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Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

234   SING-IRANICA

A recipe for making grape-wine is contained in the Pei . an tsiu kin

;E 1Jts   a work on the different kinds of wine, written early in the

twelfth century by Cu Yi-cuncX I, known as Ta-yin Wen    â .

Sour rice is placed in an earthen vessel and steamed. Five ounces of apricot-kernels (after removing the shells) and two catties of grapes (after being washed and dried, and seeds and shells removed) are put together in a bowl of thin clay (.a Yen fe) i),2 pounded, and strained. Three pecks of a cooked broth are poured over the rice, which is placed on a table, leaven being added to it. This mass, I suppose, is used to cause the grape-juice to ferment, but the description is too abrupt and by no means clear. So much seems certain that the question is of a rather crude process of fermentation, but not of distillation (see below).

Sü T`in # a, who lived under the Emperor Li Tsun (1224-63) of the Southern Sung, went as ambassador to the Court of the Mongol Emperor Ogotai (1229-45). His memoranda, which represent the earliest account we possess of Mongol customs and manners, were edited by P`en Ta-ya ir ift of the Sung under the title Hei Ta .i lio

At id*   ("Outline of the Affairs of the Black Tatars"), and pub-
lished in 1908 by Li Wen-t`ien and Hu Se in the Wen yin lou yü ti ts`un .§u.3 Sü Tin informs us that grape-wine put in glass bottles and sent as tribute from Mohammedan countries figured at the headquarters of the Mongol Khan; one bottle contained about ten small cups, and the color of the beverage resembled the juice of the Diospyros kaki [known in this country as Japanese persimmons] of southern China. It was accordingly a kind of claret. The Chinese envoy was told that excessive indulgence in it might result in intoxication.

1 Ch. c, p. 19 b (ed. of Z`i pu isu aai ts'un su). The work is noted by WYLIE (Notes on Chinese Literature, p. 150).

2 Literally, " sand-pot." This is a kind of thin pottery (colloquially called Sec

kwo   ) peculiar to China, and turned out at Hwai-lu (ti-li), P`ih-tin 6ou and
Lu-han (an-si), and Yao-6ou (sen-si). Made of clay and sand with an admixture of coal-dust, so that its appearance presents a glossy black, it is extremely light and fragile; but, on account of their thin walls, water may be heated in these pots with a very small quantity of fuel. They are a money and time saving device, and hence in great demand among the poor, who depend upon straw and dried grass for their kitchen fire. With careful handling, such pots and pans may endure a long time. The proverb runs, "The sand-pot will last a generation if you do not hit it"; and there is another popular saying, "You may pound garlic in a sand-pan, but you can do so but once" (A. H. SMITH, Proverbs and Common Sayings from the Chinese, p. 204). Specimens of this ware from Yao-6ou may he seen in the Field Museum, others from Hwai-lu are in the American Museum of New York (likewise collected by the writer). The above text of the Sung period is the first thus ,far found by me which contains an allusion to this pottery.

8 This important work has not yet attracted the attention of our science. I hope to be able to publish a complete translation of it in the future.