Notes on Marco Polo : vol.1 / Page 565 (Color Image)

0565	Notes on Marco Polo : vol.1

work which he does not mention, says of the cowries : «At present they are used only in Yün-
nan, where they are called *hai-pa*. One cowry is a 庄 *chuang*; four *chuang* make a 手 *shou*;
four *shou* make a 苗 *miao*; five *miao* make a 索 *so*». Li Shih-chên's source is very probably
the *Ming i-t'ung chih*, written in 1461, where the same text occurs (86, 4), with a final sentence :
«Even for paying taxes they use them». KLAPROTH published this scale in *JA*, Febr., 1834,
155, probably from some encyclopaedia, and gave 莊 *chuang* for the first term. This form
also occurs in the list, otherwise identical with that of the *Pên-ts'ao kang-mu*, which is given in
the 湧幢小品 *Yung-ch'uang hsiao-p'in* (30, 10 *b*), a work written in the first half of the
seventeenth century (its preface is not dated, but the author, Chu Kuo-chêng, was a doctor of
1589; the last date I have noticed in the work is 1616, in 30, 26 *b*). The *Yung-ch'uang hsiao-
p'in* may have drawn from the Ming redaction of the *Yün-nan t'ung-chih*, prepared in
compliance with an Imperial order of 1454, which perhaps also gave 莊 *chuang* (at least such is
the form, as we have seen, in COURANT, *Catalogue*, N° 1785, 7, 5-6). In his *Hsü Wên-hsien
t'ung-k'ao* 王圻 WANG Ch'i, whose preface is dated 1586, after quoting the text of 1282 on the
value in gold of 20 «chains» (*so*) of cowries, added the following note (18, 4 *b*) : «In Yün-nan
one cowry is a 庄 *chuang*; 4 *chuang* make a *shou*; 4 *shou* make a *miao*; 4 *miao* make a 索
*t'o*». FUJITA, in his commentary on the *Tao-i chih-lio* (33 *a*), expresses the opinion that *t'o*
may here be a corruption of *so*. It is possible that he is right, and *so* occurs elsewhere in
WANG Ch'i's work (cf. p. 547), but even then the text would not be satisfactory, since
it required not four, but five, *miao* to make a *so*. There is no indication, however, that, in
addition to the «string» or *so* of 80 cowries, there should have been in Yün-nan a «bag» or *t'o*
of 64; and we ought probably to read «five» *miao*. The encyclopaedia *Ko-chih ching-yüan*,
published in 1735, quotes (33, 26 *b*) from the 稗事類編 *Pai-shih lei-pien* a passage which
mentions the 莊 *chuang*, the *shou*, and, omitting the *miao*, says that twenty *shou* make a *so*.
This is not incorrect in itself, but one may never be sure that the quotations made in the *Ko-
chih ching-yüan* are accurate. I have seen the *Pai-shih lei-pien* quoted more than once, and
I even think I remember having formerly handled a modern reprint in small size; yet I can find
no indication of a work of that title in the catalogues at my disposal. A natural inference would
be that the work referred to, with a slight change in the title, is the 稗事彙編 *Pai-shih hui-
pien* in 175 chapters, of which there is no recent edition available, at least in its original form
(cf. *Ssŭ-k'u*…, 132, 14). But this too is the work of WANG Ch'i, and the information given in
his *Hsü Wên-hsien t'ung-k'ao* is not in agreement with that in the *Pai-shih hui-pien*. This
suggested confusion between *lei* and *hui* in the title of the book actually occurs in the *T'ao shuo*
by Chu Yen.

From the texts quoted above it is clear that the *so*, which we have already found
mentioned in a text of 1282, was a count of 80 cowries (4×4×5). In Ming times, the people
of Yün-nan also used another character to write the name of this unit, namely 索 *sa*. The
*K'ang-shi tzŭ-tien* quotes the 稗史 *Pai shih* as saying : «The people of T'ien (= Yün-nan) say
that 80 cowries (*pei*) make one 索 *sa*». KLAPROTH's source, too, mentioned this *sa*. Here again
I am not in a position to say what work the *Pai shih* may be; it can hardly be the *Pai-shih lei-
pien* (?*Pai-shih hui-pien*), since the latter speaks of *so*, not of *sa*. From YÜAN Chia-ku,

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