Page 107 - Oriental Series Japan and China, Brinkly

THE CELADON

says : " The country, of Ts'eng-po Zanzibar is

()

on an island in the south of Hu-ch'a-la ( Guzerate).

In the west it is bounded by large hills its inhabi-
;

tants are of Arab descent and observe the rites of the

Mohammedan religion ; shey wear blue cotton cloth

and shoes of red leather their daily food consists of
;

rice or flour cakes and roasted mutton. Their vil-

lages are mostly built terrace-shape in the ravines of

wooded hills. The climate is warm, and there is no

cold season. The products are elephants' teeth, raw

gold, ambergris, and yellow sandal-wood. Every

year the country of Hu-ch'a-la and the settlements on

the sea-coast of Arabia send out ships to barter with

this country ( China the articles of exchange being
),

white cloth, porcelain, copper, and red cotton." The

" porcelain " here spoken of was brought from Ch'uan-

chou-fu to Guzerat by way of Palembang.

Among the countries to which China sold her

keramic productions at this early epoch, she had no

keener customer than Japan. It has already been

noted that a brisk trade in Japanese lumber was car-

ried on at Ch'iian-chou-fu in the days of Chao Jukua

(1220). That author speaks of the Lo tree (Japanese
Sttgt, the well-known cryptomeria ^Japonica} as " attain-
ing a height of from fourteen to fifteen ch'ang, and

measuring fully four Chinese feet in diameter."

Planks of this valuable timber were carried by Japa-

nese junks to Ch'iian-chou, and it may be taken for

granted that keramic wares formed part of their re-

turn cargoes. The Imperial Collection preserved at

Nara teaches that, as long ago as the eighth century,

Chinese glazed pottery was among the apparatus of

Japanese aristocratic life. But of ware capable of

being classed with either the Ju-yao, the Kuan-yao,

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