IRANO-SINICA RHUBARB 549 



Chinese in the age of the Han, for the name ta hwan occurs on one of 

 the wooden tablets of that period discovered in Turkistan by Sir A. 

 Stein and deciphered by CnAVANNES. 1 



Abu Mansur, as cited above, is the first Persian author who speaks 

 of Chinese rhubarb. He is followed by a number of Arabic writers. 

 It is therefore reasonable to infer that only in the course of the tenth 

 century did rhubarb develop into an article of trade from China to 

 western Asia. In 1154 Edrisi mentions rhubarb as a product of China 

 growing in the mountains of Buthink (perhaps north-eastern Tibet). 2 

 Ibn Sa'ld, who wrote in the thirteenth century, speaks of the abundance 

 of rhubarb in China. 3 Ibn al-Baitar treats at great length of rawend, 

 by which he understands Persian and Chinese rhubarb, 4 and of ribas, 

 "very common in Syria and the northern countries," identified by 

 LECLERC with Rheum ribes. 5 



MARCO POLO relates that rhubarb is found in great abundance over 

 all mountains of the province of Sukchur (Su-cou in Kan-su), and that 

 merchants go there to buy it, and carry it thence all over the 

 world. 6 In another passage he attributes rhubarb also to the mountains 

 around the city of Su-ou in Kian-su, 7 which, Yule says, is believed by 

 the most competent authorities to be quite erroneous. True it is that 

 rhubarb has never been found in that province or anywhere in middle 

 China; neither is there an allusion to this in Chinese accounts, which 

 restrict the area of the plant to Sen-si, Kan-su, Se-c'wan, and Tibet. 

 Nevertheless it would not be impossible that at Polo's time a sporadic 

 attempt was made to cultivate rhubarb in the environs of Su-ou. Friar 

 Odoric mentions rhubarb for the province Kansan (Kan-su), growing 

 in such abundance that you may load an ass with it for less than six 

 groats. 8 



Chinese records tell us very little about the export-trade in this 

 article. Cao Zu-kwa alone mentions rhubarb among the imports of 



1 Documents chinois de'couverts dans les sables du Turkestan oriental, p. 115, 

 No. 527. 



2 W. HEYD, Histoire du commerce du levant, Vol. II, p. 665. See also FLUCKIGER 

 and HANBURY, Pharmacographia, pp. 493-494. 



3 G. FERRAND, Textes relatifs a I'Extr&ne-Orient, p. 350. 



4 LECLERC, Traite" des simples, Vol. II, pp. 155-164. 



6 Ibid., p. 190. This passage was unknown to me when I identified above the 

 Persian term riwand with this species, arriving at this conclusion simply by consult- 

 ing Boissier's Flora. 



6 YULE, Marco Polo, Vol. I, p. 217. 



7 Ibid., Vol. II, p. 181. 



8 YULE, Cathay, Vol. II, p. 247. 



