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0306 Sino-Iranica : vol.1
Sino-Iranica : vol.1 / Page 306 (Grayscale High Resolution Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000248
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480   SING-IRANICA

the countries beyond the sea and south of China, has recorded several products of Po-se, which, as we have seen, must be interpreted as the Malayan region of this name. Such is the case with benjoin (p. 464) and cummin (p. 383).

We noticed (p. 460) that the Nan ëou ki and three subsequent works attribute myrrh to Po-se, but that this can hardly be intended for the Iranian Po-se, since myrrh does not occur in Persia. Here the Malayan Po-se is visualized, inasmuch as the trade in myrrh took its route from East Africa and the Hadramaut coast of Arabia by way of the Malay Archipelago into China, and thus led the Chinese (erroneously) to the belief that the tree itself grew in Malaysia.

64. The case of aloes (Aloe vulgaris and other species) presents a striking analogy to that of myrrh, inasmuch as this African plant is also ascribed to Po-se, and a substitute for it was subsequently found in the Archipelago. Again it is Li San of the Tang period who for the first time mentions its product under the name lu-wei i i*, stating that it grows in the country Po-se, has the appearance of black confectionery, and is the sap of a tree.' Su Sun of the Sung dynasty observes, "At present it is only shipped to Canton. This tree grows in the mountain-wilderness, its sap running down like tears and coagulating. This substance is gathered regardless of the season or month." Li Si-ben feels doubtful as to whether the product is that of a tree or of an herb t :: he points out that, according to the Ta Min i t`un aloes, which belongs to the class of herbs, is a product of Java, Sumatra (San-fu-ts`i), and other countries, and that this is contradictory to the data of the Tang and Sung Pen-ts'ao. It was unknown to him, however, that the first author thus describing the product is Cao Zu-kwa,2 who indeed classifies Aloe among herbs, and derives it from the country Nu-fa AZ It, a dependency of the Arabs, and in another passage from an island off the Somali coast, evidently hinting at Socotra. This island is the home of the Aloe perryi, still imported into Bombay.'

The name lu-wei is traced by Hirth to Persian alwâ. This theory is difficult to accept for many reasons. Nowhere is it stated that lu-wei is a Persian word. Li Si-cen, who had good sense in diagnosing foreign words, remarks that lu-wei remains unexplained. The Chinese historical texts relative to the Iranian Po-se do not attribute to it this product, which, moreover, did not reach China by land, but exclusively

1 Pen ts`ao lean mu, Ch. 34, p. aI b. The juice of Aloe abyssinica is sold in the form of flat circular cakes, almost black in color.

2 Cu fan ci, Ch. B, p. II (cf. HIRTH'S translation, p. 225).

Regarding the history of aloes, see especially FLÜCKIGER and HANBURY, Pharmacographia, p. 680.