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0386 Sino-Iranica : vol.1
Sino-Iranica : vol.1 / Page 386 (Grayscale High Resolution Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000248
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560   SING-IRANICA

paper bank-notes.' The Mongol rulers introduced them into Persia, first in 1294. The notes were direct copies of Kubilai's, even the Chinese characters being imitated as part of the device upon them, and the

Chinese word 'Ciao 0 being employed. This word was then adopted by the Persians as nu or câv.2 The most interesting point about this affair is that in that year (1294) the Chinese process of block-printing was for the first time practised in Tabriz in connection with the printing of these bank-notes.

In his graphic account describing the utilization of paper money by the Great Khan, MARCO PoLo3 makes the following statement: " He makes them take of the bark of a certain tree, in fact of the mulberry tree, the leaves of which are the food of the silkworms,— these trees being so numerous that whole districts are full of them. What they take is a certain fine white bast or skin which lies between the wood of the tree and the thick outer bark, and this they make into something resembling sheets of paper, but black. When these sheets have been prepared they are cut up into pieces of different sizes." In the third edition of Yule's memorable work, the editor, HENRI CORDIER,4 has added the following annotation: " Dr. Bretschneider (History of Botanical Discoveries, Vol. I, p. 4) makes the remark: `Polo states that the Great Khan causeth the bark of great mulberry trees, made into something like paper, to pass for money.' He seems to be mistaken. Paper in China is not made from mulberry-trees, but from the Broussonetia papyrifera, which latter tree belongs to the same order of Moraceae. The same fibres are used also in some parts of China for making cloth, and Marco Polo alludes probably to the same tree when stating that `in the province of Cuiju (Kuei-chou) they manufacture stuff of the bark of certain trees, which form very fine summer clothing."'

This is a singular error of Bretschneider. Marco Polo is perfectly correct: not only did the Chinese actually manufacture paper from the bark of the mulberry-tree (Morus alba), but also it was this paper which was preferred for the making of paper money. Bretschneider is certainly right in saying that paper is made from the Broussonetia, but

1 KLAPROTH, Sur l'origine du papier-monnaie (in his Mémoires relatifs à l'Asie, Vol. I, pp. 375-388) ; YULE, Marco Polo, Vol. I, pp. 426-430; ANONYMUS, Paper Money among the Chinese (Chin. Repository, Vol. XX, 1851, pp. 289-296); S. SABURO, The Origin of the Paper Currency (Journal Peking Or. Soc., Vol. II, 1889, pp. 265-307) ; S. W. BUSHELL, Specimens of Ancient Chinese Paper Money (ibid., pp. 308-316); H. B. MORSE, Currency in China (Journal China Branch Roy. As. Soc., Vol. XXXVIII, 1907, pp. 17-31); etc.

2 For details consult YULE, Z. c.

3 H. YULE, The Book of Ser Marco Polo, Vol. I, p. 423.

4 Ibid., P. 430.

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