Diamond and Gold 35 



length of over a foot, the smallest are of the size of a rice-grain. In 

 order to cut jade, it is necessary to make a large gold ring, which is held 

 between the fingers; this ring is inserted into the jade-cutting knife, 

 which thus becomes fit for work." This description is not very clear, 

 but I am under the impression that an instrument on the order of our 

 roller-cutter is understood. 



This investigation may be regarded also as a definite solution of a 

 problem of classical archaeology, which for a long time was the subject 

 of an extended and heated controversy. 1 The Chinese, though receiving 

 the diamond-point from the Occident, have preserved to us more copious 

 notes and clearer and fuller texts regarding this subject than the classical 

 authors; and if hitherto it was possible to cast doubts on Pliny's descrip- 

 tion of diamond-splinters (above, p. 31), which have been taken by 

 some authors for diamond-dust, this scepticism is no longer justified in 

 the light of Chinese information. What Pliny describes is indeed the 

 diamond-point, and the accurate descriptions of the Chinese fully bear 

 out this fact. 



Diamond and Gold. — The earliest passage of fundamental his- 

 torical value in which the diamond is clearly indicated occurs in the 

 Tsin k'i kii chu ~W"Jt|.J§ >£, 2 and is handed down to us in two dif- 

 ferent versions. One of these runs as follows: 3 "In the third year of 

 the period Hien-ning (a.d. 277), Tun-huang 4 presented to the Emperor 

 diamonds (kin-kang). Diamonds are the rulers in the midst of gold 

 (or preside in the proximity of gold .i'ltr). They are neither 

 washed, 5 nor can they be melted. They can cut jade, and come from 

 (or are produced in) India." The other version of this text, ascribed to 



1 The chief arguments are discussed below on pp. 42-46. 



* The term k'i kii chu fej^ SB designates a peculiar class of historical records deal- 

 ing with the acts of prominent persons and sovereigns. The first in existence re- 

 lated to the Han Emperor Wu. The well-known Mu t'ien-tse chuan (Life of the 

 Emperor Mu) agreed in style and make-up with the k'i kii chu which were extant 

 under the Sui dynasty (see Sui shu,Ch.. 33, p. 7). Under the Tsin quite a number of 

 books of this class were written, which are enumerated in the chapter on Sui litera 

 ture quoted. Judging from the titles there given, each must have embraced a 

 fixed year-period; hence the passage quoted above must have been contained in the 

 Tsin Hien-ning k'i kii chu, that is, Annotations on the Conditions of the Period Hien- 

 ning (275-280) of the Tsin Dynasty, a work in ten chapters, written by Li Kuei 

 $-3^. Nineteen other titles of works of this type referring to the Tsin period, 

 and apparently all contemporary records, are preserved in the Sui shu and were 

 utilized at that time; thus the Tsin k'i kii chu is quoted in the biography of Yu-wen 

 K'ai •f XJfc in the Sui Annals. 



1 T'ai P'ing yu Ian, Ch. 813, p. 10. 



* In the north-western corner of Kan-su, near the border of Turkistan. 

 6 As is the case with gold-sand. 



