Manchester Memoirs, Vol. Ix. (191 6), No. \% 27 



these works, it is impossible to fix, with any degree of 

 accuracy, the period when they were first appreciated. 

 Some translators of Chinese books give a date as early as 

 the 23rd century B.C., but other authorities are inclined to 

 , take a more moderate view. 



One of these early Chinese works, the " Shan Hai 

 King," presents us with some extraordinary information 

 regarding the existence and origin of pearls. According 

 to Streeter/ 4 "the 4th book of this work, or 'The Classic 

 of Mountains and Rivers,' refers to the Li river, one of the 

 affluents of the Tung-Ting Lake, which drains the north- 

 west portion of Hunan. 'In it are many Chu-pick fish' 

 (or water animals). ' These look like lungs, but have eyes 

 and six feet, and they have pearls. They taste sour but 

 pleasant, and are not unwholesome.' . . . The same work 

 also states that wild animals were found which looked like 

 sucking-pigs, but have pearls?' The identity of the 

 curious Chu-pick fish is not clear. Streeter says their 

 existence is confirmed in Liishi's edition of the " Book of 

 Confucius," and remarks : "they are probably cuttle-fish 

 with six tentacles." Cuttle-fish, however, are essentially 

 marine animals, and, moreover, possess at least eight arms, 

 or tentacles. As mentioned previously (p. 23), concretions 

 of carbonate of lime, resembling pearls, are found in some 

 forms of freshwater crustaceans, such as the crayfish, but 

 here again, though eyes are present, these animals have 

 eight legs. It is not unlikely that the pearl-bearing 

 animals in question were freshwater mussels, the addition 

 of the eyes and feet being due to some confusion in the 

 translation of the passage. 



In the oldest Chinese dictionary, the " Bh'-ya," pearls 

 are mentioned as precious products of Shensi in the 

 western part of the Empire. As Shensi is an inland 



7i Streeter. op. cit., p. 63. 



