IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Sino-Iranica : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
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 T`u 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-éen 1 refers to the chapter on the Western Countries (Si yil swan) in the Han Annals, stating that the tree was plentiful in the
country Kü-si * (Turfan) . 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-gan.2 He then gives a brief résumé of the matter, setting down the two varieties of "tree-tears" and "stone-tears."
The Ming Geography mentions hu t`un lei as a product of Hami. The Kwan yü ki3 notices it as a product of the Chikin Mongols between Su-èou and Sa-éou. The Si yü wen kien lu,4 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.' The tree itself is termed in Turki tograk.
The Hui k'ian his likewise describes the hu t`un tree of Hami, 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.
BRETSCHNEIDER7 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 run
1 Pen ts'ao kaii mu, Ch. 34, p. 22.
2 There is a passage in the kin bu where the hu run is mentioned, and may
be referred to Kü-si (CHAVANNES, T'oung Pao, 1905, p. 569).
3 Above, Q. 251.
Ch. 7, p. 9 (WYLIE, Notes on Chinese Literature, p. 64).
5 This passage has already been translated correctly by W. SCHOTT (Abh. Berl. Ak., 1842, p. 37o). It was not quite comprehended by BRETSCHNEIDER (Mediæval Researches, Vol. II, p. 179), who writes, "The characters hu t'ung here are intended to render a foreign word which means `fuel'."
s Above, p. 23o.
7 Mediœval Researches, Vol. II, p. 179.
8 FORBES and HEMSLEY, Journal Linnean Society, Vol. XXVI, p. 536.
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