Xliii.) are the most renowned and valuable of the
products of the province of Kansu, which comparatively produces very
little; the industry in both these articles is at present in the hands of
the Tanguts of that province [Su chow chi]." (Palladius, p. 18.)
Writing under date 15th February, 1892, from Lusar (coming from Sining),
Mr. Rockhill says: "The musk trade here is increasing, Cantonese and
Ssu-ch'uanese traders now come here to buy it, paying for good musk four
times its weight in silver (ssu huan, as they say). The best test of its
purity is an examination of the colour. The Tibetans adulterate it by
mixing tsamba and blood with it. The best time to buy it is from the
seventh to the ninth moon (latter part of August to middle of November)."
Mr. Rockhill adds in a note: "Mongols call musk owo; Tibetans call it
latse. The best musk they say is 'white musk,' tsahan owo in Mongol,
in Tibetan latse karpo. I do not know whether white refers to the colour
of the musk itself or to that of the hair on the skin covering the musk
pouch." (Diary of a Journey, p. 71.) - H. C.]
Three species of the Moschus are found in the Mountains of Tibet, and
M. Chrysogaster which Mr. Hodgson calls "the loveliest," and which
chiefly supplies the highly-prized pod called Kaghazi, or
"Thin-as-paper," is almost exclusively confined to the Chinese frontier.
Like the Yak, the Moschus is mentioned by Cosmas (circa A.D. 545), and
musk appears in a Greek prescription by Aetius of Amida, a physician
practising at Constantinople about the same date.
(Martini, p. 39; Tav., Des Indes, Bk. II. ch. xxiv.; J. A. S. B. XI.
285; Davies's Rep. App. p. ccxxxvii.; Dr. Flueckiger in Schweiz.
Wochenschr. fuer Pharmacie, 1867; Heyd, Commerce du Levant, II.
636-640.)
NOTE 5. - The China pheasant answering best to the indications in the text,
appears to be Reeves's Pheasant. Mr. Gould has identified this bird with
Marco's in his magnificent Birds of Asia, and has been kind enough to
show me a specimen which, with the body, measured 6 feet 8 inches. The
tail feathers alone, however, are said to reach to 6 and 7 feet, so that
Marco's ten palms was scarcely an exaggeration. These tail-feathers are
often seen on the Chinese stage in the cap of the hero of the drama, and
also decorate the hats of certain civil functionaries.
[Illustration: Reeves's Pheasant]
Size is the point in which the bird fails to meet Marco's description.
In that respect the latter would rather apply to the Crossoptilon
auritum, which is nearly as big as a turkey, or to the glorious Munal
(Lopophorus impeyanus), but then that has no length of tail.
