Iranian Minerals — Zinc, Steel 515 



Indian hypothesis, I believe, has been accepted by others. In my opin- 

 ion, the art of zinc-smelting originated neither in India nor in China, but 

 in Persia. We noted from Ibn al-Faqlh that the zinc-mines of Kirman 

 were wrought in the tenth century; and the early Chinese references to 

 Vou-li would warrant the conclusion that this industry was prominent 

 under the Sasanians, and goes back at least to the sixth century. 



Li Si-cen 1 states that the green copper of Persia can be wrought into 

 mirrors. I have no other information on this metal. 



85. 4& or $& £e§ pin Vie, pin iron, is mentioned as a product of Sa- 

 sanian Persia, 2 also ascribed to Ki-pin (Kashmir). 3 Mediaeval authors 

 like C'ah Te mention it also for India and Hami. 4 The Ko ku yao lun 5 

 says that pin Vie is produced by the Western Barbarians (Si Fan), and 

 that its surface exhibits patterns like the winding lines of a conch or 

 like sesame-seeds and snow. Swords and other implements made from 

 this metal are polished by means of gold threads, and then these pat- 

 terns become visible; the price of this metal exceeds that of silver. This 

 clearly refers to a steel like that of Damascus, on which fine dark lines 

 are produced by means of etching acids.' 



Li Si-cen 7 states that pin Vie is produced by the Western Barbarians 

 (Si Fan), and cites the Pao is' an lun H M tfc, by Hien Yuan-su 

 $f It 2fc of the tenth century, to the effect that there are five kinds of 

 iron, one of these being pin Vie, which is so hard and sharp that it can 

 cut metal and hard stone. K'ah-hi's Dictionary states that pin is 

 wrought into sharp swords. Previous investigators have overlooked the 

 fact that this metal is first mentioned for Sasanian Persia, and have 

 merely pointed to the late mediaeval mention in the Sung Annals. 8 



The word pin has not yet been explained. Even the Pan-Turks have 

 not yet discovered it in Turkish. It is connected with Iranian *spaina, 

 Pamir languages spin, Afghan dspina or dspana, Ossetic qfsan. 9 The 



1 Pen ts'ao kan mu, Ch. 8, p. 3 b. 

 1 Cou Su, Ch. 50, p. 6; Sui Su, Ch. 83, p. 7 b. 

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



4 Bretschneider, Mediaeval Researches, Vol. I, p. 146; Kwan yU ki, Ch. 24, 

 p. 5 b. 



6 Ch. 6, p. 14 b (ed. of Si yin huan ts'un Su). 



6 A reference to pin Vie occurs also in the San kit sin hwa |Xj ^§ ^f IS. written 

 by Yah Yu ^ Iff} in 1360 (p. 19, ed. of Ci pu tsu lai ts'un Su). 



7 Pen ts'ao kan mu, Ch. 8, p. 1 1 b. 



8 Bretschneider, On the Knowledge possessed by the Chinese of the Arabs, 

 p. 12, and China Review, Vol. V, p. 21; W. F. Mayers, China Review, Vol. IV, 

 P- 175. 



• Hubschmann, Persische Studien, p. 10. 



