[298] Bushell, Chinese Art, vol. ii., p. 18.
[299] See T'ao shuo (Bushell, op. cit., pp. 97 and 99). See also bk. ix., fol. 1 verso, where the passage from the Annals of the Sui Dynasty is quoted.
See T'ao shuo, bk. iv., fol. 17 recto and verso.
[301] The first two are apparently unidentified, but Jih–nan is Cochin China, whither, no doubt, the substance came as an article of trade.
[302] Early writers refer to it as pi liu li, which is a transcription of the Sanskrit Vaidurya, a stone supposed to be of the beryl type, but the identification is a matter of dispute. See Laufer, Jade, p. 111, footnote.
[303] A seventh–century writer.
[304] The Ta Yüeh–chih have been identified with the Massagetæ, who in the fifth century were in possession of Afghanistan. See Bushell, T'ao shuo, op. cit., p. 100.
[305] The substance is discussed at length in connection with pi–liu–li by Laufer (Jade, pp. 109–112), but this author seems very loath to admit the meaning glass for liu–li, though he allows that it is a common term for ceramic glaze. But the passage quoted above from the T'ao shuo can hardly be explained in any other way than in reference to a kind of glass.