DAVIS. — CERTAIN OLD CHINESE NOTES. 263 



Chaudoir is authority for the statement that in 1842 there were 

 three one kwan notes of the Ming dynasty in The Imperial Academy 

 of Science at St. Petersburg, two in the museum and one in the 

 cabinet. He gave on his plates an engraved representation of one 

 of these with a single impression of the government seal in vermilion 

 on the lower panel. The picture of the ten strings of cash was given 

 in place on the face of the note, but the figure of the panel on the 

 back of the note which ought to contain these strings is left vacant. 

 The decoration of the border of the note is floral in character there 

 being nothing in the pattern that would at first sight suggest the 

 dragon patterns. The peculiarities of these particular representa- 

 tions are the single seal on the note and the lack of the picture of the 

 ten strings on the back. The floral pattern for the decoration of the 

 border is also unusual. 



It is undoubtedly the case that the artists who have undertaken to 

 furnish complete and perfect copies of these notes have labored under 

 great disadvantages and have been obliged to make use of the imagina- 

 tion to fill in existing vacancies. The paper of which the notes are 

 made has little or no sizing, has never been calendered and is more 

 like a felt than a paper. On such a surface as this the impression 

 from the wood cut or stereotype plate of the bold Chinese characters 

 would be more distinct than the delicate ornamentation of the borders 

 and would prove to be more lasting when the note was subjected to 

 use. Such also would be the relative wearing capacity of the vermilion 

 government seals, especially when superimposed. The red ink did 

 not seem to have the same permanency of form as the black. It 

 preserved its color indefinitely, but apparently did not adhere closely 

 to the paper. On some of the badly worn specimens which have 

 been preserved there is scarce a trace of the red seals left. It may be 

 that the note which is delineated in Chaudoir originally had more 

 than one seal and it is probable that the engraver must have called 

 largely upon his imagination to restore the single seal that he gives, 

 and to depict the perfect ornamentation of the floral border. 



Chaudoir makes the following statement relative to the notes which 

 have been preserved: "It seems that these notes, namely: those of 

 1000 cash, are the only ones that have come down to us, for according 

 to the statement of persons attached to the Russian Mission at Peking, 

 they do not know of any other even in China." 



Col. Henry Yule in his edition of Polo's travels, 21 published in 



21 The Book of Marco Polo, etc. London, Note to Ch. XXIV, 1, p. 414 



(1875). 



