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Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

6

MARCO POLO   Boom II.

best in China. The Chinese used them only as raisins, but wine was made there for the use of the early Jesuit Missions, and their successors continue to make it. Klaproth, however, tells us that the wine of T'ai-yuan fu was celebrated in the days of the T'ang Dynasty, and used to be sent in tribute to the Emperors. Under the Mongols the use of this wine spread greatly. The founder of the Ming accepted the offering of wine of the vine from T'aiyuan in 1373, but prohibited its being presented again. The finest grapes are produced in the district of Yukau-hien, where hills shield the plain from north winds, and convert it into a garden many square miles in extent. In the vintage season the best grapes sell for less than a farthing a pound, [Mr. Theos. Sampson, in an article on " Grapes in China," writes (Notes and Queries on China and Japan, April, 1869, p. 5o) : " The earliest mention of the grape in Chinese literature appears to be contained in the chapter on the nations of Central Asia, entitled. Ta Yuan Chwan, or description of Fergana, which forms part of the historical records (Sze-Ki) of Sze-ma Tsien, dating from B.C. TOO. Writing of the political relations instituted shortly before this date by the Emperor Wu Ti with the nations beyond the Western frontiers of China, the historian dwells at considerable length, but unluckily with much obscurity, on the various missions despatched westward under the leadership of Chang K'ien and others, and mentions the grape vine in the following passage :—` Throughout the country of Fergana, wine is made from grapes, and the wealthy lay up stores of wine, many tens of thousands of shih in amount, which may be kept for scores of years without spoiling. Wine is the common beverage, and for horses the nzu-su is the ordinary pasture. The envoys from China brought back seeds with them, and hereupon the Emperor for the first time cultivated the grape and the mu-su in the most productive soils.' In the Description of Western regions, forming part of the History of the Han Dynasty, it is stated that grapes are abundantly produced in the country of K'i-pin (identified with Cophene, part of modern Afghanistan) and other adjacent countries, and referring, if I mistake not, to the journeys of Chang K'ien, the same work says, that the Emperor Wu-Ti despatched upwards of ten envoys to the various countries westward of Fergana, to search for novelties, and that they returned with grape and mu-su seeds. These references appear beyond question to determine the fact that grapes were introduced from Western—or, as we term it, Central—Asia, by Chang K'ien."

Dr. Bretschneider (Botanical Sinicunz, I. p. 25), relating the mission of Chang K'ien (139 B.C. Emperor Wu-Ti), who died about B.C. 103, writes :—" He is said to have introduced many useful plants from Western Asia into China. Ancient Chinese authors ascribe to him the introduction of the Vine, the Pomegranate, Safflower, the Common Bean, the Cucumber, Lucerne, Coriander, the Walnut-tree, and other plants."—H. C.] The river that flows down from Shan-si by Cheng-ting-fu is called " Putu-ho, or the Grape River." (J. As. u. s. ; Richthofen, u. s.)

[Regarding the name of this river, the Rev. C. Holcombe (l.c. p. 56) writes : " Williamson states in his Journeys in North China that the name of this stream is, properly Poo-too Ho—` Grape River,' but is sometimes written Hu-t'ou River incorrectly. The above named author, however, is himself in error, the name given above [Hu-I' o] being invariably found in all Chinese authorities, as well as being the name by which the stream is known all along its course."

West of the Fan River, along the western border of the Central Plain of Shan-si, in the extreme northern point of which lies T'aï-yuan fu, the Rev. C. Holcombe says (p. 61), " is a large area, close under the hills, almost exclusively given up to the cultivation of the grape. The grapes are unusually large, and of delicious flavour."—H. C.]

NOTE 4.— -In no part of China probably, says Richthofen, do the towns and villages consist of houses so substantial and costly as in this. Pianfu is undoubtedly, as Magaillans again notices, P' I NG-YANG FU.* It is the Bikan of Shah Rukh's

* It seems to be called Piyingfu (miswritten Piyingku) in Mr. Shaw's Itinerary from Yarkand (Pr. R. G. S. XVI. 253.) We often find the Western modifications of Chinese names very persistent,