Sesame and Flax 289 



from Ta-yuan (that is, a Hu country), hu ma also, being a Hu plant, 

 must likewise have emanated from that quarter. Such vagaries 

 cannot be accepted as history. All that can be inferred from the passage 

 in question is that T'ao Huh-kin may have been familiar with hu ma. 

 Li Si-cen, quoting the Mon k% pi Van ^ H ¥ 1^ by Sen Kwa tt tS 1 

 of the eleventh century, says, "In times of old there was in China only 

 'great hemp' ta ma ^Ciftt (Cannabis sativa) growing in abundance. 

 The envoy of the Han, Can K'ien, was the first to obtain the seeds of 

 oil-hemp Y& M 2 from Ta-yuan; hence the name hu ma in distinction 

 from the Chinese species ta ma." The Can -K'ien tradition is further 

 voiced in the T'un U of Cen Tsiao (1108-62) of the Sung. 3 The T'ai 

 p'in yii /aw, 4 published in a.d. 983, quotes a Pen ts'ao kin of unknown 

 date as saying that Can K'ien obtained from abroad hu ma and hu tou. b 

 This legend, accordingly, appears to have arisen under the Sung (a.d. 

 960-1278); that is, over a millennium after Can K'ien's lifetime. And 

 then there are thinking scholars who would make us accept such stuff 

 as the real history of the Han dynasty! 



In the T'ang period this legend was wholly unknown: the T'ah Pen 

 ts'ao does not allude to any introduction of hu ma, nor does this work 

 speak of Can K'ien in this connection. 



A serious book like the T'u kin pen ts'ao of Su Sun, which for the 

 first time has also introduced the name yu ma ("oil hemp"), says only 

 that the plant originally grew in the territory of the Hu, that in appear- 

 ance it is like hemp, and that hence it receives the name hu ma. 



Unfortunately it is only too true that the Chinese confound Sesamum 

 indicum (family Pedaliaceae) and Linum usitatissimum (family Linaceae) 

 in the single term hu ma ("Iranian hemp"); the only apparent reason 

 for this is the fact that the seeds of both plants yield an oil which is put 

 to the same medicinal use. The two are totally different plants, nor 

 do they have any relation to hemp. Philologically, the case is somewhat 

 analogous to that of hu tou (p. 305). It is most probable that the two 

 are but naturalized in China and introduced from Iranian regions, for 

 both plants are typically ancient West-Asiatic cultivations. The alleged 

 wild sesame of China 6 is doubtless an escape from cultivation. 



1 This is the author wrongly called "Ch'en Ts'ung-chung " by Bretschneider 

 (Bot. Sin., pt. II, p. 377). Ts'un-aun # 4* is his hao. 

 1 A synonyme of hu ma. 

 8 Ch. 75, p. 33. 



4 Ch. 841, p. 6 b. 



5 See below, p. 305. 



6 Forbes and Hemsley, Journal Linnean Soc, Vol. XXVI, p. 236. 



