io8 Shells as evidence ofi/ie Migrations. 



Cooke, in i8oi {op. cit., vol. i., p. 435), also speaks 

 of the Manchiirian pearls as an article of commerce, 

 together with a plant called ginseng.^"'' 



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 ednlis or Machaera costata, as no L'nios are 

 recorded from these places.'"' 



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 )■ hi " (kiv. 5) mentions a 

 mission of a Nele country in 193 n.C, from be}'ond Fusaiig 

 (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 b\' the Chinese — 

 who were well acquainted with the gem b\' this date — 

 and benefiting by the knowledge, they might have in- 

 stituted pearl fisheries on their own account. The present 



^^- Ginseng {Paita.x sckin^cir.;) is a native of T.irtar\' and Noitliern 

 China, growing at one time abundantl)- in Manchuria, but its great use in 

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

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

 supposed to ward off all diseases. It is slightly liitter and aromatic, Ijut is 

 not of much repute with Kuropean doctors. Panax ijninijinfo/ia, a native 

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

 Botany," 1S71, p. 362). Ginseng is used by the Indians of Canada, Virginia, 

 South Carolina, etc., along with Snake root. {Cooke, op. ci/., ii., pp. 32, 

 69 and 79). 



1"= Von Hessling, op. a/., p. 204. 



