ساینو-ایرانیکا اثرجاوید برتولت لوفر

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 br="" comprises="" district="" han="" of="" period="" says="" territory="" that="" the="" yu-lin="">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 &yen-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).