Chau Ju-Kua - University of Oregon Libraries
Chau Ju-Kua - University of Oregon Libraries
Chau Ju-Kua - University of Oregon Libraries
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11,17-18 ARECA-KUTS. 213<br />
Yu-yang-tsa-tsu, 18,8^ has the following on the jack-fruit: «The F'o-na-so (^ ^[5 ^)<br />
tree grows in Po-ssii<br />
({jj) (Persia); it also grows in Fu-lin, where it is called a-p'u-to (|J^<br />
nP ?lS °^ a-sa-to |J^ ^ ^1 according to Pon-ts'au). The tree grows to 50 or 60 feet<br />
high. The bark is blueish-green. The leaves are very shiny, they do not wither in winter or<br />
5 summer. The fruit does not come out <strong>of</strong> the flower, but proceeds from the stem <strong>of</strong> the tree, and<br />
is as large as a pumpkin. It has a husk enveloping it, and on the husk are spines (^J)- The<br />
pulp is sweet and edible. The pips (inside the pulp) are as big as jujubes, and one fruit has a<br />
number <strong>of</strong> them. They have stems (;^)-<br />
Inside the pips there is a kernel like a chestnut and<br />
yellow, which is excellent eating when roasted.)) See also Hirth, J. A. 0. S., XXX, 24.<br />
10 P'ing-chou-k'o-t'an, 2,5* says: «In front <strong>of</strong> the Nan-hai-miau (in Canton) there is a big tree.<br />
The ripe fruit is like a pumpkin, when opened its sections (J^) are like bananas. The natives<br />
call it po-lo-mi. When properly prepared (lit. steeped) it is good to eat (y^ ^ 'pT ^^).»<br />
The Nan-hai (Nam-hoi in Cantonese)-miau in Canton is supposed to have been founded<br />
• at the end <strong>of</strong> the sixth century A. D. The two jack-fruit trees in it were said to have been<br />
15 planted during the Liang dynasty (A. D. 502—557), and are supposed to have been the ancestors<br />
<strong>of</strong> all the jack-fruit trees in the neighbourhood. See <strong>Kua</strong>ng-tung-sin-yii (published in 1700), 6,7,<br />
and 25,28, et seqq. At the present time the jack-fruit is found all over <strong>Kua</strong>ng-tung, Hainan and<br />
southern Formosa. The image <strong>of</strong> the iirst propagator <strong>of</strong> the jack-fruit in China — the native <strong>of</strong><br />
the kingdom <strong>of</strong> Po-lo referred to previously— is worshipped down to the present day in the Nam-hoi<br />
20 temple, where jack-fruit trees are still grown. Notes and Queries on China and Japan, II, 169,<br />
191, III, U.<br />
Concerning the origin <strong>of</strong> the Chinese name joo-Zo-mi for this fruit, Thos. Watters, Essays<br />
on the Chinese language, 437, is inclined to think it a mixed term, po-lo may be Sanskrit for<br />
phala fruit, and mi may be the Chinese word for honey. This explanation appears to us a fairly<br />
25 satisfactory one.<br />
The T'ang-shu, 22lA,i7'', mentions that in the twenty-first year <strong>of</strong> the chong-Tcuan period<br />
(A. D. 647) a mission from Magadha (Central India) which came to the Chinese court, presented the<br />
Emperor with 2k po-lo ('/ij^ viffi) ^'^^^- This tree, it is said, resembled a pai-yang tree (y 7^<br />
Populus alba, L.). Po-lo is, as noted previously, the Sanskrit word for «fruit)) — but it seems<br />
30 possible that this particular one may have been a po-lo-mi or jack-fruit tree, if not a pine-apple.<br />
18.<br />
ARBCA-NUTS (^ M)-<br />
The pin-lang comes from several foreign countries, also from the four<br />
districts <strong>of</strong> Hai-nan; it is likewise found in Kiau-chi. The tree resembles the<br />
35 coir-palm (^#^)^<br />
«The fruit grows on the leaves, fastened to them in clusters, as on<br />
willow twigs. "When gathered in the spring it is called juan-pin-lang (^<br />
or «s<strong>of</strong>t areca-nuts») and is commonly known as pin-lang-sien<br />
(;^J<br />
or afresh areca-nuts»); it is then good to chew. When gathered in<br />
40 the summer or the autjumn and dried it is called mi-jpin-lang {^ ^ ^