Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 27.djvu/481

 obtained by boiling aromatics (with the extract of millet) was clarified by mingling with it the liquor which had begun to clear itself:—in the same way as old and strong spirits are qualified by the brilliantly pure liquor or that which has begun to clear itself He would be a bold man who would say that he had given a translation of this paragraph, which he was sure represented exactly the mind of the author. The interpretation given of it even by Kǎng Hsüan is now called in question in a variety of points by most scholars; and the Khien-lung editors refrain from concluding the many pages of various commentators, which they adduce on it, with a summary and exposition of their own judgment. Until some sinologist has made himself acquainted with all the processes in the preparation of their drinks at the present day by the Chinese, and has thereby, and from his own knowledge of the general subject, attained to a knowledge of the similar preparations of antiquity, a translator can only do the best in his power with such a passage, without being sure that it is the best that might be done. In the Kâu Lî, Book V, 23–36, we have an account of the duties of the Director of Wines (酒正; Biot, "Intendant des Vins"). Mention is made of "the three wines (三酒)," which were employed as common beverages, and called shih kiû (事酒), hsî kiû (昔酒), and khing kiû (淸酒); in Biot, "vin d'affaire, vin âgé, and vin clair." Consul Gingell, in his useful translation of "The Institutes of the Kâu Dynasty Strung as Pearls' (London: Smith, Elder, and Co., 1852), calls them—"wine made specially for any particular occasion; wine which has become ripe; and old, clear, and fine wine." In addition to these three kiû, the Director had to do with the five kî (五齊; Biot, "les cinque sorts de vins sacrés"), and called fan kî (泛齊), lî kî (醴齊), ang kî (盎齊), thî kî (緹齊), and khǎn kî (沈齊); in Biot, after kǎng Hsüan, "vin surnageant, vin doux, vin qui se clarifie, vin substantiel, vin reposé;" in Gingell, "rice-water which has undergone.