Manchester Memoirs, Vol. Ix. (1916), No. 1£. 39 



Cooke, in 1801 {pp. cit., vol. i., p. 425), also speaks of the 

 Manchurian pearls as an article of commerce, together 

 with a plant called ginseng. 10 " 



In Kamtchatka, pearl fisheries are recorded from the 

 south end of the peninsula (Lopatka), and from Nijni 

 Kamtchatsk, on the east coast : these are possibly fresh- 

 water fisheries. Pearls have also been found at the 

 Kurile Islands, and at Lebashja, on the south coast of the 

 Sea of Okhotsk, but these were probably from sea shells, 

 Mytilus edulis or Machaera costata, as no Unios are 

 recorded from these places. 103 



An interesting reference to very early intercourse 

 between north-eastern Asia and China is quoted by 

 Lacouperie in his work already cited (p. 353, note 195). 

 It appears that the " Shih y hi" (kiv. 5) mentions a 

 mission of a Nele country in 193 B.C., from beyond Fusang 

 (Saghalin). Dr. G. Schlegel identifies this with the 

 country of the Tchuktchis, in which Lacouperie concurs. 

 No information is given as to the object of the mission, 

 but it seems probable that it was for the purposes of 

 trade. If so, it is not unlikely that the envoys would 

 learn of the appreciation of the pearl by the Chinese — 

 who were well acquainted with the gem by this date — 

 and benefiting by the knowledge, they might have in- 

 stituted pearl fisheries on their own account. The present 



102 Ginseng {Panax sckinseng) is a native of Tartary and Northern 

 China, growing at one time abundantly in Manchuria, but its great use in 

 China has caused it to become scarce. It is a low herbaceous plant with 

 forked roots, which the Chinese imagine resembles the human form, and is 

 supposed to ward off all diseases. It is slightly bitter and aromatic, but is 

 not of much repute with European doctors. Panax quinquefolza, a native 

 of North America, is sometimes substituted for it (Smith, " Domestic 

 Botany," 1871, p. 362). Ginseng is used by the Indians of Canada, Virginia, 

 South Carolina, etc., along with Snake root. (Cooke, op. cit., ii., pp. 32, 

 69 and 79). 



103 y on Hessling, op. cit., p. 204. 



