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FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 ANTHROPOLOGY, VOL. XIII, PL. 
 
 PORTRAIT OF THE QUEEN OF SiKKIM. 
 

 Plate I 
 
 The reigning queen (Maharanl) of Sikkim, after an oil-portrait by Damodar 
 Dutt, a Bengali artist, in the collection of the Field Museum (Cat. No. 117815, 
 acquired by the writer at Darjeeling in 1908). The queen is a full-blooded Tibetan 
 princess born at Lhasa in 1864 and was married to the present king of Sikkim as his 
 second wife in 1882. Both were taken prisoners by the British in 1893 and held in 
 captivity at Darjeeling. During that time she used to sit to the Bengali painter for 
 the portrait in question which was completed in 1908. The writer had an audience 
 with her in her palace at Gangtak, the capital of Sikkim, at which time she was 
 dressed in the same state-attire and with the same jewelry as in this painting. Her 
 crown, the peculiar headdress adopted by the queens of Stkkim, is composed of broad 
 bandeaux made up of pearls, interspersed with turquoises and corals alternating. 
 Her gold earrings are inlaid with a mosaic of turquoises in concentric rings. The 
 necklace consists of coral beads and large yellow amber balls, and has a charmbox 
 igau) attached to it, set with rubies, lapis lazuli and turquois. She wears a bracelet 
 of corals and two gold rings set with turquois and coral. 
 
 Mr. J. Claude White, the British Political Officer of Sikkim (in his book "Sikhim 
 and Bhutan," p. 22, London, 1909) characterizes her as a striking personality, ex- 
 tremely bright, intelligent, and well educated; her disposition, he says, is a masterful 
 one, and her bearing always dignified; she is always interesting, either to look at or to 
 listen to, and had she been bom within the sphere of European politics she would 
 most certainly have made her mark, for there is no doubt she is a bom intriguer and 
 diplomat. 
 
 Another oil-portrait in the Field Museum from the hands of the same artist 
 represents the Mongol Lama Shes-rab rgya-mts'o ("The Ocean of Wisdom") bom 
 in 1 82 1 at Kuka-khota ("Blue City," in Shansi Province, China), teacher to the 
 Pan-ch'en Lama, then interpreter in the Anglo-Indian Civil Service; he was dis- 
 tinguished for his Tibetan scholarship, particularly in the department of astronomy 
 and astrology; he did useful work in assisting English translations of Tibetan books, 
 and died at Darjeeling in 1902, at the age of eighty-one. Damodar Dutt received 
 for this portrait a medal from the Bombay Art Exhibition. 
 Dimensions of above portrait: 1.74 x1.06 m. 
 
iUi 
 
 
Publications 
 
 OF 
 
 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL 
 HISTORY 
 
 ANTHROPOLOGICAL SERIES 
 Volume XIII 
 
 CHICAGO 
 1913-14 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGB 
 
 1. Laufer, Berthold, Notes on Turquois in the East . . i 
 
 2. Laufer, Berthold, Chinese Clay Figures, Part I, Prole- 
 
 gomena on the History of Defensive Armor ... 73 
 
\)t I HE. 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 24 StP1913 
 
 Field Museum of Natural History. 
 Publication 169. 
 Anthropological Series. Vol. XIII, No. 1 
 
 NOTES ON TURQUOIS IN THE EAST 
 
 BY 
 
 Berthold Laufer. 
 
 Associate Curator of Asiatic Ethnology 
 
 Chicago, U. S. A. 
 July, 1913.^ 
 
1^0 6 si:i.os 
 
 FA FA 
 
 V. l^ 
 
 ,^0 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 In April, 191 1, Dr. Joseph E. Pogue, mineralogist in the U. S. 
 National Museum of Washington, requested my co-operation in bringing 
 out an extensive monograph which he contemplated on the turquois 
 from the mineralogical, historical, and ethnological points of view. 
 It was originally intended that the following notes should be embodied 
 in the form of an appendix in Dr. Pogue 's proposed work which I 
 understand is now complete in manuscript. As adverse circumstances 
 beyond the control of the author have unfortunately delayed for the 
 last two years the publication of his study, and as a recent official jour- 
 ney to Alaska will prevent for some time longer active operations on 
 his part, my contribution to his work is herewith issued in a separate 
 form. It should be understood that only the exhaustive monograph 
 of Dr. Pogue, which it is sincerely hoped will come out in the near 
 future, will lend these notes their proper background and perspective. 
 As at one time a plea was made by me for the co-operation of naturalists 
 and orientalists {Science, 1907, p. 894), it is gratifying to note that we 
 have advanced a step farther in this direction, and it will be seen on the 
 following pages that oriental research can also bring to light new and 
 .r not unimportant facts as yet unknown to our natural science. The 
 _ occurrence of the turquois in Tibet and China, and to a higher degree, 
 - its history and cultural position in those countries, present a chapter 
 of knowledge with which our mineralogists have been hitherto unac- 
 quainted. But only concerted action and sympathetic co-operation 
 Vi can lead us to positive and enduring results. The orientalist needs the 
 naturalist as much as the latter, when his inclinations carry him to 
 Asia, may profit from the stimulus of the former, in that he can suggest 
 and encourage problems, the solution of which will turn out to be of 
 vital significance to archaeology. Our mineralogical knowledge of 
 Eastern and Central Asia is in a very unsatisfactory condition, and it 
 is desirable that the horizon of our mineralogists shoiild no longer be 
 bordered by the Panama and Suez canals. There is a great and promis- 
 \^ ing field open between the two, and a plan which a mineralogist should 
 c follow in aiding the cause of archaeology in Asia is briefly indicated on 
 
 t* p. 54. 
 
 For various information I am under obligation to Dr. Friedrich 
 
/ 1 ' ' 
 ail 1 Preface 
 
 Hirth, professor of Chinese at Columbia University, of New York; to my 
 friend Paul Pelliot, professor at the College de France in Paris ; to Prof. 
 Georg Jacob at the University of Kiel; and to Dr. Julius Ruska at the 
 University of Heidelberg. The contributions courteously made by 
 these gentlemen are clearly acknowledged as such in each particular 
 instance. Berthold Laufer. 
 
Oi iiWUfi 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. TuRQUOis IN India i 
 
 II. TuRQUois IN Tibet 5 
 
 III. TuRQUois IN China 20 
 
 Additional Notes 66 
 
 111 
 
in V.' in; 
 
NOTES ON TURQUOIS IN THE EAST 
 
 By BERTHOLD LAUFER 
 
 I. TuRQUois IN India 
 
 The peoples of ancient India do not seem to have been acquainted 
 with the tnrquois,^ nor do they possess an indigenous word for it. The 
 Sanskrit term peroja (also perojd, piroja) or perojana is a comparatively 
 recent loan word of mediaeval times derived from New- Persian ferozah 
 (older form firuzag), from which also the Russian word hiruza and 
 Armenian piroza come;'^ and the Sanskrit designation haritdqma is a 
 compound with the meaning "greenish stone." The older Sanskrit 
 treatises on precious stones do not make mention of it. Neither 
 Buddhabhatta, a Buddhist monk who wrote the Ratnapankshd, that 
 is, the "Appreciation of Gems," ^ presumably before the sixth century 
 
 ^ Our name turquois (from French turquoise, Old French also tourques) means 
 Turkish stone (there is also the word Turkey-stone, formerly turky-stone), not be- 
 cause the stone is found in Turkey, but because the most reputed kind, coming from 
 Persia, first reached Europe by way of Turkey; the Venetians seem to be the first to 
 have imported it (Italian turchese), and also to have made of it imitations in glass. 
 The Latinized names were torcois, turcosa, turchina, or turchesia, and A. Boetius de 
 Boot, court physician to Emperor Rudolf II (Gemmarum et lapidum historia, ed. 
 A. Toll, p. 265, Lugduni Batavorum, 1636; the first edition of this interesting work 
 appeared at Hanover in 1609) states: "Omnibus nationibus eo nomine notissima, quod 
 a Turcis ad nos feratur." Others hold that the allusion to Turkey in the stone im- 
 plies no distinct geographical notion but vaguely means "coming from the Orient" 
 (O. ScHRADER, Reallexikon der indogermanischen Altertumskunde, p. 153, Strass- 
 burg, 1901); indeed, Turkey was for a long time a term of uncertain value, almost 
 having the meaning of "strange," and was even connected in Europe with two Ameri- 
 can products, — our North American bird, and maize (sometimes known as Turkish 
 wheat). At any rate, the Turks were acquainted with the turquois, in particular 
 with that of Persia, calling it by the Persian name firuze. According to a kind 
 communication of Prof. Georg Jacob, the turquois is described in a Turkish work on 
 mineralogy written in 1511-12 a. d. by Jahja Ibn Muhammad al-Gaffarl (manuscript 
 in Leipzig, Catalogue of Fleischer, p. 508, No. 265). Five principal kinds are dis- 
 tinguished: Nishapuri, Gaznewi, Ilaqi, Kermani, and Kharezmi; the first, the well- 
 known turquois from NishapQr in Persia, is regarded as the most valuable, being 
 hard, and fine, and permanent in color; the various sorts are described and followed 
 by reports of celebrated turquoises in the history of Islam. — Shakespeare {The 
 Merchant of Venice, Act III, Scene I, in the folio edition) has the spelling Turkies; the 
 po3t Tennyson adheres to the old form turkis (Middle English turkeis, on a par with 
 German turkis, Middle High German turkoys, tiirkls; in the seventeenth century, 
 turkes). The usual English spelling, in accordance with French, is turquoise (former- 
 ly it was written also turcois and turkois); in scientific writings in this country the 
 spelling turquois is now generally adopted. 
 
 ^ The Persian turquois is not discussed here, as it will be treated by Dr. Pogue in 
 his monograph. The course of our investigation, however, necessitates touching 
 also upon this subject, and some brief notes bearing on it will be found on p. 38. 
 
 'Edited and translated by Louis Finot, Les lapidaires indiens (Paris, 1896). 
 
2 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. XIIL 
 
 A. D., nor Vardhamihira (505-587 a. d.) in his work Brihatsamhitd 
 allude to the turquois. Agasti, in his versified treatise on gems, the 
 Agastimata, and a very late work, the Ratnasamgraha, each devote a 
 stanza to the turquois.^ The date of the former work is not satis- 
 factorily established. Inward evidence leads one to think that it is 
 posterior to the sixth century a. d., and that a work under this name 
 possibly existed in the thirteenth century, while in its present shape 
 it is, in all likelihood, of much later date. Of greater importance is the 
 little mineralogical treatise Rdjamghantu written by Narahari, a 
 physician from Kashmir, not earlier than the beginning of the fifteenth 
 century. According to Narahari, the two words as given above are 
 used to distinguish two varieties of the stone, as the hue is either ash- 
 colored or greenish. He remarks that it is astringent and sweet to 
 the taste, and an excellent means to provoke appetite; every poison, 
 whether vegetable or mineral, or a mixture of both, is rapidly neutral- 
 ized by turquois; it also relieves the pain caused by demoniacal and 
 other obnoxious influences.^ As, in all likelihood, the acquaintance 
 1 L. PiNOT, /. c, pp. 138, 197. 
 
 ^ Compare R. Garbe, Die indischen Mineralien, p. 91 (Leipzig, 1882). In the 
 introduction the date of Narahari's work is calculated at between 1235- 1250; Prof. 
 Garbe has been good enough to inform me that he has now arrived at the conclusion 
 that the work cannot be earlier than the fifteenth century. The turquois, accord- 
 ingly, appears on Indian soil very late during the middle ages, in the Mohammedan 
 period. The evidence gathered from mineralogical literature is corroborated by the 
 records of Indian medicine. The famous Bower Manuscript assigned to the year 450 
 A. D., the brilliant edition and translation of which has just been completed by Dr.* 
 A. F. R. HoERNLE (Calcutta, 1893-1912), does not make any mention of turquois, 
 nor do the ancient physicians of India. (For this reason, J. Jolly, Indische Medicin, 
 does not note the stone.) — It is asserted on the authority of the Periplus Maris 
 Erythrm (Ch. 39), a Greek work of an unknown author from the latter part of the 
 first century (probably written between 80-89 A. D., roughly about 85; see the recent 
 discussion of the date by J. F. Fleet, Journal Royal Asiatic Society, 191 2, pp. 784-7) 
 that turquois was exported from the Indian port Barbaricon. Mr. W. H. Schoff, 
 in his new translation of the work (The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, pp. 38, 170, 
 London, 1912), feels very positive on this point, and explains that "the text has 
 callean stone, which seems the same as Pliny's callaina (xxxvii, 33), a stone that 
 came from 'the countries lying back of India,' or more definitely, Khorassan; his de- 
 scription of the stone itself identifies it with our turquois, etc." This opinion, how- 
 ever, is more than hypothetical. First of all, as already pointed out by Lassen 
 (Indische Altertumskunde, Vol. Ill) p. 14, Leipzig, 1858), it is doubtful whether the 
 kallcanos of the Periplus is identical with the callaina of Pliny, because the localities 
 where, according to the latter, the stone is found are too remote from India to make 
 it possible for it to have been exported from the port of Barbaricon at the mouth of 
 the. Indus. Secondly, the supposed identification of Pliny's callaina or callais with 
 the turquois is no more than a weak guess, and one that is highly improbable; and a 
 mere guess, even though it may be repeated by a dozen or more authors, will never 
 become a fact. It is said in Daremberg and Saglio (Dictionnaire des antiquit^s 
 grecs et romains. Vol. II, p. 1463): "On suppose que c'est la turquoise;" and H. 
 Blumner (Technologic und Terminologie der Gewerbe und Kiinste bei Griechen 
 und Romern, Vol. Ill, p. 249, Leipzig, 1884) justly concludes that the evidence does 
 not by any means seem to be sufficient to establish the identification of the turquois 
 with the callais of the ancients as a positive fact. The vague "description" given 
 by Pliny (XXXVII, 110-2, 151) of the stone bears out no striking reference to the 
 
July, 1913. Notes on Turquois. 3 
 
 of the Indians with turquois was conveyed to them by way of Persia, 
 it seems highly probable also that their beliefs in the medicinal proper- 
 ties of the stone, were at least partially derived from Mohammedan 
 lore.' 
 
 From an interesting text of the Arabic traveler al-Berunl (973-1048) 
 translated by E. Wiedemann ^ we now see that Persian turquoises were 
 indeed exported from Persia into India, for the Arabic author remarks 
 in his notes on the firuzag (turquois) that the people of Irag prefer the 
 
 turquois, its main characteristics not being at all set forth, and may suit many other 
 stones as well; the pale green color {e viridi pallens) and the attributes ^.y/M/o^a ac 
 sordium plena by no means fit the Persian turquois which owes its reputation to its 
 deep-bhie tinge and its purity, nor has turquois the color of the emerald; the localities 
 pointed out by him (nascitur post aversa Indiae, apud incolas Caucasi, montis Hyr- 
 canos, Sacas, Dahas) rather militate against the turquois. Mr. Skoff's hint at 
 Khorasan (not given by Pliny, who only alludes to Carmania) is a somewhat arbitrary 
 opinion prompted by the desire to suit the convenience of his case. The principal 
 point at issue, however, is that there is no evidence for the alleged mining of turquois 
 on Persian soil in the first century A. D. (see p. 40) merely presumed but not proved by 
 Mr. Skoff and his predecessors. If Pliny had known about the quarrying of turquois 
 in Khorasan, he would have plainly stated the fact with an undisguised reference to 
 Persia or that particular province; but there is not one classical author with a knowl- 
 edge of Persian turquois, nor is there any evidence proving that turquois was traded 
 from Persia into Greece and Rome. The tradition of India incontrovertibly shows 
 that the Persian turquois, both in its name and as a matter, appeared in India only as 
 late as the Mohammedan period, and the negative evidence of archaeology lends further 
 support to this conclusion. Enough archaeological work has been carried out in India 
 to prompt us to the positive statement that, despite the numerous precious stones dis- 
 covered in ancient graves, no find has ever yielded a single turquois. The jewels, 
 for example, in the burial-place of Buddha at Piprava discovered by W. C. PEPPf 
 {Journal Royal Asiatic Society, 1898, p. 573; Rhys Davids, ibid., 1901, p. 397; G. 
 Oppert, Globus, Vol. LXXXIII, 1903, p. .225) were carnelian, conch, amethyst, 
 topaz, garnet, coral, and crystal. A similar state of affairs in regard to the Persian 
 turquois, as will be seen on p. 56, obtains in China where the turquois of NishapQr 
 and Kerman became known very late in the middle ages, during the Mongol period 
 of the fourteenth century. It is thus plainly indicated by these two coincidences in 
 India and China which cannot be merely accidental that it was only the Arabs, and 
 after the conquest of Persia in 642 A. D., who imported the turquois from Persia into 
 India and China; and the fact is quite certain that only in this late period the Persian 
 turquois began to conquer the market of the world. There is, accordingly, no reason 
 whatever to interpret the stone in question mentioned by the Periplus as the Persian, 
 or any other turquois. The best supposition would be to recognize in the word of the 
 Greek text, as in so many others of the Periplus, the transcription of an Indian word 
 (compare J. Block in Melanges Sylvain Levi, p. 3, Paris, 191 1), presumably Sanskrit 
 kalyana, "good, fine, excellent," which is one of the attributes of gold (R. Garbe, Die 
 indischen Mineralien, p. 33), or in the form kalyanaka is used with reference to medi- 
 cines (compare also ifea/jawt and feo/janifec, "red arsenic"). See also p. 41, note 6. 
 
 1 On the other hand it should not be overlooked that certain notions entertained 
 regarding turquois among the Arabs and persisting later in Europe are absent in 
 India and Tibet. Among these are the employment of the stone as an eye-remedy 
 and against the stings of the scorpion, the latter idea first app'earing in the Greek 
 physician Dioscorides of the first century (compare L. Leclerc, Traits des simples 
 par Ibn el-Beithar [i 197-1248], Vol. Ill, p. 50, Notices et extraits des manuscrits de 
 la Biblioth^que Nationale, Vol. XXVI, Paris, 1883, J. Ruska, Das Steinbuch des 
 Aristoteles, p. 152 [Heidelberg, 1912], and Boetius de Boot, /. c, p. 270). 
 
 ^ Ueber den Wert von Edelsteinen bei den Muslimen {Der Islam, Vol. II, 191 1, 
 P- 352). 
 
4 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. XIII. 
 
 smooth ones, those of India Hke the round ones with convex surface.^ 
 This is so far also the earHest testimony for the presence of the turquois 
 in India. 
 
 The fact that turquois is absent from India is confirmed by the 
 negative testimony of the great merchant traveler Jean Baptiste 
 Tavernier ( 1 605-1 689), who, as a dealer and expert in precious stones, 
 repeatedly traveled in India and became thoroughly familiar with the 
 customs of that country. He writes in chapter nineteen of his Travels •} 
 
 "Turquoise is only found in Persia, and is obtained in two mines. The one which 
 is called 'the old rock' is three days' journey from Meshed towards the north-west 
 and near to a large town called Nichabourg (Nishapur); the other, which is called 
 ' the new ' is five days' journey from it," etc. 
 
 Tavernier would have certainly known about the existence of 
 turquoises in India if they ever occurred there in situ. The various 
 reports of modem travelers that turquoises are imported from India 
 into Tibet are therefore to be interpreted in the sense that these Indian 
 turquoises have been imported from Persia. 
 
 Also Max Bauer ^ states that turquois is not found in India, Burma 
 and Ceylon. But the same author does not note its occurrence in 
 Tibet and China. 
 
 Abul Fazl Allami * (1551-1602), in his history of Akbar, entmierates 
 among the precious stones in the treasury of the emperor rubies, dia- 
 monds, emeralds, and pearls, but not turquois. Turquois seems to 
 have been everywhere an ornament of the people, but not one of royal 
 personages.^ 
 
 In the modem jewelry of India the turquois is utilized to some 
 
 * The opinion formerly prevailed in Europe that the turquois was found in India 
 because it was exported from there. This was the view of Franciscus Rueus (De 
 gemmis aliquot, p. 54 b, Tiguri, 1565) ; but the turquoises exported from India were in 
 fact derived from Persia. 
 
 2 Ed. of V. Ball, Vol. II, p. 103 (London, li 
 
 'Precious Stones, p. 397 (London, 1904).^ G. Watt (A Dictionary of the 
 Economic Products of India, Vol. VI, p. 204, London, 1893) says after the Manual of 
 Geology of India: "The existence of the true turquois in India is doubtful. From the 
 presence of blue streaks in the copper ores of Ajmir, Mr. Prinsep suggested the possi- 
 bility of the stone being found there. Subsequently Dr. Irvine reported its existence 
 in these measures, but, according to Ball, the so-called turquoises of Ajmir are only 
 blue copper ore." 
 
 ^ The Ain I Akbari, translated from the Persian by H. Blochmann, Vol. I, p. 15 
 (Calcutta, 1873). The original was published in 1597. 
 
 ^ Compare p. 30, note 3. In the Arabic account of Abu Zeid of the ninth century 
 (translated by M. Reinaud, Relation des voyages faits par les Arabes et les Persans 
 dans rinde et k la Chine, Vol. I, p. 151, Paris, 1845) it is said: "The kings of India 
 are in the habit of wearing ear-pendants consisting of precious stones mounted on 
 gold; they wear necklaces of the highest price composed of red and green stones of 
 the first quality. But it is the pearls on which they place a greater esteem, and 
 which are eagerly coveted by them; these now form the treasure of the sovereigns, 
 their principal wealth." 
 
July, 1913. Notes on Turquois. 5 
 
 extent in connection with pearl, ruby, diamond, sapphire, topaz and 
 emerald, set in silver or gold.^ 
 
 II. Turquois in Tibet 
 
 As jade is the recognized jewel of the Chinese, so turquois is the 
 standard gem of the Tibetans. In the eyes of the Chinese jade is not 
 a stone, but forms a distinct class sui generis, as is shown by such 
 constant phrases uttered from the lips of stone dealers: shi yii pu shi 
 shi-Vou, "it is jade, it is not a stone." ^ To call a turquois a stone 
 means an offense to the Tibetan, and he will exclaim indignantly, di yu 
 re, dd ma re, "this is a turquois, and not a stone." The Tibetan word 
 for turquois, gyu (pronounced yu, without sounding the prefix g, which, 
 however, appears in the Mongol loan word ughiu) ^ is indigenous 
 property, being derived neither from Sanskrit nor Chinese; it shows 
 that turquois must have been known to the Tibetans since remote 
 times. There are, doubtless, also many ancient turquoises still in 
 their possession as they are inherited from mother to daughter for 
 generations, and thus kept as heirlooms in the same family for centuries ; 
 being constantly exposed to the open air, they readily change color 
 and often assume a pale green shade, more or less tainted with black 
 spots. 
 
 Two special sorts of turquoises are called drug-dkar and drug-dmar, 
 that is, white drug and red drug] the word drug designates the number 6, 
 and the two terms are explained to designate very fine kinds of tur- 
 quoises supposed to be one-sixth part white or red in tint, respectively. 
 Desgodins, in the Tibetan Dictionary published by the French mission- 
 aries, translates the two by white and red sapphire, but also reminds 
 
 1 G. C. M. BiRDWOOD, The Industrial Arts of India, Vol. II, p. 25. In the Higin- 
 botham collection of jewelry in the Field Museum there are several fine specimens 
 of Indian jewelry in which turquois is emploj'^ed, collected in India by Mr. Lucknow 
 de Forrest of New York. G. Watt {I. c.) remarks that the turquois is largely used 
 by the natives of India in jewelry but that imitations are perhaps more generally 
 employed than the true stone. While I do not deny that such imitations may occur, 
 I do not believe that they are very generally in use. — Aside from the mineralogical 
 treatises quoted above, as far as I know, the word for turquois has not yet been point- 
 ed out in any other work of Sanskrit literature. The Sanskrit romance Vasavadatta 
 by Subandhu of the seventh century (translated by L. H. Gray, pp. 85, 109, Col. 
 Un. Indo-Iranian Series, Vol. VIII, New York, 1913) mentions a necklace of pearls 
 and sapphires, further emeralds and rubies, diamonds and other stones, but not 
 turquois, which, as shown also by such passages, was a late intruder in such combi- 
 nations as stated above, and alien to the artistic taste of India. 
 
 ^ The agate (ma-nao) is, in the eyes of the Chinese, "neither a stone nor a jade," 
 but a thing for itself. 
 
 ' In more ancient texts the word is written also rgyu, thus showing that in the 
 ancient pronunciation also the g was sounded. A singular word for turquois is the 
 Mongol kiris which has thus far been pointed out but once in literature (Laufer, 
 T'oung Pao, 1908, p. 431), and which presumably represents the ancient Mongol 
 word for the turquois in times before the introduction of the Tibetan loan word. 
 
6 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. XIII. 
 
 us of the fact that the native dictionaries interpret them as gyu "tur- 
 quois." While I have encountered a great number of turquoises with 
 white and black veins and streaks, I have never seen any with a red 
 tinge.^ This classification of turquoises is contained in the ancient 
 Tibetan medical work known under the abbreviated title "The Four 
 Tantra" ^ (rgyud Mi, Peking edition, Vol. II, fol. 145 b). The literary- 
 history of this interesting work remains to be made out.^ Originally 
 based on a standard Sanskrit work translated into Tibetan in the 
 middle of the eighth century, it passed through the hands of several 
 distinguished Tibetan physicians who revised and increased the work 
 considerably. It contains not only information on Indian anatomy'-, 
 pharmacology and therapeutics, but also valuable material with respect 
 to the natural products of Tibet and Mongolia. The manifold sub- 
 sequent interpolations render the utilization of these notes for historical 
 research exceedingly difficult when the question arises as to the time 
 to which they must be referred. A literal translation of the notice 
 regarding turquois runs as follows: 
 
 "The turquois, in general, represents one species with two varieties, 
 — that of best quality and the common one. Of the former there are 
 two kinds, the one blue and white, of great lustre, called drug dkar; the 
 other blue and red, of great lustre and polished, called drug dmar. 
 There is, thirdly, a turquois of superior quality excelling the others in 
 splendor, known as the turquois shy ad, 'beauty.' The common ones 
 are 'the intermediate turquois resembling the drug dmar,' and 'the 
 blue turquois resembling the drug dkar.' There are, further, the Indian 
 turquoises originating abroad, and others. They entirely remove poison 
 and heat of the liver. Substances belonging to the class of turquois and 
 rock-crystal are so-called elements not fusible." * 
 
 If it could be proved with certainty that this note in the present 
 tenor was already contained in the Sanskrit text or in the Tibetan version 
 of the eighth century, it would be of a certain value in showing that at 
 that comparatively early date turquoises were known in India, perhaps 
 also traded from India into Tibet and then played a role in the phar- 
 macopoea of both countries. But such evidence could be established 
 only on the ground of an ancient edition preserving the original status 
 
 * Dr. Joseph E. Pogue informs me that the iron-oxide matrix in turquois from a 
 number of locaUties is reddish. 
 
 "See Heinrich Laufer, Beitrage zur Kenntnis der tibetischen Medicin, p. 12 
 (Berlin, 1899). 
 
 ' The brief notes given by Mr. Walsh {Journal Royal Asiatic Society, 1910, 
 p. 12 1 8) are not yet satisfactory and far from being exhaustive. 
 
 * In opposition to the four metals, gold, silver, copper and iron, enumerated 
 shortly before this passage, which are designated as "fusible elements." 
 
July, 1913. Notes on Turquois. 7 
 
 of the work. From what has been said above regarding the history of 
 the turquois in India it is not very probable that the passage existed in 
 the Sanskrit original, and if we assume on the basis of the available 
 evidence that the Persian turquois spread in India between the tenth 
 and the fifteenth century, the clause of the Tibetan text relative to 
 Indian turquoises must be regarded as an interpolation, not older perhaps 
 than the sixteenth century. The one feature, however, is conspicuous 
 that the Tibetan terminology of the turquois varieties is not borrowed from 
 India, but created in Tibet; it distinctly refers to the native stones, in 
 opposition to those of India named last, and may well claim a certain 
 age. Altogether six kinds are enumerated, and in the plates illustrating 
 all objects of the materia medica described in the text, six kinds of 
 turquois are really pictured. 
 
 The plates here referred to are twelve large scrolls or charts pre- 
 served in the Great Lama Temple {Yung ho kung) of Peking, exact 
 copies of which I had made by an experienced Lama painter; the anat- 
 omy and physiology of the human body, and all medicinal substances 
 derived from the three kingdoms are there figured in colors, labeled 
 with their Tibetan names and accompanied by references to the chap- 
 ters of the Four Tantra where they are described. The turquoises 
 are represented, like the other substances, as being placed in rectangular 
 trays supported by a standard or provided with three feet. The first 
 two kinds, drug dkar an.d drug dmar, are painted in a deep-blue color 
 and of oblong shape, no noticeable difference between the two being 
 visible ; the edge is marked by a blue line in gold (apparently to express 
 the high quality of the stone) bordered by a line of black ink. It is 
 curious to observe that in each case six stones have been outlined, and 
 it is therefore evident that the draughtsman was guided by a literal 
 interpretation of the two terms drug dkar and drug dmar, "White Six" 
 and "Red Six." It is hardly plausible that a set of six stones should 
 have been the fixed requirement in ancient times and resulted in this 
 peculiar nomenclature, and I am also inclined to think that the modem 
 Tibetan explanation as given above, — a stone containing one-sixth of 
 white or red tinge, — is a makeshift or an afterthought. It would seem 
 more reasonable to assume that drug in this case has no connection with 
 the numeral six, but is an ancient noun signifying this particular variety 
 of turquois. The third variety sbyad, also a group of six stones, is 
 painted light-blue; they are pear-shaped, almost globular, surmounted 
 by a curved tip. The two common kinds are each figured as one large 
 stone, the one light-blue, the other grayish-blue, both of curious and 
 fantastic outlines which it is hard to describe. On the second of the 
 two, cloud-patterns in Chinese style of drawing are delineated, probably 
 
8 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. XIII. 
 
 intended to indicate a ''clouded" stone/ while the first is decorated with 
 horizontal rows of small black rings presumably expressing veins in the 
 stone. The Indian turquoises, again six in number, are, in distinction 
 from all the preceding ones, light-green in color with fine black veins, 
 and pointed or triangular in shape. It certainly remains an open 
 question as to how far these drawings are faithfully preserved, but 
 despite their imperfection we may learn from them that the appreciation 
 of turquoises by the ancient Tibetans was graduated as follows : Deep- 
 blue, lustrous stones without flaw took the foremost rank;^ white and red 
 strips or layers were not considered a blemish, but rather a special 
 beauty; the lighter the blue, and the more approaching a gray and 
 green, the more it sank in estimation; stones with black veins and streaks 
 and with cloudy strata were looked upon as common, also those of 
 greenish hues. It is interesting to note that this scale of valuation 
 doubtless going back to ancient times holds good also for the present age. 
 
 The small turquoises not larger than a lentil and used for the setting 
 in rings, are designated pra. 
 
 As famous swords, daggers, saddles and coats-of-mail received in 
 Tibet individual names, so also celebrated turquoises were given special 
 designations. Thus, we read in the History of the Kings of Ladakh 
 that among fifteen turquoises brought from Gu-ge in West Tibet, the 
 best were two, namely, the Lha gyu od-ldan, "the resplendent turquois 
 of the gods," and the Lha gyu dkar-po, "the white turquois of the gods." ' 
 Thus, there are also celebrated historical turquoises, as it is recorded 
 in regard to King Du-srong mang-po (beginning of the eighth century) 
 that he found the largest turquois then known in the world, on the top 
 of Mount Tag-tse, a few miles north of Lhasa.* 
 
 The name of an ancient well-known family of Tibet is gYu-Vog (that 
 is, Turquois-Roof). The most celebrated member of it was a physician 
 and author of medical works, who flourished in the eighth century and 
 three times visited India to study medicine at the University of Nalanda. 
 His biography, a very interesting work, is still in existence where it is 
 narrated that he was once visited by gods and demons, who presented 
 
 1 A term used also in India (R. Garbe, Die indischen Mineralien, p. 72, note 2) 
 and in our mineralogy (with respect to veins or spots of lighter or darker color than 
 the area surrounding them). 
 
 * This was the case likewise among the Arabs. The best sort of turquois was 
 considered the one "of a complete purity of color, of a perfect polish, and of a hue 
 entirely uniform" (L. Leclerc, Traits des simples par Ibn El-Beithar [i 197-1248], 
 Vol. Ill, p. 51, Notices et extraits des manuscrits de la Bibliotheque Nalionale, Vol. 
 XXVI, Paris, 1883). In a similar manner, al-BeranI expresses his opinion (Wiede- 
 mann, Der Islam, Vol. II, 191 1, p. 352). 
 
 ^ Journal Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. LX, pt. i, 1891, p. 123. 
 
 * Journal Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. L, pt. i, 1881, p. 223. 
 
July, 1913. Notes on Turquois. 9 
 
 him with an immense quantity of ttirquoises and other precious stones, 
 heaping them on the roof of his house, hence the origin of his name. 
 The mansion of this family still stands in Lhasa near a bridge called 
 " Turquois-Roof Bridge." A Chinese author, writing in 1792, men- 
 tions this bridge and records the following tradition: "In the trans- 
 parent waters of the river are turquois, colored rocks whose bluish 
 tinge seems on the point of dissolving into water; the tops of the stones 
 are bowl-shaped; if once dug away from the mud around them, they 
 would look as big as elephants. One cannot take pebbles out of this 
 river as an amusement as easily as in other streams." ^ It is not known 
 whether this tradition is founded on fact, or whether the tradition 
 connected with Doctor gYu-t'og and his name gave rise to the notion 
 of turquoises existing in the river whose blue tinge may have lent a 
 support to such a view; for in another Chinese source, according to 
 RocKHiLL, it is said: "At the foot of Marpori (the mountain on which 
 the palace of the Dalai Lamas rises) meanders the Kyi-ch'u, whose 
 azure bends encircle the hill with a network green as the dark green 
 bamboo; it is so lovely that it drives all cares away from the beholder." 
 In 641 A. D., the powerful Tibetan king Srong-btsan sgam-po mar- 
 ried a Chinese princess, the daughter of the Emperor T'ai-tsung of the 
 T'ang dynasty. The story of his wooing of the princess has been made 
 by the Tibetans into a poetical romance in which we find such well- 
 known and world-wide motives of popular tradition as the difficult 
 tasks to be solved bj'- the prospective son-in-law.^ The candidates for 
 the hand of the princess were many, so the emperor decided that he 
 should obtain her who could best stand a number of tests. One of 
 these was that he laid before the assembled delegates a buckler con- 
 structed of a coil of turquois arranged in concentric circles so that one 
 end of it just formed the center; he required that a silk thread should be 
 passed through the apertures of the turquoises from one end of the coil 
 to the other. Nobody could solve the puzzle except the astute Tibetan 
 minister Gar who caught a queen-ant and fed it well with milk until it 
 grew bigger. Then he tied a silk thread to its waist, fastening the end 
 of the thread to a silk band which he held in his hand, and placed the 
 ant in the perforation of the first turquois, gently blowing into the hole, 
 till to the amazement of the lookers-on the ant came out at the other 
 end of the coil dragging the thread along. ^ 
 
 ^ According to the translation of W. W. Rockhill, Tibet from Chinese Sources 
 {Journal Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. XXIII, 1891, p. 76). 
 
 ^ Compare R. H. Lowie, The Test-theme in North American Mythology {Journal 
 of American Folk-lore, Vol. XXI, 1908, pp. 97-148). 
 
 ' Narrated in the Tibetan Annals of the Kings of Tibet {rgyal robs, manuscript 
 in the writer's possession), Chapter 13, fol. 45a. 
 
lo Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. XIII. 
 
 The word "turquois" (gyti) has become a favorite attribute to 
 designate a sky-blue color; " turquois-lake " {gyu mts'o) may be called 
 poetically any blue-glittering lake, but is also the constant epithet of 
 wells and certain favorite lakes, as, for example, for the sacred Mana- 
 sarovara Lake or the Lake of Yar-brog (Yamdog).^ Also flowers, the 
 manes of horses, and even bees and tadpoles are described in the same 
 manner; the hair of goddesses and the eyebrows of children bom in a 
 supernatural way are called turquois-blue ; also the beauty of the body 
 of such beings is compared to the turquois. In Spiti the forget-me-not 
 is called yu-hmg men-tog, that is, the flower whose essence or main 
 substance is turquois.^ In ancient mythology "thirteen turquois 
 heavens" are- mentioned, and as we speak of the Blue of Heaven, or 
 the sky, the Tibetans say poetically "the turquois of Heaven." In a 
 Tibetan legend, a poetical description of the country is given as follows:* 
 
 "At the foot of the giant mountains (the Himalaya) supporting the sky, lakes and 
 flowing streams gather, forming plains of the appearance of turquois, and glittering 
 pyramids of snow-clad crystal rise. This mountain range spreading like a thousand 
 lotus flowers is white and like crystal during the three winter-months; during the 
 three months of the summer it is azure-blue like turquois ; during the three months of 
 the autumn it is yellow like gold, and in the moons of the spring, striped like the skin 
 of the tiger. This chain of mountains, excellent in color and form, and of perfect 
 harmony, is inexhaustible in auspicious omens." 
 
 This passage is very interesting as revealing the innate nature-love 
 of the Tibetan people and showing the connection of the colors of 
 their favorite gems with the general colors of nature in the course of the 
 seasons.'* With the majority of the people, turquois is favorite, coral 
 
 1 Also in the ancient Egyptian texts, the word turquois is used as a designation 
 for the color of water. "Praises shall be offered unto thee in thy boat, thou shalt be 
 hymned in the Atet boat, thou shalt behold Ra within his shrine, thou shalt sit to- 
 gether with his disk day by day, thou shalt see the Ant fish when it springeth in.to 
 being in the waters of turquoises, and thou shalt see the Abtu fish in his hour." — 
 Hymn to the God Ra, in the Book of the Dead, by E. A. Wallis Budge, Vol. I, 
 1901, p. 78. Interesting studies pertaining to the color of Tibetan lakes and rivers 
 have been made by Hermann v. Schlagintweit, Untersuchungen liber die Salzseen 
 im westlichen Tibet, pp. yi et seq. {Abhandlungen der bayerischen Akademie, Munchen, 
 1871). 
 
 ^ In this case the word zung is to be written gzung. A. H. Francke (Ladakhi 
 Songs, p. 13. Reprinted from Indian Antiquary, 1902) has proposed to adopt the 
 spelling iung in the sense of chung "small," so that the name would mean "flower of 
 small turquoises." 
 
 * Compare I. J. Schmidt, Geschichte der Ost-Mongolen, p. 465 (St. Petersburg, 
 1829). In another passage (p. 439) it is said: "On the plain where diamond rocks 
 glitter is a lake with a mirror like turquois and gold." See also p. 484. 
 
 ■• In a Tibetan poem depicting the labors of husbandry {So-nam bya ts'ul-gyi leu, 
 published in the Tibetan School Series, No. II, Calcutta, 1890), the awakening of 
 the spring is described, and the first buds on the uppermost branches of the trees are 
 compared with the glimmer of emeralds ; the flowers with antlers appear as vomiting 
 sapphires; the great earth is teeming with sap, and resembles the malachite in its 
 medley of blue and green colors. 
 
July, 1913. Notes on Turquois. ii 
 
 and amber rank next. The blue, green, and blue-green; the red, rose, 
 and pink; the yellow and brown of these three substances are indeed 
 those tinges which most frequently occur among the flora of the Tibetan 
 plateaus. During the summer, large patches of blue, red and yellow 
 flowers abound on the fine pasture lands, and at this sight I could never 
 suppress the thought that the enthusiasm of the Tibetans for turquois, 
 coral and amber must have been suggested and strengthened by these 
 beautiful shades of their flowers which their women as readily use for 
 ornament as stones; indeed, it seems to me, as if owing to its permanency, 
 the stone were only a substitute for the perishable material of the 
 vegetable kingdom. 
 
 Turquoises, usually in connection with gold, belong to the most 
 ancient propitiatory offerings to the gods and demons ;^ in the enumera- 
 tion, gold always precedes turquois as the more valuable gift. They 
 also figure among the presents bestowed on saints and Lamas by kings 
 and wealthy laymen. The thrones on which kings and Lamas take their 
 place are usually described as adorned with gold and turquoises, and 
 they wear cloaks ornamented with these stones. It may be inferred 
 from traditions and epic stories that in ancient times arrowheads were 
 made not only of common flint, but also occasionally of turquois to 
 which a high value was attached. A powerful saint, by touching the 
 bow and arrow of a blacksmith, transforms the bow into gold, and the 
 arrowhead into turquois.^ The hero Gesar owns thirty arrows with 
 notches of turquois.^ 
 
 In the popular medicine of the present time turquois is, as far as I 
 know, not employed; but it is officially registered as a medicament in 
 several medical standard works derived from or modeled after Sanskrit 
 books. There we meet the typical series of ten substances: gold, 
 silver, copper, iron; turquois, pearl, mother-o '-pearl, conch, coral, 
 lapis lazuli.'' Turquois is credited, as we saw. above, with removing 
 poison, and heat in the liver. It seems almost certain that this notion 
 is taken from Indian lore; we remember the words of Narahari that 
 every poison is rapidly neutralized by it, and that it relieves pain caused 
 by demons. Also in the list of 365 drugs published in Tibetan and Chi- 
 
 1 Laufer, Ein Suhngedicht der Bonpo {Denkschriften der Wiener Akademie, 1900, 
 No. 7, p. 35); ScHLAGiNTWEiT, Die Konige von Tibet, p. 837; A. H. Francke, 
 Journal Asiatic Society of Bengal, N. S., Vol. VI, 1910, p. 408. 
 
 - Laufer, Roman einer tibetischen Konigin, p. 153 (Leipzig, 191 1). 
 
 ' L J. Schmidt, Die Taten Bogda Cesser Chan's, p. 283 (St. Petersburg, 1839). 
 
 * This series occurs also in the Compendium of Tibetan Medicine translated from 
 the Mongol into Russian by A. Pozdnejev, Vol. I, p. 247 (St. Petersburg, 1908). 
 
12 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. XIIL 
 
 nese by the Peking apothecary Wan 7/ turquois is listed as a medicament, 
 in the same series as given above. 
 
 A curious utilization of turquois is mentioned in the Biography of 
 Padmasambhava (Ch. 53) who is said to have availed himself of gold, 
 silver, copper, iron, lapis lazuli, turquois and minium inks for writing 
 on light-blue paper of the palmyra palm and on smoothed birchbark.^ 
 Whether it is technically possible to use turquois for the coloring of 
 ink I am not prepared to say; perhaps "turquois" is merely a designa- 
 tion for the blue or green color of the ink. 
 
 It seems doubtful whether in ancient times the turquois was con- 
 sidered a precious stone by the Tibetans. There is an old enumeration 
 of jewels in the Annals of the Tibetan Kings (rgyal robs, fol. 7) where 
 the two classes, jewels of the gods and jewels of men, are distinguished, 
 each class forming a series of five. The former comprises: i. indranlla, 
 2. indragopi, 3. mt'on-ka, 4. mt'on-ka ch'en-po, and 5. skong-mdzes. The 
 first two are Sanskrit words; No. i is the sapphire; No. 2 a kind of 
 ruby; the word under 3 denotes the color of indigo and corresponds to 
 Sanskrit nlla which is a general designation of the sapphire; also the 
 next under No. 4 meaning "the great blue one " = Sanskrit mahdnlla, 
 denotes a superior quality of sapphire;^ the signification of the stone 
 No. 5 is unknown. The five jewels of men are gold, silver, pearls, lapis 
 lazuli (mu-men), and coral. The turquois does not occur in this 
 group, presumably for the reason that it was not classed among precious 
 stones. It has never been, even in times of old, a stone of any exag- 
 gerated value. Among the presents made by the ancient kings of 
 Tibet to the emperors of China we find stones like lapis lazuli and rubies 
 (padmardga) , but no mention of turquois; likewise, in the lists of tribute 
 
 ^Regarding this work compare Bretschneider, Botanicon Sinicum, pt. i, 
 p. 104 (Shanghai, 1882). There are several editions of this interesting small work, 
 in Chinese and Tibetan style. 
 
 2 Laufer, Roman, p. 249. Also in the History of the Kings of Ladakh (A. H. 
 Francke's translation in Journal Asiatic Society of Bengal, N. S., Vol. VI, 1910, 
 p. 405) writings in gold and turquois are attributed to five wise men in mythical 
 times. 
 
 ' Buddhabhatta (Finot, Les lapidaires indiens, p. 41) explains indranlla as a 
 sapphire the interior of which has the lustre of the rainbow colors, and which is rare 
 and highly priced, and mahdnlla as a sapphire with a color so intense that, thrown 
 into milk of a volume a hundred times larger, it colors it like indigo. — "Sapphires of 
 various colors occur in India. Thus, there is the blue or true sapphire of .popular 
 language, the color of which may be any shade of blue, from the palest to a deep indi- 
 go, the most esteemed tint being that of the blue cornflower. Violet sapphires 
 (oriental amethysts) are also found in the same localities as those in which the true 
 sapphire is met with. The most valuable sapphire found in the East Indies is the 
 yellow sapphire or oriental topaz. A green gem, called by the Europeans in India an 
 emerald, is often seen. It is, however, a green sapphire, and is much harder than the 
 true emerald, which is a green beryl" (G. Watt, A Dictionary of the Economic 
 Products of India, Vol. VI, p. 474). 
 
July, 1913. Notes on Turquois. 13 
 
 sent by the Dalai Lamas to the emperors of China such gifts figure as 
 silk scarfs, bronze images, relics, coral, amber, pearls, incense and woolen 
 stuffs, but turquois does not appear. 
 
 In the religious service turquoises are employed, strung in the shape 
 of beads, for rosaries, 108 beads being the usual number. The com- 
 plexion of the god or goddess to be worshipped sometimes determines the 
 selection in the color of the rosary-beads. Thus a turquois rosary is 
 occasionally used in the worship of the popular goddess Tara of whom 
 there are two principal forms, one of these being conceived as of a 
 bluish-green complexion.^ 
 
 Turquoises are, further, offered on the altars of the gods, and their 
 brass or copper images are adorned with them. Buddhist images, thus 
 treated, may readily be recognized as Lamaist deities, as the Chinese 
 never adopt this method. The number of stones set in an image varies 
 according to its dimensions, and may reach from a half dozen up to a 
 hundred and more. In any case, however, this is not intended as a 
 mere ornamental addition, but the turquoises are to signify the actual 
 jewelry with which the deities are adorned, and which form part of 
 their essential attributes. One of the finest moniunents in Tibet is 
 the sarcophagus of the first Pan-ch'en Lama in the monastery of Tashi- 
 Ihunpo near Shigatse. It is of gold, covered with beautiful designs of 
 ornamental work, and studded with turquoises and precious stones. 
 The turquoises, says Captain Rawling,^ who has photographed this 
 gorgeous monument, appear to be all picked stones, arranged in patterns, 
 and in such profusion as to cover every available spot, including the 
 polished concrete of the floor. In the oldest temple founded in Tibet 
 about the middle of the eighth century, bSam-yas, which is described 
 at full length in the Annals of the Tibetan Kings, there was a shrine in 
 which the beams are said to have been of tiwquois; figures of galloping 
 horses of gold were affixed to them, while there were other beams of 
 gold \vith dragons of turquois attached.' This is the earliest Tibetan 
 record regarding carvings from this stone; if the beams of turquois are 
 not merely a metaphor of speech, it may be realized that the turquoises 
 were inlaid in a kind of mosaic. 
 
 In the pictorial art of Lamaism jewels take a prominent place. On 
 the first scroll in a set of twelve pictures (m the collections of the Field 
 Museum, Nos. 121,371-382) representing the Eighteen Sthavira or 
 Arhat and the portraits of the Dalai Lamas, we see as the central figure 
 
 1 Compare L. A. Waddell, The Buddhism of Tibet, p. 209 (London, 1895). 
 - The Great Plateau, p. 184 (London, 1905). 
 ' T'oung Pao, 1908, p. 33. 
 
14 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol, XIII. 
 
 Buddha ^akyamuni holding the alms-bowl of lapis-lazuli color/ On 
 the altar in front is depicted a golden bowl containing rubies, lapis 
 lazuli, white conch-shell and turquois. In the foreground is a lotus- 
 pond with three flowers widely unfolded; on the central one three gems 
 of oblong form are figured, — lapis lazuli, turquois, and ruby, emblematic 
 of the well-known prayer formula Om mdni padme hum ("Oh, the jewel 
 in the lotus!") and of the three precious objects (Sanskrit triratna), 
 which are Buddha, his doctrine, and the clergy. In the upper portion 
 of the same painting, two of the Arhat are represented, Angaja and 
 Vakula, the latter holding and stroking an ichneumon which has the 
 ability of spitting jewels; they are gradually dropping into a plate.^ 
 A tribute-bearer of grotesque racial type is offering to the saint gems in 
 a bowl containing an ivory tusk, a coral-branch, and precious stones of 
 blue, green, rose and pink colors. This is not the only Arhat to whom 
 
 1 The alms-bowl (pdlra) of the historical Buddha was a plain pot; the miraculous 
 relics of later times which were passed oflE as Buddha's alms-bowl form an interesting 
 subject for the historical mineralogy of the East. The general history of the bowl 
 or bowls has been traced by H. Kern (Manual of Indian Buddhism, p. 90) and H. 
 Yule (The Book of Ser Marco Polo, Vol. II, pp. 328-330). Here, only the different 
 materials should be pointed out. Fa Hien who started for India in 399 saw the bowl 
 in Peshawur (Purushapura) and describes it as being "of various colors, black pre- 
 dominating, with the seams that show its fourfold composition distinctly marked" 
 (Legge, Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms, p. 35). The latter clause in Legg&'s 
 rendering does not seem to be quite correct; but however this may be. Fa Hien's 
 account, it seems to me, bears out the fact that the bowl seen by him was carved from 
 onyx in various layers in the style of cameo-work (compare G. Watt, /. c. Vol. II, 
 p. 174). Hiian Tsang (St. Julien, M^moires sur les contr^es occidentales, Vol. I, 
 p. 106; S. Beal, Buddhist Records of the Western World, Vol. I, p. 99) speaks of the 
 pdtra, but does not furnish a description of it. Li Shi of the T'ang period (not of the 
 twelfth century, as Wylie, Notes on Chinese Literature, p. 192, says), in his Su po 
 wu chi (Ch. 10, p. 2; ed. of Hu-pei tsung whi shu chil), makes the statement that 
 Buddha's alms-bowl in Peshawur was of blue (or green) jade {tsHng yu), or in the 
 opinion of others of blue (or green) stone {ts'ing shi) ;t\ienth.ete:i.t of Fa Hien is repro- 
 duced. In view of the ultramarine color in which the Buddhist alms-bowls appear 
 on paintings in China and Tibet, it is permissible to think in this case of lapis lazuli; 
 indeed, the word tsHng shi, in this sense, is used in the Wei lio (Hirth, China and the 
 Roman Orient, p. 72). A still earlier reference to Buddha's alms-bowl in the coun- 
 try of the Ta Yiie-chi, already pointed out by F. Hirth (Chinesische Studien, p. 251) 
 is contained in the commentary to the Shut king written by Li Tao-yiian who died in 
 527 (his biography in Pei shi, Ch. 27) where likewise the term ts'ing shi is employed, 
 and I concur with Hirth in the opinion that it should be translated in this case by 
 lapis lazuli. In Tibetan portrait-statues of bronze, the alms-bowl is often actually 
 represented and carved from lapis lazuli (A. Grunwedel, Mythologie des Buddhis- 
 mus, p. 79), as the outcome of the tradition that the mendicant's platter brought 
 from Nepal to Tibet by the princess K'ri-btsun in the seventh century and working 
 many miracles was made of lapis lazuli (S. Chandra Das, Narrative of a Journey 
 round Lake Yamdo, p. 79, Calcutta, 1887). According to Marco Polo (Yule's 
 edition. Vol. II, p. 320) the dish of Buddha brought to China for Emperor Kubilai 
 from Ceylon was "of a very beautiful green porphyry," while Yule quotes a Chinese 
 account written in 1350 to the effect that the sacred bowl in front of the image of 
 Buddha in Ceylon was neither made of jade, nor copper, nor iron, but that it was of a 
 purple color, glossy, and when struck sounding like glass. 
 
 ^ The same attribute of the jewel-spitting ichneumon (Sanskrit nakula) appears 
 in the hands of Kubera, the God of Wealth, guarding the northern side of the world 
 mountain Sumeru. 
 
 I 
 
July, 1913. Notes on Turquois. 15 
 
 precious stones are offered, but it is the case also with many others. It 
 is interesting that these tribute-bearers are usually people from Central 
 Asia with unmistakable racial features and appropriate costume, or 
 even turbaned Mohammedans. We find the same figures also on the 
 corresponding Arhat paintings of the Chinese and Japanese, and they 
 are doubtless intended to express the important role which Iranians, 
 Ttirks and Arabs have played in transmitting to the East the precious 
 stones of western Asia. 
 
 In the marriage ceremony when the bridal party has arrived at the 
 gate of the bridegroom's house, the officiating priest recites a few 
 benedictory verses, describing the house of the bridegroom: "May 
 there be happiness to all living beings ! The lintel of this door is yellow, 
 being made of gold. The door posts are cut out of blocks of turquois. 
 The sill is made of silver. The door frame is made of lapis lazuli. 
 Opening this auspicious door, you find in it the repository of five kinds 
 of precious things. Blessed are they who live in such a house. "^ This 
 is certainly an ideal or poetical description. In a more ancient marital 
 ceremony described in the Tibetan dramatic play Nang-sa, "the tur- 
 quois sparkling in rainbow tints" is tied to the end of an arrow adorned 
 with streamers of five-colored silk which is fastened to the back of the 
 bride to fix the marriage tie.^ In Ladakh, the bride generally receives, 
 on her wedding day, many of the turquoises which her mother had worn.^ 
 
 To describe all objects in which turquois is employed would mean to 
 survey the whole range of Tibetan ethnography, which is certainly 
 beyond the scope of these notes.^ But reference should be made to 
 the beautiful Tibetan swords in which the hilts and sheaths worked in 
 repousse gold or silver are inlaid with large turquois and coral beads. 
 This is an ancient technique practised also by the Turks of Central Asia 
 and the Persians.^ 
 
 So little is known about the localities in Tibet where turquois is 
 found that there have even been authors who doubted its indigenous 
 occurrence. 
 
 1 S. Chandra Das, Marriage Customs of Tibet, p. 12. 
 
 2 L. A. Waddell, Buddism of Tibet, p. 557 (London, 1895). 
 ' A. H. Francke, Ladakhi Songs, p. 13. 
 
 * For illustrations see Plates I-V. The Field Museum possesses a rich collection 
 of Tibetan, Nepalese and Chinese jewelry which will give occasion at some future 
 date for a study in decorative and industrial art. The Tibetan process of covering 
 a gold or silver foundation with a mosaic of turquois agrees with the similar technique 
 practised in Siberia during the bronze age, and therefore becomes an historical factor 
 of great importance. 
 
 * Compare the Sassanian sword reconstructed by J. de Morgan (Mission 
 scientifique en Perse, Vol. IV, p. 321, Paris, 1897) the shape of which is strikingly 
 identical with the Tibetan sword. 
 
i6 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. XIIL 
 
 A. Campbell, in his "Notes on Eastern Tibet," ^ has the following 
 remarks in regard to turquoises: 
 
 "A great merchant of Tibet named Chongpo, who traded ages ago with India, 
 and once crossed the seas beyond India, brought the finest real turquois to his native 
 country. From that time the stone has been known there, and like coined money, 
 it continues to circulate in the country as a medium of exchange. The imitations 
 brought from China are made of common earthen-colored or other compositions. 
 They are easily detected. Those imported via Cashmere are real stones, but not 
 valuable. The only test of a real stone is to make a fowl swallow it; if real, it will pass 
 through unchanged." 
 
 This tradition, if at all correct and not rather founded on a misunder- 
 standing, carries little weight. The word Chongpo is not a Tibetan 
 proper name, but simply denotes "a dealer, a trader." There is no 
 evidence of the occurrence of turquoises in India proper; the people of 
 India became acquainted with them from Persia only late in the middle 
 ages through Mohammedan influence, and as shown above, they are 
 first mentioned in Sanskrit literature in the beginning of the fifteenth, 
 possibly also in the thirteenth, century. Thus, there is little or no 
 plausibility in the assumption that Itidia could have given the impetus 
 to the introduction of the turquois into a country where almost every 
 individual is in possession of these stones, and where a general national 
 passion for them is developed among all people high and low, which 
 can have been but cultivated for many centuries and ages. This is 
 corroborated by the facts of language and history, and further by the 
 evidence of localities in Tibet where, in fact, turquois occurs in situ. ' 
 
 Marco Polo,^ speaking of the province of Caindu, which is identical 
 with the western part of the present Chinese province of Sze-ch'uan, a 
 territory largely inhabited by Tibetan tribes, mentions besides a lake 
 in which are found pearls, also a mountain in that country "wherein 
 they find a kind of stone called turquoise, in great abundance, and it is 
 a very beautiful stone. These also [in the same way as the fishing of the 
 pearls] the Emperor does not allow to be extracted without his special 
 order." Yule remarks that Chinese authorities quoted by Ritter 
 mention mother-o' -pearl as a product of Lithang, and speak of tur- 
 quoises as found in Djaya (or Draya) to the west of Bathang. This 
 latter notice is quite correct and furnished by several Chinese authors 
 who have visited Tibet and written on the subject.^ They further 
 mention Ch'amdo, that is, not only the small town in Eastern Tibet so 
 
 ' The Phoenix, ed. by J. Summers, Vol. I, p. 143 (London, 1870). 
 
 2 The Book of Ser Marco Polo, ed. by Yule and Cordier, 3d ed.. Vol. II, p. 53 
 (London, 1903). 
 
 ^ W. W. RocKHiLL, Tibet from Chinese Sources {Journal Royal Asiatic Society, 
 VoL XXIII, 1891, p. 272). 
 
July, 1913. Notes on Turquois. 17 
 
 called, but the whole district in which it is situated, and the territory of 
 the capital Lhasa as places for the production of turquois; this locality 
 seems to be particularly rich in this respect, and we have seen that the 
 largest turquois of his time was discovered in the beginning of the eighth 
 century by a Tibetan king on a hill north of Lhasa. 
 
 I have searched through the Chinese Annals of the Mongol or Yuan 
 Dynasty (Yiian shi) for a confirmation of Marco Polo's report regarding 
 the imperial turquois monopoly. Though my efforts have not as yet 
 "been crowned with success, I do not give up the hope that such an 
 account will be discovered in the future either in this or in some of the 
 other Chinese works treating of the history of the Mongol period. The 
 turquois, however, is repeatedly alluded to in the Yiian shi, as we shall 
 note hereafter.^ 
 
 The first European author to report the indigenous occurrence 
 of turquois in Tibet proper, as far as I know, is the Capuchin Friar 
 Francesco Orazio della Penna di Billi in his "Breve Notizia del 
 Regno del Thibet" written in 1730.^ 
 
 According to Sarat Chandra Das,^ the finest turquoises are ob- 
 tained from a mine of the Gangs-chan mountains of Ngari-Khorsum 
 
 1 For the rest, there can be no doubt of the correctness of Marco Polo's state- 
 ment. Th6 turquois monopoly was the outcome and a part of all other exclusive 
 prerogatives of the emperor extending to all precious metals and stones (compare in 
 particular Marco Polo, Vol. I, p. 424). This monopoly of the Mongols forms a 
 counterpart to the turquois monopoly of the Persian Shahs related by J. B. Ta ver- 
 nier (ed. V. Ball, Vol. II, p. 104): "For many years the king of Persia has pro- 
 hibited mining in the ' old rock ' for any one but himself, because having no gold work- 
 ers in the country besides those who work in thread, who are ignorant of the art of 
 enamelling on gold, and without knowledge of design and engraving, he uses for the 
 decoration of swords, daggers, and other work, these turquoises of the old rock in- 
 stead of enamel, which are cut and arranged in patterns like flowers and other figures 
 which the jewelers make. This catches the eye and passes as a laborious work, but 
 it is wanting in design." According to the opinion of the Persian General C. Hou- 
 TUM ScHiNDLER who about 1880 was for some time governor of the mining district 
 and acting manager of the mines, operations were probably carried on by the Persian 
 Government up to 1725 (M. Bauer, Precious Stones, p. 394). On Schindler's work 
 see p. 42, 
 
 * First edited by J. Klaproth in the Nouveau Journal asiatique, 1835 (the passage 
 referred to on p. 32 of the separate issue: "pietre turchine"). English translation in 
 C. R. Markham, Narratives of the Mission of George Bogle to Tibet etc., p. 317, 
 (London, 1876). I may be allowed to point out that the word "cobalt" in the 
 English version, preceding the turquois stones, is based on a mistranslation of 
 Orazio's azurro (present spelling azzurro) which is lapis lazuli. Indeed, this Italian 
 word is traced to the Persian and Arabic names of lapis lazuli, lazvard and Idzuward. 
 We know that this mineral is found in several localities of eastern Tibet (Lho-rong 
 Dzong and Kung-pu Chiang-ta) and in the district of Lhasa (Rockhill, Journal 
 Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. XXIII, 1891, pp. 272-4, and Timkowski, Reise nach 
 China durch die Mongolei, Vol. II, pp. 188, 189, Leipzig, 1826), but it may be 
 doubted that cobalt occurs in Tibet (though it may be found in Sikkim, as stated by 
 J. C. White, Sikhim and Bhutan, p. 322, London, 1909). 
 
 * Tibetan-English Dictionary, p. 1152. 
 
i8 Field Museum or Natural History — Anth., Vol. XIII. 
 
 (West Tibet). ^ This is also corroborated by the historical fact that 
 the kings of Ladakh received a tribute of turquoises from Guge.^ 
 
 From my own experience I may say that according to information 
 received in Tibet turquois occurs in several mountains of the great 
 State of Derge in eastern Tibet, though my Tibetan informants were 
 unable to state the exact localities (or, which is more probable, did not 
 want to state them). At any rate, the fact cannot be called into doubt, 
 for in Derge, celebrated for the high development of art -industries and 
 its clever craftsmen, also fine carvings of turquois are turned out, 
 of which several specimens were secured by me that exhibit a peculiar, 
 very pleasing, soft apple-green tinge differing from any other kind met 
 in Tibet and China, and seemingly coming nearer to the Mexican 
 variety. It seems also that in the mountains to the north of Ta-tsien-lu 
 in western Sze-ch'uan a turquois of inferior quality and a sickly green is 
 obtained; it is, however, so poor and insignificant that the Chinese 
 traders there accustomed to the brilliant blue of their home product look 
 down upon it as spurious. A great many of these greenish stones are 
 utilized in a large collection of Tibetan silver jewelry brought together 
 by me in that town. ■ I was first inclined to accept the opinion of the 
 Chinese consulted by me, and to regard. these stones as imitations, but 
 Dr. Joseph E. Pogue to whom I sent three specimens for examination 
 convinced me that this opinion was unfounded. He writes as follows : 
 
 "The three specimens give the following specific gravities (theoretical for tur- 
 quois is 2.6 — 2.83): 
 
 1 . Small dark-green specimen 2.71 
 
 2. Small light-green specimen 2.81 
 
 3. Larger perforated green specimen 2 . 68 
 
 All three specimens are phosphates, giving good tests. Washed with strong 
 ammonia, they did not lose their color, as most artificially colored turquoises will do 
 when so treated. The specimens reacted characteristically when heated; and when 
 viewed under the microscope, one contains a little granular quartz attached to its 
 edge." 
 
 Captain C. G. Rawling ^ gives the following summary as the result 
 of his inquiry about the occurrence of turquois in Tibet : 
 
 ' ' The rough stones are bought at the fairs held in the country and conveyed by 
 the Indian merchants to Amritsar and Delhi, where they are mounted in gold and 
 silver, and afterwards reimported. Practically every matrix originally comes from 
 Tibet, but though inquiries were made at all the more important places, no informa- 
 tion could be obtained as to the situation of the mines. The Phari people obtain their 
 
 1 That is, the three districts of Ngari comprising'the territories of Rutok, Guge, 
 and Purang. Gangs-chan means the glacier-mountains. 
 
 2 ScHLAGiNTWEiT, Die Konige von Tibet, p. 862. 
 ^ The Great Plateau, p. 294 (London, 1905). 
 
July, 1913. Notes on Turquois. 19 
 
 supply from Calcutta, Shigatse from Lhasa, whilst at many other places the people 
 merely said that they did not know where the stones came from, that they had had 
 theirs for years, and that none were to be found in their district or anywhere near. 
 X)espite these unsatisfactory answers, the consensus of opinion leads one to believe 
 that they exist in the greatest numbers in the country situated between Lhasa and 
 the western border of China." 
 
 I am somewhat doubtful in regard to Rawling's point that Tibetan 
 turquoises are worked up in India and find their way back into Tibet. 
 I am rather under the impression that the reverse is the case, as already 
 stated by George C. M. Birdwood ^ that a good deal of Tibetan 
 jewelry is imported into India through Bhutan, Sikkim, Nepal, and 
 Cashmir, chiefly in silver — ornamented with large, crude turquoises, 
 and sometimes with coral — in the shape of armlets, and necklaces, 
 consisting of amulet boxes, strung on twisted red cloth, or a silver chain, 
 and in various other forms, such as bracelets, anklets, etc., hammered, 
 cut, and filigrained. 
 
 I have carefully gone over four volumes of the Trade Statistics of 
 the Government of Bengal.^ Turquois is not specified in these columns ; 
 it cannot, therefore, claim a big share in the trade between Bengal and 
 Tibet. There is, however, a general item: Jewelry, and Precious 
 Stones and Pearls. Jewelry was imported into Bengal from Tibet in 
 1906-7 at the value of 56 Rupees, precious stones and pearls, unset, 
 at the value of 2,923 Rupees. The export of the latter from Bengal 
 into Tibet for the same year amounted to 27,329 Rupees, in the pre- 
 ceding year, 1905-6, to 32,112 Rupees, in 1904-5, to only 12,460 Rupees 
 (probably owing to Younghusband's expedition). I do not know how 
 large a share is due to turquois in these figures.' 
 
 OsvALDO RoERO ^ givcs a list of merchandise imported into Ladakh 
 from the official register kept by the customs of Leh, the capital of 
 Ladakh. Among the products there enumerated he enlists turquoises 
 as coming from Persia by way of Bokhara, the best and most valuable 
 coming from Seistan. The same view that turquoises are imported 
 into Ladakh from Persia through Bokhara had previously been upheld 
 by Alexander Cunningham.^ H. Ramsay ^ enumerates three classes 
 
 ' 1 The Industrial Arts of India, Vol. II, p. 28. 
 
 ^ The Trade of Bengal with Nepal, Tibet, Sikkim, and Bhutan. Last volume 
 published, Calcutta, 1907. 
 
 ' There is a pretty lively trade in turquoises on the part of Tibetans in Darjeeling; 
 the stones sold there come from Tibet and China (via Tibet). In most cases it is 
 possible to discriminate between turquoises of Tibetan and Chinese origin. 
 
 * Ricordi dei viaggi al Cashemir, Piccolo e Medio Tibet e Turkestan, Vol. Ill, 
 p. 72 (Torino, 1881). 
 
 * Ladak, p. 242 (London, 1854). Also in Gilgit the turquois is employed (J. 
 BiDDULPH, Tribes of the Hindoo Kush, p. 74, Calcutta, 1880). 
 
 * Western Tibet: A Practical Dictionary, p. 162 (Lahore, 1890). 
 
20 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. XIII. 
 
 of good turquoises which are free from flaws and with very Httle green, 
 while inferior kinds are known as "Tibetan" and "Chinese turquoises," 
 which come to Ladakh from Lhasa or China; they are full of flaws and 
 generally very green. The latter remark holds good only for Tibetan 
 stones, as the Chinese are usually azure-blue. "The best turquoises," 
 concludes Ramsay, "come up from India. Ladakhis object to flaws, 
 but they like a little green, as they consider it a sort of guarantee that 
 the turquois has not been manufactured." 
 
 In the following notes on China it will be seen that large quantities 
 of turquoises cut into stones or beads and worked into carved objects 
 are imported nowadays from China into Tibet ; they are largely used by 
 Chinese traders for purposes of barter with the Tibetans. * 
 
 III. Turquois in China 
 
 The turquois, though found at present in central China in situ and 
 commercially exploited by Chinese traders for export trade into Tibet 
 and Mongolia, is not generally known to the Chinese people, for the 
 apparent reason that it is but little employed by them and plays no 
 ■ significant part in their life.^ Outside of Peking and Si-ngan fu, where 
 the trade is monopolized by a few of the initiated, the stone is hardly 
 familiar to the people at large, nor to the educated classes; in Shanghai, 
 Hankow, and Canton, it is entirely unknown. This is glaringly evi- 
 denced by the fact that the Chinese commission engaged in working up 
 the "English and Chinese Standard Dictionary," published by the 
 Shanghai Commercial Press, in 1908, is not even acquainted with their 
 own Chinese name for the stone, and speaks of it as a substance entirely 
 foreign to their country; their definition of turquois (Vol. II, p. 2442) is 
 "a Persian gem of a greenish-blue color, etc., first known to Europe 
 through Turkey," and the same translated literally into Chinese, 
 without giving the proper Chinese term for the stone. Traders who have 
 come in contact with Tibetans or Mongols or even settled among these 
 peoples are certainly acquainted with it, and may even be induced to 
 wear a turquois button, but a "barbarous" odor is always attached to 
 it, and it seldom enters the ornaments of a self-respecting Chinese 
 woman. 
 
 Besides the Hon. W. W. Rockhill, S. Wells Williams ^ seems to 
 be the only author to mention turquoises as known to the Chinese. 
 It is somewhat hard to understand how other careful observers could 
 
 1 It follows therefrom that the knowledge of the turquois in China cannot be very 
 old, and this conclusion will be confirmed by our historical inquiry. 
 
 2 The Middle Kingdom, Vol. I, p. 310 (New York, 1901). 
 
July, 1913. Notes on Turquois. 21 
 
 have overlooked its presence. F. v. Richthofen,^ who gives a fairly 
 complete summary of the commerce of Si-ngan fu does not mention it, 
 nor does he notice it in his enumeration of goods traded from China to 
 Tibet (p. 133). As far as I am aware, no handbook on mineralogy or 
 precious stones makes any reference to the Chinese turquois; it is not 
 noted either by F. de Mely in his otherwise very complete work "Les 
 lapidaires chinois." 
 
 The present Chinese name for turquois is lu sung shi, that is, "green 
 fir-tree stone," or sung erh shi ^ (also sung-tse shi) that is, fir-cone stone. 
 This name must not be confounded with the designation sung shi, 
 "fir-tree stone," which is not a stone, but by which petrified pieces of 
 the fir-tree are understood; these are also called sung hua shi, "fir-tree 
 transmutation stones," but their very color description as being yellow 
 or purple shows sufficiently that they are entirely distinct from turquois. 
 It will, however, be useful to consider briefly what Chinese authors have 
 to say in regard to these petrefacts, because from these statements we 
 shall gain a clue to the understanding of their name for turquois. 
 
 The earliest trustworthy mention of such petrefacts of vegetal 
 origin is made in the "Annals of the T'ang Dynasty" (618-906 a. d.; 
 T'ang shu, Ch. 217 b, p. 5) compiled from the records of the dynasty by 
 Ngou-yang Siu (1007-1072) and Simg K'i (998-1061) ^ and completed 
 in 1060. This notice embodied in the chapter on the Uigur (Hui-hu) 
 relates to Central Asia, more particularly to the region inhabited by the 
 tribe Bayirku (Pa-ye-ku),* and runs as follows: 
 
 "The country is grassy and produces noble horses and fine iron. There is a river 
 called K'ang-kan. The people cut up fir-trees and throw the pieces into the water. 
 In the course of three years these alter into blue-colored stone, in which the marks of 
 
 1 Letters, p. 108. 
 
 * In the Cantonese dialect luk ts'ung shek and ts'ung i shek, respectively. The 
 words with this meaning will be found in the Chinese-English Dictionaries of Eitel 
 and Giles, and in the Chinese-Russian Dictionary of Palladius; Couvreur and 
 others do not give them. The translation by turquois is confirmed by the Great 
 Imperial Dictionary in Four Languages, which has the series: Chinese lii sung shi, 
 corresponding to Manchu uyu, Tibetan gyu, and Mongol ugyu, all of which refer to 
 the turquois. In a description of Tibet {Wei ts'ang t'u chi by Lu Hua-chu, published 
 in 1785) occurs also the expression sung jut (No. 5723) shi, "stone of fir-tree buds." 
 The German-Chinese Dictionary published by the Catholic Missionaries of South- 
 Shantung (p. 916, Yen-chou fu, 1906) gives for turquois the word la se shi, "green- 
 colored stone." G. Schlegel (Nederlandsch-chineesch woordenboek, Vol. IV, 
 p. 232, Leiden, 1890), besides the common sung irh shi, registers for "turkoois" the 
 word tsHng yii, that is, blue or green jade. This must be an artificial modem forma- 
 tion, or rather an error, as the Chinese have never ranged turquois among jade but 
 solely among ordinary stone, on which more will be said farther on. 
 
 ' Giles, Biographical Dictionary, pp. 606, 698. 
 
 * Chavannes, Documents sur les Tou-kiue (Turcs) occidentaux, p. 88 
 (St. Petersburg, 1903). 
 
22 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. XIII. 
 
 the wood are still preserved in delicate outlines. It is generally called K'ang-kan 
 stone."' 
 
 In 767 A. D. the painter Pi Hung is said to have executed a wall- 
 painting on which fossil fir-trees were depicted, evoking poetical eulogies 
 on the part of admirers.^ 
 
 The Taoists, with their interest in the beauties and wonders of 
 nature, could not fail to seize this attractive subject, and to interpret 
 the phenomenon. The Lu i ki (Ko chi king yiian, Ch. 7, p. 6), a fabulous 
 book by theTaoist monk Tu Kuang-t'ing of the tenth century,' reports: 
 
 *' In a pavilion on a mountain in Yung-k'ang hien in Wu chou (the modern Kin- 
 hua fu in Ch6-kiang Province) there are rotten fir-trees. If you break a piece oflF, 
 you will find that it is not decayed in the water but a substance altered into stone 
 which previously was not yet transformed in that manner. On examining the pieces 
 in the water, they turn out to be transformations of the same character. These 
 metamorphoses do not differ from fir-trees as to branches and bark; only they are 
 very hard."* 
 
 1 Compare d'Herbelot, BibliothSque orientale, Vol. IV, p. 165 (La Haye, 1779). 
 The Chinese cyclopasdias quote this passage very inaccurately and with arbitrary 
 changes. Ko chi king yiian (Ch. 7, p. 6), for example, writes the name of the river 
 K'ang-tse, omits a whole sentence and adds at the end: "The stone has the designs 
 of a fir-tree." 
 
 2 P'ei wen yiinfu, Ch. 100 A, p. 21 b. 
 
 ^ Compare Wylie (Notes on Chinese Literature, p. 200) who dates this author in 
 the tenth century (likewise p. 221). The Lu i ki has been adopted into the Taoist 
 Canon (L. Wieger, Le canon taoiste, p. iii. No. 586); Dr. Wieger, however, places 
 the work and the author in the ninth century. M. Paul Pelliot {Journal asiatique, 
 1912, Juillet-Aotlt, p. 149) fortunately sheds light on the matter by informing us that 
 Tu Kuang-t'ing lived toward the close of the T'ang dynasty, and that all his works 
 come down from the beginning of the tenth century. Bretschneider {Botanicon 
 Sinicum, pt. i, p. 172, No. 492) states that a work with the title Lu i ki must have 
 been extant in the sixth century, as it is quoted in a book of that time; but it seems 
 not to be known whether the work there referred to is really identical with the Lu i ki 
 of Tu Kuang-t'ing. When Wylie points out that the productions of this author 
 have forfeited all claim to authenticity, this is certainly correct as regards their 
 historical value. He must not be judged, however, in this light, but should be 
 appreciated as a Taoist recluse and dreamer who reveals to us interesting phases of 
 Taoist psychology by describing visions of dragons, tigers, tortoises, serpents and 
 fishes, or relates extraordinary dreams and strange phenomena happening near the 
 graveyards, who now records the principal hills and lakes of the empire famous as 
 retreats of Taoist devotees, now tells the story of the Wu-i Mountain of Fu-kien 
 renowned for its plantations of tea. 
 
 * The Po wu chi, a work by Chang Hua (232-300 A. d.) says: "The root of the 
 fir-tree partakes of the nature of stone; stones, when cracked, are dissolved into sand 
 and produce a fir-tree; and a fir-tree, when reaching three thousand years, again 
 alters into stone." The Po wu chi was lost during the Sung period and compiled at 
 a later date from extracts embodied in other publications (Wylie, Notes, p. 192); 
 there is, consequently, no guaranty that any text of this work, as preserved in the 
 present editions, really goes back to the third century. — The above subject has also an 
 interesting bearing on the Chinese knowledge of fossils, which should be treated some 
 day in a coherent essay. There is a great deal of information on dragon bones and 
 teeth originating from fossil hipparion and rhinoceros, petrified fishes, crabs, and 
 swallows, all procurable in the Chinese drug-stores. There are similar accounts 
 among the Arabs (M. Reinaud, Relation des voyages faits par les Arabes, Vol. I, 
 p. 2 1 ; P. A. VAN der Lith, Livre des merveilles de I'lnde, p. 1 7 1 ) , and the palaeontologi- 
 
July, 1913. • Notes on Turquois. 23 
 
 In regard to these petrefacts of Yung-k"ang, another interesting 
 note is given by Tu Wan or Tu Ki-yang in his Treatise on Stones, 
 entitled Yiin lin shi p'n (Ch. b, p. 3) published in the year 1133 (Sung 
 period), the oldest Chinese lapidarium extant.' This author speaks of 
 a poet of the T'ang dynasty, Lu Kuei-meng,^ who had obtained a pillow 
 and a lute of stone, and left two poems on these objects. In the intro- 
 duction to the poems, he mentions the fir-trees of Yung-k'ang which 
 from old age had turned into stones, and that one evening, as the 
 effect of a big rainstorm, a whole fir-tree grove on the mountains sudden- 
 ly changed into stone, and fell to the ground, smashed into pieces from 
 two to three feet in diameter, and these are still there; the natives of 
 the place, then, carried such pieces away and worked them up into 
 footstools, some as small as a fist, or into low tables by breaking the 
 larger pieces. 
 
 Another author, Chang Lu-i, states that "there are two varieties of 
 these stones produced by transformation of fir-trees, one of yellow, and 
 one of purple color, of very fine substance and shape, with water marks 
 on the surface, some also with marks of the tree bark, others with marks 
 of the tree knots, such as occur on the T'ien-t'ai mountains (in T'ai-chou 
 fu, Che-kiang). There are those the transmutation of which is not 
 complete, but which still bear the fir-tree substance; these are useful 
 as medicine. If those perfectly transformed are taken as medicine, 
 they have the effect upon man that he forgets passion and stops longing; 
 this medicine cures love-sickness; if men or women who are unhappily 
 in love partake of it, they will intercept their thoughts and not remember 
 again." This is certainly a sympathetic remedy; in the same manner 
 as the tree has lost its life and changed into a lifeless mass of stone, so it 
 has the effect on the human heart to make it forget, and to render it 
 cold and old like stone. 
 
 cal knowledge of the ancients has been treated by E. v. Lasaulx, Die Geologie der 
 Griechen und Romer, pp. 6-16 {Abhandlungen der bayerischen Akademie, Munchen, 
 1851). 
 
 ^ It is reprinted in the enormous collection Chi pu tsu tsai ts'ung shu, Section 28; 
 also in T'ang Sung ts'ung shu. This work is widely different from the class of books 
 styled pin ts'ao, in which the therapeutic value of the substances occurring in nature 
 forms the principal point of view. The book of Tu Wan is written from the stand- 
 point of economic geography. The minerals are all named for the localities from 
 which they originate, and the author is chiefly interested in their industrial utiliza- 
 tion. This feature lends his notes a practical value, and a complete translation of 
 them, aside from the purely scientific interest, might yield also results for the study of 
 economic mineralogy in China. 
 
 ^ He is known as the author of the Siao ming lu (Wylie, Notes on Chinese Litera- 
 ture, p. 182) and of a small treatise on the plough (ibid., p. 93, and O. Franke, K^ng 
 Tschi T'u, p. 45, Hamburg, 1913). Bretschneider (/. c, p. 172, No. 493) mentions 
 a work Poems of Lu Kuei-mSng as cited in T'ang shu, Ch. 196. The Collection of his 
 Poems (shitsi) is quoted in Kao chaiman lu (Ch. i, p. i; Shou shan ko ts'ung shu, 
 Vol. 91). 
 
24 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. XIII. 
 
 Also the Pen ts'ao kang mu (Section on Stones, Ch. g, p. 14) of Li 
 Shi-chen, the Chinese standard work on materia medica and natural 
 history completed in 1578 after 26 years' labor/ mentions the 'fir-tree 
 stone ' (sung shi) after Su Sung, an author of the Sung period, as being 
 produced in Ch'u-chou fu (Che-kiang Province) and being like the 
 trunk of a fir-tree but solid stone. According to the opinion of some, it 
 is fir-tree which has changed into stone after a long time ; it is gathered a 
 great deal on the mountains, and is made into pillows.^ 
 
 It seems to me that similar notions have been active in inducing the 
 Chinese to confer on the turquois the name "green fir-tree stone," 
 because they looked upon it as a transformation from the fir-tree. 
 This may be inferred as a plausible explanation, for as far as I know, 
 there are no definitions of the name in Chinese literature; the word 
 lil sung shi can be traced only to the eighteenth century (see p. 60). 
 
 A modem author, Chung Kia-fu, in his collected works (Ch'un ts'ao 
 fang ts'ung shu, 1845, ^h. 29, p. 19) has developed a peculiar view on 
 the origin of turquois which he places in the same category as amber: 
 
 "When the moss growing on rock after many years consoHdates and assumes 
 color, turquoises arise, those of a deep hue being called lii sung, those light in color 
 sung erh ('fir-tree ears'). This is the same process as takes place with respect to 
 fir-tree resin which after many years consolidates and develops into amber, that of a 
 deep shade being called hu-p'o, that light in color being called bees'-wax (mi-la). ^ 
 
 ^ The literary history of this interesting work, first printed in 1596, has been traced 
 by Bretschneider, Botanicon Sinicum, pt. i, p. 55. Despite many efforts I have 
 not succeeded in procuring the original edition which seems to be entirely lost and 
 not now to exist in any Chinese library. Bretschneider states that the earliest edi- 
 tion extant seems to be that of 1658; but a print of 1645 in 16 vols., edited by Ni 
 Tun-yii of Hang-chou, was secured by me in Tokyo, now in the John Crerar Library 
 of Chicago, which, besides, has an edition of 1826 in 39 volumes, and one issued in 
 1885 in 40 volumes, the best print in existence. An excellent photo-lithographic 
 reprint was published in 1908 by the firm Tsi ch'eng t'u shu of Shanghai after an edi- 
 tion of 1657 by Chang Ch'ao-lin. The text in the Shun-chi editions is more accurate 
 than in the K'ien-lung and Tao-kuang editions. Prof. Hirth {Journal China Branch 
 Royal As. Sac, Vol. XXI, 1886, p. 324) mentions a Ming edition printed in 1603, 
 possibly the second edition published. 
 
 ^ A. Wylie (in his treatise Asbestos in China: Chinese Researches III, p. 152, 
 Shanghai, 1897) quotes from the T'u king: "Among the hills at Ch'u chou (in ChS- 
 kiang Province) a species of pine stone is produced, resembling the trunk of the pine, 
 but in reality a stone ; some say that the pine in the course of time becomes changed 
 into stone. Many people take it to decorate their mountain lodges, and also shape 
 it into pillows." This passage is evidently taken from the Pen ts'ao kang mu, the 
 abbreviated title T'u king being identical with the T'u king pen ts'ao of Su Sung. 
 Compare also F. de M£ly (Les lapidaires chinois, p. 86, Paris, 1896) where the trans- 
 lation "pour representer des tranches d'arbres" should read "to represent pillows." 
 On p. 208 DE M6ly cites an interesting note from de Rosny, according to which a 
 fossil pine-tree was found in Japan in 1 806. 
 
 ^ Mi-la is the designation for a light -yellow kind of amber in which presumably 
 also copal and artificial productions occur. The Imperial Geography of the Manchu 
 Dynasty {Ta Ts'ing i t'ung chi, Ch. 274) ascribes its production to Shi-nan fu in 
 Hu-pei Province, but in another passage connects its introduction with the Hol- 
 landers. Other Chinese authors derive the origin of mi-la from Yiin-nan Province 
 
July, 1913. Notes on Turquois. 25 
 
 I once received a water-receptacle to wash writing-brushes in, made from turquois, 
 of the size of a dish, in the shape of lotus-leaves, and onion-green and kingfisher-blue 
 in color." 
 
 In the Annals of the T'ang Dynasty (T'ang shu), there is a curious 
 word se-se (No. 9599) occurring in several passages and assumed by 
 HiRTH and Chavannes to have the meaning of turquois. The one is 
 met with in Ch. 221 b, p. 2 b, in an account of Sogdiana, but relating to 
 the region of Ferghana, where it is said : 
 
 "North-east from the capital (modern Tashkend), there are the Western Turks, 
 north-west P'o-la; 200 li south one comes to Khojend, 500 It south-west to K'ang 
 (that is, Sogdiana, the region of Samarkand). In the south-west is the river Yao-sha 
 (the Yaxartes), and in the south-east are big mountains producing si-s& (or so-so). "^ 
 
 Another passage containing this word will be found in Ch. 256 of 
 the T'ang shu, in the account of Tibet. 
 
 and Tibet (the Tibetan name is ko-shel; in Mongol: tabarkhai shel; in Manchu: 
 meisile, an artificial hybrid from Chinese mi and Tibetan shel 'crystal'). In Ch'^ng- 
 tu fu, the capital of Sze-ch'uan Province, a number of small girdle-pendants carved 
 from this substance were obtained by me (Yun-nan being given as the place of pro- 
 duction) which have not yet been examined as to their composition. 
 
 1 See F. HiRTH, Nachworte zur Inschrift des Tonjukuk, p. 81 (in W. Radloff, 
 Die alttiirkischen Inschriften der Mongoleij^ Vol. II, St. Petersburg, 1899). E. 
 Chavannes, Documents sur les Tou-Kiue (Turcs) occidentaux, p. 140 (St. Peters- 
 burg, 1903) translating the same passage accepts the rendering of Hirth. Also Giles, 
 in the second edition of his Chinese-English Dictionary, sides with this translation. 
 Palladius, who transcribes the word she-she, was not of this opinion, for in his 
 excellent Chinese- Russiarl Dictionary (Vol. II, p. 569) he gives the definition "azure- 
 colored, transparent precious stone." He has likewise another word she-she (written 
 with the character No. 9600 in the Dictionary of Giles) with the meaning of "emer- 
 ald." CouvREUR (Dictionnaire classique de la langue chinoise, p. 584) explains se-se: 
 "nom d'une belle pierre et d'une esp^ce de verre." In his Dictionnaire chinois- 
 frangais (p. 13), the same author gives the interpretation: "pierre bleue et trans- 
 parente," and for the plain se: "limpidity d'une pierre pr^cieuse; pur, net." It 
 would be very interesting to have the Chinese source pointed out to which the state- 
 ments of Palladius and Couvreur in regard to the transparency of the stone go back; 
 in the Chinese records at my disposal I regret I can find nothing to this effect. In 
 view of the mineralogical properties of turquois it is evident that this is a point of 
 importance, for non-transparency is one of the prominent characteristics of turquois. 
 As we can but presume that both Palladius and Couvreur must have founded their 
 definition on some Chinese document, this would present another of the objections 
 which must be raised to the weak hypothesis of identifying sii-si with the turquois. 
 E. H. Parker {China Review, Vol. XVIII, 1890, p. 221) defines se-se as a sort of jade 
 much used for arrowheads and other purposes by the Tibetans, Tungusians, and even 
 Ta Yue-chi (Indoscythians) who after their conversion to Buddhism had a sacred 
 patra or alms-bowl made of the same material (ts'ing shi); in his opinion, si-s^ is 
 identical with the latter term, which means green or blue (but possibly also dark- 
 colored) stone. This point of view is hardly correct. The arrowheads of the 
 Tungusian tribes, as corroborated by archaeological finds made in the Amur region, 
 were of nothing but common flint. The ts'ing shi of which the alms-bowl of the 
 Indoscythians was made in all probability was lapis lazuli and would accordingly 
 mean in this case 'blue stone'; on Buddhist pictures alms-bowls are usually painted 
 an ultramarine or lapis-lazuli blue color (see above p. 14). There are several other 
 instances where the word ts'ing shi has the same meaning (Hirth, China and the 
 Roman Orient, p. 72, and Chinesische Studien, p. 250). There is no Chinese text 
 saying that se-se was a kind of jade, that it was a ts'ing shi, or ever used for 
 arrowheads. 
 
26 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. XIII. 
 
 "The officers in full costume wear as ornaments — those of the highest rank 
 si-sS, the next gold, then gilded silver, then silver, and the lowest copper — which 
 hang in large and small strings from the shoulder, and distinguish the rank of the 
 wearer."* 
 
 BusHELL comments that se-se is a kind of precious stone found in the 
 high mountains north-east of Tashkend. At the outset, it does not 
 seem very likely that in the latter passage the word has the significance 
 of turquois, for it outranks gold (compare above p. ii) and however 
 much appreciated in Tibet, a turquois could never outshine gold nor 
 have any value equivalent to it, as was and is the case everywhere else; 
 and as shown above, it was not even looked upon as a precious stone by 
 the ancient Tibetans. There was still less reason for the Tibetans to 
 import their turquoises from Tashkend — if se-se should denote espe- 
 cially the turquoises of that locality — as they found them in great 
 abundance in their own country. Nor was the turquois apt to serve 
 for the distinction of the first official rank in Tibet, as it has always been 
 there part and parcel of the adornment of all classes of people and par- 
 ticularly the ornament of women who are loaded with it. The se-se 
 of the Tibetan officials must, therefore, have been something else, a 
 much scarcer and more valuable gem. An idea of its value is afforded 
 by a notice in the Annals of the Five Dynasties {Sin Wu tai shi, Ch. 74, 
 p. 4b) where it is said that the women of the T'u-po (Tibetans) wear beads 
 of se-se in the plaited tresses of their hair, and thdt, as regards the best 
 quality of these beads, a single one is bartered for, or has the exchange 
 value of, a noble horse. ^ This seems to me to be sufficient evidence 
 militant against the identification of se-se with the turquois, as far as 
 Tibet is concerned, for a single turquois, whose value in Tibet may range 
 from a few cents up to a dollar or so, could never have had nor has a 
 valuation equivalent to a good horse.^ 
 
 1 See S. W. BusHELL, The Early History of Tibet, p. 8 {Journal Royal Asiatic 
 Society, 1880). The T'ang shu (K'ien-lung edition, Ch. 216 A, p. i b) has instead of 
 se-sS the reading k'in-se, a frequent compound meaning "lute and harp" (Giles's 
 Dictionary, No. 2109). It is evident that this way of writing is erroneous, and was 
 perhaps suggested to a copyist who did not understand the unusual word s^-se. The 
 passage is not contained in the Old History of the T'ang dynasty {Kiu T'ang shu), 
 but only in the New History (Sin T'ang shu). 
 
 ^ This passage occurs in the report of the embassy of Kao Kiii-hui of 938 A. D. 
 Abel-Remusat (Histoire de la villedeKhotan, p. 77, Paris, 1820), who has translated 
 this account, rendered the word s^-si by "pearls." 
 
 ^ In the History of the Kingdom of Nan-chao {Nan-chao ye shi, published in 1550), 
 a tribute of se-s^ is mentioned for the year 794 as being sent from Nan-chao, com- 
 prising the territory of the present province of Yiin-nan, to the court of China (C. 
 Sainson, Histoire particuli^re du Nan-Tchao, p. 54, Paris, 1904). At first sight, the 
 s&-se in this instance might be regarded as turquoises. R. Pumpelly, as will be noted 
 below, has referred to Yiin-nan as a locality producing a mineral similar to turquois, 
 though this report requires confirmation. There is further evidence in the Annals 
 of the Yuan Dynasty (Yiian shi, Ch. 16, p. 10 b) that in 1290 turquoises {pi tien-tse) 
 
July, 1913. Notes on Turquois. 27 
 
 In the Old History of the T'ang Dynasty (Kiu T'ang shu, Ch. 198, 
 p. II b), a description of the country Fu-lin (Syria) is given, whose great 
 wealth in precious stones is emphasized. In the palaces, it is said there, 
 the pillars are made of se-se} It is difficult to see, if se-se should have 
 to be identified with the turquois, how pillars could be made of this 
 material. The Chinese text does not say that the pillars were adorned 
 or inlaid with this stone but produced from it. 
 
 A fourth passage in the T'ang shu (Ch. 221 a, p. lob) referring to 
 se-se is contained in an account of Khotan (Yu lien). Emperor Te- 
 tsung (780-805) despatched an emissary, Chu Ju-yii by name, to 
 Khotan on the search for jade, and he obtained there a hundred pounds 
 (catties) of se-se} This notice is of great interest in showing that the 
 precious stones of this name were really imported into China, and that 
 the mart for them was Khotan. 
 
 There are, however, still earlier references to the jewel s^-se. It is 
 for the first time mentioned in the Pei shi (Ch. 97, pp. 7 b, 12 a) and in 
 the ''Annals of the Sui Dynasty" ' {Sui shu, Ch. 83, containing a record 
 of the foreign countries then known to the Chinese). Both histories 
 
 were gathered in the circuit of Hui-ch'uan in Yiin-nan Province; my friend Prof. 
 Paul Pelliot was good enough to draw my attention to this passage. Another pas- 
 sage alludes to a gift of a thousand turquoises sent from Hui-ch'uan in 1284 {Kitir 
 Ving se wen hien t'ung k'ao, Ch. 23, p. 7). But it seems likely from what will be stated 
 farther on in regard to the first acquaintance of the Cliinese with the turquois in the 
 Mongol period that the turquois mines of Yiin-nan were opened only shortly before 
 this time. At any rate I am not inclined to transfer this account without reserve to 
 the date 794, nor to believe in the identity of the different terms se-si and pi tien-tse. 
 While I should merely admit the possibility of such an identification, another histori- 
 cal explanation of the case may be pointed out. In the eighth century, the T'ai or 
 Shan, the stock of peoples forming the kingdom of Nan-chao, were in close political 
 alliance with the Tibetans who had then reached the zenith of their power. It would 
 therefore be justifiable to conclude that the se-se of Nan-chao were derived from Tibet 
 and are to be identified with the ancient Tibetan se-se, which, as will be shown here- 
 after, may be the emerald. In the T'ang shu (Ch. 222 a, p. 2 a), the women of the 
 Southern Man, the large stock of aboriginal tribes formerly spread over the whole of 
 southern China, are said to fasten in their hair beads, shells, se-.st, and amber. In 
 this case it is rather tempting at first sight to interpret se-se as turquois, because this 
 combination of turquois and amber, as pointed out before, occurs indeed among the 
 Tibetan group of tribes. But the Man do not belong to the Tibetan family, and 
 another difificulty is presented by the fact that there are no records either of ancient 
 or modern times pointing to the employment of the turquois among any tribe of the 
 Man, so that it is safer to assume that the turquois is not understood in the above 
 text. 
 
 ' HiRTH, China and the Roman Orient, p. 53. At that time (1885) Hirth had 
 not advanced any identification of this term. 
 
 * He embezzled the jade objects destined for the emperor, was sentenced, and 
 died in exile (Chavannes, Documents, p. 128, note 2). 
 
 ' The Pei shi, " Northern Annals," was written by Li Yen-shou (Giles, Biographi- 
 cal Dictionary, p. 474) and completed about the year 644; it comprises the history of 
 the dynasties of the north ruling from 386 to 618. The Sui dynasty ruled from 589 
 to 618. The Sui shu was composed by Wei Ch&ng (581-643; Giles, I. c, p. 856) 
 under the T'ang dynasty and completed in 636. 
 
28 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. XIII. 
 
 mention the jewel in two passages,— first, as a product of the country 
 of Sogdiana (K'ang) corresponding to the region of Samarkand, and 
 secondly as a product of Persia (Pose, from Pars)} The text of the 
 Pei ski, with the same indications, is found also in the "Annals of the 
 Wei Dynasty" {Wei shu, Ch. 102, pp. 5a and 9b) .^ But this passage 
 
 1 It is noticeable that si-se as products of Persia are mentioned in Pei shi and 
 Sui shu, but not in the two T'ang shu. The Kiu T'ang shu (Ch. 198, p. 11) enu- 
 merates as precious objects of Persia coral-trees, ch'i-k'ii, agate, and "fire-pearls" 
 (huo chu). The T'ang shu mentions only coral as a product of Persia and the gift to 
 China of a couch of agate (Chavannes, Documents, pp. 171, 174). The exact 
 history of the term ch'e-k'ti which in general denotes a large white conch (Tibetan 
 dung, Sanskrit gankha, Arabic shenek: M. Reinaud, Relation des voyages faits par 
 les Arabes, Vol. I, p. 6), and sometimes seems to refer to a precious stone remains to 
 be ascertained (compare Hirth and Rockhill, Chau Ju-kua, p. 231; Pelliot, 
 T'oung Pao, 1912, p. 481). The "fire-pearls" were lenses of rock-crystal, alleged to 
 have been used for producing fire (F. de Mely, Les lapidaires chinois, p. 60; Cha- 
 vannes, Documents, p. 166; Pelliot, Bulletin de V Ecole franqaise d' Extreme-Orient, 
 Vol. Ill, 1903, p. 270; Pen ts'ao kang mu, Ch. 8, p. 18 a). In the Sui shu, se-se are 
 enumerated together with genuine pearls, glass, amber, coral, lapis lazuli, agate, 
 rock-crystal, huo ts'i, and diamond. The name huo ts'i (the alleged identity with 
 huo chu remains to be proved) has not yet been properly identified. In the Nan shi 
 (Ch. 78, p. 7) these stones are mentioned as products of central India and described 
 as having the appearance of yiin-mu and the color of violet gold (Pelliot, /. c); the 
 difficulty is that also the word yiin-mu which according to Pelliot seems to designate 
 mica and mother-o'-pearl is not yet determined beyond doubt. Possibly, huo-ts'i 
 designates the garnet. The word se-se is, in the text of the Sui shu, followed by the 
 words hu lo kie lii t'eng. At first I was inclined to take the verb hu in its literal sense 
 "called, designated," and to believe that the words following it represent a gloss, 
 being the Persian or Arabic name of the stone in Chinese transcription. Recon- 
 structing the ancient sounds of those Chinese characters we would arrive at the read- 
 ing lok (or rok)-ket-li-dang; but there is no word in Persian or Arabic to be identified 
 with such a form. M. Paul Pelliot, to whom I submitted this difficult point, has 
 been good enough to write me that this passage had already attracted his attention, 
 and that he does not regard the incriminated words as a gloss; he thinks that the word 
 hu is also part of the transcription, and that two further products are enumerated in 
 their Persian names. The passage, accordingly, should be understood in the sense 
 that Persia produces se-se, hu-lo{k), and ket-li-dang. The two latter names, "however, 
 are as yet unidentified, but with M. Pelliot's very plausible point of view, a better 
 attempt at identification might be pursued. Indeed, Prof. A. V. Williams Jackson 
 had called my attention to the fact that katlidang may be a compound of the word 
 qatldn, "link" or "scale," used alike in Arabic, Turkish and Persian, and the Persian 
 word tan "body," the content of the term implying scale or chain armor. This is 
 very suggestive, as indeed Persia was the country which supplied China with chain- 
 mail (ancient specimens in the Field Museum). The T'ang shu, in the account on 
 Samarkand (K'ang) states that in the beginning of the period K'ai-yiian (713-741) 
 Samarkand sent as tribute to China chain-mail {so-tse k'ai). This question will be 
 shortly discussed by me in another place. Liang shu (Ch. 54, p. 14 b) attributes to 
 Persia coral-trees one to two feet high, amber, agate, genuine pearls, and mei-hui. 
 Hirth and Rockhill (Chau Ju-kua, p. 16, St. Petersburg, 1912), treating the prod- 
 ucts of Persia after Wei shu and Sui shu, entirely omit the se-se (and several others). 
 It seems doubtful if, as stated so positively by the two authors, "most of these prod- 
 ucts came, of course, from India, or from countries of south-eastern Asia, only a few 
 being products of Arabia, or countries bordering on the Persian Gulf" (and again on 
 p. 7). This is true only to a certain extent; the se-se, at any rate, are not mentioned 
 by the Chinese as products of India or south-eastern Asia, but exclusively as products 
 of Persia and Sogdiana, to which, later in the T'ang period, Fu-lin, Tashkend, Tibet, 
 and the Man are joined. 
 
 ^ The Wei dynasty ruled from 386 to 556; the Wei shu was written by Wei Shou 
 (506-572; Giles, /. c, p. 867) and presented to the throne in 554. 
 
July, 1913. Notes on Turquois. 29 
 
 has no independent value, because Ch. 102 of this work treating of the 
 countries of the west, as well demonstrated by Chavannes,^ has been 
 merely reproduced from Ch. 97 of the Pei shi by a committee of schol- 
 ars of the Sung period headed by Fan Tsu-yii (1641-1098). 
 
 It is thus evident that si-se were known to the Chinese prior to the 
 age of the T'ang dynasty as occurring in the territory of Persia and 
 Sogdiana, to wit, within the Iranian culture-area. It is noteworthy 
 also that any particular region or mountain producing the stone is not 
 alluded to in these earlier texts as subsequently in the T'ang shti, and 
 that Pei shi and Sui shu, while locating se-se in Sogdiana, do not allude 
 to it in their notices of Tashkend {Shi kuo). 
 
 As I did not know on what evidence Prof. Hirth had based his 
 identification of se-se with the turquois, I consulted him regarding this 
 point, and he was good enough to furnish the following note which is 
 here reproduced with his kind permission. 
 
 "The word s6-s6 (in Cantonese shat-shat, sit-sit, or sok-sok) has, besides others, 
 the meaning of a precious stone, 'a greenish or bluish bead' (pi chu), as quoted in 
 P'ei wen yiinfu, Ch. 93 B, p. 85. The P^n ts'ao kang mu (Ch. 8, p. 55) says that the 
 people of the T'ang dynasty called green (or blue) precious stones by the name so-so. 
 The Japanese sources as quoted in Geerts, Les Produits de la nature japonaise et 
 chinoise, p. 481, do not apparently refer to so-so, but the T'u shu tsi ch'Sng (section 
 27, National Economy, Ch. 335) contains an extract from the T'ien kung k'ai wu in 
 which so-so is classed with greenish precious stones. The T'ang kuo shih p'u (ibid.) 
 relates the story o: a big so-so which the author thinks was not a genuine one ; the same 
 story is told in Yen fan lu, Ch. 15, p. 11. 
 
 "Bretschneider (Chinese Recorder, Vol. VI, p. 6) was, as far as I know, the first 
 to find out that se-se was not a musical instrument as Pauthier had assumed, but a 
 precious stone.^ In his translation of a passage regarding precious stones found in 
 the Cho keng lu (reproduced in his Mediaeval Researches, Vol. I, pp. 173-6), he refers 
 to 'stones called tien-tze' which occur in Nishapur and Kirman. Bretschneider says 
 of these : ' I have little doubt that the Chinese author understood by it the turquoise, 
 the Persian name of which \sfiruze. Both Nishapur and Kirman produced turquoise. 
 So did the hills of Ferghana referred to in Nachworte, etc., p. 81, for the territory of 
 Ferghana furnished turquoises, according to von Kremer, Kulturgeschichte des 
 Orients, Vol. I, p. 329. These are the reasons which had induced me to render so-so 
 by 'Turkis'."' 
 
 ^ Documents, p. 99. 
 
 ^ The word si-se in the sense of a jewel, as will be seen below, is the Chinese 
 transcription of a foreign word. The single word se denotes a stringed musical 
 instrument, a kind of lute, described e. g. by J. A. van Aalst (Chinese Music, p. 62, 
 Shanghai, 1884). But there is a passage (in the San kuo chi, Wei chi, commentary to 
 the Biography of Ch'Sn Se-wang, quoted in P'ei wen yiinfu, Ch. 93 B, p. 85) where 
 also the compound se-se seems to have the meaning of a musical instrument. In the 
 Tsin shu (Ch. 97, p. 2) it is said in regard to the Shen Han, a Korean tribe, that they 
 are skilled in playing the se-se which in shape is like a five-stringed lute {chu, 
 No. 2575). 
 
 ' It should be added that it is Bretschneider himself (Mediaeval Researches, 
 Vol. I, p. 140) who first proposed the translation of si-si as turquois, but with 
 the restriction of a "probably." 
 
30 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. XIII. 
 
 It seems to me that the color designation insisted on by Hirth is 
 hardly conclusive; the color name pi, 'bluish-green' (originally a kind 
 of jade) is quite indistinct, and aside from the fact that there are many 
 other green or blue stones Hke emerald, lapis lazuH, malachite, sapphire, 
 etc.,^ this attribute with reference to s^-se does not appear in contempo- 
 raneous records of the Sui or T'ang periods, but only in later authors 
 who were not personally familiar w4th the stone. It was known in 
 China under that name only to a limited extent, during, that time, and 
 to the later generations the newly coined word simply became a poetical 
 name with no other meaning than that of a rare, precious stone. The 
 one fact stands out clearly, that se-se was looked upon as a precious 
 stone, a fact for which more testimony will be given, and this is evidence 
 that it can hardly be the turquois. It is always essential to ascertain 
 to what category an object in the views of the Chinese belongs; these 
 categories are always fixed and stable, and suggest an inference as to 
 the nature of the object in question. No Chinese has ever considered 
 turquois a precious stone, but just a common stone good enough for 
 barbarous ornaments.^ It is worth 5 Taels (about $3.50) a catty (i^ 
 pounds) in Si-ngan fu where it is sold by weight, and if the famous se-se 
 were nothing more than that, the Chinese authors would not have 
 expressed any enthusiasm about them.' Hirth's quotation from Bret- 
 
 1 That the definition pi chu means little is illustrated by the fact that other jewels 
 are also defined by this term, as, for example, the pearl called mu-nan (Hirth, Chma 
 and the Roman Orient, p. 59) which is even described as yellow m other texts {Ko 
 chi king yilan, Ch. 32, p. 7 b). Compare also P'ei wen yiinfu, Ch. 7 A, p. loi h (pt 
 chu). The color argument should therefore be disregarded.— The comparative tables 
 of the colors given by W. Tassin (Descriptive Catalogue of the Collections of. Gems 
 in the U. S. National Museum, Report of National Museum, 1900, pp. 541, 542) 
 enumerate the green stones as follows: zircon, sapphire, garnet (demantoid and 
 ouvarovite), chrysoberyl ' (alexandrite) , spinel, topaz, diamond, olivine (peridot), 
 tourmaline, beryl (emerald and aquamarine), quartz (chrysoprase, plasma, prase, 
 and iasper), turquois. The blue stones are: sapphire, spinel, topaz, diamond, 
 tourmaline (indicoHte), bervl (aquamarine), iolite (water sapphire, dichrolite). 
 It should not be overiooked either that, as shown by the modern word lu sung sht, 
 the color of turquois is described by the Chinese with the word l-ii, not pi. 
 
 2 A. J. C. Geerts (Les produits de la nature japonaise et chinoise, p. 202, Yoko- 
 hama, 1878) was cautious enough to pay due attention to the distinction made 
 between pierres ordinaires and pierres precieuses in the Pen ts'ao kang mu. 
 
 ' In the Lapidarium of Pseudo-Aristotle (Julius Ruska, Das Steinbuch des 
 Aristoteles, p. 152, Heidelberg, 19 12) it is said in regard to the turquois: "Its color 
 delights those afflicted with sorrow, but it is not employed for the costume of the 
 kings, because it detracts from their majesty." A similar remark is made by Ibn 
 al-Baitar: "It is soft and a bit fragile, and is not used for the ornaments of the 
 sovereigns" (L. Leclerc, Traits des simples, /. c, p. 50). In an Arabic work of 1175 
 it is said: "Many kings hardly have the desire to wear a turquois, because the vulgar 
 frequently utilizes it as sigillum and wears finger rings which are imitations of its best 
 kind" (Wiedemann, Beitrage zur Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, XXX. Zur 
 Mineralogie im Islam, p. 234, Eriangen, 1912). Also in Europe turquoises were low 
 in price. "Admodum magno pretio non venditur, quia magna lUarum ex Oriente 
 adiertur copia," says A. Boetius de Boot (Gemmarum et lapidum histona, p. 271, 
 ed. of A. Toll, Lugduni Batavorum, 1636). The general rule may be set down 
 that there is a large consensus of opinion as to the value of precious metals and 
 
July, 1913. Notes on Turquois. 31 
 
 Schneider is hardly in favor of his view that se-se was the turquois; 
 Bretschneider's statement merely shows that at the end of the 
 Mongol dynasty — - the Cho keng lu was published in 1366 — the Persian 
 tiu"quois became known to the Chinese. 
 
 From three practical examples it may be demonstrated that se-se, 
 as known during the Sung period, cannot be construed to mean turquois. 
 
 In the K'ao kti t'u (Ch. 10, p. 22 b), a book on ancient bronzes by 
 Lii Ta-lin, completed in 1092, a girdle-clasp is figured and described 
 as being made of se-se; it is a highly ornamented piece, engraved in fine 
 lines and ending in a curve shaped into a dragon's head. This whole 
 technique would be impossible if the material were turquois, which 
 results only in straight, stiff, angular lines (compare Plates VI-VIII). 
 
 The Ku yil Vu p'u, "Illustrated Description of Ancient Jades," 
 compiled in 11 76 and printed in 1779, describes several jade specimens 
 adorned with the stone se-se, — a sword possessed by* the Sung Emperor 
 T'ai-tsu (968-976), having a hilt ornamented with amber, se-se, and 
 genuine pearls (Ch. 28, p. 10). The Chinese would hardly display such 
 bad taste as to unite a cheap stone like turquois with genuine pearls. 
 In Ch. 97, p. 10, of the same work a jade lantern of the Sung palace is 
 figured and described, the eight sides of which are adorned with coral, 
 amber, se-se and such like jewels (pao). In this case turquois is again 
 out of the question, as it is not considered by the Chinese a precious 
 stone or a jewel, but just an ordinary stone. ^ 
 
 The two works here quoted come down from the Sung period, 
 
 and it can be shown from another source of the same epoch that the 
 
 word se-se designated at that time a stone capable of carving found on 
 
 the very soil of China, and that, consequently, the se-se in the age of the 
 
 Sung dynasty are affairs different from those mentioned in the Pet shi, 
 
 Sui shu and T'ang shu for Persia, Sogdiana, Ferghana, and Tibet^ 
 
 Kao Se-sun, a poet and essayist who lived in the latter part of the 
 
 twelfth century,^ is the author of an interesting work on miscellaneous 
 
 minerals among peoples of all times, and that the changes which have affected the 
 appreciation of precious stones from the days of antiquity until now are but very 
 slight, chiefly due to the operations of fashion and variations in the sources of supply. 
 Thus it is not very likely that a stone looked upon as non-precious at present by gen- 
 eral agreement of opinion was ever prized as a jewel in earlier periods of history. 
 
 ' Such carvings of se-sS are referred to.also by other authors of the Sung period. 
 Chou Mi in his interesting work Yun yen kuo yen lu (Ch. b, p. 31 b), a review of 
 ancient bronzes, paintings and jades which had come to the notice of the author 
 during his lifetime, mentions the carving of "a crane moaning in the autumn" en- 
 tirely made from this material. This very subject savors of the impressionism of the 
 Sung artists, and in this case turquois is inconceivable, not only for technical but 
 also, and even more so, for artistic reasons. The work quoted is embodied in the 
 collection 'Shi wan kiian lou edited by Lu Sin-yiian and thoroughly analyzed by Paul 
 Pelliot {Bulletin de l' Ecole franQaise d' Extreme-Orient, Vol. IX, 1909, p. 246). 
 
 '^ Giles, Biographical Dictionary, p. 368; Wylie, Notes on Chinese Literature, 
 p. 161. 
 
32 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. XIII. 
 
 subjects, entitled Wei-lio} In Ch. 5, p. 3, he has gathered several notes 
 concerning se-se. He quotes the Huan yil ki ^ to the effect that se-se 
 are mined in Shan-chou ^ and P'ing-lu.* Neither of these locaHties is 
 known as having ever produced turquois. We shall see farther on that 
 turquois became known and was mined in China only under the Yiian 
 dxTiasty fpllowing the Sung, so that w« may justly conclude that the 
 Chinese of the Sung period were not yet acquainted with it. Besides, 
 there is the technical evidence that turquois, according to its natural 
 properties, could not have entered such objects as are reported to have 
 been made of scrse. The Wei lio furnishes us with additional evidence 
 on this point, which goes to show that, if these reports are trustworthy, 
 a substance se-se of Chinese production was utilized as early as the 
 T'ang period. It is related in regard to an official of that time, who 
 presided over the bureau of the salt and iron monopoly in the province 
 of Fu-kien, that he owned a pillow made of se-se placed on a golden 
 bedstead.^ Emperor Hien-tsung (806-820) tried to estimate its value, 
 but arrived at the conclusion that it was a priceless treasure, while 
 others said that this pillow was made from a beautiful stone, but not 
 from se-se. The author of the Wei lio adds: "What is circulating 
 among our contemporaries under the name se-se, I believe is made -from 
 molten stone." ® So it seems that at the Sung period the se-se may 
 have been, at least partially, artificial productions. It is self-evident 
 that the pillow referred to cannot have been made of turquois. The 
 rectangular shapes of Chinese pillows with convex surface are well 
 known, and it is impossible to carve turquois which is quarried in long 
 slabs ^ into such a form. 
 
 ' Reprinted in Shou shan ko ts'ung shu, Vol. 74. 
 
 - A general, mainly geographical, description of China published by Yo Shi dur- 
 ing the period T'ai-p'ing hing-kuo (976-981) of the Sung dynasty. 
 
 ' In the province of Ho-nan (Playfair, Cities and Towns of China, No. 6157). 
 
 ■* District in Shan-si Province (Playfair, No. 5812). 
 
 ^ The Wei lio quotes this story from the Yen fan lu of Ch'^ng Ta-ch"ang, written 
 in 1 175. The P'ei wen yiin fu {I. c.) gives it after the biography of Lu Kien-tz'e in 
 the T'ang shu, so that there is no doubt that it relates to the period of the T'ang 
 dynasty. 
 
 * There are different versions of .this story handed down, the details of which are 
 not of interest in this connection. According to the T'ang kuo shi p'u, containing 
 records from 723 to 821 by Li Chao of the T'ang period (as quoted in the T'u shu tsi 
 ch'eng), the said official was discharged on account of defraudations; the pillow which 
 was half the size of a peck was confiscated after a judicial trial and sent up to Emperor 
 Hien-tsung who called some shop-keepers as experts to determine its value. Their 
 opinions were divided, the one calling it a priceless treasure, the others a. beautiful 
 stone, but not a genuine si-se. 
 
 ~ Several such specimens showing turquois in the matrix, obtained in Si-ngan 
 fu, are in the Field Museum. 
 
July, 1913. Notes on Turquois. 33 
 
 The Wei Ho, further, refers to two stories taken from the Ming- 
 huang Is a hi} 
 
 Emperor Ming-huang is said to have erected in the palace Hua-ts'ing 
 a bathing establishment consisting of ten rooms where he had a boat 
 biiilt of silver and steel, varnished, and adorned with pearls and jade; 
 moreover, he piled up se-Se in the bathing pool. The author of the 
 Wei Ho thinks that the use of the word lei (No. 6833) "to pile up" in 
 this connection indicates that the se-se in question were beads, and not 
 stones. But this supposition is hardly correct, for it leaves entirely 
 unexplained what these beads (or 'pearls) had to do in the bath. In 
 the actual text of the Ming-huang tsa lu ^ the story, however, is related 
 in the form that the se-se were utilized to build up the well-known 
 Three Isles of the Blessed of mythological fame, and this account 
 sounds more plausible. In this case, se-se seems tp have been a kind of 
 building stone. ^ The other story in the Ming-huang tsa lu relates to 
 Dame Kuo-kuo, a sister of the celebrated beauty and imperial concubine 
 Yang Kuei-fei,* who btdlt a house and rewarded the workmen with two 
 gold cups and three pecks of se-se; one peck of these, according to the 
 opinion expressed by the author of the Wei Ho, had the value of a pearl. 
 He further tells after the Wu lei siang kan chi, a work of the poet Su Shi 
 (1036-1101), that Emperor I-tsung (860-873) of the T'ang dynasty 
 presented a princess with a screen of se-se adorned with genuine pearls 
 strung on blue and green silk, whence our authot Kao Se-sun infers 
 that in this case se-se was a kind of pearls of brilliant quality. This 
 discourse leads us to think that the Sung writers did not know any 
 longer what the se-se of the T'ang dynasty were, that the se-se peculiar 
 to that age were entirely lost in the Sung period, that substitutes were 
 then in vogue, merely designated by that name and ascribed to two 
 localities, Shan-chou and P'ing-lu, and that even the belief prevailed 
 that the se-se passed off under this name at that time were artificial 
 productions due to some smelting process.^ 
 
 'That is, Miscellaneous Records regarding Emperor Ming-huang (712-754), a 
 fwork by Chfing Ch'u-hui of the T'ang period. 
 
 - Printed in the collection Shou shan ko ts'ung shu, Vol. 84, Ch. B, p. 4. 
 
 ^ This seems to be the case also in a poem of Po Kii-i (772-846) when he speaks of 
 ^'apiece (or slab) of s^-se stone" (i p'ien si-se shi; P'ei win yiinfu, Ch. 100 A, p. 47). 
 'Neither the addition "stone" nor the word p'ien would be used here, if the domestic 
 ti-si had been a precious stone or gem. 
 
 * Giles, Biographical Dictionary, p. 908. 
 
 * Under the Yuan dynasty the se-sS are mentioned by Ch'ang TS, a Chinese 
 envoy who visited Bagdad in 1259, as precious stones in the palace of the Caliph, 
 together with pearls, lapis lazuli and diamonds (Bretschneider, Chinese Recorder, 
 Vol. V, p. 5). Bretschneider does not make in this passage an attempt at identifying 
 the stone. When he says that, according to K'ang-hi's Dictionary, it is a kind of 
 pearl, it should be remembered that the Chinese word chu means only a bead, regard- 
 
34 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. XIII. 
 
 If as early as the Sung period the Chinese had lost all correct notions 
 of the se-se of the Leu-ch'ao and T'ang periods, there is no reason to 
 wonder that the confusion becomes complete among the later authors 
 who are simply content to repeat the older statements. Characteristic 
 of this state of affairs is the explanation given in the T'ung ya, a miscel- 
 lany written by Fang Mi-chi at the close of the Ming period: "The 
 se-se are looked upon by some as precious stones, while the Wei lio 
 considers them as pearls. Ch'eng T'ai-chi says: The se-se circulating 
 at our time are all made from burnt stone. There are, however, three 
 kinds of se-se: — precious stones like pearls are the genuine ones; those 
 passing into blue and changing their color are the burnt ones, which are 
 round and bright ; Chinese beads of colored glass and baked clay are also 
 called se-se by a mere transfer of the name." ^ There is assuredly not 
 one Chinese author to venture the identification of se-se with turquois; 
 neither under the Yiian nor under the Manchu dynasty when turquois 
 was perfectly known in China did anybody assert that it was identical 
 with the se-s^ in vogue during the T'ang dynasty.^ 
 
 less of the material, whereas a pearl is always chen chu, a true or genuine pearl. In 
 his Mediaeval Researches (Vol. I, p. 140), he says, however, that se-se is probably the 
 turquois. In the Annals of the Yuan Dynasty {Yiian shi, Ch. 21, p. 7 b, reign of 
 Emperor Ch'eng-tsung, 1 295-1 307) there is another reference to se-se, two thousand 
 five hundred catties of which are reported to have been palmed off on officials in 
 lieu of money ; but this transaction was soon stopped by the emperor. The turquois 
 cannot be understood iij this case, because, as will be seen below, this stone was 
 known in the Mongol period under the name pi tien and is always so designated in the 
 Yiian shi. Another text allows the inference that what was known as se-se in the 
 Yuan epoch was a stone coming from Manchuria. The Cheng tse t'ung written in the 
 beginning of the seventeenth century is quoted in K'ang-hi's Dictionary as saying 
 that at the time of Emperor Jen-tsung (1312-20) of the Yiian dynasty it was 
 reported that the subprefecture Kin-chou (in Feng-t'ien fu, Sheng-king, Manchuria) 
 ofifered se-se which had been gathered in a cave. The passage occurs in the Yiian 
 shi, Ch. 24, p. 2 b; the Emperor was requested to send an envoy to the place who 
 should gather the stones, but declined, as he regarded them as useless. Consequently 
 the se-se of the Mongol period, as far as they relate to Chinese territory, cannot have 
 been turquoises, as it was the very turquois which was highly appreciated by the 
 Mongol rulers. 
 
 1 Also Fang I-chi who lived in the first part of the seventeenth century, in his 
 work Wu li siao shi (Ch. 8, p. 23 b; edition of Ning tsing t'ang, 1884) states that 
 colored glass beads are designated se-se. This is the most recent author in whom I 
 have been able to trace this word. 
 
 2 Bretschneider (Medieval Researches, Vol. I, p. 175) is entirely erroneous in 
 his assertion that it is stated in the Pen ts'ao kang mu that the stone called tien-tse 
 was known under the name of se-se at the time of the T'ang dynasty. The Pen 
 ts'ao does not contain a word to this eflfect. Its author, Li Shi-chen, states in the 
 beginning of his essay on precious stones that blue ones are called tien-tse 
 (No. 11,199); this is not the word tien-tse (No. 11,180) used in the Cho keng lu and 
 Yiian shi (see below). Then follow ten sentences which have nothing at all to do with 
 this subject, whereupon he proceeds to say, as stated above, that blue-green ones were 
 called se-se by the T'ang people. It is therefore evident that these two statements 
 separated from each other by several lines are not mutually connected, and that, on 
 the contrary, in the mind of Li Shi-chfin tien-tse and se-se are entirely distinct affairs; 
 neither in the case of tien-tse does he refer to se-si, nor in the case of se-se to tien-tse; 
 and he says nowhere that the one is identical with the other. Even did he say so, his 
 
July, 1913. Notes on Turquois. 35 
 
 Li Shi-chen, the author of the great work on natural history, Pen 
 ts'ao kang mu, makes one brief allusion to it (Section on Mineralogy, 
 kin shi, Ch. 8, p. 17 b) in the chapter on Precious Stones {pao ski). 
 Enumerating the different kinds of jewels mentioned in earlier texts, 
 he says: "As regards the blue-green {pi) ones, the people of the T'ang 
 dynasty called them se-se; as regards the red ones, the Sung people 
 called them mo-ho ; nowadays the general term is simply precious stones 
 which are used for inlaying head-ornaments and utensils." This pas- 
 sage shows that Li Shi-ch6n considers the se-sB as a gem peculiar to the 
 T'ang period, and that he regards it as a precious stone, not as an 
 ordinary stone. ^ The lack of any description on his part bears out the 
 fact that he did not know the stone from personal acquaintance, and 
 that he merely speaks of it on the ground of meagre traditions. 
 
 It is thus manifest that at various periods and with reference to 
 different localities the Chinese have linked different ideas with the word 
 se-se, that the later accounts are of no value in its determination as 
 regards the earlier periods of the Leu-ch'ao and T'ang, and that even for 
 the T'ang epoch a clear distinction must be made between the se-se 
 of the countries outside of China and those within the Chinese dominion. 
 
 The various texts of the Pei shi, Sui shu and T'ang shu relating to 
 foreign countries go to prove that the se-se of those times were valuable 
 jewels, and that for this reason the word can hardly denote the turquois. 
 It is not known to rne on what authority von Krem:er 's statement of 
 turquois mines in Ferghana rests (his book is unfortunately not accessi- 
 ble to me), but I should think that he could not be regarded as an 
 
 assertion would be valueless, as he simply reproduces literary reminiscences, but does 
 not show any actual knowledge of the stones of which he is spekking. We might 
 well make bold to say that Li Shi-ch6n (as most of his countrymen during the Ming 
 period) had never seen a turquois. In the official Statutes of the Ming Dynasty 
 (Ta Ming hui tien) jade, agate, coral, amber, pearls, and ivory are frequently men- 
 tioned in connection with state paraphernalia and court costume, but turquois is 
 conspicuous by its absence. 
 
 ^ Also in the great cyclopaedia T^u shu tsi ch'^ng, si-se are classified among pre- 
 cious stones (pao shi), likewise in the T'ien kung k'ai wu, a work on technology by 
 Sung Ying-sing, of 1637 (Ch. 18, p. 58 b). Prof. Hirth, in his above note, alludes 
 to this book after an extract in the T'u shu tsi ch'ing. As an edition of this very 
 scarce and valuable work printed 1771 in Japan is in my possession (despite diligent 
 search I could not find any in China), I may say that it contains nothing to elucidate 
 the subject; it simply says that of green stones there are si-si beads, emeralds {tsie- 
 mu-lu), rubies (ya-ku) and the various kinds of k'ung ts'ing (on the latter see F. de 
 M6ly, Les lapidaires chinois, p. 112, Paris, 1896). The author, accordingly, repeats 
 bookish reminiscences but had no actual knowledge of, or experience with these stones 
 which are to him mere names. It is certainly essential to determine in investigations 
 of this kind, whether a Chinese author speaks of an object from direct knowledge of 
 it, or merely reproduces the statements of his predecessors. In other words, we must 
 adopt sound and critical philological methods before venturing any conclusions. It 
 is manifest that the statements of the Ming and Ts'ing authors concerning si-sS are 
 ■of a purely bookish character and weak echoes of the past, but have no value what- 
 ever for the study of the question as to what the si-sS of the past really were. 
 
36 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. XIII. 
 
 authority on mineralogtcal matters; presumably he refers to the Arabic 
 authors alluded to by Max Bauer (see below). I do not doubt that, as 
 stated by Hirth, turquois is found in modem times in the region of 
 Ferghana, although the evidence which I am able to find is rather slight.^ 
 On the other hand it is asserted by Bauer also that turquois occurs in 
 situ in the region of Samarkand.^ Bauer does not state his source, 
 and I have no means of tracing it; the "unknown time" when the tur- 
 quois mines were operated there is a rather unsatisfactory feature, and 
 it would certainly remain to be proved that turquois was quarried in 
 that region as early as the T'ang period (618-906). But granting the 
 benefit of the doubt to those arguing on the opposite side, the possi- 
 bility should be admitted that in the one passage of the T'ang shu 
 indicated by Hirth and Chavannes the word se-se could denote the 
 
 1 The opinion that turquois occurs in Ferghana is largely based on a remark of 
 H. Lansdell (Russian Central Asia, p. 515, London, 1885) who says that turquois 
 is found at Mount Karumagar, 24 miles N. E. of Khojend; but Lansdell was an 
 amateur traveler of journaHstic tendencies in whose observations little confidence 
 can be placed. The Armenian lapidarium translated into Russian by K. P. Pat-' 
 KANOV (Precious Stones, their Names and Properties according to the Notions of the 
 Armenians, p. 48, St. Petersburg, 1873) mentions Khojend as a source for turquois. 
 On the other hand it should not be passed over with silence that one of the best 
 explorers of Ferghana who has given a detailed description of the region, Ch. E. de 
 UjFALVY (Le Kohistan, le Ferghanah et Kouldja, p. 'Si, Paris, 1878) remarks on its 
 mineral resources as follows: "In the mountains of Ferghana are found iron, lead, 
 charcoal, quartz, kali, amethyst crystals, rock-crystal, silver, mica schist, sulphur, 
 etc. (a cave near Aravan has stalactites and stalagmites). In the district of Andid- 
 jan there are rich sources of naptha of excellent quality, and also sulphurous sources 
 at 38° Celsius." He does not mention turquois. Turquoises are still utilized by the 
 Sart in and around Tashkend for the decoration of silver necklaces, bridles, girdle- 
 clasps, etc. (see, for example, H. Moser, A travers I'Asie centrale, pp. 104-7, Paris, 
 1885). My colleague Dr. Karutz at the Museum of Lubeck, who has traveled ex- 
 tensively in Russian Turkistan, writes me that he encountered two areas in which 
 turquois is diffused, among the Tatars of Russia and among the Sart of Turkistan, 
 but that he did not find it among the Turkmen and the Kirghiz; he therefore con- 
 cludes that it occurs only in the town population, but not among the nomads of the 
 steppe; he learned nothing about indigenous sources of the stone, but is convinced 
 that it is imported from Afghanistan. There is, he says, a rumor to the effect tliat 
 turquois is found in the Kirghiz steppe, but he doubts the fact, as it is not employed 
 by the Kirghiz in their ornaments. 
 
 ^ Max Bauer (Precious Stones, p. 396) has the following note on turquois in this 
 region: "It is stated that there are turquois mines, yielding mostly green stones, 
 further to the north-west, beyond the Persian frontier between Herat and western 
 Turkistan. According to the statements of ancient [?] Arabic writers, the precious stone 
 was found at Khojend, from whence came also the green callais {callaina) of Pliny, 
 now considered to be identical with turquois [this is extremely doubtful : note of the 
 writer. On p. 392 Bauer says: "Whether the ancients were acquainted with tur- 
 quois is doubtful."]. Other localities in the same region have also been recorded; 
 for example, in 1887 in the mountain range Kara-Tube, fifty kilometres from Samar- 
 kand. The turquois occurs here in limonite and quartzose slate, and the place was, 
 at some unknown time, the scene of mining operations. Finds of turquois have been 
 made in the same region in our own time; for example, in the Syr Darya country in 
 the Kuraminsk district (in the Kara Mazar mountains), and also in the Karkaralinsk 
 district in the Kirghiz Steppes (Semipalatinsk territory of Siberia). These and other 
 occurrences in the same region have no commercial importance and need no further 
 consideration." 
 
July, 1913. Notes on Turquois. 37 
 
 turquois, if the mineralogical condition of the present time, provided 
 the fact is correct, will be admitted as evidence/ It cannot, however, 
 be admitted as already demonstrated, that in other early passages the 
 turquois is disguised under the word se-se ; there is no forcible argu- 
 ment in favor of such a guess (supposition it can hardly be called) ; on 
 the contrary, the valuation and utilization of the stone speak strongly 
 against it. 
 
 Another moot question is the historical position of the turquois in 
 those regions which are covered by the word se-se; there is no great 
 antiquity and, accordingly, no archaeology of the turquois in western 
 Asia. It does not appear in Assyria, Babylonia or ancient Persia; it 
 hardly plays any role in Greek and Roman antiquity.^ Egypt' is the 
 only country in the Old World which may lay claim to a great antiquity 
 in the utilization of the turquois mined in the Sinai Mountains, and some 
 objects inlaid with turquois mosaic and assigned to the Siberian bronze 
 period, though neither their locality nor their time is exactly ascertained, 
 may be of considerable age (see p. 58). So far as I know, no really 
 
 1 Personally I am not convinced. It will be seen below that the first actual 
 knowledge of the turquois dawns upon the Chinese as late as the Mongol period when 
 a newly coined word for it appears, and when the word se-se continues with quite a 
 different meaning. It is inconceivable to me that the knowledge of an object, when 
 it is once acquired (and particularly of an object so striking to the eye as a turquois), 
 can ever become lost. The tradition of the Mongol period is entirely cut off from 
 that of the T'ang, the two not being interrelated. If the se-se of Ferghana were the 
 turquois, why are the se-sS objects occurring in China in the T'ang period not so 
 described that a plain conclusion as to this material can be drawn? But they were 
 evidently ijiade of some building-stone. For this reason the question may be justly 
 raised whether the account of the T'ang shu in regard to the mountain near Tash- 
 kend where s^-s^ is produced really possesses great importance; it is somewhat 
 vague, the name of the mountain not even being given; the report is evidently 
 reproduced from hearsay. The earlier accounts of the Pei shi and Sui shu, which 
 ascribe these jewels to an adjacent region without making reference to a definite local- 
 ity, seem to me to be more to the point. All that can be safely laid down therefore is 
 that se-se occurred in the territory of Ferghana and Sogdiana during the time from 
 the fifth to the seventh century. In view of the other texts quoted above which 
 must be equally taken into account in a consideration of this question, there is no 
 reason to place all emphasis on this one statement; s^-s^ occurred in Persia and 
 Syria, and were traded in Khotan. Thus, they held the territory of western Asia 
 and the dominion of the Western Turks. And as will be seen farther on, they were 
 brought over to China by Mariicheans or Nestorians. 
 
 ^ H. Blumner, Technologie und Terminologie der Gewerbe und Kiinste bei 
 Griechen und Romern, Vol. Ill, p. 248 (Leipzig, 1884). It is still more doubtful to 
 me than to Blumner if the callaina or callais of Pliny, as has been supposed, refers to 
 the turquois; the evidence favoring this theory. is extremely weak; Pliny's statement 
 that the stone is produced in Farther India or beyond India and in the Caucasus 
 (nascitur post aversa Indiae, apud incolas Caucasi) where we positively know that 
 no turquois is found proves that he does not speak of the turquois. Compare p. 2, 
 note 2. "Turquois, hardly ever used by the Greeks, was rarely employed by 
 Graeco-Roman artists" (D. Osborne, Engraved Gems, p. 284, New York, 1912). 
 
 ' The ancient Egyptian turquois-mines in Wadi Maghara and Wadi Sidreh in the 
 Sinaitic Peninsula were first discovered in 1849 by Major C. Macdonald, then visited 
 by H. Brugsch (Wanderung nach den Tiirkisminen und der Sinai-Halbinsel, Leipzig, 
 1866), and examined anew in 1905 by W. M. Flinders Petrie. 
 
38 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. XIII. 
 
 ancient carved object of turquois has as yet come to light in Persia or 
 Turkistan/ while a great variety of gems appears in the Persian intag- 
 lios, particularly in those of the Sassanian epoch (226-642 a. d.) among 
 which turquois is strikingly absent.^ It is no less because of this lack 
 of archaeological evidence that I hesitate to believe in the proposed 
 identification of se-se with turquois, as regards the older accounts of the 
 Pei sht and Sui shu. 
 
 Furthermore, the important question arises, — what is the antiquity 
 of the turquois in Persia? When were the turquois mines of Persia 
 first operated, at what time did turquois begin to play an active r61e 
 in the culture and life of the Persian people? It is evident that all this 
 is a matter of consequence for our se-se problem. I am certainly not 
 competent to decide this question, the final solution of which must come 
 to us from one of our co-workers in the Arabic or Persian field; but even 
 to an outsider who has merely a scant knowledge of this subject some 
 observations spontaneously present themselves which render him very 
 cautious or rather skeptic in assuming, as has.so often been done without 
 any substantial evidence, a considerable antiquity for the acquaintance 
 of the Persians with the turquois. There is, first. of all, no ancient 
 Iranian word for the turquois. Avestan literature, as far as I know, 
 makes no alkision to it. A great authority, W. Geiger,^ emphasizes 
 the fact that the minerals characteristic of Iran, as turquois, ruby, 
 lapis lazuli, are not even mentioned in the A vesta. The lack of an 
 Iranian word for it, with the additional absence of an ancient Sanskrit 
 word, renders the supposition highly probable that neither the Aryans 
 nor the Iranians had any knowledge of turquois. The word ferozah is 
 New Persian, consequently not older than the ninth century; in Middle 
 Persian or Pahlavl, the language of the Arsacids and Sassanians, no 
 word for the turquois seems to be preserved, unless it is represented by 
 
 1 In a collection of ancient intaglios found in the environment of Khotan and 
 described by A. F. R. Hoernle (A Report on the British Collection of Antiquities 
 from Central Asia, pt. I, p. 38, Calcutta, 1899) objects of spinel and lapis lazuli occur, 
 but none of turquois. F. Grenard (Mission scientifique dans la Haute Asie, Vol. 
 Ill, p. 143, Paris, 1898) found in a cave near Khotan a wooden image with eyes formed 
 by rubies. In the famous treasure discovered in 1877 on the northern bank of the 
 Oxus described by A. Cunningham (Relics from Ancient Persia, Journal Asiatic 
 Society of Bengal, 1881, pp. 151-186) and O. M. Dalton (The Treasure of the Oxus, 
 London, 1905), despite a great number of ornaments, no turquois has been traced. 
 Also in the works on Persian art (M. Dieulafoy, L'art antique de la Perse; Perrot 
 and Chipiez, History of Art in Persia, London, 1892) no reference is made to turquois. 
 
 ^ Compare the Sassanian precious stones as enumerated, for instance, in Ed. 
 Baumann, AUgemeine Geschichte der bildenden Kiinste, Vol. I, pt. 2, p. 538, G. 
 Steindorff's Description of Sassanian Gems in Mitteilungen aus den Orientalischen 
 Sammlungen des Berliner Museums, No. 4, and J. Menant, Cachets orientaux, 
 Intailles sassanides {Cat. Coll. de Clercq, Vol. II, pt. i, Paris, 1890). In none of these 
 publications is turquois pointed out. 
 
 ' Ostiranische Kultur im Altertum, p. 147 (Erlangen, 1887). 
 
July, 1913. Notes on Turquois. 39 
 
 the older form firuzag handed down by the lapidarium of Pseudo- 
 Aristotle ^ and al-Beruni. In questioning the archaeologists, we meet 
 a slight piece of evidence. In the kurgans of Anau ^ beads of turquois 
 together with those of carnelian and lapis lazuli have been discovered, 
 and as it is asserted, "in the earliest culture strata." They were used 
 as burial gifts with the skeleton of a child, and it is concluded in the 
 publication referred to that they must have come from Persia where 
 turquois is known both to the south of Anau and farther eastward on the 
 plateau. But the chronology of these antiquities of Anau is somewhat 
 uncertain, and by no means seems to me to be settled beyond doubt; 
 aside from this, the deduction that the Anau turquoises, granted that 
 they are what they are presented to be, must be of Persian origin is 
 not at all forceful, and not proved. They mjy have come as well from 
 Siberia where turquois was employed during the bronze age (p. 58), 
 though the locality where the ancient Siberian turquois was mined is 
 not yet known, or (why not?) from Tibet, or from some forgotten mine 
 in Turkistan. Reverting to Persia and glancing over the pages of the 
 history of the Sassanians (226-642 a. d.) ^ we look in vain for any testi- 
 mony that turquois formed an essential constituent of the culture of the 
 period. The only item I am able to trace is a statement made by 
 A. Christensen ^ to the effect that King Khosrau II (590 a. d.) pos- 
 sessed a game of backgammon (nard), the men of which were carved 
 from coral and turquoises. With respect to these turquois carvings 
 some doubts may be entertained, particularly for the reason that the 
 Persian mineralogist Muhammed Ibn Mansur who wrote about 1300 
 in the translation of Gen. Schindler ^ says that in the environment of 
 
 1 J. RusKA, Das Steinbuch des Aristoteles, p. 43 (Heidelberg, 1912). 
 
 2 R. PuMPELLY, Explorations in Turkestan, Vol. I, pp. 60, 64, 199 (Washington, 
 1908). 
 
 ^ Th. Noldeke, Geschichte der Perser und Araber zur Zeit der Sasaniden (Leiden, 
 1879); Noldeke, Aufsatze zur persischen Geschichte (Leipzig, 1887); M. K. Pat- 
 KANIAN, Essai d'une histoire de la dynastie des Sassanides {Journal asiatique, 1866, 
 pp. 101-238); J. Marquart, Untersuchungen zur Geschichte von Eran (Gottingen 
 und Leipzig, 1896, 1905); K. A. Inostrantsev, Sassanian Studies (in Russian, St. 
 Petersburg, 1909). There is certainly no doubt that the ancient Persian kings and 
 subsequently the Sassanians possessed quantities of precious stones in their treasuries 
 and graves, but all indications are lacking as to what they were. Arrian (Anabasis 
 VI, 29) mentions gold earrings set with precious stones as part of the treasures 
 hoarded in the tomb of Cyrus at Pasargadae. Compare further M. Dieulafoy, 
 L'art antique de la Perse, Vol. V, p. 137," and O. M. Dalton, The Treasure of the 
 Oxus, p. 9. 
 
 ^ L'empire des Sassanides, le peuple, I'^tat, la cour, p. 105 (Copenhague, 1907). 
 The source for this statement is H. Zotenberg, Histoire des rois des Perses, p. 700 
 (Paris, 1900); but the Arabic work (edited and translated by Zotenberg) written by 
 al-Ta'alibi (961-1038) can hardly claim any historical authenticity; it is purely 
 legendary in character and a counterpart to Firdausl's Shah-nameh. 
 
 * Jahrbuch der k. k. Geologischen Reichsanstalt, Vol. XXXVI, Wien, 1886, p. 310. 
 
40 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. XIII. 
 
 Nlshapur is found a stone similar to turquois from which chess-men are 
 made, but that its color soon disappears. Thus, also the backgammon 
 men of Khosrau, if at all the report may lay claim to historical authen- 
 ticity, which is doubtful, may have been worked from this stone material 
 which merely had an outward resemblance to turquois.^ We move on 
 safer ground in coming down to the Arabic authors of the middle ages ; 
 they indeed are the first to bring to our notice the mining of turquois 
 in Nlshapur.^ Al-Kindi, who lived in the latter part of the ninth cen- 
 tury, as quoted by Ibn al-Baitar,^ briefly mentions the turquois without 
 alluding to Persia, nor does the oldest source for Arabic mineralogy, 
 the lapidarium, wrongly connected with the name of Aristotle,'' which 
 according to Ruska was composed before the middle of the ninth 
 century. The fact that Persia is not alluded to by these two authors 
 is not decisive ; on the contrary, it is highly probable that they had the 
 Persian turquois in their minds, for they designate it by the older 
 Persian iorvafiruzag, and as pointed out by Ruska,^ it is noticeable that 
 in the text translated by him Persia, Khorasan, India and China are 
 most frequently cited among the localities for the minerals described 
 in it. 
 
 The earliest allusion to the turquois-mines of Nishapur which I am 
 able to find is made by Ibn Haukal (978 a. d.), who based his account 
 on Istakhri (951). He reports as follows: ^ 
 
 "The villages and the towns in the plain around Nishapur are numerous and 
 well populated. In the mountains of Nishapur and Tus are mines, in which are 
 found brass, iron, turquoises, santalum, and the precious stone called malachite; 
 they are said to contain also gold and beryl." 
 
 Al-Beruni (973-1048) seems to be the second weighty authority 
 with a distinct reference to Nishapur by stating that the turquois is 
 brought from the mountain Ansar, one of the mountains of Riwand near 
 
 1 J. DE Morgan (Mission scientifique en Perse, Vol. IV, p. 320, Paris, 1897) 
 figures a bas-relief of Takht-i Bostan representing Khosrau II Parwez (591H528) in 
 full armor on horseback and interprets the medial row of stones inlaid in the sheath 
 of the sword as turquoises. There is no color displayed on this stone bas-relief, and 
 this view seems wholly arbitrary; it is rejected as fantastic by F. Sarre and S. 
 Herzfeld, Iranische Felsreliefs, p. 203 (Berlin, 1910). 
 
 ^ Name of a city and province in northern Khorasan. The city was founded by 
 Shapur II (309-379) whose name forms the second element in the name of the city. 
 The Old Persian name is New-Shapur, the word new meaning good. The New 
 Persian form is Neshdpur, at present Nishapur, Arabic Naisdbur (compare Noldeke, 
 Geschichte der Perser und Araber zur Zeit der Sasaniden, pp. 59, 67; an interesting 
 sketch of the history of the city is given by A. V. W. Jackson, From Constantinople 
 to the Home of Omar Khayyam, pp. 246-260, New York, 191 1). 
 
 ^ L. Leclerc, /. c, Vol. Ill, p. 51. 
 
 * J. Ruska, Das Steinbuch des Aristoteles, p. 151. 
 ^L. c, p. 43. 
 
 * A. V. W. Jackson, /. c, p. 254. 
 
July, 1913. Notes on Turquois. 41 
 
 that city.^ His contemporary al-Ta'alibi (961-1038) expands likewise 
 on the turquois of Nlshapur.^ Then we have the testimony of Tifashl 
 whose work on precious stones was written toward the middle of the 
 thirteenth century (the author died in 1253) who says anent the turquois 
 that it originates from a mine situated in a mountain of Nishapur 
 whence it is exported into all cotmtries.' This seems to be the first 
 clear statement of the fact that the Persian turquois of Nishapur had 
 entered into the commerce of the world. Can it be mere chance now 
 that we find the first record of the turquois of this place in China in 
 1366 (p. 56), and that the Persian turquois makes its d^but in India 
 only during the Mohammedan epoch? Finally we come to the Persian 
 mineralogy of Muhammed Ibn Mansur above referred to which ac- 
 cording to ScHiNDLER was written about 1300, according to Ruska * in 
 the thirteenth century; still later is al-Akfani who died in 1347-48, and 
 who in his treatise on precious stones deals also with the turquois.^ 
 There is also the evidence furnished by Marco Polo ^ who passed 
 
 1 E. Wiedemann, Der Islam, Vol. II, 1911, p. 352. 
 
 ^ WiEDEM.\NN, Zur Mineralogie im Islam, p. 242 (Erlangen, 1912). 
 
 ' L. Leclerq, /. c. 
 
 * L. c, p. 31. J. V. H.\MMER has translated an extract from this work in Fund- 
 gruhen des Orients, Vol. VI, pp. 126-142. Wien, 1818; the text has not yet been edited. 
 Compare Wiedemann, /. c, p. 208. 
 
 * Edited by P. L. Cheikho (Al-Machriq, Vol. XI, 1908, pp. 751-765). Com- 
 pare Wiedemann, Mitt. d. deutschen Ges. fur Geschichte d. Med. und Nat., Vol. VIII, 
 pp. 509-511. Translation by Wiedemann, Zur Mineralogie im Islam, p. 225 (Er- 
 langen, 1912). Bretschneider (China Review, Vol. V, 1876, p. 124) identifies the 
 Persian vase "reflecting what is going on in the world" (mentioned in the Annals of 
 the Ming Dynasty) with the vase of Djemshid frequently spoken of by the Persian 
 poets and said by Rashid-eddin (1247-13 18) to have been made of turquois. This 
 identification can hardly be correct, if the tradition holds good that the Persian vase 
 had "the property of reflecting light in such a way that all affairs of the world could 
 be seen." Turquois is dense, opaque, not at all transparent (in composition a hy- 
 drous phosphate of aluminum containing water, 20.6 per cent, alumina, 46.8 per cent, 
 and phosphorous oxide, 32.6 per cent), and thus in composition as well as opacity, 
 differs from most other gems (O. C. Farrington, Gems and Gem Minerals, p. 170, 
 Chicago, 1903). 
 
 * Yule and Cordier, The Book of Ser Marco Polo, Vol. I, p. 90. Marco Polo's 
 itinerary in southern Persia has been elucidated by Gen. A. Houtum Schindler 
 {Journal Royal Asiatic Society, 1881, pp. 1-8, and 1898, pp. 43-46), further by G. 
 Le Strange (The Cities of Kirman, ibid., 1901, pp. 281-290). On p. 2 of the first 
 of these papers, Schindler has devoted a note to the turquois-mines of the province 
 of Kerman, stating the various localities where they are found; at a place, twelve 
 miles from Shehr-i-Babek, are seven old shafts, now for a long period not worked, 
 the stones of these mines being of a very pale blue, and having no great value. The 
 inferiority of the Kerman turquois is emphasized also by the Chinese author T'ao 
 Tsung-i in 1366 (see p. 57). And then, one will make us believe that the turquois 
 should be recognized in Pliny's callais "the best sort of which occurs in Carmania," 
 as if there were no other stones to be found in the big country Carmania, and as if it 
 had been proved that turquois was mined there in the first century. But Marco 
 Polo evidently is the first authority with such a report, and from Pliny to Marco Polo 
 there is a far cry. The Arabic author al-Ta 'alibi (961-1038) expressly states that . 
 turquois is found only near NishapQr (Wiedemann, Zur Mineralogie im Islam, p. 242). 
 Major P. M. Sykes (Historical Notes on South-East Persia, Journal Royal Asiatic 
 
42 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. XIII. 
 
 through Persia in 1294 and says of the kingdom of Kerman that the 
 stones called turquoises are produced there in great abundance; they 
 are found in the mountains, where they are extracted from the rocks. 
 Gen. A. Houtum Schindler ^ to whom we owe an excellent description 
 from the geological viewpoint of the Persian turquois-mines has not 
 solved the problem as to the antiquity of the mining operations; the 
 late report of Ibn Mansur is the only document quoted by him.^ In 
 one passage (p. 307) we read the general remark: "Seit Jahrtausenden 
 ist in diesen Gruben gearbeitet worden," which is no more than a 
 personal impression. We live in a skeptic age and are not willing to 
 believe so easily in millenniums, if no evidence of hard and cold facts 
 is advanced. Every human activity is defined by time; language 
 and history seem to militate against such an unfounded surmise.' 
 These observations on the history of turquois in Persia form another 
 reason why I am not at all sanguine in accepting the explanation of 
 se-se by turquois when such early texts as Pei shi, Sui shu, and T'ang 
 shu come into question and refer to a time when it must be doubted, 
 at least for the present, that turquois was known in Persia or had any 
 significance in her culture. The Chinese accounts plainly refer to 
 Sassanian Persia, while all references to turquois in Persia, at least in 
 the present state of our knowledge, are post-Sassanian. 
 
 In our attempts to identify the names of stones mentioned in ancient 
 
 Society, 1902, p. 942) who has studied the archaeology of the Kerman region reports 
 on the tombs: "In each tomb were a yellow jar of pottery, round bowls of three sizes, 
 a pair of bracelets, two pins, and some arrow and spear heads, all of which were of 
 bronze except the vessels. In addition, two or three carnelian gems were found, and 
 some small silver earrings and bracelets. The custom of placing a carnelian in a 
 dead man's mouth, with the names of the twelve Imam engraved on it, is one that 
 obtains nowadays." There is no report of a find of turquoises in a grave of the 
 Kerman region. 
 
 1 Die Gegend zwischen Sabzwar und Meschhed in Persien (Jahrbuch der k. k. 
 geologischen Reichsanstalt, Vol. XXXVI, pp. 303-314, Wien, 1886). 
 
 ^ When Ibn Mansur says that the best mine of those at Nishapur is the one dis- 
 covered by Isaac, the father of Israel, and hence called Isaac's mine, this is certainly 
 a legend without historical value. The account of Ibn Manstir seems to be pieced 
 together from different sources; the lapidarium of Pseudo- Aristotle is evidently 
 utilized (for example, in the statement that turquois is light and brilliant in clear 
 weather, but dim and dull when the sky is clouded). According to Ruska (/. c, 
 p. 35) , matter and arrangement of his work largely depends on Tifashl. Regarding the 
 Chinese, Ibn MansQr remarks that they like the tarmaleh (a word queried by Schind- 
 ler), turquoises intersected by other stone, and employ these for the adornment of 
 their idols and women. This is apparently an error and should read "Tibetans" 
 instead of Chinese (compare p. 13). Travelers who visited the mines are quoted 
 by A. V. W. Jackson (/. c, p. 259). 
 
 ^ The last (eleventh) edition of the Encyclopcedia Britannica gives two items of 
 information of a contradictory character. In Vol. XIX (p. 710) mention is made of 
 Madan, 32 miles N. W. of the city of Nishapar, "where the famous mines are which 
 have supplied the world with turquoises for at least 2,000 years." A more moderate 
 attitude is observed in Vol. XXVII (p. 483) where it is said: "In Persia the turquois 
 mines have been worked for .at least eight centuries." 
 
July, 1913. Notes on Turquois, 43 
 
 records we must never lose sight of the plain facts of archaeology, 
 history, and mineralogy. Taking a broader view of the subject we find 
 that ruby and lapis lazuli have been the most prominent jewels of Iran 
 since ancient times, and that both are well attested by the presence of 
 ancient authentic specimens ^ and traceable to a well defined locality. 
 The great jewel-producing district within equal proximity of Sogdiana, 
 Persia and Khotan was the region of Badakshan (in Chinese P'a-to- 
 shan), north of the Hindu Kush mountains, well known to the Chinese 
 during the T'ang period, and to every modern mineralogist as a center 
 for the production of two precious stones — lapis lazuli and the balas 
 ruby or spinel.^ The former stone entered the horizon of the Chinese 
 
 ^ Compare p. 38, note i. 
 
 * Max Bauer, Precious Stones, pp. 278, ei seq. (German original, Edelsteinkunde, 
 2nd ed., p. 374) ; O. C. Farrington, Gems and Gem Minerals, pp. 96, 202. T. Wada 
 (Beitrdge zur Mineralogie von Japan, No. i, p. 20, TokyO, 1905) describes spinels 
 originating from China, and R. Pumpelly (Geological Researches, p. 118, Smithsoni- 
 an Contributions to Knowledge, Vol. XV, Washington, 1867) seems to have encoun- 
 tered spinels in Yun-nan. Marco Polo (ed. Yule and Cordier, Vol. I, p. 157) has 
 described the ruby and the lapis lazuli mines. They are mentioned by the Arab 
 geographers I§takri and Ibn Haukal in the tenth century (O. M. Dalton, The 
 Treasure of the Oxus, p. 9, London, 1905). Ibn Haukal's passage has been translated 
 by Wiedemann (Zur Mineralogie im Islam, p. 236, Erlangen, 1912). The Arabic 
 geographer Yaqat.(i 179-1229) and the historian MaqrIzI (1365-1442) impart notes 
 on the balas ruby of Badakshan (Wiedemann, ibid., pp. 235-6); al-Ta "alibi (961- 
 1038) mentions it {ibid., p. 243). The ancients were familiar with the spinel as 
 evidenced by antique intaglios, but its designation in classical times is not known 
 according to H. BlUmner (Technologic und Terminologie der Gewerbe und Kunste 
 bei Griechen und Romern, Vol. Ill, p. 236, Leipzig, 1884); but H. O. Lenz (Minera- 
 logie der alten Griechen und Romer, p. 17, Gotha, 1861) includes the spinel under the 
 Greek word anthrax (likewise Daremberg and Saglio, Dictionnaire des antiquit^s 
 grecs et romains. Vol. II, p. 1462, and Pauly's Realenzyklopadie, Vol. XIII, col. 
 1 108). Arabic and Armenian authors relate, a legendary tradition that at the time 
 of the dynasty of the'Abbassides a terrific earthquake shattered a mountain in 
 Badakshan, in which the spinels appeared (K. P. Patkanov, /. c, pp. 19-20). The 
 great antiquity of the mining operations in Badakshan is . illustrated by the wide 
 diffusion in early times of lapis lazuli. In the words of Marco Polo, that of Badak- 
 shan is the finest in the world; Yule (Vol. I, p. 162) comments that the mines of 
 Ldjwurd (whence VAzur and Lazuli) have been, like the ruby mines, celebrated for 
 ages. Max Bauer (Precious Stones, p. 442) states that the material which is not 
 sent to Bokhara (whence it is traded to Russia) goes, together with rubies of the same 
 region, to China and to Persia, and that the lapis lazuli said to occur in these countries, 
 as well as in Little Bokharia and Tibet, has probably been imported from Badakshan. 
 Moreover, according to this author, the material sold in other parts of Asia, for ex- 
 ample, in Afghanistan, Beluchistan, and India, and stated by travelers to occur in 
 those regions, in all probability is imported from the locality in the proximity of the 
 Upper Oxus; the lapis lazuli from which the ancient Egyptian scarabs were cut, as 
 Bauer says, presumably came from Badakshan, as did also the material much used 
 elsewhere in ancient times. The early use of lapis lazuli in ancient Babylonia is well 
 attested by numerous finds (P. S. P. Handcock, Mesopotamian Archaeology, pp. 76, 
 102, 315, even for the earliest Sumerian period, p. 340) and the mineralogical analyses 
 of Heinrich Fischer (H. Fischer and A. Wiedemann, Ueber babylonische Talis- 
 mane, p. 4, Stuttgart, 1881). It is interesting to note among the beads of Sumerian 
 necklaces coral, lapis lazuli, mother-o'-pearl, and agate — all favorite objects of the 
 Tibetans, to the exclusion of turquois, which evidently belongs to a much more 
 recent stratum of culture in Asia. The origin of Babylonian lapis lazuli seems not 
 yet to have been satisfactorily established. Fischer suggested Bokharia; H. Blum- 
 
44 Field Museum of Natural History — Antii., Vol. XIII. 
 
 at the T'ang period, and likewise from the regions of the Western Turks. ^ 
 As it has a name of its owfl (kin tsing),^ and as besides it no other 
 
 NER (/. c, Vol. Ill, p. 275) basing his opinion on Pliny's statement that the best kina 
 occurs in Media (apud Medos) is inclined to think of Tibet where it is found at present. 
 This fact is certainly correct (see p. 17, note 2), but Tibet cannot come into question 
 in the times of antiquity, and it seems preferable, at least for the present, to join Max 
 Bauer in the opinion that the mines of Badakshan are responsible also for Babylonian 
 lapis lazuli. Prehistoric occurrence of lapis lazuli in Beluchistan is mentioned by 
 NoETLiNG {Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologic, Vol. XXX, 1898, Verhandlungen, p. 470); in 
 Armenia by Belck and Lehmann {ibid, p. 590). R. Lepsius (Les metaux dans les 
 inscriptions ^gyptiennes, p. 31, Paris, 1877) derives the lapis lazuli used by the 
 ancient Egyptians from Badakshan. As to India, the case may be more precisely 
 made out. There, the stone does not seem to be indigenous. G. Watt (A Diction- 
 ary of the Economic Products of India, Vol. IV, p. 587) says: "Though not known 
 with certainty to occur in India, it is imported into the country, where it is employed 
 for several purposes." The Sanskrit word rdjavarta or lajavarta (Hindustani Idjward, 
 Behar Idjburud, Guzerati rajdvaral) is plainly derived from Persian Idzuward 
 (L. FiNOT, Les lapidaires indiens, p. XVIII, connects it with Arabic lazurd), and the 
 five names enumerated for the stone in the Rajanighantu (R. Garbe, Die indischen 
 Mineralien, p. 90), though all couched in a Sanskrit form (with the meaning "suitable 
 for a king's forehead, forehead-jewel") are re-interpretations based on that foreign 
 word (the Petersburg Sanskrit Dictionary, smaller edition, has still another composite 
 name suvarndbha). Ta vernier (ed. by V. Ball, Vol. II, p. 156, London, 1889) who 
 wrote in 1676 makes a somewhat vague statement: "Towards Tibet, which is 
 identical with the Caucasus of the Ancients, in .the territories of a Rdja beyond the 
 Kingdom of Kashmir, there are three mountains close to one another, one of which 
 produces gold of excellent quality, another grenat, and another lapis." The editor 
 Ball is inclined to think that the lapis mine here referred to is near Firgamu in 
 Badakshan. Lapis lazuli occupies a place in Indian antiquity, particularly among 
 the Buddhists, but this subject is still in need of special investigation. 
 
 ' Chavannes, Documents, p. 159, and T'oung Pao, 1904, p. 66. But lapis lazuli 
 was perhaps known to the Chinese to a certain extent from the second century a. d. 
 (compare F. Hirth, Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologic, Vol. XXI, 1889, Verhandlungen, p. 500, 
 or Chinesische Studien, p. 250). Hirth refers to the "gold girdles set with blue 
 stones from Hai-si" presented to the Chinese Court in 134 A. d. by the king and 
 minister of Kashgar, further to a definition in the glossary T'ung su wen from the 
 end of the second century where the expression ' ' to paint the eyebrows .' ' is explained 
 as a cosmetic yielded from blue stone {ts'ing shi) where ultramarine, a pigment ob- 
 tained from lapis lazuli, is evidently in question. This is well confirmed by the 
 report of the Sui shu on the country of Ts'ao identified by Hirth with Badakshan or 
 the plateau of the Pamir (an identification overlooked by Chavannes, Documents, 
 p. 130), where it is said that Ts'ao produced among other articles ts'ing tai, that is, 
 ultramarine for cosmetic purposes. Hirth does not state the fact that Badakshan 
 is the old classical land of lapis lazuli; but just this lends force to his conclusion that 
 the ancient cosmetic used by the Chinese was of mineral, and not, as later Chinese 
 authors believed, of vegetal origin. 
 
 ^ As I expect to show on another occasion, there is, besides kin tsing, an ancient 
 term kin sing shi, "stone with golden stars," for the designation of lapis lazuli. This 
 is mentioned as a product of Tibet (T'u-po) in Kiu Wu tai shi (Ch. 138, p. i b), as a 
 product of Khotan in the Geography of the Ming Dynasty {Ta Ming i t'ung chi, 
 edition of 1461, Ch. 89, fol. 25 a), and as a product of Sze-chou fu (in the province of 
 Kuei-chou) in the Geography of the Ts'ing Dynasty {Ta Ts'ing i t'ung chi, Ch. 398, 
 p. 3 b); compare further Pen ts'ao kang mu, Ch. 10, p. 10 a. The word kin sing 
 reflects the same notion as connected by the ancients with the same stone (called 
 sappheiros, sapphirus, a word of Semitic origin: O. Schrader, Reallexikbn, p. 152), 
 described by them as a blue stone with brilliant dots of gold (the small quantity 
 of sodium sulphide present in the stone being taken for gold), and likened to the 
 starry sky (compare Bliimner, /. c). The modern Chinese name for lapis lazuli is 
 ts'ing kin shi, that is, "dark-blue gold stone." In the Dictionary of Four Languages 
 by the Emperor K'ien-lung, this word is rendered into Manchu by nontin, Tibetan 
 
July, 1913. Notes on Turquois. 45 
 
 important jewel is found within this dominion than the balas ruby or 
 spinel, no other alternative caa be seen at present than that, generally 
 speaking, the se-se is in all probability to be identified with the latter; 
 while in some cases where carvings and building material are mentioned, 
 as will be seen, the onyx might be conjectured. 
 
 I have further arrived at the conclusion that, as far as precious 
 stones are concerned, two different species should be understood by 
 the name se-se, — as far as the Iranian regions are involved, the balas 
 ruby of Badakshan; and, as far as ancient Tibet comes into question, 
 in all likelihood the emerald. 
 
 Further evidence may first be adduced for the proposed identifica- 
 tion with the balas ruby. The balas ruby is now called in Chinese 
 pi-ya-se,^ correctly translated as early as 1820 by Abel-Remusat ^ 
 with "le rubis balais"; the Chinese word, according to this author, is 
 derived from balash or badaksh, whence, as he says, the name of the 
 country Badakshan is derived; but more probably, the name of the 
 jewel is derived from the name of the locality.^ 
 
 The recent valuable paper of E. Wiedemann,* allows us to trace 
 the etymology of this Chinese word. Discussing the balas ruby of 
 Badakshan (in Arabic al balachsh), al-BerunI maintains that the best 
 
 by mu-men, Mongol by notnin or momin, all of which have the same meaning. Abel 
 Remusat (Histoire de la ville de Khotan, p. 168) adds the Uigur word nachiver 
 which he says is derived from Persian ladjiver {lazvard). The English and Chinese 
 vStandard Dictionary (Vol. I, p. 1308, Shanghai, 1910) translates lapis lazuli by Ian 
 liu-li. In the Mongol period the Chinese name for lapis lazuli was Ian ch^i (Bret- 
 SCHNEIDER, Mediaeval Researches, Vol. I, p. 151, and Chinese Recorder, Vol. VI, 
 1875, p. 16) doubtless derived from the Persian or Arabic word. It seems to me that 
 the character Ian "orchid" (No. 6721) used by Ch'ang Te in writing this word is an 
 error for Ian "indigo, blue" (No. 6732) ; the name of the capital of Badakshan where 
 lapis lazuli was mined was Lan shi, "Blue Market" (Ch.wannes, T'oung Pao, 1907, 
 p. 188), a designation which apparently refers to the blue color of lapis lazuli. 
 
 ^ Giles, Dictionary, No. 9009, who translates "a kind of cornelian", which is not 
 correct. 
 
 ^ Histoire de la ville de Khotan, p. 168. The identification is based on the 
 Dictionary in Four Languages (see below p. 48, note). 
 
 ' Yule and Burnell (Hobson-Jobson, p. 52) state in regard to the word balas: 
 "It is a corruption of Balakhshl, a popular torm oi Badakhshl, because these rubies 
 came from the famous mines on the Upper Oxus, in one of the districts subject to 
 Badakshan," and quote also Ibn Ba^uta as saying that the mountains of Badakshan 
 have given their name to the Badakshi ruby. — Eitel (Handbook of Chinese Bud- 
 dhism, p. 131), I believe, is quite right in recognizing in rohitaka or lohitaka the 
 Sanskrit word for the balas ruby, for the other Sanskrit words employed for the 
 
 '" ruby, as shown by L. Finot (Les lapidaires indiens, p. XXXIX), refer to such species 
 as are found in India. We are much in need of a careful and critical study of all the 
 
 [ names of precious stones to be found in Buddhist Sanskrit and Pali literatures, and 
 these should certainly be examined in connection with the corresponding Chinese and 
 Tibetan renderings; the Buddhist nojtnenclature, in many cases, deviates from that 
 of the Indian mineralogists. 
 
 ■* Ueber den Wert von Edelsteinen bei den Muslimen {Der Islam, Vol. II, 191 1, 
 P- 349). 
 
46 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. XIII. 
 
 sort is the pijdzakl, that is, the one coming from the district of Pijazak. 
 I am inclined to think that we may look upon this word as the source 
 of the Chinese transcription pi-ya-se, whereby its meaning is moreover 
 confirmed. It is true the Chinese word is not traceable earlier than the 
 eighteenth century, but it is doubtless a much more ancient word of the 
 colloquial language which for this reason was not registered in the 
 standard dictionaries; it is, however, entered, as numerous other 
 colloquial words, in the "Dictionary in Four Languages" published 
 by the Emperor K'ien-lung. Mention is made of pi-ya-se in the 
 "Statutes of the Manchu Dynasty" {Ta TsHng hut Hen fu, Ch. 43, 
 p. 5) where they are granted as a privilege to all imperial court-ladies 
 to be worn on their sable caps.^ There is, however, an older trace of 
 the word in a source of the Mongol period where, in my opinion, it has 
 been misjudged by Bretschneider. The Chinese traveler Ch'ang 
 T6, who was despatched in 1259 by the Mongol Emperor Mangu as 
 envoy to his brother Hulagu, king of Persia, and whose diary, under 
 the title Si shi ki, was edited in 1263 by Liu Yu, reports that a precious 
 stone by the name ya-se of five different colors and of very high price 
 is found on the rocks of the mountains in the south-western countries. 
 Bretschneider ^ is inclined to identify this word with the Arabic 
 yashm or yashb, our word jasper, which seems to me very improbable. 
 The stone ya-se is mentioned by Ch'ang T^ together with lapis lazuli 
 
 1 The character pi in the word pi-ya-se may explain also why the se-se are desig- 
 nated by some authors as pi "green," which may simply be due to a reminiscence of 
 the word pi-ya-se where the word pi enters as an attempt at reproducing a foreign 
 sound. Besides, al-Beruni, in the passage quoted by Wiedemann, speaks of four 
 color variations in the balas ruby, — red, violet, green and yellow. The Armenian 
 lapidarium (K. P. Patkanov, /. c, p. 19) ascribes to spinels a red color, the colors of 
 the garnet, of fire, of vinegar, of wine, of the scorpion, and of peas. A. Boetius de 
 Boot (/. c, p. 149) states in regard to the color of Rubinus Balassius: "Habet iste 
 Rubinus laccae florentinae, aut cremesinum colorem, ita ut parum caerulei coloris 
 vero rubro admixtum videatur, rosei coloris rubentis instar." R. Miethe (in 
 Kramer, Der Mensch und die Erde, Vol. V, p. 377) describes spinels as black or 
 brown-black, frequently brownish, rarely green and blue. O. C. Farrington 
 (Gems and Gem Minerals, p. 96), besides red, gives also the colors orange, green, 
 blue, indigo, white and black. Max Bauer (Precious Stones, p. 297) has the fol- 
 lowing: "Spinels of a rose-red or light shade of color inclined to blue or violet are 
 referred to as 'balas rubies.' They not infrequently combine with this character a 
 peculiarly milky sheen which considerably detracts from their value. Stones the 
 color of which is more decidedly blue or violet resemble, although much paler, some 
 almandines, and are known as 'almandine spinels.' Violet spinels, which are not 
 too pale in color, often resemble both the true amethyst and the ' oriental amethyst, ' 
 and indeed have sometimes been put on the market under the latter name." Blue 
 and black spinels are discussed by the same author on p. 299. Red and purple balas 
 rubies are distinguished also by Yang Sh^n {Ko chi king yiian, Ch. 33, p. i) who, ac- 
 cording to Mayers (Chinese Reader's Manual, p. 270) lived from 1488 to 1559 
 (Giles,' Biographical Dictionary, p. 912, sets- the date of his death at 1529; but 
 Wylie, Notes on Chin. Lit., p. 154, assigns 1544 to one of his works). 
 
 ^ Mediaeval Researches, Vol. I, p. 151, and Chinese Recorder, Vol. VI, 1875, p. 16 
 (where the Chinese characters are given). 
 
July, 1913. » Notes on Turquois. 47 
 
 (lan-ch'i) as occurring in the same locality, and since Badakshan is the 
 locality producing lapis and balas ruby, the greater probability is that 
 Ch'ang Te's ya-se is identical with pi-ya-se, the balas ruby of Badakshan. 
 The fact that Ch'ang T^, in writing the name, employs other characters 
 than those in use at later tinies is certainly not in the way of this identi- 
 fication. On the other hand, as stated above (p. 33, note 5), Ch'ang 
 T6 notices in the palace of the CaUph se-se together with lapis lazuli, and 
 hence it may be concluded that his se-se is identidal with ya-se, i.e. that 
 se-se is the balas ruby of Badakshan. And if it is permissible to inter- 
 pret the word liu-li, occurring in the accoimt on Persia in the Sui shu 
 (Ch. 83, p. lib) and having its place between coral, agate and crystal, 
 in the sense of lapis lazuli, we are there confronted with an analogous 
 case. The great antiquity, of lapis lazuli in Egypt and Western Asia, 
 corresponding to its relatively early appearance in China, leads one to 
 the inevitable conclusion that also balas ruby, originating from the 
 same mines, must be of proportionately equal age. 
 
 From the few accounts we have in regard to the se-se — there is no 
 contemporaneous description of them — we cannot surely be too positive 
 on the subject of identification. But the spinel or balas ruby tentatively 
 proposed suits the situation far better than the turquois, for it is a 
 precious stone, it was found (and still is found) in the heart of those 
 regiorts participating in the property of se-si, and is well authenticated 
 historically and archasologieally. The word se-se is evidently not 
 Chinese, buj derived from a foreign language ; it may be either a Chinese 
 attempt at transcribing a Turkish or Persian designation of the stone, 
 or the name of some locality, mountain or river.^ 
 
 1 Marco Polo's designation of the mountain where the balas ruby is mined, 
 Syghinan = Shignan, is very suggestive as a possible foundation of the word st-sk 
 (Cantonese: sok-sok). It is also significant that the ancient Chinese name for Shigh- 
 nan is recorded in the Annals of the T'ang Dynasty in the form St-ni or Se-k'i-ni, 
 and that this syllable se is written with the same character as used in the jewel si-si 
 (see Chavannes, Documents sur les Tou-kiue occidentaux, pp. 162, 322). It is 
 therefore possible, after all, that si-se derives its name from this locality and means 
 "stone of Shighnan," — a case from a philological point of view analogous to the 
 above mentioned pijdzakl and badakshl. During the Mongol period the balas ruby 
 is designated la in the Cho keng lu (Ch. 7, p. 5 b, edition of 1469), — a word which is 
 traced by Bretschneider (Mediaeval Researches, Vol. I, p. 173) to Persian Idl. The 
 Chinese author T'ao Tsung-i — a fact not mentioned by Bretschneider — states 
 that this word is only dialectic. The adoption of this foreign word indicates a change 
 in the commercial conditions; in the T'ang period the balas rubies were traded to 
 China from the countfy of the Western Turks (Khotan), in the Mongol period from 
 Persia. An error of Bretschneider here deserves correction. The Cho keng lu enu- 
 merates four red stones and expressly says that they come from the same mine; 
 since the balas ruby is mined in Badakshan, the three others, viz., pi-che-ta, si-la-ni, 
 and ku-mu-lan, must be derived from the same locality, and it is impossible to con- 
 jecture with Bretschneider that si-la-ni probably means "fi*om Ceylon" — a view 
 untenable also for philological reasons. The pi-che-ta corresponds to Arabic bigddl, 
 "garnet" (Wiedemann, Der Islam, Vol. II, p. 352, and Zur Mineralogie im 
 Islam, pp. 217, 2>36, Erlangen, 1912). If Bretschneider adds that nowadays the 
 
48 Field Museum of Natural History — -Anth., Vol. XIII. 
 
 We noticed from the statements of the Pei shi and Sui shu that 
 se-se are attributed to the Persians, and from the T'ang shu that these 
 jewels were known in Syria. In the epoch of the T'ang dynasty (6x8- 
 906) the three great religions of Western Asia, Mazdeism, Nestorianism 
 and Manicheism reached a high degree of expansion and spread over 
 
 name for ruby in China is hung pao shi ("red precious stone"), it should be 
 understood that this is not the balas ruby, but the Burmese ruby (see also 
 G. E. Gerini, Researches on Ptolemy's Geography, pp. 39, 741, London, 1909). 
 Russian manuscripts of the seventeenth century mention expressly "Chinese Idl" 
 (K. P. Patkanov, I. c, p. 21) which goes to show that spinels really existed in China 
 and were traded from there to Russia. Julius Ruska (Das Steinbuch des Aristoteles, 
 p. 32) doubts the correctness of the identification of the Persian word Idl with the 
 spinel, and is inclined to regard it as tourmalin, as it is stated that the colors of the 
 stone are red, yellow, violet and green (which, however, is no conclusive argument), 
 that the same stone is often half red and half green, that it is found in a matrix of 
 white stone, and smaller stones frequently lie around a bigger one. I have no judg- 
 ment on this matter, but wish to point out on this occasion that it is impossible to 
 reach any certain results in this line from the Chinese field of research, before our 
 colleagues in the Persian and Arabic quarters have satisfactorily settled their ques- 
 tions and furnished us with the material to build our conclusions. From .a purely 
 philological point of view, however, it does not appear that Ruska's opinion can be 
 upheld. There can be no doubt that the word pijdzakl denotes the balas ruby, and 
 that the Chinese word pi-ya-se phonetically corresponds to it. The Imperial 
 Dictionary in Four Languages renders this Chinese term by the Tibetan and Mongol 
 words nal and Manchu langca (Laufer, Jade, p. 109, note 3); these two forms are 
 nothing but variations of the Persian word Idl, and consequently Persian Idl must 
 designate the balas ruby, so it does also in Osmanli and some other Turkish dialects 
 which have adopted this word. Likewise in Russian the spinel was known under the 
 name Idl in the seventeenth century (K. P. Patkanov, /. c, p. 20). Dr. Ruska, to 
 whom I submitted this observation, was good enotigh to write me that he does not 
 mean to reject in principle the interpretation of Idl by spinel, but mainly wishes to 
 point out the difficulties of the case arising from the confused descriptions of the 
 stone. He thinks the green color is so rare in this mineral that it is impossible that 
 the same stone should be often half green and half red, a feature which, however, not 
 seldom occurs in tourmalin (especially with neutral, colorless intermediary zone). 
 He further states that he has no doubt of the correctness of the equation pi-ya-se = 
 pijdzakl and nal = Idl, and obligingly refers to the fact that the word pijdzakl is con- 
 tained also in Vullers' Lexicon Persico-Latinum with the additional form piydzl 
 which comes still nearer to the Chinese word. According to Vullers, pijdzek is the 
 name of a district where are the mines of the Idl. As the word pijdz means "onion," 
 it was wrongly translated into Arabic as hasall "onion-like Idl," and even pijdzl was 
 perhaps understood in this sense. Dr. Ruska refers to a study on Qazwini now in 
 print, where he has commented on this subject. Meanwhile E. Wiedemann (Zur 
 Mineralogie im Islam, p. 216) has commented on Dr. Ruska's opinion in a translation 
 of al-Akfani's mineralogy, who identifies al-balachsh with Persian Idl. Wiedemann, 
 on the ground of the specific gravities giv^n by al-Khazini, holds that in this case Idl 
 should be translated by ruby-spinel, but admits that in other cases it could signify 
 tourmalin. With obliging courtesy Dr. Ruska has recently sent me a proof of the 
 note previously referred to (the above remarks were jotted down a year ago) where 
 he says that the identification of the Idl with the balachsh, the stone of Badakshan, 
 and with the rubis balais is confirmed by al-Akfani; but he adds: "This doe;s not 
 exclude a freer usage of the word for all possible red gems, for who might say that the 
 only then known means of their distinction, the determination of specific gravity, has 
 always been employed?" This result is entirely satisfactory, and we return to the 
 former conclusion that Idl, in general, designates the balas ruby, with the restrictions 
 made by Dr. Ruska. In no case can it certainly be expected that any Oriental names 
 of minerals, plants, or animals will exactly coincide with our scientific species; it is 
 always necessary to grant the former a certain latitude. But for purposes of transla- 
 tion we have to adhere to the one principal notion connected with -the object. 
 
July, 1913. Notes on Turquois. 49 
 
 Central Asia, also into China. A curious docuinent allows us to estab- 
 lish the fact that it was representatives of these religions, in all likelihood 
 Manicheans, who brought these jewels to China. This text occurs in 
 the Shu tien, a collection of interesting notes on the province of Sze- 
 ch'uan, compiled in 1818 by Chang Chu-pien (4 vols., reprinted in 1876). 
 The passage (in Ch. 8, p. 5) ^ is derived from the Hua yang ki, a work 
 containing records relative to Sze-ch'uan, whose time and authorship 
 is not known to me.^ The text runs as follows : "The family K'ai ming ' 
 erected a several-storied building of seven precious objects; there were 
 screens composed of connected genuine pearls. At the time of 
 Emperor Wu (b. c. 140-87) of the Han dynasty, a conflagration in the 
 district of Shu (Sze-ch'uan) destroyed several thousand houses, and 
 even several -storied houses were consumed by the flames. At the 
 present time people constantly find genuine pearls preserved in the 
 sandy soil. — Chao Pien,^ in his work Shu tu ku shi ("Ancient Affairs 
 of the Capital of Sze-ch'uan"), says: ''The Monoliths are outside of the 
 west gate of the Yamen, two shafts being extant. This is the site of the 
 building of the genuine pearls. Formerly people of Central Asia 
 {Hu Jen) erected at this spot a Temple of Ta Ts'in (Ta Ts'in sze) with 
 gates and storeys consisting of ten rooms. By means of genuine pearls 
 and bluish jade {ts'ui pi) which were strung, they made screens. Later 
 on, this building was destroyed and fell into ruins. Even now whenever 
 a big rain has fallen, people pick up at this place genuine pearls, se-s^, 
 gold, blue jade, and strange things. The poet Tu Fu (712-770), in his 
 'Poem on -the Monoliths' has the verse: 'During a rainfall, they 
 constantly obtain se-se,^ which is an allusion to this affair." ^ 
 
 1 It is quoted with exactly the same readings also in Ko cht king yuan, Ch. 32, 
 p. 7. The same story is narrated in the Ning kai chat man lu (edited- in Shou shan ko 
 ts'ung shu, Vols. 70, 71 ; Ch. 7, p. 22 b) by Wu TsSng of the twelfth century (Wyhe, 
 Notes on Chinese Literature, p. 160), which goes to prove that the story was known 
 in the Sung period. Also Wu Tseng connects this tradition with the verse of Tu Fu 
 (712-770) relative to the finds of se-se at a rainfall; this is the heading of his essay, 
 and the story is given in explanation of the poem which in our text, as translated 
 above, follows at the end. If this interpretation is correct, the event of the destruc- 
 tion of the temple of Ta Ts'in must have happened contemporaneously with, or 
 prior to the age of, Tu Fu. Thus, the Ta Ts'in temple here in question may have 
 been founded toward the end of the seventh or in the beginning of the eighth century. 
 
 - It is not identical with the Hua yang kuo chi, ancient records of Sze-ch"uan 
 by Ch'ang K'li of the Tsin dynasty. 
 
 ' According to an information received by M. Pelliot, K^ai ming is the name 
 of the later Emperor Ts'ung; he is identical with the personage called Pie Ling in 
 Giles (Biographical Dictionary, No. 2071). His record is contained m Hua yang 
 kuo chi (ch. 3, p. 2). 
 
 •• An official of the Sung period (994-1070), celebrated for his integrity and benev- 
 olence, popularly known as "the Censor with the Iron Face," acted as governor of 
 Sze-ch'uan (Giles, Biographical Dictionary, p. 73). The Neng kai chai man lu 
 designates him by his posthumous name Chao Ts'ing-hien. 
 
 * Wu Tseng, after giving the text of this tradition as above, winds up with a 
 comment on the precious stones and pearls of the country of Ta Ts'in (the Roman 
 
50 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. XIII. 
 
 Ta Ts'in is the peculiar name hitherto unexplained in its origin by 
 which the Roman Orient was known to the Chinese, a subject ably 
 and thoroughly discussed by -Prof. Hirth in his book "China and the 
 Roman Orient" on the basis of all available documents. The "Ta 
 Ts'in temples or churches ". are first mentioned in Chinese records for 
 the year 631 when the magus Ho-lu arrived frorii Persia at Si-ngan fu, 
 and an imperial edict ordered to establish in the capital a temple of 
 Ta Ts'in.i 
 
 In the year 745 an edict was issued that the Manichean churches 
 heretofore called "Persian temples" should throughout the empire 
 change this designation into "temples of Ta Ts'in." ^ The tenor of 
 this edict leaves no doubt that the Manicheans are understood: for the 
 purpose of the imperial order is to do justice to the true name of their 
 religion; their places of worship had heretofore been called "Persian" 
 for the mere reason that they had hailed from Persia, but the foundation 
 of their -religion was Christian and had originated in Ta Ts'in, in Syria. 
 I am therefore inclined to think that also in the above text the "Temple 
 of Ta Ts'in" should be identified with a Manichean church. If this 
 document can be looked upon as authentic we here have the interesting 
 fact, which I believe was not known before, that the Manicheans, 
 probably in the first part of the eighth century, had extended their 
 settlements to far-off Sze-ch'uan, and the point at issue in this connec- 
 tion is that they must have brought over to Sze-ch'uan a large quantity 
 of precious stones, among these se-se or balas ruby. In this case it 
 should rather be positively asserted that the turquois is out of the ques- 
 tion. The mere idea that the Manicheans should have employed 
 turquois, and especially in combination with genuine pearls and precious 
 jades, for the decoration of their churches, seems absurd. Precious 
 stones played a significant part in the religious system and symbolism 
 of the Manicheans, and as their reHgious notions centered around the 
 
 Orient) and concludes that the founders of the temple have therefore been indeed 
 men from the country of Ta Ts'in. It will be seen from the P'ei wen yun fu (Ch. 93 
 B, p. 85) that under the word se-se a passage from the History of the Liao Dynasty 
 {Liao shi, chapter on Rites) is quoted to the effect that " Jo-han selected an auspicious 
 day to practice the ceremony of sS-se, in order to pray for rain." This word s^-si 
 has nothing to do with the jewel in question, but is a word of the Tungusic language 
 of the Khitan, seseli (explained as such in Liao shi, Ch. 116, p. 4 b), meaning a cere- 
 mony of rain-prayer, in which no stone at all is employed but a willow at which a 
 lance is thrown by the emperor, the princes and ministers. The ceremony is fully 
 described in the second chapter of the Liao shi (see H. C. v. D. Gabelentz, Geschichte 
 der grossen Liao, p. 31; further Liao shi, Chs. 27, p. 3; 55, p. i b; 56, p. i b). The 
 K'ien-lung scholars identify the Khitan word with Manchu sekseri {KHn ting Liao shi 
 yii kiai, Ch. 10, p. i). 
 
 1 Chavannes, Le Nestorianisme (Journal asiatique, 1897, p. 61). 
 
 * This edict has been translated by Chavannes {L c, p. 66) and Paul Pelliot 
 (Bulletin de l' Ecole frangaise d' Extreme-Orient, Vol. Ill, 1903, p. 670). 
 
July, 1913. Notes on Turquois. 51 
 
 dualistic principle of light and darkness, it is evident that brilliant 
 jewels were conceived by them as emblems of light and for this reason 
 were employed in their churches.^ 
 
 Several examples of this kind may be gleaned from the newly 
 discovered Manichean treatise brilliantly translated by M. Chavannes 
 and -M. Pelliot in collaboration.^ Compassion is likened there to 
 "the precious pearl called the bright moon which is the first among all 
 jewels" (p. 67). The Messenger of Light is compared with "the per- 
 fumed mountain, vast and grand, of all jewels," and with "the precious 
 diamond pillar supporting the multitude of the beings" (p. 90). "Our 
 heart has received the maj.estic splendor of the pearl granting every 
 wish," it is said at the end of this treatise (p. 92). Such like thoughts 
 may explain the utilization of pearls in the Manichean church of Sze- 
 ch'uan. • We know also that the adherents of Mani were fond of flowers, 
 perfumes and ornaments, and in the same book (p. 61)^ there is 
 even a legend in regard to the origin of jewels which seems to be connect- 
 ed with their beliefs of resurrection. The dying Manichean was 
 adorned with rich ornaments (apparently symbolic of light) to be 
 prepared for admission into the luminous regions. The gods approach 
 the dead with ornaments which have the effect of putting the present 
 devils to flight.^ It does' not seem to be known what symbolism the 
 Manjcheans attached to the balas ruby.* But as the lost -literature of 
 
 ' The basis of this symbolism certainly is to be traced to the writings of the New 
 Testament, especially Revelation XXI, 18-21, and presents the counterpart to 
 the mystic and moralizing ideas associated by mediaeval Christian writers with the 
 twelve precious stones in the breastplate of the Jewish High Priest, the twelve jewels 
 forming the foundations of the wall of Heavenly Jerusalem just referred to, and the 
 jewels in the crown of the Virgin. Among the latter, the balas ruby appears in the 
 fifteenth century in the story of the visions of Sainte Frangoise where four other 
 stones not figuring among the twelve of the Bible are listed, — the diamond, garnet, 
 carnelian and turquois (L. Pannier, Les lapidaires frangais du moyen ^ge, p. 225, 
 Paris, 1882; see ibid., pp. 280-2, on the mediaeval beliefs regarding balas ruby). 
 Dante (Paradise IX, 67) extols the lustre of the balascio: L'altra letizia, che m'era 
 gik nota Preclara cosa, mi si fece in vista Qual fin balascio in che lo sol percota. The 
 ruby, in general, was emblematic of glory, and with predilection, chosen for the rings 
 of the bishops (H. Clifford Smith, Jewellery, p. 148, New York, 1908, and D. 
 Rock, Church of our Fathers, Vol. II, p. 171, London, 1849, where a gold pontifical 
 ring with a sapphire surrounded by four balas rubies is mentioned). 
 
 ^ Un traits manich^en retrouv6 en Chine. Extrait du Journal asiatique, Paris, 
 1912. 
 
 ' G. Flugel, Mani, seine Lehre und seine Schriften, pp. 268, 339 (Leipzig, 1862). 
 
 * Some of the symbolism associated with the spinel in western Asia may be 
 gleaned from the Armenian lapidarium translated into Russian by K. P. Patkanov 
 (p. 19): "The spinel shares with the ruby in the quality tha* it quenches thirst, as 
 soon as it is placed in the mouth. When pounded and mixed with a medicinal ex- 
 tract, it gladdens man and removes from him grief and sorrow. Mixed with an un- 
 guent and administered to the eyes, it strengthens their vision and renders man far- 
 sighted. Its nature is warm and dry. The sages say that the wearing of a spinel 
 protects one from all diseases, from pain in the loins; it safeguards man from bad 
 dreams and devils. The wearer of a spinel becomes agreeable to people." 
 
52 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. XIII. 
 
 this religion is gradually being rediscovered thanks to the scholarship 
 of F. W. K. Muller, Le Coq, Pelliot and Chavannes, there is hope that 
 the future will reveal this fact, and that also the puzzling word se-se 
 will occur in the writings of the Manicheans.^ 
 
 I have no definite opinion as to the indigenous se-se mentioned in the 
 Sung period and in the fanciful stories of the T'ang dynasty. It is 
 evident that neither the spinel nor the turquois is here involved, but 
 that it is the question of some Chinese stone of fine appearance which is 
 beyond the possibility of positive identification, as the accounts are 
 too vague and elastic. It is manifest that se^se was a favorite word 
 in the age of the T'ang, perhaps owing to its pleasing rhythm, that the 
 far-off countries where the jewel was first discovered lent it a nimbus 
 of romance, and that the name could easily be transferred . to other 
 similar stones. If I am allowed to express a personal opinion, I may 
 say that this kind of se-se possibly refers to onyx. We see from Pseudo- 
 Aristotle's Lapidarium ^ that China was known to the Arabs as a place 
 of production for onyx, and it might even be conjectured that the 
 Arabic word for onyx djaza (Persian djiza) which has penetrated into 
 Sanskrit in the form qeska ^ and into Tibetan in the form ze ^ may have 
 been instrumental in the shaping of the Chinese word se-se of this 
 meaning. The existence of onyx in ancient China has not been here- 
 tofore recognized, because the indigenous word for it, on traditional 
 convention, was accepted to have the meaning of jade, nobody knowing 
 what kind of jade was understood. This is the compound pi yii (Giles's 
 Dictionary, No. 9009) usually translated "greenish or bluish jade." 
 A. FoRKE ^ was the first to express his doubts of the correctness of this 
 translation, and to point out that there are Chinese authors who dis- 
 tinguish pi yii from jade. Now we find in the English and Chinese 
 
 1 We could perhaps even go so far as to connect the importation of rubies into 
 China with the Manicheans. According to the Arabic author Qazwini (1203-83) 
 there were several kinds of precious stones Hke rubies and others, and plenty of gold 
 in Sandabil, identical with Kan-chou, the capital of the kingdom of the Tangutans 
 (Chinese Si-hia, 1004-1226), and according to him, Manicheans lived there at the 
 same time and enjoyed there perfect liberty (compare J. Marquart, Osteuropaische 
 und ostasiatische Streifziige, pp. 87-88, Leipzig, 1903). 
 
 ^ Julius Ruska, Das Steinbuch des Aristoteles, p. 145, Heidelberg, 1912. Also 
 Ibn al-Baitar, 1 197-1248 (L. Leclerc, Traite des simples. Vol. I, p. 354, Paris, 1877), 
 makes the statement that onyx is found in Yemen and in China. Regarding onyx 
 in Persia compare G. P. Merrill, The Onyx Marbles, pp. 577-9 {Report of U. S. 
 National Museum, 1893). See further E. Wiedemann, Zur Mineralogie im Islam, 
 pp. 245-9 (Erlangen, 1912). 
 
 ^ L. FiNOT, Les la^idaires indiens, p. XVII (Paris, 1896). 
 
 ^ Mr. RocKHiLL (The Ethnology of Tibet, p. 692) tells us that he has seen in 
 certain portions of Tibet (Miri, near Shobando, for instance) the men wearing neck- 
 laces of coral beads and a substance which he believes is onyx, and which is called by 
 them ze. 
 
 * Mitteilungen des Seminars fur Orientalische Sprachen, Vol. VII, 1904, p. 147. 
 
July, 1913. Ncttes on Turquois, 53 
 
 Standard Dictionary published in 1908 by the Commercial Press of 
 Shanghai (Vol. II, p. 1561) the word onyx translated by this very term 
 pi yii ^ (also by tai wen ma-nao, "streaky agate"), and I have no doubt 
 that also in ancient texts the word pi yii designates the onyx. Thus, 
 for example, in the account of Ta Ts'in given in the Wei Ho ^ where the 
 five-colored (that is, variegated) pi, in my opinion, is onyx; likewise 
 the pillars in the country of Fu-lin, as reported in the Kiu T'ang shu 
 (see above p. 27) were of onyx or se-se. In the older account of the 
 Wei Ho compiled prior to the year 429 a. d., the Chinese designation is 
 still retained, while in the epoch of the T'ang a preference was manifested 
 for the West-Asiatic name which was then transferred also to the home 
 product. In this manner, a plausible explanation may be found for 
 the occurrence of se-se on Chinese soil, for the use of this word with 
 reference to the Roman Orient, and particularly for the carvings 
 described in the traditions of the T'ang period and in the archaeological 
 works of the Sung d\aiasty, which could have indeed been made of 
 onyx, a stone material ranking next to jade in Chinese eyes.^ The 
 difficulty of research in this line is enhanced by our lack of knowledge of 
 the mineralogy of China, so that we are still deprived of a solid scientific 
 foundation for our studies. 
 
 1 This is likewise the case in the German-Chinese Dictionary pubUshed by the 
 Catholic Missionaries of South-Shantung, p. 613 (Yen-chou £u, 1906). 
 
 - HiRTH, China and the Roman Orient, pp. 73, 1 13. 
 
 ^ There are two references pertaining to Herat and Samarkand in a text of the 
 fifteenth century where the word se-se, without any doubt, signifies a building-stone. 
 In 1415 Ch'Sn Ch'eng returned to China from a journey through Central Asia which 
 had taken him through seventeen different countries. He published the information 
 gathered by him in a book entitled Shi si yii ki, "Record of an Embassy to the 
 Western Regions" (compare Ming shi, Ch. 332, and Bretschneider, China Review, 
 Vol. V, 1876, p. 314). The original seems to be lost, but extracts from it are quoted 
 in the Imperial Geography of the Ming Dynasty {Ta Ming i t'ung chi, edition of 
 1461). Under the heading of Herat {Ho-lie), Ch'en Ch'eng is cited as saying 
 (Ch. 89, fol. 23 b): • "They are fond of clean clothing which is white in color, and 
 which is exchanged for dark in case of mourning. The windows and walls of the 
 palace in which the ruler of this country lives are adorned with gold, silver, and se-se." 
 With reference to Samarkand the same author reports {ibid., fol. 22 b): "There are 
 many workmen there skilful in all handicrafts and clever in erecting palaces, build- 
 ings, gates, and pillars, with carvings in open work, and with windows connected by 
 se-se." Both turquois and balas ruby are out of the question in these two cases; it 
 is a building-stone, and most probably the onyx, which is here referred to. — As our 
 knowledge of ancient Chinese sculpture advances, we may hope to obtain several 
 exact definitions for the ancient names of stones, as in many of the votive inscriptions 
 engraved in the monuments the name of the stone is expressly stated (though most 
 frequently only the designation "stone image" is employed). The term yti shi 
 {lit. jade stone) mentioned by Pelliot {T'oung Pao, 1912, p. 435) is also well known 
 to me as occurring on Buddhist statuary of the Wei and T'ang periods, and it had 
 never been assumed by me that it has the meaning of jade; yii shi, as also Pelliot 
 says, means a jade-like stone, probably only a highly prized or valuable stone. The 
 term yii Fu {lit. jade Buddha) may have well been employed in the figurative sense 
 of "precious Buddha." The word se-se I have not yet traced in the inscription of 
 any sculpture, but it is possible that it will turn up some day or other. 
 
54 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. XIII. 
 
 The problem as to the precious stones utilized by the T'ang dynasty 
 could very well be solved in the Imperial Treasury (Shos5in) of Nara, 
 Japan, if an experienced mineralogist might be admitted there to make 
 a close investigation of Hhe numerous precious stones lavished on 
 Chinese objects of that period. In the Tdyei Shuko published by the 
 Imperial Household where these treasures are splendidly illustrated, 
 but inadequately described, the importance of this subject is overlooked. 
 We read, for example, on p. 5 of Vol. I of discs used in plajdng games, 
 35 of crystal, 35 of amber, 20 of yellow lapis lazuli, 20 of azure lapis 
 lazuli, 15 of sHghtly green lapis lazuli, 15 of green lapis lazuli; in the 
 description of swords, green lapis lazuli is repeatedly mentioned. Need- 
 less to say there is no yellow or green lapis lazuli, and that these defini- 
 tions rest on guesswork, not on investigation. But the same remark 
 holds good for most of our archaeological collections. A competent 
 examination of the intaglios discovered in Turkistan, especially Khotan, 
 and of the engraved gems of the Sassanian period of Persia would 
 likewise yield new results for this interesting branch of research. 
 
 At a future date, precious stones will occupy a prominent place also 
 in Chinese archaeology, and the practical utility of studies -like the 
 present one will then become manifest. Already now the fact is 
 apparent that precious stones are found in Chinese graves, and there 
 is a certain number of them (especially lapis lazuli, carnelian, agate, 
 and others as yet undefined) in the collections of the Field Museum. 
 But for lack of evidence this subject is difficult to treat at present. 
 Turquois, as far as I can judge, and as far as I know from Chinese ex- 
 perts, has not yet been .discovered in any Chinese grave. The day 
 will not be far when also Chinese archseolog}^ will be based on the 
 actual evidence of the finds, and — qui vivra verra. 
 
 Ill regard to Tibet a plausible interpretation may be offered, and the 
 
 •Chinese transcription se-se referring to a jewel greatly prized by the 
 
 ancient Tibetans seems to be traceable to a Tibetan word. There is a 
 
 Tibetan word ze (or ze-ba, ha being only a suffix), a different word from 
 
 the one mentioned before, which in the Tibetan-Sanskrit dictionaries 
 
 is translated by Sanskrit agmagarbha; the latter is, according to the 
 
 Rdjanighantu (ed. Garbe, p. 77), an epithet of the ehierald, and Tibetan 
 
 ze {= Chinese se-se) would accordingly designate the emerald.^ This 
 
 identification is quite in keeping with what Chinese authors report 
 
 1 Compare the Chinese word she-she, "emerald," cited by Palladius (see above 
 p. 25, note i). It is noteworthy that the Chinese accounts of se-se, in a measure, 
 present a curious analogy with the notices of the emerald on the part of the ancients, 
 in that the latter have mingled with the genuine emerald other statements which 
 cannot relate to the latter, for example, fabulous reports on Egyptian emeralds four 
 cubits long and three cubits wide, and on obelisks of emerald (H. Blumner, /. c. 
 Vol. Ill, p. 239, and Lessing, Briefe antiquarischen Inhalts, XXV). 
 
July, 1913. Notes on Turquois. 55 
 
 regarding the high value of se-se in Tibet. Also the Tibetan word 
 mar-gad, derived from Sanskrit marakata, sufficiently shows that the 
 Tibetans were acquainted with the emerald. Capt. A. Gerard, 
 speaking of the people of Spiti in the extreme western part of Tibet, 
 remarks that they have beads of coral and other precious stones which 
 resemble rubies, emeralds and topazes.^ The surface of a mausoleum in 
 Yamdo Samding is studded over with large turquoises, coral beads, 
 rubies, emeralds and pearls.'^ Samuel Turner,^ in "a list of the usual 
 articles -of commerce between Tibet and the surrounding countries," 
 has registered emeralds exported from Bengal to Tibet. 
 
 Abel-Remusat * has wrongly ascribed the meaning of emerald to 
 the word lu-sung shi, meaning "turquois"; on the other hand he errone- 
 ously translates by "chrysolith, or perhaps turquois" the Chinese word 
 tsie-mu-lu, corresponding to Manchu niowarimbu wehe (that is, greenish 
 stone), which is the emerald. This is proved by the Imperial Dictionary 
 in Four Languages, where this Chinese and Manchu term corresponds 
 to Tibetan mar-gad (written also ma-rgad, Taranatha 173, 19) and 
 Mongol markat, both derived from Sanskrit marakata which itself is 
 a loan word from Greek zmaragdos or maragdos} The Chinese word 
 
 1 See RocKHiLL, The Ethnology of T!bet, p. 694. 
 
 - S. Chandra Das, Journey to Lhasa, p. 183 (London, 1904). 
 
 ' An Account of an Embassy to the Court of the Teshoo Lama, in Tibet, p. 383 
 (London, 1800). On p. 261 he tells that he saw the rosaries owned by the deceased 
 Pan ch'en rin-po-ch'e, made of pearls, emeralds, rubies, and sapphires; and on p. 336, 
 he describes the necklace in the possession of a Lhasa lady of high rank, in which 
 were employed balas rubies, lapis lazuli, amber, and coral in numerous wreaths, and 
 in her hair she wore pearls, rubies, emeralds, and coral. 
 
 ■• Histoire de la ville de Khotan, p. 168 (Paris, 1820). 
 
 ^ A. Weber, Die Griechen in Indien {Sitzungsherichte der Berliner Akademie, 
 1890, p. 912). The oldest reference given in the Petersburg Sanskrit Dictionary as 
 to the occurrence of the word n^arakata is the Rajanighantu. It is found, however, 
 in the Sanskrit romances, for example, in the Vdsavadattd (edition and translation 
 of L. H. Gray, p. 109, Col. Un. Indo-Iranian Series, Vol. VIII, New York, 19 13) 
 of the seventh century. Also the Tibetan derivate mar-gad, appearing as equivalent 
 of marakata in the Sanskrit Buddhist dictionary Mahavyutpatti (ed. of Minayev 
 and MiRONOV, p. 77, St. Petersburg, 191 1), allows us to infer that the Sanskrit word 
 is older than the seventh century. It occurs likewise in Buddhabhatta (L. Finot, 
 Les lapidaires indiens, p. XLIV) who probably wrote before the sixth century A. D. 
 For the first part of the sixth century we have the testimony of Cosmas Indicopleustes 
 (J. W. McCrindle, Ancient India as described in Classical Literature, p. 164, 
 Westminster, 1901) who states that the White Huns living farther north than India 
 highly prize the emerald, and wear it when set in a crown, for the Ethiopians, who 
 traffic with the Blemmyes in Ethiopia, carry this same stone into India, and with the 
 price they obtain make purchases of the most beautiful articles. The tradition of 
 the Agastimata, as pointed out by Finot (p. XLIV), seems to allude likewise to Egypt 
 as to the derivation of the emerald. The Egyptian emerald has been studied by O. 
 Schneider and A. Arzruni {Zeitschrift fur Ethnologie, Vol. XXIV, 1892, pp. 41-100). 
 The Greeks seem to have obtained their emeralds from Egypt; the Greek word is 
 connected with Semitic baraqt or bdreqet (Daremberg and Saglio, Vol. II, p. 1467, 
 and O. Schrader, Reallexikon, p. 153), but possibly also with Egyptian mafek-ma 
 or mafek-en-md (R. Lepsius, Les mitaux dans les inscriptions ^gyptiennes, p. 43, 
 Paris, 1877). The reports of the Arabic geographers on the Egyptian emerald-mines 
 are translated by Wiedemann (Zur Mineralogie im Islam, p. 239, Erlangen, 1912). 
 
56 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. XIII. 
 
 tsie-mu-lu seems to go back directly to the Persian word zumurrtid,^ 
 and it seems quite plausible that the Chinese obtained emeralds in their 
 considerable trade with Persia. Possibly the Chinese have made their 
 first acquaintance with emeralds at the end of %he Mongol period.^ 
 
 Let us now revert to the history of the turquois in China. T'ao 
 Tsung-i, the author of the interesting work Cho keng lu (first published 
 in 1366) replete with valuable information concerning the Mongol 
 period, has embodied in it a brief enumeration of the precious stones of 
 the Mohammedans, which were traded to China in his time (Ch. 7, 
 pp. 5 b-7 b, edition of 1469). The last group of these stones is desig- 
 nated tien-tse (Giles's Dictionary, No. 11,180, but not noted with this 
 meaning).^ Three kinds of these are distinguished: first, Ni-she-pu-ti, 
 that is, stones from Nishapur in Persia, called the Mohammedan tien-tse 
 whose veins are fine ; secondly, Ki-U-ma-ni, that is, stones from Kerman 
 in Persia, called Host tien-tse (that is, tien-tse used in the country of 
 
 1 Horn, Neupersische Schriftsprache, p. 6 {Grundriss der iranischen Philologie 
 I, 2) and F. Jusxi, Kurdische Grammatik, p. XVI (St. Petersburg, 1880). In the 
 Taoist novel Feng shen yen i emeralds are mentioned as composing the umbrella of 
 Virupaksha. In W. Grube's posthumous work (Metamorphosen'der Gotter, p. 512, 
 Leiden, 1912) the name tsu'-mu-lu has not been recognized as a foreign word and' 
 is literally translated from the meaning pf the Chinese characters "Grandmother 
 green," while the editor H. Mueller in the index compiled by him (p. 651) explains 
 it as "pearls"; also the variant tsii-mu-pi there employed means "emeralds." The 
 same manner of writing the word (tsu-mu-lu) is employed also by Yang Shen (Ko chi 
 king yiian, Ch. 33, p. i) and by Ku Ying-t'ai in his Po wu yao Ian (ibid.) written be- 
 tween 1621 and 1627. A curious error occurs in R. Pumpelly, Geological Re-i 
 searches, p. 1 18 (Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, Vol. XV, Washington, 1867) 
 who in a discussion of the mineral production of Yiin-nan remarks: "Emeralds are 
 very rare, and although the Chinese name is lieupaoshi [i. e. Itl pao shi] (green precious 
 stone), they are known among lapidaries as Sz'mulu, the name of Sumatra, whence 
 they are probably obtained." The Chinese word in question is not a designation of 
 Sumatra which was known to the Chinese under the names Shi-li-fo-shi and San-fo- 
 ts'i (see Hirth and Rockhill, Chau Ju-kua, p. 63), nor is emerald known to be found 
 on Sumatra. 
 
 2 Bretschneider, Mediaeval Researches, Vol. I, p. 174. But at an earlier date 
 they heard of emeralds in the translations of Buddhist Sanskrit works. In one of 
 the series of the so-called Seven Jewels (saptaratna) the emerald appears in the second 
 place following the diamond, and is transcribed in the form mo-lo-kia-t'o rendered into 
 Chinese "green-colored bead" (lii se chu) identical with harinmani, one of the 
 Sanskrit synonyms of the emerald. Compare Kiao ch'engfa shu (Ch. 7, p. 3, Hang- 
 chou, 1878), a Buddhist dictionary of numerical categories written by Yiian Tsing 
 in 1431 (Wylie, Notes, p. 211). 
 
 ^ In fact, none of our dictionaries contains the word tien-tse with the meaning of 
 turquois, nor even does K'ang-hi's Dictionary. The origin and significance of the 
 word is somewhat embarrassing, as it cannot be explained from any meaning assigned 
 to the character tien (No. 11,180). In my opinion, a confusion of characters has 
 been in operation in writing the word. It was intended for the character tien 
 (No. 11,179) whose meaning is "to inlay objects with stones, inlaid or incrustated 
 work." From this verbal noun, the new word tien-tse was derived with the sense 
 "stones for inlaying," one of the main purposes for which turquoises are employed, 
 and hence quite an appropriate designation. In the Ming period (Ko ku yao luti 
 and Pen ts'ao kang mu, see below) we find a new mode of writing the word tien-tse, 
 with the character tien (No. 11,199) meaning "indigo," which might have been 
 prompted by an association of the color of the stone with that of indigo. 
 
July, 1913. Notes on Turquois. 57 
 
 the Tangutans) whose veins are coarse; thirdly, stones of King-chou, 
 called tien-tse of Siang-yang whose color is changeable. It is easy to 
 see, and Bretschneider ^ has already pointed it out, that the turquois 
 of Nishapur and Kerman is understood here,^ and it hence follows that 
 Siang-yang tien-tse must have the meaning "turquois of Siang-yang." 
 Siang-yang is a city and prefecture of Hu-pei Province, and King-chou 
 is the name of an ancient province comprising parts of the present 
 provinces of Hu-nan and Hu-pei. The changing of color, indeed, fits 
 the turquois, since its blue shades often fade to a pale green on long 
 exposure to the light.' If this conclusion is correct, this would be the 
 oldest Chinese reference to a turquois-producing locality in China 
 proper in the latter part of the fourteenth century, and the first authentic 
 use of a word for turquois in the Chinese language.* It is interesting 
 that Tu Wan in his lapidarium of 1133 (Ch. a, p. 11 ; see p. 23) devotes 
 a notice to stones of Siang-yang employed for building purposes, but. has 
 no allusion to turquois of this or any other locality. It is therefore 
 obvious that, while quarries existed in that place during the Sung 
 period, the turquois had then not yet made its appearance, and the 
 fact is confirmed that the turquois mines were not operated before 
 
 1 Mediaeval Researches, Vol. I, p. 175. 
 
 2 See above pp. 40-42. 
 
 ' This peculiar property of the turquois is well known. Ibn al-BaitSr says after 
 al-Kindi who (according to Wiedemann, Zur Alchemic bei den Arabern, Journal 
 fiir praktische Chemie, 1907, p. 73) died shortly after 870 A. D.,'that "the turquois 
 changes its color on contact with an oily substance; also perspiration affects it [this is 
 mentioned likewise by Boetius de Boot, /. c, p. 269.and Max Bauer, Edelstein- 
 kunde, p. 488] and entirely deprives it of its color; contact with musk has a similar 
 effect and destroys its value; Aristotle holds the opinion that a stone thus changing 
 color has no value for its wearer" (L. Leclerc, /. c, Vol. Ill, p. 51). In Pseudo- 
 Aristotle (J. RusKA, /. c, p. 152) the purity of color in the stone is ascribed to the 
 purity of the atmosphere which, when the latter becomes impure, causes the stone 
 to become dim; when it comes in contact with molten gold, its beauty disappears. 
 The latter clause is dubious. The sentence imputed to Aristotle is not traceable to 
 him; neither Aristotle nor Theophrast make mention of the turquois. The alteration 
 of color gave rise to the belief in the west that the stone foretold misfortune, or that 
 the stone, when its owner sickens, will grow pale, and at his death lose color entirely. 
 Ben Jonson (i 574-1 637), the dramatist, in his Sejanus, has the verse: "And true 
 as Turkise in the deare lord's ring, Looke well or ill with him." Fenton (Secret 
 Wonders of Nature, 1569) says: "The Turkeys doth move when there is any perill 
 prepared to him that weareth it." 
 
 * The quarrying of turquois in Hui-ch"uan, Yun-nan Province, mentioned for the 
 year 1290 in the Yiian shi (see p. 26, Note 3) is, of course, older in fact. The Cho 
 keng lu, however, is our starting-point in unraveling the mystery, as it affords the 
 means of determining in an unobjectionable manner the significance of the word 
 tien-tse. With this authentic evidence in our hands we can hope to attack success- 
 fully the passages in the Yiian shi where this word is employed, while it is not there 
 explained. Besides, we have the important testimony of Marco Polo, as pointed 
 out before, which enables us to establish with certainty the fact that turquois was 
 known and mined in China during the Mongol period. Marco Polo was familiar 
 with the turquois, as shown by his remarks on the turquois-quarries in the province 
 of Kerman in Persia, so that his turquois in the province of Caindu cannot be called 
 into doubt. 
 
58 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth,, Vol. XIII. 
 
 the Mongol period. It is noteworthy, as we shall see hereafter, that 
 at present turquoises are still mined in Hu-pei. If we now recall the 
 account of Marco Polo (p. 16), it seems we are justified in saying that 
 the Chinese became acquainted with the turquois not earlier than in 
 the Yuan or Mongol period, that is to say, the thirteenth and fourteenth 
 centuries. This early mining in Hu-pei cannot have been of great 
 importance, as it is not alluded to in later sources. We further observe 
 that the Persian turquois bebame known to the Chinese in the fourteenth 
 century, and was considered as superior to the domestic stone.^ 
 
 This identification enables us to recognize the turquois also in the 
 Yiian shi, the Chinese Annals of the Mongol Dynasty, where it is called 
 pi tien, or pi tien-tse, "green or blue tien" (the word tien being identical 
 with the above-mentioned word of the Cho keng lu). It entered the 
 robe of the emperor and courtiers, and gold beads and turquoises are 
 especially mentioned as used for earrings (Yiian shi, Ch. 78, p. 13 b). 
 The Mongols were doubtless acquainted with the turquois long before 
 their occupation of China, either through the Tibetans or Turkish tribes 
 or through both. We know that among the antiquities of the bronze 
 age of Siberia gold plaques incrusted with turquois and emeralds have 
 been found ^ and, aside from Egypt, this ancient Siberian technique 
 possibly represents the oldest employment of the turquois in the world. 
 To the Chinese it was an alien substance which never became a national 
 factor in their jewelry. They made its acquaintance through Turks, 
 Persians, Tibetans, and Mongols, and I am under the impression that the 
 Mongol rulers were the first to introduce it into China, and that their 
 utilization of the stone gave impetus to the discovery of turquois mines 
 on Chinese soil, and led to the turquois monopoly related by Marco 
 Polo which has been mentioned above (p. 16) in the notes on Tibet. 
 Also the reports of turquoises sent from the circuit of Hui-ch'uan in 
 Yun-nan Province in the years 1284 and 1290 related in the Yuan shi 
 (compare above p. 26, note 3) may be set in causal connection with the 
 craving of the Mongol sovereigns for this stone. 
 
 At the rise of the Yiian Dynasty, the rule was established that prod- 
 ucts like gold, silver, pearls, jade, copper, iron, mercury, cinnabar, and 
 
 1 At this point we should stop to reflect again whether, after all, the mining of 
 turquois in Persia on an extensive scale is not earlier than the Mohammedan period. 
 Compare above p. 40. 
 
 2 KoNDAKOFF, ToLSTOi and Reinach, Antiqujt^s de la Russie m^ridionale, 
 pp. 404, 405 ; S. Reinach, La representation du galop dans I'art ancien et moderne, p. 66 
 (Paris, 1901). As far as I know, these turquoises have never been examined by a 
 competent mineralogist, nor have they been traced to their place of origin. Bauer 
 has nothing to say concerning the occurrence of turquois in Siberia. The Armenian 
 lapidarium of the seventeenth century (translated by K. P. Patkanov, /. c, p. 48) 
 gives Siberia as the fourth source for the turquois, and adds that this kind does not 
 command any price. 
 
July, 1913. Notes on Turquois. - 5q 
 
 turquoises offered to the throne by the inhabitants of the regions where 
 the said products were found should be charged to the annual taxes 
 due to them.i The localities for the production of turquoises, on this 
 occasion, are given as Ho-lin and Hui-ch"uan. The former place is 
 mentioned again under the Mongols in the year 1 271 to the effect that a 
 certain Umala collected turquoises {pi tien-tse) at Ho-lin.^ 
 
 Ho-lin is the Chinese designation for Karakorum,'' the famous 
 residence of the first successors to Chinggis Khan, Ogotai, Kuyuk and 
 Mangu, and a large industrial and commercial centre in the Mongol 
 period. It is not known whether turquoises occurred or are now found 
 in the environments of that ancient capital, that is, in the basin of the 
 •Orkhon river, and it may very well be that Karakorum, during the 
 . thirteenth century, was merely a staple-place for them, whence they 
 were traded to the Mongol and Tungusian tribes. In Yuan-shi (Ch. 94, 
 § 2, p. i) turquoises are enumerated among the natural products of 
 the empire together with gold, silver, pearls, jade, copper, iron, mercury, 
 vermilion, lead, tin, alum, saltpetre, and carbonate of natron. 
 
 It is thus evident that in the Mongol period at least three turquois- 
 mines were in operation, in Hu-pei, Yun-nan, and Sze-ch'uan (Marco 
 Polo's Caindu). 
 
 Also from Tibet turquoises were imported into China during that 
 period. This may be inferred from a remark of Ts'ao Chao who pub- 
 lished in 1387 the Ko ku yao lun, a collection of notes on art and anti- 
 quities. This was in the beginning of* the Ming dynasty which rose in 
 1368, so that the author must have lived through the last years of the 
 Yiian. He avails himself for the turquois of the peculiar Yiian expres- 
 sion pi tien-tse, but using a different character to write tien, identical 
 with the word for 'indigo' (No. 11,199), so that the name would mean 
 'blue indigo sons.' He gives as localities for these stones the regions of 
 the southern and western Tibetans {Nan-fan, Si-fan ^) and describes 
 them as of blue and green color, adding that good ones come somewhat 
 near to the price of a horse, a statement evidently copied from the 
 Wu Tai shi in regard to the se-se of the Tibetan women, referred to 
 above.' He further says that they are of the class of beacls, and that 
 1 Kin-t'ing se wen hien t'ung k'ao, Ch. 23, p. 3. 
 
 ' i^i^-' ?• ^ ^- Hui-chou, as written in this work, is a mistake for Hui-ch'uan as 
 proved by the parallel passage in Yiian shi, Ch. 94, §2, pp. i b, 2 a. 
 
 3 Bretschneider, Mediaeval Researches, Vol. I, p. 122; Vol. II, p. 162. 
 
 " From our standpoint eastern Tibetans; they border on the west of China and 
 live partially on territory belonging to the political administration of China. 
 
 'For the rest this is merely phraseology which cannot be taken very seriously 
 In China as elsewhere stock-phrases are formed in the wav of literary allusions and 
 bons mots for stylistic purposes, and it would be preposterous to see in these a founda- 
 tion ot real fact. Thus the phrase, "bead or pearl of the value of a horse, " is one of the 
 
6o Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. XIII. 
 
 there are also those of black and green hues which are low in price. In 
 another work of the Ming period, the Po wu yao Ian (published between 
 1 62 1 and 1627), the precious stones of Tibet are enumerated, the series 
 being closed by a "blue precious stone, light-blue in color like the hue 
 of the sky." As the word pao shi, 'precious stone' is used here, I am 
 not certain whether the turquois is meant. 
 
 In Chinese pottery occurs a deep-blue glaze well known to collectors 
 under the name of turquois glaze. It has sometimes .been supposed 
 that this glaze was intended to imitate the color of turquois, as is, e. g., 
 stated in the "Catalogue of the Morgan Collection of Chinese Porce- 
 lains." ^ This view, however, is erroneous; "turquois glaze" is merely 
 a designation of foreign origin, whereas, in the minds of the Chinese, 
 the glaze has no relation to the turquois. This glaze is produced by 
 means of a silicate of copper known to the Chinese as fei ts'ui from its 
 resemblance to the color of the plumes of the kingfisher, or as k'ung-tsio 
 lii, "peacock green."^ This glaze appears for the first time in the pottery 
 of the Sung period (960-1279)^ and was in full swing during the time 
 of the Ming dynasty, being applied to porcelain as successfully as to 
 faience. During these two periods, the turquois was hardly known to 
 the Chinese, or played no r61e in their life.'* 
 
 The modem word lii sung shi, as far as I can see, does not occur 
 earlier than the eighteenth century,^ and it may be presumed also that 
 
 school reminiscences reiterated by several authors. As early as in the Lapidarium 
 of Tu Wan {Yiin lin shi p'u, published in 1133) we find it stated (Ch. 2, p. 7) that on 
 the waste land of the Temple of the White Horse {Pai ma sze) east of Ho-nan fu, 
 after a heavy rain, fine stones of a deep purple and green color are found in the 
 ground which belong "to the class of beads having the price of a Tibetan horse; 
 others of these beads are light-green with many veins and speckles, and some are 
 made into carvings of objects and images; deep-green ones are high in price." "These 
 stones," concludes the author, "are produced in foreign countries, and are found also 
 in the soil near the ancient capitals of Si-ngan fu and Lb-yang. (Ho-nan)." If it 
 were permissible to regard these stones as imported turquoises, additional negative 
 evidence would be furnished that turquois was not yet mined in China during the 
 Sung period. Also Li Shi-ch6n (in his Pen ts'ao kang mu, Ch. 8, p. 17 b) uses the 
 term ' bead of the value of a horse ' (ma kia chu) as a designation for kingfisher-blue 
 stones. 
 
 1 Vol. II, p. 78 (New York, 191 1). 
 
 ^ Compare S. W. Bushell, Oriental Ceramic Art, pp. 265, 315, 376 (New York, 
 1899). 
 
 ^ Laufer, Chinese Pottery, p. 316. 
 
 * There is a popular tradition in Tibet in regard to blue-glazed Chinese faience 
 tiles with which some temples are roofed that the first king Srong-btsan sgam-po of 
 the seventh century had produced the glaze by melting an immense quantity of 
 turquois for the purpose (S. Chandra Das, Narrative of a Journey round Lake 
 Yamdo, p. 49, Calcutta, 1887). 
 
 ^ It is certainly possible, as in the case of the word pi-ya-se, that also the word lii 
 sung shi belonging to the colloquial language may be of earlier date than we at pres- 
 ent suspect; but as the older sources regarding the every day language are very scarce, 
 we can not yet offer any positive evidence. 
 
July, 1913. Notes on Turquois. 61 
 
 the exploitation of turquois mines in China was taken up again only 
 at that time, while it was interrupted during the Ming period. In the 
 records of the Ming and Ts'ing dynasties, there is no reference to 
 quarrying turquois. The great work on natural history of the six- 
 teenth century, the Pen ts'ao kang mu, has nothing to say regarding this 
 matter. In the K'ien-lung period (1736-95) turquois was occasionally 
 used in the imperial manufacture at Peking, as we may ascertain from 
 several specimens in the Bishop collection in the Metropolitan Museum 
 of New York. It contains, for instance, a scabbard of chiseled repousse 
 gold decorated with the eight Buddhist emblems {pa poo) carved in 
 turquois, apparently intended as a gift for some Mongol prince, and 
 an imperial knife marked with K 'ten-lung's seal, the handle being 
 studded with lapis lazuli, camelian and turquois.^ 
 
 It appears that the Manchu emperors with their predilection for 
 Lamaism and their interests in the Mongols and Tibetans derived the 
 application of turquois from these peoples, and followed in this respect 
 the trail of the Mongol emperors. Among the Chinese these stones 
 never became popular.^ They were occasionally employed for inlaying, 
 but then in connection with other stones to produce certain color 
 effects. BusHELL ^ figures a box of carved red lacquer, decorated with 
 floral designs, the fruit, flowers and other details inlaid in green and 
 yellow jade, lapis lazuli, turquois and amethystine quartz. In the 
 Chinese collection in the Field Museum there is a pair of jade trees in 
 pots of cloisonne enamel, the leaves of which are beautifully carved out 
 of turquois.'* 
 
 It was for the first time also in the K'ien-lung period that the stone 
 was officially adopted and its use sanctioned for the imperial cult. 
 
 Turquoises enter the imperial robe on some occasions, as recorded 
 
 ^ See Bishop, Investigations and Studies in Jade, Vol. II, p. 244. 
 
 ^ This lack of popularity is best evidenced by the fact that the turquois does not 
 appear in the Chinese materia medica as it does in India and Tibet, nor are there any 
 superstitious beliefs regarding it. This is remarkable considering among the Chinese 
 the widest utilization for medicinal purposes of all substances occurring in the three 
 kingdoms of nature. 
 
 ' Chinese Art, Vol. I, p. 133. 
 
 * Figured in Jade, Plates LXVI and LXVII. The model of the Chinese jade 
 trees presumably is to be looked for in the Bodhi trees of India made from precious 
 stones and metals. The Great Chronicle of Ceylon (W. Geiger, The Mahavarnsa, 
 p. 203, London, 1912) from about the sixth century A. D. has this report: "In the 
 midst of the relic-chamber the king placed a Bodhi tree made of jewels, splendid in 
 every way. It had a stem eighteen cubits high and five branches; the root, made of 
 coral, rested on sapphire. The stem made of perfectly pure silver was adorned with 
 leaves made of gems, had withered leaves and fruits of gold and young shoots made of 
 coral. The eight auspicious figures [these are, lion, bull, elephant, water-pitcher, 
 fan, standard, conch-shell, lamp] were on the stem and festoons of flowers and 
 beautiful rows of four-footed beasts and rows of geese." Then follows a description 
 of the canopy consisting of pearls and precious stones. 
 
62 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. XIII. 
 
 in the ''Institutes of the Manchu Dynasty" {Ta Ts'ing hui tien fu, 
 Ch. 42). When the emperor officiates in the Temple of Heaven (T'ien 
 fan), he wears a rosary of lapis lazuli beads; in the Temple of Earth 
 (Ti fan), one of amber beads, yellow being the color of Earth; in the 
 Temple of the Sun (Ji fan) , one of corals ; and in the Temple of the Moon 
 {YUe fan) one of turquoises (lii sung shi) ; while the girdle for the service 
 in the latter temple is set with white jade.^ The ordinary imperial 
 court-girdle consists of yellow silk and is adorned with rubies or sap- 
 phires and turquoises. Also in the State Handbook of the Manchu 
 Dynasty (Huang ch'ao U kH fu shi) turquoises are repeatedly mentioned 
 as entering imperial helmets and sword-sheaths, also as employed for 
 the jewelry of the empress and the court-ladies. They usually were 
 combined with river pearls, corals, and lapis lazuli.^ 
 
 1 Color symbolism is an ancient and conspicuotis feature of Chinese rites, and was 
 originally associated with the four quarters and the cosmic deities who were linked 
 with the latter (compare Jade, p. 120) ; at a later time it was affiliated also with the 
 five elements and other categories of five (a comparative table of these associations 
 is given by A. Forke, Lun-h6ng, Vol. II, p. 440). The Chinese system has already 
 been compared with those found in North America and Mexico by Mrs. Zelia 
 NuTTALL, The Fundamental Principles of Old and New World Civilizations {Arch, 
 and Ethn. Papers, Peabody Museum, Vol. II, Cambridge, Mass., 1901, pp. 286, 293), 
 with the result that, "whilst the fundamental principle of the system was identical, 
 the mode of carrying it out was different in China and America, a fact which indicates 
 independence and isolation at the period when elements and colors, etc., were chosen 
 and assigned to the directions in space." The whole problem, of course, is not histor- 
 ical but purely psychological. — In the imperial worship of the Manchu dynasty, as 
 shown above, color symbolism was still fully alive. In the Temple of Heaven covered 
 with blue-glazed faience tiles, everything was blue during the ceremonies, the 
 sacrificial utensils being of blue porcelain, the participants in the rites being robed in 
 blue brocades, and Venetian shades made of thin rods of blue glass were hung over 
 the windows, in order to lend also to the atmosphere a tinge of blue. At the Temple 
 of Earth, all was yellow; at the Temple of the Sun, red; and at the Temple of the 
 Moon, everything was brilliant with a moonlight white. 
 
 ^ In the Sungari River, a light-green stone of unctuous appearance is found which 
 is utilized for the making of ink-slabs. It is called in Chinese sung hua yii, lit., pine- 
 tree flower jade, but it has nothing to do with turquois nor with jade. The Manchu 
 name Sungari means in the Manchu language the Milky Way, and is popularly called 
 in Chinese, with reference to the Manchu sounds. Sung hua kiang, "Pine-tree Flower 
 River," while the designations of the Chinese written language are Hun-t'ung Kiang 
 or Hei Shui ("Black Water"). The meaning of the stone sung hua yii, accordingly, 
 is "precious stone of the Sungari River." Compare Man-chou yiian liu k'ao, Ch. 19, 
 pp. 1-2 (a work on the History of the Manchu published in 1777). When the records 
 of the Manchu dynasty mention turquois in combination with pearls, this is not a 
 contradiction to what has been stated above regarding this point (p. 31). The pearls 
 of the imperial house were cheap river pearls known as eastern pearls {tung chu), a 
 product of Manchuria. They were fished in the Sungari and its side-rivers, and are 
 described as brilliant-white nearly half an inch (Chinese) big, even the smallest of 
 the size of the seed of a soy-bean. They were chiefly utilized on the crowns of the 
 caps of royal princes, their number marking differences of rank {Man-chou yiian liu 
 k'ao, Ch. 19, p. i). The shell yielding this pearl has been identified with Anodonta 
 plicata Sol. (compare Grum-Grzhimailo, Description of the Amur Province, in 
 Russian, p. 358, St. Petersburg, 1894, where some information regarding the pearl 
 industry of the Amur region is given). — The word for lapis lazuli in the State Hand- 
 book is ts'ing kin shi (see p. 44). Beads made from this stone were chiefly employed 
 for ornaments of the empress and court-ladies, likewise for the adornment of cere- 
 monial head-dresses. 
 
July, 1913. Notes on Turquois. 63 
 
 At the present time there are two distributing centers in China for 
 the trade in turquoises, — Peking commanding the market of MongoHa, 
 and Si-ngan fu controlHng the trade with Tibet. In Si-ngan fu there 
 may be a dozen traders engaged in the business. They are all settled 
 in the same street and work up the raw material in their own shops. 
 They produce beads and fiat stones (Plate VI, Fig. i) in any desired 
 dimensions, by grinding and polishing, and drill perforations through 
 them. The latter is an essential operation as Tibetans are averse to 
 accept any others (except the small beads to be set in rings or the 
 plaques for inlaying earrings and charm boxes). The first experiment 
 that a Tibetan will make with a turquois offered is to ascertain the 
 quality of the perforation by blowing or spitting through it, or by boring 
 it with a needle. If the experiment is unsuccessful, he will return it at 
 once. At Si-ngan the stones are sold by weight, prices ranging according 
 to quality from 5-8 Taels (about $3.50 to $5.60) a catty (i>^ pounds). 
 Exceptionally beautiful stones or very small and carefully polished 
 beads are sold as individual items only. Beads and stones are pur- 
 chased there by Chinese commercial travelers trading with Tibetans 
 and employed by them as a means of barter. Their example was duly 
 adopted, and a great many specimens were secured by me in Tibet in 
 exchange for turquoises. 
 
 Of worked articles of the Chinese the quadrangular, flat stones 
 
 (Plate VI, Fig. i) and the large beads for use in rosaries come first. 
 
 Then there are fanciful carvings formed into the appearance of rocks 
 
 (Plate VI, Figs. 2-4) or birds (Plate VII, Fig. i) destined to adorn the 
 
 table of a Lama and to serve as paper-weights ; further, figures of animals 
 
 like that of a tiger or a fish to be suspended as ornaments from a girdle 
 
 (Plate VII, Figs. 3 and 4); snuff bottles (Fig. 2) skilfully hollowed out, 
 
 and buttons (Fig. 5) with double edge cut into the petals of a flower to 
 
 be sewed on to a cap, or a fillet worn by women. The image of carved 
 
 turquois on Plate VII, Fig. 6, represents the Dhyanibuddha Amitabha, 
 
 made in Peking. The twelve animals of the solar zodiac (Plate VIII) 
 
 constituting a cycle of twelve years, each year being named for one 
 
 animal, are each carved from turquois, of Peking workmanship; they 
 
 represent rat, ox, tiger, hare, dragon, serpent, horse, sheep, monkey, 
 
 cock, dog, pig or boar. Such sets are made for wealthy Mongols to 
 
 facilitate the counting of years.' 
 
 ^ The carving of such sets is not a modern idea. It was practised as early as the 
 T'ang period when marble was listed for this purpose. A complete set of the animals 
 does not seem to have survived from that epoch, at least none has come to my notice; 
 but a certain number of single animals belonging to different sets, obtained by me in 
 Si-ngan fu, is in the collections of the Field Museum. A curious set carved from 
 nephrite is in the Bishop collection in New York (see Bishop, Investigations and 
 Studies in Jade, Vol. II, p. 241, No. 730); the representatives of the zodiac have hu- 
 
64 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. XIII. 
 
 The Hon. W. W. Rockhill,^ who passed through Si-ngan in 1889, 
 was given the information that turquois is found in Ho-nan. There 
 is no reason to doubt the correctness of this statement for the mere 
 reason that it was not confirmed to me in 1909; for even in China con- 
 siderable changes are bound to come about within a period of twenty 
 years, and I am incHned to think that it is quite possible that the mines 
 of Ho-nan have since been exhausted. 
 
 man bodies but animal heads, they are clothed in costume of Chinese style and hold 
 objects as attributes in their hands. This iconographic composition is also traceable 
 to the T'ang period, as may be evidenced by a tombstone in the collections of the 
 Field Museum; this contains an epitaph (mu chi) yielding the date 861 A. d. The 
 twelve animals of the cycle are here arranged in four groups corresponding to the four 
 cardinal points, a group of three facing one of the sides of the quadrangular stone 
 slab, in the same manner as in the one published by M. Chavannes {T'oung Pao, 
 1909, p. 74) from a Chinese rubbing. While, however, the illustration of M. 
 Chavannes shows figures of men, that is, Chinese officials in official costume, holding 
 in their arms the respective animal, there are engraved on our tombstone figures of 
 men with human bodies clad in official robes and holding jade insignia of rank in their 
 hands, but each having the head of the particular animal. This is the same principle 
 as in the set of the Bishop collection in which each piece is an independent all-round 
 carving. In the rubbing of M. Chavannes the idea is brought out of the officials 
 presiding over the twelve animals, whilst in the two other series the animals are 
 themselves conceived as officials. The same ideas are expressed in the iconography 
 of the gods of the Twenty-eight Lunar Mansions, which will shortly give me occasion 
 for some remarks with reference to a group of masks in our collection representing 
 this series of deities. It is known that the origin and diffusion of this solar zodiac 
 based on a division into twelve parts of the celestial or ecliptic equator has given rise 
 to many discussions and theories. I was formerly inclined (T'oung Pao, 1907, 
 p. 400, and 1909, p. 71) to accept the theory of Chavannes (ibid., 1906, pp. 51-122) 
 according to which the cycle of the twelve animals would have originated among 
 Turkish tribes who transmitted it to the Chinese. Having meanwhile studied the 
 work of Franz Boll, "Sphaera" (Leipzig, 1903), and the same author's recent paper, 
 Der ostasiatische Tierzyklus im Hellenisrnus {T'oung Pao, 1912, pp. 699-718), I hold 
 that his arguments in favor of an origin of the cycle within the sphere of Egyptian 
 Hellenism are, in general, convincing to a certain extent, though much would remain 
 to be done in detail to prove the migration of the system from this centre to the Turks 
 and to China. There is, however, an objection to be made to the first piece of evi- 
 dence offered by Boll on behalf of the dependence of the Chinese cycle (p. 705): 
 "In the Chinese list sacred Egyptian animals have survived, particularly the monkey 
 which does not occur on the cold plateau of Central Asia." This is merely an old 
 European fable which seems to be inexterminable, and which has already been refuted 
 by me in T'oung Pao, 1901, p. 28; it would mean to shoot sparrows with cannon to 
 march up here the whole evidence known to every zoologist, to the effect that mon- 
 keys are propagated from the Himalaya through Tibet into the mountains of Yiin- 
 nan, Sze-ch'uan and Kukunor region, and throughout central and southern China. 
 Chinese, Tibetan, and all other Indo-Chinese languages possess ancient indigenous 
 words for several species of monkeys, and at the time when the cycle was received by 
 the Chinese, the monkey was very familiar to them and frequently represented in art. 
 Another more serious objection to be advanced to the essay of Boll is that he has paid 
 no attention to the arguments which induced L. de Saussure {T'oung Pao, 1910, 
 pp. 583-648) and A. Forke (Lun-htog, Vol. II, pp. 479-494; compare also the addi- 
 tional remarks of P. Pelliot, Journal asiatique, 19 12, Juillet-Aout, p. 163) to defend 
 the indigenous origin of the cycle in China. The Chinese tradition entirely unheeded 
 by Boll can not be so easily run down, and though he has stated the case clearly on its 
 historical side, there remains to be solved the psychological part of the problem 
 which has not yet been touched upon. 
 
 1 The Land of the Lamas, p. 24 (London, 189 1). 
 
July, 1913." Notes on Turquois. 65 
 
 Bretschneider ^ quotes Pumpelly (Geological Researches in 
 China, Mongolia, Japan, p. 118) as mentioning the existence of sung ur 
 shi, a mineral similar to turquois, in the province of Yiin-nan; but this 
 statement requires confirmation, as it is not found in other sources 
 relating to Yiin-nan (compare above p. 26, note 3).^ 
 
 From one of the turquois dealers in Si-ngan fu the information was 
 given me that the turquoises traded there come from the prefecture of 
 Yiin-yang in Hu-pei Province, while another more especially pointed to 
 the district of Chu-shan, situated in the same prefecture, as the place 
 of production. The Imperial Geography (Ta TsHng i Vung chi, 
 Ch. 272),^ in the chapter dealing with Yun-yang fu, contains no allusion 
 to this fact, and mentions in an enumeration of the mountains of the 
 Chu-shan district only one producing stones, the Fan shi shan, deriving 
 its name from the /aw shi or alum formerly produced there. It should 
 be borne in mind that the Imperial Geography, as far as products are 
 involved, does not reflect the present conditions of China based on actual 
 research, but merely gives occasional quotations from older literature 
 going back as far as the T'ang dynasty, so that this feature of the 
 Geography is very incomplete and unsatisfactory. The products of 
 Yiin-yang fu, for instance, are all cited from the Geography of the Ming 
 DjTiasty (Ta Ming i t'ung chi). It is very probable that the turquois 
 production of Yiin-yang fu is of recent date, and presumably posterior 
 to the publication of the Geography; it seems to me that the exhaustion 
 of the turquois mines in Ho-nan may have given the impetus to a search 
 for a new locality in Hu-pei. It would be gratif3dng if these lines would 
 
 1 Mediaeval Researches, Vol. I, p. 176. 
 
 * The work of R. Pumpelly is published in Smithsonian Contributions to Knowl- 
 edge, Vol. XV, Article IV, Washington, 1867. I do not understand Pumpelly with 
 Bretschneider as saying that "a mineral similar to turquois" is actually found in 
 Yiin-nan. Pumpelly enumerates it in a series of eight other stones of which he says 
 that "they are carved, with great labor and patience, in very intricate forms." He 
 does not point out any locality in Yiin-nan, where turquois is obtained, but merely 
 intends to say that he has seen in Yiin-nan carvings made from this material 
 which, judging from the Chinese name given by him, doubtless was turquois. But 
 this turquois may have been imported into Yiin-nan as well. G. S0UL16 (La province 
 du Yiin-nan, p. 24, Hanoi, 1908) only states: "The south-western part of the prov- 
 ince furnishes a certain quantity of precious stones amassed in the beds of torrents 
 or rivers; the west and south-west of the province are renowned for their amethysts, 
 sapphires and rubies." 
 
 ' First printed in 1745, second edition 1764. The modem Shanghai photolitho- 
 graphic reprint is a poor production. The Palace editions of this work are now ex- 
 ceedingly scarce. When at Si-ngan fu in 1902, an official there informed me that the 
 late Empress Dowager, while living as an exile in that city in 1900, was anxious to 
 obtain a copy for personal reading and wired to all Governors General making a 
 requisition for it, but was unable to procure it. Eight years later fate treated me 
 more kindly than the Empress by permitting me to see the editio princeps in the hands 
 of a Peking bookseller, but lack of cash (the price demanded was 400 Mexican Dol- 
 lars) unfortunately barred me from the privilege of acquiring it. 
 
66 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. XIII. 
 
 cause a mineralogist or geologist to pay a visit to those Chinese turquois 
 mines, and to give us information on their extent, the working methods 
 employed, and the magnitude of the output and trade in the material. 
 In Japan the turquois does not occur, and it has been unknown to the 
 Japanese. The Japanese mineralogists, on becoming acquainted with 
 it through our literature, coined the artificial word turkodama. 
 
 ADDITIONAL NOTES 
 
 pp. 1-4. The date of the introduction of the turquois into India may be some- 
 what more exactly defined by referring to the negative evidence presented by the 
 great Sanskrit-Buddhist dictionary, the Mahavyutpatti (Th. Zachariae, Die indi- 
 schen Worterbiicher, p. 39) the Sanskrit text of which, accompanied by a Tibetan 
 translation, is printed in the Tibetan Tanjur (Sutra, Vol. 123). In Ch. 235 (ed. of 
 MiNAYEV and Mironov, p. 77, St. Petersburg, 191 1) giving the names of precious 
 stones, the word for turquois, peroja, is not included, quite in accordance with the 
 fact that the turquois is not spoken of in Buddhist literature. We are therefore 
 justified in concluding that at the time when Buddhism was introduced from India 
 into Tibet, in the seventh and eighth centuries, the stone was not yet known in 
 India, whereas at the same time it was widely known and appreciated in Tibet; thus, 
 Tibetan knowledge of th6 turquois is not due to an impetus received from India. 
 The Sanskrit-Tibetan equation, peroja = gyu, which we might expect does not exist in 
 lexicographical literature. The earliest historical testimony for turquois in India, 
 as shown above p. 3, remains that of al-Beruni in the post-Buddhistic or Moham- 
 medan period, and even at his time the turquois cannot have been very generally 
 diffused over India, as at that time it had not yet entered the horizon of the Indian 
 mineralogists. 
 
 p. I. The Persian word ferozah or firozah (firilza) for the turquois means "victori- 
 ous," and is derived from the word feroz or firoz, "victory, victorious, successful" 
 (see, for example, Johnson and Richardson's Persian-English Dictionary, ed. by 
 Steingass, p. 944). Also the Arabic mineralogist al-Akfani explains the Persian 
 name of the turquois as signifying "victory"; hence, he says, it is called also "stone 
 of victory" (Wiedemann, Zur Mineralogie im Islam, p. 225); likewise, al-Ta"alibi 
 {ibid., p. 242) has an allusion to this effect. A similar notion seems to be underlying 
 the first of five turquois varieties established by the Lama Klong-rdol (Chandra 
 Das, Tibetan-English Dictionary, p. 1152), called zil-gnon gyu spyang, in which term 
 the first element has the significance "overcoming, vanquishing." 
 
 p. 3, note I. It should not be understood that Dioscorides had any knowledge of 
 turquois; he does not mention it (in the same manner as his contemporary Pliny) 
 nor does he have any name that could be interpreted as such. In Ch. 157 of his 
 Materia Medica he speaks of the sapphire (sappheiros) , i.e., lapis lazuli, and says that 
 those bitten by a scorpion will be relieved by taking this stone as a potion (compare 
 F. de Mely, Les lapidaires grecs. Traduction, p. 24, Paris, 1902). It is only in the 
 mediaeval work of Ibn al-Baitar, the Arabic version of Dioscorides, that the same 
 notion is transferred to the turquois. 
 
 p. 14, note I. The statement that Li Shi belongs to the T'ang period is based on 
 the fact that in the editions of the Sii po wu chi he is assigned to the T'ang. This, 
 however, seems to be a mere traditional opinion, while in fact the work is said to date 
 from the Sung period (Pelliot, Journal asiaiique, Juillet-AoUt, 1912, p. 155). 
 
 p. 21. M. Pelliot, who showed me the favor of looking over the galley-proofs 
 of this paper, kindly calls my attention to another interesting text mentioning a fossil 
 tree. This is the Tu yang tsa pien (Ch. C, p. i, edition of Pai hai) written by Su Ngo 
 
July, 1913. Notes on Turquois. 67 
 
 in the latter part of the ninth century ^Wylie, Notes, p. 194). Under the year 841 
 A. D. mention is made of a tribute sent to Emperor Wu-tsung (841-846) of the T'ang 
 dynasty by the country of Fu-yu. The latter were a tribe, presumably belonging 
 to the Koreans, residing in Liao-tung and in the valley of the Sungari, and are first 
 mentioned in the Annals of the Later Han Dynasty (Ch. 115, p. 2). Their tribute 
 consisted of two objects, three pecks of obsidian (huo yii, lit. fire jade, that is, stone 
 of volcanic origin; compare the discussion on obsidian at the end of these notes) and a 
 petrified fir-tree {sung feng shi, lit. fir-tree wind stone) measuring ten (Chinese) feet 
 all round and lustrous like jade. Inside of the stone substance the outlines of a tree 
 were visible. As an old fir-tree bends from the action of the wind, so a cold blast 
 came from the branches of that petrified tree. In the midst of the summer, the em- 
 peror ordered the tree to be placed in the rooms of the palace; gradually there arose 
 the sound of the whizzing of the autumn breeze; when the rooms were cooled off, he 
 had the tree brought out again. 
 
 p. 23, note 2. According to a communication of M. Pelliot, the collected works 
 of the poet Lu Kuei-m6ng have been published under the title Li (No. 6957) ts^ 
 (No. 11,666) ts'ung shu (4 chapters and an appendix), of which there are several 
 modem editions. I find a biographical sketch of his embodied in the Pei meng so 
 yen (Wylie, Notes, p. 194), Ch. 6, p. lob (edition of Pai hai). 
 
 p. 25. The first European author who treated of se-st was A. Pfizmaier (Bei- 
 trage zur Geschichte der Edelsteine und des Goldes, Sitzungsberichte der Wiener 
 Akademie, 1868, p. 210) in translating the two texts relative to the stone in the 
 Ming huang tsa lu. He did not explain it, though he was always ready to translate 
 Chinese names, even those being transcriptions of foreign words which are not ca- 
 pable of a literal interpretation. 
 
 p. 25, note. M. Pelliot thinks that the source for the definition of Palladius is 
 K'ang-hi's Dictionary sub voce si (No. 9600) where after the Ytin hui of the thirteenth 
 century se-se is defined as a pi chu, while the foundation for Couvreur's statement is 
 the commentary to the Shi king (K'ang-hi, sub voce si. No. 9599) ; this, however, refers 
 only to the single word si, not to the later compound si-si which, as pointed out on 
 p. 47, is the Chinese transcription of a foreign word. No conclusions, accordingly, 
 can be built on the definitions of Palladius and Couvreur in regard to the nature of 
 si-si. 
 
 p. 26, note 3. M. Pelliot remarks that the text of the Nan-chao ye shi is derived 
 from the older work Man shu of the T'ang period where the passage relative to si-si 
 occurs in Ch. 10, p. 48. The Man shu is the work of Fan Ch'o and was published 
 about 860; the history of the work is given by Pelliot {Bulletin de I' Ecole frangaise 
 d' Extreme-Orient, Vol. IV, 1904, p. 132). 
 
 p. 33. The word si-si occurs several times in the Tu yang tsa pien. In Ch. A, 
 p. 3 (edition of Pai hai), its author, Su Ngo, speaks of a peailiar kind of silk threads 
 sent as tribute in 765 A. d. by the country Mi-lo in the Eastern Sea. These threads, 
 of great strength, wefe knitted into a kind of bag or sheath which on both sides was 
 perfectly translucent like strung si-si. It follows from this important passage that 
 the si-si were bright and lustrous stones, and therefore cannot denote the turquois 
 which is dense and non-transparent. Further (Ch. A, p. 8), there is described a 
 marvelous screen which originally belonged to Yang Kuo-chung, a cousin of Yang 
 Kuei-fei (above, p. 33), who died in 756 (Giles, Biographical Dictionary, p. 909). 
 On this screen the figures of the beauties and hetairas of the times of antiquity were 
 engraved, and it was framed with tortoise-shell and rhinoceros-horn. A filnge was 
 suspended from the lower edge and formed by genuine pearls and si-si, — the whole 
 of such ingenious workmanship that one could hardly believe it was produced by a 
 human hand. A screen having the color of si-si, thirty feet wide and a hundred 
 feet long, is mentioned (Ch. c, p. 9 b) as having been in the possession of Princess 
 T'ung-ch'ang, curtains and screens made from gold, silver, and si-si {ibid., p. 12 b); 
 Buddhist pennants or streamers composed of coral, agate, genuine pearls and si-si 
 {ibid., p. 14 b) to be used in a procession when some sacred bones of Buddha were sent 
 
68 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. XIII. 
 
 from the temple Fa-men in F6ng-siang to the capital Si-ngan fu to be shown in the 
 palace and in the monasteries of the city (compare Kiu T'ang shu, Ch. 15 A and De 
 Groot, Album Kern, p.' 135). These five passages relate to the age of the T'ang 
 dynasty and show that si-se, as then employed in China, were precious stones of 
 transparent quality, on a par with genuine pearls and precious metals; they further 
 bear out the fact that s^-s^ were jewels not bigger than a pearl, otherwise they could 
 not have been strung together with pearls. All this renders the assumption of s^-se 
 being the turquois impossible and confirms my opinion that it was the balas ruby. 
 We insisted above on the popularity of the word s^-si in the T'ang period. This is 
 fully corroborated by the interesting work Tu yang tsa pien where it enters into com- 
 parisons from which it becomes clear that the word was very familiar and generally 
 understood at that time. In Ch. c, p. 5 are described three marvelous plants 
 which, when eaten, guard man from old age. The first of these is called shuang lin 
 chi, "the agaric with the double lin (female unicorn)," and is described as a plant 
 with one stalk and two flowers so hidden away that they are scarcely visible, and 
 shaped like a lin with head and tail, all complete; and they produce seeds like se-se. 
 
 p. 36, note I. Turquois-mines in the district of Upper NasiyS in Ferghana are 
 mentioned by Ibn Haukal (978 a. d., ed. of De Goeje, Bibl. Geogr. Arab., p. 397), as 
 Mr. Guy le Strange, the excellent Persian scholar of Cambridge, England, has been 
 good enough to write me. M. Pelliot refers, as regards turquois-mines of Khojend, 
 to Pa VET DE Courteille, Baber nameh, Vol. I, p. 7. This work is not accessible to 
 me, but I find in the new English translation of A. S. Beveridge (The Memoirs of 
 Baber, p. 8) the passage as follows: "To the north of both the town [Khojend] and 
 the river lies a mountain range called Munughul; people say there are turquois and 
 other mines in it, and there are many snakes." There is, accordingly, no longer 
 any reason to doubt the indigenous occurrence of turquois in the territory of Fer- 
 ghana, and it will be correct to assume that it was mined there from the latter part 
 of the tenth century. 
 
 p. 40. Mr. Guy le Strange has been good enough to refer me to the fact that the 
 text of the passage of Ibn Haukal (Hauqal or Hawqal, as others spell it), the con- 
 tinuer or re-editor of Istakhri, is found in De Goeje's Bibl. Geogr. Arab., p. 313; the 
 turquois mines, according to him, were near Nuqan, which is Tus to the north of 
 modern Meshed. On p. 362 of the same work, celebrated turquois mines are men- 
 tioned in Transoxania near the mountains called Jabal-Buttam. 
 
 p. 43, note 2. In regard to the uk-nu stone mentioned in the Assyrian inscrip- 
 tions Mr. Pinches has shown that it denotes lapis lazuli from the Zagros range (Jour- 
 nal Royal Asiatic Society, 1898, p. 259, note i). I have no judgment on this point. 
 
 p. 44, note 2, and p. 62. It is assumed by several authors that lapis lazuli is 
 found in China. A. Williamson, who has written an interesting article on the 
 productions of northern China (Journal China Branch R. As. Soc, Vol. IV, 1868, 
 p. 41), asserts on hearsay reports that in Shan-si, and among the hills in the south of 
 Shen-si, precious stones, stich as lapis lazuli, ruby, etc., abound, and that he has 
 every reason to believe the report correct. F. Porter Smith (Contributions towards 
 the Materia Medica and Natural History of China, p. 129, Shanghai, 1871) who takes 
 the word liu-li in the sense of lapis lazuli says that the blue mineral known by this 
 name is met with in very fine specimens in China and Central Asia. In the "Cata- 
 logue special desobjets exposes dans la section chinoise a I'expositionde Hanoi, 1902" 
 (p. 121) mention is made of the lapis lazuli of the Island of Hainan. In the latter 
 case it is more than probable that the determination is wrong and merely due to a 
 confusion with cobalt which, as well known, is obtained on Hainan (Hirth, Chine- 
 sische Studien, p. 251). According to R. Pumpelly (Geological Researches, p. 117, 
 Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, Vol. XV, Washington, 1867) lapis lazuli is 
 found at Mount Nien in the district of Ch'ang-shan, prefecture of K'u-chou, ChS- 
 kiang Province, and in the district of Lo-ts'ing, prefecture of W6n-chou, of the same 
 province. These statements, however, as the entire list of minerals in which they are 
 contained, are based on the Ta Ts'ing i t'ung chi and other Chinese sources examined 
 by "the author's Chinese secretary" (p. 109). But I am at a loss to explain where 
 
July, 1913. - Notes on Turquois. 69 
 
 the Chinese secretary found these statements. There is nothing to this effect to be 
 met in the Ta Ts'ing i Vung chi. Among the products of K'ii-chou fu (Ch. 233, p. 9) 
 are mentioned, after the Ta Ming i i'ung chi, ink-slabs produced in the two districts 
 of Ch"ang-shan and K"ai-hua, but no other kind of mineral; in the account of Wto- 
 chou fu (Ch. 235, p. 10) no stone is registered. Perhaps his statement is derived 
 from his "other Chinese sources"; but even then we should like to know the Chinese 
 word translated by him "lapis lazuli," and as he does not give it, his note is rather 
 valueless. As pointed out on p. 44, note 2, we meet in the Ta Ts'ing i t'ung chi the 
 word kin sing ski {lit. gold star stone) in Ch. 398, p. 3 b, description of Sze-chou fu in 
 Kuei-chou Province, where it is said that this stone occurs east of the city of Sze-chou 
 in the Kia-ch'i Lake, and that, according to the Provincial Gazetteer, stars and 
 spots appear on its surface, that it is hard and glossy and can be worked up into ink- 
 slabs. Giles (in his Dictionary, p. 252c) explains kin sing shi by "iron and copper 
 pyrites," in agreement with F. Porter Smith (Contributions towards the Materia 
 Medica and Natural History of China, p. 123, Shanghai, 1871). I do not wish to 
 push this discussion any further, as the second word cannot be spoken before the 
 first has been said. Specimens suspected of being lapis lazuli must be procured from 
 the various localities where they are reported to occur, and examined by competent 
 mineralogists. Others like T. Wad.\ (Beitrdge zur Mineralogie von Japan, No. i , p. 21) 
 den}' that lapis lazuli is found in China, and are of the opinion that it is imported from 
 Central Asia. 
 
 p. 45. Incidentally I wish to refer here to a now antiquated investigation of T. 
 DE Lacouperie, On Yakut Precious Stones from Oman to North China, 400 b. c. 
 {Babylonian and Oriental Record, Vol. VI, 1893, pp. 271-4), in which the Chinese 
 ye kuang chu, "the bead or pearl shining at night, " is set in relation with the Arabic 
 word for the ruby yakut (an etymology impossible for philological and historical 
 reasons; in fact, the Chinese term is not a transcription of any foreign word but a 
 thoroughly Chinese formation) and identified with the ruby, "probably from 
 Badakshan, the chief source of these stones at that time." 
 
 p. 46, note I. The date of Yang Shen, as given by Mayers, is correct; it is given 
 as the same by CHAVA>fNES {T'oung Pao, 1904, p. 474) who notes his biography after 
 Ming shi (Ch. 192). Yang Shfin wrote the Nan-chao ye shi in 1550. 
 
 p. 49. For the elucidation of this text I am greatly indebted to M. Pelliot who 
 will himself take it up in his proposed study of the history of the Nestorians in China. 
 M. Pelliot says that he has not found the text in the Hua yang kuo chi, but on the 
 other hand has not succeeded in discovering a trace of an independent work Hua yang 
 ki. The quotation given from Chao Pien is not contained in the latter work, but is 
 taken from another source. According to the Sung shi, Chao Pien lived in fact from 
 1006-1084, as will be demonstrated by M. Pelliot in the publication mentioned, but 
 it is not certain whether he is the author of the Shu tu ku shi. What is rendered 
 above by monolith is in the text shi sun (Nos. 9964, 10438) by which M. Pelliot is 
 inclined to understand megalithic monuments. These stone ruins are the remainders 
 of an ancient tomb (compare Ch'eng-tu hien chi, 1873, Ch. 2, p. 3 b, and Sze-ch'uan 
 t'ung chi, Ch. 48, p. 66 b), and have nothing to do with the Temple of Ta Ts'in. In 
 the last number of the Journal asiatigue {Mars-Avril, 1913, p. 308), Chav.\nnes and 
 Pelliot alluding to the text of Neng kai chat man lu incline toward the opinion that 
 the temples of Ta Ts'in are due to the Nestorians. 
 
 p. 52. Also Qazwlnl (1203-83) mentions the onyx of China (Sm) with the 
 curious addition that the people of Sm repudiate the quarrying of the onyx mines, 
 which is left only to slaves who cannot otherwise eke out a living and sell the stone 
 in countries outside of Sm (J. Ruska, Das Steinbuch aus der Kosmographie des al- 
 Qazwmi, p. 12). 
 
 p. 53, note 3. The statement that the Shi si yii ki seems to be lost is based on 
 Bretschneider's authority; besides the quotation as given there, his Mediaeval 
 Researches (Vol. II, p. 268) ought to have been pointed out, where the same. is re- 
 peated. But this is contradictory to what Bretschneider says on p. 147 of the same 
 
70 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. XIIL 
 
 volume that the book in question seems to be still extant and is noticed in the Im- 
 perial Catalogue (Ch. 64, p. 5). Also M. Pelliot thinks that the work is extant, but 
 there are no modern editions of it. 
 
 p. 55, note 5. As the emerald is not made mention of in the Bower Manuscript 
 of about 450 A. D., it would be justifiable to conclude that, taking the positive testi- 
 monies into consideration, the emerald was introduced into India not earlier than the 
 beginning of the sixth century A. D. The passage of Cosmas regarding the emerald 
 will be found on p. 371 of Mac Crindle's translation (Christian Topography, ed. of 
 Hakluyt Society, London, 1897). 
 
 p. 56, note 3. T. Watters (Essays on the Chinese Language, p. 352) believed 
 he recognized the Persian wovdfiruza in Chinese pi-liu (Nos. 9009 and 7245) or pi- 
 liu ski (stone) to which he ascribes the meaning of turquois (observation of M. 
 Pelliot). But the source from which the Chinese word is derived is not given. 
 
 The discourse on se-se has furnished sufficient proof for the fact that the Chinese 
 designation of a stone may refer to different species according to different localities, 
 and that the significance of such a word may undergo changes in course of time. 
 Moreover, we observe that the name of a stone used with reference to a foreign 
 country does not necessarily denote the same species as the same name when applied 
 to the domestic variety. An interesting case of a similar bearing is presented by the 
 account on Japan in the Annals of the Later Han Dynasty {Hou Han shu, Ch. 115, 
 p. 5 b) where white pearls (pai chu) and (what from a Chinese point of view would 
 be a literal translation of the term) "green jade" {TsHng yil) are mentioned as prod- 
 ucts of Japan; indeed, the term has thus been translated, for instance, by E. H. 
 Parker {China Review, Vol. XVIII, p. 219 a). But it is evident that this translation 
 cannot be correct, for we know surely enough that Japan does not produce jade (see 
 Jade, pp. 351-4). It is therefore manifest that the word ts'ing yii in the above text 
 relates not to any kind of jade but to a Japanese stone, and that the term must be 
 taken from a Japanese, not a Chinese viewpoint, and it may be inferred also that it 
 must designate a mineral peculiar to Japan and absent in China. The Chinese 
 character yti is read in Japanese tama, and this Japanese word signifies any gem or 
 precious stone in general, or even more commonly a bead or ball of any stone. The 
 color name ts'ing (Japanese aoi, Sinico- Japanese sei) is of uncertain quality and refers 
 to the general color prevalent in nature, green, blue, black, gray, usually meaning any 
 dark neutral tint. Such a substance playing a large r61e in the antiquity of the 
 Japanese and the Ainu is obsidian. It is unknown in China, but found in several 
 localities of Japan (Bungo, Izu, Kai, Shinano, Tokachi: N. G. Munro, Prehistoric 
 Japan, p. 292, Yokohama, 1908). It was largely utilized, as in ancient Mexico, for 
 the manufacture of arrowheads, and abundant flakes scattered around in the sites 
 mentioned testify to its popylarity. As elsewhere, it was worked up also into beads 
 and balls to enter into personal adornment. 
 
 P. F. v. SiEBOLD (Geogr. and Ethnogr. Elucidations to the Discoveries of M. G. 
 Vries, p. 175, Amsterdam, 1859) reports on obsidian balls received from Yezo, "from 
 two feet to two feet and a half in diameter, coal-black of color, and some small blue 
 pieces of stone, of which probably the so-called Krafto (properly Karajuto) tama, or 
 precious stone of Krafto is formed." It could appear from this statement that 
 obsidian and the blue Karafuto tama are considered by Siebold as different stones; 
 but, in another passage of the same book (p. 105), he comments on a blue bead chain 
 noticed by Vries in the ears of an Ainu woman of Saghalin that ' ' the most precious 
 are the blue obsidian which they call Krafto tama, precious stone from Krafto; these 
 blue corals [?] are found among all the peoples of the frigid zone, of the northern 
 hemisphere, from the Great Ocean up to Behring's Straits, where they were found by 
 von Kotzebue in the Sound which bears his name." A. J. C. Geerts (Les produits 
 de la nature japonaise et chinoise, p. 294, Yokohama, 1878) describes precious stones 
 under the name ruri-tama (written with the Chinese characters liu-li yii) as of deep- 
 blue color and entering into the necklaces of the ancient Japanese (the shitogi of the 
 Ainu). He identifies them with lapis lazuli, and says that these very rare stones 
 have been found on the Kurile Islands, several specimens of which are in the Museum 
 
July, 1913. Notes on Turquois, 71 
 
 of Tokyo. Under the name Karafuto-tama, that is, jewels of the Island of Saghalin, 
 the precious stone par excellence of Saghalin and the Kuriles is understood, made into 
 the necklaces called shitogi. They are well polished lustrous balls of blue or bluish 
 color, but less dark than the ruri-tama. They are the product, adds Geerts, of 
 dark blue obsidian varying much in size; they belong, as the preceding stone, to a 
 period posterior to the maga-tama and still serve as ornaments to the natives of the 
 Kuriles. It is more than likely that the ruri-tama and Karafuto-tama are identical, 
 and that the material in question is obsidian. Obsidian, as well known, is not a 
 mineral proper but a natural glass, a black vitreous volcanic rock being produced 
 where a rapid cooling of certain liquid lavas has taken place and occurring in many 
 parts of the world, the coloration being black, gray, brown, yellow, red, green, some- 
 times also blue. A peculiar variety is known to our mineralogists from the river 
 Marekanka near Okhotsk in eastern Siberia, hence called marekanite; these obsidian 
 balls are partly colored evenly, partly of brown and gray, frequently also of yellow 
 and red hues (Max Bauer, Edelsteinkunde, p. 551). O. C. Farrington (Gems and 
 Gem Minerals, p. 181) gives for it also the name "mountain mahogany," and says 
 that it makes a pretty stone, which is used for the manufacture of some objects. 
 This material is doubtless the source for the precious beads of Saghalin, and the 
 Kuriles. Nothing is known to Japanese or foreign mineralogists of lapis lazuli found 
 on the Kuriles, and the definition of Geerts must be considered an error. In the 
 Ainu collection of the Field Museum there is a necklace (Cat. No. 88037) coming 
 from Hakodate on Yezo, in which are strung six large, black obsidian balls (about 3 
 cm in diameter), together with many blue, green and white glass beads. J. Batche- 
 LOR (The Ainu and Their Folk-lore, p. 154, London, 1901) states that the glass beads 
 of which the Ainu women are extremely fond are of Japanese make, others appear to 
 have come from China; the people believe that the ancients got them from the 
 Rushikai, that is, Russians and Manchu. In the Annals of the Later Han Dynasty 
 {Hou Han shu, Ch. 115, pp. 5a, 5b) the countries of the'Fu-yu (see above) and the 
 Yi-lou who lived over 1000 li north-east of the Fu-yu are reported to produce "red 
 jade " {ch'i yu). Also in this case, the word yii cannot be construed to have the literal 
 meaning of "jade," as no jade is found in those localities which were inhabited by the 
 Fu-yii and Yi-lou, and I am inclined to regard the term ch'i yii as having likewise the 
 significance of obsidian. The evidence for this supposition is furnished by the Tu 
 yangtsa pien (Ch. C, P- i) in the passage above alluded to. In the tribute sent by the 
 Fu-yii in 841 A. D. to Emperor Wu-tsung there were three pecks of "volcanic jade" 
 {huo yii san tou), which was red {ch'i) in color. The pieces were half an inch long, 
 pointed on top, and round below; they emitted their brilliancy at a distance of ten 
 paces. Gathered in a cauldron they could be ignited, and the heat of such a cauldron 
 placed in the house was sufficient to dispense with double quilted garments [which the 
 Chinese use to wear in the winter, heating their bodies instead of their rooms]. The 
 court-ladies of inferior rank availed themselves of this fire to heat a brand of wine 
 called "clear wine " which had been sent as the gift of a foreign country. There can 
 be no doubt of the identification of the term huo yii with obsidian; this expression 
 literally means "fire jade," and "fire mountain" {huo shan) is the Chinese word for a 
 volcano; huo yii, accordingly, is a fino stone of volcanic origin, and such a product of 
 volcanic outflows is obsidian. The account of this substance being utilized as a 
 combustible is quite credible, for obsidian "fuses rather easily before the blowpipe 
 to a porous, gray mass" (O. C. Farrington, I.e., p. 180). This "fire jade" was red 
 in color; accordingly, it was a ch'i yii, and this is the very designation which we en- 
 counter in the Annals of the Later Han Dynasty. For this reason we may conclude 
 that the term chH yii, as pointed out in the above passage, serves for the designation 
 of obsidian which itself was unknown in China. 
 
OF THE 
 "DIVERSITY OF lUlNOtJ 
 
PLATE II 
 
 Woman from southern Tibet, to illustrate the mode of wearing jewelry: gold 
 earrings inlaid with a mosaic of turquois; gold amulet box (gau), the surface being 
 filled with a network of designs formed of gold filigree and inlaid with seven choice 
 turquoises of first quality; necklace composed of large turquois, amber and coral 
 beads; and silver chatelaine with ornamental halberd, toothpick, ear spoon, tweezers 
 and small brush (lost) for oiling the hair (see Jade, p. 203). 
 
 All ornaments worn by this woman were acquired for the Field Museum (ex- 
 hibited in the Gem Room, with a large collection of other Tibetan and Nepalese 
 jewelry). 
 
FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 ANTHROPOLOGY, VOL. XIII, PL. II. 
 
 Tibetan woman showing Manner of Wearing Jewelry. 
 
PLATE III 
 
 Tibetan woman in festival dress of Chinese silk. The chaplet is worn over an 
 artificial wig of long flowing hair imported from China. The turquoises are sewed on 
 to a foundation of stiff red cloth, and bandeaux formed by rows of artificial pearls are 
 laid around the sides. 
 
FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 ANTHROPOLOGY, VOL. XIII, PL. III. 
 
 Tibetan woman in Festival Dress 
 
PLATE'JV 
 
 Tibetan woman wearing chaplet set with turquoises and artificial pearls; turquois 
 earrings; copper charm-box inlaid with turquoises suspended from a necklace; a 
 quadrangular silver charm-box attached to the rosary; a silver chatelaine with five 
 utensils; a silver belt with chain (called digra) falling down over the apron, caught 
 up and fastened to the belt, and then again to the bodice, where it terminates in the 
 figure of a rooster of silver. It is covered with plaques of gold filigree set with 
 turquoises. She wears silver rings set with turquoises on the middle and fourth 
 fingers of both hands, a white conch-shell as bracelet on her right arm, and a Chinese 
 silver bracelet on her left arm. 
 
FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 ANTHROPOLOGY, VOL. XIII, PL. IV. 
 
 Tibetan woman with Complete jewelry. 
 

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 •t2 "^ -(-> . 
 
 "E^^^S 
 
 O ti 
 
 a. .S 
 
 (U ."t^ 
 
 ■t5 +3 |-. 
 
 03 b 
 
 (^ 
 
 H s 
 
 3 tj 
 
PLATE VI 
 
 Chinese Turquois Carvings. 
 
 Fig. I. Flat, polished and perforated turquois of dark-blue color with black 
 strata, mined in Hu-pei Province and worked in Si-ngan fu. Cat. No. 1 16679/3. 
 
 Figs. 2-4. Fanciful carvings of turquois, Si-ngan fu, made for Tibetan and 
 Mongol Lamas who use them as decorations on their tables, and also as paper- 
 weights, 10, 8.5, and 12 cm high, respectively. Cat. Nos. 1 16663, 1 16664, 1 16666. 
 
FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 ANTHROPOLOGY, VOL. XIII, PL. VI. 
 
 Chinese turouois Carvings. 
 
^^I^S* 
 
PLATE VII 
 
 Chinese Turquois Carvings. 
 
 Fig. I. Bird carved from turquois, serving for decorative purposes, and also as 
 paper-weight, Si-ngan fu. 12.4 cm long, 3.8 cm high. Cat. No. 1 16665. 
 
 Fig. 2. Snuff-bottle carved from turquois, Peking. 3.3 cm high. Cat. No. 
 1 16670. 
 
 Fig. 3. Turquois carving of recumbent tiger, used as girdle-pendant, Si-ngan 
 fu. 5.3 X 3 cm; 2.2 cm high. Cat. No. 1 16668. 
 
 Fig. 4. Turquois carving of fish, both sides alike, used as girdle-pendant, Si- 
 ngan fu. 5.4 x3.3 cm. Cat. No. 1 16667. 
 
 Fig. 5. Turquois carving of ornamental button in shape of blossom with a 
 double row of petals, worn in front of cap or fillet, Si-ngan fu. 3.5 x 3 cm. Cat. 
 No. 1 16669. 
 
 Fig. 6. Image of the Dhyanibuddha Amitabha, Lamaist type, carved from 
 turquois, Peking. 6.7 cm high. Cat. No. 1 16673. 
 
FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 ANTHROPOLOGY, VOL. XIII, PL. VII. 
 
 Chinese Turquois Carvings. 
 
 2-5 
 
PLATE VIII 
 
 Chinese Turquois Carvings. 
 The Twelve Animals representing the periodical cycle of twelve years. Carved 
 from turquois, Peking. Average dimensions of figures 5x3 cm, with a height of 
 2 cm. Cat. No. 11 6674. 
 The animals are: 
 
 I. Rat. 2. Ox. 3. Tiger. 
 
 4. Hare. 5. Dragon. 6. Serpent. 
 
 7. Horse. 8. Ram. 9. Monkey. 
 
 10. Rooster. 11. Dog. 12. Boar. 
 
 See p. 63. 
 
FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 ANTHROPOLOGY, VOL. XIII, PL. VIII. 
 
 Chinese Turquois Carvings.