Distribution of Pearls and Peart-shell. 99 
The rising of the Nan-Yueh kingdom attracted the 
foreign trade to the region of the present Canton, and on 
the conquest by the Nan-Yueh emperor of the country. 
westward, in 179 B.c., the Hormuzian or Hwang-tchi 
(yellow-fingered) sea-traders,” as they were called, estab- 
lished themselves in the Island of Hainan, where they 
discovered pearls on the west coast and created the pearl 
fisheries of Tchu-yai, ze. the coast of pearls (present 
Yai tchou). They traded with the Nan-Yueh through a 
station called Hop-pu, near the present Pakhoi, their 
goods reaching the principal market of Heng shan, east of 
Nan-ning, in S.W. Kwangsi, on the Yt Kiang leading by 
ry the Pearl river to Canton. 
In 110 B.c., these Hormuzian sea-traders: once more 
removed their chief landing place, establishing it further 
south, on the west of Cape Cambodia, on the east side of 
the Gulf of Siam, in Tcham, the Zabai of Ptolemy. From 
here they traded Persian Gulf pearls to Kattigara and 
f Iloppu (near the present Pakhoi). 
In the early Christian era, Cingalese traders seem to 
‘\ ° 2p | - 
have taken over most of the trade with China. Among 
, the articles of commerce mentioned in the Annals of the 
; Eastern Han dynasty, in 69 A.D., are bright pearls and 
| oyster-pearls from Ceylon." 
: It is of some interest to note here that pearls are 
: obtained at the present day in the Gulf of Siam from a 
; small oyster with a thin shell. Kunz and Stevenson (of. 
cit., p. 149) inform us that “the Siamese do not especially 
Z value pearls, attributing superstitious. sentiments or ill 
y 
; S° Names derived from Hormuzia, near the Persian Gulf, and from the 
' use of henna to dye their fingers. 
g 
‘ S1 Lacouperie, of. cz¢., p. 252, and p. 255 note 1112; Aware-tchu, i.e. 
bright pearls, different in name from the Afzg-gwet pearls of the Persian 
Gulf; pang-/chi, oyster-pearls (? pearl-oyster shells). 
