268 Sino-Iranica 



tion is quite to the point; the shell of the walnut gradually became more 

 refined under the influence of cultivation. 



The earliest texts alluding to the wild walnut are not older than 

 the T'ang period. The Pet hu lu At P £^, written by Twan Kun-lu 

 H & $& about a.d. 875, 1 contains the following text concerning a wild 

 walnut growing in the mountains of southern China: — 



"The wild walnut has a thick shell and a flat bottom i£ Z P. In 

 appearance it resembles the areca-nut. As to size, it is as large as a 

 bundle of betel-leaves. 2 As to taste, it comes near the walnuts of 

 Yin-p'ih 3 and Lo-yu, but is different from these, inasmuch as it has a 

 fragrance like apricot extract. This fragrance, however, does not last 

 long, but will soon vanish. The Kwan ci says that the walnuts of Yin- 

 p'in have brittle shells, and that, when quickly pinched, the back of 

 the kernel will break. Liu Si-luh W i& P^, in his Sie lo yu yuan M ^ 

 M. ^E, remarks, with reference to the term hu t'ao, that the Hu take to 

 flight like rams, 4 and that walnuts therefore are prophets of auspicious 

 omens. Ceh K'ien lift i^ 5 says that the wild walnut has no glumelle; 

 it can be made into a seal by grinding off the nut for this purpose. 

 Judging from these data, it may be stated that this is not the walnut 

 occurring in the mountains of the south." 6 



The Lin piao lui^k &$&=&, by Liu Sun M 'Nd of the T'ang period, 7 

 who lived under the reign of the Emperor Cao Tsuh (a.d. 889-904), 

 contains the following information on a wild walnut : — 



"The slanting or glandular walnut {pHen ho Vao M W. $li) is pro- 

 duced in the country Can-pi t^ =P. 8 Its kernel cannot be eaten. The 



1 Cf. Pelliot, Bull, de VEcolefrancaise, Vol. IX, p. 223. 



2 Fu-liu, usually written ^ •©, is first mentioned in the Wu lu ti li ci ^ ^ j$J 

 ?S iS by Can Pu 3H ^] of the third or beginning of the fourth century (see Ts'i 

 min yao Su, Ch. 10, p. 32). It refers to Piper betle (Bretschneider, Chinese Recorder, 

 Vol. Ill, 1 87 1, p. 264; C. Imbault-Huart, Le b£tel, T'oung Pao, Vol. V, 1894, 

 p. 313). The Chinese name is a transcription corresponding to Old Annamese 

 bldu; M£sdn, Uy-16, and Hung plu; Khmer tn-luiv, Stien m-lu, Bahnar bo-lou, Kha 

 b-lu ("betel"). 



3 See above, p. 264. 



4 A jocular interpretation by punning Vao $|j upon t'ao ^fe (both in the same 

 tone). 



5 Author of the lost Hu pen ts'ao $J ^ ^ (Bretschneider, Bot. Sin., pt. 1, 

 p. 45). He appears to have been the first who drew attention to the wild walnut. 

 His work is repeatedly quoted in the Pet hu lu. 



6 Pel hu lu, Ch. 3, p. 4 b (ed. of Lu Sin-yuan). 



7 Ch. B, p. 5 (ed. of Wu yin tien). 



8 The two characters are wrongly inverted in the text of the work. In the text 

 of the Pei hu lu that follows, the name of this country is given in the form Can-pei 

 t^ ^.. From the mention of the Malayan Po-se in the same text, it follows that 



