The Pistachio 247 



The Persians appeared to the ancients as terebinth-eaters, and this 

 title seems to have developed into a sort of nickname: when Astyages, 

 King of the Medians, seated on his throne, looked on the defeat of his 

 men through the army of Cyrus, he exclaimed, "Woe, how brave are 

 these terebinth-eating Persians!" 1 According to Polyaenus, 2 terebinth- 

 oil was among the articles to be furnished daily for the table of the 

 Persian kings. In the Bttndahisri, the pistachio-nut is mentioned to- 

 gether with other fruits the inside of which is fit to eat, but not the 

 outside. 3 "The fruits of the country are dates, pistachios, and apples 

 of Paradise, with other of the like not found in our cold climate." 4 



Twan C'en-si It $ ^, in his Yu yah tsa tsu MiiS, written 

 about a.d. 860 and containing a great amount of useful information 

 on the plants of Persia and Fu-lin, has the following: — 



"The hazel-nut (Corylus heterophylla) of the Hu (Iranians), styled 

 a-yiie H M , grows in the countries of the West. 6 According to the 

 statement of the barbarians, a-yiie is identical with the hazel-nuts 

 of the Hu. In the first year the tree bears hazel-nuts, in the second 

 year it bears a-yiie." 6 



C'en Ts'an-k'i W W. II, who in the K'ai-yuan period (a.d. 713-741) 

 wrote the Materia Medica Pen ts'ao H i ^ #• & 5ft, states that "the 

 fruits of the plant a-yiie-hun M R W- are warm and acrid of flavor, 

 non-poisonous, cure catarrh of the bowels, remove cold feeling, and 

 make people stout and robust, that they grow in the western countries, 

 the barbarians saying that they are identical with the hazel-nut of the 

 Hu fifl $1 -?\ During the first year the tree bears hazel-nuts, in the 

 second year it bears a-yiie-hun." 



Li Sun ^ ^J, in his Hat yao pen ts'ao M M ♦ ^ (second half of the 

 eighth century), states, "According to the Nan lou ki ^f #H 12 by 

 Su Piao fe $£, 7 the Nameless Tree (wu mih mu $& %\ /fc) grows in the 

 mountainous valleys of Lin-nan (Kwan-tun) . Its fruits resemble in appear- 

 ance the hazel-nut, and are styled Nameless Fruits (wu mih tse $& & 



1 Nicolaus of Damaskus (first century B.C.), cited by Hehn, Kulturpflanzen, 

 p. 424. 



* Strategica, IV. 111, 32. 



8 These fruits are walnut, almond, pomegranate, coconut, filbert, and chestnut. 

 See West, Pahlavi Texts, Vol. I, p. 103. 



4 Marco Polo, Yule's edition, Vol. I, p. 97. 



8 The editions of the Yu yan tsa tsu write © HI, "in the gardens of the West"; 

 but the T'u Jm tsi I'en (section botany, Ch. 311) and Ci wu tnin H t'u k'ao, in repro- 

 ducing this text, offer the reading ]§ S , which seems to me preferable. 



8 Yu yan tsa tsu jj|| ft, Ch. 10, p. 3 b (ed. of Tsin tat pi Su). 



7 This work is quoted in the Ts'i min yao Su, written by Kia Se-niu under the 

 Hou Wei dynasty (a.d. 386-534). 



