the Ming Emperors, like many other institutions, adopted this
practice from their predecessors, the Mongols. Klaproth[7] is wrong in
saying that the assignats of the Sung, Kin, and Mongols were all made from
the bark of the tree _cu (Broussonetia)_, and those of the Ming from all
sorts of plants.

"In the _Hui kiang chi_, an interesting description of Turkistan by two
Manchu officials, Surde and Fusambo, published in 1772,[8] the following
note headed 'Mohamedan Paper' occurs:

"'There are two sorts of Turkistan paper, black and white, made from
mulberry bark, cotton and silk refuse equally mixed, resulting in a
coarse, thick, strong, and tough material. It is cut into small rolls
fully a foot long, which are burnished by means of stones, and then are
fit for writing.'

"Sir Aurel Stein[9] reports that paper is still manufactured from mulberry
trees in Khotan. Also J. Wiesner,[10] the meritorious investigator of
ancient papers, has included the fibres of _Morus alba_ and _M. nigra_
among the material to which his researches extended.

"Mulberry-bark paper is ascribed to Bengal in the _Si yang ch'ao kung tien
lu_ by Wu Kien-hwang, published in 1520.[11]

"As the mulberry tree is eagerly cultivated in Persia in connection with
the silk industry, it is possible also that the Persian paper in the
banknotes of the Mongols was a product of the mulberry.[12] At any rate,
good Marco Polo is cleared, and his veracity and exactness have been
established again."

XXIV., p. 427.

VALUE OF GOLD.

"L'or valait quatre fois son poids d'argent au commencement de la dynastie
Ming (1375), sept ou huit fois sous l'empereur Wan-li de la meme dynastie
(1574), et dix fois a la fin de la dynastie (1635); plus de dix fois sous
K'ang hi (1662); plus de vingt fois sous le regne de K'ien long; dix-huit
fois au milieu du regne de Tao-koang (1840), quatorze fois au commencement
du regne de Hien-fong (1850); dix-huit fois en moyenne dans les annees
1882-1883. En 1893, la valeur de l'or augmenta considerablement et egala
28 fois celle de l'argent; en 1894, 32 fois; au commencement de 1895, 33
fois; mais il baissa un peu et a la fin de l'annee il valait seulement 30
fois plus." (Pierre HOANG, _La Propriete en Chine_, 1897, p. 43.)

XXVI., p. 432.

_CH'ING SIANG_.

Morrison, _Dict._, Pt. II, Vol. I., p. 70, says: "Chin-seang, a Minister
of State, was so called under the Ming Dynasty." According to Mr. E.H.
Parker (_China Review_, XXIV., p