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210 NUTMEGS. 11,13-14
with cloves. De Candolle, Origine des plantes cultivees, 128, thinks that cloves, a product of
the Caryophyllus aromaticus, Linnfi, are indigenous to the Molucca Islands. See Heyd, Hist, du
Commerce, H, 603—607, and Crawfnrd, History Malay Archipel., I, 494.
In the Chinese Customs Tariff of the present day we find mu-ting-hiang, «mother-cloves»,
answering to the ting-hiang-mu of our text. The Su-ch'5n-liang-fang (||Hj ^^ ^^ JJ) ^''' ^
says that M-sho-hiang (achicken-tongue incensea) is ting-hiang-mu, but, it adds, «at the present
day the name is likewise applied to a substance found in ju-hiang (frankincense), and which is
of the size of a sJian-cTiu-yu / ijj ^ ^ Cornus officinalis); when cut out it is like a persimmon
seed; it is tasteless.)) According to the P6n-ts'au-kang-mu(34,82*)K-sM-femw^ is the female,
and ting-hiang the male, clove. The Nan-fang-ts'au-mu-chuang (2,s, and supra p. 205, note 2) says 10
that M-sho-hiang is the ripe and aromatic fruit of the mi-hiang, or eagle-wood tree, of China.
The Chinese name here given the date, ts'ien-nien-tsaw, or ccthousand year tsaun, was
evidently used on account of the stony hardness of the dates on reaching China, and on
account of their resemblance to the tsau or common jujube (Zizyphus vulgaris. Lam.), which is
indigenous to China. Yu-yang-tsa-tsu, 18,9*, the earliest work we have seen describing the date, 15
calls it Po-ss'i-tsau, i. e., ((Persian tsau», and says that in Persian it is called h'u-mang
(^g ^p
Arabic, hhurma). In the T'ang-shu, 221B,is*, we find the name written hu-mang
(^|| ^), and the
Pon-ts'au, 81,21'', gives also the form k'u-lu-ma (^ ^ ^). See also Ling-piau-lU-i, 2,4^'.
14.
NUTMEGS mmm)'
J6u-t6u-¥6u are brought from the foreign tribes in the depths of the
islands of Huang-ma-chu and Niu-lun (^ |Ij^). The tree resembles the Chinese
juniper (^j^^), and attains a height of upwards of an hundred feet. Its trunk '
and branches, with the foliage, present the appearance of a large shady roof
under which forty or fifty men may find protection. When the blossoms open 25
in the spring they are taken off and dried in the sun; this is the article now
known as tou-k'du-hua (^ ^ :^). The fruit (nut) resembles the fei-f£ (^^
^) nut; when the shell is removed the pulp can be kept a long time, if
preserved in ashes (^). According to the P6n-ts'au its properties are
warming. 30
Note.
Huang-ma-chu and Niu-lun were dependencies of Java (supra, p. 83), presumably in the
Moluccas, in which islands the nutmeg (Myristica fragrans) is indigenous. De Candolle, Origine
des plantes cultivees, 336, Crawfurd, op. cit., I, 505. Heyd, Hist, du Commerce, II, 644, says the
original home of the nutmeg-tree is still doubtful.' 35
In the early part of the eighth century Ch'on Ts'ang-k'i ( ^^ ^§5 SS), in his Pon-ts'au-
shi-i (2fc ^S. ""^^ f^ ^fi)'
^^^ ^^^^ Chinese author to ieacrihe jou-t6u-k'6u, which he states
was brought to China from foreign countries, where it was called Jcia-M-lo (^p ;tpj Hfl),
probably intended for Icakulah (AlSLs), which is the Arabic name for cardamom. Bretschneider,
Bot. Sinic, III, 123, 124. The nutmeg-tree must have been imported from its original habitat 40
into the province of Kuang-tung somewhere between the time of Ch'on Ts'ang-k'i and the end of
the eleventh century, for we find it mentioned in Su Sung's (^k ^S) work, entitled T'u-kingpon-ts'au
(^ ^^ .2J5k .^)) ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^ee was cultivated in'Ling-nan. «The buds and flowers,
he says, grow in the spring; the fruit resembles the cardamom, but it is round and smaller, the
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