(46) 
lisable du jus sucre. Ce fut dans l’intervalle 
de temps compris entre les annees 766 et 
780, sous la dyftastie des Thang, qu’un reli- 
gieux indien, nomme Tseou, voyagant dans 
la partie occidentale de la province de Sse- 
tchuen, enseigna la fabrication du sucre de 
Canne aux habitants du Celeste Empire.” 
Let us refer to the Chinese records about 
the Sugar-cane, I have not been able to 
find any allusion to the Sugar-cane in the 
most ancient Chinese works (five Classics). It 
seems to be mentioned first by the writers 
of the second century B. C. The first de- 
scription of it I find in the bTan-fang-ts‘ao- 
rnu-ch‘uang (4th century) in the following- 
terms. 
The Che- die is called also “fjb 
Ant e-s 
Kan-che * (kan, sweet^or Kan- 
che (kan, a kind of Bamboo.) It grows in 
Kiao-clti [Cochin China (v. s.)] It is several 
inches 'in circumference, several Chang high 
(1 ehang=10 feet) and resembles the Bam- 
boo. The stem, if broken into pieces, is 
edible and very sweet. The juice expressed 
from it, is dried in the sun. After several 
days it changes into Sugar ( ) which 
melts in the mouth. This sugar is called 
-|pi' Shi-mi (stone honey) by the natives. 
Ssu-ma-siang-ju (a poet of the second cen- 
tury B. C.) states in his poem Lo-ko , that 
the sugar -juice possesses the property of re- 
moving the bad effects of intoxication. In 
the year 286 A. D. the realm of Fu-nan (in 
India beyond, the Ganges, v. s. ) sent sugar- 
cane as tribute. The reader will remark, 
that here the sugar-cane is not mentioned 
as indigenous in China. 
The Pen-ts'-ao gives ( XXXIII. 1 8 ) a, good 
description of the Sugar-cane and its varie- 
ties, of the manufacture of Sugar &c., and 
quotes several authors of the Liang, Thing 
and Sung -dynasties, who describe the plant. 
In the Kuang -kiln-fang -p l u (Chap. 66, p. 17) 
it is stated, that the Emperor T’-ai- 
tsung 627-650 sent a man to Mo-ko-to (Mag- 
adha an ancient kingdom in India, the 
modern Bahar) to learn there the method 
of manufacturing sugar. 
The ancient Chinese annals mention often 
among the productions of India and Persia 
* These names must not be confounded 
with the _ |:j J Kan-clm (shu), or sweet 
Potato (v. s.), written with the- same char- 
acters. The second character however is dif- 
ferently pronounced ( Shu according to Kang- i 
hi’s Dictionary, CIwo according to Morrison) 
if it refers to the sweet Potato. j 
the Shi-mi j (stone honey.) This is white 
crystallized sugar as the Pen-ts‘ao explains, 
called also |A| Po-sha- fang (white 
sand sugar.) It is hard like a stone and 
white like snow. 
In all probability the Sugar-cane was first 
cultivated in India, from which locality it 
spread. There can be found no proof from 
Chinese sources, that the Sugar-cane passed 
from China to India, as some authors assert, 
(Cf. Lindley, Treasury of Botany p. 1003.) 
The Sugar-cane seems to have been cultivat- 
ed in India for the making of sugar much ear- 
Her, than in China. The Sanscrit name of 
Sugar “Sarkara” is rendered by Pliny 
(about our era) by the word “ Saccharum,” 
but his statements about sugar are not at all 
correct, (1. XII. c. 8.) “Saccharum et Arabia 
fert, sed laudatius India. Est autem mel in <oy 
undinibus colleetum, gummis modo candidum 
et fragile amplissimae Xucis Avellanae mag- 
nitudine, ad Medicinae tantum usum.” The 
names for Sugar in ail European languages 
are derived from the Sanscrit word Sarkara. 
The Persian name of Sugar is “kand.” This 
seems to be derived from the Sanscrit 
“ khanda,” Sugar in lumps. From the same 
Sanscrit word is also derived our name Sugar- 
candy, or crystallized Sugar. The Sugar- 
cane is largely cultivated in Northern Persia, 
namely in the province of Mazanderan, near 
the Caspian sea. — Lindley states (1. c.) that 
the Venetians first imported the Sugar-cane 
from India to Europe by the Red Sea prior 
to 1148. 
As regards the cultivation of the Sugar- 
cane in China now-a-days, the statement of 
Dr. Williams (Commercial Guide p. 139) is 
correct, I think, that it is cultivated every- 
where South of lat. 30°. But I am astonish- 
ed to find a statement of Mr. Champion (In- 
dustries de l’Emp. Cliinois p. 207,) who 
speaks of the true Sugar-cane as growing in 
the province of Chili. 
The true Sugar-cane (Saccharum officina- 
rum and perhaps other allied species) grow- 
ing in China, must not however be confound- 
ed with what is called the Northern China 
Sugar-cane. This is the Sorghum Sacchara- 
tum , a plant now-a-days largely cultivated 
in Europe and America for the purpose of 
manufacturing Sugar from it. This plant 
was first introduced from Shanghai into 
France by the French Consul M. Montigny, 
m the year 1851, whence it spread over 
Europe and America, after it was proved, 
f I must here correct an error, into which 
I fell in stating (Notes and Queries IV. p. 66), 
l that Shi-mi , mentioned as a product of Persia 
in the Chinese annals, may be the sweet hard- 
j ened exudation-product of trees. 
