APPENDIX. 



In the preceding pages different products of foreign countries have been men- 

 tioned without further comment , though the Chinese terms by which they are designated 

 in tbe original text have been , and some of them still remain , subject to much un- 

 certaiuty. It may therefore not be superfluous to give the groimds on which our 

 translations of these names have been based. 



Cotton. Before tliis plant was introduced into China, it was called "^ Jij 



Ke-pa or "^ J=| Ku-pa, a native name which we find back in the Malay kapas pr 



kape/i. In the History of the Liang dynasty , Book 54, pag. 1, we find the following 

 notice : //ku-pa is the name of a tree , of which the flowers , when ripe , are like goose- 

 down ; the natives take out the fibres and spin them , after which they use them for 

 weaving a kind of cloth as white as linen. They also dye the thread in different 

 colours and weave cloth with patterns. ,, 



Sarongs , the native name of a piece of cotton or silk , which is fastened round 

 the middle and hangs down to the feet. The History of the Liang dynasty , Book 

 54, pag. 3 says : //Men and women (in Siam) all use a broad and long piece of cotton, 



which they wrap round their body below the loins and call kan-man tP ^w 



or tu-man ^K V© , We are unable to say from what language these names have 



been taken. 



Broadcloth , now called lo-lo-ni and written X& $Ê öjj^ or \tè£ ^ p^È was 



formerly rendered by the characters *f£ B|j| &|| , Yide Tung Hsi Yang K'au , Book 



IY, p. 10, r. 



So-pu Jj=| J]E also written "ftfe J]B seems to have been a kind of dress or 



quilt made of feathers. Yide Tung Hsi Yang K'au, Book IY, p. 10, r. 



Lignum aloes is the wood of the Aquilaria agallocha and is chiefly known to 



the Chinese as p^ ^jt sinking incense. The Pên-ts'au Kang-mu describes it as 



folio ws: ,,V^ ^£ sinking incense, |^ jji£ ^ id., also called ^ ^ lioney incense. 



It comes from the heart and the knots of a tree and sinks in water, from which 

 peculiarity the name sinking mcense is derived. That which half sinks and half floats 



