262 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY. 



mens are to be found in the hands of these collectors. This knowledge 

 does not advance us much in our pursuit of information which can be 

 made use of by an investigator who is not in the Orient and who does 

 not speak or read Chinese. We can, however, turn to the pages of 

 those who have written on the subject and especially to those works 

 which have been illustrated by engravings or photographic pictures 

 of notes. In some instances we shall find that the author has furnished 

 a translation of the inscriptions or legends on the notes depicted in 

 his works. This examination may not reveal much that is of value, 

 but it must be made if we would cover the ground thoroughly. 



The oldest representation of a Chinese note, excluding of course 

 from this statement all illustrated Chinese numismatical works, is to 

 be found in Du Halde. It is a line engraving, giving the outline of 

 the panelling of the face and back of a one kwan Ming note of the 

 Hung Wu period, without the pictorial representation of the ten strings 

 and without the ornamental decorations of the border. The inscrip- 

 tions are however reproduced whether horizontal or vertical, whether 

 in ordinary or square seal characters, precisely as in the original. 

 The notes of this emission apparently had three government seals 

 impressed on them, two on the face and one on the back. The engrav- 

 ing, in du Halde, gives no indication that there was any seal either on 

 the face or on the back of the notes, but in Du Halde's text it will be 

 remembered that he spoke of payment being made to mandarins and 

 to soldiers by giving them a piece of paper sealed with the Imperial 

 seal. He therefore furnishes a detached picture of the government 

 seal without stating that it was stamped upon the note. The back 

 of the note is also represented showing the panelling, but as in the 

 picture of the face of the same, the panel, which should contain the 

 ten strings of cash, is vacant. A translation of the inscriptions is 

 furnished showing phonetically in our alphabet what the Chinese words 

 are and also giving the French equivalents. What Du Halde says 

 about the rarity of these notes and about their being treasured and 

 hung up in the houses in China has already been stated. It depends 

 somewhat upon the date of the relations which treated of this note, 

 what the value of this observation amounts to. The Manchus suc- 

 ceeded the Mings about the middle of the seventeenth century. If 

 at that date these notes were thus treasured, it would tend to confirm 

 those who assert that the abandonment of paper money took place 

 under the Ming dynasty and not at the accession of the Manchus. 

 Any evidence that tends to determine the exact time when paper 

 money was abandoned and specie resumed is welcome 



