Chau Ju-Kua - University of Oregon Libraries

11,9-10 KOSE-WATER. 203
Note.
On the Gardenia florida or becho-nuts, see Hanbury, Science Papers, 241 et seqq., and
Bretschneider, Bot. Sinic, III, 500—503. Although our author only refers to its use as a per-
fume, it was, however, largely used as a dye. Ya-pa-hien (or as it is written supra, p. 116 Ya-ssi-
5 pau-hien) is Isfahan, and Lo-shl-mei probably stands for Khwarizm. Supra, p. 134, our author
refers to the trade in gardenia flowers from the Persian coast through the island of Kish. He also
says (supra, p. 141) that it was a product of Asia Minor (Lu-meii).
Ling-wai-tai-ta, 7,s-4 says: «The foreign gardenia (^ jjfj^ ^) comes from the land
of the Arabs. It is what is called in the Buddhist books tan-po (1^ ^). The Sea foreigners
10 (y^ ^) dry it like dyer's safflower. At the present day when one wants to be scented as if
with ambergris, one uses foreign gardenia, which is even more penetrating. There is a white
flower just like the gardenia but five-petaled. People say that (the chi-tzi) brought from Si-chu (^
^t possibly an error for ^ ^ ^ aWestern India») is (real) tan-po, but I apprehend
that this is not correct.))
15 Yu-yang-tsa-tsu, 18,s^ says of this product: vChi-tzi flowers with six petals are rare, but,
according to T'au Chbn-po
([^ ^^ {^ or Tan Hung-king |^ ^i ;^ A.D. 451— 536,
the author of an important work on materia medica; see Giles, Biograph. Dictionary, 718— 719),
only six-petaled chi-tzi flowers can properly be called by that name. If one cuts off a six-petaled
flower and slits open the calyx in seven places, the perfume is very powerful. It is said that it is
20 the chan-po of the Western Kegions.)) The text has fe yen, which stands for ps. tan or dian, the
change of radicals being frequent in old texts. Hirth, J. A. 0. S., XXX, 27. Chan-po, in Cantonese
cham-pak or chan-po-Tcia (B^ 3^ ^P), is Sanskrit champaka, the champac tree, Michelia
Champaca.
10.
25 ROSE-WATER (§ # :^).
TsHang-wei-shui is the dew of flowers in the country of the Ta-shi. In
the time of the Five Dynasties (A. D. 907—960) the foreign envoy P'u-
ko-san {^ ff f^
Abu-1-Hassan?), brought as tribute fifteen bottles, after
which time importation became rare. Nowadays a common substitute is
30 manufactured by gathering the flowers, which are steeped in water and
steamed, in order to extract the essence.
Rose-water is much counterfeited and adulterated; to test its genuineness,
- the substance should be placed in glass bottles and shaken about for a while,
then, if it is full of bubbles moving up and down, the substance is genuine.
35 The flower (from which it is made) is not identical with the Chinese rose
Note.
Eose-water is also known in China as ts iang-wet-lu or «rose-dew». In a preceding passage
(supra, p. 1 34) Chau refers to the trade through the island of Kish in rose-water. The adjacent province
40 of Fars was celebrated for its rose-water, which, says Ibn Haukal, was exported to all parts of
the world. The city of Shapur and its valley produced, according to Muk add asi, ten different