( 38 ) 
Kiu-chsn as its native country. (Kiu-chen 
was at the time of the Han a district in the 
modern Annatn. Cf. Li-tai-ti-li-chi IY, I.) 
Another ancient work (Yi-wu-clii,) says that 
the tree grows in Yang-ko, (Yang- 
ko comprised in ancient times parts of the 
modern provinces of Ss'i-chuan, Hu-kuang, 
Kui-chou, Kuang-si : Cf. Biot. 1. c).— The 
Chung-nan-chi 14th century,) quoted in the 
Kuang-kiin-fang-pu, says: in the three districts 
( ) of il? jY* Liang-shui, ^ ^ 
Sing-ku and jLEj Si-ping there grows 
little corn. But the Kuang-lang which yields 
flour is found there. These three districts 
comprised in ancient times the Western part 
of the modern Kui-chou province and the 
North Eastern part of Yiiiinan. (Cf. Li-tai- 
ti-li-chi IX 4, XII 10, XIII, 2). Su-sung 
(an author of the 11th century) states, that 
the Kuang-lang grows in Ling-nan (v. s.) and 
in all districts of Kuang-tung and Kuang-si, 
where it is much cultivated in gardens. Li- 
shi-chen indicates Sstichuan, Kuang-tung, 
Kuang-si, Annam as the native countries of 
the Kuang-lang. 
According to the great geography of the 
Empire and the special descriptions of the 
single provinces I find the Kuang-lang men- 
tioned as a produet of the following provinces 
and districts. 
Yunnan. Kai-hua-fu — Kuang-si. Nan- 
ning-fu, W u-chou-fu, Ssu-cheng-fu, Chen- 
nang-fu. — Kuang-tung. According to the 
Kuang-tung-chi there is a hill t>0 li to the 
North of Lien-chou, where a large number 
of Kuang-lang grow. — Ssu-chuan. Sii-ehou- 
fu. The Kuang-lang here is found on the 
Mis 5 ri ifi SM-men-sTian. 
I am not acquainted myself with the palm, 
which the Chinese call Kuang-lang. But Mr. 
Sampson in his interesting article on palms 
gives some accounts of it, based upon personal 
inspection, which I may be allowed to quote 
here. Mr. Sampson identifies the Kuang-lang 
with a species of Caryota , whichhe saw grow- 
ing abundantly in Shui-tung on the West 
coast, (Mr. S. does not say what West coast 
he means), and which is planted at Canton in 
monastic and temple grounds for ornament. 
Along the bank of the West River it is abun- 
dant, and may frequently be seen rearing its 
graceful head above the other trees of natural 
woods; on the border of Kuang-si is a mag- 
nificent grove formed entirely of these trees. 
In Canton the Caryota is almost always called 
Tsung. ( But as has been pointed out in 
treating of the Fan palm this is in popular 
language a generic term for Palms, which 
yield horse-hair like fibres ). The name 
Kuang-lang is (now at Canton) seldom given 
to the Caryota tree, but the fruits of it are 
sold in druggist’s shops under the name of 
Kuang-lang -tsu (Tsu-seed). The identity of 
the Caryota with the Kuang-lang of Chinese 
authors is not quite free from doubt, for the 
plates of this tree given in the Pen-ts‘ao and 
in the Ch. W. (both represent a palm with fan 
shaped leaves ) do not accord with the Caryo- 
ta, and the statements of authors, that Sago 
is made from the pith of the tree, are not 
verified, as far as Mr. S. can ascertain, by the 
practice of the Southern Chinese of the present 
day. But it must be remembered, that the 
tree intended to be represented grew only in 
Southern China, in Cochin China and perhaps 
other adjacent countries, the whole of which 
territory was, at the time, when the original 
accounts of the tree were written, loosely 
classed as the Barbaric states of the Southern 
ocean; it is highly probable therefore, that 
the Northern Chinese authors never saw the 
tree, and only figured it in accordance with 
imperfect descriptions, filling up the gaps by 
drafts on their own imagination. — As regards 
the flour obtained from the pith of the tree, 
according to the Chinese, there is nothing at 
all improbable in the statement, that a Caryo- 
ta can yield a farinaceous product, for another 
representative of this genus (Caryota urens) 
in India is known as a Sago yielding Palm. 
In addition to this the Caryota is the only 
Palm in Southern China according to Mr. 
Sampson, to which the Kuang lang can be 
referred. 
Mr. Sampson states: The most important 
product of the Kuang lang at the present day 
is the fibrous sheaths or bases of leafstalks; 
this is the Tsung fibre of native commerce of 
Canton. It is principally imported from 
Kuang-si. Mr. S. describes the raw material as 
follows: they are in the form of an isosceles 
triangle, about eighteen inches in length and 
ten inches wide at the base; they are composed 
of fibres, longer than those of the Cocoanut 
tree, crossing each other in two directions with 
considerable regularity; the apex, which rep- 
resents the lower end of the leafstalk, becomes 
somewhat ragged, and the base, which rep- 
resents the downward continuation of the 
leaf stalk forming a portion of the trunk, is 
covered with a fine thin cuticle, which however 
soon wears off. The uses to which these fibres 
are put are mainfiold; the entire sheaths are 
employed in covering boxes, securely fastened 
down by small ropes made of the same mate- 
rial; some of the ropes used in ships, and 
smaller ropes for all purposes, are twisted from 
the fibres, and are said to be remarkable for 
their power of resisting the injurious effects 
of long immersion in the water. Brooms are 
also made from them. 
