DAVIS. — CERTAIN OLD CHINESE NOTES. 271 



The note of 650 A.D., of which we have a pictorial representation in 

 Chuan Pu Tung Chih, was emitted at a period so far back in historical 

 period that there was no England in existence under that name. The 

 two Tang notes that we have just considered were in circulation in 

 China during the childhood of Alfred the Great, at a period in history 

 so far back that Scott did not venture to seek in those times for a hero 

 for one of his romances. The contrast between the cultivated condi- 

 tions of a society which could make use of paper money, in any form 

 or in any manner, and which could also have produced such admirable 

 specimens of workmanship and art, as are preserved for us in these 

 notes, with English life at the same date, when the government then 

 being evolved was in its infancy; when there was neither paper nor 

 block printing in use; nor could there be found anywhere save possibly 

 in some monastery any person who could read or write, does not need 

 that we should dwell upon it. The more one thinks of it, the more 

 the wonder grows. It seems incredible. 



The Western Liao three kwan note was issued in the period 1136- 

 1142. The decorations of the border are perfunctory in the extreme. 

 It was emitted through the Board of Revenue to be used for general 

 military purposes. The penalty for counterfeiting was decapitation 

 and the reward for the arrest of the counterfeiter 500 taels silver. 

 Mr. Bahr expressed some doubt as to whether the color of the note 

 might not have changed. Ramsden gives the prescribed color for 

 some of the emissions; in the case of this particular emission the 

 designated color was blue. It is a fair presumption that some effort 

 was made to have the notes of a given issue uniform in appearance. 

 The distinctive dark color of the paper of this note makes it quite 

 effective but it would not seem that it could ever have been of a blue 

 tint. The marks of the two seals on the face of the note are still 

 apparent though the separate seal characters of the inscription on the 

 seals are totally obliterated. The paper of the notes measures 9f by 

 7§ inches. The impression of the note itself, 7f by 4| inches. 



The two Sung notes are of the same color as the Liao note. Rams- 

 den says of these also that the prescribed color was blue. The period 

 of the emission was 1165-1173. The impressions of the wood cut on 

 the notes measure in the one case 8| by 5| inches, in the other 9 by 5| 

 inches. The paper has about three eighths of an inch margin all 

 around. The decoration of the border is inartistic and conventional. 

 The notes were emitted by the Board of Civil Offices. They were 

 for general circulation and were to be of equal value with copper 

 cash. The counterfeiter was to be punished by decapitation and the 

 person who arrested a counterfeiter was t F . be rewarded, in the case of 



