National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

> > > >
Color New!IIIF Color HighRes Gray HighRes PDF   Japanese English
0305 Sino-Iranica : vol.1
Sino-Iranica : vol.1 / Page 305 (Grayscale High Resolution Image)

New!Citation Information

doi: 10.20676/00000248
Citation Format: Chicago | APA | Harvard | IEEE

OCR Text

 

THE MALAYAN PO-SE--LAC, CAMPHOR   479

is ascribed to Bali1 (Pro-li, *Bwa-li)1 and to Po-se. Camphor is not produced in Persia;2 and HIRTH3 is not justified in here rendering Po-se by Persia and commenting that camphor was brought to China by Persian ships.

63. The confusion as to the two Po-se has led Twan C`efi-gi4 to ascribe the jack-fruit tree (Artocarpus integrifolia) to Persia, as would follow from the immediate mention of Fu-lin; but this tree grows neither in Persia nor in western Asia. It is a native of India, Burma, and the Archipelago. The mystery, however, remains as to how the author obtained the alleged Fu-lin name.5

Pepper (Piper longum), according to Su Kun of the 'rang, is a product of Po-se. This cannot be Persia, which does not produce pepper.6

In the chapter on the walnut we have noticed that the Pei hu lu, written about A.D. 875 by Twan Kun-lu, mentions a wild walnut as growing in the country Can-pei (*Cambi, Jambi), and gathered and eaten by the Po-se. The Lin piao lu i, written somewhat later (between 889 and 9o4), describes the same fruit as growing in Can-pi (*Cambir, Jambir), and gathered by the Hu. This text is obviously based on the older one of the Pei hu lu; and Liu Sün, author of the Lin piao lu 1, being under the impression that the Iranian Po-se is involved, appears to have substituted the term Hu for Po-se. The Iranian Po-se, however, is out of the question: the Persians did not consume wild walnuts; and, for all we know about Can-pi, it must have been some Malayan region.? I have tentatively identified the plant in question with Juglans cathayensis or, which is more probable, Canarium commune; possibly another genus is intended. As regards the situation of Can-pi (or -pei) and Po-se of the Tang, much would depend on the botanical evidence.

I doubt that any wild walnut occurs on Sumatra.

The Hai yao pen ts`ao, written by Li Sün in the second half of the eighth century, and as implied by the title, describing the drugs from

1 Its Bali name is given as im   ku-pu-pro-lü, *ku-put-bwa-lwut, which

appears to be based on a form related to the Malayan type ktipor-bdrus. Cf. also the comments of PELLIOT (T`oung Pao, 1912, pp. 474-475).

2 SCHLIMMER (Terminologie, p. 98) observes, "Les auteurs indigènes persans recommendent le camphre de Borneo comme le meilleur. Camphre de menthe, provenant de la Chine, se trouve depuis peu dans le commerce en Perse." Camphor was imported into Siraf (W. OUSELEY, Oriental Geography of Ebn Haukal, p. 133; G. LE STRANGE, Description of the Province of Fars, p. 42).

3 Chau Ju-kua, p. 194.

4 Yu yan tsa tsu, Ch. 18, p. 1o.

6 Cf. HIRTH, Chau Ju-kua, p. 213.

6 See above, PP. ,374, 375•

7 See the references given above on p. 268.