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0363 Sino-Iranica : vol.1
Sino-Iranica : vol.1 / Page 363 (Grayscale High Resolution Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000248
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IRANO-SINICA-THE SQUARE BAMBOO, SILK   537

It is said to occur also in the prefecture of Ten-6ouI, San-tun Province, where it is likewise made into walking-sticks.' The latter being much in demand by Buddhist monks, the bamboo has received the epithet "Lo-han bamboo " (bamboo of the Arhat) .2

It is perfectly manifest that what was exported from Se-`wan by way of Yün-nan into India, and thence forwarded to Bactria, was the square bamboo in the form of walking-canes. India is immensely rich in bamboos; and only a peculiar variety, which did not exist in India, could have compensated for the trouble and cost which this long and wearisome trade-route must have caused in those days. • For years, I must confess, it has been a source of wonder to me why Se-6`wan bamboo should have been carried as far as Bactria, until I encountered the text of the Pei hu lu, which gives a satisfactory solution of the problem.3

2. The most important article by which the Chinese became famously known in ancient times, of course, was silk. This subject is so extensive, and has so frequently been treated in special monographs, that it does not require recapitulation in this place. I shall only recall the fact that the Chinese silk materials, after traversing Central Asia, reached the Iranian Parthians, who acted as mediators in this trade with the anterior Orient.' It is assumed that the introduction of sericulture into Persia, especially into Gilan, where it still flourishes, falls in the latter part of the Sasanian epoch. It is very probable that the acquaintance of the Khotanese with the rearing of silkworms, introduced by a Chinese princess in A.D. 419, gave the impetus to a further growth of this new industry in a western direction, gradually spreading to Yarkand, Fergana, and Persia.' Chinese brocade (dibd-i an) is frequently mentioned by Firdausi as playing a prominent part in Persian decorations.' He also speaks of a very fine and decorated Chinese silk under the name parniydn, corresponding to Middle Persian parnikdn.7 Iranian has a peculiar word for "silk," not yet satisfactorily explained: Pahlavi *aprésum, *aparegum; New Persian abrë. um, abrë am (Arme-

1 San tun t'un ci, Ch. 9, p. 6.

See K'ien   1, Ch. 4, p. 7 b (in Yüe ya ran ts`un Su, t'ao 24) and Sü K'ien

U, Ch. 7, p. 2 b (ibid.). Cf. also eu p'u sian lu   n   , written by Li K'an
in 1299 (Ch. 4, p. i b; ed. of Ci pu tsu 'eai ts'un Su).

3 The speculations of J. MARQUART (Eransahr, pp. 319-320) in regard to this bamboo necessarily fall to the ground. There is no misunderstanding on the part of Can Kien, and the account of the .3i ki is perfectly correct and clear.

4 HIRTH, Chinesische Studien, p. 10.

SPIEGEL, Eranische Altertumskunde, Vol. I, p. 256.

6 J. J. MODI, Asiatic Papers, p. 254 (Bombay, 1905).

7 HÜBSCHMANN, Persische Studien, Q. 242.