568 Sino-Iranica _ 



The term pi-si has been the subject of brief discussions on the part 

 of Pelliot 1 and myself. 2 The Ko ku yao lun, as far as is known at 

 present, appears to be the earliest work in which the expression occurs. 

 Hitherto it had only been known as a modern colloquialism, and Pelliot 

 urged tracing it in the texts. I am now in a position to comply with 

 this demand. T'an Ts'ui W. 4F, in his Tien hai yii hen ci, 3 published in 

 1799, gives an excellent account of Yun-nan Province, its mineral re- 

 sources, fauna, flora, and aboriginal population, and states that pi-kia-si 

 Ml ft 3 or pi-hia-pi H it *ifc or pi-si H $u are all of the class of precious 

 stones which are produced in the Mon-mi t'u-se S $? i. ^ of Yun- 

 nan. 4 It is obvious that these words are merely transcriptions of a 

 non-Chinese term; and, if we were positive that it took its starting- 

 point from Yun-nan, it would not be unreasonable to infer that it hails 

 from one of the native T'ai or Shan languages. T'an Ts'ui adds that 

 the best pi-si are deep red in color; that those in which purple, yellow, 

 and green are combined, and the white ones, take the second place; 

 while those half white and half black are of the third grade. We are 

 accordingly confronted with a certain class of precious stones which 

 remain to be determined mineralogically. 



32. The Persian name for China is Cm, Cmistan, or Cinastan. 

 In Middle Persian we meet Saini in the Farvardin Yast and Sini in the 

 Bundahisn, 5 besides Cen and Cenastan. 6 The form with initial palatal 

 is confirmed, on the one hand, by Armenian Cen-k', Cenastan, Cen- 

 bakur ("emperor of China"), Zenazneay ("originating from China"), 

 lenik ("Chinese"), and, on the other hand, by Sogdian Cynstn (Cina- 



to the Company that employes them. When the Horn was intire it was sent to 

 Constantinople to be sold, where two thousand pounds sterling was ofler'd for it: 

 But the English Company, hoping to get a greater rate, sold it not at Constantinople, 

 but sent it into Muscovy, where much about the same price was bidden for it, which, 

 being refus'd, it was carry'd back into Turkey, and fell of its value, a much less sum 

 being now proffer'd than before. Hereupon the Company conceiv'd that it would 

 sell more easily in pieces then intire, because few could be found who would purchase 

 it at so great a rate. Accordingly they broke it, and it was sold by pieces in sundry 

 places; yet, for all this, the whole proceed amounted onely to about twelve hundred 

 pounds sterling. And of these pieces they gave one to the Captain who found it, 

 and this was it which he shew'd me." 



1 T'oung Pao, 1913, p. 365. 



2 Ibid., 1916, p. 375. 



3 Ch. I, p. 6 (ed. of Wen yin lou yii ti ts'un $u). Title and treatment of the 

 subject are in imitation of the Kwei hai yii hen ci of Fan C'eh-ta of the twelfth century . 



4 T'u-se are districts under the jurisdiction of a native chieftain, who himself 

 is more or less subject to the authority of the Chinese. 



6 Cf. J. J. Modi, References to China in the Ancient Books of the Parsees, 

 reprinted in his Asiatic Papers, pp. 241 et seq. 

 6 Hubschmann, Armen. Gram., p. 49. 



