sugar manufacturing districts of Fuh-Kien are Hing-hwa, Yung-chun, Chinchew, and Chang-chau.”—H. C.] The _Babylonia_ of the passage from Ramusio is Cairo,—Babylon of Egypt, the sugar of which was very famous in the Middle Ages. _Zucchero di Bambellonia_ is repeatedly named in Pegolotti’s Handbook (210, 311, 362, etc.). The passage as it stands represents the Chinese as not knowing even how to get sugar in the granular form: but perhaps the fact was that they did not know how to _refine_ it. Local Chinese histories acknowledge that the people of Fo-kien did not know how to make fine sugar, till, in the time of the Mongols, certain men from the West taught the art.[2] It is a curious illustration of the passage that in India coarse sugar is commonly called _Chíní_, “the produce of China,” and sugar candy or fine sugar _Misri_, the produce of Cairo (_Babylonia_) or Egypt. Nevertheless, fine _Misri_ has long been exported from Fo-kien to India, and down to 1862 went direct from Amoy. It is now, Mr. Phillips states, sent to India by steamers _viâ_ Hong-Kong. I see it stated, in a late Report by Mr. Consul Medhurst, that the sugar at this day commonly sold and consumed throughout China is excessively coarse and repulsive in appearance. (See _Academy_, February, 1874, p. 229.) [We note from the _Returns of Trade for 1900_, of the Chinese Customs, p. 467, that during that year 1900, the following quantities of sugar were exported from Amoy: _Brown_, 89,116 _piculs_, value 204,969 Hk. taels; _white_, 3,708 _piculs_, 20,024 Hk. taels; _candy_, 53,504 _piculs_, 304,970 Hk. taels.—H. C.] [Dr. Bretschneider (_Hist. of Bot. Disc._ I. p. 2) remarks that “the sugar cane although not indigenous in China, was known to the Chinese in the 2nd century B.C. It is largely cultivated in the Southern provinces.”—H. C.] The fierce lions are, as usual, tigers. These are numerous in this province, and tradition points to the diversion of many roads, owing to their being infested by tigers. Tiger cubs are often offered for sale in Amoy.[3] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] “It is not improbable that there is some admixture of aboriginal blood in the actual population (of Fuh-Kien), but if so, it cannot be much. The _surnames_ in this province are the same as those in Central and North China.... The language also is pure Chinese; actually much nearer the ancient form of Chinese than the modern Mandarin dialect. There are indeed many words in the vernacular for which no corresponding character has been found in the literary style: but careful investigation is gradually diminishing the number.” (_Note by Rev. Dr. C. Douglas_.)