The Malayan Po-Se — Historical Notes 471 



gards the south, it is produced in Po-se and other countries. That of 

 the west is yellow and white in color, that of the south is purple or 

 red." It follows from this text that the southern Po-se produced a kind 

 of incense of their own; and it may very well be, that, as stated in the 

 Kwah H, a species of pine was the source of this product. 



The Kwah li contains another interesting reference to Po-se. It 

 states that the tree W ko, *ka (Quercus cuspidata), grows in the moun- 

 tains and valleys of Kwan-tuh and Kwan-si, and that Po-se people use 

 its timber for building boats. 1 These again are Malayan Po-se. The 

 Kwah H was possibly written under the Tsin dynasty (a.d. 265-420) , 2 

 and the Iranian Po-se was then unknown to China. Its name first 

 reached the Chinese in a.d. 461, when an embassy from Persia arrived 

 at the Court of the Wei. 3 It should be borne in mind also that Persia's 

 communications with China always took place overland by way of 

 Central Asia; while the Malayan Po-se had a double route for reaching 

 China, either by land to Yun-nan or by sea to Canton. It would not 

 be impossible that the word *ka for this species of oak, and also its 

 synonyme /fv tZ mu-nu, *muk-nu, are of Malayan-Po-se origin. 



The Kiu yiiWhi^ 1&, published by Wan Ts'un 3: # in a.d. 1080, 

 mentions that the inhabitants of Po-se wear a sort of cotton kerchief, 

 and make their sarong (tu-man HP wk) of yellow silk. 4 



In a.d. 1 103, three countries, Burma, Po-se, and K'un-lun, presented 

 white elephants and perfumes to the King of Ta-li in Yun-nan. Again, 

 this is not Persia, as translated by C. Sainson. 5 Persia never had any 

 relations with Yun-nan, and how the transportation of elephants from 

 Persia to Yun-nan could have been accomplished is difficult to realize. 

 We note that the commercial relations of these Po-se with Yun-nan, 

 firmly established toward the end of the ninth century under the T'ang, 

 were continued in the twelfth century under the Sung. 



In the History of the Sung Dynasty occurs an incidental mention of 

 Po-se. 6 In a.d. 992 an embassy arrived in China from Java, and it is 

 said that the envoys were dressed in a way similar to those of Po-se, who 



1 This passage is transmitted by Li Sun of the eighth century in his Hai yao 

 pen ts'ao (Pen ts'ao kan tnu, Ch. 35 b, p. 14), who, as will be seen, mentions several 

 plants and products of the Malayan Po-se. 



2 Pelliot, Bull, de VEcole francaise, Vol. IV, p. 412. 



3 Cf. Dev£ria in Centenaire de l'Ecole des Langues Orientales, p. 306. 



4 E. H. Parker, who made this text known {China Review, Vol. XIX, 1890, 

 191), remarked, "It seems probable that not Persia, but one of the Borneo or 



Malacca states, such as P'o-li or P'o-lo, is meant." 



5 Histoire du Nan-tchao, p. 101 (translation of the Nan Sao ye Si, written by 

 5fan Sen in 1550). 



• Sun Si, Ch. 489. 



