The Grape-Vine 237 



yuan (in San-si) take the second rank. According to some statements, 

 grapes, when stored for a long time, will develop into wine through a 

 natural process. This wine is fragrant, sweet, and exceedingly strong: 

 this is the genuine grape-wine." 1 The Ts'ao mu tse ^ yfc ■?*, written 

 in 1378 by Ye Tse-k'i M ~$* ^f, contains the following information: 

 "Under the Yuan dynasty grape-wine was manufactured in Ki-nin 

 M 3f£ and other circuits S& of San-si Province. In the eighth month 

 they went to the T'ai-han Mountain j&ff ]U 2 in order to test the 

 genuine and adulterated brands: the genuine kind when water is 

 poured on it, will float; the adulterated sort, when thus treated, will 

 freeze. 3 In wine which has long been stored, there is a certain portion 

 which even in extreme cold will never freeze, while all the remainder is 

 frozen: this is the spirit and fluid secretion of wine. 4 If this is drunk, 

 the essence will penetrate into a man's arm-pits ffli , and he will die. 

 Wine kept for two or three years develops great poison." 



The first author who offers a coherent notice and intelligent discus- 

 sion of the subject of grape-wine is Li Si-Sen at the end of the sixteenth 

 century. 5 He is well acquainted with the fact that this kind of wine was 

 anciently made only in the Western Countries, and that the method of 

 manufacturing it was but introduced under, the T'ang after the sub- 

 jugation of Kao-c'an. He discriminates between two types of grape- 

 wine, — the fermented 18 $ :# , of excellent taste, made from grape- 

 juice with the addition of leaven in the same fashion as the ordinary 

 native rice-wine (or, if no juice is available, dried raisins may be used), 

 and the distilled $& ?@. In the latter method "ten catties of grapes are 

 taken with an equal quantity of great leaven (distillers' grains) and 

 subjected to a process of fermentation. The whole is then placed in an 

 earthen kettle and steamed. The drops are received in a vessel, and 

 this liquid is of red color, and very pleasing." There is one question, 

 however, left open by Li Si-cen. In a preceding notice on distillation 

 £k M he states that this is not an ancient method, but was practised 

 only from the Yuan period; he then describes it in its application to rice- 

 lands," or maybe "alcohol." The latter word has never penetrated into China in 

 any form. Chinese a-la-ki does not represent the word "alcohol," as conceived by 

 some authors, for instance, J. Macgowan (Journal China Branch Roy. As. Soc, 

 Vol. VII, 1873, p. 237); see the following note. 



1 This work is also the first that contains the word a-la-ki fSj jf§ "f$, from 

 Arabic 'araq (see T'oung Pao, 1916, p. 483). 



2 A range of mountains separating §an-si from Ci-li and Ho-nan. 



8 This is probably a fantasy. We can make nothing of it, as it is not stated how 

 the adulterated wine was made. 



4 This possibly is the earliest Chinese allusion to alcohol. 

 6 Pen ts'ao kan mu, Ch. 25, p. 14 b. 



