221 SlNO-lRANICA 



age. 1 When the Sogdian K'an Yen-tien in the first part of the seventh 

 century A.D. established a Sogdian colony south of the Lob Nor, he 

 founded four new cities, one of which was called " Grape City" (P'u- 

 t'ao 6'en) ; for the vine was planted in the midst of the town. 1 



The Iranian Ta Yue-Ci or Indo-Scythians must also have been in 

 possession of the vine, as we are informed by a curious text in the 

 Kin lou tse & 81 -dF, 3 written by the Emperor Yuan 7G (A.D. 552-555) 

 of the Liang dynasty. "The people in the country of the Great Yue-c'i 

 are clever in making wine from grapes, flowers, and leaves. Sometimes 

 they also use roots and vegetable juice, which they cause to ferment. 4 

 These flowers resemble those of the clove-tree (tin-hian T ?, Caryo- 

 phyllus aromaticus), but are green or bright-blue. At the time of 

 spring and summer, the stamens of the flowers are carried away and 

 scattered around by the wind like the feathers of the bird Iwan St. 

 In the eighth month, when the storm blows over the leaves, they are 

 so much damaged and torn that they resemble silk rags: hence people 

 speak of a grape-storm (p'u-t*aofun) y or also call it 'leaves-tearing storm* 

 (luy*/**ikM&)," 



Finally we know also that the Aryan people of Ku5a, renowned 

 for their musical ability, songs, and dances, were admirers of grape- 

 wine, some families even storing in their houses up to a thousand hu 

 $ of the beverage. This item appears to have been contained in the 

 report of General Lu Kwan B 3fc, who set out for the conquest of Kua 

 in A.D. 384. 8 



In the same manner as the Chinese discovered alfalfa in Ki-pin 

 (Kashmir), they encountered there also the vine. 8 Further, they found 

 it in the countries Tsiu-mo IL ^ and Nan-tou H 5fa. 



1 T'ai p'in hwan yu ki, Ch. 186, p. 7 b; also in Yen-k'i (Karasar): Cou Su, 

 Ch. 50, p. 4 b. 



1 PELLIOT, Journal asiatique, 1916, 1, p. 122. 8 Ch. 5, p. 23. 



4 Strabo (XI. xm, 1 1) states that the inhabitants of the mountainous region 

 of northern Media made a wine from some kind of roots. 



1 Other sources fix the date in the year 382 (see SYLVAIN Lvi, Le "Tokharien 

 B," langue de Koutcha, Journal asiatique, 1913, II, p. 333). The above fact is 

 derived from the Hou Han lu ^ $, fift, quoted in the T'ai p'in yu Ian (Ch. 972, p. 3); 

 see also T'an Su, Ch. 221 A, p. 8. We owe to S. Le"vi the proof that the people of 

 Kuc"a belong to the Indo-European family, and that their language is identical with 

 what was hitherto known from the manuscripts discovered in Turkistan as 

 Tokharian B. 



8 Ts'ien Han Su, Ch. 96 A, p. 5. Kashmir was still famed for itfi grapes in the 

 days of the Emperor Akbar (H. BLOCHMANN, Ain I Akbari, Vol. I, p. 65), but at 

 present viticulture is on the decline there (WATT, Commerical Products of India, 



pp. 1 1 12, III4). 



T Regarding this name, see CHAVANNES, Les Pays d'occident d'apres le Wei 

 lio (T'oung Pao, 1905, p. 536). 



