THE CÉLADON
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 inhabitants 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 villages 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'üan-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 carried on at Ch'üan-chou-fu in the days of Chao Jukua (1220). That author speaks of the Lo tree (Japanese Sugi, the well-known cryptomeria Japonica) as "attaining 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 Japanese junks to Ch'üan-chou, and it may be taken for granted that keramic wares formed part of their return 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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