paradisus terrestris, p. 496 (London, 1629). 6 ACHUNDOW, Abu Mansur, p. 6. 8 L. LECLERC, Traite" des simples, Vol. I, p. 60. THE SPINACH 397 more deeply divided, and that it rises less from the ground. 1 A. DE CANDOLLE states that "spinach has not yet been found in a wild state, unless it be a cultivated modification of Spinacia tetandra Steven, which is wild to the south of the Caucasus, in Turkistan, in Persia, and in Afghanistan, and which is used as a vegetable under the name of Samum." The latter word is apparently a bad spelling or misreading for Persian $omm or Sumin (Armenian zomin and Somin), another' designation for the spinach. The spinach is not known in India except as an introduction by the English. The agriculturists of India classify spinach among the English vegetables. 2 The species Spinacia tetrandra Roxb., for which Rox- BURGH 3 gives the common Persian and Arabic name for the spinach, and of which he says that it is much cultivated in Bengal and the adjoining provinces, being a pot-herb held in considerable estimation by the natives, may possibly have been introduced by the Moham- medans. As a matter of fact, spinach is a vegetable of the temperate zones and alien to tropical regions. A genuine Sanskrit word for the spinach is unknown. 4 Nevertheless Chinese po-lin, *pwa-lin, must represent the transcription of some Indian vernacular name. In Hin- dustani we have palak as designation for the spinach, and palan or palak as name for Beta vulgaris, Pustu pdlak, 5 apparently developed from Sanskrit pdlanka, pdlankya, palakyu, pdlakyd, to which our dictionaries attribute the meaning "a kind of vegetable, a kind of beet-root, Beta bengalensis"; in Bengali palun* To render the coin- cidence with the Chinese form complete, there is also Sanskrit Palakka 1 Perhaps related to A triplex L., the so-called wild spinach, chiefly cultivated in France and eaten like spinach. The above description, of course, must not be construed to mean that the cultivated spinach is derived from the so-called wild spinach of the Nabathaeans. The two plants may not be in- terrelated at all. 2 N. G. MUKERJI, Handbook of Indian Agriculture, 2d ed., p. 300 (Calcutta, 1907); but it is incorrect to state that spinach originally came from northern Asia. A. DE CANDOLLE (op. cit., p. 99) has already observed, "Some popular works repeat that spinach is a native of northern Asia, but there is nothing to confirm this sup- position." 8 Flora Indica, p. 718. 4 A. BOROOAH, in his English-Sanskrit Dictionary, gives a word $akaprabheda with this meaning, but this simply signifies "a kind of vegetable," and is accord- ingly an explanation. 6 H. W. BELLE w, Report on the Yusufzais, p. 255 (Lahore, 1864). 6 Beta is much cultivated by the natives of Bengal, the leaves being consumed in stews (W. ROXBURGH, Flora Indica, p. 260). Another species, Beta maritima, is also known as "wild spinach." It should be remembered that the genus Beta belongs to the same family (Chenopodiaceae) as Spinacia. 398 SlNO-lRANICA or Palaka 1 as the name of a country, which has evidently resulted in the assertion of Buddhist monks that the spinach must come from a country Palinga. The Nepalese, accordingly, applied a word relative to a native plant to the newly-introduced spinach, and, together with the product, handed this word on to China. The Tibetans never became acquainted with the plant; the word spo ts*od, given in the Polyglot Dictionary, 2 is artificially modelled after the Chinese term, spo (pro- nounced po) transcribing Chinese po, and ts*od meaning " vegetable." Due regard being paid to all facts botanical and historical, we are compelled to admit that the spinach was introduced into Nepal from some Iranian region, and thence transmitted to China in A.D. 647. It must further be admitted that the Chinese designation "Persian vegetable," despite its comparatively recent date, cannot be wholly fictitious, but has some foundation in fact. Either in the Yuan or in the Ming period (more probably in the former) the Chinese seem to have learned the fact that Persia is the land of the spinach. I trust that a text to this effect will be discovered in the future. All available his- torical data point to the conclusion that the Persian cultivation can be but of comparatively recent origin, and is not older than the sixth century or so. The Chinese notice referring it to the seventh century is the oldest in existence. Then follow the Nabathaean Book of Agri- culture of the tenth century and the Arabic introduction into Spain during the eleventh. 1 The latter form is noted in the catalogue of the Mahamaytirl, edited by S. Lvi (Journal asiatique, 1915, I, p. 42). 3 Ch. 27, p. 19 b. SUGAR BEET AND LETTUCE 37. In the preceding notes we observed that the name for a species of Beta was transferred to the spinach in India and still serves in China as designation for this vegetable. We have also a Sino-Iranian name for a Beta, - H, kun-fa, *gwun-d'ar, which belonged to the choice vegetables of the country ^ flft Mo-lu, *Mar-luk, in Arabia. 1 The Cen su wen H V& 3&C 2 says that it is now erroneously called ken ta ts'ai fi Jt 3 or ta ken ts'ai, which is identical with tien ts'ai "$$ 3fc (" sweet vegetable"). STUART"* gives the latter name together with jfl j| kiin-t*a, identifying it with Beta vulgaris, the white sugar beet, which he says grows in China. Stuart, however, is mistaken in saying that this plant is not mentioned in the Pen ts'ao. It is noted both in the Cen lei pen ts*ao* and the Pen ts'ao kan muf the latter giving also the term kun-t*a, which is lacking in the former work. Li Si-Sen observes with reference to this term that its meaning is unexplained, a comment which usually betrays the foreign character of the word, but he fails to state the source from which he derived it. There is no doubt that this kiln-fa is merely a graphic variant of the above ||. The writing J? is as early as the T'ang period, and occurs in the Yu yan tsa tsuf where the leaves of the yu tien ts'ao V& Ifi ^ ("herb with oily spots") are com- pared to those of the kun-t'a. 1 A description of the kiin-t'a is not con- tained in that work, but from this incidental reference it must be inferred that the plant was well known in the latter half of the ninth century. Beta vulgaris is called in New Persian tugundur or Zegonder, and is mentioned by Abu Mansur. 8 The corresponding Arabic word is silk* The Chinese transcription made in the T'ang period is apparently based on a Middle-Persian form of the type *gundar or *gundur. Beta vulgaris is a Mediterranean and West-Asiatic plant grown as far as the 1 T'ai p'in hwan yu ki, Ch. 186, p. 16 b. 2 Ch. 12, p. 3. This work was published in 1884 by Ho Yi-hin %$ f& ff . 1 Chinese Materia Medica, p. 68. 4 Ch. 28, p. 9. 5 Ch. 27, p. i b. Cf. also Yamato honzo, Ch. 5, p. 26. 6 Ch. 9, p. 9 b. 7 "On each leaf there are black spots opposite one another." 8 ACHUNDOW, Abu Mansur, p. 81. 9 LECLERC, Traite" des simples, Vol. II, p. 274. 399 400 SlNO-lRANlCA Caspian Sea and Persia. According to DE CANDOLLE/ its cultivation does not date from more than three or four centuries before our era. The Egyptian illustration brought forward by F. WoENiG 2 in favor of the assumption of an early cultivation in Egypt is not convincing to me. It is therefore probable, although we have no record referring to the introduction, that Beta vulgaris was introduced into China in the T'ang period, perhaps by the Arabs, who themselves brought many Persian words and products to China. For this reason Chinese records some- times credit Persian words to the Ta-sl (Arabs); for instance, the numbers on dice, which go as Ta-i, but in fact are Persian. 3 The real Chinese name of the plant is tien ts'ai i| , the first character being explained in sound and meaning by ^ft tien ("sweet")- Li Si-en identifies tien ts*ai with kiln-fa. The earliest description of tien ts'ai comes from Su Kun of the T'ang, who compares its leaves to those of Sen ma 51* ]tt (Actea spicata, a ranunculaceous plant), adding that the southerners steam the sprouts and eat them, the dish being very fragrant and fine. 4 It is not stated, however, that tien ts'ai is an im- ported article. 38. Reference was made above to the memorable text of the Tan hui yao, in which are enumerated the vegetable products of foreign countries sent to the Emperor T'ai Tsun of the T'ang dynasty at his special request in A.D. 647. After mentioning the spinach of Nepal, the text continues thus: "Further, there was the ts*o ts'ai B ?fS ('wine vegetable') with broad and long leaves. 5 It has a taste like a good wine and k'u ts'ai ^ 3& ('bitter vegetable/ lettuce, Lactuca), and in its appearance is like kil JJ , 6 but its leaves are longer and broader. Although it is somewhat bitter of taste, eating it for a long time is beneficial. Hu k*in SB Jr 1 Origin of Cultivated Plants, p. 59; see also his Geographic botanique, p. 831 2 Pflanzen im alten Aegypten, p. 218. 3 See Toung Pao, Vol. I, 1890, p. 95. 4 A tien ts'ai mentioned by T'ao Hun-kin, as quoted in the Pen ts'ao kan mu, and made into a condiment la fe^ for cooking-purposes, is apparently a different vegetable. 6 The corresponding text of the Ts'e fu yuan kwei (Ch. 970, p. 12) has the addition, "resembling the leaves of the Sen-hwo R ^C." The text of the Pei hu lu (Ch. 2, p. 19 b) has, "resembling in its appearance the Sen-kwo, but with leaves broader and longer." This tree, also called kin t'ien jjt ^ (see Yu yan tsa tsu, Ch. 19, p. 6), is believed to protect houses from fire; it is identified with Sedum erythro- stictum or Sempervivum tectorum (BRETSCHNEIDER, Bot. Sin., pt. Ill, No. 205; STUART, Chinese Materia Medica, p. 401). 6 A general term for plants like Lactuca, Cichorium, Sonchus. SUGAR BEET AND LETTUCE 401 resembles in its appearance the k'in ?r ('celery,' Apium graveolens), and has a fragrant flavor." Judging from the description, the vegetable ts'o ts'ai appears to have been a species of Lactuca, Cichorium, or Sonchus. These genera are closely allied, belonging to the family Cichoraceae, and are confounded by the Chinese under a large number of terms. A. DE CANDOLLE* supposed that lettuce (Lactuca sativd) was hardly known in China at an early date, as, according to Loureiro, Europeans had introduced it into Macao. 2 With reference to this passage, BRETSCHNEIDER S thinks that de Candolle "may be right, although the Pen ts*ao says nothing about the introduction; the Sen ts'ai &. ?K (the common name of lettuce at Peking) or pai-ku fi J? seems not to be mentioned earlier than by writers of the T'ang (618-906)." Again, DE CANDOLLE seized on this passage, and embodied it in his "Origin of Cultivated Plants" (p. 96). The problem, however, is not so simple. Bretschneider must have read the Pen ts*ao at that time rather superficially, for some species of Lactuca is directly designated there as being of foreign origin. Again, twenty-five years later, he wrote a notice on the same subject, 4 in which not a word is said about foreign introduction, and from which, on the contrary, it would appear that Lactuca, Cichorium, and Sonchus, have been indigenous to China from ancient times, as the bitter vegetable (k*u ts'ai) is already mentioned in the Pen kin and Pie lu. The terms pai ku 6 J? and k'u ku i g are supposed to represent Cichorium endima; and wo-ku jS H, Lactuca sativa. In explanation of the latter name, Li Si-cen cites the Mo k'o hui si SI 3tr W JP by P'eii C'efi ^ Si, who wrote in the first half of the eleventh century, as saying that wo ts'ai 1$j ^ ("wo vegetable") came from the country f^i Kwa, and hence received its name. 5 The Ts'in i lu W M ^, a work by T'ao Ku PU WL of the Sung period, says that "envoys from the country Kwa came to China, and at the request of the people distributed seeds of a vegetable; they were so generously rewarded that it was called ts'ien kin ts'ai ^^56 ('vegetable of a thousand gold pieces'); now it is styled wo- 1 Geographic botanique, p. 843. 2 This certainly is a weak argument. The evidence, in fact, proves nothing. Europeans also introduce their own sugar and many other products of which China has a great plenty. 3 Chinese Recorder, 1871, p. 223. 4 Bot. Sin., pt. Ill, No. 257. 5 1 do not know how STUART (p. 229) gets at the definition "in the time of the Han dynasty." The same text is also contained in the Su po wu ci (Ch. 7, p. I b), written by Li Si ^ ^ about the middle of the twelfth century. 402 SlNO-lRANICA ku.' n These are vague and puerile anecdotes, without chronological specification. There is no country Kwa, which is merely distilled from the character j%, and no such tradition appears in any historical text. 2 The term wo-kil was well known under the T'ang, being mentioned in the Pen ts*ao U i of C'en Ts'an-k'i, who distinguishes a white and a purple variety, but is silent as to the point of introduction. 3 This author, however, as can be shown by numerous instances, had a keen sense of foreign plants and products, and never failed to indicate them as such. There is no evidence for the supposition that Lactuca was introduced into China from abroad. All there is to it amounts to this, that, as shown by the above passage of the T'an hui yao, possibly supe- rior varieties of the West were introduced. In Persia, Lactuca sativa (Persian kahu) occurs both wild and culti- vated. 4 Cichoreum is kasnl in Persian, hindubd in Arabic and Osmanli. 5 39. The hu k*in, mentioned in the above text of the T'an hui yao, possibly represents the garden celery, Apium graveolens (Persian kerefs or karqfs) (or possibly parsley, Apium petroselinum) of the west. 6 It appears to be a different plant from the hu k'in mentioned above (p. 196). Hu k'in is likewise mentioned among the best vegetables of the country ~M jjft Mo-lu, *Mwat-luk, Mar-luk, in Arabia. 7 In order to conclude the series of vegetables enumerated in the text of the T'an hui yao, the following may be added here. In A.D. 647 the king of Gandhara (in north-western India) sent to the Chinese Court a vegetable styled fu-t'u IS i & ("Buddha-land vegetable")? each stem possessing five leaves, with red flowers, a yellow pith, and purple stamens. 8 1 I have looked up the text of the Ts'in i lu, which is reprinted in the T'an Sufi ts'un $u and Si yin huan ts'un Su. The passage in question is in Ch. 2, p. 7 b, and printed in the same manner as in the Pen ts'ao kan mu, save that the country is called Kao iilj, not Kwa jB5j. It is easy to see that these two characters could be con- founded, and that only one of the two can be correct; but Kao does not help us any more than Kwa. Either name is fictitious as that of a country. 2 We have had several other examples of alleged names of countries being distilled out of botanical names. 3 K'ou Tsun-sl is likewise; see his Pen ts'ao yen i (Ch. 19, p. 2). * SCHLIMMER, Terminologie, p. 337. 5 See ACHUNDOW, Abu Mansur, p. 146; E. SEIDEL, Mechithar, p. 134; LECLERC, Traite" des simples, Vol. II, p. 28. 6 Cf. ACHUNDOW, Abu Mansur, pp. no, 257. Celery is cultivated only in a few gardens of Teheran, but it grows spontaneously and abundantly in the mountains of the Bakhtiaris (SCHLIMMER, Terminologie, p. 43). 7 T'ai p'in hwan yu ki, Ch. 186, p. 16 b. 8 T'an hui yao, Ch. 200, p. 4 b; and T'an $u, Ch. 221 B, p. 7. The name of Gandhara is abbreviated into *d'ar, but in the corresponding passage of the T'an hui yao (Ch. 100, p. 3 b) and in the Ts'e fu yuan kwei (Ch. 970, p. 12) the name is written completely $ jjj^ Kien-ta, *G'an-d'ar. RICINUS 40. In regard to Ricinus communis (family Euphorbiaceae) the accounts of the Chinese are strikingly deficient and unsatisfactory. There can be no doubt that it is an introduced plant in China, as it occurs there only in the cultivated state, and is not mentioned earlier than the T'ang period (618-906) with an allusion to the Hu. 1 Su Kun states in the Tan pen ts*ao, "The leaves of this plant which is culti- vated by man resemble those of the hemp (Cannabis saliva), being very large. The seeds look like cattle-ticks (niu pei 3r ft) . 2 The stems of that kind which at present comes from the Hu 3 are red and over ten feet high. They are of the size of a tsao kia & ^ (Gleditschia sinensis). The kernels are the part used, and they are excellent." It would seem from this report that two kinds of Ricinus are assumed, one presumably the white-stemmed variety known prior to Su Kun's time, and the red- stemmed variety introduced in his age. Unfortunately we receive no information as to the exact date and provenience of the introduction. The earliest mention of the plant is made by Herodotus, 4 who ascribes it to the Egyptians who live in the marshes and use the oil pressed from the seeds for anointing their bodies. He calls the plant sillikyprion? and gives the Egyptian name as kiki* In Hellas it grows spontaneously (avr6/zara !! fru, *dzu, *tsu, *ts'u, so that we obtain *adzu, *atsu, *ats'u. This would correspond to an ancient Iranian form *aju* At any rate, the Chinese transcriptions, in whatever form we may adopt them, have nothing to do with New Persian anjlr, as asserted by Hirth, but belong to an older stage of Iranian speech, the Middle Persian. (2) ft H yin-ti* *aii-z"it(r). This is not "apparently a tran- 1 STUART, Chinese Materia Medica, p. 174. The Ci wu min Si t'u k'ao (Ch. 36, p. 2), however, speaks of the fig of Yun-nan as a large tree. According to F. N. MEYER (Agricultural Explorations in the Orchards of China, p. 47), the fig is grown in northern China only as an exotic, mostly in pots and tubs. In the milder parts of the country large specimens are found here and there in the open. He noticed black and white varieties. They are cultivated in San-hwa ^j? 'ffc in the prefecture of C'an-a, Hu-nan (San hwa hien i, Ch. 16, p. 15 b, ed. 1877), also in the prefecture of Sun-t'ien, Ci-li (Kwan-su Sun t'ienfu ci, Ch. 50, p. 10). Yu yan tsa tsu, Ch. 18, p. 13. Essays on the Chinese Language, p. 349. Journal Am. Or. Soc., Vol. XXX, p. 20. Ch. 31, p. 9. Pen ts'ao kan mu, Ch. 31, p. 26. 410 THE FIG 411 scription of Hindustani anjir," as affirmed by Hirth, but of New Persian anjlr or enjlr, the Hindustani (as well as Sanskrit anjira) being simply borrowed from the Persian; Bukhara injir, Afghan intsir; Russian indzarn. (3) Fu-lin Jt IB ti-ni or ti-cen 3^ or *B (*ti-tsen, *ti-ten) ; the latter variant is not necessarily to be rejected, as is done by Hirth. Cf. Assyrian tittu (from *tintu); Phoenician tin; Hebrew ti'nu, te'enah; 1 Arabic tin, tine, tima; Aramaic ts'mta, tenta, tena; Pahlavi tin (Semitic loan-word). The Semitic name is said to have taken its starting-point from south-eastern Arabia, where also, in the view of the botanists, the origin of fig-culture should be sought; but in view of the Assyrian word and the antiquity of the fig in Assyria, 2 this theory is not probable. There is no doubt that the Chinese transcription answers to a Semitic name; but that this is the Aramaic name, as insisted on by Hirth in favor of his theory that the language of Fu-lin should have been Aramaic, is not cogent. The transcription ti-ni, on the contrary, is much nearer to the Arabic, Phoenician, and Hebrew forms. 3 (4) ft 5 $ (or better &) yu-Van-po, *u-dan-pat(par), *u-dan- bar = Sanskrit udambara (Ficus glomerata)* According to Li Si-6en, this name is current in Kwan-tun. (5) M 36 ^ wu hwa kwo ("flowerless fruit"), 5 Japanese icijiku. The erroneous notion that the fig-tree does not bloom is not peculiar to Albertus Magnus, as Hirth is inclined to think, but goes back to times of antiquity, and occurs in Aristotle and Pliny. 6 This wrong observation arose from the fact that the flowers, unlike those of most fruit-trees, make no outward appearance, but are concealed within the 1 In the so-called histories of the fig concocted by botanists for popular consump- tion, one can still read the absurdity that Latin ficus is to be derived from Hebrew feg. Such a Hebrew word does not exist. What does exist in Hebrew, is the word pag, occurring only in Canticle (n, 13), which, however, is not a general term for the fig, but denotes only a green fig that did not mature and that remained on the tree during the winter. Phonetically it is impossible to connect this Hebrew word with the Latin one. In regard to the fig among the Semites, see, above all, the excellent article of E. LEVESQUE in the Dictionnaire de la Bible (Vol. II, col. 2237). 2 E. BONAVIA, Flora of the Assyrian Monuments, p. 14. 3 It is surprising to read Hirth's conclusion that "ti-ni is certainly much nearer the Aramean word than the Greek