The references in the above quotation are, of course, to my father's
version of Marco Polo. That his nephew should make this interesting little
contribution to the subject would have afforded him much gratification.
A.F. YULE.
The Athenaeum, No. 4570, May 29, 1915, p. 485.
LXXX., pp. 226, 230.
SUGAR.
"I may observe that the Peh Shi (or 'Northern Dynasties History') speaks
of a large consumption of sugar in Cambodgia as far back as the fifth
century of our era. There can be no mistake about the meaning of the words
sha-t'ang, which are still used both in China and Japan (sa-to). The
'History of the T'ang Dynasty,' in its chapter on Magadha, says that in the
year 627 the Chinese Emperor 'sent envoys thither to procure the method of
boiling out sugar, and then ordered the Yang-chou sugar-cane growers to
press it out in the same way, when it appeared that both in colour and
taste ours excelled that of the Western Regions' [of which Magadha was
held to be part]." (E.H. PARKER, Asiatic Quart. Rev., Jan., 1904,
p. 146.)
ZAITUN.
LXXXII., p. 237.
M.G. Ferrand remarks that Tze tung = [Arabic], zitun in Arabic,
inexactly read Zaytun, on account of its similitude with its homonym
[Arabic], zyatun, olive. (Relat de Voy., I., p. 11.)
LXXXII., pp. 242-245.
