460 Sino-Iranica 



from a tree growing on the Island of Cabros in the Red Sea (near Kadez, 

 three days' journey from Suez), the product being obtained by boiling 

 the bark in salt water until it obtains the consistency of glue. 1 



56—57. The earliest notice of myrrh is contained in the Nan lou ki 

 ~W] iHI IS of Su Piao %■ i% (written before the fifth century a.d., but 

 only preserved in extracts of later works), if we may depend on the 

 Hai yao pen ts'ao, in which this extract is contained. 2 Sii Piao is made 

 to say there that "the myrrh grows in the country Po-se, and is the 

 pine-tree resin of that locality. In appearance it is like If ^? Sen hian 

 ('divine incense') and red-black in color. As to its taste, it is bitter and 

 warm." Li Si-cen annotates that he is ignorant of what the product 

 len hian is. In the Pei §i, myrrh is ascribed to the country Ts'ao 

 (Jaguda) north of the Ts'ufi-lih (identical with the Ki-pin of the Han), 

 while this product is omitted in the corresponding text of the Sui f*. 

 Myrrh, further, is ascribed to Ki-pin. 3 The Cen lei pen ts'ao gives a 

 crude illustration of the tree under the title mu yao of Kwan-cou (Kwah- 

 tuh) , saying that the plant grows in Po-se and resembles benjoin {nan- 

 si hian, p. 464), being traded in pieces of indefinite size and of black 

 color. 



In regard to the subject, Li Si-cen 4 cites solely sources of the Sung 

 period. He quotes K'ou Tsuh-si, author of the Pen ts'ao yen i (a.d. i i 16), 

 to the effect that myrrh grows in Po-se, and comes in pieces of in- 

 definite size, black in color, resembling benjoin. In the text of this work, 

 as edited by Lu Sin-yuan, 5 this passage is not contained, but merely 

 the medicinal properties of the drug are set forth. 6 Su Sufi observes 

 that "myrrh now occurs in the countries of the Southern Sea (Nan-hai) 

 and in Kwan-Cou. Root and trunk of the tree are like those of Canarium 

 (kan-lan) . The leaves are green and dense. Only in the course of years 

 does the tree yield a resin, which flows d6wn into the soil, and hardens into 

 larger or smaller pieces resembling benjoin. They may be gathered at 

 any time." 



A strange confusion occurs in the Yu yan tsa tsu, 7 where the myrtle 

 (Myrtus communis) is described under its Aramaic name asa (Arabic 



1 Schlimmer, Terminologie, p. 495. 



2 Cen lei pen ts'ao, Ch. 13, p. 39; Pen ts'ao kan mu, Ch. 34, p. 17. 

 8 T'ai p'in hwan yu ki, Ch. 182, p. 12 b. 



4 Pen ts'ao kan mu, I. c. 

 6 Ch. 14, p. 4 b. 



6 In all probability, there is an editorial error in the edition of the Pen ts'ao 

 quoted; in other editions the same text is ascribed to Ma Ci, one of the collaborators 

 in the K'ai pao pen ts'ao. 



7 Ch. 18, p. 12. 



