PERSIAN.
With regard to the knowledge of Persian, the only oriental language
probably known by Marco Polo, Pelliot remarks (Journ. Asiat., Mai-Juin,
1912, p. 592 n.): "C'est l'idee de Yule (cf. exemple I., 448), et
je la crois tout a fait juste. On peut la fortifier d'autres indices. On
sait par exemple que Marco Polo substitue le lion au tigre dans le cycle
des douze animaux. M. Chavannes (T'oung pao, II., VII., 59) suppose que
'cette derniere difference provient sans doute de ce que Marco Polo
connaissait le cycle avec les noms mongols des animaux: c'est le leopard
dont il a fait le lion.' Mais on ne voit pas pourquoi il aurait rendu par
'lion' le turco-mongol bars, qui signifie seulement 'tigre.' Admettons
au contraire qu'il pense en persan: dans toute l'Asie centrale, le persan
[Arabic] sir a les deux sens de lion et de tigre. De meme, quand Marco
Polo appelle la Chine du sud Manzi, il est d'accord avec les Persans, par
exemple avec Rachid ed-din, pour employer l'expression usuelle dans la
langue chinoise de l'epoque, c'est-a-dire Man-tseu; mais, au lieu de
Manzi, les Mongols avaient adopte un autres nom, Nangias, dont il n'y a
pas trace dans Marco Polo. On pourrait multiplier ces exemples."
XXXIII., p. 456, n. Instead of Hui Heng, read Hiu Heng.
[1] Industries anciennes et modernes de l'Empire chinois. Paris,
1869, pp. 145, 149.
[2] Resume des principaux Traites chinois sur la culture des muriers et
l'education des vers a soie, Paris, 1837, p. 98. According to the
notions of the Chinese, Julien remarks, everything made from hemp like
cord and weavings is banished from the establishments where silkworms
are reared, and our European paper would be very harmful to the
latter. There seems to be a sympathetic relation between the silkworm
feeding on the leaves of the mulberry and the mulberry paper on which
the cocoons of the females are placed.
[3] Ko chi king yuan, Ch. 37, p. 6.
[4] Relations des Musulmans avec les Chinois (Centenaire de
l'Ecole des Langues Orientales vivante, Paris, 1895, p. 17).
[5] Ibid., p. 20.
[6] Ming Shi, Ch. 81, p. 1. - The same text is found on a bill issued in
1375 reproduced and translated by W. Vissering (On Chinese Currency,
see plate at end of volume), the minister of finance being expressly
ordered to use the fibres of the mulberry tree in the composition of
these bills.
[7] Memoires relatifs a l'Asie, Vol. I., p. 387.
[8] A. WYLIE, Notes on Chinese Literature, p. 64. The copy used by
me (in the John Crerar Library of Chicago) is an old manuscript
clearly written in 4 vols. and chapters, illustrated by nine
ink-sketches of types of Mohammedans and a map. The volumes are not
paged.
[9] Ancient Khotan, Vol. I., p. 134.
[10] Mikroskopische Untersuchung alter ostturkestanischer Papiere, p. 9
(Vienna, 1902). I cannot pass over in silence a curious error of this
scholar when he says (p. 8) that it is not proved that Cannabis
sativa (called by him "genuine hemp") is cultivated in China, and
that the so-called Chinese hemp-paper should be intended for China
grass. Every tyro in things Chinese knows that hemp (Cannabis
sativa) belongs to the oldest cultivated plants of the Chinese, and
that hemp-paper is already listed among the papers invented by Ts'ai
Lun in A.D. 105 (cf. CHAVANNES, Les livres chinois avant l'invention
du papier, Journal Asiatique, 1905, p. 6 of the reprint).
[11] Ch. B., p. 10b (ed. of Pie hia chai ts'ung shu).
[12] The Persian word for the mulberry, tud, is supposed to be a
loan-word from Aramaic. (HORN, Grundriss iran. Phil., Vol. I.,
pt. 2, p. 6.)
BOOK SECOND.
PART II. - JOURNEY TO THE WEST AND SOUTH-WEST OF CATHAY.
XXXVII, p. 13. "There grow here [Taianfu] many excellent vines, supplying
great plenty of wine; and in all Cathay this is the only place where wine
is produced. It is carried hence all over the country."
Dr. B. Laufer makes the following remarks to me: "Polo is quite right in
ascribing vines and wine to T'ai Yuean-fu in Shan Si, and is in this
respect upheld by contemporary Chinese sources. The Yin shan cheng yao
written in 1330 by Ho Se-hui, contains this account[1]: 'There are
numerous brands of wine: that coming from Qara-Khodja[2] (Ha-la-hwo) is
very strong, that coming from Tibet ranks next. Also the wines from P'ing
Yang and T'ai Yuean (in Shan Si) take the second rank. According to some
statements, grapes, when stored for a long time, will develop into wine
through a natural process. This wine is fragrant, sweet, and exceedingly
strong: this is the genuine grape-wine.' Ts'ao mu tse, written in 1378
par Ye Tse-k'i,[3] contains the following information: 'Under the Yuean
Dynasty grape-wine was manufactured in Ki-ning and other circuits of Shan
Si Province. In the eighth month they went to the T'ai hang Mountain,[4]
in order to test the genuine and adulterated brands: the genuine kind
when water is poured on it, will float; the adulterated sort, when thus
treated, will freeze.[5] In wine which has long been stored, there is a
certain portion which even in extreme cold will never freeze, while all
the remainder is frozen: this is the spirit and fluid secretion of
wine.[6] If this is drunk, the essence will penetrate into a man's
armpits, and he will die. Wine kept for two or three years develops great
poison." For a detailed history of grape-wine in China, see Laufer's
Sino-Iranica.
XXXVII., p. 16.
VINE.
Chavannes (Chancellerie chinoise de l'epoque mongole, II., pp.
