{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_67344/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_67344","id":"gutenberg_67344","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/67344","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","China -- Civilization","Folklore -- China","Folklore -- Japan","Japan -- Civilization","Mythology, Chinese","Mythology, Japanese"],"text":"MYTHS OF\n                            CHINA AND JAPAN\n\n                                   By\n                          DONALD A. MACKENZIE\n\n\n               With Illustrations in Colour & Monochrome\n                    after Paintings and Photographs\n\n\n                  THE GRESHAM PUBLISHING COMPANY LTD.\n                  66 CHANDOS ST. COVENT GARDEN LONDON\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nThis volume deals with the myths of China and Japan, and it is shown\nthat these throw light on the origin and growth of civilization and the\nwidespread dissemination of complex ideas associated with certain modes\nof life. The Far East does not appear to have remained immune to\noutside cultural influences in ancient times. Modern research has\nestablished that the old school of opinions which insisted on the\ncomplete isolation of China can no longer obtain. As Laufer says: \u201cIt\ncannot be strongly enough emphasized on every occasion that Chinese\ncivilization, as it appears now, is not a unit and not the exclusive\nproduction of the Chinese, but the final result of the cultural efforts\nof a vast conglomeration of the most varied tribes, an amalgamation of\nideas accumulated from manifold quarters and widely differentiated in\nspace and time.... No graver error can hence be committed than to\nattribute any culture idea at the outset to the Chinese, for no other\nreason than because it appears within the precincts of their empire.\u201d\n\nEven the Chinese records have to be regarded with caution. It is\nimpossible nowadays to accept as serious contributions to history the\ninflated chronology and the obvious fables compiled and invented by\nChinese scholars for political and other purposes during the Han and\nlater dynasties. These scholars had really little knowledge of the\nearly history of their country and people. They were puzzled even by\ncertain existing customs and religious practices, and provided\ningenious \u201csecondary explanations\u201d which, like their accounts of the\nearly dynasties, do not accord with the data accumulated by\narch\u00e6ologists and other workers in the scientific field. The complex\nreligious ideas of the Chinese were obviously not of spontaneous\ngeneration. Many of these resemble too closely the complexes found\nelsewhere, and their history cannot be traced within the limits of the\nChinese empire. Indeed, as is shown, some of them are undoubtedly\nproducts of human experiences obtained elsewhere, and they reveal\ntraces of the influences to which they were subjected during the\nprocess of gradual transmission from areas of origin. Nor, would it\nappear, was Chinese civilization nearly as ancient as the native\nscholars would have us believe.\n\nWhen the early Chinese entered China, they found non-Chinese peoples in\ndifferent parts of that vast area which they ultimately welded into an\nempire. They were an inland people and did not invent boats; they did\nnot originate the agricultural mode of life but adopted it, using the\nseeds and implements they had acquired; nor did they invent the\npotter\u2019s wheel with which they were familiar from the earliest times in\nChina, having evidently become possessed of it, along with the complex\nculture associated with it, before they migrated into the province of\nShensi. Nor could an agrarian people like the Chinese have been the\noriginators of the belief in the existence of \u201cIsles of the Blest\u201d in\nthe Eastern Ocean; they were not alone in Asia in believing in a\nWestern Paradise situated among the mountains.\n\nThe Chinese, as Laufer demonstrates in his Jade, did not pass through\nin China that culture stage called the \u201cNeolithic\u201d. When they first\nsettled in Shensi, they searched for and found jade, as did the\ncarriers of bronze who first entered Europe. There was obviously an\nacquired psychological motive for the search for jade, and the evidence\nof Chinese jade symbolism demonstrates to the full that it had been\nacquired from those who had transferred to jade the earlier symbolism\nof shells, pearls, and precious metals. In the chapter devoted to jade\nit is shown that this view is confirmed by the evidence afforded by\nChinese customs connected with jade, shells, pearls, &c.\n\nIn no country in the world are the processes of culture drifting and\nculture mixing made more manifest than in China. The Chinese dragon is,\nas Professor Elliot Smith puts it, a \u201ccomposite wonder beast\u201d.\nThroughout this volume it is shown to yield, when dissected, remarkable\nevidence regarding the varied influences under which it acquired its\nhighly complex character. The fact that a Chinese dragon charm closely\nresembles a Scottish serpent charm is of special interest in this\nconnection. When, however, it is found that China obtained certain\nmyths and practices from the area called by its writers \u201cFu-lin\u201d (the\nByzantine Empire), and that not only Byzantine but \u00c6gean influences are\ntraceable in the Celtic field, the charm-link between Gaelic Scotland\nand China may not, after all, be regarded as \u201cfar-fetched\u201d. The same\nmay be said regarding the curious similarity between the myths and\npractices connected with shells, and especially cockle-shells, in Japan\nand the Scottish Hebrides. Although the West Highlanders and the\ninhabitants of the Land of the Rising Sun were never brought into\ncontact, it may be that similar cultural influences drifted east and\nwest from their area of origin, and that the carriers were the ancient\nmariners who introduced the same type of vessel into far-separated\noceans.\n\nAs in China, we do not in Japan find a culture of purely native origin,\nbut rather one which has grown up from a mass of imported elements as\nvaried as the racial types that compose the present-day population.\nBoth in China and Japan these imported elements have been subjected to\nthe influences of time and locality and infused with national ideas and\nideals. The processes of growth and change have not, however, concealed\nthe sources from which certain of the early ideas emanated in varying\ndegrees of development.\n\nThe early native history of Japan is, like that of China, no more\nworthy of acceptance than are the long-discarded English and Scottish\nfables regarding Brute and Scota.\n\nThe data accumulated in this volume tend to show, although we have no\ndirect evidence of systematic missionary enterprise earlier than that\nof the Buddhists, that the influential religious cults of ancient times\nthat flourished in Mesopotamia and in the Egyptian Empire (which\nincluded part of Western Asia) appear to have left their impress on the\nintellectual life of even far-distant peoples. Apparently modes of\nthought were transmitted along direct and indirect avenues of\nintercourse by groups of traders. Even before trade routes were opened,\nreligious beliefs and practices appear to have been introduced into\ndistant lands by prospectors and by settlers who founded colonies from\nwhich later colonies \u201cbudded\u201d. When the same set of complexes are found\nin widely separated areas, it is difficult to accept the view that they\noriginated from the same particular experiences and the same set of\ncircumstances, especially when it is made manifest that the complexes\nin the older centre of culture reflect strictly local physical\nconditions, and even the local political conditions that resulted in a\nfusion of peoples and of their myths, symbols, and religious beliefs\nand practices.\n\n\nDONALD A. MACKENZIE.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n    Chap.                                                        Page\n\n    I.      The Dawn of Civilization                                1\n    II.     A Far-travelled Invention                              13\n    III.    Ancient Mariners and Explorers                         24\n    IV.     The World-wide Search for Wealth                       36\n    V.      Chinese Dragon Lore                                    46\n    VI.     Bird and Serpent Myths                                 66\n    VII.    Dragon Folk-stories                                    76\n    VIII.   The Kingdom under the Sea                              95\n    IX.     The Islands of the Blest                              106\n    X.      The Mother-goddess of China and Japan                 131\n    XI.     Tree-, Herb-, and Stone-lore                          158\n    XII.    How Copper-culture reached China                      189\n    XIII.   The Symbolism of Jade                                 211\n    XIV.    Creation Myths and the God and Goddess Cults          256\n    XV.     Mythical and Legendary Kings                          274\n    XVI.    Myths and Doctrines of Taoism                         297\n    XVII.   Culture Mixing in Japan                               324\n    XVIII.  Japanese Gods and Dragons                             345\n    XIX.    Rival Deities of Life and Death, Sunshine and Storm   357\n    XX.     The Dragon-slayer and His Rival                       371\n    XXI.    Ancient Mikados and Heroes                            378\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLIST OF PLATES\n\n\n                                                            Facing Page\n\nTHE GOD OF THUNDER (in colour)                             Frontispiece\n\n    From a Chinese picture in the John Rylands Library, Manchester\n\nPOTTER\u2019S WHEEL, SIMLA, INDIA                                         16\n\n    From a sketch by J. Lockwood Kipling in the Victoria and Albert\n    Museum\n\nA MODERN CHINESE JUNK ON THE CANTON RIVER                            24\n\nCHINESE DRAGON-BOAT FESTIVAL                                         40\n\n    From a picture woven in coloured silks and gold thread in the\n    Victoria and Albert Museum\n\nCHINESE DRAGONS AMONG THE CLOUDS                                     48\n\n    From a painting in the British Museum\n\nCHINESE DRAGON VASE WITH CARVED WOOD STAND                           56\n\n    (Victoria and Albert Museum)\n\nCARP LEAPING FROM WAVES      81\n\n    From a Japanese painting in the British Museum\n\nCHINESE PORCELAIN VASE DECORATED WITH FIVE-CLAWED DRAGONS RISING\nFROM WAVES                                                           88\n\n    (Victoria and Albert Museum)\n\nRESONANT STONE OF JADE SHOWING DRAGON WITH CLOUD ORNAMENTS,\nSUSPENDED FROM CARVED BLACKWOOD FRAME                                96\n\n    By courtesy of B. Laufer, Field Museum of Natural History,\n    Chicago\n\nTORTOISE AND SNAKE                                                  104\n\n    From a rubbing in the British Museum of a Chinese original\n\nGATHERING FRUITS OF LONGEVITY                                       112\n\n    From a Chinese painting in the British Museum\n\nSHOU SHAN (i.e. \u201cHILLS OF LONGEVITY\u201d), THE TAOIST PARADISE          124\n\n    From a woven silk picture in the Victoria and Albert Museum\n\nTHE CHINESE SI WANG MU (JAPANESE SEIOBO) AND MAO NU                 136\n\n    From a Japanese painting (by Hidenobu) in the British Museum\n\nMOUNTAIN VIEW WITH SCHOLAR\u2019S RETREAT                                140\n\n    From a Chinese painting in the British Museum\n\nGENII AT THE COURT OF SI WANG MU                                    152\n\n    From a Chinese painting in the British Museum\n\nSQUARE BRICK OF THE HAN DYNASTY, WITH MYTHOLOGICAL FIGURES AND\nINSCRIPTIONS                                                        160\n\nCHINESE BOWL WITH SYMBOL OF LONGEVITY                               168\n\n    (Victoria and Albert Museum)\n\nGOATS CROPPING PLANT OF LIFE                                        172\n\n    From the jade sculpture in the Scottish National Museum,\n    Edinburgh\n\nTHE GODDESS OF THE DEW                                              184\n\n    From a Chinese painting in the British Museum\n\nAN OFFERING TO THE GODS, PEKING                                     200\n\n    From a photograph by H. G. Ponting, F.R.G.S.\n\nANCIENT BRONZE ASTRONOMICAL INSTRUMENTS ON THE CITY WALL, PEKING    208\n\nMORTUARY FISH IN JADE, OF HAN PERIOD                                212\n\nFIGURE OF BUTTERFLY IN WHITE AND BROWNISH-YELLOW JADE, TS\u02bcIN OR\nHAN PERIOD                                                          212\n\nAMULETS FOR THE DEAD, AND OTHER OBJECTS IN JADE                     220\n\n    The subjects on pages 212 and 220 are reproduced by courtesy\n    of B. Laufer, author of \u201cJade\u201d, Field Museum, Chicago\n\nTHE TEMPLE OF HEAVEN, PEKING                                        228\n\n    From a photograph by H. G. Ponting, F.R.G.S.\n\nTHREE SAGES STUDYING SYMBOL OF YIN AND YANG                         230\n\n    From a Chinese painting in the British Museum\n\nKWAN-YIN, THE CHINESE \u201cGODDESS OF MERCY\u201d                            271\n\n    From a porcelain figure decorated in soft enamels in the Victoria\n    and Albert Museum\n\nLAO TZE AND DISCIPLES                                               300\n\n    From a Chinese painting in the British Museum\n\nTHE MOST FAMOUS PAI-LO (GODDESS SYMBOL) IN CHINA: AT THE MENG\nTOMBS, NEAR PEKING                                                  328\n\n    From a photograph by H. G. Ponting, F.R.G.S.\n\nTHE FAMOUS OLD TORI-WI (GODDESS SYMBOL), MIYAJIMA, JAPAN            338\n\n    From a photograph by H. G. Ponting, F.R.G.S.\n\nTHE JAPANESE TREASURE SHIP                                          352\n\n    From a woodcut in the British Museum\n\nSUSA-NO-WO MAKING A COMPACT WITH DISEASE SPIRITS                    360\n\n    From a Japanese painting (by Hoga) in the British Museum\n\nAMATER\u00c2SU, THE SUN GODDESS, EMERGING FROM HER CAVE                  368\n\n    From a Japanese painting in the British Museum\n\nSEIOBO (= THE CHINESE SI WANG MU) WITH ATTENDANT AND THREE RISHI    380\n\n    From a Japanese painting (by Sanraku) in the British Museum\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMYTHS OF CHINA AND JAPAN\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nTHE DAWN OF CIVILIZATION\n\n    Chinese Culture\u2014Had it Independent Origin?\u2014Evolution in Human\n    Affairs\u2014Stratification Theory\u2014The Mystery of Mind\u2014Man\u2019s First\n    Philosophy of Life\u2014Influences exercised by Ancient\n    Civilizations\u2014Culture Mixing\u2014The Idea of Progress\u2014Art in the\n    Pleistocene Age\u2014Introduction of Agriculture\u2014Birth of Osirian\n    Civilization\u2014The \u201cWater of Greenness\u201d as \u201cWater of Life\u201d\u2014How\n    Commerce Began\u2014Introduction of Copper-working\u2014The Oldest Calendar\n    in the World\u2014The \u201cKings of Mankind\u201d\u2014Ancient Man and Modern Man.\n\n\nThe destinies of a people are shaped by their modes of thought, and\ntheir real history is therefore the history of their culture. The\nChinese frame of mind has made the Chinese the people they are and\nChina the country it is. Every section of society has been swayed by\nthis far-reaching and enduring influence, the sources of which lie in\nremote antiquity. It is the force that has even been shaping public\nopinion and directing political movements. Emperors and leaders of\nthought have been uplifted by it or cast down by it.\n\nTo understand China, it is necessary that we should inquire into its\ninner history\u2014the history of its culture\u2014so as to get at the Chinese\npoint of view and look at things through Chinese eyes. That inner\nhistory is in part a record of its early experiences among the nations\nof the earth. There was a time when China was \u201cin the making\u201d, when the\nlittle leaven that leavened the whole lump began to move, when that\nculture which spread over a vast area was confined to a small centre\nand to a comparatively small group of people. Who were this people,\nwhere were they situated, what influences were at work to stir them and\nshape their ambitions, and what secret did they learn which gave them\npower over the minds and bodies of about a third of the inhabitants of\nthe globe? In short, how and where did Chinese culture originate, and\nhow did it spread and become firmly established? Was it a thing of\npurely local growth? Did it begin to be quite independently of all\nother cultures? Does it owe its virility and distinctiveness among the\ncultures of ancient and modern times to the influence of the locality\nin which it had \u201cindependent origin\u201d? Had it an independent origin?\n\nThese queries open up the larger problem as to the origin of\ncivilization in the world. At this point, therefore, we must decide\nwhether or not we are to accept the idea of evolution in human affairs.\nCan the principles of biological evolution be applied to the problems\nof ethnology (using the term in its widest sense to include the\nphysical and cultural history of mankind)? Can we accept the theory\nthat in isolated quarters of the globe separated communities were\nstirred by natural laws to make progress in adapting themselves to\ntheir environments, and that, once a beginning was made, separated\ncommunities developed on similar lines? Did each ancient civilization\nhave its natural periods of growth and decay? Were separated\ncommunities uninfluenced during these periods by human minds and wills?\nWere their destinies shaped by natural laws, or by the cumulative force\nof public opinion? Was it a natural law that made men abandon the\nhunting and adopt the agricultural mode of life? Did certain\ncommunities of men, influenced by natural laws in ancient times, begin\nto shape their religious systems by first worshipping groups of spirits\nand ultimately, having passed through a sequence of well-defined\nstages, find themselves elevated by these natural laws to the stage of\nmonotheism? Is it because certain races have, for some mysterious\nreason, been prompted to pass through these stages more quickly than\nothers, that they are deserving of the term \u201cprogressive\u201d while others\nmust be characterized as \u201cbackward\u201d?\n\nIf these questions are answered in the affirmative, we must assume that\nwe have solved the riddle of Mind. Those who apply the principles of\nbiological evolution to human affairs are in the habit of referring to\nlaws that control the workings of the human mind. But what do we really\nknow about the workings of the human mind? This question has only to be\nasked so that the hazardous character of the fashion of thinking\nadopted by extreme exponents of the Evolution School may be emphasized.\nIt cannot but be admitted that we know little or nothing regarding the\nhuman mind. What happens when we think? How are memories stored in the\nbrain? How are emotions caused? What is Consciousness? How does the\nWill operate? Grave psychological problems have to be solved before we\ncan undertake the responsibility of discussing with any degree of\nconfidence the laws that are supposed to govern human thought and\naction.\n\nThe researches into the early history of man, of about a generation\nago, were believed by some to \u201chave revealed the essential similarity\nwith which, under many superficial differences, the human mind has\nelaborated its first crude philosophy of life\u201d. It was found that\nsimilar beliefs and practices obtained among widely separated\ncommunities, and it was not suspected that the influence exercised by\ndirect and indirect cultural contact between \u201cprogressive\u201d and\n\u201cbackward\u201d communities extended to such great distances as has since\nbeen found to be the case. Prospecting routes by land and sea were the\navenues along which cultural influences \u201cdrifted\u201d. Early man was much\nmore enterprising as a trader and explorer than was believed in Tylor\u2019s\nday. The evidence accumulated of late years tends to show that almost\nno part of the globe remained immune to the influences exercised by the\ngreat ancient civilizations, and that these civilizations were never in\na state of \u201csplendid isolation\u201d at any period in their histories. In\nthe light of this knowledge it is becoming more and more clear that\nVictorian ethnologists were inclined to make too much of resemblances,\nand failed to take into account the differences that a more intensive\nstudy of local cultures have revealed. There were, of course,\nresemblances, which suggest the influence of cultural contact and the\nsettlement among backward peoples of colonists from progressive\ncommunities, but there were also differences of beliefs and customs\nwhich were of local origin and can hardly be characterized as\n\u201csuperficial\u201d. One of the results of contact was the process of\n\u201cculture mixing\u201d. Customs and fashions of thinking were introduced into\na country and blended with local customs and local modes of thought. In\nearly China, as will be shown, there was \u201cculture mixing\u201d. The Chinese\nframe of mind is the result of compromises effected in remote times.\n\nHow, then, did the idea of progress originate? Is there in the human\nmind an instinct which stirs mankind to achieve progress? If so, how\ndoes it come about that some peoples have failed to move until brought\ninto contact with progressive races? Why did the Melanesians, for\ninstance, remain in the Stone Age until reached by the missionary and\nthe sandal-wood trader? The missionaries and the traders caused them to\nadvance in a brief period from the Stone Age to the Age of Steel and\nMachinery. Can it be maintained that in ancient days no sudden changes\ntook place? Did the people, for instance, who introduced bronze-working\ninto a country introduce nothing else? Did they leave behind their\nbeliefs, their myths, their customs, and their stories?\n\nWhen it is asked how progress originated, we can only turn to such\nevidence as is available regarding the early history of \u201cModern Man\u201d.\nAt a remote period, dating back in Europe to the Pleistocene Age, men\nlived in organized communities and pursued the hunting mode of life.\nTheir culture is revealed by their pictorial art in the prehistoric\ncave-dwellings of France and Spain, and their decorative art by their\nfinely engraved implements and weapons. [1] This art reached a high\nstate of perfection. In some aspects it compares favourably with modern\nart. [2] Evidently it had a long history, and was practised by those\nwho were endowed with the artistic faculty and had received a training.\nThese early men, who belonged to the Cro-Magnon races, were traders as\nwell as hunters. In some of their \u201cinland stations\u201d have been found\nshells that had been imported from the Mediterranean coast.\n\nThe hunting mode of life prevailed also among the proto-Egyptians in\nthe Nile valley, an area which was less capable in remote times of\nmaintaining a large population than were the wide and fertile plains of\nEurope. Egypt was thinly peopled until the agricultural mode of life\nwas introduced. Someone discovered how to make use of the barley that\ngrew wild in the Nile valley and western Asia. In time the seeds were\ncultivated, and some little community thus provided itself with an\nabundant food-supply. Men\u2019s minds were afterwards engaged in solving\nthe problem how to extend the area available for cultivation in the\nnarrow Nile valley. Nature was at hand to make suggestions to them.\nEach year the River Nile came down in flood and fertilized the parched\nand sun-burnt wastes. The waters caused the desert to \u201cblossom like the\nrose\u201d. Intelligent observers perceived that if the process of\nwater-fertilization were maintained, as in the Delta region, they could\nextend their little farms and form new ones. The art of irrigation was\ndiscovered and gradually adopted, with the result that the narrow river\nvalley, which had been thinly peopled during the Hunting Period, became\ncapable of maintaining a large population.\n\nIn what particular area the agricultural mode of life was first\nintroduced, it is impossible to say. Some favour southern Palestine and\nsome southern Mesopotamia. Those who favour Egypt [3] can refer to\ninteresting and important evidence in support of their view. It is the\nonly ancient country, for instance, in which there are traditions\nregarding the man [4] who introduced the agricultural mode of life.\nThis was Osiris, a priest-king [5] who was deified, or a god to whom\nwas credited the discovery, made by a man or group of men, of how to\ngrow corn. Plutarch\u2019s version of the Egyptian legend states: \u201cOsiris,\nbeing now become King of Egypt, applied himself towards civilizing his\ncountrymen, by turning them from their former indigent and barbarous\ncourse of life; he moreover taught them how to cultivate and improve\nthe fruits of the earth\u201d. Evidence has been forthcoming that the\npre-Dynastic Egyptians were agriculturists. The bodies of many of them\nhave been found preserved in their graves in the hot dry sands of Upper\nEgypt. \u201cFrom the stomachs and intestines of these prehistoric people\u201d,\nwrites Professor G. Elliot Smith, \u201cI was able to recover large\nquantities of food materials, in fact, the last meals eaten before\ndeath.\u201d Careful examination was made of the contents of the stomachs.\n\u201cAlmost every sample contained husks of barley, and in about 10 per\ncent of the specimens husks of millet could be identified with\ncertainty.\u201d The millet found in these bodies is nearly related to the\nvariety \u201cwhich is now cultivated in the East Indies\u201d. [6]\n\nHere we have proof that the agricultural mode of life obtained in the\nNile valley over sixty centuries ago, and that the seeds of the\ncultivated variety of millet, which grows wild in North Africa and\nsouthern Asia, were carried to far-distant areas by ancient traders and\ncolonists. These facts have, as will be found, an important bearing on\nthe early history of Chinese civilization.\n\nOur immediate concern, however, is with the history of early\ncivilization. In the Nile valley man made progress when he was able to\nprovide something which he required, by the intelligent utilization of\nmeans at his disposal. No natural law prompted him to cultivate corn\nand irrigate the sun-parched soil. He did not become an agriculturist\nby instinct. He conducted observations, exercised his reasoning\nfaculty, made experiments, and a great discovery was forthcoming. The\nman whose memory is enshrined in that of Osiris was one of the great\nbenefactors of the human race. When he solved the problem of how to\nprovide an abundant supply of food, he made it possible for a large\npopulation to live in a small area. It is told of Osiris that \u201che gave\nthem (the Egyptians) a body of laws to regulate their conduct by\u201d. No\ndoubt the early hunters observed laws which regulated conduct in the\ncave-home as well as on the hunting-field. The fact that a great\npictorial art was cultivated by Aurignacian man in western Europe,\nabout 20,000 years ago, indicates that the social organization had been\nsufficiently well developed to permit of certain individuals of a\nclass\u2014possibly the priestly class\u2014devoting themselves to the study of\nart, while others attended to the food-supply. Aurignacian art could\nnever have reached the degree of excellence it did had there not been a\nschool of art\u2014apparently religious art\u2014and a system of laws that\npromoted its welfare.\n\nWhen, in Egypt, the agricultural mode of life was introduced, and an\nabundant supply of food was assured, new laws became a necessity, so\nthat the growing communities might be kept under control. These laws\nwere given a religious significance. Osiris \u201cinstructed them (the\nEgyptians) in that reverence and worship which they were to pay to the\ngods\u201d. Society was united by the bonds of a religious organization,\nand, as is found, Nilotic religion had a close association with the\nagricultural mode of life. It reflected the experiences of the early\nfarmers; it reflected, too, the natural phenomena of the Nile valley.\nWater\u2014the Nile water\u2014was the fertilizing agency. It was the \u201cwater of\nlife\u201d. The god Osiris was closely associated with the Nile; he was the\n\u201cfresh\u201d or the \u201cnew\u201d water that flowed in due season after the trying\nperiod of \u201cthe low Nile\u201d, during which the land was parched by the\nburning sun and every green thing was coated by the sand-storms. \u201cHo,\nOsiris! the inundation comes,\u201d cried the priest when the Nile began to\nrise. \u201cHorus comes; he recognizes his father in thee, youthful in thy\nname of Fresh Water.\u201d [7] The literal rendering is: \u201cHorus comes; he\nbeholds his father in thee, greenness in thy name of Water of\nGreenness\u201d. The reference is to the \u201cnew water\u201d which flows quite green\nfor the first few days of the annual inundation. The \u201cnew water\u201d\nentered the soil and vegetation sprang up. Osiris was the principle of\nlife; he was also the ghost-god who controlled the river. As the Nile,\nOsiris was regarded as the source of all life\u2014the creator and sustainer\nand ruler in one.\n\nWhen the discovery of how to grow corn was passed from people to people\nand from land to land, not only the seeds and agricultural implements\nwere passed along, but the ceremonies and religious beliefs connected\nwith the agricultural mode of life in the area of origin. The\nceremonies were regarded as of as much importance as the implements.\n\nIt need not surprise us, therefore, to find, as we do find, not only\nNorth African millet in the East Indies, but North African religious\nbeliefs connected with agriculture in widely separated countries.\nOsirian religious ideas and myths were, it would appear, distributed\nover wide areas and among various races. There is therefore a germ of\nhistorical truth in the account given by Plutarch of the missionary\nefforts of Osiris. \u201cWith the same disposition\u201d, we read, \u201che (Osiris)\nafterwards travelled over the rest of the world, inducing the people\neverywhere to submit to his discipline.... The Greeks conclude him to\nhave been the same person with their Dionysos or Bacchus.\u201d [8]\n\nIn the process of time the Egyptians found that they were able to\nproduce a larger food-supply than they required for their own needs.\nThey were consequently able to devote their surplus to stimulating\ntrade, so as to obtain from other countries things which were not to be\nhad in Egypt. They were thus brought into touch with other communities,\nand these communities, such as the wood-cutters of Lebanon, were\ninfluenced by Egyptian civilization and stimulated to adopt new modes\nof life. Their food-supply was assured by the Egyptian demand for\ntimber. They received corn from the Nile valley in payment for their\nlabour. There are references in the Egyptian texts to the exports of\nwheat to North Syria and Asia Minor.\n\nWhen the great discovery was made of how to work copper, the early\nagriculturists achieved rapid progress. Boats were built more easily\nand in larger numbers, new weapons were produced, and the Upper\nEgyptians conquered the Lower Egyptians, with the result that Egypt was\nunited under a single king. With this union, which was followed by a\nperiod of remarkable activity, begins the history of Ancient Egypt.\n\nThe man, remembered as Osiris, who first sowed his little corn patch,\nsowed also the seeds from which grew a mighty empire and a great\ncivilization. His discovery spread from people to people, and from land\nto land, and a new era was inaugurated in the history of the world.\nProgress was made possible when mankind were led from the wide\nhunting-fields to the little fields of the Stone Age [9] farmer, and\nshown how they could live pleasant and well-ordered lives in large\ncommunities.\n\nThe early Egyptian farmers found it necessary to measure time and take\naccount of the seasons. A Calendar was introduced and adopted during\nthe prehistoric (Pal\u00e6olithic) period, [10] and was used by the\nEgyptians for thousands of years. Julius C\u00e6sar adapted this Calendar\nfor use in Rome. It was subsequently adjusted by Pope Gregory and\nothers, and is now in use all over the civilized world. Each time we\nhang up a new calendar, therefore, we are reminded of the man who\nstimulated progress over vast areas by sowing corn, so as to provide\nfood for his family in a distant land at a far-distant period of time.\n\nWhen we consider the problem of the origin of progress, let us not\nforget him and others like him\u2014those early thinkers and discoverers to\nwhom all humanity owe a debt of gratitude. The few invent, the many\nadopt; the few think and lead, and the many follow.\n\n\u201cNo abstract doctrine\u201d, writes Sir James F. Frazer in this connection,\n\u201cis more false and mischievous than that of the natural equality of\nmen.... The experience of common life sufficiently contradicts such a\nvain imagination.... The men of keenest intelligence and strongest\ncharacters lead the rest and shape the moulds into which, outwardly at\nleast, society is cast.... The true rulers of men are the thinkers who\nadvance knowledge.... It is knowledge which, in the long run, directs\nand controls the forces of society. Thus the discoverers of new truths\nare the real though uncrowned and unsceptred kings of mankind.\u201d [11]\n\nProgress has its origin in Mind. It has been manifested in the past in\nthose districts in which the mind of man was applied to overcome\nnatural obstacles and to develop natural resources. The histories of\nthe great ancient civilizations do not support the idea of an\nevolutionary process which had its origin in human instinct. \u201cThere\nhas\u201d, Professor G. Elliot Smith writes, \u201cbeen no general or widespread\ntendency on the part of human societies to strive after what by\nEuropeans is regarded as intellectual or material progress. Progressive\nsocieties are rare because it requires a very complex series of factors\nto compel men to embark upon the hazardous process of striving after\nsuch artificial advancement.\u201d\n\nProfessor Elliot Smith will have none of what Dr. W. H. R. Rivers\nrefers to as \u201ccrude evolutionary ideas\u201d. \u201cThe history of man\u201d, he\nwrites, \u201cwill be truly interpreted, not by means of hazardous and\nmistaken analogies with biological evolution, but by the application of\nthe true historical method. The causes of the modern actions of mankind\nare deeply rooted in the past. But the spirit of man has ever been the\nsame: and the course of ancient history can only be properly\nappreciated when it is realized that the same human motives whose\nnature can be studied in our fellow-men to-day actuated the men of old\nalso.\u201d [12]\n\nIn the chapters that immediately follow it will be shown that separated\ncommunities were brought into close touch by traders. The term\n\u201ctrading\u201d, however, refers, especially in early times, chiefly to\nprospecting and the exploiting of locally unappreciated forms of\nwealth. It was not until after civilization had spread far and wide\nthat permanent trade routes were established. Some overland routes\nbecame less important when sea routes were ultimately opened.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nA FAR-TRAVELLED INVENTION\n\n    The Potter\u2019s Wheel\u2014An Egyptian Invention\u2014The Wheel in Theology\u2014Clay\n    Pots and Stone Vessels\u2014Skilled Artisans produce Poor Pottery\u2014The\n    Yakut Evidence\u2014Female Potters\u2014Pot Symbol of Mother-goddess\u2014Potter\u2019s\n    Wheel worked by Men\u2014Egyptian \u201cWheel\u201d adopted in Crete, Babylonia,\n    Iran, India, and China\u2014No \u201cWheel\u201d in America\u2014Secular and Religious\n    Pottery in China, Japan, India, and Rome\u2014Coarse\n    Grave-Pottery\u2014Potter\u2019s Wheel as Symbol of Creator\u2014Chinese Emperors\n    as Potters\u2014Culture Heroes\u2014Association of Agriculture with\n    Pottery\u2014Egyptian Ideas in Far East.\n\n\nWhat bearing, it may be asked, have the discoveries made in Egypt on\nthe early history of China? Is there evidence to show that these\nwidely-separated countries were brought into contact in remote times?\nDid the primitive Chinese receive and adopt Egyptian inventions, and if\nso, how were such inventions conveyed across the wide and difficult\ncountry lying between the Mediterranean coast and the Yellow Sea? Is\nthere any proof that trade routes extended in ancient times right\nacross Asia? Did prospecting and trading ancient mariners cross the\nIndian Ocean and coast round to Chinese waters?\n\nInteresting evidence regarding cultural contact is afforded by the\npotter\u2019s wheel. This wonderful machine was invented in Egypt some time\nbefore the Fourth Dynasty (about 3000 B.C.), and in its area of origin\nit exercised an influence not only on ceramic craftsmanship but on\nreligious ideas. It was regarded as a gift of the gods, as in ancient\nScotland bronze weapons, implements, musical instruments, &c., were\nregarded as gifts from the fairies. Apparently the invention was first\nintroduced in Memphis, the ancient capital, the chief god of which was\nPtah, the supreme deity \u201cof all handicraftsmen and of all workers in\nmetal and stone\u201d. Ptah was already regarded as the creator of the\nprimeval egg from which the universe was hatched, and of the \u201csun egg\u201d\nand the \u201cmoon egg\u201d. He was evidently a deity whose life-history goes\nback to primitive times when the mother-goddess was symbolized as the\ngoose that laid the primeval egg. The problem of whether the egg or the\nbird came first was solved by the priests of the Ptah cult of Memphis,\nwho regarded their deity as the creator of the \u201cegg\u201d. After the\npotter\u2019s wheel came into use, they depicted Ptah turning the \u201cegg\u201d upon\nit. The manufacture of wheel-made pottery thus came to have religious\nassociations. It was closely connected with the culture of Egypt which\nhad its basis in the agricultural mode of life. The arts and crafts\nwere all stimulated by religious ideas; they were cultivated by the\npriestly class in temple workshops, and were essentially an expression\nof Egyptian beliefs and conceptions.\n\nBefore the potter\u2019s wheel came into use, the potter\u2019s art had\ndegenerated. Vases, bowls, jars, platters, and other vessels were made\nof such costly stones as diorite, alabaster, and porphyry; these were\ndrilled out with copper implements. Copper vessels were also made. The\ndiscovery of how to work copper had caused the craftsmen to neglect the\npotter\u2019s art, and to work with enthusiasm in the hardest stone until\nthey achieved a high degree of skill. The coarse pottery of the\npre-wheel period is therefore no indication that the civilization had\nreached a stage of decadence. This fact should be a warning to those\narch\u00e6ologists who are prone to conclude that if the pottery taken from\na stratum in some particular area is \u201ccoarse\u201d, the people who produced\nit at the period it represents were necessarily in a backward\ncondition. The evidence afforded by Yakut products is of special\ninterest in this connection. The Yakuts are usually referred to as \u201cthe\nmost intelligent and progressive people in Siberia\u201d. They are, however,\npoor potters. They never glaze their vessels or use the potter\u2019s wheel.\nAt the great Russian market of Yakutsk they refuse to purchase\nwheel-made crockery, and purchase instead the raw clay with which to\nmake their own hand-made vessels, which are almost as coarse as those\nof the Stone Age. But although the technique displayed in their pottery\nis crude, they are famous for their excellent wood-carving and iron\nforged-work. [13] A people cannot, therefore, be judged by their\npottery alone. It may be that those ancient peoples who are found to\nhave been poor potters were skilled and progressive in other spheres of\nactivity. The Hebrews were poor artisans and never invented anything,\nbut they have given the world a great religious literature.\n\nAfter the potter\u2019s wheel was introduced in Memphis, a new era in the\nhistory of pottery was inaugurated. The enclosed baking-furnace came\ninto use at the same time, and the potter\u2019s art and technique speedily\nattained a wonderfully high degree of excellence. But the old crude,\nhand-made pottery was still being produced. It was consistently\nproduced until Egypt ceased to be a great and independent kingdom.\nIndeed, it is being manufactured even in our own day.\n\nThe reason why good and bad pottery are produced in a single\ncountry\u2014and Egypt is no exception to this rule\u2014is that the manufacture\nof hand-made vessels was in ancient times essentially a woman\u2019s\navocation. The potter\u2019s wheel was invented by man, and credited to a\ngod, and has from the beginning been worked by men only. There was\napparently a religious significance in the connection of the sexes with\nthe different processes. The clay pot was, in ancient Egypt, a symbol\nof the mother-goddess. [14] Pots used in connection with the worship of\nthe Great Mother were apparently produced by her priestesses. As women\nplayed their part in agricultural ceremonies, so did they play their\npart\u2014evidently a prominent one\u2014in producing the goddess\u2019s pot symbols.\nThe coarse jars in which were stored wines and oils and food-stuffs\nwere gifts of the Great Mother, the giver of all; she was the\ninexhaustible sacred Pot\u2014the womb of Nature. Domestic pottery used by\nwomen was, very properly, the ancient folks appear to have argued,\nproduced by women.\n\n\u201cIt will be noted\u201d, writes O. T. Mason in this connection, \u201cthat the\nfeminine gender is used throughout in speaking of aboriginal potters.\nThis is because every piece of such ware is the work of woman\u2019s hands.\nShe quarried the clay, and, like the patient beast of burden, bore it\nhome on her back. She washed it and kneaded it and rolled it into\nfillets. These she wound carefully and symmetrically until the vessel\nwas built up. She further decorated and burned it, and wore it out in\nhousehold drudgery. The art at first was woman\u2019s.\u201d [15]\n\nIn many countries the connection of women with hand-made and of men\nwith wheel-made pottery obtains even in our day. The following\nstatement by two American scholars, who have produced a short but\nauthoritative paper on the potter\u2019s art, is the result of a close\ninvestigation of evidence collected over a wide area, and carefully\ndigested and summarized: [16]\n\n\u201cThe potter\u2019s wheel is the creation of man, and therefore is an\nindependent act of invention which was not evolved from any contrivance\nutilized during the period of hand-made ceramic ware. The two processes\nhave grown out of two radically distinct spheres of human activity. The\nwheel, so speak, came from another world. It had no point of contact\nwith any tool that existed in the old industry, but was brought in from\nan outside quarter as a novel affair when man appropriated to himself\nthe work hitherto cultivated by woman. The development was one from\noutside, not from within. All efforts, accordingly, which view the\nsubject solely from the technological angle, and try to derive the\nwheel from previous devices of the female potter, are futile and\nmisleading. It is as erroneous as tracing the plough back to the hoe or\ndigging-stick, whereas, in fact, the two are in no historical\ninterrelation and belong to fundamentally different culture strata and\nperiods\u2014the hoe to the gardening activity of woman, the plough to the\nagricultural activity of man. Both in India and China the division of\nceramic labour sets apart the thrower or wheel-potter, and distinctly\nseparates him from the moulder. The potters in India, who work on the\nwheel, do not intermarry with those who use a mould or make images.\nThey form a caste by themselves.\u201d [17]\n\nThe oldest wheel-made pottery is found in Egypt. There can be no doubt\nthat the potter\u2019s wheel was invented in that country. It was imported\ninto Crete, which had trading relations with the merchants of the\nancient Pharaohs, as far back as about 3000 B.C. Before the wheel was\nadopted the Cretans made stone vessels, following Egyptian patterns,\nbut using soft stone instead of hard. Their hand-made pottery\ndegenerated, as did the Egyptian. \u201cPottery came again to its own in\nboth countries\u201d, writes Mr. H. R. Hall, \u201cwith the invention of the\npotter\u2019s wheel and the baking-furnace.\u201d [18]\n\nThe potter\u2019s wheel must have found a ready market in the old days. It\nwas adopted, in time, in western Europe; it was quickly \u201ctaken up\u201d in\nBabylonia and in Iran, and was ultimately introduced into India and\nChina. But only the high Asiatic civilizations were capable of\nconstructing it, and consequently wheel-made pottery is not found\neverywhere. Among the \u201caboriginal Americans\u201d the wheel was never\nemployed. It is an interesting fact that the mind of man, which is\nalleged to \u201cwork\u201d on the same lines everywhere, never \u201cevolved\u201d a\npotter\u2019s wheel in Mexico or Peru. [19] Major Gordon tells that in Assam\n[20] \u201cthe women fashion the pots by hand; they do not use the potter\u2019s\nwheel\u201d. Similar evidence is obtainable in various other countries. In\nChina there are wheel-potters and moulders, and a distinction is drawn\nbetween them by ancient writers. \u201cThis clear distinction is accentuated\nby Chu Yen in his treatise on pottery. [21] He justly observes also\nthat the articles made by the wheel-potters were all intended for\ncooking, with the exception of the vessel yu, which was designed for\nmeasuring; while the output of the moulders, who made the ceremonial\nvessels kuei and tou by availing themselves of the plumb-line, was\nintended for sacrificial use. Also here, in like manner as in ancient\nRome, India, and Japan, the idea may have prevailed that a wheel-made\njar is of a less sacred character than one made by hand.\u201d [22] Here\nthen we touch on another point which must be borne in mind by those who\ndraw conclusions regarding ancient cultures by means of pottery. In\nBritain, for instance, a rather coarse pottery is found in graves. It\nis possible that a better pottery was made for everyday use. The\nconservatism of burial customs may have caused coarser pottery to be\nput into graves than the early folks were capable of producing during\nthe period at which the burial took place.\n\nThe wheel-pottery was as sacred to some cults as the hand-made was to\nothers. Even the potter\u2019s wheel was sacred. In Egypt the Ptah cult\nadopted it, as has been stated; in India it was a symbol of the\nCreator; in China (as in ancient Egypt) the idea originally prevailed\nthat the Creator was a potter who turned on his wheel the sun and the\nmoon, man and woman, although in time this myth became a philosophical\nabstraction. The symbolism of Jeremiah has similarly a history:\n\n\n   \u201cO house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the\n    Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter\u2019s hand, so are ye in\n    mine hand, O house of Israel.\u201d\u2014Chapter XVIII, 6.\n\n\nSt. Paul, too, refers to the potter:\n\n\n   \u201cNay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the\n    thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?\n    Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make\n    one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?\u201d (Romans, ix,\n    20\u201321.)\n\n\nChinese emperors were compared to potters. They were credited with the\npower to control a nation as the potter controlled his wheel. The\nancient peoples who adopted the Egyptian potter\u2019s wheel evidently\nlearned that it was of divine origin. They adopted the Egyptian beliefs\nand myths associated with it. Withal, the wheel was associated with the\nagricultural mode of life, having originated in a country of\nagriculturists. Ptah, the divine potter, was, like all the other\nprominent gods of Egypt, fused with Osiris\u2014the god who was, among other\nthings, the \u201cculture hero\u201d. The Chinese \u201cculture hero\u201d, Shun, who\nbecame emperor, is said to have \u201cpractised husbandry, fishing, and\nmaking pottery jars\u201d. He manufactured clay vessels without flaw on the\nriver bank. [23]\n\nThe Chinese culture hero, Shen-ming (\u201cDivine Husbandman\u201d) \u201cwas regarded\nas the father of agriculture and the discoverer of the healing property\nof plants\u201d. In ancient Chinese lore \u201cwe meet a close association of\nagriculture with pottery, and an illustration of the fact that\nhusbandman and potter were one and the same person during the primeval\nperiod\u201d. [24]\n\nMemories of Ptah-Osiris clung to the potter\u2019s wheel. The trade routes\nmust have hummed with stories about the god who had gifted this\nwonderful contrivance to mankind. These stories were localized in\nvarious countries, and they took on the colour of the period during\nwhich the wheel was imported. In Japan, the Ptah legend has been given\na Buddhistic significance. The potter\u2019s wheel is reputed there to be\nthe invention of the famous Korean monk, Gy\u00f5gi (A.D. 670\u2013749). No doubt\nthe first potter\u2019s wheel reached Japan from Korea, whence came the\nconquerors of the Ainus. But there is evidence that it was in use long\nbefore Buddhism \u201cdrifted\u201d along the sea route from the mainland in the\nsixth century, to become curiously mixed up with Shintoism two\ncenturies later. The priests of Buddhism, who transformed the Shinto\ngods into \u201cavatars\u201d of Buddha, no doubt also identified the far-carried\nPtah-Osiris with their monk\u2014the Japanese \u201cculture hero\u201d.\n\nThe earliest pottery in Japan was manufactured by the Ainus and was\n\u201chand-shaped\u201d by the women. A similar pottery was produced in Korea.\nThe wheel-made variety made its appearance when Chinese culture spread\nthrough Korea during the Silla kingdom period, which began about the\ntime (A.D. 59) when the earliest Japanese, according to their own\ntraditions, migrated to the islands that bear their name. No doubt the\ntraders were active on sea and land long before the Japanese conquered\nthe islands of the Ainus and the Chinese overran Korea. Great\nmigrations and conquests in ancient times were indirectly stimulated by\ntrade. A new culture was introduced into backward communities by the\nearly prospectors and trading colonists, and these communities in time\nacquired weapons, reared the domesticated horse, and took to the sea\nafter having learned how to build and navigate ships similar to those\nintroduced by the traders.\n\nWhen the potter\u2019s wheel was introduced into Korea, the clay vessels\nwere shaped in imitation of Chinese pottery. There can remain no doubt,\ntherefore, as to whence the wheel came. China was the chief centre of\nearly civilization in the Far East, and its influence spread far and\nwide. There are some who think that Burma was during its early period\nin closer touch with China than with India; but more evidence than is\nyet available is required to establish this theory. The earliest\ncivilization in southern China of which we have knowledge was of Indian\norigin. The sea traders who had crossed the Indian Ocean reached the\nBurmese coast several centuries before the Christian era, as the\narchaic character of Burmese river boats suggests. It may be, however,\nthat the potter\u2019s wheel was carried along the mid-Asian trade routes\nlong before the shippers coasted round to Chinese waters. There can be\nno doubt that the potter\u2019s wheel was introduced into China at a very\nremote period. Investigators are unable to discover any native legends\nregarding its origin. Nor are there any traditions regarding female\npotters. The culture heroes of China who made the first pots appear to\nhave used the wheel, and the Chinese potter\u2019s wheel is identical with\nthe Egyptian.\n\nWhen the wheel was introduced into Japan, hand-made pottery was in use\nfor religious purposes, and for long afterwards the vessels used at\nShinto shrines were not turned on the wheel. In India, hand-made\npottery was similarly reserved for religious worship after the\nwheel-made variety came into use. [25] The wheel did not reach southern\nIndia until its Iron Age. [26] When the southern India Iron Age began\nis uncertain. It was not, of course, an \u201cAge\u201d in the real sense, but a\ncultural \u201cstage\u201d. Iron was known and apparently in use during the\nAryo-Indian Vedic period in the north. [27]\n\nThe potter\u2019s wheel was introduced into Babylonia at a very remote\nperiod. From Babylonia it was carried into Persia. The Avestan word for\nkiln is tanura, which is believed, according to Laufer, to be a loan\nword from Semitic tanur.\n\nThere are, of course, no records regarding the introduction of the\npotter\u2019s wheel into Babylonia, India, or China. All that we know\ndefinitely is that it first came into use in Egypt, and that it was\nafterwards adopted in the various ancient centres of civilization from\nwhich cultural influences \u201cflowed\u201d to various areas. With the wheel\nwent certain religious ideas and customs. These are not found in the\nareas unreached by the potter\u2019s wheel.\n\nChina appears to have been influenced at the dawn of its history by the\nculture represented by the Egyptian wheel.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nANCIENT MARINERS AND EXPLORERS\n\n    The Chinese Junk\u2014Kufas\u2014The Ancient \u201cReed Float\u201d and Skin-buoyed\n    Raft\u2014\u201cTwo floats of the Sky\u201d\u2014Dug-out Canoes\u2014Where Shipping was\n    developed\u2014Burmese and Chinese Junks resemble Ancient Egyptian\n    Ships\u2014Cretan and Ph\u0153nician Mariners\u2014Africa circumnavigated\u2014Was\n    Sumeria colonized by Sea-farers?\u2014Egyptian Boats on Sea of\n    Okhotsk\u2014Japanese and Polynesian Boats\u2014Egyptian Types in\n    Mediterranean and Northern Europe\u2014Stories of Long Voyages in Small\n    Craft\u2014Visit of Chinese Junk to the Thames\u2014Solomon\u2019s Ships.\n\n\nFurther important evidence regarding cultural contact in early times is\nafforded by shipping. How came it about that an inland people like the\nprimitive Chinese took to seafaring?\n\nThe question that first arises in this connection is: Were ships\ninvented and developed by a single ancient people, or were they\ninvented independently by various ancient peoples at different periods?\nWere the Chinese junks of independent origin? Or were these junks\ndeveloped from early models of vessels\u2014such foreign vessels as first\ncruised in Chinese waters?\n\nChinese junks are flat-bottomed ships, and the largest of them reach\nabout 1000 tons. The poops and fore-castles are high, and the masts\ncarry lug-sails, generally of bamboo splits. They are fitted with\nrudders. Often on the bows appear painted or inlaid eyes. These eyes\nare found on models of ancient Egyptian ships.\n\nDuring the first Han dynasty (about 206 B.C.) junks of \u201cone thousand\nkin\u201d (about 15 tons) were regarded as very large vessels. In these\nboats the early Chinese navigators appear to have reached Korea and\nJapan. But long before they took to the sea there were other mariners\nin the China sea.\n\nThe Chinese were, as stated, originally an inland people. They were\nacquainted with river kufas (coracles) before they reached the\nseashore. These resembled the kufas of the Babylonians referred to by\nHerodotus, who wrote:\n\n\u201cThe boats which come down the river to Babylon are circular, and made\nof skins. The frames, which are of willow, are cut in the country of\nthe Armenians above Assyria, and on these, which serve for hulls, a\ncovering of skins is stretched outside, and thus the boats are made,\nwithout either stem or stern, quite round like a shield.\u201d [28]\n\nThese kufas are still in use in Mesopotamia. They do not seem to have\naltered much since the days of Hammurabi, or even of Sargon of Akkad.\nThe Assyrians crossed rivers on skin floats, and some of the primitive\npeoples of mid-Asia are still using the inflated skins of cows as river\n\u201cferry-boats\u201d. But such contrivances hardly enter into the history of\nshipping. The modern liner did not \u201cevolve\u201d from either kufa or skin\nfloat. Logs of wood were, no doubt, used to cross rivers at an early\nperiod. The idea of utilizing these may have been suggested to ancient\nhunters who saw animals being carried down on trees during a river\nflood. But attempts to utilize a tree for crossing a river would have\nbeen disastrous when first made, if the hunters were unable to swim.\nTrees are so apt to roll round in water. Besides, they would be useless\nif not guided with a punting-pole, expertly manipulated. Early man must\nhave learned how to navigate a river by using, to begin with, at least\ntwo trees lashed together. In Egypt and Babylonia we find traces of his\nfirst attempts in this connection. The reed float, consisting of two\nbundles of reeds, and the raft to which the inflated skins of animals\nwere attached to give it buoyancy, were in use at an early period on\nthe Rivers Nile and Euphrates. A raft of this kind had evidently its\norigin among a people accustomed, as were the later Assyrians, to use\nskin floats when swimming across rivers. There are sculptured\nrepresentations of the Assyrian soldiers swimming with inflated skins\nunder their chests.\n\nThe reed float was in use at a very early period on the Nile. Professor\nBreasted says that the two prehistoric floats were \u201cbound firmly\ntogether, side by side, like two huge cigars\u201d, and adds the following\ninteresting note: \u201cThe writer was once without a boat in Nubia, and a\nnative from a neighbouring village at once hurried away and returned\nwith a pair of such floats made of dried reeds from the Nile shores. On\nthis somewhat precarious craft he ferried the writer over a wide\nchannel to an island in the river. It was the first time that the\nauthor had ever seen this contrivance, and it was not a little\ninteresting to find a craft which he knew only in the Pyramid texts of\n5000 years ago still surviving and in daily use on the ancient river in\nfar-off Nubia.\u201d\n\nIn the Pyramid texts there are references to the reed floats used by\nthe souls of kings when being ferried across the river to death. The\ngods \u201cbind together the two floats for this King Pepi\u201d, runs a Pyramid\ntext. \u201cThe knots are tied, the ferry-boats are brought together\u201d, says\nanother, and there are allusions to the ferryman (the prehistoric\nCharon) standing in the stern and poling the float. Before the Egyptian\nsun-god was placed in a boat, he had \u201ctwo floats of the sky\u201d to carry\nhim along the celestial Nile to the horizon. [29]\n\nThe \u201cdug-out\u201d canoe was probably developed from the raft. Men who\ndrifted timber down a river may have had the idea of a \u201cdug-out\u201d\nsuggested to them by first shaping a seat on a log, or a \u201chold\u201d to\nsecure the food-supply for the river voyage. Pitt Rivers suggests that\nafter the discovery was made that a hollowed log could be utilized in\nwater, \u201cthe next stage in the development of the canoe would consist in\npointing the ends\u201d. [30]\n\nIn what locality the dug-out canoe was invented it is impossible to say\nwith absolute certainty. All reliable writers on naval architecture\nagree, however, that Egypt was the \u201ccradle\u201d of naval architecture. [31]\n\n\u201cFor the development of the art of shipbuilding,\u201d says Chatterton, \u201cfew\ncountries could be found as suitable as Egypt.... The peacefulness of\nthe waters of the Nile, the absence of storms, and the rarity of calms,\ncombined with the fact that, at any rate, during the winter and early\nspring months, the gentle north wind blew up the river with the\nregularity of a Trade Wind, so enabling the ships to sail against the\nstream without the aid of oars\u2014these were just the conditions that many\nanother nation might have longed for. Very different, indeed, were the\ncircumstances which had to be wrestled with in the case of the first\nshipbuilders and sailormen of Northern Europe.\u201d [32]\n\nThe early Egyptians were continually crossing the river. When they\nbegan to convey stones from their quarries, they required substantial\nrafts. Egyptian needs promoted the development of the art of navigation\non a river specially suited for experiments that led to great\ndiscoveries. The demand for wood was always great, and it was\nintensified after metal-working had been introduced, because of the\nincreased quantities of fuel required to feed the furnaces. It became\nabsolutely necessary for the Egyptians to go far afield in search of\ntimber. The fact that they received supplies of timber at an early\nperiod from Lebanon is therefore of special interest. Their experiences\nin drifting rafts of timber across the Mediterranean from the Syrian\ncoast apparently not only stimulated naval architecture and increased\nthe experiences of early navigators, but inaugurated the habit of\norganizing seafaring expeditions on a growing scale. \u201cMen\u201d, says\nProfessor Elliot Smith, \u201cdid not take to maritime trafficking either\nfor aimless pleasure or for idle adventure. They went to sea only under\nthe pressure of the strongest incentives.\u201d [33]\n\nThe Mediterranean must have been crossed at a very early period.\nSettlements of seafarers took place in Crete before 3000 B.C. [34] On\nthe island have been found flakes of obsidian that were imported at the\ndawn of its history from the Island of Melos. No doubt obsidian\nartifacts were used in connection with the construction of vessels\nbefore copper implements became common.\n\nThe earliest evidence of shipbuilding as an organized and important\nnational industry is found in the Egyptian tomb pictures of the Old\nKingdom period (c. 2400 B.C.). Gangs of men, under overseers, are seen\nconstructing many kinds of boats, large and small. There are records of\norganized expeditions dating back 500 years earlier. Pharaoh Snefru\nbuilt vessels \u201cnearly one hundred and seventy feet long\u201d. He sent \u201ca\nfleet of forty vessels to the Ph\u0153nician coast to procure cedar logs\nfrom the slopes of Lebanon\u201d. [35] Expeditions were also sent across the\nRed Sea. Vessels with numerous oars, and even vessels with sails, are\ndepicted on Egyptian prehistoric pottery dating back to anything like\n6000 B.C. In no other country in the world was seafaring and\nshipbuilding practised at such a remote period.\n\nThe earliest representations of deep-sea boats are found in Egypt. One\nis seen in the tomb of Sahure, of the Fifth Dynasty (c. 2600 B.C.). A\ngreat expedition sailed to Punt (Somaliland) during the reign of Queen\nHalshepsut (c. 1500 B.C.). Five of the highly-developed vessels are\ndepicted in her temple at Deir-el-Bahari. It is of interest to compare\none of these vessels with a Chinese junk. \u201cBetween the Chinese and\nBurmese junks of to-day and the Egyptian ships of about six thousand\nyears ago there are\u201d, writes E. Kebel Chatterton, \u201cmany points of\nsimilarity.... Until quite recently, China remained in the same state\nof development for four thousand years. If that was so with her arts\nand life generally, it has been especially so in the case of her\nsailing craft.\u201d Both the Chinese junk and the ancient Egyptian ship\n\u201cshow a common influence and a remarkable persistence in type\u201d. [36]\n\n\u201cAre we to believe\u201d, a reader asks, \u201cthat the ancient Egyptian\nnavigators went as far as China? Is there any proof that they made long\nvoyages? Were the ancient Egyptians not a people who lived in isolation\nfor a prolonged period?\u201d [37]\n\nIt is not known definitely how far the ancient Egyptian mariners went\nafter they had begun to venture to sea. But one thing is certain. They\nmade much longer voyages than were credited to them a generation ago.\nThe Ph\u0153nicians, who became the sea-traders of the Egyptians, learned\nthe art of navigation from those Nilotic adventurers who began to visit\ntheir coast at a very early period in quest of timber; they adopted the\nEgyptian style of craft, as did the Cretans, their predecessors in\nMediterranean sea trafficking. By the time of King Solomon the\nPh\u0153nicians had established colonies in Spain, and were trading not only\nfrom Carthage in the Mediterranean, but apparently with the British\nIsles, while they were also active in the Indian Ocean. They were\nevidently accustomed to make long voyages of exploration. At the time\nof the Jewish captivity, Pharaoh Necho (609\u2013593 B.C.) sent an\nexpedition of Ph\u0153nicians from the Red Sea to circumnavigate Africa.\nThey returned three years later by way of Gibraltar. But their voyage\nexcited no surprise in Egypt. [38] It had long been believed by the\npriests that the world was surrounded by water. Besides, these priests\npreserved many traditions of long voyages that had been made to distant\nlands.\n\nThere are those who believe that the early Egyptian mariners, who were\naccustomed to visit British East Africa and sail round the Arabian\ncoast, founded the earliest colony in Sumeria (ancient Babylonia) at\nthe head of the Persian Gulf. The cradle of Sumerian culture was Eridu,\n\u201cthe sea port\u201d. The god of Eridu was Ea, who had a ship with pilot and\ncrew. According to Babylonian traditions, he instructed the people, as\ndid Osiris in Egypt, how to irrigate the land, grow corn, build houses\nand temples, make laws, engage in trade, and so on. He was remembered\nas a monster\u2014a goat-fish god, or half fish, half man. Apparently he was\nidentical with the Oannes of Berosus. It may be that Ea-Oannes\nsymbolized the seafarers who visited the coast and founded a colony at\nEridu, introducing the agricultural mode of life and the working of\ncopper. Early inland peoples must have regarded the mariners with whom\nthey first came into contact as semi-divine beings, just as the Cubans\nregarded Columbus and his followers as visitors from the sky. The\nMongols of Tartary entertained quaint ideas about the British \u201cforeign\ndevils\u201d after they had fought in one of the early wars against China.\nM. Huc, the French missionary priest of the congregation of St.\nLazarus, who travelled through Tartary, Tibet, and China during 1844\u20136,\nhad once an interesting conversation with a Mongol, who \u201chad been told\nby the Chinese what kind of people, or monsters rather, these English\nwere\u201d. The story ran that the Englishmen \u201clived in the water like fish,\nand when you least expected it, they would rise to the surface and cast\nat you fiery gourds. Then as soon as you bend your bow to send an arrow\nat them, they plunge again into the water like frogs.\u201d [39]\n\nThose who suppose that the Sumerians coasted round from the Persian\nGulf to the Red Sea, landed on the barren African coast, and, setting\nout to cross a terrible desert, penetrated to the Nile valley along a\nhitherto unexplored route of about 200 miles, have to explain what was\nthe particular attraction offered to them by prehistoric Egypt if,\naccording to their theory, it was still uncultivated and in the\n\u201cHunting Age\u201d. How came it about that they knew of a river which ran\nthrough desert country?\n\nIt is more probable that the Nilotic people penetrated to the Red Sea\ncoast, and afterwards ventured to sea in their river boats, and that,\nin time, having obtained skill in navigation, they coasted round to the\nPersian Gulf. In pre-Dynastic times the Egyptians obtained shells from\nthe Red Sea coast.\n\nAt what period India was first reached is uncertain. When Solomon\nimported peacocks from that country (the land of the peacock), the sea\nroute was already well known. It is significant to find that all round\nthe coast, from the Red Sea to India, Ceylon, and Burma, the Egyptian\ntypes of vessels have been in use from the earliest seafaring periods.\nThe Burmese junks on the Irawadi resemble closely, as has been\nindicated, the Nile boats of the ancient Egyptians. [40] The Chinese\njunks were developed from Egyptian models. More antique Egyptian boats\nthan are found on the Chinese coast are still being used by the Koryak\ntribe who dwell around the sea of Okhotsk. Mr. Chatterton says that the\nKoryak craft have \u201cimportant similarities to the Egyptian ships of the\nFourth and Fifth Dynasties (c. 3000\u20132500 B.C.). Thus, besides copying\nthe ancients in steering with an oar, the fore-end of the prow of their\nsailing boats terminates in a fork through which the harpoon-line is\npassed, the fork being sometimes carved with a human face which they\nbelieve will serve as a protector of the boat. Instead of rowlocks they\nhave, like the early Egyptians, thong-loops through which the oar or\npaddle is inserted. Their sail, too, is a rectangular shape of dressed\nreindeer skins sewed together. But it is their mast that is especially\nlike the Egyptians and Burmese.\u201d This mast is made of three poles \u201cset\nup in the manner of a tripod\u201d. The double mast was common in ancient\nEgypt, but Mr. Chatterton notes that Mr. Villiers Stuart \u201cfound on the\nwalls of a tomb belonging to the Sixth Dynasty (c. 2400 B.C.) at Gebel\nAbu Faida, the painting of a boat with a treble mast made of three\nspars arranged like the edges of a triangular pyramid\u201d. [41] Thus we\nfind that vessels of Egyptian type (adopted by various peoples) not\nonly reached China but went a considerable distance beyond it. Japanese\nvessels still display Egyptian characteristics. In the Moluccas and\nMalays the ancient three-limbed mast has not yet gone out of fashion.\nPolynesian craft were likewise developed from Egyptian models. William\nEllis, the missionary, [42] noted \u201cthe peculiar and almost classical\nshape of the large Tahitian canoes\u201d, with \u201celevated prow and stern\u201d,\nand tells that a fleet of them reminded him of representations of \u201cthe\nships in which the Argonauts sailed, or the vessels that conveyed the\nheroes of Homer to the siege of Troy\u201d.\n\nVarious writers have called attention to the persistence of Egyptian\ntypes in the Mediterranean and in northern Europe. \u201cIn every age and\nevery district of the ancient world\u201d, wrote Mr. Cecil Torr, the great\nauthority on classic shipping, \u201cthe method of rigging ships was\nsubstantially the same; and this method is first depicted by the\nEgyptians.\u201d [43]\n\nThe Far Eastern craft went long distances in ancient days. Ellis tells\nof regular voyages made by Polynesian chiefs which extended to 300 and\neven 600 miles. A chief from Rurutu once visited the Society Islands in\na native boat built \u201csomewhat in the shape of a crescent, the stem and\nstern high and pointed and the sides deep\u201d. [44] Sometimes\nexceptionally long voyages were forced by the weather conditions of\nOceania. \u201cIn 1696\u201d, Ellis writes, \u201ctwo canoes were driven from Ancarso\nto one of the Philippine Islands, a distance of 800 miles.\u201d He gives\nother instances of voyages of like character. A Christian missionary,\ntravelling in a native boat, was carried \u201cnearly 800 miles in a\nsouth-westerly direction\u201d. [45] Reference has already been made to the\nlong and daring voyage made by the Ph\u0153nicians who circumnavigated\nAfrica. Another extraordinary enterprise is referred to by Pliny the\nelder, [46] who quotes from the lost work of Cornelius Nepos. This was\na voyage performed by Indians who had, before 60 B.C., embarked on a\ncommercial voyage and reached the coast of Germany. It is uncertain\nwhether they sailed round the Cape of Good Hope and up the Atlantic\nOcean, or went northward past Japan and discovered the north-east\npassage, skirting the coast of Siberia, and sailing round Lapland and\nNorway to the Baltic. They were made prisoners by the Suevians and\nhanded over to Quintus Metellus Celer, pro-consular governor of Gaul.\n\nIn 1770 Japanese navigators reached the northern coast of Siberia and\nlanded at Kamchatka. They were taken to St. Petersburg, where they were\nreceived by the Empress of Russia, who treated them with marked\nkindness. In 1847\u20138 the Chinese junk Keying sailed from Canton to the\nThames and caused no small sensation on its arrival. This vessel\nrounded the Horn and took 477 days to complete the voyage.\n\nSolomon\u2019s ships made long voyages: \u201cOnce every three years came the\nnavy of Tarshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and\npeacocks\u201d. [47]\n\nAs in the case of the potter\u2019s wheel, cultural elements were\ndistributed far and wide by the vessels of the most ancient of\nmariners. Before tracing these elements in China, it would be well to\ndeal with the motives that impelled early seafarers to undertake long\nand adventurous voyages of exploration and to found colonies in distant\nlands.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nTHE WORLD-WIDE SEARCH FOR WEALTH\n\n    Religious Incentive of Quest of Wealth\u2014Sacredness of Precious\n    Metals and Stones\u2014Gold and the Sky Deities\u2014Iron as the Devil\u2019s\n    Metal\u2014Chinese Dragons and Metals\u2014Gold good and Silver bad in\n    India\u2014Dragons and Copper\u2014Sulphuret of Mercury as \u201cDragon\u2019s Blood\u201d\n    and Elixir of Life\u2014Dragons and Pearls\u2014The \u201cJewel that grants all\n    Desires\u201d\u2014Story of Buddhist Abbot and the Sea-God\u2014\u201cJewels of Flood\n    and Ebb\u201d\u2014Japan and Korea\u2014Sea-god as \u201cAbundant Pearl Prince\u201d\u2014Pearl\n    Fishers\u2014Early History of Sea-trafficking\u2014Traders and Colonists\u2014Cow,\n    Moon, Shells, and Pearls connected with Mother-goddess\u2014The Sow\n    Goddess\u2014Shell Beliefs\u2014Culture Drifts and Culture Complexes.\n\n\nThere can be no doubt as to the reasons why Solomon sought to emulate\nthe maritime activities of the Ph\u0153nicians who had been bringing\npeacocks from India, silver from Spain, and gold from West Africa and\nelsewhere long before his day.\n\n\n   \u201cAnd King Solomon made a navy of ships in Ezion-geber, which is\n    beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. And\n    Hiram sent in the navy his servants, shipmen that had knowledge of\n    the sea, with the servants of Solomon. And they came to Ophir, and\n    fetched from thence gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and\n    brought it to King Solomon.\u201d [48]\n\n\nWhen the Queen of Sheba visited Jerusalem she was accompanied by\n\u201ccamels that bare spices, and very much gold, and precious stones\u201d.\n[49] About seven centuries before Solomon\u2019s day, Queen Hatshepsut of\nEgypt, to whom reference was made in the last chapter, had emulated the\nfeats of her ancestors by sending a fleet to Punt (Somaliland or\nBritish East Africa) to bring back, among other things, myrrh trees for\nher new temple. The myrrh was required \u201cfor the incense in the temple\nservice\u201d. [50] Ancient mariners set out on long voyages, not only on\nthe quest of wealth, but also of various articles required for\nreligious purposes. Indeed, the quest of wealth had originally\nreligious associations. Gold, silver, copper, pearls, and precious\nstones were all sacred, and it was because of their connection with the\nancient deities that they were first sought for. The so-called\n\u201cornaments\u201d worn by our remote ancestors were charms against evil and\nill luck. Metals were similarly supposed to have protective qualities.\nIron is still regarded in the Scottish Highlands as a charm against\nfairy attack. In China it is a protection against dragons. The souls of\nthe Egyptian dead were \u201ccharmed\u201d in the other world by the amulets\nplaced in their tombs. When the Pharaoh\u2019s soul entered the boat of the\nsun-god he was protected by metals. \u201cBrought to thee\u201d, a Pyramid text\nstates, \u201care blocks of silver and masses of malachite.\u201d [51] Gold was\nthe metal of the sun-god and silver of the deity of the moon. Horus had\nassociations with copper, and Ptah, the god of craftsmen, with various\nmetals. Iron was \u201cthe bones of Set\u201d, the Egyptian devil. In Greece and\nIndia the mythical ages were associated with metals, and iron was the\nmetal of the dark age of evil (the Indian \u201cKali Yuga\u201d).\n\nIn China the metals have similarly religious associations. The\ndragon-gods of water, rain, and thunder are connected with gold of\nvarious hues\u2014the \u201cgolds\u201d coloured by the alchemists by fusion with\nother metals. Thus we have Chinese references to red, yellow, white,\nblue, and black gold, as in the following extract:\n\n\n   \u201cWhen the yellow dragon, born from yellow gold a thousand years\n    old, enters a deep place, a yellow spring dashes forth; and if from\n    this spring some particles (fine dust) arise, these become a yellow\n    cloud.\n\n   \u201cIn the same way blue springs and blue clouds originate from blue\n    dragons, born from blue gold eight hundred years old; red, white,\n    and black springs and clouds from red, white, and black dragons\n    born from gold of same colours a thousand years old.\u201d [52]\n\n\nIn Indian Vedic lore gold is a good metal and silver a bad metal. One\nof the Creation Myths states in this connection:\n\n\n   \u201cHe (Prajapati) created Asuras (demons). That was displeasing to\n    him. That became the precious metal with the bad colour (silver).\n    This was the origin of silver. He created gods. That was pleasing\n    to him. That became the precious metal with the good colour (gold).\n    That was the origin of gold.\u201d [53]\n\n\nThe dragon of the Far East is associated with copper as well as gold.\nIn the Japanese Historical Records the story is told how the Emperor\nHwang brought down a dragon so that he might ride on its back through\nthe air. He first gathered copper on a mountain. Then he cast a tripod.\nImmediately a dragon, dropping its whiskers, came down to him. After\nthe monarch had used the god as an \u201cairship\u201d, no fewer than seventy of\nhis subjects followed his example. Hwang was the monarch who prepared\nthe \u201cliquor of immortality\u201d (the Japanese \u201csoma\u201d) by melting cinnabar\n(sulphuret of mercury, known as \u201cdragon\u2019s blood\u201d). Chinese dragons,\naccording to Wang Fu in \u2019Rh ya yih, dread iron and like precious\nstones. In Japan the belief prevailed that if iron and filth were flung\ninto ponds the dragons raised hurricanes that devastated the land. The\nChinese roused dragons, when they wanted rain, by making a great noise\nand by throwing iron into dragon pools. Iron has \u201ca pungent nature\u201d and\ninjures the eyes of dragons, and they rise to protect their eyes.\nCopper has, in China, associations with darkness and death. The \u201cStone\nof Darkness\u201d is hollow and contains water or \u201cthe vital spirit of\ncopper\u201d. [54] Dragons are fond of these stones and of beautiful gems.\n[55]\n\nThe dragon-shaped sea-gods of India and the dragon-gods of China and\nJapan have close associations with pearls. In a sixth-century Chinese\nwork, [56] it is stated that pearls are spit out by dragons. Dragons\nhave pearls \u201cworth a hundred pieces of gold\u201d in their mouths, under\ntheir throats, or in their pools. When dragons fight in the sky, pearls\nfall to the ground. De Groot [57] makes reference to \u201cthunder pearls\u201d\nthat dragons have dropped from their mouths. These illuminate a house\nby night. In Wang Fu\u2019s description of the dragon it is stated that a\ndragon has \u201ca bright pearl under its chin\u201d.\n\nA mountain in Japan is called Ryushuho, which means \u201cDragon-Pearl\nPeak\u201d. It is situated in Fuwa district of Mino province, and is\nassociated in a legend with the Buddhist temple called \u201cCloud-Dragon\nShrine\u201d. When this temple was being erected, a dragon, carrying a pearl\nin its mouth, appeared before one of the priests. Mountain and\nsanctuary were consequently given dragon names.\n\nThe \u201cjewel that grants all desires\u201d is known in India, China, and\nJapan. A Japanese story relates that once upon a time an Indian\nBuddhist abbot, named Bussei (Buddha\u2019s vow), set out on a voyage with\npurpose to obtain this jewel (a pearl) which was possessed by \u201cthe\ndragon king of the ocean\u201d. In the midst of the sea the boat hove to\nwhile Bussei performed a ceremony and repeated a charm, causing the\ndragon-king to appear. The abbot, making a mystic sign, then demanded\nthe pearl; but the dragon deceived him and nullified the mystic sign.\nRising in the air, \u201cthe King of the Ocean\u201d caused a great storm to\nrage. The boat was destroyed and all on board it, except Bussei, were\ndrowned. Bussei afterwards migrated from southern India to Japan,\naccompanied by Baramon (\u201cWall-gazing Brahman\u201d).\n\nThe \u201cJewels of Flood and Ebb\u201d were jewels that granted desires. In\nJapanese legend these were possessed by the dragon king (Sagara), whose\nkingdom, like that of the Indian Naga monarch and that of the Gaelic\nruler of \u201cLand Under-Waves\u201d, is situated at the bottom of the sea. The\nwhite jewel is called \u201cPearl of Ebb\u201d, and the blue jewel \u201cPearl of\nFlood\u201d.\n\nA Japanese story relates that the Empress Jingo obtained from a sea-god\na \u201cjewel that grants all desires\u201d. During her reign a great fleet went\nto Korea to obtain tribute. The Korean fleet went out to meet it, but\nwhen it was drawn up for battle, a Japanese god cast into the sea the\n\u201cPearl of Ebb\u201d, and immediately the waters withdrew, leaving both\nfleets stranded. The resolute King of Korea, not to be daunted, leapt\non to the dried sea-bed, and, marshalling his troops there, advanced at\nthe head of them to attack and destroy the Japanese fleet. Then the\nJapanese god flung the \u201cPearl of Flood\u201d into the sea. No sooner was\nthis done than the waters returned and drowned large numbers of\nKoreans. Then a tidal wave swept over the Korean shore, while the\ntroops prayed for their lives in vain. Not until the \u201cPearl of Ebb\u201d was\nthrown once again into the sea did the waters retreat from the land.\n\nAfter these miraculous and disastrous manifestations, the King of Korea\nwas glad to make peace, and sent out three vessels laden with tribute\nto the empress, who had conquered the enemy without the loss of a\nsingle Japanese soldier or sailor, or even a single drop of Japanese\nblood.\n\nOther names of the Japanese sea-god Sagara [58] are Oho-watatsumi (\u201csea\nlord, or sea snake\u201d), and Toyo-tama hiko no Mikoto (\u201cAbundant Pearl\nPrince\u201d), and he has a daughter named Toyo-tama-bime (\u201cAbundant Pearl\nPrincess\u201d). [59] During storms, sailors threw jewels into the sea to\npacify the dragon king.\n\nChinese emperors, like the Egyptian Pharaohs, had dragon boats which\nwere used in connection with religious rain-getting ceremonies. They\nhad also the bird boats called \u201cyih\u201d. Mr. Wells Williams refers to the\nyih as \u201ca kind of sea-bird that flies high, whose figure is gaily\npainted on the sterns of junks, to denote their swift sailing\u201d. He adds\nthat \u201cthe descriptions are contradictory, but its picture rudely\nresembles a heron\u201d. [60]\n\nIt will be gathered from the evidence summarized above that the\nseafaring activities of the Chinese and Japanese had close associations\nwith the search for precious metals and stones and pearls on the part\nof those who introduced the Egyptian type of vessels into their waters.\nWith these ships went many customs and beliefs that became mixed with\nlocal customs and beliefs. New modes of life were introduced, and, with\nthese, new modes of thought. Nothing persists like immemorial customs,\nmyths, and religious beliefs associated with a particular mode of life.\n\nBefore the culture-complexes of China and Japan are investigated, so\nthat local elements may be sifted out from the overlying mass of\nimported elements, it would be well to deal with the history of the\nsearch for wealth across the oceans of the world.\n\nIt is necessary, therefore, to turn back again to the cradle of\nshipbuilding and maritime enterprise\u2014to ancient Egypt with its\nwonderful civilization of over 3000 years that sent its influences far\nand wide. Whether or not the Egyptians ever reached China or Japan, we\nhave no means of knowing. Pauthier\u2019s view in this connection has come\nin for a good deal of destructive criticism. He referred to a Chinese\ntradition that about 1113 B.C. the Court was visited by seafarers from\nthe kingdom of \u201cNili\u201d, and suggested that they came from the Nile\nvalley. [61] The \u201cNili\u201d, \u201cN\u0113l\u0113\u201d, or \u201cN\u0113r\u0113\u201d folk, according to others,\ncame from the direction of Japan or from beyond Korea. References to\nthem are somewhat obscure. It does not follow that because Egyptian\nships reached China, they were manned by Egyptians. Ships were, like\npotter\u2019s wheels, adopted by folks who may never have heard of Egypt. A\nculture flows far beyond the areas reached by those who have given it a\ndefinite character, just as the Bantu dialects have penetrated to areas\nin Africa far beyond Bantu control.\n\nWhat motives, then, stimulated maritime enterprise at the dawn of the\nhistory of sea-trafficking? What attracted the ancient mariners? If it\nwas wealth, what was \u201cwealth\u201d to them?\n\nThe answer to the last query is that wealth was something with a\nreligious significance. Gold was searched for, but not, to begin with,\nfor the purpose of making coins. There was no coinage. Gold was a\nprecious metal in the sense that it brought luck, and to the ancient\npeople \u201cluck\u201d meant everything they yearned for in this world and the\nnext.\n\nAs far back as the so-called \u201cPal\u00e6olithic period\u201d in western Europe,\nthere was, as has been noted, a systematic search for wealth in the\nform of sea-shells. The hunters in central Europe imported shells from\nthe Mediterranean coast and used them as amulets. These imported shells\nare found in their graves. In Ancient Egypt, shells were carried from\nthe Red Sea coast, as well as from the Mediterranean coast, long before\nthe historical period begins. The evidence of the grave-finds shows\nthat Red Sea pearl-shell and Red Sea cowries were in use for religious\npurposes. \u201cMillions of them\u201d, as Maspero has noted, have been found in\nAncient Egyptian graves. In time, pearls came into use, not only pearls\nfrom Nile mussels, but from oysters found in the southern part of the\nGulf of Aden. As shipping developed, the pearl-fishers went farther and\nfarther in search of pearls. The famous ancient pearl area in the\nPersian Gulf was discovered and drawn upon at some remote period. No\ndoubt the pearls worn by Assyrian and Persian monarchs came, in part,\nfrom the Persian Gulf. At what period Ceylon pearls were first fished\nfor it is impossible to say. Of one thing we can be certain, however.\nThey were fished for by men who used the Egyptian type of vessel.\n\nThe migrating and trading pearl-fishers carried their beliefs with them\nfrom land to land. Almost everywhere are found the same beliefs and\npractices connected with shells and pearls. These beliefs and practices\nare of a highly complex character\u2014so complex, indeed, that they must\nhave had an area of origin in which they reflected the beliefs and\ncustoms of a people with a history of their own. The pearl, for\ninstance, was connected with the moon, with the goddess who was the\nGreat Mother, and with the sun and the sun-god. Venus (Aphrodite) was\nsea-born. She was lifted from the sea, by Tritons, seated on a shell.\nShe was the pearl\u2014the vital essence of the magic shell, and she was the\nmoon, the \u201cPearl of Heaven\u201d. The pearl, like the moon, was supposed to\nexercise an influence over human beings. In Egypt, the Mother Goddess\nwas symbolized by a cow, and cow, moon, pearl, and shell were connected\nin an arbitrary way.\n\nIn those areas in which the Mother Goddess was symbolized by the sow,\nthe shell was likewise connected with her. The Greeks applied to the\ncowry a word that means \u201clittle pig\u201d; this word had a special reference\nto the female sex. The Romans called the shell \u201cporci\u201d, and porcelain\nhas a like derivation. [62] As has been shown, women were connected\nwith hand-made pottery, and the pot was a symbol of the Great Mother.\nIn Scotland, certain shells are still referred to as \u201ccows\u201d and \u201cpigs\u201d.\nThey were anciently believed to promote fertility and bring luck. The\ncustom of placing shells on window-sills, at doors, in fire-places, and\nround garden plots still obtains in parts of England, Scotland, and\nIreland. Some low-reliefs of mother goddesses with baskets of fruit,\ncorn, &c., surviving from the Romano-British period, which have been\nfound in various parts of Britain, have shell-canopies. The Romans\n\u201ctook over\u201d the goddesses of the peoples of western Europe on whom they\nimposed their rule, as they took over the Greek pantheon.\n\nFollowing the clues afforded by the evidence of ships, it is found that\nthe early pearl-fishers coasted round from the Red Sea to the Persian\nGulf, round India to the Bay of Bengal, round the Malay Peninsula to\nthe China Sea, northwards to the Sea of Okhotsk, and on to the western\ncoast of North America. Oceania was peopled by the ancient mariners,\nwho appear to have reached by this route the coast of South America. As\nwe have seen, Africa was circumnavigated. Western and north-western\nEurope and the British Isles were reached at a very early period.\n\nThe ancient seafarers searched not only for pearls and pearl-shell, but\nalso for gold, silver, copper, tin, and other metals and for precious\nstones. They appear to have founded trading colonies that became\ncentres from which cultural influences radiated far and wide. From\nthese colonies expeditions set out to discover new pearling grounds and\nnew mineral fields. The search for wealth, having a religious\nincentive, caused, as has been said, the spread of religious ideas. In\ndifferent countries, imported beliefs and customs became mingled with\nlocal beliefs and customs, with the result that in many countries are\nfound \u201cculture complexes\u201d which have a historical\nsignificance\u2014reflecting as they do the varied experiences of the\npeoples and the influences introduced into their homelands at various\nperiods.\n\nIn the next chapter it will be shown how the dragon of China has a\nhistory that throws much light on the early movements of explorers and\ntraders who carried the elements of complex cultures into far distant\nlands.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\nCHINESE DRAGON LORE\n\n    Dragon Rain-god and Tiger-god of Mountains and Woods\u2014Thunder-gods\n    of East and West\u2014Shark-gods as Guardians of Treasure\u2014Dragon and\n    Whale\u2014Fish Vertebr\u00e6 as Charms\u2014Dragon and Dugong, Crocodile, Eel,\n    &c.\u2014Polynesian Dragon as \u201cPearl-mother\u201d\u2014Chinese Dragon and \u201cStag of\n    the Sky\u201d\u2014Babylonian Sea-god and the Antelope, Gazelle, Stag, and\n    Goat\u2014Babylonian Dragon-slayers\u2014Egyptian Gazelle- and\n    Antelope-gods\u2014Osiris as a Sea-god\u2014African Antelope and Asiatic\n    Dragon\u2014The Serpent as \u201cWater Confiner\u201d in Egypt and India\u2014Chinese\n    Dragon has \u201cNature of Serpent\u201d\u2014Ancient Attributes of Far-Eastern\n    Dragon\u2014Dragon Battles\u2014Dragons in East and West\u2014Stones as \u201cDragon\n    Eggs\u201d\u2014Dragon Mother and World Dragon\u2014Dragons and Emperors.\n\n\nThe Chinese dragon is a strange mixture of several animals. Ancient\nnative writers like Wang Fu inform us that it has the head of a camel,\nthe horns of a stag, the eyes of a demon, the ears of a cow, the neck\nof a snake, the belly of a clam, the scales of a carp, the claws of an\neagle, and the soles of a tiger. On its head is the chi\u02bcih muh lump\nthat (like a \u201cgas-bag\u201d) enables it to soar through the air. The body\nhas three jointed parts, the first being \u201chead to shoulders\u201d, the\nsecond, \u201cshoulders to breast\u201d, and the third, \u201cbreast to tail\u201d. The\nscales number 117, of which 81 are imbued with good influence (yang)\nand 36 with bad influence (yin), for the dragon is partly a Preserver\nand partly a Destroyer. Under the neck the scales are reversed. There\nare five \u201cfingers\u201d or claws on each foot. The male dragon has whiskers,\nand under the chin, or in the throat, is a luminous pearl. There is no\ndenying the importance and significance of that pearl.\n\nA male dragon can be distinguished from a female one by its undulating\nhorn, which is thickest in the upper part. A female dragon\u2019s nose is\nstraight. A horned dragon is called k\u02bciu-lung and a hornless one\nch\u02bci-lung. Some dragons have wings. In addition there are\nhorse-dragons, snake-dragons, cow-dragons, toad-dragons, dog-dragons,\nfish-dragons, &c., in China and Japan. Indeed, all hairy, feathered,\nand scaled animals are more or less associated with what may be called\nthe \u201cOrthodox Dragon\u201d. The tiger is an enemy of the dragon, but there\nare references to tiger-headed dragons. The dragon is a divinity of\nwater and rain, and the tiger a divinity of mountains and woods. [63]\nThe white tiger is a god of the west.\n\nLike the deities of other countries, the Chinese dragon-god (and the\nJapanese dragon) may appear in different shapes\u2014as a youth or aged man,\nas a lovely girl or an old hag, as a rat, a snake, a fish, a tree, a\nweapon, or an implement. But no matter what its shape may be, the\ndragon is intimately connected with water. It is a \u201crain lord\u201d and\ntherefore the thunder-god who causes rain to fall. The Chinese dragon\nthus links with the Aryo-Indian god Indra and other rain- and\nthunder-gods connected with agriculture, including Zeus of Greece,\nTarku of Asia Minor, Thor of northern Europe, the Babylonian Marduk\n(Merodach), &c. There are sea-dragons that send storms like the\nwind-gods, and may be appeased with offerings. These are guardians of\ntreasure and especially of pearling-grounds. Apparently the early\npearl-fishers regarded the shark as the guardian of pearls. It seized\nand carried away the \u201crobbers\u201d who dived for oysters. The chief sea-god\nof China sometimes appeared in shark form\u2014an enormous lion-headed\nshark.\n\nProcopius, a sixth-century writer, says in this connection: \u201cSea-dogs\nare wonderful admirers of the pearl-fish, and follow them out to\nsea.... A certain fisherman, having watched for the moment when the\nshell-fish was deprived of the attention of its attendant sea-dog ...\nseized the shell-fish and made for the shore. The sea-dog, however, was\nsoon aware of the theft, and, making straight for the fisherman, seized\nhim. Finding himself thus caught, he made a last effort, and threw the\npearl-fish on shore, immediately on which he was torn to pieces by its\nprotector.\u201d [64]\n\nIn Polynesia the natives have superstitious ideas about the shark.\n\u201cAlthough\u201d, says Ellis, \u201cthey would not only kill but eat certain kinds\nof shark, the large blue sharks, Squalus glaucus, were deified by them,\nand, rather than attempt to destroy them, they would endeavour to\npropitiate their favour by prayers and offerings. Temples were erected,\nin which priests officiated, and offerings were presented to the\ndeified sharks, while fishermen, and others who were much at sea,\nsought their favour.\u201d [65] Polynesian gods, like Chinese dragons,\nappeared in various shapes. \u201cOne, for instance,\u201d writes Turner, \u201csaw\nhis god in the eel, another in the shark, another in the turtle,\nanother in the dog, another in the owl, another in the lizard; and so\non throughout all the fish of the sea, and birds, and four-footed\nbeasts and creeping things. In some of the shell-fish, even, gods were\nsupposed to be present.\u201d [66] Here we meet again with the shell\nbeliefs. The avatars of dragons had pearls. In an old Chinese work the\nstory is told of a dragon that appeared in the shape of a little girl\nsitting at the entrance of a cave and playing with three pearls. When a\nman appeared, the child fled into the cave, and, reassuming dragon\nform, put the pearls in its left ear. [67] As the guardian of pearls,\nthe Chinese dragon links with the shark-god of the early pearl-fishers.\nThere were varieties of these sea-gods. In Polynesia \u201cthey had\u201d, Ellis\nhas recorded, \u201cgods who were supposed to preside over the fisheries,\nand to direct to their coasts the various shoals by which they were\nperiodically visited.\u201d The Polynesians invoked their aid \u201ceither before\nlaunching their canoes, or while engaged at sea\u201d. It is of interest to\nfind in this connection that the dragon had associations with the\nwhale. Ancient mariners reverenced the whale. The Ligurians and Cretans\ncarried home portions of the backbones of whales. [68] The habit of\nplacing spines of fish in graves is of great antiquity in Europe. The\nearly seafarers who reached California during its prehistoric age\nperpetuated this very ancient custom. Beuchat gives an illustration of\na kitchen-midden grave in California in which a whale\u2019s vertebra is\nshown near the human skeleton. [69] The swashtika appears among the\npottery designs of early American pottery. [70] The ancient Peruvians\nworshipped the whale, and the Maori dragon was compared to one. [71] In\nScottish folk-lore witches sometimes assume the forms of whales.\n\nThe dolphin, the bluish dugong [72] (probably the \u201csemi-human whale\u201d\nreferred to by \u00c6lian), and other denizens of the sea were regarded as\ndeities by ancient seafarers. De Groot, in his The Religious System of\nChina, quoting from the Shan hai King, relates that in the Eastern Sea\nis a \u201cLand of Rolling Waves\u201d. In this region dwell sea-monsters that\nare shaped like cows and have blue bodies. They are hornless and\none-legged. Each time they leave or enter the waters, winds arise and\nrain comes down. Their voice is that of thunder and their glare that of\nsun and moon.\n\nThe reference to the single leg may have been suggested by the fact\nthat when the dugong dives the tail comes into view. This interesting\nsea-animal has been \u201crecklessly and indiscriminately slaughtered\u201d in\nhistoric times.\n\nClassical writers referred to some of the strange monsters seen by\ntheir mariners as \u201csea-cows\u201d. In like manner the Chinese have connected\ndenizens of the deep with different land animals.\n\nThe religious beliefs associated with various sea and land animals\ncling to that composite god the dragon. In dealing with it, therefore,\nwe cannot ignore its history, not only in China but in those countries\nthat influenced Chinese civilization, while attention must also be paid\nto countries that, like China, were influenced by the early sea and\nland traders and colonists.\n\nIn Polynesia the dragon is called mo-o and mo-ko. \u201cTheir (the\nPolynesian) use of this word in traditions\u201d, says W. D. Westervelt,\n[73] \u201cshowed that they often had in mind animals like crocodiles and\nalligators, and sometimes they referred the name to any monster of\ngreat mythical powers belonging to the man-destroying class. Mighty\neels, immense sea-turtles, large fish of the ocean, fierce sharks, were\nall called mo-o. The most ancient dragons of the Hawaiians are spoken\nof as living in pools or lakes.\u201d Mr. Westervelt notes that \u201cone dragon\nlived in the Ewa lagoon, now known as \u2018Pearl Harbour\u2019. This was\nKane-kua-ana, who was said to have brought the pipi (oysters) to Ewa.\nShe [74] was worshipped by those who gather the shell-fish. When the\noysters began to disappear about 1850, the natives said the dragon had\nbecome angry and was sending the oysters to Kahiki, or some far-away\nforeign land.\u201d It is evident that such a belief is of great antiquity.\nThe pearl under the chin of the Chinese dragon has, as will be seen, an\ninteresting history.\n\nBut, it may be asked here, what connection has a mountain stag with the\nancient pearl-fishers? As Wang Fu reminds us, the pearl-guarding\nChinese dragon has \u201cthe horns of a stag\u201d. It was sometimes called, De\nGroot states, [75] \u201cthe celestial stag\u201d\u2014the \u201cstag of the sky\u201d. This was\nnot merely a poetic image. The sea-god Ea of ancient Babylonia was in\none of his forms \u201cthe goat fish\u201d, as some put it. Professor Sayce says,\nin this connection, \u201cEa was called \u2018the antelope of the deep\u2019, \u2018the\nantelope the creator\u2019, \u2018the lusty antelope\u2019. He was sometimes referred\nto as \u2018a gazelle\u2019. Lubin, \u2018a stag\u2019, was a reduplicated form of elim, \u2018a\ngazelle\u2019. Both words were equivalent to sarru, \u2018king\u2019.\u201d [76] Whatever\nthe Ea land animal was\u2014whether goat, gazelle, antelope, or stag\u2014it was\nassociated with a sea-god who, according to Babylonian belief, brought\nthe elements of culture to the ancient Sumerians, who were developing\ntheir civilization at the seaport of Eridu, then situated at the head\nof the Persian Gulf, in which pearls were found. Ea was depicted as\nhalf a land animal and half a fish, or as a man wrapped in the skin of\na gigantic fish as Egyptian deities were wrapped in the skins of wild\nbeasts. One of Ea\u2019s names was Dagan, which was possibly the Dagon\nworshipped also by the Philistines and by the inhabitants of Canaan\nbefore the Philistines arrived from Kaphtor (the land of Keftiu, i.e.\nCrete).\n\nEa was associated with the dragon Tiamat, which his son Marduk\n(Merodach) slew. It is stated in Babylonian script that Ea \u201cconferred\nhis name\u201d on Marduk. In other words, Marduk supplanted Ea and took over\ncertain of his attributes, and part of his history. He was the god of\nBabylon, which supplanted other cities, formerly capitals; he therefore\nsupplanted the chief gods of these cities.\n\nEa was originally the slayer of the dragon Tiamat and the conqueror of\nthe watery abyss over which he reigned, supplanting the dragon. [77] He\nbecame the dragon himself\u2014the \u201cgoat fish\u201d or \u201cantelope of the deep\u201d\u2014the\ncomposite deity connected with animals deified by ancient hunters and\nfishers whose beliefs were ultimately fused with those of others with\nwhom they were brought into close association in centres of culture.\nEa, who had a dragon form, was connected with the serpent, or \u201cworm\u201d,\nas well as with the fish.\n\nIn Egypt Horus, Osiris, and Set were associated with the gazelle.\nOsiris was, in one of his forms, the River Nile. He was not only the\nNile itself, but the controller of it; he was the serpent and soul of\nthe Nile, and he was the ocean into which the Nile flowed, and the\nleviathan of the deep. In the Pyramid texts Osiris is addressed: \u201cThou\nart great, thou art green, in thy name of Great-green (sea); lo, thou\nart round as the Great Circle (Okeanos); lo, thou art turned about,\nthou art round as the circle that encircles the Hauneba (\u00c6geans)\u201d. [78]\nOsiris was thus the serpent (dragon) that, lying in the ocean,\nencircled the world. His son Horus is at one point in the Pyramid texts\n(Nos. 1505\u20138) narrative \u201crepresented as crossing the sea\u201d. [79] Horus\nwas sometimes depicted riding on the back of a gazelle or antelope. The\nEgyptian antelope-god was in time fused with the serpent or dragon of\nthe sea. Referring to the evidence of Frobenius [80] in this\nconnection, Professor Elliot Smith says that \u201cin some parts of Africa,\nespecially in the west, the antelope plays the part of the dragon in\nAsiatic stories\u201d. [81] When we reach India, it is found that the\nwind-god, Vayu, rides on the back of the antelope. Vayu was fused with\nIndra, the slayer of the dragon that controlled the water-supply, and,\nindeed, retained it by enclosing it as the Osiris serpent of Egypt, or\nthe serpent-mother of Osiris, enclosed the water in its cavern during\nthe period of \u201cthe low Nile\u201d, before the inundation took place. [82]\nAfter Osiris, as the water-confining serpent (dragon) was slain, the\nriver ran red with his blood and rose in flood. Osiris, originally \u201ca\ndangerous god\u201d, [83] was the \u201cnew\u201d or \u201cfresh\u201d water of the inundation.\n\u201cThe tradition of his unfavourable character\u201d, Breasted comments,\n\u201csurvived in vague reminiscences long centuries after he had gained\nwide popularity.\u201d Osiris ultimately became \u201cthe kindly dispenser of\nplenty\u201d, and his slayer, Set, originally a beneficent deity, was made\nthe villain of the story and fused with the dragon Apep, the symbol of\ndarkness and evil. This change appears to have been effected after the\nintroduction of the agricultural mode of life. The Nile, formerly the\ndestroyer, then became the preserver, sustainer, and generous giver of\n\u201csoul substance\u201d and daily bread.\n\nWhen the agricultural mode of life was introduced into China the\nhorned-dragon, or horned-serpent (for the dragon, Chinese writers\nremind us, has \u201cthe nature of a serpent\u201d), became the Osiris\nwater-serpent.\n\nHow a snake becomes a dragon is explained in the Shu i ki, which says:\n\u201cA water-snake after 500 years changes into a kiao, a kiao after 1000\nyears changes into a lung; [84] a lung after 500 years changes into a\nkioh-lung, [85] and after 1000 years into a ying-lung. [86]\u201d In Japan\nis found, in addition, the p\u02bcan-lung (\u201ccoiled dragon\u201d), which has not\nyet ascended to heaven. [87] The \u201ccoiled dragon\u201d is evidently the\nwater-retaining monster.\n\nThe Chinese dragon is as closely connected with water as was the\nserpent form of Osiris with the Nile in ancient Egypt, and as was Indra\nwith the \u201cdrought dragon\u201d in India. The dragon dwells in pools, it\nrises to the clouds, it thunders and brings rain, it floods rivers, it\nis in the ocean, and controls the tides and causes the waters to ebb\nand flow as do its magic pearls (the \u201cJewels of Flood and Ebb\u201d), and it\nis a symbol of the emperor. The Egyptian Pharaoh was an \u201cavatar\u201d of\nOsiris, or Horus, [88] and the Chinese emperor was an \u201cavatar\u201d or\nincarnation of the dragon. As water destroys, the dragon is a\ndestroyer; as water preserves and sustains, the dragon is a preserver\nand sustainer.\n\nThe dragon, as has been indicated, is essentially the Chinese\nwater-god. \u201cThe ancient texts ... are short,\u201d says de Visser, \u201cbut\nsufficient to give us the main conceptions of old China with regard to\nthe dragon. He was in those early days, just like now, the god of\nwater, thunder, clouds, and rain, the harbinger of blessings, and the\nsymbol of holy men. As the emperors are the holy beings of earth, the\nidea of the dragon being the symbol of imperial power is based upon\nthis ancient conception.\u201d [89]\n\nThe Chinese \u201cdragon well\u201d is usually situated inside a deep mountain\ncave. It was believed that the well owed its origin to the dragon. De\nVisser quotes, in this connection, from an ancient sage, who wrote:\n\u201cWhen the yellow dragon, born from yellow gold a thousand years old,\nenters a deep place, a yellow spring dashes forth, and if from this\nspring some particles (fine dust) arise, these become a yellow cloud\u201d.\nA famous dragon well is situated at the top of Mount Pien, in Hu-cheu.\nIt flows from a cave, and is called \u201cGolden Well Spring\u201d. The cave is\nknown as the \u201cGolden Well Cave\u201d, and is supposed to be so deep that no\none can reach the end of it. There was a dragon well near Jerusalem.\n[90] Other dragon wells are found as far west as Ireland and Scotland.\nA cave with wells, called the \u201cDropping Cave\u201d, at Cromarty, has a demon\nin its inner recesses. The Corycian cave of the Anatolian Typhoon is\none of similar character. According to Greek legend, this\nhundred-headed monster, from whose eyes lightning flashes, will one day\nsend hail, floods, and rivers of fire to lay waste Sicilian farms. [91]\nThe floods of the River Rhone were supposed to be caused by the \u201cdrac\u201d.\nIn Egypt Set became the \u201croaring serpent\u201d, who crept into a hole in the\nground, \u201cwherein he hid himself and lived\u201d. He had previously taken the\nshapes of the crocodile and the hippopotamus to escape Horus, the\nEgyptian \u201cdragon slayer\u201d.\n\nIn China the season of drought is winter. The dragons are supposed to\nsleep in their pools during the dry spell, and that is why, in the old\nChinese work, Yih Lin, it is stated that \u201ca dragon hidden in water is\nuseless\u201d. The dragons are supposed to sleep so that they may \u201cpreserve\ntheir bodies\u201d. They begin to stir and rise in spring. Soon they fight\nwith one another, so that there is no need for a Horus, a Merodach, or\nan Indra to compel them, by waging battle, to bring benefits to\nmankind. The Chinese welcome what they called a \u201cdragon battle\u201d after\nthe dry season. Thunder-storms break out, and rain pours down in\ntorrents. If a number of dragons engage in battle, and the war in the\nair continues longer than is desired, the rivers rise in flood and\ncause much destruction and loss of life. As the emperor was closely\nconnected with the chief dragon-god, social upheavals and war might\nresult, it was anciently believed, in consequence of the failure of the\npriests and the emperor (the holiest of priests) to control the\ndragons. The dynasty might be overthrown by the indignant and ruined\npeasantry.\n\nAmong the curious superstitions entertained in China regarding dragon\nbattles, is one that no mortal should watch them. It was not only\nunlucky but perilous for human beings to peer into the mysteries. De\nVisser quotes a Chinese metrical verse in this connection:\n\n\n        When they fight, the dragons do not look at us;\n        Why should we look at them when they are fighting?\n        If we do not seek the dragons,\n        They also will not seek us. [92]\n\n\nIn Gaelic Scotland the serpent, which is associated with the goddess\nBride, sleeps all winter and comes forth on 1st February (old style),\nknown as \u201cBride\u2019s day\u201d. A Gaelic verse tells in this connection:\n\n\n        The serpent will come from the home\n        On the brown day of Bride,\n        Though there should be three feet of snow\n        On the flat surface of the ground. [93]\n\n\nAs in China, a compact was made with the Bride serpent or dragon:\n\n\n        To-day is the Day of Bride,\n        The serpent shall come from his hole,\n        I will not molest the serpent,\n        And the serpent will not molest me.\n\n\nIt is evident that some very ancient belief, connected with the\nagricultural mode of life, lies behind these curious verses in such\nfar-separated countries as Scotland and China. Bride and her serpent\ncome forth to inaugurate the season of fruitfulness as do the battling\ndragons in the Far East.\n\nWhen Chinese dragons fight, fire-balls and pearls fall to the ground.\nPearls give promise of abundant supplies of water in the future. It is\nnecessary, if all is to go well with the agriculturist, that the blue\nand yellow dragons should prevail over the others. The blue dragon is\nthe chief spirit of water and rain, and this is the deity that presides\nduring the spring season.\n\nA glimpse is afforded of the mental habits of the early searchers for\nprecious or sacred metals and jewels by the beliefs entertained in\nChina regarding the origin of the dragon-gods. These were supposed to\nhave been hatched from stones, especially beautiful stones. The colours\nof stones were supposed to reveal the characters of the spirits that\ninhabited them. In Egypt, for instance, the blue turquoise was\nconnected with the mother-goddess Hathor, who was, among other things,\na deity of the sky and therefore the controller of the waters above the\nfirmament as well as of the Nile. She was the mother of sun and moon.\nShe was appealed to for water by the agriculturists and for favourable\nwinds by the seafarers. The symbol used on such occasions was a blue\nstone. It was a \u201cluck stone\u201d that exercised an influence on the\nelements controlled by the goddess. In the Hebrides a blue stone used\nto be reverenced by the descendants of ancient sea-rovers. Martin in\nhis Western Isles tells of such a stone, said to be always wet, which\nwas preserved in a chapel dedicated to St. Columba on the Island of\nFladda. \u201cIt is an ordinary custom,\u201d he has written, \u201cwhen any of the\nfishermen are detained in the isle by contrary winds, to wash the blue\nstone with water all round, expecting thereby to procure a favourable\nwind, which, the credulous tenant living in the isle says, never fails,\nespecially if a stranger wash the stone.\u201d Why a \u201cstranger\u201d? Was this\ncurious custom introduced of old by strangers who had crossed the deep?\nHad the washing ceremony its origin in the custom of pouring out\nlibations practised by those who came from an area in which a complex\nreligious culture had grown up, and where men had connected a deity,\noriginally associated with the water-supply and therefore with the\nfood-supply, with tempests and ocean-tides and the sky?\n\nThe Chinese, who called certain beautiful stones \u201cdragon\u2019s eggs\u201d,\nbelieved that when they split, lightning flashed and thunder bellowed\nand darkness came on. The new-born dragons ascended to the sky. Before\nthe dragons came forth, much water poured from the stone. As in the\nHebrides, the dragon stone had, it would appear, originally an\nassociation with the fertilizing water-deity.\n\nThe new-born Chinese dragon is no bigger than a worm, or a baby serpent\nor lizard, but it grows rapidly. Evidently beliefs associated with the\nwater-snake deities were fused with those regarding coloured stones.\nThe snake was the soul of the river. Osiris as the Nile was a snake.\nHis mother had, therefore, a snake form.\n\nThe haunting memory of the goddess-mother of water-spirits clings to\nthe \u201cdragon mother\u201d of a Chinese legend related by ancient writers, a\nversion of which is summarized by de Visser. [94] Once, it runs, an old\nwoman found five \u201cdragon eggs\u201d lying in the grass. When they split (as\nin Egypt \u201cthe mountain of dawn\u201d splits to give birth to the sun), this\nwoman carried the little serpents to a river and let them go. For this\nservice she was given the power to foretell future events. She became a\nsibyl\u2014a priestess. The people called her \u201cThe Dragon Mother.\u201d When she\nwashed clothes at the river-side, the fishes, who were subjects of\ndragons, \u201cused to dance before her\u201d.\n\nIn various countries certain fish were regarded as forms of the\nshape-changing dragon. The Gaelic dragon sometimes appeared as the\nsalmon, and a migratory fish was in Egypt associated with Osiris and\nhis \u201cmother\u201d.\n\nWhen the Chinese \u201cDragon Mother\u201d died, she was buried on the eastern\nside of the river. Why, it may be asked, on the eastern side? Was it\nbecause, being originally a goddess, she was regarded as the \u201cmother\u201d\nof the sun-god of the east\u2014the mother who was \u201cthe mountain of dawn\u201d\nand whose influence was concentrated in the blue stone? The Chinese\ndragon of the east is blue, and the blue dragon is associated with\nspring\u2014the first-born season of the year. But apparently the dragons\nobjected to the burial of the \u201cDragon Mother\u201d on the eastern bank. The\nlegend tells that they raised a violent storm, and transferred her\ngrave to the western bank. Until the present age the belief obtains\nthat there is always wind and rain near the \u201cDragon Mother\u2019s Grave\u201d.\nThe people explain that the dragons love to \u201cwash the grave\u201d.\n\nHere we find the dragons pouring out libations, as did the worshippers\nof the Great Mother who came from a distant land.\n\nThe god of the western quarter is white, and presides over the autumn\nseason of fruitfulness. Just before the \u201cbirth\u201d of autumn the Chinese\naddress their prayers to the mountains and hills.\n\nIn ancient Egypt the conflict between the Solar and Osirian cults was a\nconflict between the \u201ccult of the east\u201d and the \u201ccult of the west\u201d.\nProfessor Breasted notes that although Osiris is \u201cFirst of the\nWesterners\u201d (the west being his quarter) \u201che goes to the east (after\ndeath) in the Pyramid texts (of the solar cult) and the pair, Isis and\nNepthys (the goddess), carry the dead into the east\u201d. The east was the\nplace where the ascent to the sky was made. In Egyptian solar theology\nit combined with the south. The rivalry between the two cults is\nreflected in one particular Pyramid text in which \u201cthe dead is adjured\nto go to the west in preference to the east, in order to join the\nsun-god!\u201d But to the solar cult the east was \u201cthe most sacred of all\nregions\u201d. In the Pyramid texts it is found that \u201cthe old doctrine of\nthe \u2018west\u2019 as the permanent realm of the dead, a doctrine which is\nlater so prominent, has been quite submerged by the pre-eminence of the\neast\u201d. [95]\n\nThis east-and-west theological war, then, had its origin in Egypt. How\ndid it reach China, there to be enshrined in the legend of the Dragon\nMother? Can it be held that it was \u201cnatural\u201d the Chinese should have\ninvented a legend which had so significant and ancient a history in the\nhomeland of the earliest seafarers?\n\nThe dragon-gods that presided over the seasons and the divisions of the\nworld were five in number. At the east was the blue (or green) god\nassociated with spring, at the west the white god associated with\nautumn, at the north the black god associated with winter (the Chinese\nseason of drought), and at the south were two gods, the red and the\nyellow; the red god presided during the greater part of summer, the\nrule of the yellow god being confined to the last month.\n\nThe dragons were life-givers not only as the gods who presided over the\nseasons and ensured the food-supply, but as those who gave cures for\ndiseases. The \u201cRed Cloud herb\u201d and other curative herbs were found\nafter a thunderstorm beside the dragon-haunted pools. De Groot [96]\ntells that fossil bones were called \u201cdragon bones\u201d, and were used for\nmedicinal purposes. The dragons were supposed to cast off their bones\nas well as their skins. Bones of five colours (the colours of the five\ndragons) were regarded as the most effective. White and yellow bones\ncame next in favour. Black bones were \u201cof inferior quality\u201d. The Shu\nKing, a famous Chinese historical classic, [97] tells that the dragons\u2019\nbones come from Tsin land. It is noted that the five-coloured ones are\nthe best. The blue, yellow, red, white, and black ones, according to\ntheir colours, correspond with the viscera, as do the five chih\n(felicitous plants), the five crystals (shih ying), and the five kinds\nof mineral bole (shih chi). De Groot [98] gives the colours connected\nwith the internal organs as follows:\n\n\n    1. Blue\u2014liver and gall.\n    2. White\u2014lungs and small intestines.\n    3. Red\u2014heart and large intestines.\n    4. Black\u2014kidneys and bladder.\n    5. Yellow\u2014spleen and stomach.\n\n\nApparently the special curative quality of a dragon\u2019s bone was revealed\nby its colour. The gods of the various \u201cmansions\u201d influenced different\norgans of the human body.\n\nIn ancient Egypt the internal organs were placed in jars and protected\nby the Horuses of the cardinal points. The god of the north had charge\nof the small viscera, the god of the south of the stomach and large\nintestines, the god of the west of liver and gall, and the god of the\neast of heart and lungs. The Egyptian north was red and symbolized by\nthe Red Crown, and the south was white and symbolized by the White\nCrown.\n\nIn Mexico the colours white, red, and yellow were connected with\ndifferent internal organs, and black with a disembowelled condition.\n\nIt is evident that the sea and land traders carried their strange\nstocks of medical knowledge over vast areas. It is not without\nsignificance to find in this connection that, according to Chinese\nbelief, there was an island on which dragons\u2019 bones were found.\n\nThe dragons are not only rain-gods and gods of the four quarters and\nthe seasons, but also \u201clight-gods\u201d, connected with sun and moon, day\nand night. In the Yih lin there is a reference to a black dragon which\nvomits light and causes darkness to turn into light. The mountain\ndragon of Mount Chung is called the \u201cEnlightener of Darkness\u201d. \u201cWhen it\nopens its eyes it is day, when it shuts its eyes it is night. Blowing\nhe makes winter, exhaling he makes summer. The wind is its breath.\u201d\n[99]\n\nIn like manner the Egyptian Ra and Ptah are universal gods, the sun and\nmoon being their \u201ceyes\u201d. Even Osiris, as far back as the Pyramid\nperiod, was the source of all life and a world-god. He was addressed:\n\u201cThe soil is on thy arm, its corners are upon thee as far as the four\npillars of the sky. When thou movest the earth trembles.... As for\nthee, the Nile comes forth from the sweat of thy hands. Thou spewest\nout the wind....\u201d [100] Osiris sent water to bring fertility as do the\ndragons, air for the life-breath of man and beast, and also light,\nwhich was, of course, fire (the heat which is life).\n\nThe idea of the life-principle being in fire and water lies behind Wang\nFu\u2019s statement: \u201cDragon fire and human fire are opposite. If dragon\nfire comes into contact with wetness, it flames; and if it meets water,\nit burns. If one drives it (the dragon) away by means of fire, it stops\nburning and its flames are extinguished.\u201d [101] Celestial fire is\nsomething different from ordinary fire. The \u201cvital spark\u201d is of\ncelestial origin\u2014purer and holier than ordinary fire. Dragon skins,\neven when cast off, shine by night. So do pearls, coral, and precious\nstones \u201cshine in darkness\u201d in the Chinese myths.\n\nOne traces the influence of the solar cult in the idea that the\ndragon\u2019s vital spirit is in its eyes. It is because iron blinds a\ndragon that it fears that metal. In Egypt the eye of Horus is blinded\nby Set, whose metal is iron.\n\nThere is a quaint mixture of religious ideas in the Chinese custom of\ncarrying in procession through the streets, on the 15th of the first\nmonth, a dragon made of bamboo, linen, and paper. In front of it is\nborne a red ball. De Groot says that this is the azure dragon, the head\nof which rose as a star to usher in spring at the beginning. [102] In\nlike manner the Egyptian \u201cspring\u201d is ushered in by the star Sirius, the\nmother of the sun, from which falls a tear that causes the inundation.\nBut although the red ball may have been a solar symbol, it is also\nconnected with the moon. The Chinese themselves call the ball \u201cThe\nPearl of Heaven\u201d\u2014that is, \u201cthe moon\u201d. An inscription on porcelain\nbrings this out clearly. Mr. Blacker has translated the text below two\ndragons rushing towards a ball as \u201cA couple of dragons facing the\nmoon\u201d. [103] The dragons were not only moon- and sun-\u201cdevourers\u201d who\ncaused eclipses, but guardians of these orbs in their capacities as\ngods of the four quarters.\n\nThe all-absorbing dragon appears even as a vampire. A tiger-headed\ndragon with the body of a snake seizes human beings, covers them with\nsaliva, and sucks blood from under their armpits. \u201cNo blood is left\nwhen they stop sucking.\u201d [104] In Japanese legends dragons as white\neels draw blood from the legs of horses that enter a river. [105] Evil\nor sick dragons send bad rain.\n\nThe gods ride on dragons, and therefore emperors and holy men can also\nuse them as vehicles. Yu, the founder of the Hea Dynasty, had a\ncarriage drawn by two dragons. Ghosts sometimes appear riding on\ndragons and wearing blue hats. The souls of the dead are conveyed to\nthe Celestial regions by the winged gods. Dragons appear when great men\nare born. [106] Emperors had dragon ancestors. The Emperor Yaou was the\nson of a red dragon; one Japanese emperor had a dragon\u2019s tail, being a\ndescendant of the sea-god. [107]\n\nIn the next chapter it will be shown that in Chinese dragon-lore it is\npossible to detect with certainty the sources of certain \u201clayers\u201d that\nwere superimposed on primitive conceptions regarding these deities.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\nBIRD AND SERPENT MYTHS\n\n    Culture Complexes in Dragon-lore\u2014Polynesian Dragon Beliefs\u2014Oceanic\n    and African Fish-gods\u2014Reptile Deities where no Reptiles are\n    found\u2014Chinese Dragons and Indian Nagas\u2014Dragon-links between India,\n    Tibet, China, and Japan\u2014Birds and Snakes\u2014Distribution of Egyptian\n    \u201cWinged Disk\u201d\u2014Horus and the \u201cSecretary Bird\u201d\u2014Indian Mungoose\n    supplants \u201cSecretary Bird\u201d\u2014Mungoose form of God of Riches and\n    Death\u2014Bird and Serpent combined in Dragon\u2014Babylonian Dragon was a\n    combination of Eagle, Serpent, and Lion\u2014Tree Forms of the Chinese\n    Dragon, the Polynesian Mo-o, and the Indian Nagas\u2014The Dragon, the\n    Salmon, the Tree, and the \u201cThunder-bird\u201d.\n\n\nThe intensive study of a country\u2019s beliefs and ideas, as revealed in\nits myths and legends, is greatly facilitated by the adoption of the\ncomparative method. It may not always be found possible to identify\nareas in which certain beliefs had origin, but when we detect, as we do\nin China, myths similar to those found in other lands, and especially\nhighly complex myths, that had origin in one particular country and\nreceived additions in another, the imported elements may be sifted out\nfrom a local religious system without much difficulty.\n\nThe Chinese dragon has distinct and outstanding Chinese\ncharacteristics, but it is obviously not entirely a Chinese creation.\nAttached to the \u201ccomposite wonder beast\u201d are complex ideas that have a\nhistory outside China, as well as those ideas that reflect Chinese\nnatural phenomena and Chinese experiences and habits of life and\nthought. The fused beliefs, as symbolized by the dragon, have passed\nthrough a prolonged process of local development, but those that were\nimported have not, it is found, been entirely divested of their\ndistinctive characteristics, and remain preserved as flies are in\namber.\n\nInteresting and important evidence that throws light on the history of\nthe Chinese dragon is found in Polynesia, India, and Babylonia, and\neven in Egypt and Europe. The cultural influence of Babylonia, which\nradiated over a wide area for a score of centuries or longer, is\ntraceable in India, and, as is well known, Buddhist India exercised a\nstrong cultural influence on China. But, as will be shown, Babylonian\ninfluence reached the Shensi province of China long before the Aryans\nentered India. Buddhist ideas regarding the pearl-protecting dragon-god\nof water and fire were evidently superimposed in China upon earlier\nBabylonian ideas regarding the water-dragon, which had no particular\nconnection with pearls. At any rate, there is no mention of pearls in\nthe Babylonian myth.\n\nWhen it is found that many of the ideas connected with the Chinese\ndragon were prevalent in Polynesia, what conclusion is to be drawn?\nThere is no evidence that Chinese culture was an active force in New\nZealand or Hawaii, for instance. It cannot have been from China that\nthe Polynesians derived their dragon, or their beliefs connected with\nthe serpent, a reptile unknown to the islanders at first hand. The only\nreasonable conclusion that can be drawn is that the Chinese and the\nPolynesians were influenced at an early period by intruders from other\nlands. The Polynesian intruders must necessarily have been sea-traders.\nOf course, the Polynesians may themselves have imported their dragon\nbeliefs from their homeland. That homeland, however, was certainly not\nChina.\n\nThe Polynesian Mo-o or Mo-ko (dragon) had, as was shown in the last\nchapter, a connection with pearls. \u201cOn Maui\u201d, writes W. D. Westervelt,\n[108] \u201cthe greatest dragon of the island was Kiha-wahine. The natives\nhad the saying, \u2018Kiha has mana, or miraculous power, like Mo-o-inanea\u2019.\nShe lived in a large, deep pool on the edge of the village Lahaina, and\nwas worshipped by the royal family of Maui as their special guardian.\u201d\nRoyal families were invariably the descendants of intruding conquerors.\nIt is of special interest, therefore, to find the Polynesian dragon-god\nconnected with a military aristocracy.\n\nThe Rev. George Brown, missionary and explorer, refers to similar\ndragon beliefs among the people of New Britain. He tells of a spring\nconnected with the woman (goddess) who caused the deluge. The natives\n\u201csay that an immense fish lives in it, which will come out when they\ncall it\u201d. The belief obtains among the Melanesians \u201cthat the creator of\nall things was a woman\u201d. She \u201cmade all lands\u201d and \u201cthe natives prayed\u201d\nto her \u201cwhen an eclipse of the sun or the moon took place\u201d. [109] The\nking of Samoan gods was a dragon. \u201cThis god\u201d, Brown tells, \u201chad the\nbody of a man to the breast only, and the body of an eel (mur\u00e6na)\nbelow. This eel\u2019s body lies down in the ocean, and from the chest to\nthe head lies down in the house. This is the god to whom all things are\nreported. The inferior gods are his attendants.\u201d [110]\n\nGods half human and half reptile, or half human and half fish, are\nfound in various countries. In the British Museum are bronze reliefs of\nthe King of Benin (as the representative of his chief deity) half shark\nand half man. The kings of Dahomey were depicted as sharks with bodies\ncovered with scales; their statues are in the Trocadero, Paris. [111]\n\nThat the Polynesian reptile deities were imported there can be no\ndoubt. As early as 1825 Mr. Bloxam, the English naval chaplain, drew\nthis necessary conclusion. In his The Voyage of the Blonde he says: \u201cAt\nthe bottom of the Parre (pali) there are two large stones, on which\neven now offerings of fruit and flowers are laid to propitiate the\nAku-wahines, or goddesses, who are supposed to have the power of\ngranting a safe passage\u201d. Referring to the female mo-o, or reptile\ndeities, Mr. Bloxam says it was difficult for him to get an explanation\nof their name, the Hawaiians having \u201cnothing of the shape of serpents\nor large reptiles in their islands\u201d. [112]\n\nBut the closest analogy to the Chinese dragon is found in India. The\nNagas (serpent-gods), which were taken over by the Buddhists, and the\nChinese dragons have much in common. \u201cCobras in their ordinary shape,\u201d\nwrites Dr. Rhys Davids of the Nagas, \u201cthey lived beneath the waters\nlike mermen and mermaids, in great luxury and wealth, more especially\nof gems.\u201d Sometimes the tree-spirits (dryads) are called Nagas. \u201cThey\ncould at will, and often did, adopt the human form; and though terrible\nif angered, were kindly and mild by nature.\u201d [113] Kerns says \u201cthat the\nNagas are water-spirits represented, as a rule, in human shapes, with a\ncrown of serpents on their heads\u201d, and also as \u201csnake-like beings\nresembling clouds\u201d. [114] They are \u201cdemi-gods\u201d. Like the Chinese\ndragons, the Nagas are guardians of the four quarters of the universe.\nThere are withal Nagas in the sea who control winds and tides, and one\nof the Naga kings is Sagara, who is a Neptune in Japan. The Nagas are\nalso \u201cLords of the Earth\u201d, and send drought and disease when offended\nor neglected. Ea, the sea-god of the early Babylonians, was known also\nas Enki, \u201cThe Lord of the Earth\u201d.\n\nIn Buddhist art the Naga is shown in three forms: (1) as a human being\nwith a snake on or poised over the head, reminding one of the Egyptian\nkings or queens who wear the ur\u00e6us symbol on their foreheads; (2) as\nhalf human and half snake (the \u201cmermaid form\u201d); and (3) as ordinary\nsnakes. The first form is found not only in India, but in Tibet, China,\nand Japan. Human-shaped Nagas are depicted worshipping Buddha, as they\nstand in water.\n\nIn Tibet, the Naga is shown with the upper part of the body in human\nshape and the lower in snake shape; there are horns on the head and\nwings spreading out from the shoulders. The same form is found in\nJapan.\n\nThis Tibetan link between the Indian Naga and the Chinese Dragon is\nimportant. The bird-god has been blended with the snake-god. In India\nthe bird-gods (Garudas) are enemies of the Nagas (snakes), and Garudas\nin \u201ceagle shape\u201d are found depicted in low relief, carrying off Nagas\nin snake shape. This eternal conflict between eagle-like birds and\nserpents is one of the features of Babylonian mythology.\n\nThe story of Zu, the Babylonian Eagle-god, is found on tablets that\nwere stored in the library of the great Assyrian King, Ashur-bani-pal.\nZu, it is related, stole from the gods the \u201ctablets of destiny\u201d, and\nwas pursued and caught by Shamash, the sun-god. In one version of the\nmyth Zu, the eagle, is punished by the serpent, which conceals itself\nin the body of an ox. When the eagle comes to feast on the flesh it is\nseized by the serpent and slain.\n\nIn Polynesia the eternal conflict between bird-god and serpent-god is\nillustrated in wood-carvings. The Egyptian winged disk, as adopted by\nthe islanders, shows the bird in the centre with a struggling snake in\nits beak. The Central American peoples had likewise this\nbird-and-serpent myth. Indeed, it figures prominently in their\nmythologies. In Mexico the winged disk was placed, as in Egypt, above\nthe entrances to the temples.\n\nThe bird-and-serpent myth is to be found even in the Iliad. When Hector\nset forth with his heroes to break through the wall of the Ach\u00e6an camp,\nan eagle appeared in the air, bearing in its talons \u201ca blood-red\nmonstrous snake, alive and struggling still\u201d. The writhing snake\nmanages to sting the eagle, which immediately drops it. [115]\n\nIn ancient Egyptian myths the bird was the Horus hawk and the serpent\nwas Set. Horus assumed, in his great battle against the snake,\ncrocodile, and other enemies of Ra, the winged disk form\u2014the winged\nsun, protected by the two snake-goddesses of Upper and Lower Egypt.\n\nThis strange combination of deities in the \u201cwinged disk\u201d symbol was as\ndistinctively an Egyptian cultural and political complex as the Union\nJack is distinctively a British complex. As the Union Jack has been\ncarried to many a distant land, so was the Egyptian winged disk, \u201cthe\nflag\u201d of Egyptian culture. In those areas in which the winged disk is\nfound, are found also traces of Egyptian ideas which, of course, were\nnot necessarily introduced by the Egyptians themselves.\n\nHow did this myth of the struggle between bird and serpent have origin?\nThe only country in the world in which a great bird hunts serpents is\nAfrica. The bird in question is the famous secretary bird (Serpentarius\nsecretarius), which is nowadays domesticated by South African farmers\nso as to keep down snakes. It is found in East and West Africa. \u201cIn\ngeneral appearance it looks like a modified eagle mounted on stilts.\u201d\n[116] The bird attacks a snake with wings outspread, and flaps them in\nfront of its body to prevent itself from being bitten during the\nconflict. Early Egyptian seafarers were no doubt greatly impressed\nwhen, \u201cin the land of Punt\u201d, they saw these strange birds, with heads\nlike eagles or hawks, standing over snakes they had clutched in their\ntalons, and then flying away with them dangling from their beaks. The\nmariners\u2019 stories about the snake-devouring bird appear to have crept\ninto the mythology of Egypt, with the result that the Horus hawk became\nthe hunter of Set in his \u201chissing serpent\u201d form. Above the hole in the\nground into which the Set serpent fled for concealment and safety was\nset a pole surmounted by the head of the Horus hawk. As Dr. Budge puts\nit: \u201cHorus, the son of Isis, stood upon him (Set) in the form of a pole\nor staff, on the top of which was the head of a hawk\u201d. [117] But, one\nmay urge, it could not have been until after Egyptian vessels visited\nthe coasts haunted by the secretary bird that the bird and serpent\nvariation of the Horus-Set myth was formulated in the land of Egypt,\nwhence, apparently, it was distributed far and wide. Horus was not\nnecessarily an enemy of serpents, seeing that there are two in his\ndisk.\n\nIn Tibet, as has been stated, the bird and serpent were combined, and\nthe \u201ccomposite beast\u201d was given a human head with horns. The horned and\nwinged dragon of China is thus, in part, a combination of the original\nsecretary bird and the snake.\n\nThe later blending process was, no doubt, due to Buddhistic influence.\nBoth Nagas (snakes) and Garudas (eagles or secretary birds) were\nincluded in northern India among the gods and demons who worshipped\nBuddha. The Nagas understood the language of birds. They gave charms to\nhuman beings so that they might share this knowledge. In European and\nArabian stories folk-heroes acquire the language of birds, or of all\nanimals, after eating the hearts of dragons. A Naga king causes an\nIndian king to understand what animals say. [118]\n\n\u201cThe jewel that grants all desires\u201d is possessed by the Indian Nagas,\nas it is by Chinese and Japanese dragons. In the Mah\u00e1bh\u00e1rata, the\nPandava hero Arjuna is, after being slain in combat, restored to life\nby his Naga wife, who had obtained this magic jewel from the Naga king.\n[119]\n\nThe Nagas are guardians of pearls, and the females have many pearl\nnecklaces.\n\nNote may here be taken of interesting Indian evidence that throws light\non the process of transferring to a local animal complex ideas\nassociated with another animal figuring in an imported myth. The great\nenemy of African snakes is, as has been said, the secretary bird; the\nIndian enemy is the mungoose. In early Buddhist art the mungoose,\nspitting jewels, is placed in the right hand of Kubera, god of wealth,\nwho stands on the back of a Yaksha (a bird demon). By devouring snakes\n(Nagas) the mungoose (according to the myth) \u201cappropriates their\njewels, and has hence developed into the attribute of Kubera\u201d. [120]\nHere the pearl-guarding shark, having become a jewel-guarding\ndragon-snake, is substituted by the jewel-spitting mungoose which has\n\u201cdevoured\u201d its attributes.\n\nThe god Kubera has a heaven of its own, and is a form of Yama, god of\ndeath. In his form as Dharma, god of justice, Yama figures in the\nMah\u00e1bh\u00e1rata [121] as a \u201cblue-eyed mungoose with one side of his body\nchanged into gold\u201d, his voice being \u201cloud and deep as thunder\u201d. Here\nYama links with Indra, god of thunder, who, having a heaven of his own,\nis also a god of death. Egypt had its \u201cblue-eyed Horus\u201d. [122] The god\nHorus was the living form of Osiris. The living Pharaoh was a Horus,\nand the dead Pharaoh an Osiris, as Dr. Gardiner reminds us.\n\nThe combination of bird and serpent is found in Persia as well as in\nTibet. On an archaic cylinder seal from the ancient Elamite capital of\nSusa, the dragon is a lion with an eagle\u2019s head and wings; the forelegs\nare those of the eagle, and the hind legs those of a lion.\n\nA form of the god Tammuz, namely the god Nin-Girsu (\u201cLord of Girsu\u201d) of\nthe Sumerian city of Lagash (Girsu appears to have been a suburb), was\na lion-headed eagle. [123] The god Ea had a dragon form. [124] The\ndragon of the Ishtar gate of Babylon is a combination of eagle,\nserpent, and lion, and is horned.\n\nThere can remain little doubt that the Chinese dragon has an\ninteresting history, not only in China but outside that country. It\ncannot be held to have independent origin. At a remote period dragon\nbeliefs reached China, India, and Polynesia, and even America. [125]\n\nIn each separated area the dragon took on a local colouring, but the\nfundamental beliefs connected with it remained the same. It was closely\nconnected with water (the \u201cwater of life\u201d), and also with trees (the\n\u201ctrees of life\u201d). Thus we find that in China a dragon might assume \u201cthe\nshape of a tree growing under water\u201d; [126] a boat once collided with\ndrift-wood which was found to be a dragon. Crocodiles are sometimes\nmistaken for logs of wood.\n\nIn Hawaii two noted dragons (mo-o) lived in a river. \u201cThey were called\n\u2018the moving boards\u2019 which made a bridge across the river.\u201d [127]\n\nThe Indian Nagas were not only water deities but tree spirits, as Dr.\nRhys Davids has emphasized. [128]\n\nBehind dragon worship is a complex of beliefs connected with what is\nusually called \u201ctree and well worship\u201d. In Gaelic stories, the sacred\ntree is guarded by the \u201cbeast\u201d in the sacred well, and a form of the\n\u201cbeast\u201d (dragon) is the salmon; in the tree is the \u201cthunder bird\u201d.\nDragon, tree, and bird are connected with the god of thunder who sends\nrain.\n\nWhen Buddhism reached China, imported Naga beliefs were superimposed on\nearlier Chinese beliefs connected with the dragon-god who controlled\nthe rain-supply, as Osiris in Egypt controlled the Nile, and the\nBabylonian Ea the Euphrates.\n\nIn the next chapter various beliefs connected with the dragon are\nbrought out in representative legends.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\nDRAGON FOLK-STORIES\n\n    How Fish became Chinese Dragons\u2014Fish forms of Teutonic and Celtic\n    Gods\u2014Dragon-slayers eat Dragons\u2019 Hearts\u2014The \u201cLanguage of\n    Birds\u201d\u2014Heart as Seat of Intelligence\u2014Babylonian\n    Dragon-Kupu\u2014Polynesian Dragon-Kupua\u2014Dragons and Medicinal\n    Herbs\u2014Story of Chinese Herbalist and \u201cRed Cloud Herb\u201d\u2014\u201cBoy Blue\u201d\n    and Red Carp as Forms of Black Dragon\u2014Ignis Fatuus as \u201cDragon\n    Lanterns\u201d\u2014\u201cHeart Fire\u201d\u2014Story of Priest and Dragon-woman\u2014The \u201cFire\n    Nail\u201d in Japan and Polynesia\u2014The \u201cFaith Cure\u201d in Japan\u2014The Magic\n    Rush-mat\u2014Grave Reed-mats, Skins, and Linen Wrappings\u2014The\n    Ephod\u2014Melusina in Far East\u2014Story of Wu and the Thunder Dragon.\n\n\nIn Chinese and Japanese folk-stories the dragons have fish forms or\navatars. They may be eels, carps, or migratory fish like the salmon. It\nis believed that those fish that ascend a river\u2019s \u201cdragon gate\u201d become\ndragons, while those that remain behind continue to be fish. Dragons\nare closely associated with waterfalls. They haunt in one or other of\ntheir forms the deep pools below them.\n\nIn western European stories, dragons and gods of fire and water assume\nthe forms of fish, and hide themselves in pools. Loki of Icelandic\nlegend has a salmon form. When the gods pursue him, he hides in\nFranang\u2019s stream, or \u201cunder the waters of a cascade called\nFranangurfors\u201d. [129] After he is caught and bound, Loki is tortured by\na serpent. When he twists his body violently, earthquakes are caused.\nHe is closely associated with the \u201cdragon-woman\u201d, and is the father of\nmonsters, including the moon-swallowing wolf-dragon.\n\nAndvari, the guardian of Nibelung treasure, has a pike form. [130]\n\nIn Gaelic legend the salmon is the source of wisdom and of the power to\nforetell events. Finn (Fionn) tastes of the \u201cSalmon of Knowledge\u201d when\nit is being cooked, and immediately becomes a seer. Michael Scott, in\nlike manner, derives wisdom from the \u201cjuices\u201d of the white snake. The\nsalmon is, in Gaelic, a form of the dragon. The dragon of Lough Bel\nS\u00e9ad [131] (Lake of the Jewel Mouth), in Ireland, was caught \u201cin the\nshape of a salmon\u201d.\n\nSigurd, the dragon-slayer of Norse Icelandic stories, eats the dragon\u2019s\nheart, and at once understands the language of birds. So does Siegfried\nof Germanic romance. The birds know the secrets of the gods. They are\nthemselves forms of the gods. Apollonius of Tyana acquired wisdom by\neating the hearts of dragons in Arabia.\n\nIn ancient Egypt the heart was not only the seat of life, but the mind,\nand therefore the source of \u201cwords of power\u201d. The Hebrews and many\nother peoples used \u201cheart\u201d when they wrote of \u201cmind\u201d. [132] Ptah, god\nof Memphis, was the \u201cheart\u201d (mind) of the gods. The \u201cheart\u201d fashioned\nthe gods. Everything that is came into existence by the thought of the\n\u201cheart\u201d (mind).\n\nThe Egyptian belief about the power of the \u201cheart\u201d (the source of magic\nknowledge, and healing, and creative power) lies behind the stories\nregarding heroes eating dragons\u2019 hearts. In an Egyptian folk-tale the\ndragon-slayer does not eat the heart of the reptile god, but gets\npossession of a book of spells, and, on reading these, acquires\nknowledge of the languages of all animals, including fish and birds.\n[133]\n\nWhen, however, we investigate the dragon beliefs of ancient Babylonia,\nwe meet with a reference to the Ku-pu as the source of divine power and\nwisdom. After Merodach (Marduk) the dragon-slayer kills Tiamat, the\n\u201cmother dragon\u201d, a form of the mother-goddess, he \u201cdivides the flesh of\nthe Ku-pu, and devises a cunning plan\u201d. As the late Mr. Leonard W. King\npointed out, [134] Ku-pu is a word of uncertain meaning. It did not\nsignify the heart, because it had been previously stated in the text\nthat Merodach severed her inward parts, he pierced her heart.\n\nJensen has suggested that Ku-pu signifies \u201ctrunk, body\u201d. It is more\nprobable that the Ku-pu was the seat of the soul, mind, and magical\npower; the power that enabled the slain reptile to come to life again\nin another form. [135]\n\nIt may be that a clue is afforded in this connection by the Polynesian\nidea of Kupua. Mr. Westervelt, who has carefully recorded what he has\nfound, writes regarding the Mo-o (dragons) of the Hawaiians:\n\n\n   \u201cMighty eels, immense sea turtles, large fish of the ocean, fierce\n    sharks, were all called mo-o. The most ancient dragons of the\n    Hawaiians are spoken of as living in pools or lakes. These dragons\n    were known also as Kupuas, or mysterious characters, who could\n    appear as animals, or human beings, according to their wish. The\n    saying was, \u2018Kupuas have a strange double body!\u2019\u201d\n\n\nThe Polynesian beliefs connected with the Kupuas are highly suggestive.\nMr. Westervelt continues:\n\n\n   \u201cIt was sometimes thought that at birth another natural form was\n    added, such as an egg of a fowl or a bird, or the seed of a plant,\n    or the embryo of some animal which, when fully developed, made a\n    form which could be used as readily as the human body. These Kupuas\n    were always given some great magic power. They were wonderfully\n    strong, and wise, and skilful.\n\n   \u201cUsually the birth of a Kupua, like the birth of a high chief, was\n    attended with strange disturbances in the heavens, such as\n    reverberating thunder, flashing lightning, and severe storms which\n    sent the abundant red soil of the islands down the mountain-sides\n    in blood-red torrents, known as ka-ua-koko (the blood rain). The\n    name was also given to misty, fine rain when shot through by the\n    red waves of the sun.\u201d\n\n\nAll the dragons of Hawaii were descended from Mo-o-inanea (the\nself-reliant dragon), a mother-goddess. She had a dual nature,\n\u201csometimes appearing as a dragon, sometimes as a woman\u201d. Hawaiian\ndragons also assumed the forms of large stones, some of which were\nassociated with groves of hau trees; on these stones ferns and flowers\nwere laid and referred to as \u201ckupuas\u201d. [136]\n\nIn China the dragon\u2019s kupua (to use the Polynesian term) figures in\nvarious stories. We meet with the \u201cRed Cloud herb\u201d, or the \u201cDragon\nCloud herb\u201d, which cures diseases. It is the gift of the dragon, and\napparently a dragon kupua. Other curative herbs are the\n\u201cdragon-whisker\u2019s herb\u201d and the \u201cdragon\u2019s liver\u201d, a species of gentian,\nwhich is in Japan a badge of the Minamoto family. The \u201cdragon\u2019s\nspittle\u201d had curative qualities, the essence of life being in the body\nmoisture of a deity. The pearl, which the dragon spits out, has, or is,\n\u201csoul substance\u201d. The plum tree was in China connected with the dragon.\nA story tells that once a dragon was punished by having its ears cut\noff. Its blood fell on the ground, and a plum tree sprang up; it bore\nfleshy fruit without kernels. [137] When in an ancient Egyptian story\nthe blood of the Bata bull falls to the ground two trees containing his\nsoul-forms grow in a night. [138]\n\nA Chinese \u201cBoy Blue\u201d story deals with the search made by Wang Shuh, a\nherbalist, for the Red Cloud herb. He followed the course of a mountain\nstream on a hot summer day, and at noon sat down to rest and eat rice\nbelow shady trees beside the deep pool of a waterfall. As he lay on the\nbank, gazing into the water, he was astonished to see in its depths a\nblue boy, about a foot in height, with a blue rush in his hand, riding\non the back of a red carp, without disturbing the fish, which darted\nhither and thither. In time the pair came to the surface, and, rising\ninto the air, turned towards the east. Then they went swiftly in the\ndirection of a bank of cloud that was creeping across the blue sky, and\nvanished from sight.\n\nThe herbalist continued to ascend the mountain, searching for the herb,\nand when he reached the summit was surprised to find that the sky had\nbecome completely overcast. Great masses of black and yellow clouds had\nrisen over the Eastern Sea, and a thunder-storm was threatening. Wang\nShuh then realized that the blue boy he had seen riding on the back of\nthe red carp was no other than the thunder-dragon. He peered at the\nclouds, and perceived that the boy and the carp [139] had been\ntransformed into a black kiao (scaled dragon). He was greatly alarmed,\nand concealed himself in a hollow tree.\n\nSoon the storm burst forth in all its fury. The herbalist trembled to\nhear the voice of the black thunder-dragon and to catch glimpses of his\nfiery tongue as he spat out flashes of lightning. Rain fell in\ntorrents, and the mountain stream was heavily swollen, and roared down\nthe steep valley. Wang Shuh feared that each moment would be his last.\n\nIn time, however, the storm ceased and the sky cleared. Wang Shuh then\ncrept forth from his hiding-place, thankful to be still alive, although\nhe had seen the dragon. He at once set out to return by the way he had\ncome. When he drew near to the waterfall he was greatly astonished to\nhear the sound of sweet humming music. Peering through the branches of\nthe trees, he beheld the little blue boy riding on the back of the red\ncarp, returning from the east and settling down on the surface of the\npool. Soon the boy was carried into the depths and past the playful\nfish again.\n\nStruck with fear, the herbalist was for a time unable to move. When at\nlength he had summoned sufficient strength and courage to go forward,\nhe found that the boy and the carp had vanished completely. Then he\nperceived that the Red Cloud herb, for which he had been searching, had\nsprung up on the very edge of the swirling water. Stooping, he plucked\nit greedily. As soon as he had done so, he went scampering down the\nside of the mountain. On reaching the village, Wang told his friends\nthe wonderful story of his adventure and discovery.\n\nNow it happened that the Emperor\u2019s daughter\u2014a very beautiful girl\u2014was\nlying ill in the royal palace. The Court physicians had endeavoured in\nvain to restore her to health. Hearing of Wang Shuh\u2019s discovery of the\nRed Cloud herb, the Emperor sent out for him. On reaching the palace,\nthe herbalist was addressed by the Emperor himself, who said: \u201cIs it\ntrue, as men tell, that you have seen the black kiao in the form of a\nlittle blue boy riding on a red carp?\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is indeed true,\u201d Wang Shuh made answer.\n\n\u201cAnd is it true that you have found the dragon herb that sprang up\nduring the thunder-storm?\u201d\n\n\u201cI have brought the herb with me, Your Majesty.\u201d\n\n\u201cMayhap,\u201d the Emperor said, \u201cit will give healing to my daughter.\u201d\n\nWang Shuh at once made offer of the herb, and the Emperor led him to\nthe room in which the sick princess lay. The herb had a sweet odour,\n[140] and Wang Shuh plucked a leaf and gave it to the lady to smell.\nShe at once showed signs of reviving, and this was regarded as a good\nomen. Wang Shuh then made a medicine from the herb, and when the\nprincess had partaken of it, she grew well and strong again.\n\nThe Emperor rewarded Wang Shuh by appointing him his chief physician.\nThus the herbalist became a great and influential man.\n\nTo few mortals comes the privilege of setting eyes on a dragon, and to\nfewer is the vision followed by good fortune.\n\nIn this quaint story the Red Cloud herb is evidently a kupua of the\nthunder-dragon. It had \u201csoul substance\u201d (the vital essence). Another\nkupua or avatar was the carp.\n\nIn China and Japan there are references in dragon stories to pine trees\nbeing forms assumed by dragons. The connection between the tree and\ndragon is emphasized by the explanation that when a pine becomes very\nold it is covered with scales of bark, and ultimately changes into a\ndragon. By night \u201cdragon lanterns\u201d (ignis fatuus) are seen on pine\ntrees in marshy places, and on the masts of ships at sea.\n\nThe pine trees at Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines are said to be\nregularly illuminated by these \u201csupernatural\u201d lights. The \u201clanterns\u201d\nare supposed to come from the sea. Japanese stories tell that when a\nlantern appears on a pine, a little boy, known as the \u201cHeavenly Boy\u201d,\nis to be seen sitting on the topmost branch. Some lights were supposed\nto be the souls of holy men. In Gaelic stories are told about little\nmen being seen in these wandering lights.\n\nThere is an evil form of the fire which is supposed to rise from the\nblood of a suicide or of a murderer\u2019s victim. The \u201cheart fire\u201d (the\n\u201cvital spark\u201d) in the blood is supposed to rise as a flame from the\nground. A similar superstition prevailed in England. If lights made\ntheir appearance above a prison on the night before the arrival of the\njudges of assize, the omen was regarded as a fatal one for the\nprisoners. The belief is widespread in the British Isles that lights\n(usually greenish lights) appear before a sudden death takes place.\n\nWandering lights seen on mountains were supposed by the Chinese and\nJapanese to be caused by dragons. A Japanese legend associates them\nwith a dragon woman, named Zennyo, who appears to have the attributes\nof a fire-goddess. It is told regarding a Buddhist priest who lived\nbeside a dragon hole on Mount Mur\u014dbu. One day, as he was about to cross\na river, a lady wearing rich and dazzling attire came up to him and\nmade request for a magic charm he possessed. She spoke with averted\nface, telling who she was. The priest repeated the charm to her and\nthen said: \u201cPermit me to look upon your face\u201d.\n\nSaid the dragon woman: \u201cIt is very terrible to behold. No man dare gaze\non my face. But I cannot refuse your request.\u201d\n\nThe priest had his curiosity satisfied, but apparently without coming\nto harm. Priestly prestige was maintained by stories of this kind.\n\nAs soon as the priest looked in her face the dragon woman rose in the\nair, and stretched out the small finger of her right hand. It was not,\nhowever, of human shape, but a claw that suddenly extended a great\nlength and flashed lights of five colours. The \u201cfive colours\u201d indicate\nthat the woman was a deity. Kwan Chung, in his work Kwantsze, says: \u201cA\ndragon in the water covers himself with five colours. Therefore, he is\na god (shin).\u201d [141]\n\nThe \u201cfire nail\u201d figures prominently in Polynesian mythology. In the\nlegend of Maui, that hero-god goes to the old woman (the goddess), his\ngrandmother, to obtain fire for mankind. \u201cThen the aged woman pulled\nout her nail; and as she pulled it out fire flowed from it, and she\ngave it to him. And when Maui saw she had drawn out her nail to produce\nfire for him, he thought it a most wonderful thing.\u201d [142]\n\nThe reference in the Japanese story to the averted face of the dragon\nwoman may be connected with the ancient belief that the mortal who\nlooked in the face of a deity was either shrivelled up or transformed\ninto stone, as happened in the case of those who fixed their eyes upon\nthe face of Medusa. Goddesses like the Egyptian Neith were \u201cveiled\u201d. A\nJapanese legend tells of a dragon woman who appeared as a woman with a\nmalicious white face. She laughed loudly, displaying black teeth. She\nwas often seen on a bridge, binding up her hair. [143] Apparently she\nwas a variety of the mermaid family, and this may explain the reference\nto her being \u201cone legged\u201d. The people scared her away by forming a\ntorch-light procession and advancing towards her. Dragons were\nsometimes expelled by means of fire. In Europe, bonfires were lit when\ncertain \u201cceremonies of riddance\u201d were performed.\n\nBritish mermaids are credited, in the folk-tales, with providing cures\nfor various diseases, and especially herbs, [144] and in this\nconnection they link with the dragon wives of China and Japan. Some\ndragon women lived for a time among human beings as do swan-maidens,\nnereids, mermaids, and fairies in the stories of various lands.\n\nA Japanese legend tells of an elderly and mysterious woman who had the\npower to cure any ill that flesh is heir to. When a patient called, she\nlistened attentively to what was told her. Then she retired to a secret\nchamber, sat down and placed a rush mat [145] on her head. After\nsitting alone for a time (apparently engaged in working a magic spell)\nshe left the chamber and returned to the patient. She recommended the\n\u201cfaith cure\u201d. Making the pretence that she was handing over a medicine,\nshe said: \u201cBelieve that I have given you medicine. Now, go away. Each\nday you must sit down and imagine that you are taking my medicine. Come\nback to me in seven days\u2019 time.\u201d Those who faithfully carried out her\ninstructions are said to have been cured. Large numbers visited her\ndaily.\n\nIt was suspected that this woman was possessed by the spirit of a\nwater-demon. A watch was set upon her, and one night she was seen going\nfrom her house to a well in which, during the day, she often washed her\nhead while being consulted by patients. Those who watched her told that\nshe remained in human shape for a little time. Then she transformed\nherself into a white mist and entered the well. Protective charms were\nrecited, and she never returned. For many years afterwards, however,\nher house was haunted.\n\nDe Groot relates a story about one of the wives of an Emperor of China\nwho practised magic by means of reptiles and insects. Her object was to\nhave her son selected as crown prince. She was detected, and she and\nher son were imprisoned. Both became dragons before they died.\n\nDragons sometimes appear in the stories in the r\u00f4le of demon lovers. A\nJapanese legend tells of two boys who were the children of a man and a\ndragon woman. In time they changed into dragons and flew away. The\nwoman herself came to her lover in the shape of a snake, and then\ntransformed herself into a beautiful maiden.\n\nThis is a version of a very widespread story, found in the Old and New\nWorld, which was possibly distributed by ancient mariners and traders.\nIts most familiar form is the French legend of Melusina, the serpent\nwoman, who became the wife of Raymond of Poitou, and the mother of his\ndisfigured children. [146]\n\nA Chinese legend of the Melusina order deals with the fall of the Hea\nDynasty. A case of dragon foam which had been kept in the royal palace\nduring three dynasties was one day opened, and there issued forth a\ndragon in the form of a black lizard. It touched a young virgin, who\nbecame the mother of a girl whom she bore in secret and abandoned in a\nwood. It chanced that a poor man and his wife, who were childless,\nhearing the cries of the babe, took her to their house, where they\ncared for her tenderly. But the magicians came to know of the dragon\u2019s\ndaughter, of whom it had been prophesied that she would destroy the\ndynasty. Search was made for the child, and the foster-parents fled\nwith her to the land of Pao. They presented her to the king of the\nland, and she grew up to be a beautiful maid who was called Pao Sze.\nThe king loved her dearly, and when she gave birth to a son, he made\nher his queen, degrading Queen Chen and her son, the crown prince. Poh\nFuh, the son of the dragon woman, then became crown prince instead.\n\nNow Pao Sze, although very beautiful, was always sad of countenance.\nShe never smiled. The king did everything in his power to make her\nsmile and laugh. But his efforts were in vain.\n\n\u201cFain would I hear you laugh,\u201d said he.\n\nBut she only sighed and said: \u201cAsk me not to laugh.\u201d\n\nOne day the king, in his endeavours to break the spell of sadness that\nbound his beautiful queen, arranged that his lords should enter the\npalace and declare that an enemy army was at hand, and that the life of\nthe king was in peril.\n\nThis they did. The king was at the time making merry when his lords\nentered suddenly and said: \u201cYour Majesty, the enemy have come, while\nyou sit making merry, and they are resolved to slay you.\u201d\n\nThe king\u2019s sudden change of countenance made the dragon woman laugh.\nHis Majesty was well pleased.\n\nThen, as it chanced, the enemy came indeed. But when the alarm was\nraised, the lords thought it was a false one. The army took possession\nof the city, entered the palace, and slew the king. Pao Sze was taken\nprisoner, because of her fatal beauty; but she brought no joy to her\ncaptor and transformed herself into a dragon, departing suddenly and\ncausing a thunder-storm to rage.\n\nTo those who win their favour, the dragons are preservers even when\nthey come forth as destroyers. The story is told of how Wu, the son of\na farmer named Yin, won the favour of a dragon and rose to be a great\nman in China. When he was a boy of thirteen, he was sitting one day at\nthe garden gate, looking across the plain which is watered by a winding\nriver that flows from the mountains. He was a silent, dreamy boy, who\nhad been brought up by his grandmother, his mother having died when he\nwas very young, and it was his habit thus to sit in silence, thinking\nand observing things. Along the highway came a handsome youth riding a\nwhite horse. He was clad in yellow garments and seemed to be of high\nbirth. Four man-servants accompanied him, and one held an umbrella to\nshield him from the sun\u2019s bright rays. The youth drew up his horse at\nthe gate and, addressing Wu, said: \u201cSon of Yin, I am weary. May I enter\nyour father\u2019s house and rest a little time?\u201d\n\nThe boy bowed and said: \u201cEnter.\u201d\n\nYin then came forward and opened the gate. The noble youth dismounted\nand sat on a seat in the court, while his servants tethered the horse.\nThe farmer chatted with his visitor, and Wu gazed at them in silence.\nFood was brought, and when the meal was finished, the youth thanked him\nfor his hospitality and walked across the courtyard. Wu noticed that\nbefore one of the servants passed through the gate, he turned the\numbrella upside down. When the youth had mounted his horse, he turned\nto the silent, observant boy and said: \u201cI shall come again to-morrow.\u201d\n\nWu bowed and answered: \u201cCome!\u201d\n\nThe strangers rode away, and Wu sat watching them until they had\nvanished from sight.\n\nWhen evening came on, the farmer spoke to his son regarding the\nvisitors, and said: \u201cThe noble youth knew my name and yet I have never\nset eyes on him before.\u201d\n\nWu was silent for a time. Then he said: \u201cI cannot say who the youth is\nor who his attendants are.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou watched them very closely, my son. Did you note anything peculiar\nabout them?\u201d\n\nSaid Wu: \u201cThere were no seams in their clothing; the white horse had\nspots of five colours and scaly armour instead of hair. The hoofs of\nthe horse and the feet of the strangers did not touch the ground.\u201d\n[147]\n\nYin rose up with agitation and exclaimed: \u201cThen they are not human\nbeings, but spirits.\u201d\n\nSaid Wu: \u201cI watched them as they went westward. Rain-clouds were\ngathering on the horizon, and when they were a great distance off they\nall rose in the air and vanished in the clouds.\u201d [148]\n\nYin was greatly alarmed to hear this, and said: \u201cI must ask your\ngrandmother what she thinks of this strange happening.\u201d\n\nThe old woman was fast asleep, and as she had grown very deaf it was\ndifficult to awaken her. When at length she was thoroughly roused, and\nsat up with head and hands trembling with palsy, [149] Yin repeated to\nher in a loud voice all that Wu had told him.\n\nSaid the woman: \u201cThe horse, spotted with five colours, and with scaly\narmour instead of hair, is a dragon-horse. When spirits appear before\nhuman beings they wear magic garments. That is why the clothing of your\nvisitors had no seams. Spirits tread on air. As these spirits went\nwestward, they rose higher and higher in the air, going towards the\nrain-clouds. The youth was the Yellow Dragon. He is to raise a storm,\nand as he had four followers, the storm will be a great one. May no\nevil befall us.\u201d\n\nThen Yin told the old woman that one of the strangers had turned the\numbrella upside down before passing through the garden gate. \u201cThat is a\ngood omen,\u201d she said. Then she lay down and closed her eyes. \u201cI have\nneed of sleep,\u201d she murmured; \u201cI am very old.\u201d [150]\n\nHeavy masses of clouds were by this time gathering in the sky, and Yin\ndecided to sit up all night. Wu asked to be permitted to do the same,\nand his father consented. Then the boy lit a yellow lantern, put on a\nyellow robe that his grandmother had made for him, burned incense, and\nsat down reading charms from an old yellow book. [151]\n\nThe storm burst forth in fury just when dawn was breaking dimly. Wu\nthen closed his yellow book and went to a window. The thunder bellowed,\nthe lightning flamed, and the rain fell in torrents, and swollen\nstreams poured down from the mountains. Soon the river rose in flood\nand swept across the fields. Cattle gathered in groups on shrinking\nmounds that had become islands surrounded by raging water.\n\nYin feared greatly that the house would be swept away, and wished he\nhad fled to the mountains.\n\nAt night the cottage was entirely surrounded by the flood. Trees were\ncast down and swept away. \u201cWe cannot escape now,\u201d groaned Yin.\n\nWu sat in silence, displaying no signs of emotion. \u201cWhat do you think\nof it all?\u201d his father asked.\n\nWu reminded him that one of the strangers had turned the umbrella\nupside down, and added: \u201cBefore the dragon youth went away he spoke and\nsaid: \u2018I shall come again to-morrow\u2019.\u201d\n\n\u201cHe has come indeed,\u201d Yin groaned, and covered his face with his hands.\n\nSaid Wu: \u201cI have just seen the dragon. As I looked towards the sky he\nspread out his great hood above our home. He is protecting us now.\u201d\n\n\u201cAlas! my son, you are dreaming.\u201d\n\n\u201cListen, father, no rain falls on the roof.\u201d\n\nYin listened intently. Then he said: \u201cYou speak truly, my son. This is\nindeed a great marvel.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt was well,\u201d said Wu, \u201cthat you welcomed the dragon yesterday.\u201d\n\n\u201cHe spoke to you first, my son; and you answered, \u2018Enter\u2019. Ah, you have\nmuch wisdom. You will become a great man.\u201d\n\nThe storm began to subside, and Wu prevailed upon his father to lie\ndown and sleep. [152]\n\nMuch damage had been done by storm and flood, and large numbers of\nhuman beings and domesticated animals had perished. In the village,\nwhich was situated at the mouth of the valley, only a few houses were\nleft standing.\n\nThe rain ceased to fall at midday. Then the sun came out and shone\nbrightly, while the waters began to retreat.\n\nWu went outside and sat at the garden gate, as was his custom. In time\nhe saw the yellow youth returning from the west, accompanied by his\nfour attendants. When he came nigh, Wu bowed and the youth drew up his\nhorse and spoke, saying: \u201cI said I should return to-day.\u201d\n\nWu bowed.\n\n\u201cBut this time I shall not enter the courtyard,\u201d the youth added.\n\n\u201cAs you will,\u201d Wu said reverently.\n\nThe dragon youth then handed the boy a single scale which he had taken\nfrom the horse\u2019s neck, and said: \u201cKeep this and I shall remember you.\u201d\n\nThen he rode away and vanished from sight.\n\nThe boy re-entered the house. He awoke his father and said: \u201cThe storm\nis over and the dragon has returned to his pool.\u201d [153]\n\nYin embraced his son, and together they went to inform the old woman.\nShe awoke, sat up, and listened to all that was said to her. When she\nlearned that the dragon youth had again appeared and had spoken to Wu,\nshe asked: \u201cDid he give you ought before he departed?\u201d\n\nWu opened a small wooden box and showed her the scale that had been\ntaken from the neck of the dragon horse.\n\nThe woman was well pleased, and said: \u201cWhen the Emperor sends for you,\nall will be well.\u201d\n\nYin was astonished to hear these words, and exclaimed: \u201cWhy should the\nEmperor send for my boy?\u201d\n\n\u201cYou shall see,\u201d the old woman made answer as she lay down again.\n\nBefore long the Emperor heard of the great marvel that had been worked\nin the flooded valley. Men who had taken refuge on the mountains had\nobserved that no rain fell on Yin\u2019s house during the storm. So His\nMajesty sent couriers to the valley, and these bade Yin to accompany\nthem to the palace, taking Wu with him.\n\nOn being brought before the Emperor, Yin related everything that had\ntaken place. Then His Majesty asked to see the scale of the dragon\nhorse.\n\nIt was growing dusk when Wu opened the box, and the scale shone so\nbrightly that it illumined the throne-room so that it became as bright\nas at high noon.\n\nSaid the Emperor: \u201cWu shall remain here and become one of my magicians.\nThe yellow dragon has imparted to him much power and wisdom.\u201d\n\nThus it came about that Wu attained high rank in the kingdom. He found\nthat great miracles could be worked with the scale of the dragon horse.\nIt cured disease, and it caused the Emperor\u2019s army to win victories.\nWithal, Wu was able to foretell events, and he became a renowned\nprophet and magician.\n\nThe farmer\u2019s son grew to be very rich and powerful. A great house was\nerected for him close to the royal palace, and he took his grandmother\nand father to it, and there they lived happily until the end of their\ndays.\n\nThus did Wu, son of Yin, become a great man, because of the favour\nshown to him by the thunder-dragon, who had wrought great destruction\nin the river valley and taken toll of many lives.\n\nIt will be gathered from this story that the Chinese dragon is not\nalways a \u201cbeneficent deity\u201d, as some writers put it. Like certain other\ngods, he is a destroyer and preserver in one.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\nTHE KINGDOM UNDER THE SEA\n\n    The Vanishing Island of Far-Eastern Dragon-god\u2014Story of Priest who\n    visited Underworld\u2014Far-Eastern Dragon as \u201cPearl Princess\u201d\u2014Her Human\n    Lover\u2014An Indian Parallel\u2014Dragon Island in Ancient Egyptian\n    Story\u2014The Osirian Underworld\u2014Vanishing Island in Scotland and\n    Fiji\u2014Babylonian Gem-tree Garden\u2014Far-Eastern Quest of the Magic\n    Sword\u2014Parallels of Teutonic and Celtic Legend\u2014\u201cKusanagi Sword\u201d, the\n    Japanese \u201cExcalibur\u201d\u2014City of the Far-Eastern Sea-god\u2014Japanese\n    Vision of Gem-tree Garden\u2014Weapon Demons\u2014Star Spirits of Magic\n    Swords\u2014Swords that become Dragons\u2014Dragon Jewels\u2014Dragon\n    Transformations.\n\n\nThe palace of the dragon king is situated in the Underworld, which can\nbe entered through a deep mountain cave or a dragon-guarded well. In\nsome of the Chinese stories the dragon palace is located right below a\nremote island in the Eastern Sea. This island is not easily approached,\nfor on the calmest of days great billows dash against its shelving\ncrags. When the tide is high, it is entirely covered by water and\nhidden from sight. Junks may then pass it or even sail over it, without\ntheir crews being aware that they are nigh to the palace of the\nsea-god.\n\nSometimes a red light burns above the island at night. It is seen many\nmiles distant, and its vivid rays may be reflected in the heavens.\n\nIn a Japanese story the island is referred to as \u201ca glowing red mass\nresembling the rising sun\u201d. No mariner dares to approach it.\n\nThere was once a Chinese priest who, on a memorable night, reached the\ndragon king\u2019s palace by entering a deep cave on a mountain-side. It was\nhis pious desire to worship the dragon, and he went onward in the\ndarkness, reciting religious texts that gave him protection. The way\nwas long and dark and difficult, but at length, after travelling far,\nhe saw a light in front of him. He walked towards this light and\nemerged from the cavern to find that he was in the Underworld. Above\nhim was a clear blue firmament lit by the night sun. He beheld a\nbeautiful palace in the midst of a garden that glittered with gems and\nflowers, and directed his steps towards it. He reached a window the\ncurtain of which rustled in the wind. He perceived that it was a mass\nof gleaming pearls. Peering behind it, as it moved, he beheld a table\nformed of jewels. On this table lay a book of Buddhist prayers\n(sutras).\n\nAs he gazed with wonder and reverence, the priest heard a voice that\nspake and said: \u201cWho hath come nigh and why hath he come?\u201d\n\nThe priest answered in a low voice, giving his name, and expressing his\ndesire to behold the dragon king, whom he desired to worship.\n\nThen the voice made answer: \u201cHere no human eye can look upon me. Return\nby the way thou hast come, and I shall appear before thee at a distance\nfrom the cavern mouth.\u201d\n\nThe priest made obeisance, and returned to the world of men by the way\nhe had come. He went to the spot that the voice had indicated, and\nthere he waited, reading sacred texts. Soon the earth yawned and the\ndragon king arose in human shape, wearing a red hat and garment. The\npriest worshipped him, and then the dragon vanished from sight. On that\nsacred spot a temple was afterwards erected.\n\nOnce upon a time the daughter of the dragon king, who was named\n\u201cAbundant Pearl Princess\u201d, fell in love with a comely youth of Japan.\nHe was sitting, on a calm summer day, beneath a holy tree, and his\nimage was reflected in a dragon well. The princess appeared before him\nand cast a love spell over his heart. The youth was enchanted by her\nbeauty, and she led him towards the palace of the dragon king, the\n\u201cAbundant Pearl Prince\u201d. There she married him, and they lived together\nfor three years. Then the youth was possessed by a desire to return to\nthe world of men. In vain the princess pleaded with him to remain in\nthe palace. When, however, she found that his heart was set on leaving\nthe kingdom of the Underworld, she resolved to accompany him. He was\nconveyed across the sea on the back of a wani (a dragon in crocodile\nshape). The princess accompanied him, and he built a house for her on\nthe seashore.\n\nThe \u201cAbundant Pearl Princess\u201d was about to become a mother, and she\nmade the youth promise not to look upon her until after her child was\nborn. But he broke his vow. Overcome with curiosity, he peered into her\nchamber and saw that his wife had assumed the shape of a dragon. As\nsoon as the child was born, the princess departed in anger and was\nnever again beheld by her husband.\n\nThis story, it will be noted, is another Far-Eastern version of the\nMelusina legend.\n\nAn Indian version of the tale relates that the hero was a sailor, the\nsole survivor from a wreck, who swam to a small island in the midst of\nthe sea. When he reached the shore, he set out to look for food, but\nfound that the trees and shrubs, which dazzled him with their beauty,\nbore beautiful gems instead of fruit. At length, however, he found a\nfruit-bearing tree. He ate and was well content. Then he sat down\nbeside a well. As he stooped to drink of its waters, he had a vision of\nthe Underworld in all its beauty. At the bottom of the well sat a fair\nsea-maid, who looked upwards with eyes of love and beckoned him towards\nher. He plunged into the well and found himself in the radiant Kingdom\nof Ocean. The maid was the queen, and she took him as her consort. She\npromised him great wealth, but forbade him to touch the statue of an\nApsara [154], which was of gold and adorned with gems. But one day he\nplaced his hand on the right foot of the image. The foot darted forth\nand struck him with such force that he was driven through the sea and\nwashed ashore on his native coast. [155]\n\nThe oldest version of this type of story comes from Egypt. It has been\npreserved in a papyrus in the Hermitage collection at Petrograd, and is\nusually referred to as of Twelfth Dynasty origin (c. 2000 B.C.). A\nsailor relates that he was the sole survivor from a wreck. He had\nseized a piece of wood and swam to an island. After he recovered from\nexhaustion, he set out to search for food. \u201cI found there figs and\ngrapes, all manner of good herbs, berries and grain, melons of all\nkinds, fishes and birds.\u201d In time, he heard a noise \u201cas of thunder\u201d,\nwhile \u201cthe trees shook and the earth was moved\u201d. The ruler of the\nisland drew nigh. He was a human-headed serpent \u201cthirty cubits long,\nand his beard greater than two cubits; his body was as overlaid with\ngold, and his colour as that of true lapis-lazuli\u201d.\n\nThe story proceeds to tell that the sailor becomes the guest of the\nserpent, who makes speeches to him and introduces him to his family. It\nis stated that the island \u201chas risen from the waves and will sink\nagain\u201d. After a time the sailor is rescued by a passing vessel. [156]\nThis ancient Egyptian tale links with the Indian and Chinese versions\ngiven above. The blue serpent resembles closely the Chinese dragon; the\nvanishing island is common to Egypt and China. Like much else that came\nfrom Egypt, the island has a history. Long before the ancient mariners\ntransferred it to the ocean, it figured in the fused mythology of the\nSolar and Osirian cults. Horus hid from Set on a green floating island\non the Nile. He was protected by a serpent deity. His father, Osiris,\nis Judge and Ruler of the Underworld, and has a serpent shape as the\nNile god and the dragon of the abyss. The red light associated with the\nChinese dragon island of ocean recalls the Red Horus, a form of the\nsun-god, rising from the Nile of the Underworld, on which floated the\ngreen nocturnal sun, \u201cthe green bed of Horus\u201d and a form of his father\nOsiris as the solar deity of night.\n\nThe Osirian underworld idea appears to have given origin to the\nwidespread stories found as far apart as Japan and the British Isles\nregarding \u201cLand-under-Waves\u201d and \u201cthe Kingdom of the Sea\u201d. The green\nfloating island of Paradise is referred to in Scottish Gaelic\nfolk-tales. In Fiji the natives tell of a floating island that vanishes\nwhen men approach it. [157]\n\nIn some Chinese legends Egyptian conceptions blend with those of\nBabylonia. The Chinese priest who, in the dragon-king story, reached\nthe Underworld through a deep cave, followed in the footsteps of\nGilgamesh, who went in search of the \u201cPlant of Life\u201d\u2014the herb that\ncauses man \u201cto renew his youth like the eagle\u201d. [158] Gilgamesh entered\nthe cave of the Mountain of Mashi (Sunset Hill), and after passing\nthrough its night-black depths, reached the seaside garden in which, as\non the island in the Indian story, the trees bore, instead of fruit and\nflowers, clusters of precious stones. He beheld in the midst of this\ngarden of dazzling splendour the palace of Sabitu, the goddess, who\ninstructed him how to reach the island on which lived his ancestor\nPir-naphishtum (Ut-napishtim). Gilgamesh was originally a god, the\nearlier Gishbilgames of Sumerian texts. [159]\n\nThe Indian Hanuman (the monkey-god) similarly enters a deep cave when\nhe goes forth as a spy to Lanka, the dwelling-place of Ravana, the\ndemon who carried away Sita, wife of Rama, the hero of the R\u00e1m\u00e1yana. A\nsimilar story is told in the mythical history of Alexander the Great.\nThere are also western European legends of like character. Hercules\nsearches for the golden apples that grow in the Hesperian gardens.\n[160] In some Far Eastern stories the hero searches for a sword instead\nof an herb. \u201cEvery weapon,\u201d declares an old Gaelic saying, \u201chas its\ndemon.\u201d The same belief prevailed in China, where dragons sometimes\nappeared in the form of weapons, and in India, where the spirits of\ncelestial weapons appeared before heroes like Arjuna and Rama. [161] In\nthe Teutonic Balder story, as related by Saxo Grammaticus, [162] the\nhero is slain by a sword taken from the Underworld, where it was kept\nby Miming (Mimer), the god, in an Underworld cave. Hother, who gains\npossession of it, goes by a road \u201chard for mortal man to travel\u201d.\n\nIn the Norse version the sword becomes an herb\u2014the mistletoe, a\n\u201ccure-all\u201d, like the Chinese dragon herb and the Babylonian \u201cPlant of\nLife\u201d. Excalibur, the sword of King Arthur, was obtained from the\nlake-goddess (a British \u201cNaga\u201d), and was flung back into the lake\nbefore he died:\n\n\n        So flashed and fell the brand Excalibur:\n        But ere he dipped the surface, rose an arm\n        Clothed in white samite, mystic, wonderful,\n        And caught him by the hilt, and brandished him\n        Three times, and drew him under in the mere. [163]\n\n\nThe Japanese story of the famous Kusanagi sword is a Far-Eastern link\nbetween the Celestial herb- and weapon-legends of Asia and Europe. It\ntells that this magic sword was one of the three treasures possessed by\nthe imperial family of Japan, and that the warrior who wielded it could\nput to flight an entire army. At a naval battle the sword was worn by\nthe boy-Emperor, Antoku Tenn\u014d. He was unable to make use of it, and\nwhen the enemy were seen to be victorious, the boy\u2019s grandmother,\nNu-no-ama, clutched him in her arms and leapt into the sea.\n\nMany long years afterwards, when the Emperor Go Shirakawa sat on the\nimperial throne, his barbarian enemies declared war against him. The\nEmperor arose in his wrath and called for the Kusanagi sword. Search\nwas made for it in the temple of Kamo, where it was supposed to be in\nsafe-keeping. The Emperor was told, however, that it had been lost, and\nhe gave orders that ceremonies should be performed with purpose to\ndiscover where the sword was, and how it might be restored. One night,\nsoon afterwards, the Emperor dreamed a dream, in which a royal lady,\nwho had been dead for centuries, appeared before him and told that the\nKusanagi sword was in the keeping of the dragon king in his palace at\nthe bottom of the sea.\n\nNext morning the Emperor related his dream to his chief minister, and\nbade him hasten to the two female divers, Oimatsu and her daughter\nWakamatsu, who resided at Dan-no-ura, so that they might dive to the\nbottom of the sea and obtain the sword.\n\nThe divers undertook the task, and were conveyed in a boat to that part\nof the ocean where the boy-Emperor, Antoku Tenn\u014d, had been drowned. A\nreligious ceremony was performed, and the mother and daughter then\ndived into the sea. A whole day passed before they appeared again. They\ntold, as soon as they were taken into the boat, that they had visited a\nwonderful city at the bottom of the sea. Its gates were guarded by\nsilent sentinels who drew flashing swords when they (the divers)\nattempted to enter. They were consequently compelled to wait for\nseveral hours, until a holy man appeared and asked them what they\nsought. When they had informed him that they were searching for the\nKusanagi sword, he said that the city could not be entered without the\naid of Buddha.\n\nSaid the Emperor\u2019s chief minister: \u201cThe city is that of the god of the\nsea.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is very beautiful,\u201d Oimatsu told him; \u201cthe walls are of gold, and\nthe gates of pearl. Above the city walls are seen many-coloured towers\nthat gleam like to precious stones. When one of the gates was opened,\nwe perceived that the streets were of silver and the houses of\nmother-of-pearl.\u201d\n\nSaid the Emperor\u2019s chief minister: \u201cFain would I visit that city.\u201d\n\nHe looked over the side of the boat and sighed, \u201cI see naught but\ndarkness.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhen we dived and reached the sea-bottom,\u201d Oimatsu continued, \u201cwe\nbeheld a cave and entered it. Thick darkness prevailed, but we walked\non and on, groping as we went, until we reached a beautiful plain over\nwhich bends the sky, blue as sapphire. Trees growing on the plain bear\nclusters of dazzling gems that sparkle among their leaves.\u201d\n\n\u201cWere you not tempted to pluck them?\u201d asked the minister.\n\n\u201cEach tree is guarded by a poisonous snake,\u201d Oimatsu told him, \u201cand we\ndared not touch the gems.\u201d\n\nOn the following day the divers were provided with sutra-charms by the\nchief priest of the temple of Kamo.\n\nThey entered the sea again, and told, on their return next morning,\nthat they had visited the city, and reached the palace of the dragon\nking, which was guarded by invisible sentries. Two women came out of\nthe palace and bade them stand below an old pine tree, the bark of\nwhich glittered like the scales of a dragon. In front of them was a\nwindow. The blind was made of beautiful pearls, and was raised high\nenough to permit them to see right into the room.\n\nOne of the palace ladies said, \u201cLook through the window.\u201d\n\nThe women looked. In the room they saw a mighty serpent with a sword in\nhis mouth. He had eyes bright as the sun, and a blood-red tongue. In\nhis coils lay a little boy fast asleep. [164] The serpent looked round\nand, addressing the women, spoke and said: \u201cYou have come hither to\nobtain the Kusanagi sword, but I shall keep it for ever. It does not\nbelong to the Emperor of Japan. Many years ago it was taken from this\npalace by a dragon prince who went to dwell in the river Hi. He was\nslain by a hero of Japan. [165] This hero carried off the sword and\npresented it to the Emperor. After many years had gone past a\nsea-dragon took the form of a princess. She became the bride of a\nprince of Japan, and was the grandmother of the boy-Emperor with whom\nshe leapt into the sea during the battle of Dan-no-ura. This boy now\nlies asleep in my coils.\u201d\n\nThe Emperor of Japan sorrowed greatly when he was informed regarding\nthe dragon king\u2019s message. \u201cAlas!\u201d he said, \u201cif the Kusanagi sword\ncannot be obtained, the barbarians will defeat my army in battle.\u201d\n\nThen a magician told the Emperor that he knew of a powerful spell that\nwould compel the dragon to give up the sword. \u201cIf it is successful,\u201d\nthe Emperor said, \u201cI shall elevate you to the rank of a prince.\u201d\n\nThe spell was worked, and when next the female divers went to the\nKingdom under the Sea, they obtained the sword, with which they\nreturned to the Emperor. He used it in battle and won a great victory.\n\nThe sword was afterwards placed in a box and deposited in the temple of\nAtsuta, and there it remained for many years, until a Korean priest\ncarried it away. When, however, the Korean was crossing the ocean to\nhis own land, a great storm arose. The captain of the vessel knew it\nwas no ordinary storm, but one that had been raised by a god, and he\nspoke and said, \u201cWho on board this ship has offended the dragon king of\nOcean?\u201d\n\nThen said the Korean priest, \u201cI shall throw my sword into the sea as a\npeace-offering.\u201d\n\nHe did as he said he would, and immediately the storm passed away.\n\nThe dragon king caused the sword to be replaced in the temple from\nwhich the Korean had stolen it. There it lay for a century. Then it was\ncarried back to the palace of the dragon-god in his Kingdom under the\nSea.\n\nMagic or supernatural swords were possessed by the spirits of\ndragon-gods.\n\nAccording to a Chinese story in the Books of the Tsin Dynasty, an\nastrologer once discovered that among the stars there shone the spirits\nof two magic swords, and that they were situated right above the spot\nwhere the swords had, in time past, been concealed. Search was made for\nthese, and deep down in the earth was found a luminous stone chest.\nInside the chest lay two swords that bore inscriptions indicating that\nthey were dragon swords. As soon as they were taken out of the box,\ntheir star-spirits faded from the sky.\n\nThese dragon swords could not be retained by human beings for any\nprolonged period. Stories are told of swords being taken away by\nspirit-beings and even of swords leaping of their own accord from their\nsheaths into rivers or the ocean, and assuming dragon shape as soon as\nthey touched water. [166]\n\nSimilarly dragon jewels might be carried away by dragons who appeared\nin human shape\u2014either as beautiful girls or as crafty old men.\n\nIt was fortunate for mortals when dragons appeared as human beings, as\nanimals, or as fish that spoke with human voices. Dragons were unable\nto change their shapes when angry, or when they intended to avenge a\nwrong. A transformed dragon was therefore quite harmless.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX\n\nTHE ISLANDS OF THE BLEST\n\n    Souls on Islands\u2014Wells of Life and Trees or Plants of Life in\n    China, Ancient Egypt, Babylonia, &c.\u2014How Islands were Anchored\u2014The\n    Ocean Tortoise\u2014A Giant\u2019s Fishing\u2014The Mystery of Fu-sang\u2014Island of\n    Women\u2014Search for Fabled Isles\u2014Chinese and Japanese Stories\u2014How\n    Navigation was Stimulated\u2014Columbus and Eden\u2014Water of Life in\n    Ceylon, Polynesia, America, and Scotland\u2014Delos, a Floating\n    Island\u2014Atlantis and the Fortunate Isles\u2014Celtic Island\n    Paradise\u2014Apples and Nuts as Food of Life\u2014America as Paradise\u2014The\n    Indian Lotus of Life\u2014Buddhist Paradise with Gem-trees\u2014Diamond\n    Valley Legend in China and Greece\u2014Luck Gems and Immortality.\n\n\nThe Chinese and Japanese, like the Egyptians, Indians, Fijians, and\nothers, believed, as has been shown, in the existence of a floating and\nvanishing island associated with the serpent-god or dragon-god of\nocean. They believed, too, that somewhere in the Eastern Sea lay a\ngroup of islands that were difficult to locate or reach; which\nresembled closely, in essential particulars, the \u201cIslands of the\nBlest\u201d, or \u201cFortunate Isles\u201d, of ancient Greek writers. Vague beliefs\nregarding fabulous countries far across the ocean were likewise\nprevalent.\n\nIn some native accounts these Chinese Islands of the Blest are said to\nbe five in number, and named Tai Y\u00fc, Y\u00fcan Chiao, Fang Hu, Ying Chou,\nand P\u2019\u0113ng-lai; in others the number is nine, or ten, or only three. A\nsingle island is sometimes referred to; it may be located in the ocean,\nor in the Yellow River, or in the river of the Milky Way, the Celestial\nHo.\n\nThe islands are, in Chinese legend, reputed to be inhabited by those\nwho have won immortality, or by those who have been transported to\ntheir Paradise to dwell there in bliss for a prolonged period so that\nthey may be reborn on earth, or pass to a higher state of existence.\n\nIt is of special interest to note in connection with these islands that\nthey have Wells of Life and Trees or Herbs of Life. The souls drink the\nwater and eat the herb or fruit of the tree to prolong their existence.\nOne Chinese \u201cplant of life\u201d is li chih, \u201cthe fungus of immortality\u201d. It\nappears on Chinese jade ornaments as a symbol of longevity. \u201cThis\nfungus\u201d, writes Laufer, \u201cis a species of Agaric and considered a\nfelicitous plant, because it absorbs the vapours of the earth. In the\nLi Ki (ed. Couvreur, Vol. I, p. 643) it is mentioned as an edible\nplant. As a marvellous plant foreboding good luck, it first appeared\nunder the Han Dynasty, in 109 B.C., when it sprouted in the imperial\npalace Kan-ts\u02bc\u00fcan. The emperor issued an edict announcing this\nphenomenon, and proclaimed an amnesty in the empire except for\nrelapsing criminals. A hymn in honour of this divine plant was composed\nin the same year.\u201d [167]\n\nLike the Red Cloud herb the li chih had evidently a close connection\nwith the dragon-god.\n\nThe question arises whether the idea of an island of paradise was of\n\u201cspontaneous origin\u201d in China, or whether the ancient Chinese borrowed\nthe belief from intruders, or from peoples with whom they had constant\ntrading relations. There is evidence that as far back as the fourth\ncentury B.C., a Chinese explorer set out on an expedition to search for\nthe island or islands of Paradise in the Eastern Sea. But it is not\nknown at what precise period belief in the island arose and became\nprevalent.\n\nThe evidence afforded by the ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts is of\nspecial interest and importance in connection with the problem of\norigin. As far back as c. 2500 B.C. \u201cthe departed Pharaoh hoped to draw\nhis sustenance in the realm of Re (Paradise)\u201d from \u201cthe tree of life in\nthe mysterious isle in the midst of the Field of Offerings\u201d. The soul\nof the Pharaoh, according to the Pyramid Texts, set out, soon after\ndeath, in search of this island \u201cin company with the Morning Star. The\nMorning Star is a gorgeous green falcon, a solar divinity, identified\nwith Horus of Dewat.\u201d The Egyptian story of the soul\u2019s quest goes on to\ntell that \u201cthis King Pepi ... went to the great isle in the midst of\nthe Field of Offerings over which the gods make the swallows fly. The\nswallows are the Imperishable Stars. They give to this King Pepi the\ntree of life, whereof they live, that ye (Pepi and the Morning Star)\nmay at the same time live thereof.\u201d (Pyramid Texts, 1209\u201316). Sinister\nenemies \u201cmay contrive to deprive the king of the sustenance provided\nfor him....\u201d Charms were provided to protect the fruit of immortality.\n\u201cThe enemy against which these are most often directed in the Pyramid\nTexts is serpents.\u201d In the Japanese story of the Kusanagi sword, the\ngem-trees of the Otherworld are protected by dragons.\n\nThe Pyramid Texts devoted to the ancient Egyptian King Unis tell that a\ndivine voice cries to the gods Re and Thoth (sun and moon), saying,\n\u201cTake ye this King Unis with you that he may eat of that which ye eat,\nand that he may drink of that which ye drink.\u201d The magic well is\nreferred to as \u201cthe pool of King Unis\u201d. [168] The soul of the Pharaoh\nalso sails with the unwearied stars in the barque of the sun-god, not\nonly by day but by night, and as the Egyptian night sun was green, \u201cthe\ngreen bed of Horus\u201d, the idea of the floating solar island on the\nUnderworld Nile became fused with that of the island with the Well of\nLife and the Tree of Life. In the Pyramid Texts the Celestial\nOtherworld \u201cis\u201d, as Breasted says, \u201cnot only the east, but explicitly\nthe east of the sky\u201d. [169] Similarly the fabulous continents of the\nChinese were situated to the east of the mythical sea.\n\nThe Sumerians and early Babylonians had, like the Egyptians, their\nIslands of the Blest. Gilgamesh, who reaches these islands by crossing\nthe mythical sea, finds dwelling on one of them Ut-napishtim (the\nBabylonian Noah) and his wife. Ut-napishtim directs the hero to another\nisland on which there is a fountain of healing waters and a magic plant\nthat renews youth. Gilgamesh finds the Plant of Immortality, but as he\nstoops to drink water from a stream, a serpent darts forth and snatches\nthe plant from him. This serpent was a form of \u201cthe Earth Lion\u201d (the\ndragon). [170]\n\nThe Gilgamesh legend dates back beyond 2500 B.C. Like the Egyptian one\nenshrined in the Pyramid Texts, it has two main features, the Well of\nLife and the Tree or Plant of Life, which are situated on an island.\nThe island in time crept into the folk-tales. It was no doubt the\nprototype of the vanishing island of the Egyptian mariner\u2019s story\nalready referred to.\n\nIn the Shih Chi (Historical Record) of Ss\u016d-ma Ch\u02bcien, \u201cthe Herodotus of\nChina\u201d, a considerable part of which has been translated by Professor\nEd. Chavannes, [171] the three Chinese Islands of the Blest (San, Shen,\nShan) are named P\u2019\u0113ng-lai, Fang Chang, and Ying Chou. They are located\nin the Gulf of Chihli, but are difficult to reach because contrary\nwinds spring up and drive vessels away in the same manner as the vessel\nof Odysseus was driven away from Ithaca. It is told, however, that in\ndays of old certain fortunate heroes contrived to reach and visit the\nfabled isles. They told that they saw there palaces of gold and silver,\nthat the white men and women, the white beasts and the white birds ate\nthe Herb of Life and drank the waters of the Fountain of Life. On the\nisland of Ying Chou are great precipices of jade. A brook, the waters\nof which are as stimulating as wine, flows out of a jade rock. Those\nwho can reach the island and drink of this water will increase the\nlength of their lives. When the jade water is mixed with pounded\n\u201cfungus of immortality\u201d a food is provided which ensures a thousand\nyears of existence in the body.\n\nChinese legends tell that the lucky mariners who come within view of\nthe Isles of the Blest, behold them but dimly, as they seem to be\nenveloped in luminous clouds. When vessels approach too closely, the\nislands vanish by sinking below the waves, as do the fabled islands of\nGaelic stories.\n\nLieh Tze, alleged to be an early Taoist writer, [172] but whose\nwritings, or those writings attributed to him, were forged in the first\nor second century A.D., has located the islands to the east of the gulf\nof Chihli in that fathomless abyss into which flow all the streams of\nthe earth and the river of the Milky Way. Apparently this abyss is the\nMythical Sea which was located beyond the eastern horizon\u2014a part of the\nsea that surrounds the world. Into this sea or lake, according to the\nancient Egyptian texts, pours the celestial river, along which sails\nthe barque of the sun-god. The Nile was supposed by the Ancient\nEgyptians to be fed by the waters above the firmament and the waters\nbelow the earth. The Pyramid Texts, when referring to the birth of\nOsiris as \u201cnew water\u201d (the inundation), say:\n\n\n        The waters of life that are in the sky come;\n        The waters of life that are in the earth come.\n        The sky burns for thee,\n        The earth trembles for thee. [173]\n\n\nIn India the Ganges was likewise fed by the celestial Ganges that\npoured down from the sky.\n\nLieh Tze\u2019s Islands of the Blest are five in number, and are inhabited\nby the white souls of saintly sages who have won immortality by having\ntheir bodies rendered transparent, or after casting off their bodies as\nsnakes cast off their skins. All the animals on these islands are\nlikewise white and therefore pure and holy. The spirit-dwellings are of\ngold and jade, and in the groves and gardens the trees and plants bear\npearls and precious stones. Those who eat of the fungus, or of perfumed\nfruit, renew their youth and acquire the power of floating like down\nthrough the air from island to island.\n\nAt one time the islands drifted about on the tides of ocean, but the\nLord of All who controls the Universe, having been appealed to by the\nTaoist sages who dwelt on the isles, caused three great Atlas-turtles\nto support each island with their heads so that they might remain\nsteadfast. These turtles are relieved by others at the end of sixty\nthousand years. In like manner, in Indian mythology, the tortoise\nKurma, an avatar of the god Vishnu, supports Mount Meru when it is\nplaced in the Sea of Milk. The Japanese Creator has a tortoise form\nthat supports the world-tree, on the summit of which sits a four-armed\ngod. In China the tortoise had divine attributes. Tortoise shell is a\nsymbol of unchangeability, and a symbol of rank when used for court\ngirdles. The tortoise was also used for purposes of divination. [174]\n\nA gigantic mythical tortoise is supposed, in the Far East, to live in\nthe depths of ocean. It has one eye situated in the middle of its body.\nOnce every three thousand years it rises to the surface and turns over\non its back so that it may see the sun.\n\nOnce upon a time, a legend tells, the Atlas-turtles that support the\nIslands of the Blest suffered from a raid by a wandering giant. As the\nIndian god Vishnu and the Greek Poseidon could cross the Universe at\nthree strides, so could this giant pass quickly from country to country\nand ocean to ocean. One or two strides were sufficient for him to reach\nthe mythical ocean from the Lung-po mountains. He sat on the mountain\nsummit of one of the Islands of the Blest, and cast his fishing-line\ninto the deep waters. [175] The Atlas-turtles were unable to resist the\nlure of his bait and, having hooked and captured six of them, he threw\nthem over his back and returned home in triumph. These turtles had been\nsupporting the two islands, Tai Y\u00fc and Y\u00fcan Chiao, which, having been\nset free, were carried by powerful tides towards the north, where they\nstranded among the ice-fields. The white beings that inhabited these\nislands were thus separated from their fellow saints on the other three\nislands, Fang Hu, Ying Chou, and P\u02bc\u0113ng-lai. We are left to imagine how\nlonely they felt in isolation. No doubt, they suffered from the evils\nassociated with the north\u2014the \u201cairt\u201d of drought and darkness. The giant\nand his tribesmen were punished by the Lord of the Universe for this\nact by having their stature and their kingdom greatly reduced.\n\nOn the fabled islands, the white saints cultivate and gather the\n\u201cfungus of immortality\u201d, as the souls in the Paradise of Osiris\ncultivate and harvest crops of barley and wheat and dates. Like the\nOsirian corn, the island fungus sprouts in great profusion. This fungus\nhas not only the power to renew youth but even to restore the dead to\nlife. The \u201cHerodotus of China\u201d has recorded that once upon a time\nleaves of the fungus were carried by ravens to the mainland from one of\nthe islands, and dropped on the faces of warriors slain in battle. The\nwarriors immediately came to life, although they had lain dead for\nthree days. The \u201cwater of life\u201d had similarly reanimating properties.\n\nThe famous magician, Tung-fang Shuo, who lived in second century B.C.,\ntells that the sacred islands are ten in number, there being two\ndistinct groups of five. One of the distant islands is named Fu-sang,\nand it has been identified by different western writers with\nCalifornia, Mexico, Japan, and Formosa. Its name signifies \u201cthe Land of\nthe Leaning Mulberry\u201d. The mulberries are said to grow in pairs and to\nbe of great height. Once every nine thousand years they bear fruit\nwhich the saints partake of. This fruit adds to their saintly\nqualities, and gives them power to soar skyward like celestial birds.\n\nBeyond Fu-sang is a country of white women who have hairy bodies. In\nthe spring season they enter the river to bathe and become pregnant,\nand their children are born in the autumn. The hair of their heads is\nso long that it trails on the ground behind them. Instead of breasts,\nthey have white locks or hairy organs at the back of their necks from\nwhich comes a liquor that nourishes their children. These women,\naccording to some accounts, have no husbands, and take flight when they\nsee a man. A historian who, by the way, gives them husbands, has\nrecorded that a Chinese vessel was once driven by a tempest to this\nwonderful island. The crew landed and found that the women resembled\nthose of China, but that the men had heads like dogs and voices that\nsounded like the barking of dogs. Evidently the legends about the\nfabled islands became mixed up with accounts of the distant islands of\na bearded race reached by seafarers.\n\nThere are records of several attempts that were made by pious Chinese\nEmperors to discover the Islands of the Blest, with purpose to obtain\nthe \u201cfungus of immortality\u201d. One mariner named Hsu F\u00fc, who was sent to\nexplore the Eastern Sea so that the fungus might be brought to the\nroyal palace, returned with a wonderful story. He said that a god had\nrisen out of the sea and inquired if he was the Emperor\u2019s\nrepresentative. \u201cI am,\u201d the mariner made answer.\n\n\u201cWhat seek ye?\u201d asked the sea-god.\n\n\u201cI am searching for the plant that has the power to prolong human\nlife,\u201d Hsu F\u00fc answered.\n\nThe god then informed the Emperor\u2019s messenger that the offerings he\nbrought were not sufficient to be regarded as payment for this magic\nplant. He was willing, however, that Hsu F\u00fc should see the fungus for\nhimself so that, apparently, the Emperor might be convinced it really\nexisted.\n\nThe vessel was then piloted in a south-easterly direction until the\nIslands of the Blest were reached. Hsu F\u00fc was permitted to land on\nP\u2019\u0113ng-lai, the chief island, on which was situated the golden palace of\nthe dragon king of ocean. There he saw newly-harvested crops of the\n\u201cfungus of immortality\u201d guarded by a great brazen dragon of ferocious\naspect. Not a leaf could he obtain, however, to bring back to China.\n\nThe pious mariner knelt before the sea-god and asked him what offering\nhe required from the Emperor in return for the fungus. He was informed\nthat many youths and girls would have to be sent to P\u2019\u0113ng-lai.\n\nOn ascertaining the price demanded by the god for the magic fungus, the\nEmperor dispatched a fleet of vessels with three thousand young men and\nvirgins. Hsu F\u00fc was placed in command of the expedition. But he never\nreturned again to China. According to some, he and his followers still\nreside on P\u2019\u0113ng-lai; others assert that he reached a distant land,\nsupposed to be Japan, where he founded a state over which he reigned as\nking.\n\nOther Chinese Emperors were similarly anxious to discover the fabled\nislands, and many expeditions were sent to sea. One exasperated monarch\nis said to have had nearly five hundred magicians and scholars put to\ndeath because their efforts to assist him in discovering the islands\nhad proved to be futile.\n\nAnother Emperor fitted out a naval expedition which he himself\ncommanded. Each vessel was packed with soldiers who in mid-ocean raised\na great clamour, blowing horns, beating drums, and shouting in chorus,\nwith purpose to terrify the gods of ocean and compel them to reveal the\nlocation of the Isle of Immortality. In time the dragon-god appeared in\nhis fiercest shape, with the head of a lion and a shark-like body 500\nfeet in length. The Emperor ordered his fleet to surround the god, who\nhad apparently come with the intention of preventing the ships going\nany farther. A fierce battle ensued. Thousands of poisoned arrows were\ndischarged against the god, who was so grievously wounded that his\nblood tinged the sea over an area of 10,000 miles. But despite this\nvictory achieved by mortals, the famous island on which grew the herb\nof immortality was never reached. On the same night the Emperor had to\nengage in single combat with the dragon-god, who came against him in a\ndream. This was a combat of souls, for in sleep, as was believed, the\nsoul leaves the body. The soul of the Emperor fared badly. On the day\nthat followed his majesty was unable to rise from his couch, and he\ndied within the space of seven days.\n\nIn Japanese stories the island of P\u2019\u0113ng-lai is referred to as Horaizan.\nIt has three high mountains, on the chief of which, called Horai, grows\nthe Tree of Life. This tree has a trunk and branches of gold, roots of\nsilver, and gem-leaves and fruit. In some stories there are three\ntrees, the peach, the plum, and the pine. The \u201cfungus of immortality\u201d\nis also referred to. It grows in the shade of one or another of the\nholy trees, usually the pine. There is evidence, too, of the belief\nthat a \u201cgrass of immortality\u201d grew on the sacred island as well as the\nfamous fungus. The life-giving fountain was as well known to the\nJapanese as it was to the Chinese and others.\n\nA story is told of a Japanese Gilgamesh, named Sentaro, who, being\nafraid of death, summoned to his aid an immortal saint so that he might\nbe enabled to obtain the \u201cgrass of immortality\u201d. The saint handed him a\ncrane made of paper which, when mounted, came to life and carried\nSentaro across the ocean to Mount Horai. There he found and ate the\nlife-giving grass. When, however, he had lived for a time on the island\nhe became discontented. The other inhabitants had already grown weary\nof immortality and wished they could die. Sentaro himself began to pine\nfor Japan and, in the end, resolved to mount his paper crane and fly\nover the sea. But after he left the island he doubted the wisdom of his\nimpulsive resolution. The result was that the crane, which moved\naccording to his will, began to crumple up and drop through the air.\nSentaro was greatly scared, and once again yearned so deeply for his\nnative land that the crane, straightened and strengthened by his\nyearning, rose into the air and continued its flight until Japan was\nreached.\n\nAnother Japanese hero, named Wasobioye, the story of whose wanderings\nis retold by Professor Chamberlain, [176] once set out in a boat to\nescape troublesome visitors. The day was the eighth of the eighth month\nand the moon was full. Suddenly a storm came on, which tore the sail to\nshreds and brought down the mast. Wasobioye was unable to return home,\nand his boat was driven about on the wide ocean for the space of three\nmonths. Then he reached the Sea of Mud, on which he could not catch any\nfish. He was soon reduced to sore straits and feared he would die of\nhunger, but, in time, he caught sight of land and was greatly cheered.\nHis boat drifted slowly towards a beautiful island on which there were\nthree great mountains. As he drew near to the shore, he found, to his\ngreat joy, that the air was laden with most exquisite perfumes that\ncame from the flowers and tree-blossoms of that wonderful isle. He\nlanded and found a sparkling well. When he had drunk of the water his\nstrength was revived, and a feeling of intense pleasure tingled in his\nveins. He rose up refreshed and happy and, walking inland, soon met\nwith Jofuku the sage, known in China as Hsu F\u00fc, who had been sent to\nthe Island of the Blest (P\u2019\u0113ng-lai) by the Emperor She Wang Ti to\nobtain the \u201cfungus of immortality\u201d, with the youths and virgins, but\nhad never returned.\n\nWasobioye was taken by the friendly sage to the city of the immortals,\nwho spent their lives in the pursuit of pleasure. He found, however,\nthat these people had grown to dislike their monotonous existence, and\nwere constantly striving to discover some means whereby their days\nwould be shortened. They refused to partake of mermaid flesh because\nthis was a food that prolonged life; they favoured instead goldfish and\nsoot, a mixture which was supposed to be poisonous. The manners of the\npeople were curious. Instead of wishing one another good health and\nlong life, they wished for sickness and a speedy death. Congratulations\nwere showered on any individual who seemed to be indisposed, and he was\nsympathized with when he showed signs of recovering.\n\nWasobioye lived on the island for nearly a quarter of a century. Then,\nhaving grown weary of the monotonous life, he endeavoured to commit\nsuicide by partaking of poisonous fruit, fish, and flesh. But all his\nattempts were in vain. It was impossible for anyone to die on that\nisland. In time he came to know that he could die if he left it, but he\nhad heard of other wonderful lands and wished to visit them before his\ndays came to an end. Then, instead of eating poisonous food, he began\nto feast on mermaid flesh so that his life might be prolonged for many\nyears beyond the allotted span. Thereafter he visited the Land of\nShams, the Land of Plenty, &c. His last visit was paid to the Land of\nGiants. Wasobioye is usually referred to as the \u201cJapanese Gulliver\u201d.\n\nThe search for the mythical islands with their \u201cwells of life\u201d and\n\u201ctrees\u201d or \u201cplants of life\u201d is referred to in the stories of many lands\nand even in history, especially the history of exploration, for the\nworld-wide search for the Earthly Paradise appears to have exercised\ndecided influence in stimulating maritime enterprise in medi\u00e6val as\nwell as prehistoric times. Columbus searched for the island paradise in\nwhich the \u201cwell\u201d and \u201ctree\u201d were to be found. He sailed westward so as\nto approach the paradise \u201ceastward in Eden\u201d, [177] through \u201cthe back\ndoor\u201d as it were, and wrote: \u201cThe saintly theologians and philosophers\nwere right when they fixed the site of the terrestrial paradise in the\nextreme Orient, because it is a most temperate clime; and the lands\nwhich I have just discovered are the limits of the Orient.\u201d In another\nletter he says: \u201cI am convinced that there lies the terrestrial\nparadise\u201d. [178]\n\nAs Ellis reminds us, \u201cthe expedition which led to the discovery of\nFlorida was undertaken not so much from a desire to explore unknown\ncountries\u201d, as to find a \u201ccelebrated fountain, described in a tradition\nprevailing among the inhabitants of Puerto Rico, as existing in Binini,\none of the Lucayo Islands. It was said to possess such restorative\npowers as to renew youth and the vigour of every person who bathed in\nits waters. It was in search of this fountain, which was the chief\nobject of their expedition, that Ponce de Leon ranged through the\nLucayo Islands and ultimately reached the shores of Florida.\u201d\n\nEllis refers to this voyage because he found that the mythical island\nand well were believed in by the Polynesians. He refers, in this\nconnection, to the \u201cHawaiian account of the voyage of Kamapiikai to the\nland where the inhabitants enjoyed perpetual health and youthful\nbeauty, where the wai ora (life-giving fountain) removed every internal\nmalady, and every external deformity or paralysed decrepitude, from all\nthose who were plunged beneath its salutary waters\u201d. Ellis anticipates\nthe views of modern ethnologists when dealing with the existence of the\nsame beliefs among widely-separated peoples. He says: \u201cA tabular view\nof a number of words in the Malayan, Asiatic, or the Madagasse, the\nAmerican, and the Polynesian languages, would probably show that, at\nsome remote period, either the inhabitants of these distant parts of\nthe world maintained frequent intercourse with each other, or that\ncolonies from some one of them originally peopled, in part or\naltogether, the others\u201d. He adds, \u201cEither part of the present\ninhabitants of the South Sea Islands came originally from America, or\ntribes of the Polynesians have, at some remote period, found their way\nto the (American) continent\u201d. [179]\n\nW. D. Westervelt, in his Legends of Old Honolulu, heads his old\nHawaiian story \u201cThe Water of Life of Ka-ne\u201d, which he himself has\ncollected, with the following extract from the Maori legend of New\nZealand:\n\n\n    When the moon dies, she goes to the living water of Ka-ne, to the\n    water which can restore all life, even the moon to the path in the\n    sky.\n\n\nIn the Hawaiian form of the legend the hero, who found the water so\nthat his sick father, the king, might be cured, met with a dwarf who\ninstructed him where to go and what to do.\n\nA russet dwarf similarly figures in the Gaelic story of Diarmaid\u2019s\nsearch for the cup and the water of life so that the daughter of the\nKing of Land-under-Waves might be cured of her sickness. This dwarf\ntakes the Gaelic hero across a ferry and instructs him how to find the\ncup and the water. [180]\n\nThe Polynesians\u2019 ghosts went westward. In their Paradise was a\nbread-fruit tree. \u201cThis tree had two branches, one towards the east and\none towards the west, both of which were used by the ghosts. One was\nfor leaping into eternal darkness into Po-pau-ole, the other was a\nmeeting-place with the helpful gods.\u201d [181] Turner tells that \u201csome of\nthe South Sea Islanders have a tradition of a river in their imaginary\nworld of spirits, called the \u2018water of life\u2019. It was supposed that if\nthe aged, when they died, went and bathed there, they became young and\nreturned to earth to live another life over again.\u201d [182] Yudhishthira,\none of the heroes of the Aryo-Indian epic the Mah\u00e1bh\u00e1rata, becomes\nimmortal after bathing in the celestial Ganges. [183] In the \u00c6neid, the\nhero sees souls in Paradise drinking of the water of Lethe so that they\nmay forget the past and be reborn among men.\n\nSir John de Mandeville, the fourteenth-century traveller and compiler\nof traveller\u2019s stories, located the fountain of life at the base of a\ngreat mountain in Ceylon. This \u201cfayr well ... hathe odour and savour of\nall spices; and at every hour of the day, he chaungethe his odour and\nhis savour dyversely. And whoso drinkethe 3 times fasting of that watre\nof that welle, he is hool (whole) of alle maner (of) sykenesse that he\nhathe. And they that duellen (dwell) there and drynken often of that\nwelle, thei nevere hau (have) sykenesse, and thei semen (seem) alle\nweys yonge.\u201d Sir John says that he drank of the water on three or four\noccasions and fared the better for it. Some men called it the \u201cWelle of\nYouthe\u201d. They had often drunk from it and seemed \u201calle weys yongly\n(youthful)\u201d and lived without sickness. \u201cAnd men seyn that that welle\ncomethe out of Paradys, and therefore it is so vertuous.\u201d The \u201ctree of\nlife\u201d is always situated near the \u201cwell of life\u201d in medi\u00e6val\nliterature. At Heliopolis in Egypt a well and tree are connected by\nCoptic Christians and Mohammedans with Christ. When Joseph and Mary\nfled to Egypt they rested under this tree, according to Egyptian\nbelief, and the clothes of the holy child were washed in the well.\nHeliopolis, the Biblical On, is \u201cthe city of the sun\u201d, and the Arabs\nstill call the well the \u201cspring of the sun\u201d. According to ancient\nEgyptian belief the sun-god Ra washed his face in it every morning. The\ntree, a sycamore, was the mother-goddess.\n\nThat European ideas regarding a floating island or islands were of\nEgyptian origin and closely connected with the solar cult, is suggested\nby the classical legend regarding Delos, one of the Cyclades. It was\nfabled to have been raised to the surface of the sea at the command of\nPoseidon, so that the persecuted goddess Latona, who was pursued from\nland to land by a python, as the Egyptian Isis was pursued by Set,\nmight give birth there to Apollo. On Delos the image of Apollo was in\nthe shape of a dragon, and delivered oracles. It was unlawful for any\nperson to die on Delos, and those of its inhabitants who fell sick were\ntransported to another island.\n\nDelos was a floating island like the floating island of the Nile, \u201cthe\ngreen bed of Horus\u201d on which that son of Osiris and Isis hid from Set.\nThe most ancient Apollo was the son of cripple Hephaistos. Cripple\nHorus was, in one of his forms, a Hephaistos and a metal-worker. Homer\nknew of the fabled island of Apollo. The swineherd, addressing\nOdysseus, says, [184] \u201cThere is a certain isle called Syria ... over\nabove Ortygia, and there are the turning places of the sun. It is not\nvery great in compass, though a goodly isle, rich in herds, rich in\nflocks, with plenty of corn and wine. Dearth never enters the land, and\nno hateful sickness falls on wretched mortals.\u201d\n\nThe later Greeks located the island Paradise in the Atlantic, and it is\nreferred to as \u201cAtlantis\u201d, the Islands of the Blest and the Fortunate\nIsles (fortunatae insulae). Hercules set out to search for the golden\napples, the fruit of immortality that grow in\n\n\n            those Hesperian gardens famed of old,\n        Fortunate fields and groves and flowery vales.\n\n\nThe garden of Paradise, cared for by those celebrated nymphs, the\ndaughters of Hesperus, brother of Atlas\u2014Hesperus is the planet Venus as\nan evening star\u2014was also located among the Atlas mountains in Africa.\nThere the tree of life, which bore the golden apples, was guarded by\nthe nymphs and by a sleepless dragon, like the gem-trees in the\nParadises of China and Japan.\n\nAccording to Diodorus, the Ph\u0153nicians discovered the island Paradise.\nPlutarch placed it at a distance of five days\u2019 voyage to the west of\nBrittia (England and Scotland), apparently confusing it with Ireland\n(the \u201csacred isle\u201d of the ancients), or with an island in the Hebrides.\n\nThe island of immortals in the western ocean is found in Gaelic folk-\nand manuscript-literature.\n\nAmong the Gaelic names of Paradise is that of \u201cEmain Ablach\u201d (Emain\nrich in apples). In one description a youth named Conla and his bride\nVeniusa are referred to. \u201cNow the youth was so that in his hand he held\na fragrant apple having the hue of gold; a third part of it he would\neat, and still, for all he consumed, never a whit would it be\ndiminished. The fruit it was that supported the pair of them and when\nonce they had partaken of it, nor age nor dimness could affect them.\u201d A\npart of this Paradise was reserved for \u201cmonarchs, kings, and tribal\nchiefs\u201d. Teigue, a Celtic Gilgamesh who visited the island, saw there\n\u201ca thickly furnished wide-spreading apple tree that bore blossom and\nripe fruit\u201d at the same time. He asked regarding the great tree and was\ninformed that its fruit was \u201cmeat\u201d intended to \u201cserve the congregation\u201d\nwhich was to inhabit the mansion. [185] The rowan berry and hazel nut\nwere also to the Gaels fruits of immortality. There once came to St.\nPatrick \u201cfrom the south\u201d a youth wearing a crimson mantle fixed by a\nfibula of gold over a yellow shirt. He brought \u201ca double armful of\nround yellow-headed nuts and of beautiful golden-yellow apples\u201d. [186]\nThe Gaelic Islands of the Blest are pictured in glowing colours:\n\n\n        Splendours of every colour glisten\n        Throughout the gentle-voiced plains.\n        Joy is known, ranked around music\n        In the southern Silver-cloud Plain.\n        Unknown is wailing or treachery ...\n        There is nothing rough or hoarse ...\n        Without grief, without sorrow, without death,\n        Without sickness, without debility ...\n        A lovely land\n        On which the many blossoms drop. [187]\n\n\nThe hero Bran sets out to search for the islands, and, like one of the\nChinese mariners, meets with the sea-god, who addresses him and tells\nof the wonders of the island Paradise with its trees of life.\n\n\n        A wood laden with beautiful fruit ...\n        A wood without decay, without defect,\n        On which is a foliage of a golden hue. [188]\n\n\nThe green floating and vanishing island and the well of life are common\nin Scottish Gaelic folk-lore. It was believed that the life-giving\nwater had greatest potency if drunk at dawn of the day which was of\nequal length with the night preceding it, and that it should be drunk\nbefore a bird sipped at the well and before a dog barked. The\nScandinavians heard of the Gaelic Island of the West during their\nprolonged sojourn in the British Isles and Ireland, and referred to it\nas \u201cIreland hit Mikla\u201d (\u201cThe Mickle Ireland\u201d), and the mythical island\nwas afterwards identified with Vinland, believed to be America, which\nwas apparently reached by the hardy sea-rovers.\n\nThe Earthly Paradise was also located in Asia. In the mythical\nhistories of Alexander a hero sets forth like Gilgamesh on the quest of\nthe Water of Life. He similarly enters a cavern of a great mountain in\nthe west which is guarded by a monster serpent. In one version of the\ntale this hero carries a jewel that shines in darkness\u2014a jewel that\nfigures prominently in Chinese lore (Chap. XIII)\u2014and passes through the\ndark tunnel. He reaches the Well of Life and plunges into it. When he\ncame out he found that his body had turned a bluish-green colour, and\never afterwards he was called \u201cEl Khidr\u201d, which means \u201cGreen\u201d. [189]\n\nThe Well of Life is referred to in the Koran. Commentators explain a\nreference to a vanishing fish by telling that Moses or Joshua carried a\nfried fish when they reached the Well of Life. Some drops of the water\nfell on the fish, which at once leapt out of the basket into the sea\nand swam away.\n\nIn the Aryo-Indian epic, the Mah\u00e1bh\u00e1rata, the hero Bhima sets out in\nsearch of the Lake of Life and the Lotus of Life. He overcomes the\nYaksha-guardians of the lake, and when he bathes in the lake his wounds\nare healed. [190]\n\nThere are glowing descriptions in Buddhist literature of the Paradise\nreached by those who are to qualify for Buddhahood. A proportion of the\nChinese Taoist inhabitants of the Islands of the Blest similarly wait\nfor the time when they will pass into another state of existence. A\nsimilar belief prevailed in the West. Certain Celtic heroes, like\nArthur, Ossian, Fionn (Finn), Brian Boroimhe, and Thomas the Rhymer,\nlive in Paradise for long periods awaiting the time when they are to\nreturn to the world of men, as do Charlemagne, Frederick of Barbarossa,\nWilliam Tell, and others on the Continent.\n\nIn the Buddhist Paradise the pure beings have faces \u201cbright and\nyellowish\u201d, yellow being the sacred colour of the Buddhist as it is the\ncolour of the chief dragon of China. In this Paradise is the Celestial\nGanges and the great Bodhi-tree, \u201ca hundred yojanas in height\u201d, which\nprolongs life and increases \u201ctheir stock of merit\u201d. Their \u201cmerit\u201d may\n\u201cgrow in the following shapes, viz. either in gold, in silver, in\njewels, in beryls, in shells, in stones, in corals, in amber, in red\npearls, in diamonds, &c., or in any one of the other jewels; or in all\nkinds of perfumes, in flowers, in garlands, in ointment, in\nincense-powder, in cloaks, in umbrellas, in flags, in banners, or in\nlamps; or in all kinds of dancing, singing, and music\u201d. [191]\n\nThe gem-trees abound in this Paradise. \u201cOf some trees\u201d, one account\nruns, \u201cthe trunks are of coral, the branches of red pearls, the small\nbranches of diamonds, the leaves of gold, the flowers of silver, and\nthe fruits of beryl.\u201d [192] In the \u201ceastern quarter\u201d there are \u201cBuddha\ncountries equal to the sand of the River Ganga (Ganges)\u201d. The purified\nbeings in the lands \u201csurpass the light of the sun and moon, by the\nlight of wisdom, and by the whiteness, brilliancy, purity, and beauty\nof their knowledge\u201d. [193] There are references to \u201cthe king of jewels\nthat fulfils every wish\u201d. It has \u201cgolden-coloured rays excessively\nbeautiful, the radiance of which transforms itself into birds\npossessing the colours of a hundred jewels, which sing out harmonious\nnotes\u201d. [194] The purified may become like Buddha \u201cwith bodies bright\nas gold and blue eyes\u201d, for \u201cthe eyes of Buddha are like the water of\nthe four great oceans; the blue and the white are quite distinct\u201d.\n[195] The imaginations of the Buddhists run riot in their descriptions\nof the Land of Bliss, and the stream of glowing narrative carries with\nit many pre-Buddhist beliefs about metals and precious stones, \u201cred\npearls, blue pearls\u201d, and so on, and \u201cnets of gold adorned with the\nemblems of the dolphin, the svastika (swashtika), the nandy\u0101varta, and\nthe moon\u201d. [196] In their Paradise even the river mud is of gold. The\nreligious ideas of the early searchers for \u201csoul substance\u201d in the form\nof metals and gems are thus found to be quaintly blended with Buddhist\nconceptions of the Earthly Paradise.\n\nIn some Chinese and Japanese stories the souls of the dead are carried\nto Paradise by birds, and especially by the crane or stork, which takes\nthe place of the Indian man-eagle Garuda (Japanese Gario, the\nwoman-bird with crane\u2019s legs), and of the Babylonian eagle that carried\nthe hero Etana to heaven. The saints who reach the Indian Paradise of\nUttara Kuru, situated at the sources of the River Indus, among the\nHimalayan mountains, and originally the homeland of the Kuru tribe of\nAryans, are supposed to have their lives prolonged for centuries. When\nthey die their bodies are carried away by gigantic birds and dropped\ninto mountain recesses. The belief enshrined in stories of this kind\nmay be traced to the wide-spread legend of the Diamond Valley. Laufer\nnotes that a version of it occurs in the Liang se kung ki, \u201cone of the\nmost curious books of Chinese literature\u201d. A prince is informed by\nscholars regarding the wonders of distant lands. \u201cIn the west, arriving\nat the Mediterranean,\u201d one Chinese story runs, \u201cthere is in the sea an\nisland of two hundred square miles. On this island is a large forest,\nabundant in trees with precious stones, and inhabited by over ten\nthousand families. These men show great ability in cleverly working\ngems, which are named for the country Fu-lin (Syria). In a\nnorth-westerly direction from the island is a ravine, hollowed out like\na bowl, more than a thousand feet deep. They throw flesh into this\nvalley. Birds take it up in their beaks, whereupon they drop the\nprecious stones.\u201d Here Fu-lin, in the Mediterranean area, is referred\nto as early as the beginning of the sixth century.\n\nThe Chinese Diamond Valley story is \u201can abridged form of a well-known\nWestern legend\u201d. In a version of it in the writings of Epiphanius,\nBishop of Constantia in Cyprus (c. 315\u2013403), the valley is situated in\n\u201ca desert of great Scythia\u201d, and the precious stones are gathered on\nthe mountains, whence the eagles carry them. The eagle-stone is \u201cuseful\nto women in aiding parturition\u201d. Laufer notes that Pliny knew about the\nparturition stone, and that the beliefs associated with it are found in\nEgypt and India. In the latter country it occurs in legends about the\ncombats between the eagle and serpent. [197]\n\nA Scottish Gaelic folk-story tells of a man who had a combat with an\neagle which carried him away to the floating island of the blest. He\nwas killed, but came to life again after drops of the water from the\nwell of life were thrown on his body. Stones found in eagles\u2019 or\nravens\u2019 nests, according to Scottish belief, imparted to their\npossessors the power of prophecy or healing.\n\nThe gems from the trees of Paradise in Babylonian, Indian, Chinese, and\nJapanese literature were supposed to confer special powers on those who\nbecame possessed of them. To this class belongs the \u201cJewel that grants\nall Desires\u201d, the \u201cgem that shines in darkness\u201d, the prophet\u2019s or\npriest\u2019s jewel or jewels, &c. Gems were searched for in ancient times\nbecause they were supposed to possess what has been called \u201csoul\nsubstance\u201d. They protected those who wore them from all evil, they\nassisted birth, they prolonged life. Precious metals were similarly\nbelieved to be \u201cluck-bringers\u201d, and to early man luck meant everything\nhe wished for, including good health, longevity, plentiful supplies of\nfood, a knowledge of the future, offspring, and so on.\n\nIn the stories of the Islands of the Blest the happy souls are, in the\nancient sense of the term, \u201clucky souls\u201d. Paradise was a land in which\nlife-giving water and fruit, and innumerable gems were to be found, and\nthose who reached it became wise as magicians and prophets, and lived\nfor thousands of years free from sickness and pain. It was the land of\neternal youth and unlimited happiness.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X\n\nTHE MOTHER-GODDESS OF CHINA AND JAPAN\n\n    Food for the Dead\u2014Milk, Bread, and Beer in Paradise\u2014The Western\n    Tree of Life in Egypt\u2014Tree of Life in Greece, Britain, and\n    Polynesia\u2014The Underworld Paradise\u2014The \u201cWonderful Rose\n    Garden\u201d\u2014Chinese Cult of the West\u2014Biblical Tree Parable\u2014Chinese\n    Peach Tree of Longevity\u2014The \u201cRoyal Mother of the West\u201d\u2014Visit of the\n    Chinese Emperor\u2014A Far-Eastern El-Khidr\u2014The Sacred Chrysanthemum\u2014The\n    Cassia Tree Cult\u2014Celestial Yellow River\u2014Moon Myths\u2014Lunar Elixir in\n    China, India, and Scandinavia\u2014Chinese Star Maiden\u2014The Sun\n    Barque\u2014\u201cIsland of Blest\u201d in Celestial River\u2014Moon-girl Story\u2014The\n    \u201cMakara\u201d in China and Japan\u2014The Chinese Ishtar\u2014Deluge Legend\u2014Tree\n    Spirits\u2014Story of Little Peachling\u2014\u201cSoul Substance\u201d in Dragon Bones,\n    Trees, and Pearls.\n\n\nThe quest of the \u201celixir of life\u201d, the \u201cwater of life\u201d, or \u201cthe food of\nlife\u201d is as prominent a feature of ancient religious literature as is\nthe quest of the Holy Grail in the Arthurian romances. As has been\nshown in the last chapter, the belief that prompted the quest was\nwidely prevalent, and of great antiquity. The Babylonian hero,\nGilgamesh, whose story is told in the oldest epic in the world,\nundertook his long and perilous journey to the Otherworld, in quest of\nthe Plant of Life, because the thought of death was sorrowful to him.\nWhen his friend, Ea-bani, had expired,\n\n\n    Gilgamesh wept bitterly, and he lay stretched out upon the ground.\n    He cried, \u201cLet me not die like Ea-bani....\n    I fear death.\u201d [198]\n\n\nIn the Babylonian myth of Adapa reference is made to the \u201cwater of\nlife\u201d and the \u201cfood of life\u201d, which give wisdom and immortality to the\ngods and to the souls of those mortals who win their favour. The sacred\ntree in Babylonian art is evidently the Tree of Life. [199]\n\nWe seem to meet with the history of the immemorial quest in the Pyramid\nTexts of Ancient Egypt. The ancient priests appear to have concerned\nthemselves greatly regarding the problem how the dead were to be\nnourished in the celestial Paradise. \u201cThe chief dread felt by the\nEgyptian for the hereafter,\u201d says Breasted, \u201cwas fear of hunger.\u201d [200]\nIn Egypt, as in other lands offerings of food were made at the tombs,\nand these were supposed to be conveyed to the souls by certain of the\ngods. But those who hoped to live for ever knew well that the time\nwould come when grave-offerings would cease to be made, and their own\nnames would be forgotten on earth. Some Pharaohs endowed their\nchapel-tombs for all time, but revolutions ultimately caused endowments\nto be appropriated.\n\nThe Babylonians believed that if the dead were not fed, their ghosts\nwould prowl through the streets and enter houses, searching for food\nand water. [201] In Polynesia the homeless and desolate ghosts were\nthose of poor people, \u201cwho during their residence in the body had no\nfriends and no property\u201d. [202] The custom of including food-vessels\nand drinking-cups in the funerary furniture of prehistoric graves in\ndifferent countries was no doubt connected with the fear of hunger in\nthe hereafter. The custom was widespread of giving the dead food\nofferings at regular intervals. Once a year the living held feasts in\nthe burial-grounds, and invited the dead to partake of their share.\nAmong the Hallowe\u2019en beliefs in the British Isles is one that ghosts\nreturn home during the year-end festival to attend \u201cthe feast of all\nsouls\u201d. The Hebridean custom, which lingered even in the nineteenth\ncentury, of placing food and water, or milk, beside a corpse while it\nlay in a house, and outside the door or at the grave after the burial\ntook place, was no doubt a relic of an ancient custom, based on the\nhaunting belief that the dead were in need of nourishment, if not for\nall time, at any rate until the journey to the Otherworld was\ncompleted.\n\nAs has been said, it was the provision of food in the celestial\nParadise, far removed from the earth and its produce, that chiefly\nconcerned the Egyptians. In the Underworld Kingdom, presided over by\nOsiris, the souls grew corn and gathered fruit. But the Paradise of the\nsolar cult was above or beyond the sky. Some of the sun-worshippers are\nfound in the Pyramid Texts to have placed their faith in the\nfood-supplying Great Mother, the goddess Hathor, who gave them corn and\nmilk during their earthly lives. As son of Re, born of the sky-goddess,\nhe (the Pharaoh) is frequently represented as suckled by one of the\nsky-goddesses, or some other divinity connected with Re, especially the\nancient goddesses of the prehistoric kingdoms of South and North. These\nappear as \u201cthe two vultures with long hair and hanging breasts; ...\nthey draw their breasts over the mouth of King Pepi, but they do not\nwean him forever....\u201d Another text invokes the mother-goddess: \u201cGive\nthy breast to this King Pepi, ... suckle this King Pepi therewith\u201d. As\na result, perhaps, of the prevalence of Osirian beliefs, the solar cult\nadopted the idea that food, such as is found in Egypt, might be\nprovided in the regions above or beyond the sky. The sun-god was\nappealed to: \u201cGive thou bread to this King Pepi, from this thy eternal\nbread, thy everlasting beer\u201d. [203]\n\nBut the chief source of nourishment in the celestial Paradise was the\nTree of Life (a form of the mother-goddess) on the great isle in the\nmythical lake or sea beyond the Eastern horizon. [204] Egyptian artists\ndepicted this tree as a palm, or sycamore, with a goddess rising from\ninside it, pouring water from a vessel on the hands of the Pharaoh\u2019s\nsoul, which might appear in human form, or in the man-bird form called\nthe ba. In the funeral ritual the ceremony of pouring out a libation\nwas performed with the object of restoring the body moisture (the water\nof life) to the mummy. [205] A Biblical reference to the ceremony is\nfound in 2 Kings, iii, 11, in which it is said of Elisha that he\n\u201cpoured water on the hands of Elijah\u201d. No doubt the Egyptian soul\nreceived water as nourishment, as well as to ensure its immortality,\nfrom the tree-goddess.\n\nIn the Book of the Dead (Chapter LIX), the Tree of Life is referred to\nas \u201cthe sycamore of Nut\u201d (the sky-goddess). Other texts call the tree\n\u201cthe Western Tree\u201d of Nut or Hathor. It may be that the solar cult of\nthe East took over the tree from the Osirian cult of the West.\n\nThis mythical tree figures in many ancient mythologies. The goddess\nEuropa was worshipped at Gortyna, in Crete, during the Hellenic period,\nas a sacred tree. [206] The tree may be traced from the British Isles\nto India, and there are numerous legends of spirits entering or leaving\nit. The Polynesians have stories of this kind. Their Tree of Life was\nthe local bread-fruit tree which \u201cbecame a god\u201d, or, as some had it, a\ngoddess. \u201cOut of this magic bread-fruit tree,\u201d a legend says, \u201ca great\ngoddess was made.\u201d [207]\n\nIt may be that the island Paradise with its Tree of Life was specially\nfavoured after maritime enterprise made strong appeal to the\nimagination of the Egyptians. No doubt the old sailors who searched for\n\u201csoul-substance\u201d in the shape of pearls, precious stones, and metals\nhad much to do with disseminating the idea of the Isles of the Blest.\nAt any rate, it became, as we have seen, a tradition among seafarers to\nsearch for the distant land in which was situated the \u201cwater of life\u201d.\nThe home-dwelling Osirians clung to their idea of an Underworld\nParadise, and belief in it became fused with that of the floating\nisland, or Islands of the Blest. Those who dwelt in inland plains and\nvalleys, and those accustomed to cross the great mysterious deserts on\nwhich the oasis-mirage frequently appeared and vanished like the\nmythical floating island, conceived of a Paradise on earth. There are\nreferences in more than one land to a Paradise among the mountains. It\nfigures in the fairy stories of Central Europe, for instance, as \u201cthe\nwonderful Rose Garden\u201d with its linden Tree of Immortality, the\nhiding-place of a fairy lady, its dancing nymphs and its dwarfs; the\nking of dwarfs has a cloak of invisibility which he wraps round those\nmortals he carries away. [208]\n\nAt first only the souls of kings entered Paradise. But, in time, the\nbelief became firmly established that the souls of others could reach\nit too, and be fed there. The quest of the \u201cfood of life\u201d then became a\npopular theme of the story-tellers, and so familiar grew the idea of\nthe existence of this fruit that people believed it could be obtained\nduring life, and that those who partook of it might have their days\nprolonged indefinitely. For, as W. Schooling has written, \u201ca few simple\nthoughts on a few simple subjects produce a few simple opinions common\nto a whole tribe\u201d (and even a great part of mankind), \u201cand are taught\nwith but little modification to successive generations; hence arises a\nrigidity that imposes ready-made opinions, which are seldom questioned,\nwhile such questioning as does occur is usually met with excessive\nseverity, as Galileo and others have found out\u201d. [209]\n\nThe apple, as we have seen, was to the Celts the fruit of immortality:\nthe Chinese favoured the peach\u2014that is, it was favoured by the Chinese\ncult of the West. As all animals were supposed to be represented in the\nOtherworld by gigantic prototypes\u2014the fathers or mothers of their\nkind\u2014so were trees represented by a gigantic tree. [210] This tree was\nthe World Tree that supported the Universe. In Egypt the World Tree was\nthe sycamore of the sky-goddess, who was the Great Mother of deities\nand mankind. The sun dropped into the sycamore at eventide; when\ndarkness fell the swallows (star-gods) perched in its branches. In\nNorse mythology the tree is the ash, called Ygdrasil, and from the well\nat its roots souls receive the Hades-drink of immortality, drinking\nfrom a horn embellished with serpent symbols. The Tree figures\nprominently in Iranian mythology: the Aryo-Indian Indra constructs the\nWorld-house round it. This Tree is, no doubt, identical with the sacred\ntree in Assyrian art, which is sometimes the date, the vine, the\npomegranate, the fir, the cedar, and perhaps the oak. It may be that\nthe Biblical parable about the talking trees is a memory of the\nrivalries of the various Assyrian tree cults:\n\n\n    The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them; and they\n    said unto the olive tree, Reign thou over us. But the olive tree\n    said unto them, Should I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they\n    honour god and man, and go to be promoted over the trees? And the\n    trees said to the fig tree, Come thou, and reign over us. But the\n    fig tree said unto them, Should I forsake my sweetness, and my good\n    fruit, and go to be promoted over the trees? Then said the trees\n    unto the vine, Come thou, and reign over us. And the vine said unto\n    them, Should I leave my vine, which cheereth God and man, and go to\n    be promoted over the trees? Then said all the trees unto the\n    bramble, Come thou, and reign over us. And the bramble said unto\n    the trees, If in truth ye anoint me King over you, then come and\n    put your trust in my shadow: and if not, let fire come out of the\n    bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon.\n\n\nAs in Assyria, there was in China quite a selection of life-giving\ntrees.\n\nThe Chinese gigantic Peach Tree, whose fruit was partaken of by gods\nand men, grew in the Paradise among the Kwun-lun mountains in Tibet,\nand, like the Indian Mount Meru (\u201cworld spine\u201d), supported the\nUniverse. Its fruit took three thousand years to ripen. The tree was\nsurrounded by a beautiful garden, and was under the care of the\nfairy-like lady Si Wang Mu, the queen of immortals, the \u201cMother of the\nWestern King\u201d, and the \u201cRoyal Mother of the West\u201d. She appears to have\noriginally been the mother-goddess\u2014the Far-Eastern form of Hathor. In\nJapan she is called Seiobo. Her Paradise, which is called \u201cthe palace\nof exalted purity\u201d, and \u201cthe metropolis of the pearl mountain\u201d, or of\n\u201cthe jade mountain\u201d, and is entered through \u201cthe golden door\u201d, [211]\nwas originally that of the cult of the West. Sometimes Si Wang Mu is\ndepicted as quite as weird a deity as the Phigalian Demeter, with\ndisordered hair, tiger\u2019s teeth, and a panther\u2019s tail. Her voice is\nharsh, and she sends and cures diseases. Three blue birds bring food to\nher.\n\nChinese emperors and magicians were as anxious to obtain a peach from\nthe Royal Mother\u2019s tree in the Western Paradise, as they were to import\nthe \u201cfungus of immortality\u201d from the Islands of the Blest in the\nEastern Sea.\n\nThere once lived in China a magician named Tung Fang So, who figures in\nJapanese legend as Tobosaku, and is represented in Japanese art as a\njolly old man, clasping a peach to his breast and performing a dance,\nor as a dreamy sage, carrying two or three peaches, and accompanied by\na deer\u2014an animal which symbolized longevity. Various legends have\ngathered round his name. One is that he had several successive rebirths\nin various reigns, and that originally he was an avatar of the planet\nVenus. He may therefore represent the Far-Eastern Tammuz, the son of\nthe mother-goddess. Another legend tells that he filched three peaches\nfrom the Tree of Life, which had been plucked by the \u201cRoyal Mother of\nthe West\u201d.\n\nTung Fang So was a councillor in the court of Wu Ti, the fourth emperor\nof the Han Dynasty, who reigned for over half a century, and died after\nfasting for seven days in 87 B.C. In Japanese stories Wu Ti is called\nKan no Buti. He was greatly concerned about finding the \u201cwater of life\u201d\nor the \u201cfruit of life\u201d, so that his days might be prolonged. In his\npalace garden he caused to be erected a tower over 100 feet high, which\nappears to have been an imitation of a Babylonian temple. On its summit\nwas the bronze image of a god, holding a golden vase in its hands. In\nthis vase was collected the pure dew that was supposed to drip from the\nstars. The emperor drank the dew, believing that it would renew his\nyouth.\n\nOne day there appeared before Wu Ti in the palace garden a beautiful\ngreen sparrow. In China and Japan the sparrow is a symbol of\ngentleness, and a sparrow of uncommon colour is supposed to indicate\nthat something unusual is to happen. The emperor was puzzled regarding\nthe bird-omen, and consulted Tung Fang So, who informed him that the\nQueen of Immortals was about to visit the royal palace.\n\nBefore long Si Wang Mu made her appearance. She had come all the way\nfrom her garden among the Kwun-lun mountains, riding on the back of a\nwhite dragon, with seven of the peaches of immortality, which were\ncarried on a tray by a dwarf servant. Her fairy majesty was gorgeously\nattired in white and gold, and spoke with a voice of bird-like\nsweetness.\n\nWhen she reached Wu Ti there were only four peaches on the tray, and\nshe lifted one up and began to eat it. The peach was her symbol, as the\napple was that of Aphrodite. Tung Fang So peered at her through a\nwindow, and when she caught sight of his smiling face, she informed the\nemperor that he had stolen three of her peaches. Wu Ti received a peach\nfrom her, and, having eaten it, became an immortal. A similar story is\ntold regarding the Chinese Emperor, Muh Wang.\n\nIn her \u201cJade Mountain\u201d Paradise of the West (the highest peak of the\nKwun-lun mountains) this goddess is accompanied by her sister, as the\nEgyptian Isis is by Nephthys, and the pair are supposed to flit about\nin Cloud-land, followed by the white souls of good women of the Taoist\ncult. Her attendants include the Blue Stork, the White Tiger, the Stag,\nand the gigantic Tortoise, which are all gods and symbols of longevity\nin China.\n\nAmong the many stories told about Tung Fang So is one regarding a visit\nhe once paid to the mythical Purple Sea. He returned after the absence\nof a year, and on being remonstrated with by his brother for deserting\nhis home for so long a period, he contended that he had been away for\nonly a single day. His garments had been discoloured by the waters of\nthe Purple Sea, and he had gone to another sea to cleanse them. In like\nmanner heroes who visit Fairyland find that time slips past very\nquickly.\n\nThe Purple Sea idea may have been derived from the ancient Well of Life\nstory about El Khidr, [212] whose body and clothing turned green after\nhe had bathed in it. Purple supplanted green and blue as the colour of\nimmortality and royalty after murex dye became the great commercial\nasset of sea-traders. Tung Fang So may have had attached to his memory\na late and imported version of the El Khidr story.\n\nThe reference to Wu Ti\u2019s dew-drinking habit recalls the story of the\nyouthful Keu Tze Tung, a court favourite, who unwittingly offended the\nemperor, Muh Wang, and was banished. As the Egyptian Bata, who\nsimilarly fell into disgrace in consequence of a false charge being\nmade against him, fled to the \u201cValley of the Acacia\u201d, Keu Tze Tung fled\nto the \u201cValley of the Chrysanthemum\u201d. There he drank the dew that\ndropped from the petals of chrysanthemums, and became an immortal. The\nBuddhists took over this story, and told that the youth had been given\na sacred text, which he painted on the petals. This text imparted to\nthe dew its special qualities. In the Far East the chrysanthemum is a\nsymbol of purity. The chrysanthemum with sixteen petals is the emblem\nof the Mikado of Japan.\n\nA Chinese sage, who, like the Indian Rishis, practised yoga until he\nbecame immortal, engaged his spare moments in painting fish. He lived\non the bank of a stream for over two hundred years. In the end he was\ncarried away to the Underworld Paradise of the Lord of Fish, who was,\nof course, the dragon-god. He paid one return visit to his disciples,\nriding like the Chinese \u201cBoy Blue\u201d in the dragon story, on the back of\na red carp.\n\nAnother Chinese \u201ctree-cult\u201d favoured, instead of the peach tree, a\ncassia tree. This cassia-cult must have been late. The peach tree is\nindigenous. \u201cOf fruits,\u201d says Laufer, \u201cthe West is chiefly indebted to\nChina for the peach (Amygdalus persica) and the apricot (Prunus\narmeniaca). It is not impossible that these two gifts were transmitted\nby the silk-dealers, first to Iran (in the second or first century\nB.C.) and thence to Armenia, Greece, and Rome (in the first century\nA.D.).\u201d In India the peach is called cinani (\u201cChinese fruit\u201d). \u201cThere\nis no Sanskrit name for the tree (peach); nor does it play any r\u00f4le in\nthe folk-lore of India, as it does in China.\u201d ... Persia \u201chas only\ndescriptive names for these fruits, the peach being termed saft alu\n(\u2018large plum\u2019), the apricot, zard alu (\u2018yellow plum\u2019).\u201d [213]\n\nIt is difficult to identify the cassia tree of Chinese religious\nliterature. \u201cThe Chinese word Kwei occurs at an early date, but it is a\ngeneric term for Laurace\u00e6; and there are about thirteen species of\nCassia, and about sixteen species of Cinnamomum in China. The essential\npoint is that the ancient texts maintain silence as to cinnamon; that\nis, the product from the bark of the tree. Cinnamomum cassia is a\nnative of Kwan-si, Kwan-tun, and Indo-China; and the Chinese made its\nfirst acquaintance under the Han, when they began to colonize and to\nabsorb southern China.\u201d The first description of this tree goes no\nfarther back than the third century. \u201cIt was not the Chinese, but\nnon-Chinese peoples of Indo-China who first brought the tree into\ncivilization, which, like all other southern cultivations, was simply\nadopted by the conquering Chinese.\u201d [214] It has been suggested that\nthe cinnamon bark was imported into Egypt from China as far back as the\nEmpire period (c. 1500 B.C.) by Ph\u0153nician sea-traders. [215] Laufer\nrejects this theory. [216] Apparently the ancient Egyptians imported a\nfragrant bark from their Punt (Somaliland, or British East Africa). At\na very much later period cinnamon bark was carried across the Indian\nOcean from Ceylon.\n\nThe Egyptians imported incense-bearing trees from Punt to restore the\n\u201codours of the body\u201d of the dead, and poured out libations to restore\nits lost moisture. [217] \u201cWhen\u201d, writes Professor Elliot Smith, \u201cthe\nbelief became well established that the burning of incense was potent\nas an animating force, and especially a giver of life to the dead, it\nnaturally came to be regarded as a divine substance in the sense that\nit had the power of resurrection. As the grains of incense consisted of\nthe exudation of trees, or, as the ancient texts express it, \u2018their\nsweat\u2019, the divine power of animation in course of time became\ntransferred to trees. They were no longer merely the source of the\nlife-giving incense, but were themselves animated by the deity, whose\ndrops of sweat were the means of conveying life to the mummy.... The\nsap of trees was brought into relationship with life-giving water....\nThe sap was also regarded as the blood of trees and the incense that\nexuded as sweat.\u201d As De Groot reminds us, \u201ctales of trees that shed\nblood, and that cry out when hurt are common in Chinese literature (as\nalso in Southern Arabia, notes Elliot Smith); also of trees that lodge,\nor can change into maidens of transcendent beauty.\u201d [218]\n\nApparently the ancient seafarers who searched for incense-bearing trees\ncarried their beliefs to distant countries. The goddess-tree of the\npeach cult was evidently the earliest in China. It bore the fruit of\nlife. The influence that led to the foundation of this cult probably\ncame by an overland route. The cassia-tree cult was later, and beliefs\nconnected with it came from Southern China; these, too, bear the\nimprint of ideas that were well developed before they reached China.\n\nThere are references in Chinese lore to a gigantic cassia tree which\nwas 10,000 feet high. Those who ate of its fruit became immortal. The\nearlier belief connected with the peach tree was that the soul who ate\none of its peaches lived for 3000 years.\n\nThis cassia world-tree appears first to have taken the place of the\npeach tree of the \u201cRoyal Mother of the West\u201d. It was reached by sailing\nup the holiest river in China, the Hoang-Ho (Yellow River), the sources\nof which are in the Koko-Nor territory to the north of Tibet. It\nwriggles like a serpent between mountain barriers before it flows\nnorthward; then it flows southward for 200 miles on the eastern border\nof Shensi province (the Chinese homeland), and then eastward for 200\nmiles, afterwards diverging in a north-easterly direction towards the\nGulf of Chihli, in which the Islands of the Blest were supposed to be\nsituated.\n\nIt was believed that the Hoang-Ho had, like the Ganges of India and the\nNile of Egypt, a celestial origin. Those sages who desired to obtain a\nglimpse of Paradise sailed up the river to its fountain head. Some\nreached the tree and the garden of Paradise. Others found themselves\nsailing across the heavens. The Western Paradise was evidently supposed\nby some to be situated in the middle of the world, and by others to\nhave been situated beyond the horizon.\n\nChang Ki\u02bcen, one of the famous men attached to the court of Wu Ti, the\nreviver of many ancient beliefs and myths, was credited with having\nfollowed the course of the sacred river until he reached the spot where\nthe cassia tree grew. Beside the tree were the immortal animals that\nhaunt the garden of the \u201cRoyal Mother of the West\u201d. In addition, Chang\nKi\u02bcen saw the moon-rabbit or moon-hare, which is adored as a\nrice-giver. In the Far East, as in the Near East and in the West, the\nmoon is supposed to ripen crops. The lunar rabbit or hare is associated\nwith water; in the moon grow plants and a tree of immortality. There is\nalso, according to Chinese belief, a frog in the moon. It was\noriginally a woman, the wife of a renowned archer, who rescued the moon\nfrom imprisonment in masses of black rain-clouds. The \u201cRoyal Mother of\nthe West\u201d was so grateful to the archer for the service he had rendered\nthat she gave him a jade cup filled with the dew of immortality. His\nwife stole the cup and drank the dew. For this offence the \u201cRoyal\nMother of the West\u201d transformed her into a frog, and imprisoned her in\nthe moon. In Egypt the frog was a symbol of resurrection or rebirth,\nand the old frog-goddess Hekt is usually regarded as a form of Hathor,\nthe Great Mother.\n\nThe lunar tree is sometimes identified with the cassia tree of\nimmortality. Its leaves are red as blood, and the bodies of those who\neat of its fruit become as transparent as still water.\n\nThe moon-water which nourishes plants and trees (eight lunar trees of\nimmortality are referred to in some legends), and the dew of\nimmortality in the jade cup, appear to be identical with the Indian\nsoma and the nectar of the classical gods. In Norse mythology the lunar\nwater-pot (a symbol of the mother-goddess) was filled at a well by two\nchildren, the boy Hyuki and the girl Bil, [219] who were carried away\nby the moon-god Mani. Odin was also credited with having recovered the\nmoon-mead from the hall of Suttung, \u201cthe mead wolf\u201d, after it had been\nstolen from the moon. The god flew heavenward, carrying the mead, in\nthe form of an eagle. [220] Zeus\u2019s eagle is similarly a nectar-bringer.\n\nIn Indian mythology the soma was contained in a bowl fashioned by\nTwashtri, the divine artisan, and was drunk by the gods, and especially\nby Indra, the rain-bringer. A Vedic frog-hymn was chanted by\nAryo-Indian priests as a rain-charm when Indra\u2019s services were\nrequisitioned. In one of the Indian legends an eagle or falcon carries\nthe soma to Indra. The souls who reach Paradise are made immortal after\nthey drink of the soma. In India the soma was personified, and the\nlunar god, Soma, became a god of love, immortality, and fertility. The\nsoma juice was obtained by the Vedic priests from some unknown plant.\nThere are also references in Indian mythology to the \u201cAmrita\u201d, which\nwas partaken of by the gods. It was the sap of sacred trees that grew\nin Paradise. Trees and plants derived their life and sustenance from\nwater. The Far-Eastern beliefs in \u201cthe dew of immortality\u201d, \u201cthe fungus\nof immortality\u201d, and \u201cthe fruit of immortality\u201d have an intimate\nconnection with the belief that the mother-goddess was connected with\nthe moon, which exercised an influence over water. The mother-goddess\nwas also the love-goddess, the Ishtar of Babylonia, the Hathor of\nEgypt, the Aphrodite of Greece. Her son, or husband, was, in one of his\nphases, the love-god.\n\nThe sage of the Chinese Emperor Wu Ti, who followed the course of the\nYellow River so as to reach the celestial Paradise, saw, in addition to\nthe moon-rabbit, or hare, the \u201cOld Man of the Moon\u201d, the Chinese Wu\nKang and Japanese Gekkawo, the god of love and marriage. He is supposed\nto unite lovers by binding their feet with invisible red silk cords.\nThe \u201cOld Man in the Moon\u201d is, in Chinese legend, engaged in chopping\nbranches from the cassia tree of immortality. New branches immediately\nsprout forth to replace those thus removed, but the \u201cOld Man\u201d has to go\non cutting till the end of time, having committed a sin for which his\nincreasing labour is the appropriate punishment.\n\nA Buddhist legend makes Indra the old man. He asked for food from the\nhare, the ape, and the fox. The hare lit a fire and leapt into it so\nthat the god might be fed. Indra was so much impressed by this supreme\nact of friendship and charity that he placed the exemplary hare in the\nmoon. A version of this story is given in the Mah\u00e1bh\u00e1rata.\n\nIn European folk-lore the \u201cOld Man\u201d is either a thief who stole a\nbundle of faggots, or a man who \u201cbroke the Sabbath\u201d by cutting sticks\non that holy day.\n\n\n            See the rustic in the Moon,\n            How his bundle weighs him down;\n            Thus his sticks the truth reveal\n            It never profits man to steal.\n\n\nVarious versions of the Man in the Moon myth are given by S.\nBaring-Gould, [221] who draws attention to a curious seal \u201cappended to\na deed preserved in the Record office, dated the 9th year of Edward the\nThird (1335)\u201d. It shows the \u201cMan in the Moon\u201d carrying his sticks and\naccompanied by his dog. Two stars are added. The inscription on the\nseal is, \u201cTe Waltere docebo cur spinas phebo gero (I will teach thee,\nWalter, why I carry thorns in the moon)\u201d. The deed is one of conveyance\nof property from a man whose Christian name was Walter.\n\nWu Ti\u2019s sage travelled through the celestial regions until he reached\nthe Milky Way, the source of the Yellow River. He saw the Spinning\nMaiden, whose radiant garment is adorned with silver stars. She had a\nlover, from whom she was separated, but once a year she was allowed to\nvisit him, and passed across the heavens as a meteor. This Spinning\nMaiden, who weaves the net of the constellations, is reminiscent of the\nEgyptian sky-goddess, Hathor (or Nut), whose body is covered with\nstars, and whose legs and arms, as she bends over the earth, \u201crepresent\nthe four pillars on which the sky was supposed to rest and mark the\nfour cardinal points\u201d. Her lover, from whom she was separated, was Seb.\n[222] In China certain groups of stars are referred to as the\n\u201cCelestial Door\u201d, the \u201cHall of Heaven\u201d, &c. Taoist saints dwell in\nstellar abodes, as well as on the \u201cIslands of the Blest\u201d; some were,\nduring their life on earth, incarnations of star-gods. The lower ranks\nof the western-cult immortals remain in the garden of the \u201cRoyal\nMother\u201d; those of the highest rank ascend to the stars.\n\nWu Ti\u2019s sage, according to one form of the legend, never returned to\nearth. His boat, which sailed up the Yellow River and then along the\n\u201cMilky Way\u201d, was believed to have reached the Celestial River that\nflows round the Universe, and along which sails the sun-barque of the\nEgyptian god Ra (or Re). One day the Chinese sage\u2019s oar\u2014apparently his\nsteering oar\u2014was deposited in the Royal Palace grounds by a celestial\nspirit, who descended from the sky. Here we have, perhaps, a faint\nmemory of the visits paid to earth from the celestial barque by the\nEgyptian god Thoth, in his captivity as envoy of the sun-god Ra.\n\nThere is evidence in Far-Eastern folk-tales that at a very remote\nperiod the beliefs of the cult of the sky-goddess, which placed the\ntree of immortality in the \u201cmoon island\u201d, and the beliefs of the peach\ncult of \u201cthe Westerners\u201d were fused, as were those of the Osirian and\nsolar cults in Egypt.\n\nA curious story tells that once upon a time a man went to fish on the\nYellow River. A storm arose, and his boat was driven into a tributary,\nthe banks of which were fringed with innumerable peach trees in full\nblossom. He reached an island, on which he landed. There he was kindly\ntreated by the inhabitants, who told that they had fled from China\nbecause of the oppression of the emperor. This surprised the fisherman\ngreatly. He asked for particulars, and was given the name of an emperor\nwho had died about 500 years before he himself was born.\n\n\u201cWhat is the name of this island?\u201d he asked. The inhabitants were\nunable to tell him. \u201cWe came hither,\u201d they said, \u201cjust as you have\ncome. We are strangers in a strange land.\u201d\n\nNext day the wanderer launched his boat and set out to return by the\nway he had come. He sailed on all day and all night, and when morning\ncame he found himself amidst familiar landmarks. He was able to return\nhome.\n\nWhen the fisherman told the story to a priest, he was informed that he\nhad reached the land of the Celestials, and that the river fringed by\npeach trees in blossom was the Milky Way.\n\nIn this story the Chinese Island of the Blest is, like the Nilotic\n\u201cgreen bed of Horus\u201d, a river island.\n\nAnother memory of the Celestial River and the Barque of the Sun is\nenshrined in the story of Lo Tze Fang, a holy woman of China who\nascended to heaven by climbing a high tree\u2014apparently the \u201cworld-tree\u201d.\nAfter reaching the celestial regions she was carried along the\nCelestial River in a boat. According to the story, she still sails each\nday across the heavens.\n\nOther saintly people have been carried to the celestial regions by\ndragons. According to Chinese belief the \u201cYellow Dragon\u201d is connected\nwith the moon. The reflection of the moon on rippling water is usually\nreferred to as the \u201cGolden Dragon\u201d, or \u201cYellow Dragon\u201d, the chief of\nChinese dragons, and usually associated with the sun.\n\nOne of the classes of Chinese holy men of the Spirit-world, the Sien\nNung, who bear a close resemblance to Indian Rishis, is connected with\nthe moon cult. They are believed to prolong their lives by eating the\nleaves of the lunar plants.\n\nIn an Egyptian legend it is told that Osiris was the son of the Mother\nCow, who had conceived him when a fertilizing ray of light fell from\nthe moon. In like manner a moon-girl came into being in Japan. She was\ndiscovered by a wood-cutter. One day, when collecting bamboo, he found\ninside a cane a little baby, whose body shone as does a gem in\ndarkness. He took her home to his wife, and she grew up to be a very\nbeautiful girl. She was called \u201cMoon Ray\u201d, and after living for a time\non the earth returned to the moon. She had maintained her youthful\nappearance by drinking, from a small vessel she possessed, the fluid of\nimmortality.\n\nAs the dragon was connected with the moon, and the moon with the\nbamboo, it might be expected that the dragon and bamboo would be\nclosely linked. One of the holy men is credited with having reached the\nlunar heaven by cutting down a bamboo, which he afterwards transformed\ninto a dragon. He rode heavenwards on the dragon\u2019s back.\n\nSaintly women, as a rule, rise to heaven in the form of birds, or in\ntheir own form, without wings, on account of the soul-like lightness of\ntheir bodies, which have become purified by performing religious rites\nand engaging in prayer and meditation. Their husbands have either to\nclimb trees or great mountains. Some holy women, after reaching heaven,\nride along the clouds on the back of the K\u02bcilin, the bisexual monster\nthat the soul of Confucius is supposed to ride. It is a form of the\ndragon, but more like the makara of the Indian god Varuna than the\ntypical \u201cwonder beast\u201d of China and Japan. Some of these monsters\nresemble lions, dogs, deer, walruses, or unicorns. They are all,\nhowever, varieties of the makara.\n\nSometimes we find that the attributes of the Great Mother, who, like\nAphrodite, was a \u201cPostponer of Old Age\u201d (Ambologera), being the\nprovider of the fruit of immortality and a personification of the World\nTree, have been attached to the memory of some famous lady, and\nespecially an empress. As the Egyptian Pharaoh, according to the\nbeliefs of the solar cult, became Ra (the sun-god) after death, so did\nthe Chinese empress become the \u201cRoyal Lady of the West\u201d. Nu Kwa, a\nmythical empress of China, was reputed to have become a goddess after\nshe had passed to the celestial regions. She figures in the Chinese\nDeluge Myth. Like the Babylonian Ishtar, she was opposed to the policy\nof destroying mankind. She did not, however, like Ishtar, content\nherself by expressing regret. When the demons of water and fire, aided\nby rebel generals of her empire, set out to destroy the world, Nu Kwa\nwaged war against them. Her campaign was successful, but not until a\ngigantic warrior had partly destroyed the heavens by upsetting one of\nits pillars and the flood had covered a great portion of the earth. The\nempress stemmed the rising waters by means of charred reeds (a\nBabylonian touch), and afterwards rebuilt the broken pillar, under\nwhich was placed an Atlas-tortoise. Like Marduk (Merodach), she then\nset the Universe in order, and formed the channel for the Celestial\nRiver. Thereafter she created the guardians of the four quarters,\nplacing the Black Tortoise in the north, and giving it control over\nwinter; the Blue Dragon in the east, who was given control over spring;\nthe White Tiger in the west, who was given control over autumn; and the\nRed Bird in the south, who was given control over summer, with the\nGolden Dragon, whose special duty was to guard the sun, the moon being\nprotected by the White Deity of the west. The broken pillar of heaven\nwas built up with stones coloured like the five gods.\n\nAmong the gifts conferred on mankind by this Empress-Goddess was jade,\nwhich she created so that they might be protected against evil\ninfluence and decay.\n\nIn this Deluge Myth, which is evidently of Babylonian origin, the gods\nfigure as rebels and demons. The Mother Goddess is the protector of the\nUniverse, and the friend of man. Evidently the cult of the Mother\nGoddess was at one time very powerful in China. In Japan the Empress Nu\nKwa is remembered as Jokwa.\n\nThe Tree of Immortality, as has been seen, is closely associated with\nthe Far Eastern Mother Goddess, who may appear before favoured mortals\neither as a beautiful woman, as a dragon, or as a woman riding on a\ndragon, or as half woman and half fish, or half woman and half serpent.\nIt is from the goddess that the tree receives its \u201csoul substance\u201d; in\na sense, she is the tree, as she is the moon and the pot of life-water,\nor the mead in the moon. The fruits of the tree are symbols of her as\nthe mother, and the sap of the tree is her blood.\n\nReference has been made to Far Eastern stories about dragons\ntransforming themselves into trees and trees becoming dragons. The tree\nwas a \u201ckupua\u201d of the dragon. The mother of Adonis was a tree\u2014Myrrha\u2014the\ndaughter of King Cinyras of Cyprus, who was transformed into a myrrh\ntree. A Japanese legend relates that a hero, named Manko, once saw a\nbeautiful woman sitting on a tree-trunk that floated on the sea. She\nvanished suddenly. Manko had the tree taken into his boat, and found\nthat the woman was hidden inside the trunk. She was a daughter of the\nDragon King of Ocean.\n\nA better-known Japanese tree hero is Momotaro (momo, peach, taro,\neldest son), whose name is usually rendered in English as \u201cLittle\nPeachling\u201d. He is known in folk-stories as a slayer of demons\u2014a\nveritable Jack the Giant-Killer.\n\nThe legend runs that one day an old wood-cutter went out to gather\nfirewood, while his wife washed dirty clothes in a river. After the\nwoman had finished her work, she saw a gigantic peach drifting past.\nSeizing a pole, she brought it into shallow water, and thus secured it.\nThe size of the peach astonished her greatly, and she carried it home,\nand, having washed it, placed it before her husband when he returned\nhome for his evening meal. No sooner did the wood-cutter begin to cut\nopen the peach than a baby boy emerged from the kernel. The couple,\nbeing childless, were greatly delighted, and looked upon the child as a\ngift from the Celestials, and they believed he had been sent so as to\nbecome their comfort and helper when they grew too old to work.\n\nMomotaro, \u201cthe elder son of the peach\u201d, as they called him, grew up to\nbe a strong and valiant young man, who performed feats of strength that\ncaused everyone to wonder at him.\n\nThere came a day when, to the sorrow of his foster-parents, he\nannounced that he had resolved to leave home and go to the Isle of\nDemons, with purpose to secure a portion of their treasure. This seemed\nto be a perilous undertaking, and the old couple attempted to make him\nchange his mind. Momotaro, however, laughed at their fears, and said:\n\u201cPlease make some millet dumplings for me. I shall need food for my\njourney.\u201d\n\nHis foster-mother prepared the dumplings and muttered good wishes over\nthem. Then Momotaro bade the old couple an affectionate farewell, and\nwent on his way.\n\nThe young hero had not travelled far when he met a dog, which barked\nout: \u201cBow-wow! where are you going, Peach-son?\u201d\n\n\u201cI am going to the Isle of Demons to obtain treasure,\u201d the lad\nanswered.\n\n\u201cBow-wow! what are you carrying?\u201d\n\n\u201cI am carrying millet dumplings that my mother made for me. No one in\nJapan can make better dumplings than these.\u201d\n\n\u201cBow-wow! give me one and I shall go with you to the Isle of Demons.\u201d\n\nThe lad gave the dog a dumpling, and it followed at his heels.\n\nMomotaro had not gone much farther when a monkey, perched on a tree,\ncalled out to him, saying: \u201cKia! Kia! where are you going, Son of a\nPeach?\u201d\n\nMomotaro answered the monkey as he had answered the dog. The monkey\nasked for a dumpling, promising to join the party, and when he received\none he set off with the lad and the dog.\n\nThe next animal that hailed the lad was a pheasant, who called out:\n\u201cKen! Ken! where are you going, Son of a Peach?\u201d\n\nMomotaro told him, and the bird, having received the dumpling he asked\nfor, accompanied the lad, the dog, and the monkey on the quest of\ntreasure.\n\nWhen the Island of Demons was reached they all went together towards\nthe fortress in which the demon king resided. The pheasant flew inside\nto act as a spy. Then the monkey climbed over the wall and opened the\ngate, so that Momotaro and the dog were able to enter the fortress\nwithout difficulty. The demons, however, soon caught sight of the\nintruders, and attempted to kill them. Momotaro fought fiercely,\nassisted by the friendly animals, and slew or scattered in flight the\ndemon warriors. Then they found their way into the royal palace and\nmade Akandoji, the king of demons, their prisoner. This great demon was\nprepared to wield his terrible club of iron, but Momotaro, who was an\nexpert in the jiu-jitsu system of wrestling, seized the demon king and\nthrew him down, and, with the help of the monkey, bound him with a\nrope.\n\nMomotaro threatened to put Akandoji to death if he would not reveal\nwhere his treasure was hidden.\n\nThe king bade his servants do homage to the Son of the Peach and to\nbring forth the treasure, which included the cap and coat of\ninvisibility, magic jewels that controlled the ebb and flow of ocean,\ngems that shone in darkness and gave protection against all evil to\nthose who wore them, tortoise-shell and jade charms, and a great\nquantity of gold and silver.\n\nMomotaro took possession of as much of the treasure as he could carry,\nand returned home a very rich man. He built a great house, and lived in\nit with his foster-parents, who were given everything they desired as\nlong as they lived.\n\nIn this story may be detected a mosaic of myths. The Egyptian Horus,\nwhose island floated down the Nile, had white sandals which enabled him\nto go swiftly up and down the land of Egypt. There are references in\nthe Pyramid Texts to his youthful exploits, but the full story of them\nhas not yet been discovered. The Babylonian Tammuz, when a child,\ndrifted in a \u201csunken boat\u201d down the River Euphrates. No doubt this myth\nis the one attached to the memory of Sargon of Akkad, [223] the son of\na vestal virgin, who was placed in an ark and set adrift on the river.\nHe was found by a gardener, and was afterwards raised to the kingship\nby the goddess Ishtar. Karna, the Aryo-Indian Hector, the son of Surya,\nthe sun-god, and the virgin-princess Pritha, was similarly set adrift\nin an ark, and was rescued from the Ganges by a childless woman whose\nhusband was a charioteer. The poor couple reared the future hero as\ntheir own son. [224]\n\nAdonis, the son of the myrrh tree, was a Syrian form of Tammuz. Horus\nwas the son of Osiris, whose body was enclosed by a tree after Set\ncaused his death by setting him adrift in a chest. When Isis found the\ntree, which had been cut down for a pillar, the posthumous conception\nof the son of Osiris took place. [225] The Momotaro legend has thus a\nlong history.\n\nThe friendly animals figure in the folk-tales of many lands. Momotaro\u2019s\nfight for the treasure, including the cloak of invisibility, bears a\nclose resemblance to Siegfried\u2019s fight for the treasure of the\nNibelungs. [226] In western European, as in Far Eastern lore, the\ntreasure is guarded by dragons as well as by dwarfs and giants and\nother demons. When the dragon-slayer is not accompanied by friendly\nanimals, he receives help and advice from birds whose language he\nacquires by eating a part of the dragon, or, as in the Egyptian tale,\nafter getting possession of the book of spells, guarded by the\n\u201cDeathless Snake\u201d. When the Egyptian hero reads the spells he\nunderstands the language of birds, beasts, and fishes. The\ntreasure-guarding dragon appears, as has been suggested, to have had\norigin in the belief that sharks were the guardians of pearl-beds and\npreyed upon the divers who stole their treasure.\n\nThe beliefs connected with the life-giving virtues of the tree of the\nMother Goddess were attached to shells, pearls, gold, and jade. The\ngoddess was the source of all life, and one of her forms was the\ndragon. As the dragon-mother she created or gave birth to the\ndragon-gods. Dragon-bones were ground down for medicinal purposes;\ndragon-herbs cured diseases; the sap of dragon-trees, like the fruit,\npromoted longevity, as did the jade which the goddess had created for\nmankind.\n\nThe beliefs connected with jade were similar to those connected with\npearls, which were at a remote period emblems of the moon in Egypt. In\nChina the moon was \u201cthe pearl of heaven\u201d. One curious and widespread\nbelief was that pearls were formed by rain-drops, or by drops of dew\nfrom the moon, the source of moisture, and especially of nectar or\nsoma. Pearls and pearl-shells were used for medicinal purposes. They\nwere, like the sap of trees, the very essence of life\u2014the\nsoul-substance of the Great Mother. [227]\n\nThat the complex ideas regarding shells, pearls, dew, trees, the moon,\nthe sun, the stars, and the Great Mother were of \u201cspontaneous\ngeneration\u201d in many separated countries is difficult to believe. It is\nmore probable that the culture-complexes enshrined in folk-tales and\nreligious texts had a definite area of origin in which their history\ncan be traced. The searchers for precious stones and metals and\nincense-bearing trees must have scattered their beliefs far and wide\nwhen they exploited locally-unappreciated forms of wealth.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI\n\nTREE-, HERB-, AND STONE-LORE\n\n    \u201cSoul Substance\u201d in Medicinal Plants\u2014Life-fire in Water and\n    Plants\u2014\u201cThe Blood which is Life\u201d\u2014Colour Symbolism in East and\n    West\u2014Charm Symbolism\u2014Gems as Fruit\u2014Jade and Vegetation\u2014Far Eastern\n    Elixirs of Life\u2014Links between Pine, Cypress, Mandrake, and\n    Mugwort\u2014Story of Treasure-finding Dog\u2014The Far Eastern Artemis\u2014Her\n    Mugwort, Lotus, and Fruit Basket\u2014Herbs and Pearl-shell\u2014Goats and\n    Women\u2019s Herb\u2014Chinese and Tartar\u2019s Fight for Mandrake\u2014Tea as an\n    Elixir\u2014Far Eastern Rip Van Winkles\u2014Problem of the Date Tree\u2014\u201cTree\n    Tears\u201d and \u201cStone Tears\u201d\u2014Weeping Deities\u2014Goats and\n    Thunder-gods\u2014Goats and Sheep become Stones\u2014Gems and Herbs connected\n    with Moon\u2014Graded Herbs, Deities, and Stones\u2014Foreign Ideas in China.\n\n\nIn the ancient medical lore of China, as in the medical lores of other\nlands, there are laudatory references to \u201cAll-heal\u201d plants and plants\nreputed to be specific remedies for various diseases. Not a few of\nthese medicinal plants have been found to be either quite useless or\npositively harmful, but some are included in modern pharmacop\u0153ias,\nafter having been submitted to the closest investigations of\nphysiological science.\n\nThe old herbalists, witch-doctors, and hereditary \u201ccurers\u201d, who made\nsome genuine discoveries that have since been elaborated, were\ncertainly not scientists in the modern sense of the term. Their \u201ccures\u201d\nwere a quaint mixture of magic and religion. They searched for those\nplants and substances that appeared, either by their shape or colour,\nto contain in more concentrated form than others the \u201cessence of life\u201d,\nthe \u201csoul substance\u201d that restored health and promoted longevity.\n\nThis \u201csoul substance\u201d was concentrated in body-odours and\nbody-moistures. It was a something mixed in water which had colour,\nodour, and heat\u2014a something derived from the Great Mother, who had\nherself sprung from water, as did the Egyptian Hathor and the Greek\nAphrodite, or, if not directly from the Great Mother, from one or other\nof her offspring. The \u201csoul substance\u201d of the goddess was in\nvegetation; the sap of trees was identified with her blood\u2014the \u201cblood\nwhich is life\u201d. Blood was one kind of body-moisture; other kinds were\nsweat, tears, saliva, &c. All these moistures had fertilizing\nproperties. The Mother, as the sky-goddess, provided the world\u2019s supply\nof fertilizing water. In China the supply was controlled by the\ndragon-gods, who caused the thunder and lightning that released the\nrain and flooded the rivers.\n\nWinter is the Chinese dry season. It was believed that during this\nperiod the dragons were concealed and asleep. No growth was possible\nduring winter because of the scarcity of water\u2014the life-giving water\nthat caused Nature to \u201crenew her youth\u201d in the spring season. When the\ndragons awoke and rose fighting and thundering, parched wastes were\nsoaked and fertilized by rain. Then the old, decaying world renewed her\nyouth and fresh vegetation appeared, because \u201csoul substance\u201d in the\nform of rain had entered the soil and furnished plants with\n\u201cblood-sap\u201d, and at the same time with vital energy, vital odours, and\nvital colours. Thus life, which had its origin in water, was sustained\nby the products of water and by the properties in water.\n\nThe plants that were supposed to store up most \u201csoul substance\u201d were\nthose that grew in water, like the lotus, those that constantly\nabsorbed moisture, like the \u201cfungus of immortality\u201d, or those that\nsprang up suddenly during a thunder-storm, like the \u201cRed Cloud herb\u201d.\nThe latter required a heavy deluge to bring it into existence. It was a\nspecial gift of the dragon-god\u2014or an \u201cavatar\u201d of that deity\u2014and had\nconcentrated in it the essence of much rain, and, in addition, the\nessence of lightning\u2014the \u201cfire of heaven\u201d, ejected by the rain-dragon.\nThe lightning was the \u201cdragon\u2019s tongue\u201d, and had therefore substance,\nmoisture, and heat, as well as brilliance. To the early thinkers the\nlife fluid was not only blood, but warm blood\u2014blood pulsating with the\n\u201cvital spark\u201d, the \u201cfire of life\u201d. These men would have accepted in the\nliteral sense the imagery of the modern Irish poet, who wrote:\n\n\n        O, there was lightning in my blood,\n        Red lightning lighten\u2019d through my blood,\n              My Dark Rosaleen.\n\n\nThe \u201cfire of life\u201d might be locked up in vegetation, in stone, or in\nred earth, and be made manifest by its colour alone.\n\nThe genesis of this idea can be traced at a very early period in the\nhistory of modern man (Homo sapiens). In Aurignacian times in western\nEurope (that is, from ten till twenty thousand years ago) blood was\nidentified with life and consciousness. The red substance in \u201cthe blood\nwhich is life\u201d was apparently regarded as the vitalizing agency, and\nwas supposed to be the same as red earth (red ochre). It is found, from\nthe evidence afforded by burial customs, that the Aurignacian race\noriginated or perpetuated the habit of smearing the bodies of their\ndead with red ochre. After the flesh had decayed, the red ochre fell on\nand coloured the bones and the pebbles around the bones. Whether or not\nthe red ochre was supposed to be impregnated with the essence of fire,\nor of the sun, the source of fire, it is impossible to say. Behind the\ncorpse-painting custom there was, no doubt, a body of definite beliefs.\nAs much is suggested by the fact that shell-amulets and spine-amulets\nwere laid on or about the dead. The belief that the first man had been\nformed of red clay mixed with water may well have been in existence in\nAurignacian times. The amulets associated with Aurignacian ceremonial\nburials suggest, too, that ideas had been formulated regarding the\nafter-life. Was it believed that the painted, and therefore reanimated,\nbody would rise again, or that the soul could be assisted to travel to\nthe Otherworld? These questions cannot yet be answered. We can do no\nmore than note here that Colour Symbolism, and especially Red Symbolism\nand all it entails, had origin in remote antiquity.\n\nIn China red flowers and red berries were supposed, because of their\ncolour, to be strongly impregnated with \u201csoul substance\u201d or \u201cvital\nessence\u201d, or, to use the Chinese term, with shen. These flowers and\nberries had curative qualities. In western Europe the red holly berry\nwas in like manner regarded as an \u201cAll-heal\u201d. The tree on which the red\nberry appears is so full of divine life that it is an evergreen. In\nGaelic folk-lore holly is associated with the Mother Goddess and with\nthe water-beast (dragon) and its \u201cavatar\u201d, the red-spotted salmon,\nwhich is supposed to swallow the holly berries that drop into its pool.\n\nThe red substance which is in the blood was not necessarily confined,\nhowever, to vegetation. As it was of the earth, earthy, or a product of\nsome mysterious agency at work in the earth, it might be found in\ncoagulated form as a ruby, or any other red stone, or as a stone\nstreaked or spotted with red; it might be found in water as a shell,\nwholly or partly red, or as a red or yellow pearl inside a shell. It\nmight likewise be found concentrated in the red feathers of a bird. A\nbird with red feathers was usually recognized as a \u201cthunder bird\u201d\u2014Robin\nRed-breast is a European \u201cthunder bird\u201d [228]\u2014and the red berry as a\n\u201cthunder berry\u201d\u2014a berry containing the \u201csoul substance\u201d of the god of\nlightning and fire. Fire was obtained by friction from trees associated\nwith the divine Thunderer; his spirit dwelt in the tree. One of the\n\u201cfire sticks\u201d was invariably taken from a red-berried tree.\n\nThe red vital substance might likewise be displayed by a sacred\nfish\u2014the \u201cthunder fish\u201d. In the Chinese \u201cBoy Blue\u201d story the\nthunder-dragon in human form rides on the back of a red carp.\n\nYellow is, like red, reputed to be a vital colour. Lightning is yellow;\nthe flames of wood fires are yellow, while the embers are red. Early\nman appears to have recognized the close association of yellow and red\nin fire. Gold is yellow, and it was connected, as a substitute for red\nand yellow shells, with the sun, which at morning and evening sends\nforth red and yellow rays. The fire which is in the sun \u201cwarms the\nblood\u201d and promotes the growth of plants, as does the moisture in the\nmoon\u2014the moon which controls the flow of sap and blood. The combination\nof sun-fire, lunar-fire, and moisture, or of fire-red earth and rain,\nconstituted, according to early man\u2019s way of thinking, the mystery\ncalled life. Yellow berries and yellow flowers were as sacred to him,\nand had as great life-prolonging and curative qualities, as red\nberries, red flowers, red feathers, and the skins and scales of red\nfish. Yellow gems and yellow metals were consequently valued as highly\nas were red gems and red metals. In China yellow is the earth colour.\nIn Ceylon, Burmah, Tibet, and China it is the sacred colour of the\nBuddhists.\n\nBlue, the sky colour, and therefore the colour of the sky-deity, was\nlikewise holy. Torquoise and lapis-lazuli were connected with the Great\nMother. The sacredness of green has a more complex history. It was not\nreverenced simply because of the greenness of vegetation. The\nmysterious substance that makes plants green was derived from the\nsupreme source of life\u2014the green form of the water-goddess or god\u2014and\nwas to be found in concentrated form in green gems and stones,\nincluding green jade. White was the colour of day, the stars, and the\nmoon, and black the colour of night and of death, and therefore the\ncolour of deities associated with darkness and the Otherworld. In China\nblack is the colour of the north, of winter, and of drought. The\ncombination of the five colours (black, white, red, yellow, and blue or\ngreen) was displayed by all deities. This conception is enshrined in\nthe religious text which De Visser gives without comment:\n\n\n   \u201cA dragon in the water covers himself with five colours;\n    Therefore he is a god.\u201d [229]\n\n\nIn China, as in several other countries, the colour of an animal,\nplant, or stone was believed to reveal its character and attributes. A\nred berry was regarded with favour, because it displayed the life\ncolour. A red stone was favoured for the same reason. When it is\nnowadays found that some particular berry or herb, favoured of old as\nan \u201cAll-heal\u201d, is really an efficacious medicine, an enthusiast may\nincline to regard it as a wonderful thing that modern medical science\nhas not achieved, in some lines, greater triumphs than were achieved by\nthe \u201csimple observers\u201d of ancient times. But it may be that the real\ncures were of accidental discovery, and that the effective berry or\nherb would, on account of its colour alone, have continued in use\nwhether it had cured or not.\n\nIn China not only the berry with a \u201cgood colour\u201d was used by \u201ccurers\u201d,\nbut even the stone with a \u201cgood colour\u201d. The physicians, for instance,\nsometimes prescribed ground jade, and we read of men who died, because,\nas it was thought, the quantities of jade-medicine taken were much too\nlarge. Some ancient writers assert, in this connection, that although a\ndose of ground jade may bring this life to a speedy end, it will ensure\nprolonged life in the next world.\n\nThe berries and stones which were reputed to be \u201cAll-heals\u201d were not\nalways devoured. They could be used simply as charms. The vital essence\nor \u201csoul substance\u201d in berry or stone was supposed to be so powerful\nthat it warded off the attacks of the demons of disease, or expelled\nthe demons after they had taken possession of a patient. Medicines\nmight be prepared by simply dipping the charms into pure well water.\nThese charms were often worn as body-ornaments. All the ancient\npersonal ornaments were magic charms that gave protection or regulated\nthe functions of body organs. When symbols were carved on jade, the\nornaments were believed to acquire increased effectiveness. Gold\nornaments were invariably given symbolic shape. Like the horse-shoe,\nwhich in western Europe is nailed on a door for \u201cluck\u201d\u2014that is, to ward\noff evil\u2014these symbolic ornaments were credited with luck-bringing\nvirtues. The most ancient gold ornaments in the world are found in\nEgypt, and these are models of shells, which had been worn as\n\u201cluck-bringers\u201d long before gold was worked. [230] These shells had an\nintimate association with the Mother Goddess, who, in one of her\naspects, personified the birth-aiding and fertilizing shell.\n\nThe idea that the coloured fruits and the coloured stones were\nlife-giving \u201cavatars\u201d of the Mother Goddess is well illustrated in the\nglowing accounts of the Chinese Paradise. The Tree of Life might bear\nfruit or gems. The souls swallowed gems as readily as fruit. In the\nJapanese Paradise the immortals devour powdered mother-of-pearl shells\nas well as peaches, dried cassia pods, cinnabar, pine needles, or pine\ncones.\n\nJade was connected with vegetation on this earth as well as in\nParadise. As we have seen, the Great Mother goddess created this famous\nmineral for the benefit of mankind. It contained her \u201csoul substance\u201d,\nas did the trees, their blossoms, and their fruit, and even their\nleaves and bark. This quaint belief is enshrined in the following\nquotation from the Illustrated Mirror of Jades, translated by Laufer\nand given without comment:\n\n\n   \u201cIn the second month, the plants in the mountains receive a bright\n    lustre. When their leaves fall, they change into jade. The spirit\n    of jade is like a beautiful woman.\u201d [231]\n\n\nIt is obvious that the \u201cbeautiful woman\u201d is the Goddess of the West.\nReference to coral trees in Paradise are numerous. It was believed not\nonly in China but in western Europe, until comparatively recent times,\nthat coral was a marine tree\u2014the tree of the water-goddess. The Great\nMother was connected with the water above and beyond the firmament, as\nwell as the rivers and the sea.\n\n\u201cGood health\u201d in the Otherworld was immortality or great longevity. A\nsoul which ate of a peach from the World Tree was assured of 3000 years\nof good health. He renewed his youth, and never grew old, so long as\nthe supply of peaches was assured. [232]\n\nIn China men lengthened their days by partaking of \u201csoul substance\u201d in\nvarious forms. The pine-tree cult made decoctions of pine needles and\ncones, or of the fungus found at the roots of pines. \u201cThe juice of the\npine\u201d, says one Chinese sage, \u201cwhen consumed for a long time, renders\nthe body light, prevents man from growing old, and lengthens his life.\nIts leaves preserve the interior of the body; they cause a man never to\nfeel hunger, and increase the years of his life.\u201d The cypress was also\nfavoured. \u201cCypress seeds,\u201d the same writer asserts, \u201cif consumed for a\nlong period, render a man hale and healthy. They endow him with a good\ncolour, sharpen his ears and eyes, cause him never to experience the\nfeeling of hunger, nor to grow old.\u201d The camphor tree comes next to the\npine and cypress as \u201ca dispenser and depository of vital power\u201d. [233]\n\nApparently the fact that pines and cypresses are evergreens recommended\nthem to the Chinese, although it was not for that reason only the\nbelief arose about their richness of \u201csoul substance\u201d. An ancient\nChinese sage has declared: \u201cPines and cypresses alone on this earth are\nendowed with life, in the midst of winter as well as in summer they are\nevergreen. Pines 1000 years old resemble a blue ox, a blue dog, or a\nblue human being. Cypresses 1000 years old have deep roots shaped like\nmen in a sitting posture.... When they are cut they lose blood....\nBranches of pines which are 3000 years old have underneath the bark\naccumulations of resin in the shape of dragons, which, if pounded and\nconsumed in a quantity of full ten pounds, will enable a man to live\n500 years.\u201d [234]\n\nHere we have the tree connected with the blue dragon. As has been\nstated, ancient pines were transformed into dragons. The assertion that\nthe pines and cypresses were the only trees possessed of \u201cvital power\u201d\ndoes not accord with the evidence regarding the peach-tree cult. The\npeach, although not an evergreen, was credited with being possessed of\nmuch \u201csoul substance\u201d.\n\nNo doubt the ideas connected with evergreens had a close association\nwith the doctrines of colour symbolism. The Chinese \u201cTree of Heaven\u201d\n(Ailanthus glandulosa) appears to have attracted special attention,\nbecause in spring its leaves are coloured reddish-violet or\nreddish-brown before they turn green. The walnut, cherry, and peony\nsimilarly show reddish young leaves, and these trees have much lore\nconnected with them.\n\nOne seems to detect traces of the beliefs connected with the mandrake\nin the reference to the human-shaped roots of the 1000-year-old cypress\ntree. The mandrake was the plant of Aphrodite, and its root, which\nresembles the human form, was used medicinally; it has narcotic\nproperties, and was believed also to be a medicine which promoted\nfertility, assisted birth, and caused youths and girls to fall in love\nwith one another. According to mandrake-lore, the plant shrieks when\ntaken from the earth, and causes the death of the one who plucks it.\n[235] Dogs were consequently employed to drag it out of the ground, and\nthey expired immediately. The \u201cmandrake apple\u201d is believed by Dr.\nRendel Harris to have been the original \u201clove apple\u201d. [236]\n\nIn like manner the mugwort, the plant of Artemis, was connected in\nChina and Japan with the pine which had virtues similar to those of the\nherb. Although the mandrake-dog is not associated with the cypress, it\nis found connected in a Japanese folk-story with the pine. The hero of\nthe tale, an old man called Hana Saka Jijii, acquired the secret how to\nmake withered trees blossom. He possessed a wonderful dog, named Shiro,\nwhich one day attracted his attention by sniffing, barking, and wagging\nhis tail at a certain spot in the cottage garden. The old man was\npuzzled to know what curious thing in the ground attracted the dog, and\nbegan to dig. After turning up a few spadefuls of earth he found a\nhoard of gold and silver pieces.\n\nA jealous neighbour, having observed what had happened, borrowed Shiro\nand set the animal to search for treasure in his own garden. The dog\nbegan to sniff and bark at a certain spot, but when the man turned over\nthe soil, he found only dirt and offal that emitted an offensive smell.\nAngry at being deceived by the dog, he killed it and buried the body\nbelow the roots of a pine tree. Hana Saka Jijii was much distressed on\naccount of the loss of Shiro. He burned incense below the pine tree,\nlaid flowers on the dog\u2019s grave, and shed tears. That night he dreamed\na wonderful dream. The ghost of Shiro appeared before him, and,\naddressing him, said: \u201cCut down the pine tree above my grave and make a\nrice mortar of it. When you use the mortar think of me.\u201d\n\nThe old man did as the dog advised, and discovered to his great joy\nthat when he used the pine-tree mortar each grain of rice was\ntransformed into pure gold. He soon became rich.\n\nThe envious neighbour discovered what was going on and borrowed the\nmortar. In his hands, however, it turned rice into dirt. This enraged\nhim so greatly that he broke the mortar and burned it.\n\nThat night the ghost of Shiro appeared once again in a dream, and\nadvised Hana Saka Jijii to collect the ashes of the burnt mortar and\nscatter them on withered trees. Next morning he did as the dog advised\nhim. To his astonishment he found that the ashes caused withered trees\nto come to life and send forth fresh and beautiful blossoms. He then\nwent about the country and employed himself reviving dead plum and\ncherry trees, and soon became so renowned that a prince sent for him,\nasking that he should bring back to life the withered trees in his\ngarden. The old man received a rich reward when he accomplished the\nfeat.\n\nThe jealous neighbour came to know how Hana Saka Jijii revived dead\ntrees, so he collected what remained of the ashes of the pine-tree\nmortar. Then he set forth to proclaim to the inhabitants of a royal\ntown that he could work the same miracle as Hana Saka Jijii. The prince\nsent for him, and the man climbed into the branches of a withered tree.\nBut when he scattered the ashes no bud or blossom appeared, and the\nwind blew the dust into the eyes of the prince and nearly blinded him.\nThe impostor was seized and soundly beaten; and the dog Shiro was, in\nthis manner, well avenged.\n\nIn this story the dog is a searcher for and giver of treasure. It is of\nspecial interest, therefore, to find that Artemis, the mugwort-goddess\nof the West, \u201cwas not only the opener of treasure-houses, but she also\npossessed the secret of the Philosopher\u2019s Stone; she could transmute\nbase substances into gold\u201d. She could therefore grant riches to those\nwhom she favoured. Dr. Rendel Harris, quoting from an old English\nwriter, records the belief \u201cthat upon St. John\u2019s eve there are coals\n(which turn to gold) to be found at midday under the roots of mugwort,\nwhich after or before that time are very small, or none at all\u201d. The\ngold cures sickness. [237]\n\nA similar belief was attached to the mandrake. A French story tells of\na peasant who regularly \u201cfed\u201d a mandrake that grew below a\nmistletoe-bearing oak. The mandrake, when fed, would, it was believed,\n\u201cmake you rich by returning twice as much as you spent upon it.... The\nplant had become an animal.\u201d [238]\n\nIf Shiro\u2019s prototype was the mandrake-dog which sacrificed itself for\nthe sake of lovers, and was itself an \u201cavatar\u201d of the deity, we should\nexpect to find the pine tree connected with the love-goddess. [239]\nJoly, in his Legend in Japanese Art (p. 147), tells that \u201cat Takasago\nthere is a very old pine tree, the trunk of which is bifurcated; in it\ndwells the spirit of the Maiden of Takasago, who was seen once by the\nson of Izanagi, who fell in love and wedded her. Both lived to a very\ngreat age, dying at the same hour on the same day, and since then their\nspirits abide in the tree, but on moonlight nights they return to human\nshape and revisit the scene of their earthly life and pursue their work\nof gathering pine needles.\u201d The needles were promoters of longevity, as\nwe have seen.\n\nAnother Japanese pair associated with the pine trees are Jo and Uba, a\ncouple of old and wrinkled spirits. They gathered pine needles, Jo\nusing a rake and Uba a besom and fan.\n\nThe goddess of the pine was evidently a Far Eastern Aphrodite, as well\nas a Far Eastern Artemis\u2014an Artemis who provided medicine for women in\nthe form of the mugwort, was a goddess of birth, a guardian of\ntreasure, and a goddess of travellers and hunters. The Romans\nassociated with Diana (Artemis) her loved one, Dianus or Janus, [240]\nas the tree-goddess in Japan was associated with a deified human lover.\n\nThe pine may have been \u201ca kind of mugwort\u201d (and apparently, like the\ncypress, a \u201ckind of mandrake\u201d), but it did not displace the mugwort as\na medicinal plant. Dr. Rendel Harris quotes a letter from Professor\nGiles, the distinguished Chinese scholar, who says: \u201cThere is quite a\nliterature about Artemisia vulgaris, L. (the mugwort), which has been\nused in China from time immemorial for cauterizing as a\ncounter-irritant, especially in cases of gout. Other species of\nArtemisia are also found in China.\u201d [241]\n\nThe Far Eastern Artemis appears to be represented by the immortal lady\nknown in China as Ho Sien Ku, and in Japan as Kasenko. She is shown \u201cas\na young woman clothed in mugwort, holding a lotus stem and flower\u201d\n(like a western Asiatic or Egyptian goddess), \u201cand talking to a\nph\u0153nix\u201d, or \u201cdepicted carrying a basket of loquat fruits which she\ngathered for her sick mother. She was a woman who, having been promised\nimmortality in a dream, fed on mother-of-pearl, and thereafter moved as\nswiftly as a bird.\u201d [242] The Mexican god Tlaloc\u2019s wife was similarly a\nmugwort goddess.\n\nIn the pine-tree story the Japanese representative of the tree- and\nlunar-goddess of love appears with her spouse on moonlight nights. The\nmoon was the \u201cPearl of Heaven\u201d. It will be noted that the mugwort is\nconnected with pearl-shell\u2014the lady Ho Sien Ku having acquired the\nright to wear mugwort, in her character as an immortal, by eating\nmother-of-pearl. This connection of pearl-shell with a medicinal plant\nis a more arbitrary one than that of the mugwort with the pine, or the\nmandrake with the cypress.\n\nThe lotus was a form of the ancient love-goddess, as was also the\ncowry. In Egypt the solar-god Horus emerges at birth from the\nlotus-form of Hathor as it floats on the breast of the Nile. Ho Sien\nKu\u2019s basket of fruit is also symbolic. \u201cA basket of sycamore figs\u201d was\nin Ancient Egypt \u201coriginally the hieroglyphic sign for a woman, a\ngoddess, or a mother\u201d. It had thus the same significance as the Pot,\nthe lotus, the mandrake-apple, and the pomegranate. The latter symbol\nsupplanted the Egyptian lotus in the \u00c6gean area. [243]\n\nMugwort, as already stated, was a medicine, and chiefly a woman\u2019s\nmedicine. \u201cThe plant (mugwort)\u201d, says Dr. Rendel Harris, \u201cis Artemis,\nand Artemis is the plant. Artemis is a woman\u2019s goddess and a maid\u2019s\ngoddess, because she was a woman\u2019s medicine and a maid\u2019s medicine.\u201d\n[244] The mugwort promoted child-birth, and controlled women like the\nmoon, and was used for women\u2019s ailments in general. It was a healing\nplant, and was \u201cgood for gout\u201d among other troubles.\n\nThe women\u2019s herb in China is called the \u201csan tsi\u201d. An\neighteenth-century writer [245] says it is \u201cefficacious in women\u2019s\ndisorders and h\u00e6morrhages of all sorts\u201d. It is found \u201conly on the tops\nof high, steep mountains\u201d, as is the scented Edelraut (Artemisia\nmutellina) an alpine plant like the famous and beautiful Edelweiss.\n\nContinuing his account of the \u201csan tsi\u201d herb, the eighteenth-century\nwriter and compiler says: \u201cA kind of goat of a greyish colour is very\nfond of feeding upon this plant, insomuch that they (the Chinese)\nimagine the blood of this animal is endowed with the same medicinal\nproperties. It is certain that the blood of these goats has surprising\nsuccess against the injuries received by falls from horses, and other\naccidents of the same kind. This the missionaries have had experience\nof several times. One of their servants that was thrown by a vicious\nhorse, and who lay some time without speech or motion, was so soon\nrecovered by this remedy that the next day he was able to pursue his\njourney.\u201d It is also \u201ca specific against the smallpox\u201d. The author of\nThe Chinese Traveller, touching again on the blood substitute for this\nplant, which is \u201cnot easy to be had\u201d, says: \u201cIn the experiments above\nmentioned, the blood of a goat was made use of that had been taken by\nhunters\u201d.\n\nThe goat appears to be the link between Artemis \u201cthe curer\u201d and Artemis\nas \u201cDiana the huntress\u201d. As the virtues of rare curative herbs passed\ninto the blood of animals who ate them, the goddess, like her\nworshippers, hunted the animals in question, or became their protector.\nPliny, in his twenty-eighth book, having, as Dr. Rendel Harris notes,\n\u201cexhausted the herbals\u201d, shows that \u201ca larger medicine is to be found\nin animals and in man\u201d. [246]\n\nIn China the stag or deer, the stork, and the tortoise are associated\nwith the Tree of Life as \u201cemblems of longevity\u201d. One is reminded in\nthis connection of the Western, Eastern, and Far Eastern legends about\nbirds that pluck and carry to human beings leaves of \u201cthe plant of\nlife\u201d or \u201cfungus of immortality\u201d, and of Myken\u00e6an and Ancient Egyptian\nrepresentations of bulls, goats, deer, &c., browsing on vines and other\ntrees or bushes that were supposed to contain the elixir of life, being\nsacred to the goddess and shown as symbols of her or of the god with\nwhom she was associated as mother or spouse.\n\nAnother famous Far Eastern curative \u201cwort\u201d is the ginseng. Like the\nfungus of immortality, it grew on one of the Islands of the Blest.\nTaken with mermaid\u2019s flesh, it was supposed to lengthen the life of man\nfor several centuries.\n\n\u201cAs described by Father Jartoux\u201d, says the eighteenth-century English\nwriter, already quoted, [247] \u201cit has a white root, somewhat knotty,\nabout half as thick as one\u2019s little finger; and as it frequently parts\ninto two branches, not unlike the forked parts of a man, it is said\nfrom thence to have obtained the name of ginseng, which implies a\nresemblance of the human form, though indeed it has no more of such a\nlikeness than is usual among other roots. From the root arises a\nperfectly smooth and roundish stem, of a pretty deep-red colour, except\ntowards the surface of the ground, where it is somewhat whiter. At the\ntop of the stem is a sort of joint or knot, formed by the shooting out\nof four branches, sometimes more, sometimes less, which spread as from\na centre. The colour of the branches underneath is green, with a\nwhitish mixture, and the upper part is of a deep red like the stem....\nEach branch has five leaves,\u201d and the leaves \u201cmake a circular figure\nnearly parallel to the surface of the earth\u201d. The berries are of \u201ca\nbeautiful red colour\u201d.\n\nHere we have hints of the mandrake without a doubt. As a matter of\nfact, the ginseng has been identified with the mandrake. The plant\nevidently attracted attention because of its colours and form. As it\nhas a red stem and red berries, it is not surprising to learn that \u201cit\nstrengthens the vital spirits, is good against dizziness in the head\nand dimness of sight, and prolongs life to extreme old age\u201d, and that\n\u201cthose who are in health often use it to render themselves more strong\nand vigorous\u201d. The four-leaved ginseng, like the four-leaved clover,\nwas apparently a symbol of the four cardinal points. Its \u201cfive leaves\u201d\nand the \u201ccircular figure formed by them\u201d must have attracted those who\nselected five colours for their gods and adored the sun.\n\nThe ginseng is found \u201con the declivities of mountains covered with\nthick forests, upon the banks of torrents or about the roots of trees,\nand amidst a thousand other different forms of vegetables\u201d.\n\nConflicts took place between Tartars and Chinese for possession of the\nginseng, and one Tartar king had \u201cthe whole province where the ginseng\ngrows encompassed by wooden palisades\u201d. Guards patrolled about \u201cto\nhinder the Chinese from searching for it (ginseng)\u201d.\n\nTea first came into use in China as a life-prolonger. The shrub is an\nevergreen, and appears to have attracted the attention of the Chinese\nherbalists on that account. Our eighteenth-century writer says: \u201cAs to\nthe properties of tea, they are very much controverted by our\nphysicians; but the Chinese reckon it an excellent diluter and purifier\nof the blood, a great strengthener of the brain and stomach, a promoter\nof digestion, perspiration, and cleanser of the veins and urethra\u201d.\nLarge quantities of tea were in China given \u201cin fevers and some sorts\nof colics\u201d. Our author adds: \u201cThat the gout and stone are unknown in\nChina is ascribed to the use of this plant\u201d. [248]\n\nApparently we owe not only some valuable medicines, but even the\nfamiliar cup of tea, to the ancient searchers for the elixir of life\nand curative herbs. Intoxicating liquors (aqua vit\u00e6, i.e. \u201cwater of\nlife\u201d) have a similar history. They were supposed to impart vigour to\nthe body and prolong life. Withal, like the intoxicating \u201csoma\u201d, drunk\nby Aryo-Indian priests, they had a religious value as they produced\n\u201cprophetic states\u201d. Even the opium habit had a religious origin. Aqua\nvit\u00e6 was impregnated with \u201csoul substance\u201d, as was the juice of grapes,\nor, as the Hebrews put it, \u201cthe blood of grapes\u201d. [249]\n\nAs Far Eastern beliefs associated with curative plants and curative\nstones (like jade) have filtered westward, so did Western beliefs\nfilter eastward. Dr. Rendel Harris has shown that myths and beliefs\nconnected with the ivy and mugwort, which were so prevalent in Ancient\nGreece, can be traced across Siberia to Kamschatka. The Ainus of Japan\nregard the mistletoe as an \u201cAll-heal\u201d, as did the ancient Europeans.\n\u201cThe discovery of the primitive sanctity of ivy, mugwort, and\nmistletoe\u201d, says Dr. Harris, \u201cmakes a strong link between the early\nGreeks and other early peoples both East and West, and it is probable\nthat we shall find many more contacts between peoples that, as far as\ngeography and culture go, are altogether remote.\u201d [250]\n\nThere are many Far Eastern stories about men and women who have escaped\nthreatened death by eating herbs, or pine resin, or some magic fruit.\n\nOne herb, called huchu, was first discovered to have special virtues by\na man who, when crossing a mountain, fell into a deep declivity and was\nunable to get out of it, not only on account of the injuries he had\nsustained, but because the rocks were as smooth as glass. He looked\nabout for something to eat, and saw only the huchu herb. Plucking it\nout of the thin soil in which it grew, he chewed the root and found\nthat it kept his body at a temperature which prevented him feeling\ncold, while it also satisfied his desire for food and water. Time\npassed quickly and pleasantly. He felt happy, slept well, and did not\nweary.\n\nOne day the earth was shaken by a great earthquake that opened a way of\nescape for him. The man at once left his mountain prison and set off\nfor home.\n\nOn reaching his house he found, to his surprise, that it was inhabited\nby strangers. He spoke to them, asking why they were there, and\ninquiring regarding his wife and children. The strangers only scoffed\nat him. Then he wandered through the village, searching for old\nfriends, but could not find one. He, however, interested a wise old man\nin his case. An examination was made of the family annals, and it was\ndiscovered that the name given by the man had been recorded three\ncenturies earlier as that of a member of the family who had\nmysteriously disappeared.\n\nThe Chinese Rip Van Winkle then told the story of his life in the\nmountain cavity, and how he had been sustained by the huchu herb. In\nthis manner, according to Chinese tradition, the discovery was made\nthat the herb \u201cprolongs life, cures baldness, turns grey hair black\nagain, and tends to renew one\u2019s youth\u201d. Great quantities of huchu tea\nmust be drunk for a considerable time, and no other food taken, if the\ndesired results are to be fully achieved.\n\nOther Rip Van Winkle stories tell of men who have lived for centuries\nwhile conversing with immortals met by chance, or while taking part in\ntheir amusements like the men in Western European stories, who enter\nfairy knolls and dance with fairy women, and think they have danced for\na single hour, but find, when they come out, that a whole year has gone\npast.\n\nOne day a Taoist priest, named Wang Chih, entered a mountain forest to\ngather firewood. He came to a cave in which sat two aged men playing\nchess, while others looked on. The game fascinated Wang Chih, so he\nentered the cave, laid aside his chopper, and looked on. When he began\nto feel hungry and thirsty he moved as if to rise up and go away,\nalthough the game had not come to an end. One of the spectators,\nhowever, divining his intention, handed him a kernel, which looked like\na date stone, saying, \u201cSuck that\u201d.\n\nWang Chih put the kernel in his mouth and found that it refreshed him\nso that he experienced no further desire for food or drink.\n\nThe chess-playing continued in silence, and several hours, as it\nseemed, flew past. Then one of the old men spoke to Wang Chih, saying:\n\u201cIt is now a long time since you came to join our company. I think you\nshould return home.\u201d\n\nWang Chih rose to his feet. When he grasped his chopper he was\nastonished to find that the handle crumbled to dust. On reaching home,\nhe discovered, like the man who fed on the huchu herb, that he had been\nmissing for one or two centuries. The old men with whom he had mingled\nin the cave were the immortals, known to the Chinese as Sten Nung, to\nthe Japanese as Sennin, and to the Indians as Rishis\u2014a class of\ndemi-gods who once lived on earth and achieved great merit, in the\nspiritual sense, by practising austerities in solitude and for long\nperiods.\n\nThe reference to the date stone is of special interest. In Babylonia\nand Assyria the date palm was one of the holy trees. It was cultivated\nin southern Persia, and may have been introduced into China from that\nquarter. Another possibility is that the seeds were got from dates\ncarried by Arab traders to China, or obtained from Arabs by Chinese\ntraders. One of the Chinese names for the date resembles the Ancient\nEgyptian designation, bunnu. Laufer, who discusses this problem, [251]\nrefers to early Chinese texts that make mention of Mo-lin, a distant\ncountry in which dark-complexioned natives subsist on dates. Mo-lin,\nearlier Mwa-lin, is, Laufer thinks, \u201cintended for the Malindi of Edr\u012bs\u012b\nor Mulanda of Y\u00e3q\u016bt, now Malindi, south of the Equator, in Seyidieh\nProvince of British East Africa\u201d. The lore connected with other Trees\nof Life in China appears to have been transferred to the imported date\npalm. One of its names is \u201cjujube of a thousand years\u201d, or \u201cjujube of\nten thousand years\u201d. Laufer quotes a Chinese description of the date\npalm which emphasizes the fact that it \u201cremains ever green\u201d, and tells\nthat \u201cwhen the kernel ripens, the seeds are black. In their appearance\nthey resemble dried jujubes. They are good to eat, and as sweet as\ncandy.\u201d [252]\n\nAnother Chinese Rip Van Winkle story relates that two men who wandered\namong the mountains met two pretty girls. They were entertained by\nthem, and fed on a concoction prepared from hemp. Seven generations\nwent past while they enjoyed the company of the girls.\n\nThe hemp (old Persian and Sanskrit bangha) was cultivated at a remote\nperiod in China and Iran. A drug prepared from the seed is supposed to\nprolong life and to inspire those who partake of it to prophesy, after\nseeing visions and dreaming dreams. The \u201cbang\u201d habit is as bad as the\nopium habit.\n\nIn the tree-lore of China there are interesting links between trees and\nstones. It has been shown that jade was an \u201cavatar\u201d of the\nmother-goddess, who created it for the benefit of mankind; that tree\nfoliage was identified with jade; that dragons were born from stones;\ncertain coloured stones were \u201cdragon eggs\u201d, the eggs of the \u201cDragon\nMother\u201d, the mother-goddess herself, who had \u201cmany forms and many\ncolours\u201d. Sacred stones were supposed to have dropped from the sky, or\nto have grown in the earth. Pliny refers to a stone that fell from the\nsun.\n\nIn Ancient Egypt it was believed that the creative or fertilizing tears\nof the beneficent deities, like those of Osiris and Isis, caused good\nshrubs to spring up, and that the tears of a deity like Set, who became\nthe personification of evil, produced poisonous plants. The weeping\nPrajapati of the Aryo-Indians resembles the weeping sun-god Ra of\nEgypt. At the beginning, Prajapati\u2019s tears fell into the water and\n\u201cbecame the air\u201d, and the tears he \u201cwiped away, upwards, became the\nsky\u201d. [253]\n\nIt is evident that the idea of the weeping deity reached China, for\nthere are references to \u201ctree tears\u201d and to \u201cstone tears\u201d. Both the\ntree and stone \u201cavatars\u201d of the Great Mother or Great Father shed\ncreative tears.\n\nThe Chinese appear to have discovered their wonderful \u201cweeping tree\u201d in\nTurkestan in the second century B.C., but the beliefs connected with it\nwere evidently of greater antiquity. They already knew about the\nweeping deities who created good and baneful vegetation, and the\ndiscovery of the tree, it would appear, simply afforded proof to them\nof the truth of their beliefs.\n\nThe tree in question (the hu t\u02bcun tree) has been identified by Laufer\nas the balsam poplar. \u201cThis tree\u201d, he quotes from a Chinese\ncommentator, \u201cis punctured by insects, whereupon flows down a juice,\nthat is commonly termed hu t\u02bcun lei (\u2018hu t\u02bcun tears\u2019), because it is\nsaid to resemble human tears. When this substance penetrates earth or\nstone it coagulates into a solid mass, somewhat on the order of rock\nsalt.\u201d Laufer notes that Pliny \u201cspeaks of a thorny shrub in Ariana, on\nthe borders of India, valuable for its tears, resembling the myrrh, but\ndifficult of access on account of the adhering thorns. It is not known\nwhat plant is to be understood by the Plinian text; but the analogy of\nthe tears,\u201d comments Laufer, \u201cwith the above Chinese term is\nnoteworthy.\u201d\n\nAn ancient Chinese scholar, dealing with the references to the weeping\ntrees, says that \u201cits sap sinks into the earth, and is similar to earth\nand stone. It is used as a dye, like the ginger stone\u201d (a variety of\nstalactite). Ta Min, who lived in the tenth century of our era, wrote\nregarding the tree, \u201cThere are two kinds\u2014a tree sap, which is not\nemployed in the Pharmacop\u0153ia, and a stone sap collected on the surface\nof stones; this one only is utilized as medicine. It resembles in\nappearance small pieces of stone, and those coloured like loess take\nthe first place. The latter was employed as a remedy for toothache.\u201d\n[254]\n\nIn Babylonia toothache was supposed to be caused by the marsh-worm\ndemon which devours \u201cthe blood of the teeth\u201d and \u201cdestroys the strength\nof the gums\u201d. The god Ea smites the worm, which is a form of the dragon\nTiamat. [255]\n\nThe antique conception enshrined in the \u201cweeping tree\u201d is that the\nmother-goddess of the sky sheds tears, which cause the tree to grow,\nand that, as the tree, she sheds tears that become stones, while the\nstones shed tears that provide soul substance to cure disease by\nremoving pain and promoting health. In Egypt the stone specially sacred\nto the sky-goddess Hathor was the turquoise, in which was, apparently,\nconcentrated the vital essence or \u201csoul substance\u201d of the sky. The\ngoddess sprang from water, and her tears were drops of the primeval\nwater from which all things that are issued forth. Those stones that\ncontained water were in China \u201cdragon stones\u201d or \u201cdragon eggs\u201d. In\nvarious countries there are legends about deities, and men and women\nhave sprung from moisture-shedding stones. The mother-goddess of\nScotland, who presides over the winter season, transforms herself at\nthe beginning of summer into a stone that is often seen to be covered\nwith moisture. In Norse mythology the earliest gods spring from stones\nthat have been licked by the primeval mother-cow. Mithra of Persia\nsprang from a rock. Indonesian beliefs regarding moist stones, from\nwhich issue water and human beings, are fairly common. [256]\n\nThe Kayan of Sumatra are familiar with the beliefs that connect stones\nand vegetables with the sky and water. They say that \u201cin the beginning\nthere was a rock. On this rain fell and gave rise to moss, and the\nworms, aided by the dung beetles, made soil by their castings. Then a\nsword handle came down from the sun and became a large tree. From the\nmoon came a creeper which, hanging from the tree, mated through the\naction of the wind.\u201d From this union of tree and creeper, i.e. sun and\nmoon, \u201cthe first men were produced\u201d. [257]\n\nThe connection between sky, plant, and animals is found in the lore\nregarding the Chinese sant si mountain herb which is eaten by goats.\nThis herb, like other herbs, is produced from the body-moisture of the\ngoddess; it is the goddess herself\u2014the goddess who sprang from water.\nThe plant is guarded by the mountain goat as the pearls are guarded by\nthe shark, and the goat, which browses on the plant, is, like the\nshark, an avatar of the goddess. Goat\u2019s blood is therefore as\nefficacious as the sap of the herb.\n\nThe goat or ram is the vehicle of the Indian fire and lightning god\nAgni; the Norse god Thor has a car drawn by goats. Dionysos, as Bromios\n(the Thunderer), has a goat \u201cavatar\u201d, too, and he is the god of wine\n(Bacchus)\u2014the wine, the \u201cblood of grapes\u201d, being the elixir of life.\nOsiris, who had a ram form, was to the Ancient Egyptians \u201cLord of the\nOverflowing Wine\u201d. European witches ride naked on goats or on brooms;\nthe devil had a goat form.\n\nIn China, as has been shown, the dragon-herb, peach, vine, pine, fungus\nof immortality, ginseng, &c., received their sap, or blood, or \u201csoul\nsubstance\u201d from rain released by dragon gods, who thundered like\nBromios-Dionysos. The inexhaustible pot from which life-giving water\ncame was in the moon. This Pot was the mother-goddess, who had a star\nform. A fertilizing tear from the goddess-star, which falls on the\n\u201cNight of the Drop\u201d, is still supposed in Egypt to cause the Nile to\nrise in flood.\n\nWe should expect to find the Chinese mythological cycle completed by an\narbitrary connection between the goat or ram and sacred stones.\n\nThere are, to begin with, celestial goats. Some of the Far Eastern\ndemi-gods, already referred to, ride through \u201cCloud-land\u201d on the backs\nof goats or sheep. One of the eight demi-gods, who personify the eight\npoints of the compass, is called by the Chinese Hwang Ch\u02bcu-P\u02bcing, and\nby the Japanese Koshohei. He is said to be an incarnation of the\n\u201crain-priest\u201d, Ch\u02bcih Sung Tze, who has for his wife a daughter of the\nRoyal Mother of the West, the mother-goddess of the Peach Tree of Life.\n\nThe Japanese version of the legend of the famous Koshohei is given by\nJoly as follows: \u201cKoshohei, when fifteen years old, led his herd of\ngoats to the Kin Hwa mountains, and, having found a grotto, stayed\nthere for forty years in meditation. His brother, Shoki, was a priest,\nand he vowed to find the missing shepherd. Once he walked near the\nmountain and he was told of the recluse by a sage named Zenju, and set\nout to find him. He recognized his brother, but expressed his\nastonishment at the absence of sheep or goats. Koshohei thereupon\ntouched with his staff the white stones with which the ground was\nstrewn, and as he touched them they became alive in the shape of\ngoats.\u201d [258]\n\nGoats might become stones. The Great Mother was a stone, rock, or\nmountain, having the power to assume many forms, because she was the\nlife of all things and the substance of all things. The goddess was the\nMountain of Dawn in labour that brought forth the mouse-form of the sun\n(Smintheus Apollo), or the antelope form of the sun, or the hawk or\neagle form, or the human form, or the egg containing the sun-god. She\nwas also the sun-boat\u2014the dragon-ship of the sun. The five holy\nmountains of China appear to have been originally connected with the\ngoddess and her sons\u2014the gods of the four quarters.\n\nIn China deities might on occasion take the form of stones or reptiles.\nDuring the Chou Dynasty (756 B.C.) \u201cone of the feudal dukes\u201d, says\nGiles, \u201csaw a vision of a yellow serpent which descended from heaven,\nand laid its head on the slope of a mountain. The duke spoke of this to\nhis astrologer, who said, \u2018It is a manifestation of God; sacrifice to\nit\u2019. In 747 B.C. another duke found on a mountain a being in the\nsemblance of a stone. Sacrifices were at once offered, and the stone\nwas deified and received regular worship from that time forward.\u201d [259]\n\nGiles states further in connection with Chinese god-stones: \u201cUnder 532\nB.C. we have the record of a stone speaking.\u201d The Marquis Lu inquired\nof his chief musician if this was a fact, and received the following\nanswer: \u201cStones cannot speak. Perhaps this one was possessed by a\nspirit. If not, the people must have heard wrong. And yet it is said\nthat when things are done out of season and discontents and complaints\nare stirring among the people, then speechless things do speak.\u201d [260]\n\nPrecious stones were, like boulders or mountains, linked with the Great\nMother. In Egypt the red jaspar amulet, called \u201cthe girdle of Isis\u201d,\nwas supposed to be a precious drop of the life-blood of that goddess.\nHerbs were connected with precious stones, and were credited with the\nattributes and characteristics of these stones. There are many\nreferences in Chinese, Indian, and other texts and folk-lores to gems\nthat gleam in darkness. No gems do. The mandrake was similarly believed\nto shine at night. Both gem and herb were associated with the moon, a\nform of the mother-goddess, and were supposed to give forth light like\nthe moon, [261] just as stones associated with the rain-mother were\nsupposed to become moist, or to send forth a stream of water, or to\nshed tears like the \u201cweeping trees\u201d, and like the sky from which drop\nrain and dew. The attributes of the goddess were shared by her\n\u201cavatars\u201d.\n\nThe amount or strength of the \u201csoul-substance\u201d in trees, herbs,\nwell-water, stones, and animals varied greatly. Some elixirs derived\nfrom one or other of these \u201cavatars\u201d might prolong life by a few years;\nother elixirs might ensure many years of health.\n\nThe difference between a medicinal herb and the herb of immortality was\none of degree in potency. The former was imbued with sufficient\n\u201csoul-substance\u201d to cure a patient suffering from a disease, or to give\ngood health for months, or even years; the latter gave extremely good\nhealth, and those who partook of it lived for long periods in the\nOtherworld.\n\nEven the \u201cspiritual beings\u201d (ling) of China were graded. The four ling,\nas De Visser states, are \u201cthe unicorn, the ph\u0153nix, the tortoise, and\nthe dragon\u201d. The dragon is credited with being possessed of \u201cmost ling\nof all creatures\u201d. [262]\n\nStones were likewise graded. Precious stones had more ling than\nordinary stones. Precious stones are sometimes referred to as pi-si.\nOne Chinese writer says that \u201cthe best pi-si are deep-red in colour;\nthat those in which purple, yellow, and green are combined, and the\nwhite ones take the second place; while those half white and half black\nare of the third grade\u201d. [263]\n\nStones that displayed five colours combined apparently all the virtues\nof the five deities\u2014the gods of the four quarters, and the sun, their\nchief. These were all children of the sixth deity, the Great Mother,\nwho was the water on earth and the water above the firmament and the\nmoon. The moon contained, as has been said, the \u201cPot\u201d of fertilizing\nwater which created all the water that flows into the Earth \u201cPot\u201d. In\nChina, as in Egypt and Western Europe, the Great Mother was the\nreproductive principle in Nature, the source of the moisture of life,\nthe blood which is life, the sap of trees, the soul-substance in herbs,\nin fruit, in pearls, and in precious stones and precious\nmetals\u2014precious because of their close association with her.\n\nIt was the human dread of death and pain, the human desire for health\nand long life, and for the renewal of youth that instigated early man\nto search for the well of life, the plant of life, the curative herb,\nthe pearl, and precious stones and precious metals. But before the\nsearch began, the complex ideas about the origin of life and the means\nby which it might be prolonged, which are reviewed in this chapter,\npassed through a long process of development in the most ancient\ncentres of civilization. In China we meet not only with primitive ideas\nregarding life-giving food and water, but with ideas that had gradually\ndeveloped for centuries outside China after the earliest attempts had\nbeen made to reanimate the corpse, not merely by painting it, but by\npreventing the body from decaying. In the history of mummification in\nEgypt may be found the history of complex beliefs that travelled far\nand wide. [264] Even those peoples who did not adopt, or, at any rate,\nperpetuate the custom of mummification, adopted the belief that it was\nnecessary to preserve the corpse. This belief is still prevalent in\nChina, as will be shown, but magic takes the place of surgery.\n\nIn the next chapter evidence will be provided to indicate how the\noverland \u201cdrift\u201d of culture towards China was impelled by the forces at\nwork in Babylonia and Egypt.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII\n\nHOW COPPER-CULTURE REACHED CHINA\n\n    Metals connected with Deities\u2014Introduction of Copper\u2014Struggles for\n    the First \u201cMine-Land\u201d\u2014Early Metal-working in Caucasus, Armenia, and\n    Persia\u2014Civilizations of Trans-Caspian Oases\u2014Babylonian Influence in\n    Mid Asia\u2014Bronze and Jade carried into Europe\u2014Ancient \u201cGold Rushes\u201d\n    to Siberia\u2014Discoveries in Chinese Turkestan\u2014Jade carried to\n    Babylonia\u2014Links between China, Iran, and Siberia\u2014Bronze-links\n    between China and Europe\u2014Evidence of Ornaments and Myths\u2014Early\n    Metal-working\u2014Far Eastern and European Furnaces Identical\u2014Chinese\n    Civilization dates from 1700 B.C.\u2014Culture-mixing in Ancient Times.\n\n\nThe persistent and enterprising search for wealth in ancient times,\nwhich, as will be shown in this chapter, had so much to do with the\nspread of civilization, may seem quite a natural thing to modern man.\nBut it is really as remarkable, when we consider the circumstances, to\nfind the early peoples possessed of the greed of gold as it would be to\nfind hungry men who have been ship-wrecked on a lonely island more\nconcerned about its mineral resources than the food and water they were\nabsolutely in need of. What was the good of gold in an ancient\ncivilization that had no coinage? What attraction could it possibly\nhold for desert nomads?\n\nThe value attached to gold, which is a comparatively useless metal, has\nalways been a fictitious value. As we have seen, it became precious in\nancient times, not because of its purchasing power, but for the reason\nthat it had religious associations. The early peoples regarded the\nprecious metal as an \u201cavatar\u201d of the life-giving and life-sustaining\nGreat Mother goddess\u2014the \u201cGolden Hathor\u201d, the \u201cGolden Aphrodite\u201d.\n\nIn Egypt, Babylonia, Greece, India, and China the cow- and sky-goddess,\nthe source of fertilizing water, was, in the literal sense, a goddess\nof gold. In India one of the five Sanskrit names for gold is Chandra\n[265] (\u201cthe moon\u201d), and the Indus was called \u201cGolden Stream\u201d, not\nmerely because gold was found in its sand, but because of its\nconnection with the celestials. \u201cGold is the object of the wishes of\nthe Vedic singer, and golden treasures are mentioned as given by\npatrons, along with cows and horses. Gold was used for ornaments for\nneck and breast, for ear-rings, and even for cups. Gold is always\nassociated with the gods. All that is connected with them is of gold;\nthe horses of the sun are \u2018gold skinned\u2019, and so on.\u201d This summary by\ntwo distinguished Sanskrit scholars emphasizes the close connection\nthat existed in India between gold and gold ornaments and religious\nbeliefs. [266]\n\n\u201cGold\u201d, a reader may contend, \u201cis, of course, a beautiful metal, and\nthe ancients may well have been attracted by its beauty when they began\nto utilize it for ornaments.\u201d But is there any proof that ornaments\nwere adopted, because, in the first place, they made appeal to the\n\u00e6sthetic sense, which, after all, is a cultivated sense, and not to be\nentirely divorced from certain mental leanings produced by the\nexperiences and customs of many generations? Do ornaments really\nbeautify those who wear them? Was it the \u00e6sthetic sense that prompted\nthe early peoples to pierce their noses and ears; and to extend the\nlobes of their ears so as to \u201cadorn\u201d themselves with shells, stones,\nand pieces of metal? Can we divorce the practice of mutilation from its\nassociation with crude religious beliefs? Inherited ideas of beauty may\nbe wrong ideas, and it can be said of the modern lady who wears\ncollections of brilliant and costly jewels that she is not necessarily\nmade more beautiful by perpetuating a custom rooted in the grossest\nsuperstitions of antiquity, for these jewels were originally charms to\npreserve health, to regulate the flow of blood, to promote fertility\nand birth, and, generally speaking, to secure \u201cluck\u201d by bringing the\nwearer into close touch with the \u201cdeities\u201d, whose \u201csoul-substance\u201d was\ncontained in them.\n\nWhen the \u00e6sthetic sense of mankind reached that high stage of\ndevelopment represented by Greek sculpture, the so-called ornaments\nwere discarded and the human form depicted in all its natural beauty\nand charm.\n\nWhatever was holy seemed beautiful to the early people, and that is why\nin a country like India, with its wealth of exquisitely coloured\nflowers, the Sanskrit names for gold include J\u0101ta-r\u016bpa (native beauty),\nand Su-varna (good, or beautiful colour). The gold colour was really a\nluck-bringing colour, and therefore beautiful to Aryan eyes.\n\nHaving attached in their homelands a fictitious religious value to\ngold, the early prospectors and miners carried their beliefs and\ncustoms with them wherever they went, and these were in time adopted by\nthe peoples with whom they came into contact.\n\nWhen Columbus crossed the Atlantic he and his followers greatly\nastonished the unsophisticated natives of the New World by their\nanxiety to obtain precious metals. They found, to their joy, that \u201cthe\nsands of the mountain streams glittered with particles of gold; these\u201d,\nas Washington Irving says, [267] \u201cthe natives would skilfully separate\nand give to the Spaniards, without expecting a recompense\u201d.\n\nNo doubt the early searchers for gold in Africa and Asia met with many\npeoples who were as much amused and interested, and as helpful, as were\nthe natives of the New World, who welcomed the Spaniards as visitors\nfrom the sky.\n\nGold was the earliest metal worked by man. It was first used in Egypt\nto fashion imitation sea-shells, and the magical and religious value\nattached to the shells was transferred to the gold which, in\nconsequence, became \u201cprecious\u201d or \u201choly\u201d.\n\nCopper was the next metal to be worked. It was similarly used for the\nmanufacture of personal ornaments and other sacred objects, being\nregarded apparently, to begin with, as a variety of gold. But in\ntime\u2014some centuries, it would appear, after copper was first extracted\nfrom malachite\u2014some pioneer of a new era began to utilize it as a\nsubstitute for flint, and copper knives and other implements were\nintroduced. This discovery of the usefulness of copper had far-reaching\neffects, and greatly increased the demand for the magical metal.\nIncreasing numbers of miners were employed, and search was made for new\ncopper-mines by enterprising prospectors who, in Egypt, were employed,\nor, at any rate, protected, by the State. This search had much to do\nwith promoting race movements, and introducing not only new modes of\nlife but new modes of thought into lands situated at great distances\nfrom the areas in which these modes of life and thought had origin. The\nmetal-workers were the missionaries of a New Age. In this chapter it\nwill be shown how they reached China.\n\nArch\u00e6ologists are not agreed as to where copper was first used for the\nmanufacture of weapons and implements. Some favour Egypt, and others\nMesopotamia. In the former country the useful metal was worked in\npre-Dynastic times, that is, before 3500 B.C. or 4500 B.C. \u201cCopper\nornaments and objects, found in graves earlier than the middle\npre-Dynastic period\u201d, wrote the late Mr. Leonard W. King, \u201care small\nand of little practical utility as compared with the beautifully flaked\nflint knives, daggers, and lances.... At a rather later stage in the\npre-Dynastic period, copper dagger-blades and adzes were produced in\nimitation of flint and stone forms, and these mark the transition to\nthe heavy weapons and tools of copper which, in the early Dynastic\nperiod, largely ousted flint and stone implements for practical use.\nThe gradual attainment of skill in the working of copper ore on the\npart of the early Egyptians had a marked effect on the whole status of\ntheir culture. Their improved weapons enabled them by conquest to draw\ntheir raw materials from a far more extended area.\u201d [268]\n\nCopper was found in the wadis of Upper Egypt and on the Red Sea\ncoast\u2014in those very areas in which gold was worked for generations\nbefore copper was extracted from malachite. At a later period the\nPharaohs sent gangs of miners to work the copper-mines in the Sinaitic\npeninsula. King Semerket, of the early Dynastic age, had men extracting\ncopper in the Wadi Maghara. \u201cHis expedition was exposed to the\ndepredations of the wild tribes of Beduin ... and he recorded his\npunishment of them in a relief on the rocks of the Wadi.\u201d There is\nevidence that at this remote period the Pharaohs \u201cmaintained foreign\nrelations with far remote peoples\u201d. [269] A record of a later age (c.\n2000 B.C.) affords us a vivid glimpse of life in the \u201cMine-Land\u201d. An\nofficial recorded in an inscription that he had been sent there in what\nhe calls the \u201cEvil summer season\u201d. He complained, \u201cIt is not the season\nfor going to this Mine-Land.... The highlands are hot in summer, and\nthe mountains brand the skin.\u201d Yet he could boast that \u201che extracted\nmore copper than he had been ordered to obtain\u201d. [270]\n\nThe transition from stone to copper cannot be traced in ancient\nBabylonia. Sumerian history begins at the seaport Eridu, when that\ncentre of civilization was situated at the head of the Persian Gulf\u2014a\nfact that suggests the settlement there of seafaring colonists. At the\ndawn of Sumerian culture, copper tools and weapons had come into use.\nNo metals could be found in the alluvial \u201cplain of Shinar\u201d.\n\nThe early Babylonians (Sumerians) had to obtain their supplies of\ncopper from Sinai, Armenia, the Caucasus area, and Persia. It may be\nthat their earliest supplies came from Sinai, and that the battles in\nthat \u201cMine-Land\u201d, recorded in early Egyptian inscriptions, were fought\nbetween rival claimants of the ore from the Nile valley and the valley\nof the Tigris and Euphrates. One ancient Pharaoh refers in an\ninscription to his \u201cfirst occurrence of smiting the Easterners\u201d in\nSinai. \u201cThis designation\u201d, comments Breasted, \u201cof the event as the\n\u2018first occurrence\u2019 would indicate that it was a customary thing for the\nkings of the time (First Dynasty, c. 3500 B.C.) to chastise the\nbarbarians.\u201d [271] But were they really \u201cbarbarians\u201d? Is it likely that\nbarbarians would be found in such a region, especially in summer? It is\nmore probable that the \u201cEasterners\u201d came from an area in which the\ndemand for copper was as great as it was in Egypt.\n\nThe regular battles between the ancient \u201cpeggers-out\u201d of \u201cclaims\u201d in\nMine-Land no doubt forced the \u201cEasterners\u201d to search for copper\nelsewhere. By following the course of the Tigris the Sumerian\nprospectors were led to the rich mineral area of the Armenian\nHighlands, and it is of special significance in this connection to find\nthat the earliest Assyrian colonies were founded by Sumerians.\nApparently Nineveh (Mosul) had origin as a trading centre at which\nmetal ores were collected and sent southward some time before the\nSemitic Akkadians obtained control of the northern part of the\nBabylonian plain.\n\nThe copper obtained from Armenia and other western Asiatic areas was\nless suitable than Sinaitic copper, being much softer. Sinaitic and\nEgyptian copper is naturally hard on account of the proportion of\nsulphur it contains. But after tin was found, and it was discovered\nthat, when mixed with copper, it produced the hard amalgam known as\nbronze, the Sumerians appear to have entirely deserted the Sinaitic\nMine-Land, and left it to the Egyptians.\n\nThe Egyptians continued in their Copper Age until their civilization\nceased to be controlled by native kings.\n\nBabylonia had likewise a Copper Age to begin with, but copper was at an\nearly period entirely supplanted by bronze, except for religious\npurposes\u2014a fact which is of great importance, especially when it is\nfound that the religious beliefs associated with copper and gold were\ndisseminated far and wide by the early miners\u2014the troglodytes of Sinai\nin the early Egyptian texts\u2014who formed colonies that became industrial\nand trading centres. Votive images found in Babylonia are of copper. A\ngood example of early Sumerian religious objects is the interesting\nbull\u2019s head in copper from Tello, which is dated c. 3000 B.C. The eyes\nof this image of the bull-god\u2014the \u201cBull of Heaven\u201d, the sky-god, whose\nmother or spouse was the \u201cCow of Heaven\u201d\u2014\u201care inlaid with\nmother-of-pearl and lapis-lazuli\u201d. A \u201cvery similar method is met with\nin the copper head of a goat which was found at Fara\u201d. [272] Here we\nfind fused in early Sumerian religious objects complex religious\nbeliefs connected with domesticated animals, sea-shells, and metals.\n\nThe opinion, suggested here by the writer, that the battles between\nrival miners in Sinai compelled the Sumerians to search for copper\nelsewhere and to discover means whereby the softer copper could be\nhardened, appears to accord with the view that bronze was first\nmanufactured in Babylonia, or in some area colonized by Babylonia. In\nhis able summary of the arch\u00e6ological evidence regarding the\nintroduction of bronze, Sir Hercules Read shows that \u201cthe attribution\nof the discovery to Babylonia is preferred as offering fewest\ndifficulties\u201d. [273]\n\nRecent arch\u00e6ological finds make out a good case for Russian Turkestan\nas the \u201ccradle of the bronze industry\u201d.\n\nIn Troy and Crete bronze supplanted flint and obsidian. There was no\nCopper Age in either of these culture centres. The copper artifacts\nfound in Crete are simply small and useless votive axes and other\nreligious objects.\n\nWhence did the Babylonians receive, after the discovery was made how to\nmanufacture bronze, the necessary supplies of tin? Armenia and the\nCaucasus \u201cappear\u201d, as Read says, \u201cto be devoid of stanniferous ores\u201d.\nApparently the early metal-searchers had gone as far as Khorassan in\nPersia before their fellows had ceased to wage battles with Egyptians\nin the Sinaitic \u201cMine-Land\u201d. Tin has been located at Khorassan and \u201cin\nother parts of Persia, near Asterabad and Tabriz. [274]... From such\nareas as these\u201d, Reid says, \u201cthe tin used in casting the earliest\nbronze may have been derived.\u201d We are now fairly on our way along the\nhighway leading to China. \u201cIn Eastern Asia, beyond the radius of the\nancient civilizations of Mesopotamia\u201d, Read continues, \u201cthere would\nseem to be no region likely to have witnessed the discovery (of how to\nwork bronze) nearer than Southern China; for India, which has copper\nimplements of a very primitive type, is poor in tin ... while the Malay\npeninsula, an extremely rich stanniferous region, does not appear to\nhave been mined in very ancient times\u201d. [275] It is unlikely that\nbronze was first manufactured in China, considering the period of its\nintroduction into Babylonia, which antedates by several centuries the\nearliest traces of civilization in the Far East.\n\nThe history of the development of the industries and commerce of early\nBabylonia is the history of the growth and dissemination of\ncivilization, not only in western Asia, but in the \u201cMid East\u201d and the\n\u201cFar East\u201d.\n\nBabylonia, the Asiatic granary of the ancient world, lay across the\ntrade routes. Both its situation and its agricultural resources gave it\ngreat commercial importance. It had abundant supplies of surplus food\nto stimulate trade, and its industrial activity created a demand for\nmaterials that could not be obtained in the rich alluvial plain. \u201cOver\nthe Persian Gulf\u201d, says Professor Goodspeed, [276] \u201cteak-wood, found in\nEridu (the seaside \u201ccradle\u201d of Sumerian culture), was brought from\nIndia. Cotton also made its way from the same source to the southern\ncities. Over Arabia, by way of Ur, which stood at the foot of a natural\nopening from the desert ... were led the caravans laden with stone,\nspices, copper, and gold [277] from Sinai, Yemen, and Egypt.\nDoor-sockets of Sinaitic stone found at Nippur attest this traffic.\u201d\nCedar wood was imported from the Syrian mountains \u201cfor the adornment of\npalaces and temples. From the east, down the pass of Holwan, came the\nmarble and precious metal of the mountains. Much of this raw material\nwas worked over by Babylonian artisans and shipped back to\nless-favoured lands, along with the grain, dates, and fish, the rugs\nand cloths of native production. All this traffic was in the hands of\nBabylonian traders, who fearlessly ventured into the borders of distant\ncountries, and must have carried with them thither the knowledge of the\ncivilization and wealth of their own home, for only thus can the\nwidespread influence of Babylonian culture in the earliest periods be\nexplained.\u201d\n\nIt was evidently due to the influence of the searchers for metals and\nthe traders that the culture of early Sumeria spread across the Iranian\nplateau. As Laufer has shown, [278] \u201cthe Iranians were the great\nmediators between the West and the East\u201d. The Chinese \u201cwere positive\nutilitarians, and always interested in matters of reality; they have\nbequeathed to us a great amount of useful information on Iranian\nplants, products, animals, minerals, customs, and institutions\u201d. Not\nonly plants but also Western ideas were conveyed to China by the\nIranians. [279]\n\nThe discoveries of arch\u00e6ological relics made by the De Morgan\nExpedition in Elam (western Persia), and by the Pumpelly Expedition in\nRussian Turkestan, have provided further evidence that\nSumero-Babylonian civilization exercised great influence over wide\nareas in ancient times. Unfortunately no such records as those made by\nthe Egyptians who visited Mine-Land have been discovered either in\nBabylonia or beside the mineral workings exploited by the Sumerians or\nAkkadians. The Egyptian Pharaohs, as we have seen, had to send military\nforces to protect their miners, and on one occasion found it necessary\nto conduct mining operations in the hot season instead of in the cool\nseason, a fact which suggests that the opposition shown by rivals was\nat times very formidable. It does not follow that the Babylonians had\nto contend with similar opposition in Armenia and Persia. They appear\nto have won the co-operation of the native peoples in the mid-Asian\nmining districts, and to have made it worth their while to keep up the\nsupply of gold, and copper, and tin. Babylonia had corn and\nmanufactured articles to sell, and they made it possible for native\nchiefs to organize their countries and to acquire wealth and a degree\nof luxury. Nomadic pastoral peoples became traders, and communities of\nthem adopted Babylonian modes of life. Mr. W. J. Perry has shown that\nin districts where minerals were anciently worked, the system of\nirrigation, which brought wealth and comfort in Babylonia and the Nile\nvalley, was adopted, and that megalithic monuments were erected. [280]\n\nThe early searchers for metals and pearls and precious stones were\napparently the pioneers of civilization in many a district occupied by\nbackward peoples.\n\nThe mineral area to the south-east of the Caspian Sea appears to have\nbeen exploited as early as the third millennium B.C., as was also the\nmineral area stretching from the Caspian to the eastern coast of the\nBlack Sea. New trade routes were opened up and connections established,\nnot only with Elam and Babylonia in the south, but with Egypt, through\nPalestine, and with Crete and with the whole \u00c6gean area. Troy became\nthe \u201cclearing-house\u201d of this early trade flowing from western Asia into\nEurope. The enterprising sea-kings of Crete appear to have penetrated\nthe Dardanelles and reached the eastern shores of the Black Sea, where\nthey tapped the overland trade routes. [281] Dr. Hubert Schmidt, who\naccompanied the Pumpelly expedition to Russian Turkestan in 1903\u20134,\nfound Cretan Vasiliki pottery in one of the excavated mounds, and, in\nanother, \u201cthree-sided seal-stones of Middle Minoan type (c. 2000 B.C.),\nengraved with Minoan designs\u201d. [282] There is evidence which suggests\nthat this trade in metals between western Asia and the \u00c6gean area was\nin existence long before 2500 B.C., and not long after 3000 B.C.\n\nOne of the great centres of Mesopotamian culture in the south-eastern\nCaspian area was Anau, near Askabad, on the Merve-Caspian railway\nroute. Another was Meshed, which lies to the south-east of Anau in a\nrich metalliferous mountain region. One of the \u201cKurgans\u201d (mounds)\nexcavated at Anau yielded arch\u00e6ological relics that indicated an early\nconnection between Turkestan and Elam in south-western Persia. In\nanother \u201cKurgan\u201d were found traces of a copper-culture. The early\nsearchers for metals were evidently the originators or introducers of\nthis culture, and as the stratum contained baked clay figurines of the\nSumerian mother-goddess, the prototype of Ishtar, little doubt can\nremain whence came the earliest miners. This region of desolate\nsand-dunes was in ancient times irrigated by the Mesopotamian colonists\nwho sowed not only the seeds of barley, wheat, and millet, but also the\nseeds of civilization, and stimulated progress among the native tribes.\nThe settlers built houses of bricks which had been sun-dried in\naccordance with the prevailing Babylonian fashion. The Egyptian\npotter\u2019s wheel was introduced\u2014another indication that regular trading\nrelations between Babylonia and Egypt were maintained at a very early\nperiod.\n\nMr. Pumpelly, in the first flush of enthusiasm aroused by the mid-Asia\nrevelations, urged the claim that the agricultural mode of life\noriginated in the Transcaspian Oases, and that it passed thence to\nBabylonia and Egypt. But the discovery of husks of barley in the\nstomachs of naturally mummified bodies found in the hot dry sands of\nUpper Egypt affords proof that cannot be overlooked in this connection.\n[283] Agriculture was practised in the Nile valley long centuries\nbefore the Transcaspian Copper Age was inaugurated. Besides, barley and\nmillet grow wild in the Delta area.\n\nThe early Mesopotamian searchers for metals, and their pupils from the\nTranscaspian region, continued the explorations towards the east. They\nappear to have wandered to the north-west of the Oxus and the\nsouth-east of the Lake Balkash and apparently to the very borders of\nChina. This eastward drift must have been in progress long before the\nintroduction of bronze into central Europe, which had a Stone Age\nculture for three or four centuries after bronze implements had become\ncommon in Troy and Crete. The traders who carried bronze into Hungary\ncarried jade too, and the beliefs which had been connected with jade in\nAsia. The earliest supplies of European jade objects must have come, as\nwill be shown, from Chinese Turkestan.\n\nThere was good reason for the early gold rush towards the east. Gold\ncan still be easily found \u201ceverywhere and in every form\u201d in Siberia.\nThe Altai means \u201cgold mountains\u201d, and these yield silver and copper as\nwell as gold. Indeed, eastern Siberia is a much richer metalliferous\narea than western Siberia, and this fact appears to have been\nascertained at a very remote period. The searchers for metals not only\ncollected gold, copper, and silver on the Altai Mountains and the area\nof the upper reaches of the Yenesei River, but also penetrated into\nChinese Turkestan, where, as in Russian Turkestan, trading colonies\nwere founded, the metals were worked, and the agricultural mode of\nlife, including the system of irrigation, adopted with undoubted\nsuccess. [284] Important arch\u00e6ological excavations, conducted by Dr.\nStein in Chinese Turkestan, \u201con behalf of the Indian Government\u201d, have\nrevealed traces of the far-reaching influences exercised by\nMesopotamian culture in a region now covered by the vast and confusing\nsand-dunes of the Taklamakan Desert. At Khotan the discoveries made\nwere of similar character to those at Anau.\n\nKhotan is the ancient trading centre which connected central Asia and\nIndia, and India and China. One of the most important products of\nKhotan is jade\u2014that is, important from the historical point of view. It\nis uncertain at what period the importation of jade into China from the\nKhotan area was inaugurated. But there can be no doubt about the\nantiquity of the jade trade between Chinese Turkestan and Babylonia.\nSome of the Babylonian cylinder-seals were of jade, others being of\n\u201cmarble, jasper, rock-crystal, emerald, amethyst, topaz, chalcedony,\nonyx, agate, lapis-lazuli, h\u00e6matite, and steatite\u201d [285]\u2014all relics of\nancient trade and mining activity. Turquoise was imported into\nBabylonia from Khotan and Kashgar. The arch\u00e6ological finds made on the\nsite of the ancient Sumerian city at Nippur include cobalt, \u201cpresumably\nfrom China\u201d. [286] At Nippur was found, too, Persian marble,\nlapis-lazuli from Bactria, and cedar and cypress from Zagros.\n\nWhen it is borne in mind that the chief incentive behind the search for\nprecious metals and precious stones was a religious one, we should not\nexpress surprise to find that not only the products of centres of\nancient civilization were carried across Asia to outlying parts, but\nalso myths, legends, and religious beliefs of complex character. These\nwere given a local colouring in different areas. In northern Siberia,\nfor instance, the local fauna displaced the fauna of the southern\nreligious cults, the reindeer or the goat taking the place of the\ngazelle or the antelope. Mythological monsters received new parts, just\nas the dolphin-god of Cretan and other seafaring peoples received an\nelephant\u2019s head in northern India and became the makara; and the\nseafarers\u2019 shark-god received in China the head of a lion, although the\nlion is not found in China. No doubt the lion was introduced into China\nas a religious art motif by some intruding cult. Touching on this phase\nof the problem of early cultural contact, Ellis H. Minns [287] suggests\na number of possibilities to account for the similarities between\nSiberian and Chinese art. One is that \u201cthe resemblance may be due to\nboth (Siberians and Chinese) having borrowed from Iranian or some other\nCentral Asian art.... In each case,\u201d he adds, \u201cwe seem to have an\nintrusion of monsters ultimately derived from Mesopotamia, the great\nbreeding-ground of monsters.\u201d The data summarized in a previous chapter\n[288] dealing with the Chinese dragon affords confirmation of this\nview.\n\nDr. Joseph Edkins, writing in the seventies of last century as a\nChristian missionary who made an intensive study of Chinese religious\nbeliefs at first hand, had much to say about the \u201cgrafting process\u201d or\nculture-mixing. \u201cEvery impartial investigator\u201d, he wrote, \u201cwill\nprobably admit that the ceremonies and ideas of the Chinese sacrifices\nlink them with Western antiquity. The inference to be drawn is this,\nthat the Chinese primeval religion was of common origin with the\nreligions of the West. But if the religion was one, then the political\nideas, the mental habits, the sociology, the early arts and knowledge\nof nature, should have been of common origin also with those of the\nWest.\u201d [289]\n\nNo doubt the stories brought from Siberia by the early explorers tended\nto stimulate the imaginations of the myth-makers of Mesopotamia, India,\nand China. The mineral and hot springs in the cold regions may have\nbeen regarded as proof that \u201cthe wells of life\u201d had real existence.\nSome of these wells are so greatly saturated with carbonic acid gas\nthat they burst skin and stone bottles. \u201cHere is living water indeed!\u201d\nthe early explorer may have exclaimed when he attempted to carry away a\nsample. \u201cThe feathers in the air\u201d, as Herodotus puts it when referring\nto the snow, and the aurora borealis must have greatly impressed the\nearly miners in the mysterious Altai region\u2014a region possessing so much\nmineral wealth that it must have been regarded as a veritable\nwonderland of the gods by the early prospectors. Who knows but that the\nstory of Gilgamesh\u2019s pilgrimage through the dark mountain to the land\nin which trees bore gems instead of fruit owes something to the\nnarratives of the early explorers who reached mysterious regions rich\nin metals and gems, where the strange murmurings that fill the air on\nstill winter nights are still referred to as \u201cthe whisperings of the\nstars\u201d, and the aurora borealis, which scatters the darkness and\nillumines snow-clad mountain ranges and valleys, displays wonderful and\nvivid colours in great variety.\n\nThat the early culture which was disseminated eastward across Siberia\nto China and westward into Europe was of common origin, is clearly\nindicated by the arch\u00e6ological remains.\n\nDealing with the bronzes of Russia and Siberia, Sir Hercules Read\nwrites: \u201cAt both extremities of the vast area stretching from Lake\nBaikal through the Southern Siberian Steppes across the Ural Mountains\nto the basin of the Volga, and even beyond to the valleys of the Don\nand Dnieper, there have been found, generally in tombs, but\noccasionally on the surface of the ground, implements and weapons\nmarked by the same peculiarities of form, and by a single style of\ndecoration. These objects exhibit an undoubted affinity with those\ndiscovered in China; but some of the distinctive features have been\ntraced in the bronze industry of Hungary and the Caucasus; for example,\npierced axes and sickles have a close resemblance to Hungarian and\nCaucasian forms. The Siberian bronzes have this relationship both in\nthe East and West, but their kinship with Chinese antiquities being the\nmore obvious, it is natural to assume that the culture which they\nrepresent is of East Asiatic origin.\u201d Read notes, however, that \u201cmost\nof the Chinese bronze implements are of developed, and therefore not of\nprimitive forms.... Such forms can only have been reached after a long\nperiod of evolution, but their prototypes are found neither in the\nUral-Altaic region itself, where some objects may indeed be simpler in\ndesign than others, but cannot be described as quite primitive; nor as\nyet within the limits of China.\u201d [290]\n\nThe evidence afforded by ancient religious beliefs and customs tends to\nshow that the cultural centre in Asia, which stimulated the growth of\ncivilization, was Babylonia, while Egyptian influence flowed northward\nthrough Palestine and into Syria. In time the influence of Cretan\ncivilization made itself felt on the eastern shores of the Black Sea.\nThe ebb and flow of cultural influences along the trade routes at\nvarious periods renders the problem of highly complex character. But\none leading fact appears to emerge. The demand for metals and precious\nstones in the earliest seats of civilization\u2014that is, in Babylonia and\nEgypt\u2014stimulated exploration and the spread of a culture based on the\nagricultural mode of life. Not only was the system of irrigation, first\nintroduced in the Nilotic and Tigro-Euphratean valleys, adopted by\ncolonies of miners and traders who settled in mid-Asia and founded\nsub-cultural centres that radiated westward and eastward; the religious\nideas and customs that had grown up with the agricultural mode of life\nin the cradles of ancient civilization were adopted too. New\nexperiences and new inventions imparted \u201clocal colour\u201d to colonial\nculture, but the leading religious principles that veined that culture\nunderwent little change. The immemorial quest for the elixir of life\nwas never forgotten. It was not to purchase their daily bread alone\nthat men lived laborious days washing gold dust from river sands,\ncrushing quartz among the Altai Mountains, or quarrying and fishing\njade in Chinese Turkestan; they were chiefly concerned about\n\u201cpurchasing\u201d the \u201cfood of life\u201d so as to secure immortality. The fear\nof death, which sent Gilgamesh on his long journey, caused many a man\nin ancient times to wander far and wide in search of life-giving\nmetals, precious stones, pearls, and plants. And so we find in China as\nin Egypt, in Babylonia as in western Europe, that the quest of\nimmortality was the chief incentive that stimulated research,\ndiscovery, and the spread of civilization. The demand for the wood of\nsacred trees, incense-bearing trees and plants, precious metals and\nprecious stones in the temples of Egypt and Babylonia, had much to do\nwith the development of early trade. The Pharaohs of Egypt and the\nPatesies of Sumeria fitted out expeditions to obtain treasure for their\nholy places, and to keep open the trade routes along which the treasure\nwas carried.\n\nThat the system of metal-working had anciently an area of origin is\nemphasized by the investigations conducted by Professor Gowland. [291]\nHe deals first with the Japanese evidence. \u201cThe method which was\npractised, and the furnace employed by the early workers, still\u201d, he\nwrites, \u201csurvive in use at several mines in Japan at the present time.\u201d\nA hole in the ground forms the furnace, and a bellows is used to\nintroduce the blast from the top. After the copper is smelted it is\nallowed to cool off, and when it is nearly solidified it is taken out\nand broken up. \u201cThe copper thus produced in Japan is never cast direct\nfrom the smelting furnaces into useful forms, but is always resmelted\nin crucibles, a mode of procedure which undoubtedly prevailed in Europe\nduring the early Metal and the Bronze Ages.\u201d The Japanese clay\ncrucibles \u201care analogous to those found in the pile-dwellings of the\nSwiss and Upper Austrian lakes\u201d.\n\nDealing with iron-furnaces, the Professor shows that the Ancient\nEgyptian furnace resembled \u201cthe Japanese furnace for copper, tin, and\nlead\u201d. The Etruscan furnace also resembled the Egyptian one. \u201cFrom\nmetallurgical considerations only\u201d, Gowland adds, \u201cwe would certainly\nbe led to the inference that the Etruscans had obtained their knowledge\nof the method of extracting metal from that (the Egyptian) source.\u201d\nBritish evidence suggests that the methods obtaining in ancient times\nwere introduced from \u201cthe Mediterranean region of Europe.... The actual\nprocess for the extraction of iron from its ores in Europe, in fact in\nall countries in early times, was practically the same.\u201d\n\nElsewhere, Professor Gowland has written: \u201cIt is important to note ...\nthat the type of furnace which survives in India among the hill tribes\nof the Ghats is closely analogous to the prehistoric furnace of the\nDanube, and of the Jura district in Europe\u201d. [292]\n\n\u201cCulture-drifts\u201d can thus be followed in their results. Backward\ncommunities that adopted inventions in early times continue to use them\nin precisely the same manner as did those ancient peoples by whom they\nwere first introduced. In like manner are early beliefs and customs\nstill perpetuated in isolated areas. But it does not follow that all\nthese beliefs had origin among the peoples who still cling to them.\nSome so-called \u201cprimitive\u201d beliefs are really of highly complex\ncharacter, with as long a history of development as has the primitive\ntype of furnace utilized by the hill tribes of India.\n\nIn the next chapter it will be shown that in the jade beliefs of China\ntraces survive of ideas not necessarily of Chinese origin\u2014ideas that,\nin fact, grew up and passed through processes of development in\ncountries in which jade was never found. For, as the Chinese bronze\nimplements are \u201cnot of primitive forms\u201d, and therefore not indigenous,\nneither are all Chinese beliefs and customs \u201cprimitive\u201d in the same\nsense, or, in the real sense, indigenous either. As the stimulus to\nwork metals in China came from an outside source, so, apparently, did\nthe stimulus to search for such a \u201clife-giving\u201d and \u201cluck-conferring\u201d\nmaterial as jade come from other countries, and from races unrelated to\nthose that occupied China in early times.\n\nThe beliefs associated with jade were developed in China, although they\ndid not originate there; and these beliefs were similar to those\nattached to the pearls, the precious stones, and the precious metals\nsearched for by the ancient prospectors who discovered and first worked\njade in Chinese Turkestan and on the borders of China.\n\nTo sum up, it would appear that the elements of a religious culture,\nclosely associated with the agricultural mode of life, and common to\nSumeria and Egypt, passed across Asia towards China, reaching the\nShensi province about 1700 B.C. At a much later period the complex\nculture of the Egyptian Empire period gradually drifted along the sea\nroute and left its impress on the Chinese coast. Iranian culture, which\nwas impregnated with Babylonian and Egyptian ideas, likewise exercised\na persisting influence, and was renewed again and again.\n\nOne of the ultimate results of the rise of Persia as a world-power, and\nof the invasion of Asia by Alexander, was to bring China into direct\ntouch with the Hellenistic world.\n\nIndian influence is represented chiefly by Buddhism. In northern India\nBuddhism had been blended with Naga (serpent) worship, and when it\nreached China, the local beliefs regarding dragons were given a\nBuddhistic colouring. The Chinese Buddhists mixed the newly-imported\nreligious culture with their own. The \u201cIslands of the Blest\u201d were\nretained by the cult of the East, and the Western Paradise by the cult\nof the West. The latter paradise is unknown to the Buddhists in Burmah\nand Ceylon, but has never been forgotten by the Buddhists of northern\nChina. A Buddha called \u201cBoundless Age\u201d was placed in the garden of the\nRoyal Lady of the West, but that goddess still lingered beside the\nPeach Tree of Immortality, while the sky-goddess continued to weave the\nweb of the constellations, and the pious men and women of the Taoist\nfaith were supposed to reach her stellar Paradise by sailing along the\nCelestial River in dragon-boats or riding on the back of dragons. The\nChinese Buddhists found ideas regarding Nirvana less satisfying than\nthose associated with the Paradise of the \u201cPeaceful Land of the West\u201d\nand the higher Paradise of the \u201cPalaces of the Stars\u201d, in which dwelt\nthe gods and the demi-gods of the older faiths.\n\nWriting in this connection, Dr. Joseph Edkins says: \u201cA mighty branch of\nforeign origin has been grafted in the old stock. The metaphysical\nreligion of Shakyamuni was added to the moral doctrines of Confucius.\nAnother process may then be witnessed. A native twig was grafted in the\nIndian branch. Modern Taoism has grown up on the model supplied by\nBuddhism. That it is possible to observe the modus operandi of this\nrepeated grafting, and to estimate the amount of gain and loss to the\npeople of China, resulting from the varied religious teaching which\nthey have thus received, is a circumstance of the greatest interest to\nthe investigator of the world\u2019s religions.\u201d [293]\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII\n\nTHE SYMBOLISM OF JADE\n\n    Jade in Early Times\u2014Used to Reanimate and Preserve the Dead\u2014Jade as\n    a Night-shining Jewel\u2014Connection with the Pearl, Coral, Mandrake,\n    Moon, Dragon, Fish, &c.\u2014Jade Beliefs in Japan\u2014Jade Amulets\u2014The\n    Chinese Cicada Amulet and Egyptian Search\u2014Butterfly, Frog, and Bird\n    Amulets\u2014Jade and the Mother-goddess\u2014The Chinese Universe\u2014Great Bear\n    and \u201cWorld Mill\u201d\u2014Babylonian Astronomy in China\u2014Star Deities\u2014The\n    Fung-shui Doctrine\u2014Jade Symbols of Deities\u2014Tigress as a\n    Mother-goddess\u2014Links with the West\u2014The Two Souls in China and\n    Egypt\u2014Jade as an Elixir\u2014Jade and Herbs\u2014Jade and Babylonian\n    Nig-gil-ma\u2014Jade and Rhinoceros Horn\u2014Jade Beliefs in Prehistoric\n    Europe\u2014Jade and Colour Symbolism\u2014Jade contains Heat and\n    Moisture\u2014Jade as \u201cThe Jewel that Grants all Desires\u201d.\n\n\nOne\u2019s thoughts at once turn to China when mention is made of jade, for\nin no other country in the world has it been utilized for such a\nvariety of purposes or connected more closely with the social\norganization and with religious beliefs and ceremonies.\n\nThis tough mineral, which is also called nephrite and \u201caxe-stone\u201d, and\nis of different chemical composition to jadeite, was known to the\nChinese at the very dawn of their history. It was used by them at first\nlike flint or obsidian for the manufacture of axes, arrow-heads,\nknives, and chisels, as well as for votive objects and personal\nornaments of magical or religious character, and then, as time went on,\nfor mortuary amulets, for images or symbols of deities, for mirrors,\n[294] for seals and symbols of rank, and even for musical instruments,\npossessing, as it does, wonderful resonant qualities. The latter\ninclude jade flutes and jade \u201cluck gongs\u201d, which have religious\nassociations.\n\nNative artisans acquired great skill in working this tenacious mineral,\nand the finest art products in China are those exquisite jade\nornaments, symbols, and vessels that survive from various periods of\nits history. Not only did the accomplished and patient workers,\nespecially of the Han period (200 B.C.\u2013200 A.D.), achieve a high degree\nof excellence in carving and engraving jade, and in producing beautiful\nforms; they also dealt with their hard mineral so as to utilize its\nvarious colours and shades, and thus increase the \u00e6sthetic qualities of\ntheir art products. The artistic genius, as well as the religious\nbeliefs, of the Chinese has been enshrined in nephrite.\n\nWhen the prehistoric Chinese settled in Shensi, they found jade in that\narea. \u201cAll the Chinese questioned by me, experts in antiquarian\nmatters, agree\u201d, Laufer writes, \u201cin stating that the jades of the Chou\nand Han Dynasties are made of indigenous material once dug on the very\nsoil of Shensi Province, that these quarries have been long ago\nexhausted, no jade whatever being found there nowadays. My informant\npointed to Lan-t\u02bcien and F\u00eang-siang-fu as the chief ancient mines.\u201d\n[295]\n\nBut although the early Chinese made use of indigenous jade, it does not\nfollow, as has been noted, that the early beliefs connected with this\nfamous mineral were of indigenous origin. It cannot be overlooked that\nthe symbolism of jade is similar in character to the older symbolism of\npearls, precious stones, and precious metals, and that the associated\nbeliefs can be traced not in China alone, but in such widely-separated\ncountries as India, Babylonia, and Egypt. There was evidently a\npsychological motive for the importance attached by the early Chinese\nto jade, which they called yu. [296] It had been regarded elsewhere as\na precious mineral before they began to search for it and make use of\nit, especially for religious purposes.\n\nIt is not necessary to go back to the \u201cAge of Stone\u201d to theorize\nregarding Chinese jade beliefs. It has yet to be established that China\nhad a Neolithic Age. \u201cAs far as the present state of our arch\u00e6ological\nknowledge and the literary records point out\u201d, says Laufer, \u201cthe\nChinese have never passed through an epoch which, for other culture\nregions, has been designated as a Stone Age.\u201d [297]\n\nStone implements have been found, but, as in ancient Egypt, these were\nstill being manufactured long after metals came into general use.\n\nThe fact that the same beliefs were connected with jade as with pearls,\nshells, gold, &c., is brought out very clearly in Chinese records\nregarding ancient burial customs. It was considered to be as necessary\nin ancient China as in ancient Egypt that the bodies of the dead should\nbe preserved from decay. The Egyptians mummified their dead, and laid\non and beside them a variety of charms that were supposed to afford\nprotection and assist in the process of reanimation; withal, food\nofferings were provided. The Chinese, who have long been noted for\ntheir tendency to find substitutes for religious offerings, including\npaper money, believed that the bodies of the dead could be preserved by\nmagic. At any rate, they did not consider it necessary to practise the\nscience of mummification. In the Li Ki (chapter 56) the orthodox\ntreatment of the bodies of the Emperor and others is set forth as\nfollows:\n\n\u201cThe mouth of the Son of Heaven is stuffed with nine cowries, that of a\nfeudal lord with seven, that of a great officer with five, and that of\nan ordinary official with three\u201d. [298]\n\nGold and jade were used in like manner. Laufer quotes from Ko Hung the\nsignificant statement: \u201cIf there is gold and jade in the nine apertures\nof the corpse, it will preserve the body from putrefaction\u201d. A\nfifth-century Chinese writer says: \u201cWhen on opening an ancient grave\nthe corpse looks like alive, then there is inside and outside of the\nbody a large quantity of gold and jade. According to the regulations of\nthe Han Dynasty, princes and lords were buried in clothes adorned with\npearls and with boxes of jade for the purpose of preserving the body\nfrom decay.\u201d [299]\n\nAccording to De Groot, pearls were introduced into the mouth of the\ndead during the Han Dynasty. \u201cAt least\u201d, he says, \u201cit is stated that\ntheir mouths were filled with rice, and pearls and jade stone were put\ntherein, in accordance with the established ceremonial usages.\u201d And Poh\nhu thung i, a well-known work, professedly written in the first\ncentury, says: \u201cOn stuffing the mouth of the Son of Heaven with rice,\nthey put jade therein; in the case of a feudal lord they introduce\npearls; in that of a great officer and so downwards, as also in that of\nordinary officials, cowries are used to this end\u201d.\n\nDe Groot, commenting on the evidence, writes: \u201cThe same reasons why\ngold and jade were used for stuffing the mouth of the dead hold good\nfor the use of pearls in this connection\u201d. He notes that in Chinese\nliterature pearls were regarded as \u201cdepositories of Yang matter\u201d, that\nmedical works declare \u201cthey can further and facilitate the procreation\nof children\u201d, and \u201ccan be useful for recalling to life those who have\nexpired, or are at the point of dying\u201d. [300]\n\nIn India, as a Bengali friend, Mr. Jimut Bahan Sen, M.A., informs me, a\nnative medicine administered to those who are believed to be at the\npoint of death is a mixture of pounded gold and mercury. It is named\nMakara-dhwaja. The makara [301] is in India depicted in a variety of\nforms. As a composite lion-legged and fish-tailed \u201cwonder beast\u201d\nresembling the Chinese dragon, it is the vehicle of the god Varuna, as\nthe Babylonian \u201csea goat\u201d or \u201cantelope fish\u201d is the vehicle of the god\nEa or of the god Marduk (Merodach). The makara of the northern\nBuddhists is likewise a combination of land and sea animals or\nreptiles, including the dolphin with the head of an elephant, goat,\nram, lion, dog, or alligator. [302]\n\nIn China the lion-headed shark, a form of the sea-god, is likewise a\nmakara or sea-dragon. Gold and night-shining pearls are connected with\nthe makara as with the dragon. The Chinese dragon, as we have seen, is\nborn from gold, while curative herbs like the \u201cRed Cloud herb\u201d and the\n\u201cdragon\u2019s whiskers herb\u201d are emanations of the dragon. Gold, like the\nherb, contains \u201csoul substance\u201d in concentrated form. Pounded gold, the\nchief ingredient in the makara-dhwaja medicine, is believed in India to\nrenew youth and promote longevity like pounded jade and gold in China.\n\n\u201cIn Yung-cheu, which is situated in the Eastern Ocean, rocks exist,\u201d\nwrote a Chinese sage in the early part of the Christian era. \u201cFrom\nthese rocks there issues a brook like sweet wine; it is called the\nBrook of Jade Must. If, after drinking some pints out of it, one\nsuddenly feels intoxicated, it will prolong life.... Grease of jade,\u201d\nwe are further told, \u201cis formed inside the mountains which contain\njade. It is always to be found in steep and dangerous spots. [303] The\njade juice, after issuing from those mountains, coagulates into such\ngrease after more than ten thousand years. This grease is fresh and\nlimpid, like crystal. If you find it, pulverize it and mix it with the\njuice of herbs that have no pith; it immediately liquefies; drink one\npint of it then and you will live a thousand years.... He who swallows\ngold will exist as long as gold; he who swallows jade will exist as\nlong as jade. Those who swallow the real essence of the dark sphere\n(heavens) will enjoy an everlasting existence; the real essence of the\ndark sphere is another name for jade. Bits of jade, when swallowed or\ntaken with water, can in both these cases render man immortal.\u201d [304]\n\nAs we have seen, the belief prevailed in China that pearls shone by\nnight. The mandrake root was believed elsewhere to shine in like\nmanner. The view is consequently urged by the writer that the myths\nregarding precious stones, jade, pearls, and herbs of nocturnal\nluminosity owe their origin to the arbitrary connection of these\nobjects with the moon, and the lunar-goddess or sky-goddess. In China\nYe Kuang (\u201clight of the night\u201d) \u201cis\u201d, Laufer notes, \u201can ancient term to\ndesignate the moon\u201d. [305]\n\nThe intimate connection between the Mother deity and precious metals\nand stones is brought out by Lucian in his De Dea Syria. He refers to\nthe goddess Hera of Hierapolis, who has \u201csomething of the attributes of\nAthene, and of Aphrodite, and of Selene, and of Rhea, and of Artemis,\nand of Nemesis, and of the Fates\u201d, and describes her as follows:\n\n\n   \u201cIn one of her hands she holds a sceptre, and in the other a\n    distaff; [306] on her head she bears rays and a tower, and she has\n    a girdle wherewith they adorn none but Aphrodite of the sky. And\n    without she is gilt with gold, and gems of great price adorn her,\n    some white, some sea-green, others wine-dark, others flashing like\n    fire. Besides these there are many onyxes from Sardinia, and the\n    jacinth and emeralds, the offerings of the Egyptians and of the\n    Indians, Ethiopians, Medes, Armenians, and Babylonians. But the\n    greatest wonder of all I will proceed to tell: she bears a gem on\n    her head, called a Lychnis; it takes its name from its attribute.\n    From this stone flashes a great light in the night-time, so that\n    the whole temple gleams brightly as by the light of myriads of\n    candles, but in the day-time the brightness grows faint; the gem\n    has the likeness of a bright fire.\u201d [307]\n\n\nLaufer notes in his The Diamond [308] that \u201cthe name lychnis is\nconnected with the Greek lychnos\u201d (\u201ca portable lamp\u201d), and that,\n\u201caccording to Pliny, the stone is so called from its lustre being\nheightened by the light of a lamp\u201d. He thinks the stone in question is\nthe tourmaline. Laufer reviews a mass of evidence regarding precious\nstones that were reported to shine by night, and comes to the\nconclusion that there is no evidence on record \u201cto show that the\nChinese ever understood how to render precious stones phosphorescent\u201d.\nHe adds: \u201cSince this experiment is difficult, there is hardly reason to\nbelieve that they should ever have attempted it. Altogether,\u201d he\nconcludes, \u201cwe have to regard the traditions about gems luminous at\nnight, not as a result of scientific effort, but as folk-lore\nconnecting the Orient with the Occident, Chinese society with the\nHellenistic world.\u201d As Laufer shows, the Chinese imported legends\nregarding magical gems from Fu-lin (\u201cthe forest of Fu\u201d), an island in\nthe Mediterranean Sea, which was known to them as \u201cthe Western Sea\u201d (Si\nhai). [309] At a very much earlier period they imported other legends\nand beliefs regarding metals and minerals.\n\nPearls and gold having been connected with the makara or dragon, it is\nnot surprising to find that their lunar attributes were imparted to\njade. Laufer quotes Chinese references to the \u201cmoonlight pearl\u201d and the\n\u201cmoon-reflecting gem\u201d, [310] while De Groot deals with Chinese legends\nabout \u201ceffulgent pearls\u201d, about \u201cpearls shining during the night\u201d,\n\u201cflaming or fiery pearls\u201d, and \u201cpearls lighting like the moon\u201d. De\nGroot adds, \u201cSimilar legends have always been current in the empire (of\nChina) about jade stone\u201d, and he notes in this regard that \u201cat the time\nof the Emperor Shen-nung (twenty-fifth century B.C.) there existed\u201d,\naccording to Chinese records, \u201cjade which was obtained from agate\nrocks, under the name of \u2018Light shining at night\u2019. If cast into the\nwaters in the dark it floated on the surface, without its light being\nextinguished.\u201d [311]\n\nThe wishing jewel (\u201cJewel that grants all desires\u201d) of India, Japan,\nand China is said to be \u201cthe pupil of a fish eye\u201d. In India it was\nknown in Sanskrit as the cintimani, and was believed to have originated\nfrom the makara. [312] The Chinese records have references to\n\u201cmoonlight pearls\u201d from the eyes of female whales, and from the eyes of\ndolphins. [313] It does not follow that this belief about the origin of\nshining pearls had a connection with observations made of the\nphosphorescing of parts of marine animals, because the Chinese writers\nrefer too, for instance, to the nocturnal luminosity of rhinoceros\nhorn. [314] Even coral, which, like jade, was connected with the lunar-\nor sky-goddess, was supposed to shine by night. Laufer quotes from the\nwork, Si King tsa (Miscellaneous Records of the Western Capital, i.e.\nSi-ngan-fu), in this connection:\n\n\n   \u201cIn the pond Tsi-ts\u02bcui there are coral trees twelve feet high. Each\n    trunk produces three stems, which send forth 426 branches. These\n    have been presented by Chao T\u02bco, King of Nan Y\u016be (Annam), and were\n    styled \u2018beacon-fire trees\u2019. At night they emitted a brilliant light\n    as though they would go up in flames.\u201d [315]\n\n\nThe \u201ccoral tree\u201d here links with the pine, peach, and cassia trees, and\nthe shining mandrake, as well as with jade, gold, precious stones, and\npearls. In Persia the pearl and coral are called margan, which\nsignifies \u201clife-giver\u201d or \u201clife-owner\u201d. Lapis-lazuli was called Kin\ntsin (\u201cessence of gold\u201d) during the Tiang period in China. [316]\n\nAs the metal associated with the moon was usually silver, gold being\nchiefly, although not always, the sun metal, we should expect to find\nsilver connected with jade and pearls.\n\nDe Groot, who is frankly puzzled over Chinese beliefs regarding pearls,\nand has to \u201cplead incompetency\u201d to solve the problem why they were\n\u201cconsidered as depositories and distributors of vital force\u201d, [317]\nprovides the translation of a passage in the Ta Ts\u02bcing thung li that\nconnects silver with pearls. It states in reference to burial customs\nthat \u201cin the case of an official of the first, second, or third degree,\nfive small pearls and pieces of jade shall be used for stuffing the\nmouth; in that of one of the fourth, fifth, sixth, or seventh rank,\nfive small pieces of gold and of jade. The gentry shall use three bits\nof broken gold or silver; among ordinary people the mouth shall be\nstuffed with three pieces of silver.\u201d\n\nDe Groot insists that the principal object of the practice of stuffing\nthe mouths of the dead was \u201cto save the body from a speedy decay\u201d.\n[318]\n\nIt is significant therefore to find references in Chinese literature to\n\u201cPearls of Jade\u201d, to \u201cFire Jade\u201d that sheds light or even \u201cboils a\npot\u201d, and to find silver being regarded as a substitute for jade.\nShells, pearls, gold, silver, and jade contained \u201csoul substance\u201d\nderived from the Great Mother. As we have seen, Nu Kwa, the mythical\nChinese Empress (the sister of Fu Hi, the \u201cChinese Adam\u201d), who stopped\nthe Deluge, took the place of the ancient goddess in popular legend.\nShe was credited, as has been indicated, with planning the course of\nthe Celestial River, with creating dragons, with re-erecting one of the\nfour pillars that supported the firmament, and with creating jade for\nthe benefit of mankind. In Japan Nu Kwa is remembered as Jokwa.\n\nThe Japanese beliefs connected with jade are clearly traceable to\nChina. A Tama may be a piece of jade, a crystal, a tapering pearl, or\nthe pearl carried on the head of a Japanese dragon. \u201cThe Tama\u201d, says\nJoly, \u201cis associated not only with the Bosatsu and other Buddhist\ndeities or saints, but also with the gods of luck.\u201d [319] There are a\nnumber of heroic legends in which the Tama figures. In a story,\nrelegated to the eighth century B.C., a famous jade stone is called\n\u201cthe Tama\u201d. It tells that Pien Ho (the Japanese Benwa) saw an eagle\nstanding on a large block of jade which he took possession of and\ncarried to his king. The royal magicians thought it valueless, and\nBenwa\u2019s right foot was cut off. He made his way to the mountains and\nreplaced the jade, and soon afterwards observed that the same eagle\nreturned and perched upon it again. When a new king came to the throne\nBenwa carried the jade to the court, but only to have his left foot cut\noff. A third king came to the throne, and on seeing Benwa weeping by\nthe gate of the palace he inquired into the cause of his grief, and had\nthe stone tested, when it was found to be a perfect gem. This Tama was\nafterwards regarded so valuable that it was demanded as \u201ca ransom for\nfifteen cities\u201d. [320]\n\nHere the eagle is associated with the gems containing \u201csoul substance\u201d.\nJoly notes that \u201cfoxes are also shown holding the Tama\u201d, and he wonders\nif the globe \u201cheld under their talons by the heraldic lions has a\nsimilar meaning\u201d. [321] Foxes and wolves were, like dragons, capable of\nassuming human form and figure among the were-animals of the Far East.\nAs these were-animals include the tiger, which is a god in China, it is\npossible that they were ancient deities. The lion is associated with\nthe Babylonian goddess Ishtar, with the Cretan mother-goddess, while\nthe Egyptian Tefnut has a lioness form. Tammuz of Babylon is, as\nNin-girsu of Lagash, a lion-headed eagle. The Indian Vishnu has a\nlion-headed avatar.\n\nThe connection of the precious jewel and of gold with the supreme deity\nis traceable to the ancient beliefs regarding the shark-guardian of\npearls. As the beliefs associated with pearls were transferred to jade,\nit need not surprise us to find the sacred fish\u2014a form of the Great\nMother\u2014connected with jade. A significant text is quoted by Laufer,\nwithout comment, which brings out this connection. He says that \u201cL\u00fc\nPu-wei, who died in B.C. 235, reports in his book Lu-shih Ch\u02bcun Ts\u02bciu:\n\u2018Pearls are placed in the mouth of the dead, and fish-scales are added;\nthese are now utilized for interment with the dead.\u2019 The Commentary to\nthis passage explains: \u2018To place pearls in the mouth of the dead (han\nchu) means to fill the mouth with them; the addition of fish-scales\nmeans, to enclose these in a jade casket which is placed on the body of\nthe deceased, as if it should be covered with fish-scales.\u2019\u201d [322] Jade\nfish-symbols figure among the Chinese mortuary amulets.\n\nLight is thrown on Chinese beliefs regarding resurrection by the cicada\nmortuary amulet which was made of jade. It was placed on the tongue of\nthe dead and seems therefore to have been like the Egyptian scarab\namulet, a guarantee of immortality.\n\nOne of the important ceremonies in connection with the process of\nreanimating an Egyptian corpse was \u201cthe opening of the mouth\u201d. It was\nnecessary that the reanimated corpse should speak with \u201cthe true voice\u201d\nand justify itself in the court of Osiris, judge of the dead, when the\nheart was weighed in the balance.\n\nTongue and heart were closely connected. According to the beliefs\nassociated with the cult of Ptah, which was fused with the cult of\nOsiris, the heart was \u201cthe mind\u201d, and the source of all power and all\nlife. The tongue expressed the thoughts of the mind.\n\n\n    Ptah, the great, is the mind and tongue of the gods.\n    Ptah, from whom proceeded the power\n    Of the mind,\n    And of the tongue....\n    It (the mind) is the one that bringeth forth every\n                                                successful issue.\n    It is the tongue that repeats the thoughts of the mind. [323]\n\n\nThe mind was the essence of life: the tongue, which formed the word,\nwas the active agent of the mind (heart).\n\nAs \u201cthe stuffing of the corpse with jade took the place of embalming\u201d\n[324] in China, the custom of placing a jade amulet on the tongue is of\nmarked significance. It is quite evidently an imported custom. The\ncicada takes the place of the Egyptian scarab\u00e6us, the beetle-god of\nEgypt, named Khepera and called in the texts \u201cfather of the gods\u201d. In\nancient Egypt scarabs were placed on the bodies and in the tombs of the\ndead to protect heart (mind) and tongue and ensure resurrection. A text\nsets forth in this connection: \u201cAnd behold, thou shalt make a scarab of\ngreen stone, with a rim of gold, and this shall be placed in the heart\nof a man, and it shall perform for him the \u2018Opening of the Mouth\u2019\u201d. The\nscarab is to be anointed with \u201c\u0101nti unguent\u201d and then \u201cwords of power\u201d\nare to be recited over it. In \u201cwords of power\u201d the deceased addresses\nthe scarab as \u201cmy heart, my mother: my heart whereby I came into\nbeing\u201d.\n\nThe beetle-god, in whose form the scarab was made, \u201cbecomes\u201d, as Budge\nsays, \u201cin a manner a type of the dead body, that is to say, he\nrepresents matter containing a living germ which is about to pass from\na state of inertness into one of active life. As he was a living germ\nin the abyss of Nu (the primeval deep) and made himself emerge\ntherefrom in the form of the rising sun, so the germ of the living\nsoul, which existed in the dead body of man, and was to burst into new\nlife in a new world by means of the prayers recited during the\nperformance of appropriate ceremonies, emerged from its old body in a\nnew form either in the realm of Osiris or in the boat of Ra (the\nsun-god).\u201d [325]\n\nThis Egyptian doctrine was symbolized by the beetle which rolls a bit\nof dung in the dust into the form of a ball, and then, having dug a\nhole in the ground, pushes it in and buries it. Thereafter the beetle\nenters the subterranean chamber to devour the ball. This beetle also\ncollects dung to feed the larv\u00e6 which ultimately emerge from the ground\nin beetle form.\n\nAs the Chinese substituted jade for pearls, so did they substitute the\ncicada for the dung-beetle.\n\nThe cicada belongs to that class of insect which feeds on the juices of\nplants. It is large and broad with brightly-coloured wings. The male\nhas on each side of the body a sort of drum which enables it to make\nthat chirping noise called \u201cthe song of the cicada\u201d, referred to by the\nancient classical poets. When the female lays her eggs she bores a hole\nin a tree and deposits them in it. Wingless larv\u00e6 are hatched, and they\nbore their way into the ground to feed on the juices of roots. After a\ntime\u2014in some cases after the lapse of several years\u2014the cicada emerges\nfrom the ground, the skin breaks open, and the winged insect rises in\nthe air. The most remarkable species of the cicada is found in the\nUnited States, where it passes through a life-history of seventeen\nyears, the greater part of that time being spent underground\u2014the larval\nstage. In China the newly-hatched larva sometimes bores down into the\nearth to a depth of about twenty feet.\n\n\u201cThe observation of this wonderful process of nature,\u201d says Laufer,\n\u201cseems to be the basic idea of this (cicada) amulet. The dead will\nawaken to a new life from his grave as the chirping cicada rises from\nthe pupa buried in the ground. This amulet, accordingly, was an emblem\nof resurrection.\u201d Laufer quotes in this connection from the Chinese\nphilosopher Wang Ch\u02bcung, who wrote: \u201cPrior to casting off the exuvi\u00e6, a\ncicada is a chrysalis. When it casts them off, it leaves the pupa\nstate, and is transformed into a cicada. The vital spirit of a dead man\nleaving the body may be compared to the cicada emerging from the\nchrysalis.\u201d [326]\n\nThe fact that the cicada feeds on the juices of plants apparently\nconnected it with the idea of the Tree of Life, the source of \u201csoul\nsubstance\u201d.\n\nAnother insect symbol of resurrection was the butterfly, which was\nconnected with the Plum Tree of Life. Laufer notes that some\nbutterflies carved from jade, which were used as mortuary amulets, have\na plum-blossom pattern between the antenn\u00e6 and plum-blossoms \u201ccarved \u00e0\njour in the wings\u201d. [327]\n\nHe notes that \u201cin modern times the combination of butterfly and\nplum-blossom is used to express a rebus with the meaning \u2018Always great\nage\u2019\u201d. This amulet is of great antiquity.\n\nThe butterfly symbol of resurrection is found in Mexico. The Codex\nRemensis shows an anthropomorphic butterfly from whose mouth a human\nface emerges. Freyja, the Scandinavian goddess, is connected with the\nbutterfly, and in Greece and Italy the same insect was associated with\nthe idea of resurrection. Psyche (a name signifying \u201csoul\u201d) has\nbutterfly wings. Apparently the butterfly, like the cicada, was\nsupposed to derive its vitality from the mother-goddess\u2019s Tree of Life.\n\nAnother important Chinese mortuary jade object was the frog or toad\namulet. As we have seen, the frog was connected with the moon and the\nlunar goddess, and in China, as in ancient Egypt, was a symbol of\nresurrection.\n\nAmong the interesting jade amulets shown by Laufer are two that roughly\nresemble in shape the Egyptian scarabs. \u201cThe two pieces\u201d, he writes,\n\u201cshow traces of gilding, and resemble helmets in their shape, and are\nmoulded into the figures of a curious monster which it is difficult to\nname. It seems to me that it is possibly some fabulous giant bird, for\non the sides, two wings, each marked by five pinions, are brought out,\na long, curved neck rises from below, though the two triangular ears do\nnot fit the conception of a bird.\u201d [328] The figure apparently\nrepresents a \u201ccomposite wonder beast\u201d. Fishes and composite quadrapeds\nwere also depicted in jade and placed in graves. Human figures are\nrare.\n\nStone coffins were used in ancient times. The books of the later Han\nDynasty (at the beginning of our era) tell about a pious governor, Wang\nKhiao, who receives a jade coffin from heaven. It was placed by unseen\nhands in his hall. His servants endeavoured to take it away, but found\nit could not be moved.\n\nDe Groot, [329] who translates the story, continues: \u201cKhiao said, \u2018Can\nthis mean that the Emperor of Heaven calls me towards him?\u2019 He bathed\nhimself, put on his official attire with its ornaments, and lay down in\nthe coffin, the lid being immediately closed over him. When the night\nhad passed, they buried him on the east side of the city, and the earth\nheaped itself over him in the shape a tumulus. All the cows in the\ndistrict on that evening were wet with perspiration and got out of\nbreath, and nobody knew whence this came. The people thereupon erected\na temple for him.\u201d\n\nDe Groot quotes from another work written in the fifth century, which\nrelates that \u201cat Lin-siang there is in the water a couch of stone, upon\nwhich stand two coffins of solid stone, green like copper mirrors.\nThere is nobody who can give information regarding them.\u201d [330]\n\nHere we have jade used for the preservation of the dead, associated\nwith the sky, with cows, water, and stone, and, in addition, a\nreference to green copper. Jade has taken the place of pearls, and\npearls were, as has been shown, connected with the mother-goddess, the\nsky and cow deity who was the source of fertilizing and creative\nmoisture and \u201csoul substance\u201d. The standing stones of the\nmother-goddess were supposed to perspire, and to split and give birth\nto dragons or gods. This idea appears to lie behind the story regarding\nthe perspiring cows. An influence was at work on the night when the\nsage was buried in the jade coffin, and that influence came from the\nsky, and was concentrated in jade. It is necessary, therefore, at this\npoint, to get at Chinese ideas regarding the connection between jade\nand the mysterious influence or influences in what we call \u201cNature\u201d.\n\nBehind all mythologies lie basic ideas regarding the universe. To\nunderstand a local or localized mythology, it is necessary that we\nshould know something regarding the world in which lived those who\ninvented or perpetuated the myths.\n\nThe Chinese world was flat, and over it was the dome of the firmament\nsupported by four pillars. These pillars were situated at the four\ncardinal points, and were each guarded by a sentinel deity. The deities\nexercised an influence on the world and on all living beings in it, and\ntheir influence was particularly strong during their seasons.\n\nLike the ancient Egyptians and Babylonians the Chinese believed that\ntheir world was surrounded by water. There are references in the texts\nto the \u201cFour Seas\u201d, and to what the Egyptians called the \u201cGreat Circle\u201d\n(Okeanos).\n\nThe Babylonians believed the world was a mountain, and their temples\nwere models of their world. Thus the temple of Enlil, as the world-god,\nwas called E-Kur, which signifies \u201cmountain house\u201d. His consort Ninlil\nwas also called Nin-Kharsag, \u201cthe lady of the mountain\u201d. [331] The\nBabylonian and Egyptian temples were not only places of worship, but\nseats of learning, and they had workshops in which the dyers,\nmetal-workers, &c., plied their sacred trades.\n\nChinese palaces and universities were in ancient times models of the\nworld. One of the odes says of King Wu:\n\n\n   \u201cIn the capital of Hao he built his hall with its circlet of water.\n    From the west to the east, from the south to the north, there was\n    not a thought but did him homage.\u201d [332]\n\n\nThis hall was a royal college, \u201cbuilt\u201d, says Legge, \u201cin the middle of a\ncircle of water\u201d. Colleges might also have semicircular pools in front\nof them, \u201cas may now be seen in front of the temples of Confucius in\nthe metropolitan cities of the provinces\u201d. [333] Ceremonies were\nstudied in these institutions. There were also grave-pools. In\nSingapore these grave-pools have had to be abolished because they were\nutilized for hatching purposes by mosquitoes.\n\nMuch attention was paid by the Chinese to the shape and situation of a\ntemple, college, palace, or grave. Each was subjected to good and bad\ninfluences, and as seafarers set their sails to take full advantage of\na favourable breeze, so did the Chinese construct edifices and graves\nto take full advantage of favourable influences emanating from what may\nbe called the \u201cmagic tanks\u201d of the universe\u2014the cardinal points and the\nsky.\n\nThe beliefs involved in this custom are not peculiar to China. In\nScottish Gaelic, for instance, there is the old saying:\n\n\n            Shut the north window,\n              And quickly close the window to the south;\n            And shut the window facing west;\n              Evil never came from the east.\n\n\nAnother saying is: \u201cShut the windows to the north, open the windows to\nthe south, and do not let the fire go out\u201d. Both in Scottish and Irish\nGaelic the north is the \u201cairt\u201d (cardinal point) of evil influence, and\nis coloured black, as is the north in China, and the south in India.\nThe black Indian south is \u201cYama\u2019s gate\u201d, that is the \u201cgate\u201d of the god\nof death. One cannot say anything worse to a Hindu than \u201cGo to Yama\u2019s\ngate\u201d. The north is the good and white \u201cairt\u201d of Indian mythology; the\ngood go northward to Paradise, as in Scotland they go southward. A\nJapanese poet has written: \u201cThe Paradise is in the south; only fools\npray towards the west\u201d. [334]\n\nIn the Pyramid Texts of ancient Egypt the east is held by the solar\ncult \u201cto be the most sacred of all regions\u201d, while the west is the\nsacred \u201cairt\u201d of the Osirian cult. [335] In the east the sun-god, to\nwhom the soul of the dead Pharaoh went, was supposed to be reborn every\nmorning. The Chinese regarded the east \u201cas the quarter\u201d, says De Groot,\n\u201cin which is rooted the life of everything, the great genitor of life\n(the sun) being born there every day\u201d. [336] As we have seen, there was\nin China, as in Egypt, a rival cult of the west.\n\nThe gods of the four quarters of China, from whom influences flowed,\nwere: The Blue (or Green) Dragon (east), the Red Bird (south), the\nWhite Tiger (west), and the Black Tortoise (north). The east is the\nleft side, and the west is the right side; a worshipper therefore faces\nthe south. In Irish and Scottish Gaelic lore the south is the right\nside, and the north is the left side; a worshipper therefore faces the\neast.\n\nAccording to Kwang-tze, the Taoist, it was believed in China that \u201cthe\nbreath (or influence) of the east is wind, and wind creates wood\u201d; that\n\u201cthe breath of the south is Yang, which creates fire\u201d; that \u201cthe centre\nis earth\u201d; that \u201cthe breath of the west is Yin, which gives birth to\nmetal\u201d; and that the breath of the north \u201cis cold, by which water is\nproduced\u201d. Another native pre-Christian writer says that \u201cthe east\nappertains to wood, the south to fire, the west to metal, and the north\nto water\u201d. [337] Thus taking in the seasons we have the following\ncombinations, showing the organs of the body influenced by the gods of\nthe \u201cairts\u201d:\n\n\n    East\u2014the Blue Dragon, Spring, Wood; Planet, Jupiter; liver and\n      gall.\n    South\u2014the Red Bird, Summer, Fire, the Sun; Planet, Mars; heart and\n      large intestines.\n    West\u2014the White Tiger, Autumn, Wind, Metal; Planet, Venus; lungs and\n      small intestine.\n    North\u2014the Black Tortoise, Winter, Cold, Water; Planet, Mercury;\n      kidneys and bladder.\n\n\nThe good influence (or breath) was summed up in the term Yang, and bad\ninfluence in the term Yin. Yang refers to what is bright, warm, active,\nand life-giving; and Yin to what is inactive, cold, and of the earth\nearthy. \u201cWhen\u201d, says a Chinese writer, \u201cwe speak of the Yin and the\nYang, we mean the air (or ether) collected in the Great Void. When we\nspeak of the Hard and Soft, we mean that ether collected and formed\ninto substance.\u201d [338] Says De Groot in this connection: \u201cIn China\nvital power is specially assimilated with the Yang, the chief part of\nthe Cosmos, identified with light, warmth, and life\u201d. Yin is \u201cthe\nprinciple of darkness, cold, and death, standing in the universe\ndiametrically opposite to Yang\u201d. [339] The chief source of Yang is the\nsun, which gives forth \u201cshen\u201d or \u201csoul substance\u201d; the chief source of\nYin is the moon. Yang strengthens the vital energy, and is the active\nprinciple in various elixirs of life, including, as De Groot notes,\n\u201cthe cock, jade, gold, pearls, and the products of pine and cypress\ntrees\u201d. [340]\n\nYin and Yang are controlled by the constellation, the Great Bear,\ncalled in China \u201cthe Bushel\u201d. In the Shi Ki there is a reference to\n\u201cthe seven stars of the Bushel\u201d, styled \u201cthe Revolving Pearls or the\nBalance of Jasper\u201d, and arrayed \u201cto form the body of seven rulers\u201d.\nThis constellation is \u201cthe chariot of the Emperor (of Heaven).\nRevolving around the pole, it descends to rule the four quarters of the\nsphere and to separate the Yin and the Yang; by so doing it fixes the\nfour seasons, upholds the equilibrium between the five elements, moves\nforward the subdivisions of the sphere, and establishes all order in\nthe Universe.\u201d [341]\n\nAn ancient Chinese writer says in this connection that when the handle\n(tail) of the Bushel (Great Bear) points to the east (at nightfall), it\nis spring to all the world. When the handle points to the south it is\nsummer, when it points to the west it is autumn, and when it points to\nthe north it is winter. In the Shu King (Part II, Book I) the Great\nBear is referred to as \u201cthe pearl-adorned turning sphere with its\ntransverse tube of jade\u201d. [342] The Polar Star is the \u201cPivot of the\nSky\u201d, which revolves in its place, \u201ccarrying round with it all the\nother heavenly bodies\u201d. In like manner the Taoists taught that \u201cthe\nbody of man is carried round his spirit and by it\u201d. The spirit is thus\nthe \u201cPivot of Jade\u201d. That is why the Pivot of Jade is used in the\nritual services of Taoism. [343]\n\nIn Norse-Icelandic mythology the World Mill controls the seasons and\nthe movements of the heavenly bodies. The heavens revolve round the\nPolar Star, Veraldar Nagli (\u201cthe world spike\u201d). Nine giant maids turn\nthe world mill. [344]\n\nThe Babylonians, who were the pioneer astronomers and astrologers of\nAsia, identified the stable and controlling spirit of the night sky\nwith the Polar Star, which was called \u201cIlu Sar\u201d (\u201cthe god Shar\u201d) or\n\u201cAnshar\u201d (\u201cStar of the Height\u201d or \u201cStar of the Most High\u201d). [345]\n\nIsaiah (xiv, 4\u201314) refers to the supreme star-god when he makes Lucifer\ndeclare: \u201cI will ascend unto heaven, I will exalt my throne above the\nstars of God; I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in\nthe sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;\nI will be the most High\u201d.\n\nChinese astronomy and the Chinese calendar are undoubtedly of\nBabylonian origin. The Babylonian god of the Pole Star has not been\nforgotten. Dr. Edkins once asked a Chinese schoolmaster: \u201cWho is the\nLord of heaven and earth?\u201d He replied \u201cthat he knew none but the Pole\nStar,\u201d called in the Chinese language Teen-hwang-ta-te, the great\nimperial ruler of heaven. [346]\n\nThere is a god and a goddess in the Great Bear. \u201cAmong the liturgical\nworks used by the priests of Tao\u201d, says Edkins, \u201cone of the commonest\nconsists of prayers to Towmoo, a female divinity supposed to reside in\nthe Great Bear. A part of the same constellation is worshipped under\nthe name Kwei-sing. A small temple is erected to this deity on the east\nside of the entrance to Confucian temples, and he is regarded as being\nfavourable to literature.\u201d But the chief god of literature is\n\u201cWen-chang\u201d, who is identified with a constellation near the Great Bear\nwhich bears his name. He is prayed to by scholars to assist them in\ntheir examinations. Temples were erected to him on elevated earthen\nterraces. \u201cWen-chang\u201d, says Edkins, \u201cis said to have come down to our\nworld during many generations at irregular intervals. Virtuous and\nhighly-gifted men were chosen from history as likely to have been\nincarnations of this divinity.\u201d [347]\n\nThe five elements controlled by the Great Bear as it swings round the\nPolar Star are in China (1) water, (2) fire, (3) wood, (4) metal, and\n(5) earth. These elements compose what we call Nature. As we have seen,\nthey were placed under the guardianship of animal gods. The White Tiger\nof the West, for instance, is associated with metal. When, therefore,\nmetal is placed in a grave, a ceremonial connection with the tiger-god\nis effected. \u201cAccording to the Annals of Wu and Yueh, three days after\nthe burial of the king, the essence of the element metal assumed the\nshape of a white tiger and crouched down on the top of the grave.\u201d\n[348] Here the tiger is a protector\u2014a preserver.\n\nJade being strongly imbued with Yang or \u201csoul substance\u201d was intimately\nassociated with all the gods, and the various colours of jade were\nconnected with the colours of the \u201cairts\u201d and of the heavens and earth.\nLaufer quotes from the eighteenth chapter of Chou li, which deals with\nthe functions of the Master of Religious Ceremonies:\n\n\n   \u201cHe makes of jade the six objects to do homage to Heaven, to Earth,\n    and to the Four Points of the compass. With the round tablet pi of\n    bluish (or greenish) colour, he does homage to Heaven. With the\n    yellow jade tube ts\u02bcung, he does homage to Earth. With the green\n    [349] tablet Kuei, he renders homage to the region of the East.\n    With the red tablet chang, he renders homage to the region of the\n    South. With the white tablet in the shape of a tiger (hu), he\n    renders homage to the region of the West. With the black jade piece\n    of semicircular shape (huang) he renders homage to the region of\n    the North. The colour of the victims and of the pieces of silk for\n    these various spirits correspond to that of the jade tablet.\u201d [350]\n\n\nThe shape, as well as the colours, of the jade symbols was of\nritualistic importance.\n\nWhat would appear to be the most ancient Chinese doctrine regarding the\ninfluences or \u201cbreaths\u201d that emanated from Nature, and affected the\nliving and the dead, is summed up in the term Fung-shui. \u201cFung\u201d means\nwind, and \u201cshui\u201d means \u201cthe water from the clouds which the wind\ndistributes over the world\u201d. Certain winds are good, and certain winds\nare bad.\n\nThe importance attached to wind and water appears to be connected with\nthe ancient belief, found in Babylonia and Egypt, that wind is the\n\u201cbreath of life\u201d, the soul, and that water is the source of all\nlife\u2014\u201cthe water of life\u201d.\n\n\u201cFung-shui\u201d, says De Groot, \u201cdenotes the atmospherical influences which\nbear absolute sway over the fate of man, as none of the principal\nelements of life can be produced without favourable weather and rains.\u201d\nIt also means, he adds, \u201ca quasi-scientific system, supposed to teach\nmen where and how to build graves, temples, and dwellings, in order\nthat the dead, the gods, and the living may be located therein\nexclusively, or as far as possible, under the auspicious influences of\nNature\u201d. [351]\n\nThe controllers of wind and water are the White Tiger god of the West,\nand the Blue (or green) Dragon god of the East. \u201cThese animals\u201d, says\nDe Groot, \u201crepresent all that is expressed by the word Fung-shui, viz.,\nboth \u00e6olian and aquatic influences, Confucius being reputed to have\nsaid that \u2018the winds follow the tiger\u2019, and the dragon having, since\ntime immemorial, in Chinese cosmological mythology played the part of\nchief spirit of water and rain.\u201d [352]\n\nWhen the dead were buried it was considered necessary, according to\nFung-shui principles, to have graves facing the south, and the Dragon\nsymbol on the left (east) side of the coffin, and the Tiger symbol on\nthe right (west) side, while the Red Bird of the south was on the\nfront, and the Black Tortoise of the north on the back.\n\nThese symbols were, so to speak, set amidst natural surroundings that\nallowed the \u201cfree flow\u201d of auspicious influences or \u201cbreaths\u201d. A site\nfor a burial-ground was carefully selected, due account being taken of\nthe configurations of the surrounding country and the courses followed\nby streams. [353]\n\nNot only graves, but houses and towns, were so placed as to secure the\nrequisite balance between the forces of Nature. De Groot notes that\nAmoy is reputed by Chinese believers of the Fung-shui system to owe its\nprosperity to two knolls flanking the inner harbour, called \u201cTiger-head\nHill\u201d and \u201cDragon-head Hill\u201d. Canton is influenced by the \u201cWhite\nclouds\u201d, a chain of hills representing the Dragon on one side of its\nriver, and by undulating ground opposite representing the Tiger.\n\u201cSimilarly\u201d, he says, \u201cPeking is protected on the north-west by the\nKin-shan or Golden Hills, which represent the Tiger and ensure its\nprosperity, together with that of the whole empire and the reigning\ndynasty. These hills contain the sources of a felicitous watercourse,\ncalled Yu-ho or \u2018Jade River\u2019, which enters Peking on the north-west,\nand flows through the grounds at the back of the Imperial Palace, then\naccumulates its beneficial influences in three large reservoirs or\nlakes dug on the west side, and finally flows past the entire front of\nthe inner palace, where it bears the name of the Golden Water.\u201d [354]\n\nHere we find jade and gold closely associated in the Fung-shui system.\n\nAs we have seen, white jade was used when the Tiger god of the West was\nworshipped; it is known as \u201ctiger jade\u201d; a tiger was depicted on the\njade symbol. To the Chinese the tiger was the king of all animals and\n\u201clord of the mountains\u201d, and the tiger-jade ornament was specially\nreserved for commanders of armies. The male tiger was, among other\nthings, the god of war, and in this capacity it not only assisted the\narmies of the emperors, but fought the demons that threatened the dead\nin their graves.\n\nThere are traces in China of a tigress shape of the goddess of the\nWest. Laufer refers to an ancient legend of the country of Chu, which\ntells of a prince who in the eighth century B.C. married a princess of\nY\u00fcn. A son was born to them and named Tou Po-pi. The father died and\nthe widow returned to Y\u00fcn, where Tou Po-pi, in his youth, had an\nintrigue with a princess who bore him a son. \u201cThe grandmother ordered\nthe infant to be carried away and deserted on a marsh, but a tigress\ncame to suckle the child. One day when the prince of Y\u00fcn was out\nhunting, he discovered this circumstance, and when he returned home\nterror-stricken, his wife unveiled to him the affair. Touched by this\nmarvellous incident, they sent messengers after the child, and had it\ncared for. The people of Ch\u02bcu, who spoke a language differing from\nChinese, called suckling nou, and a tiger they called y\u00fc-t\u02bcu; hence the\nboy was named Nou Y\u00fc-t\u02bcu (\u2018Suckled by a Tigress\u2019). He subsequently\nbecame minister of Ch\u02bcu.\u201d [355]\n\nThis Far Eastern legend recalls that of Romulus and Remus, who were\nthrown into the Tiber but were preserved and rescued; they were\nafterwards suckled by a she-wolf. The Cretan Zeus was suckled,\naccording to one legend, by a sow, and to another by a goat. A Knossian\nseal depicts a child suckled by a horned sheep. Sir Arthur Evans\nrefers, in this connection, to the legends of the grandson of Minos who\nwas suckled by a bitch; of Miletos, \u201cthe mythical founder of the city\nof that name\u201d, being nursed by wolves. [356] Vultures guarded the\nIndian heroine Shakuntala, the Assyrian Semiramis was protected by\ndoves, while the Babylonian Gilgamesh and the Persian patriarch\nAkhamanish were protected and rescued at birth by eagles. Horus of\nEgypt was nourished and concealed by the serpent goddess Uazit, and in\nhis boyhood made friends of wild animals, as did also Bharata, the son\nof the Indian vulture-guarded Shakuntala. Horus figures in the\nconstellation of Argo as a child floating in a chest or boat like the\nabandoned Moses, the abandoned Indian Karna, the abandoned Sargon of\nAkkad, and, as it would appear, Tammuz who in childhood lay in a\n\u201csunken boat\u201d. Horus of the older Egyptian legends was concealed on a\ngreen floating island on the Nile\u2014the \u201cgreen bed of Horus\u201d. [357]\n\nThe oldest known form of the suckling legend is found in the Pyramid\nTexts of Ancient Egypt. When the soul of the Pharaoh went to the\nOtherworld he was suckled by a goddess or by the goddesses of the north\nand south. The latter are referred to in the Texts as \u201cthe two vultures\nwith long hair and hanging breasts\u201d. [358] Here the vultures take the\nplace of the cow-goddess Hathor. In Troy the cow-mother, covered with\nstars, becomes the star-adorned sow-mother. [359] Demeter had a sow\nform and Athene a goat form, and other goddesses had dove, eagle, wolf,\nbitch, &c., forms. The Chinese tigress-goddess is evidently a Far\nEastern animal form of the Great Mother who suckles the souls of the\ndead and the abandoned children who are destined to become notables.\nThus behind the wind-god, in the Chinese Fung-shui system, we meet with\ncomplex ideas regarding the source of the \u201cair of life\u201d, and the source\nof the food-supply. The Blue Dragon of the East is the Naga form of the\nAryo-Indian Indra, [360] the rain-controller, the fertilizer, who is\nclosely associated with Vayu, the wind-god; the dragon is the\nthunderer, too, like Indra. The close association of the tiger- and\ndragon-gods in the Fung-shui system may account for the custom of\ndecorating jade symbols of the tiger with the thunder pattern. [361]\n\nIn jade-lore, as will be seen, we touch on complex religious beliefs\nand conceptions not entirely of Chinese origin. Indeed, it is necessary\nto leave China and investigate the religious systems of more ancient\ncountries to understand rightly Chinese ideas regarding jade as a\nsubstitute for gold, pearls, precious stones, &c., and its connection\nwith vegetation and the Great Mother, the source of all life.\n\nIt remains with us to deal with Chinese ideas regarding the soul which\nwas protected by jade, the concentrated form of \u201csoul substance\u201d.\n\nThe Chinese believed that a human being had two souls. One was the\nKwei, that is the soul which partook of the nature of the element Yin\nand returned to the earth from which it originally came; [362] the\nother soul was the shen which partook of the element Yang. When the\nshen is in the living body, it is called Khi or \u201cbreath\u201d; after death\n\u201cit lives forth as a refulgent spirit, styled ming\u201d. The other soul,\ncalled Kwei, is known as the p\u02bcoh during life; after death it lives on\nin the grave beside the body, which is supposed to be protected against\ndecay by the jade, gold, pearls, shells, &c., and the good influences\n\u201cflowing\u201d from east and west.\n\nThe shen, like the cicada, may also dwell for a time in the grave or in\nthe gravestone before it rises on wings to the Sky Paradise, or passes\nto the Western Paradise or the Eastern \u201cIslands of the Blest\u201d. Ancient\nlocal and tribal beliefs and beliefs imported at different periods from\ndifferent culture centres were evidently fused in China, and we\nconsequently meet with a variety of ideas regarding the destiny of the\nshen. \u201cDeparted souls\u201d, says De Groot, \u201care sometimes popularly\nrepresented as repairing to the regions of bliss on the back of a\ncrane.\u201d [363] The soul may sail to the Western Paradise in a boat.\n\u201cThou hast departed to the West, from whence there is no returning in\nthe barge of mercy\u201d, runs an address to the corpse.[363] Here we have\nthe Ra-boat of Egypt conveying the soul to the Osirian Paradise. As has\nbeen shown, souls sometimes departed on the backs of dragons, or rose\nin the air towards cloudland, there to sail in boats or ride on the\nbacks of birds or kirins, or reached the moon or star-land by climbing\na gigantic tree. Belief in transmigration of souls can also be traced\nin China, the result apparently of the importation of pre-Buddhist as\nwell as Buddhist beliefs from India.\n\nThe living performed ceremonies to assist the soul of the dead on its\nlast journey. Priests chanted:\n\n\n    I salute Ye, Celestial Judges of the three spheres constituting the\n    higher, middle, and lower divisions of the Universe, and Ye, host\n    of Kings and nobles of the departments of land and water and of the\n    world of men! Remember the soul of the dead, and help it forward in\n    going to the Paradise of the West. [364]\n\n\nEgyptian, Babylonian, and Indian ideas regarding the Western Paradise\nare here significantly mingled.\n\nDuring life the soul might leave the body for a period, either during\nsleep or when one fainted suddenly.\n\nThis belief is widespread. The soul, in folk-stories, is sometimes\nseen, as in Scotland, as a bee, or bird, or serpent, as in Norway as an\ninsect or mouse, as in Indonesia and elsewhere as a worm, snake,\nbutterfly, or mouse, and even, as in different countries, as deer,\ncats, pigs, crocodiles, &c. Chinese beliefs regarding souls as\nbutterflies, cicadas, &c., have already been referred to.\n\nThe wandering soul could be \u201ccalled back\u201d by repeating the individual\u2019s\nname. In China, even the dead were called back, and the ceremony of\nrecalling the soul is prominent in funeral rites, as De Groot shows.\n[365] Peoples as far separated as the Mongolian Buriats and the\ninhabitants of England, Scotland, and Ireland believed that ghosts\ncould be enticed to return to the body. [366] The \u201cdeath-howl\u201d in China\nand Egypt, and elsewhere, is evidently connected with this ancient\nbelief.\n\nOf special interest is the evidence regarding Korean customs and\nbeliefs. Mrs. Bishop writes: \u201cMan is supposed to have three souls.\nAfter death one occupies the tablet, one the grave, and one the\nunknown. During the passing of the spirit there is complete silence.\nThe under-garments of the dead are taken out by a servant, who waves\nthem in the air, and calls him by name, the relations and friends\nmeantime wailing loudly. After a time the clothes are thrown upon the\nroof.\u201d When a man dies, one of his souls is supposed to be seized and\ncarried to the unknown and placed on trial before the Ten Judges, who\nsentence it \u201ceither to \u2018a good place\u2019 or to one of the manifold hells\u201d.\n[367]\n\nProfessor Elliot Smith, reviewing the Chinese ideas regarding the two\nsouls, comes to the conclusion that \u201cthe early Chinese conceptions of\nthe soul and its functions are essentially identical with the Egyptian,\nand must have been derived from the same source\u201d. [368] As the Chinese\nhave the shen and the Kwei, so had the Egyptians the Ka and the ba. The\nKa was the spirit of the placenta, \u201cwhich was accredited with the\nattributes of the life-giving and birth-promoting Great Mother and\nintimately related to the moon and the earliest totem\u201d. [369] In China\nthe beliefs and customs connected with the placenta and the moon are\nquite Egyptian in character. [370]\n\nEven in the worship of ancestors in China one can trace the influence\nof Ancient Egyptian ideas. When the Pharaoh died, he was identified\nwith the god. King Unis, in the Pyramid Texts, becomes Osiris, who\ncontrols the Nile. \u201cIt is Unis\u201d, we read, \u201cwho inundates the land.\u201d\nPepi I, in like manner, supplanted the god, and he is addressed as\nOsiris, as is also King Mernere\u2014\u201cHo this Osiris, King Mernere!\u201d runs a\nPyramid Text. [371] The sun-god Ra was similarly supplanted by his son,\nthe dead Pharaoh.\n\nThe souls of Chinese ancestors, who passed to the Otherworld, became\nidentified with the deities who protected households. Emperors became,\nafter death, emperors in heaven and their souls were the deified\npreservers of their dynasties. Clan and tribal ancestors were\nprotectors of their clans and tribes, and families were ever under the\ncare of the souls of their founders. The belief became deeply rooted in\nChina that the ancestral soul exercised from generation to generation a\nbeneficent influence over a home. It is not surprising to find,\ntherefore, that gods are exceedingly numerous in China, and that it is\nsometimes difficult to distinguish an ancestor from a god and a god\nfrom an ancestor. The State religion was something apart from domestic\nreligion. Emperors worshipped the deities that controlled the nation\u2019s\ndestinies, and families worshipped the deities of the household.\n\nLocal and imported beliefs were fused and developed on Chinese soil,\nand when, in time, Buddhism was introduced it was mixed with\npre-existing religious systems. Chinese Buddhism is consequently found\nto have local features that distinguish it from the Buddhism of Tibet,\nBurmah, and Japan, in which countries there was, in like manner,\nculture-mixing.\n\nBeliefs connected with jade, which date back to the time when the jade\nfished from the rivers of Chinese Turkestan was identified with pearls\nand gold, were similarly developed in China. At first the jade was used\nto assist birth and to cure diseases. It likewise brought luck, being\nan object that radiated the influence of the All-Mother. As the living\nhad their days prolonged and their youth revived by jade, so were the\ndead preserved from decay by the influence of the famous mineral. The\ncustom ultimately obtained of eating jade, as has already been noted in\nthese pages. Ground jade or \u201cpure extract of jade\u201d was not only\nsupposed to promote longevity, but to effect a ceremonial connection\nbetween the worshipper and the spirits or deities. In the Chou li it is\nstated that \u201cwhen the Emperor purifies himself by abstinence, the chief\nin charge of the jade works prepares for him the jade which he is\nobliged to eat\u201d. [372] It is explained by commentators that \u201cthe\nemperor fasts and purifies himself before communicating with the\nspirits; he must take the pure extract of jade; it is dissolved that he\nmay eat it\u201d. Jade was also pounded with rice as food for the corpse. \u201cA\nmarvellous kind of jade\u201d, says Laufer, \u201cwas called Y\u00fc ying, \u2018the\nperfection of jade\u2019,\u201d which ensured eternal life. \u201cIn 163 B.C. a jade\ncup of this kind was discovered on which the words were engraved \u2018May\nthe sovereign of men have his longevity prolonged\u2019.\u201d Immortality was\nsecured by eating from jade bowls, or, as we have seen, by drinking dew\nfrom a jade bowl. [373]\n\nAs has been shown, the Great Mother created jade for the benefit of\nmankind, and \u201cthe spirit of jade is like a beautiful woman\u201d. [374] Jade\nwas also \u201cthe essence of the purity of the male principle\u201d. [375]\n\nApparently the god who was husband and son of the Great Mother was\nconnected with jade. The Mother was the life-giver, and the son, as\nOsiris, was \u201cthe imperishable principle of life wherever found\u201d. [376]\nIf men died, the seed of life in the body was preserved by jade\namulets; the plants might shed their leaves, but the life of the plants\nwas perpetuated by the spirit of jade. \u201cIn the second month\u201d, says The\nIllustrated Mirror of Jade, \u201cthe plants in the mountains receive a\nbrighter lustre. When their leaves fall, they change into jade.\u201d [377]\nThe mountain plants in question appear to be the curative herbs that\ncontained, like jade, the elixir of life, and the chief of these plants\nwas the ginseng (mandrake), an avatar of the Great Mother. The plant,\nor ground jade, or food or moisture from the jade vessel renewed youth\nand prolonged life. All the elixirs were concentrated in jade; the\nvital principle in human beings and plants was derived from and\npreserved by jade.\n\nIt is of special interest to find that the Chinese Nu Kwa who caused\nthe flood to retreat was the creator of the jade which protected\nmankind and ensured longevity by preserving the seed or shen of life,\nbeing impregnated with Yang, the male principle. In Babylonia, the seed\nof mankind was preserved during the flood by the nig-gil-ma.\n\nIn the Sumerian version of the Creation legend, the three great gods\nAnu, Enlil, and Enki, assisted by the Great Mother goddess\nNinkharasagga, first created mankind, then the nig-gil-ma, and lastly\nthe four-legged animals of the field. The mysterious nig-gil-ma is\nreferred to in the story of the Deluge as \u201cPreserver of the seed of\nmankind\u201d, while the ship or ark is \u201cPreserver of Life\u201d, literally \u201cShe\nthat preserves life\u201d. A later magical text refers to the creation after\nthat of mankind and animals of \u201ctwo small creatures, one white and one\nblack\u201d. Man and animals were saved from the flood and the nig-gil-ma\nplayed its or their part \u201cin ensuring their survival\u201d.\n\nLeonard W. King, who has gathered together the surviving evidence\nregarding the mysterious nig-gil-ma [378] points out that the name is\nsometimes preceded by \u201cthe determinative for \u2018pot\u2019, \u2018jar\u2019, or \u2018bowl\u2019\u201d,\nand is identical with the Semitic word mashkhalu. In the Tell-el-Amarna\nletters there are references to a mashkhalu of silver and a mashkhalu\nof stone (a silver vessel and a stone vessel). The nig-gil-ma may be\nsimply a \u201cjar\u201d or \u201cbowl\u201d. \u201cBut\u201d, says Mr. L. King, \u201cthe accompanying\nreferences to the ground, to its production from the ground, and to its\nspringing up ... suggest rather some kind of plant; and this, from its\nemployment in magical rites, may also have given its name to a bowl or\nvessel which held it. A very similar plant was that found and lost by\nGilgamesh, after his sojourn with Ut-napishtim [379]; it too had potent\nmagical power, and bore a title descriptive of its peculiar virtue of\ntransforming old age to youth.\u201d The nig-gil-ma may therefore be a\nplant, a ship, a stone bowl or jar, or a vessel of silver (the moon\nmetal). If we regard it as a symbol or avatar of the mother-goddess it\nwas any of these things and all of these things\u2014the Mother Pot, the\ninexhaustible womb of Nature, the Plant of Life containing \u201csoul\nsubstance\u201d, the red clay, the moon-silver, or, as in China, the jade of\nwhich the sacred vessel was made. The Great Mother\u2019s herb-avatar was\nthe ginseng (mandrake), as in the Egyptian Deluge story it was the red\nearth didi from Elephantine placed in the beer prepared for the\nslaughtering goddess Hathor-Sekhet as a surrogate of blood and a\nsoporific drink; the mixture was \u201cthe giver of life\u201d, the red aqua\nvitae, like the red wine and the juice of red berries in different\nareas. [380] The mandrake was the didi of southern Europe and of China.\nDr. Rendel Harris shows that the early Greek magicians and doctors\nreferred to the male mandrake, which was white, and the female\nmandrake, which was black. The black mandrake was personified as the\nBlack Aphrodite. [381]\n\nThe Babylonian reference in a magical text to the nig-gil-ma as \u201ctwo\nsmall creatures, one white and one black\u201d is therefore highly\nsignificant. Apparently, like jade, the nig-gil-ma symbolized \u201cthe male\nprinciple\u201d, and \u201cthe spirit\u201d of \u201ca beautiful woman\u201d. Thus mandrake\n(ginseng), the Plant of Life, red earth, jade, the pearl and the pot or\njar or bowl, and the Deluge ship, and the ship of the sun-god, were\nforms, avatars, or manifestations of the Great Mother who preserved the\nseed of mankind and the elixir of life\u2014in the Pot it grew the Plant of\nLife, and from it could be drunk the dew of life, the water of life,\nplant and water being impregnated with the \u201cspirit\u201d of jade. Jade-lore\nis of highly complex character because, as has been indicated, the\nearly instructors of the Chinese attached to the mineral the\nEgypto-Babylonian doctrines regarding the Great Mother and her shells,\npearls, precious stones, gold, silver and copper, herbs, trees,\ncereals, red earth, &c. The Babylonian evidence regarding the\nnig-gil-ma as a herb, and as a silver or stone jar, pot, or cup, in\nwhich was preserved the seed of mankind (\u201csoul substance\u201d) may explain\nwhy in the Chinese Deluge myth there is no ark or ship. The goddess\nprovided jade instead of a boat and she created dragons to control the\nrain-supply, so that the world might not again suffer from the effects\nof a flood.\n\nThe virtues of jade were shared to a certain degree by rhinoceros horn,\nwhich, as we have seen, was reputed to shine by night.\n\nLaufer has gathered together sufficient evidence to prove that the\nrhinoceros was one of the wild animals known in ancient China. [382] A\nhero of the Chou Dynasty, who subdued rebels and established peace\nthroughout the Empire, \u201cdrove away also the tigers, leopards,\nrhinoceroses and elephants\u2014and all the people were greatly delighted\u201d.\n[383] A native writer says: \u201cTo travel by water and not avoid\nsea-serpents and dragons\u2014this is the courage of a fisherman. To travel\nby land and not avoid the rhinoceros and the tiger\u2014this is the courage\nof hunters.\u201d In ancient times certain of the lords attending on the\nemperor had a tiger symbol on each chariot wheel, while other lords had\non their wheels crouching rhinoceroses. [384] Laufer expresses the view\nthat \u201cthe strong desire prevailing in the epoch of the Chou for the\nhorn of the animal (rhinoceros) which was carved into ornamental cups,\nand for its valuable skin, which was worked up into armour, had ...\ncontributed to its final destruction.\u201d [385] The rhinoceros-horn cups\nwere used, like jade cups, chiefly for religious purposes. Rice-wine\nwas drunk from them when vows were made, and from them were poured\nlibations to ancestors. The animal\u2019s skin was used not only for armour,\nbecause of its toughness and durability, but because the rhinoceros was\na longevity animal, and a form of the god of longevity (shou-sing). It\nwas used, too, for the coffin of the \u201cSon of Heaven\u201d (the Emperor).\n\u201cThe innermost coffin was formed by hide of water buffalo and\nrhinoceros.\u201d This case was enclosed in white poplar timber and the two\nouter cases were of catalpa wood. [386] The jade coffin was similarly a\nprotecting life-giver.\n\nAs there were black and white nig-gil-ma, and black and white deities,\nso were there black and white rhinoceroses and black and white\nelephants. Gautama Buddha entered his mother\u2019s right side \u201cin the form\nof a superb white elephant\u201d. [387]\n\nThe water-rhinoceros had \u201cpearl-like armour\u201d (a significant comparison\nwhen it is remembered that pearl-lore and jade-lore are so similar),\nbut not the mountain rhinoceros. It was the horn of the male animal\nthat had special virtues. The markings on it included a red line, which\nwas a result of his habit of gazing at the moon; the spots were stars.\nAs the animal was connected with the \u201cmaterial sky\u201d, the horn was\nimpregnated with the Yang principle. A horn that \u201ccommunicated with the\nsky\u201d was of the \u201cfirst quality\u201d. Laufer quotes the statement: \u201cIf the\nhorn of the rhinoceros \u2018communicating with the sky\u2019 emits light, so\nthat it can be seen by night, it is called \u2018horn shining at night\u2019 (ye\nming si): hence it can communicate with the spirits and open a way\nthrough the water\u201d. A man who carried in his mouth a piece of\nrhinoceros horn found, it was alleged, on diving into the sea, that the\nwater gave way so as to allow a space for breathing. [388] The\npearl-fishers may therefore have used the magic horn, believing that it\nprotected and assisted them.\n\nIt is recorded of a horn presented to an emperor of the T\u02bcang Dynasty\nthat \u201cat night it emitted light so that a space of a hundred paces was\nilluminated. Manifold silk wrappers laid around it could not hide its\nluminous power. The emperor ordered it to be cut into slices and worked\nup into a girdle; and whenever he went out on a hunting expedition, he\nsaved candle light at night.\u201d With the aid of the horn it was possible\n\u201cto see supernatural monsters in water\u201d. [389]\n\nThere was warm rhinoceros horn and cold rhinoceros horn, as there was\nwarm jade and cold jade. A Chinese work of the eighth century mentions\n\u201ccold-dispelling rhinoceros horn (pi han si), whose colour is golden.\n[390]... During the winter months it spreads warmth which imparts a\ngenial feeling to man.\u201d Another work speaks of \u201cheat-dispelling\nrhinoceros horn (pi shu si).... During the summer months it can cool\noff the hot temperature.\u201d Girdles of \u201cwrath-dispelling\u201d horn caused men\n\u201cto abandon their anger\u201d; hair-pins, combs, &c., were made from \u201cdust\ndispelling\u201d horn. Rhinoceros horn had, like jade, healing properties. A\nfourth-century Chinese writer tells that \u201cthe horn can neutralize\npoison because the animal devours all sorts of vegetable poisons with\nits food\u201d. Chinese drug stores still stock shavings of the horn to cure\nfever, smallpox, ophthalmia, &c. [391] According to S. W. Williams\n[392] \u201ca decoction of the horn shavings is given to women just before\nparturition and also to frighten children\u201d. A medicine is prepared from\nrhinoceros skin, too. Laufer states that \u201cthe skin, as well as the\nhorn, the blood, and the teeth, were medicinally employed in Cambodja,\nnotably against heart diseases.... In Japan rhinoceros horn is powdered\nand used as a specific in fever cases of all kind.\u201d Dragon bones were\nused in like manner in China. It is of importance to note that the\nrhinoceros horn derived its healing qualities because the animal fed on\nplants and trees provided with thorns. [393] Like the dragon, the\nrhinoceros had an intimate connection with certain plants; like the\nginseng-devouring goat, it carried in its blood the virtue of the\nplants and herbs it devoured. In Tibet and China the rhinoceros became\nconfused with the stag, antelope, and goat with one horn. It was the\nprototype of the unicorn. In India and Iran it was confused with the\nhorse. There is in Chinese lore a \u201cspiritual rhinoceros (ling si)\u201d with\nthe body of an ox, the hump of a zebu, cloven feet, the snout of a pig,\nand a horn in front. [394] It may be that in ancient times the lore\nconnected with the hippopotamus was transferred by the searchers for\npearls, precious stones, and metals to the Chinese \u201cwater-rhinoceros\u201d.\nLike the composite wonder-beast in the Osirian hall of judgment, which\ntore the unworthy soul to pieces, the rhinoceros had its place in\njudicial proceedings in China. In its goat form it solved a difficult\ncase when Kas Yas administered justice by butting the guilty party and\nsparing the innocent. [395]\n\nThe importance attached to jade in prehistoric Europe raises an\ninteresting problem. Jade artifacts have been found associated with the\nSwiss lake-dwellings, and at \u201cNeolithic sites\u201d in Brittany and Ireland,\nas well as in Malta and Sicily, and other parts of Europe. Schliemann\nfound votive axes of green and white jade (nephrite) in the stratum of\nthe first city of Troy. It was believed at the time that the European\njade artifacts had been imported from the borders of China, and\nProfessor Fischer expressed the wish \u201cthat before the end of his life\nthe fortune might be allotted to him of finding out what people brought\nthem to Europe\u201d. [396] Professor Max Muller believed that the Aryans\nwere the carriers of jade. \u201cIf\u201d, he wrote, \u201cthe Aryan settlers could\ncarry with them into Europe so ponderous a tool as their language,\nwithout chipping a single facet, there is nothing so very surprising in\ntheir having carried along and carefully preserved from generation to\ngeneration so handy and so valuable an instrument as a scraper or a\nknife, made of a substance which is Aere perennuis\u201d. [397]\n\nAfter a prolonged search, European scientists have located nephrite\n(jade proper) or jadeite in situ in Silesia, Austria, North Germany,\nItaly, and among the Alps. \u201cA sort of nephrite workshop was discovered\nin the vicinity of Maurach (Switzerland), where hatchets chiselled from\nthe mineral and one hundred and fifty-four pieces of cuttings were\nfound.\u201d [398]\n\nLaufer writes in this connection: \u201cIf we consider how many years, and\nwhat strenuous efforts it required for European scientists to discover\nthe actual sites of jade in Central Europe, which is geographically so\nwell explored, we may realize that it could not have been quite such an\neasy task for primitive man to hunt up these hidden places\u201d. Laufer\nthinks that in undertaking to overcome the difficulties experienced in\ndiscovering jade in Europe, early man \u201cmust have been prompted by a\nmotive pre-existing and acting in his mind; the impetus of searching\nfor jade he must have received somehow from somewhere.... Nothing\u201d, he\nsays, \u201ccould induce me to believe that primitive man of Central Europe\nincidentally and spontaneously embarked on the laborious task of\nquarrying and working jade. The psychological motive for this act must\nbe supplied.... From the standpoint of the general development of\nculture in the Old World there is absolutely no vestige of originality\nin the prehistoric cultures of Europe which appear as an appendix to\nAsia.\u201d [399]\n\nApparently the \u201cpsychological motive\u201d for searching for jade in China\nand Europe came from the Khotan area in Chinese Turkestan, whence jade\nwas carried to Babylonia during the Sumerian period. It is probable\nthat bronze was first manufactured in the jade-bearing area of Asia,\nand that the people who carried \u201cthe knowledge of bronze-making into\nEurope\u201d, as Professor Elliot Smith suggests, \u201calso introduced the\nappreciation of jade\u201d. Laufer comments in this connection: \u201cOriginality\nis certainly the rarest thing in the world, and in the history of\nmankind the original thoughts are appallingly sparse. There is, in the\nlight of historical facts and experience, no reason to credit the\nprehistoric and early populations of Europe with any spontaneous ideas\nrelative to jade.\u201d After receiving jade and adopting the beliefs\nattached to it, they set out to search for it, and found it in Europe.\n\nThe polished axe pendants of jade found in Malta were evidently charms.\nAmong the Greeks jade was \u201cthe kidney stone\u201d; it cured diseases of the\nkidneys. The Spaniards brought jade or jadeite from Mexico, and called\nit \u201cthe loin stone\u201d (piedra de hijada). Sir Walter Raleigh introduced\nit into England, and used the Spanish name from which \u201cjade\u201d is\nderived.\n\nRed, green, blue, white, grey, and black jade were used, by reason of\ntheir colours, for various deities in China, and to indicate the rank\nof officials. \u201cWhite jade, considered the most precious, was the\nprivileged ornament of the emperor; jade green like the mountains was\nreserved for the princes of the first and second ranks; water-blue jade\nwas for the great prefects; the heir apparent had a special kind of\njade.\u201d [400] Mottled jades\u2014some resembling granite\u2014were likewise\nfavoured for a variety of purposes.\n\nJade played an important part in Chinese rain-getting ceremonies.\nDragon jade symbols, decorated with fish-scales, were placed on the\naltar as offerings and for the purpose of invoking the rain-controlling\n\u201ccomposite wonder beast\u201d and god. Sometimes bronze and silver dragon\nsymbols were used. According to Laufer, \u201cthe jade image of the dragon\nremained restricted to the Han period, and was substituted at later\nages by prayers inscribed on jade or metal tablets. A survival of the\nancient custom\u201d, he adds, \u201cmay be seen in the large paper or papier\nm\u00e2ch\u00e9 figures of dragons carried around in the streets by festival\nprocessions in times of drought to ensure the benefit of rain.\u201d [401]\nIn front of these dragons are carried the red ball, which symbolizes\nthe moon, the source of fertilizing moisture\u2014of dew, of rain, and\ntherefore of the streams and rivers that flow to the sea.\n\nJade links with pearls in the ocean surrounding the world, in which\nlies a gigantic oyster that gapes after rain falls, and sends forth the\ngleaming rainbow. The Greek historian, Isidorus of Charace (c. 300\nB.C.), referring to the pearl-fishing in the Persian Gulf, relates a\nstory about the breeding of pearls being influenced by thunder-storms.\n[402] The jade ceremonial object, which roused the dragon, had thus\nindirectly a share in pearl production. Pearls were, as we have seen,\nlikewise produced by dragons, who spat them out during storms. As\ncertain pearls were supposed to be formed by dew that dropped from the\nmoon, it may be that the Chinese gigantic oyster was, when it gaped to\nsend forth the rainbow, receiving the substance of a gigantic pearl\nfrom the celestial regions. The life-prolonging and youth-renewing \u201cRed\nCloud herb\u201d came into existence during a thunder- and rain-storm.\n\nAs we have seen, jade contains, according to Far Eastern belief, the\nessence of heat as well as of moisture. It contains, too, the essence\nof cold\u2014not the cold of winter but the coolness desired in hot weather.\n[403] In the Tu yang tsa pien, a Chinese work of the ninth century, it\nis recorded that the Emperor of China received from Japan \u201can engraved\ngobang board of warm jade, on which the game could be played in winter\nwithout getting cold, and that it was most highly prized\u201d. It is told\nin this connection that \u201cthirty thousand li (leagues) east of Japan is\nthe island of Tsi-mo, and upon this island the Ninghia Terrace, on\nwhich terrace is the Gobang Player\u2019s Lake. This lake produces the\nchess-men which need no carving, and are naturally divided into black\nand white. They are warm in winter, cool in summer, and known as cool\nand warm jade. It also produces the catalpa-jade, in structure like the\nwood of the catalpa tree, which is carved into chess-boards, shining\nand brilliant as mirrors.\u201d [404]\n\nJade is, in short, a \u201cluck stone\u201d: the giver of children, health,\nimmortality, wisdom, power, victory, growth, food, clothing, &c. It is\n\u201cthe jewel that grants all desires\u201d in this world and the next, and is\ntherefore connected with all religious beliefs, while it also plays its\npart as a symbol in the social organization, being the medium through\nwhich the mysterious forces of nature exercise their influence in every\nsphere of human thought and activity.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV\n\nCREATION MYTHS AND THE GOD AND GODDESS CULTS\n\n    Are Animistic Beliefs Primitive?\u2014Evidence of a Mummy-imported\n    Culture in Primitive Communities\u2014Chinese Creation Myth\u2014Chaos\n    Transformed into Kosmos\u2014P\u02bcan Ku as the World-artisan\u2014Chinese\n    World-giant Myth\u2014Tibetan Version\u2014P\u02bcan Ku and the Egyptian\n    Ptah\u2014Hammer Gods\u2014P\u02bcan Ku and the Scandinavian Ymir\u2014Osiris as a\n    World-giant\u2014Fusion of Egyptian and Babylonian Myths\u2014The Chinese\n    Ishtars\u2014The Goddess of the Deluge\u2014The Chinese Virgin Mother\u2014Dragon\n    Boat Ceremonies\u2014The Mountain Goddess in China\u2014Kiang Yuan as the\n    Divine Mother\u2014Ancient Myths in Chinese Buddhism\u2014The \u201cPoosa\u201d as\n    Goddess of Mercy\u2014As Controller of Tides\u2014Vision of\n    Sky-goddess\u2014Island Seat of Goddess Worship\u2014The Chinese Indra.\n\n\nAlthough some exponents of the stratification theory incline to regard\nChinese religion as a stunted outcrop of animistic ideas, and chiefly\nbecause of the remarkable persistence through the ages of the worship\nof ancestors\u2014the worship of ghost-gods and ghosts identified with\ngods\u2014there is really little trace of what is usually referred to as\n\u201cthe primitive state of mind\u201d. Under the term \u201canimism\u201d have been\nincluded ideas that are less primitive than was supposed to be the case\nabout a generation ago. The belief, for instance, that there are\nspirits in stones, or that the soul of the dead enters a megalithic\nmonument, or a statue placed in the tomb, may not, after all, belong to\na primitive stage of thought; nor does it follow that because it is\nfound to be prevalent among savage tribes isolated on lonely islands it\nis a product merely of the early \u201cworkings of the human mind\u201d when man,\nas if by instinct, framed his \u201cfirst crude philosophy of human\nthought\u201d. The fact that savages reached isolated islands, such as, for\ninstance, Eastern Island, where stone idols were erected, indicates\nclearly that they had acquired a knowledge of shipbuilding and\nnavigation directly or indirectly from a centre of ancient\ncivilization. It may be, therefore, that they likewise acquired from\nthe same source ideas regarding the soul and the origin of things, and\nthat these, instead of being \u201csimple\u201d and \u201cprimitive\u201d, are really of\ncomplex character, and have remained in a state of arrested\ndevelopment, simply because they have been detached from the parent\nstem, to be preserved like flower petals pressed in a book, that still\nretain a degree of their original brightness and characteristic odour.\n\nIn outlying areas, like Australia and Oceania, are found not only\n\u201cprimitive beliefs\u201d, but definite burial customs that have a long\nhistory elsewhere, including cremation and even mummification. \u201cYou get\nthe whole bag of tricks in Australia\u201d, the late Andrew Lang once\ndeclared to the writer when contending that certain beliefs and customs\nfound in Egypt, Babylonia, India, and Europe were \u201cnatural products of\nthe primitive mind\u201d. But is it likely that such a custom as\nmummification should have \u201carisen independently\u201d in Australasia? Let us\ntake, for instance, the case of the mummy from the Torres Straits,\nwhich is preserved in the Mackay Museum in the University of Sydney. It\nwas examined by Professor G. Elliot Smith, who, during his ten years\u2019\noccupancy of the Chair of Anatomy in the Government School of Medicine\nin Cairo, had unique opportunities of studying Ancient Egyptian surgery\nas revealed by the mummies preserved in Gizeh museum. When he examined\nthe Papuan mummy at Sydney he found that undeniable Egyptian methods of\na definite period in Egyptian history had been employed. He\ncommunicated his discovery to the Anthropological Section of the\nBritish Association in Melbourne in 1914, and, as an anatomist, was\nastonished to hear Professor Myres contending that it seemed to him\nnatural that people should want to preserve their dead! \u201cIf\u201d, Professor\nElliot Smith has written, \u201cProfessor Myers had known anything of the\nhistory of anatomy he would have realized that the problem of\npreserving the body was one of extreme difficulty which for long ages\nhad exercised the most civilized peoples, not only of antiquity, but\nalso of modern times. In Egypt, where the natural conditions favouring\nthe successful issue of attempts to preserve the body were largely\nresponsible for the possibility of such embalming, it took more than\nseventeen centuries of constant practice and experimentation to reach\nthe stage and to acquire the methods exemplified in the Torres Straits\nmummies.\u201d [405] Arm-chair theories vanish like mist when the light of\nscientific evidence is released.\n\nIn like manner may be found in the folk-lore and religious literature\nof China \u201cmummies\u201d of imported myths, as well as early myths of local\ninvention that, ancient as they may be, cannot be regarded as\n\u201cprimitive\u201d in the real sense of the term. The following myth, found in\nthe literature of Taoism, may be more archaic than the writings of\nKwang-tze, who gives it.\n\nAt the beginning of time there were two oceans\u2014one in the south and one\nin the north, and there was land in the centre. The Ruler of the\nsouthern ocean was Shu (Heedless), and the Ruler of the northern ocean\nwas Hu (Hasty), while the Ruler of the Centre was Hwun-tun (Chaos).\n\n\u201cHeedless\u201d and \u201cHasty\u201d were in the habit of paying regular visits to\nthe land, and there they met and became acquainted. \u201cChaos\u201d treated\nthem kindly, and it was their desire to confer upon him some favour so\nas to give practical expression to their feelings of gratitude. They\ndiscussed the matter together, and decided what they should do.\n\nNow Chaos was blind, his eyes being closed, and he was deaf, his ears\nbeing closed, and he could not breathe, having no nostrils, nor eat,\nbecause he was mouthless.\n\n\u201cHasty\u201d and \u201cHeedless\u201d met daily in the Central land, and each day they\nopened an orifice. On the seventh day their work was finished. But when\nhe had eyes and ears opened, and could see and hear, and could breathe\nthrough his nostrils, and had a mouth with which to eat, old Chaos\ndied.\n\nThe meaning of this Chinese parable seems to be that the Universe had,\nin the space of seven days, been \u201cset in order\u201d, Chaos having been\ntransformed into Kosmos.\n\nAlthough Taoism has been referred to by some writers of the \u201cEvolution\nSchool\u201d as \u201can elaboration of animistic lore\u201d, this myth is really a\nproduct of the years that bring the philosophic mind. The three\n\u201cRulers\u201d may have originally been giants, and the story may owe\nsomething to the Babylonian myth of Ea-Oannes, the sea-god, who came\ndaily from the Persian Gulf to instruct the early Sumerians how to live\ncivilized lives; but it was evidently some Far Eastern Socrates who\nfirst named the sea-gods \u201cHeedless\u201d and \u201cHasty\u201d, and tinged the fable\nwith Taoistic cynicism.\n\nCreation myths are not as \u201cprimitive\u201d as some writers would have us\nsuppose. Considerable progress was achieved before mankind began to\ntheorize regarding the origin of things. Even the widespread and\nso-called \u201cprimitive myth\u201d about the egg from which the Universe, or\nthe first god, was hatched by the \u201cPrimeval Goose\u201d may belong to a much\nlater stage of human development than is supposed by some of those\nwriters who speculate with so much confidence regarding \u201cthe workings\nof the human mind\u201d. Even the metaphysicians of Brahmanic India were\nprone to speak in parables and fables.\n\n\u201cAt the beginning there was nothing\u201d, the Chinese philosophers taught\ntheir pupils. \u201cLong ages passed by. Then nothing became something.\u201d The\nsomething had unity. Long ages passed by, and the something divided\nitself into two parts\u2014a male part and a female part. These two\nsomethings produced two lesser somethings, and the two pairs, working\ntogether, produced the first being, who was named P\u02bcan Ku. Another\nversion of the myth is that P\u02bcan Ku emerged from the cosmic egg.\n\nIt is not difficult to recognize in P\u02bcan Ku a giant god or world-god.\nHe was furnished with an adze, or, as is found in some Chinese prints,\nwith a hammer and a chisel. With his implement or implements P\u02bcan Ku\nmoves through the universe as the Divine Artisan, who shapes the\nmountains and hammers or chisels out the sky, accompanied by the\nprimeval Tortoise, and the Ph\u0153nix, and a dragon-like being who may\nrepresent the primeval \u201csomethings\u201d\u2014the symbols of water, earth, and\nair. The sun, moon, and stars have already appeared.\n\nAnother version of the P\u02bcan Ku myth represents him as the Primeval\nWorld-giant, who is destroyed so that the material universe may be\nformed. From his flesh comes the soil, from his bones the rocks; his\nblood is the waters of rivers and the ocean; his hair is vegetation;\nwhile the wind is his breath, the thunder his voice, the rain his\nsweat, the dew his tears, the firmament his skull, his right eye the\nmoon, and his left eye the sun. P\u02bcan Ku\u2019s body was covered with vermin,\nand the vermin became the races of mankind.\n\nA somewhat similar myth is found in Tibet. When M. Huc sojourned in\nthat country, he had a conversation with an aged nomad, who said:\n\n\u201cThere are on the earth three great families, and we are all of the\ngreat Tibetan family. This is what I have heard the Lamas say, who have\nstudied the things of antiquity. At the beginning there was on the\nearth only a single man; he had neither house nor tent, for at that\ntime the winter was not cold, and the summer was not hot; the wind did\nnot blow so violently, and there fell neither snow nor rain; the tea\ngrew of itself on the mountains, and the flocks had nothing to fear\nfrom beasts of prey. This man had three children, who lived a long time\nwith him, nourishing themselves on milk and fruits. After having\nattained to a great age, this man died. The three children deliberated\nwhat they should do with the body of their father, and they could not\nagree about it; one wished to put him in a coffin, the other wanted to\nburn him, the third thought it would be best to expose the body on the\nsummit of a mountain. They resolved then to divide it into three parts.\nThe eldest had the body and arms; he was the ancestor of the great\nChinese family, and that is why his descendants have become celebrated\nin arts and industry, and are remarkable for their tricks and\nstratagems. The second son had the breast; he was the father of the\nTibetan family, and they are full of heart and courage, and do not fear\ndeath. From the third, who had inferior parts of the body, are\ndescended the Tartars, who are simple and timid, without head or heart,\nand who know nothing but how to keep themselves firm in their saddles.\u201d\n[406]\n\nP\u02bcan Ku, with his implements, links with the Egyptian artificer god\nPtah of Memphis, who used his hammer to beat out the metal firmament.\nPtah\u2019s name means \u201cto open\u201d in the sense of \u201cto engrave, to carve, to\nchisel\u201d; the sun and moon were his eyes; he was \u201cthe great artificer in\nmetals, and he was at once smelter, and caster, and sculptor, as well\nas the master architect and designer of everything that exists in the\nworld\u201d. In the Book of the Dead he (or Shu) is said to have performed\n\u201cthe ceremony of opening the mouth of the gods with an iron knife\u201d,\n[407] as \u201cHasty\u201d and \u201cHeedless\u201d opened the mouth, eyes, ears, and\nnostrils of Chaos in the Chinese myth. The high priest of Memphis was\ncalled Ur Kherp hem, \u201cthe great chief of the hammer\u201d. As we have seen,\nhe was closely associated with the Egyptian potter\u2019s wheel, which\nreached China at an early period. Like Ptah, P\u02bcan Ku is sometimes\ndepicted as a dwarf, and sometimes as a giant.\n\nOther hammer-gods include the Aryo-Indian Indra, who builds the world\nhouse; the Anatolian Tarku, the Mesopotamian Rammon or Adad, the\nnorthern European Thor. The hammer is apparently identical with adze\nand axe, and in Egypt the axe is an exceedingly ancient symbol of a\ndeity; in Crete the double axe has a similar significance. In Scotland\nthe hammer is carried by the Cailleach (Old Wife) in her character as\nQueen of Winter; she shapes the mountains with it, and causes the\nground to freeze hard when she beats it. The hammer-god is in many\ncountries a thunderer; to the modern Greeks lightning flashes are\ncaused by blows of the \u201csky-axe\u201d (astro-pel\u00e9ki); in Scottish Gaelic\nmention is made of the \u201cthunder-ball\u201d (peleir-tarnainach). A\nthunder-ball is carried by the Japanese thunder-god, but it is often\nreplaced by the thunder-drum.\n\nP\u02bcan Ku plays no conspicuous part in Chinese mythology; he is evidently\nan importation. In his character as a world-god he resembles the\nprimeval giant Ymir of Norse-Icelandic myth, who was similarly cut up\nor ground in the \u201cWorld Mill\u201d, so that the universe might be set in\norder.\n\n\n        From the flesh of Ymir the world was formed,\n          From his blood the billows of the sea,\n        The hills from his bones, the trees from his hair,\n          The sphere of heaven from his skull.\n\n        Out of his brows the blithe powers made\n          Midgarth for sons of men,\n        And out of his brains were the angry clouds\n          All shaped above in the sky. [408]\n\n\nYmir was, like P\u02bcan Ku, born from inanimate matter. He was nourished by\nAudhumbla (Darkness and Vacuity), the cow mother, the Scandinavian\nHathor.\n\n\n        From stormy billow sprang poison drops,\n          Which waxed into Jotum (giant) form,\n        And from him are come the whole of our Kin;\n          All fierce and dread is that race. [409]\n\n\nAnother version of the Ymir myth makes the giant come into existence\nlike the self-created Ptah:\n\n\n        \u2019Twas the earliest of times when Ymir lived;\n        Then was sand, nor sea, nor cooling wave,\n        Nor was Earth found even, nor Heavens on high;\n        There was Yawning of Deeps, and nowhere grass. [410]\n\n\nThe black dwarfs were parasites on Ymir\u2019s body, as human beings were\nparasites on the body of P\u02bcan Ku.\n\nIt may be that the idea of a primeval giant like P\u02bcan Ku, or Ymir, was\nderived from the conception of Osiris as a world-god, which obtained in\nEgypt as far back as the Empire period. Erman translates a hymn in\nwhich it is said of the god: \u201cThe soil is on thy arm, its corners are\nupon thee as far as the four pillars of the sky. When thou movest, the\nearth trembles.... [411] The Nile comes from the sweat of thy hands.\nThou spewest out the wind that is in thy throat into the nostrils of\nmen, and that whereon men live is divine. It is [412] [alike in] in thy\nnostrils, the tree and its verdure, reeds, plants, barley, wheat, and\nthe tree of life.\u201d Everything constructed on earth lies on the \u201cback\u201d\nof Osiris. \u201cThou art the father and mother of men, they live on thy\nbreath, they eat of the flesh of thy body. The \u2018Prim\u00e6val\u2019 is thy name.\u201d\n[413]\n\nThe body of Osiris was cut into pieces by Set. As the bones of P\u02bcan Ku\nand Ymir are the rocks, so are the bones of Set the iron found in the\nearth, but no myth survives of the cutting up of Set\u2019s body. The black\nsoil on the Nile banks is the body of Osiris, and vegetation springs\nfrom it.\n\nIt may be, however, that it was in consequence of the fusion in some\ncultural centre of the Babylonian myth regarding the cutting up of the\ndragon Tiamat and the cutting up of the body of Osiris that the\nnorthern Europeans came to hear of an Ymir and the Chinese of a P\u02bcan Ku\nfrom the early traders in amber, jade, and metals.\n\nWhen Tiamat was slain, Marduk \u201csmashed her skull\u201d.\n\n\n    He cut the channels of her blood,\n    He made the North Wind bear it away into secret places....\n\n    He split her up like a flat fish into two halves,\n    One half of her he set in place as a covering for the heavens.\n\n\nWith the other part of Tiamat\u2019s body Marduk made the earth. Then he\nfashioned the abode of the god Ea in the deep, the abode of the god Anu\nin high heaven, and the abode of Enlil in the air. [414]\n\nIn India is found another myth that appears to have contributed to the\nChinese mosaic. At the beginning the Universal Soul assumed \u201cthe shape\nof a man\u201d. This was Purusha.\n\n\n   \u201cHe did not feel delight. Therefore nobody, when alone, feels\n    delight. He was desirous of a second. He was in the same state as\n    husband (Pati) and wife (Patni).... He divided this self two fold.\n    Hence were husband and wife produced. Therefore was this only a\n    half of himself, as a split pea is of the whole.... The void was\n    completed by woman.\u201d [415]\n\n\nIt may be that India and China derived the god-splitting idea from a\ncommon source in Central Asia, where such \u201cculture-mixing\u201d appears to\nhave taken place.\n\nIn China itself there are many traces of blended ideas. In the Texts of\nConfucianism, for instance, the symbol of the Khien stands for heaven,\nand that of the Khwan for earth.\n\nIn one of the native treatises it is stated:\n\n\n   \u201cKhien suggests the idea of heaven; of a circle; of a ruler; of a\n    father; of jade; of metal; of cold; of ice; of deep red; of a good\n    horse; of an old horse; of a thin horse; of a piebald horse; and of\n    the fruit of trees.\n\n   \u201cKhwan suggests the idea of the earth; of a mother; of cloth; of a\n    caldron; of parsimony; of a turning lathe; of a young heifer; of a\n    large waggon; of what is variegated; of a multitude; and of a\n    handle and support. Among soils it denotes what is black.\u201d [416]\n\n\nHere we have the Great Father, the god of heaven, who is red and is a\ncircle (the sun); and the Great Mother, the goddess of Earth, who is\nblack.\n\nThe sky-god is connected with jade and metal. As we have seen, the cult\nof the west attributed the creation of jade to the Chinese Ishtar.\nPrecious metals were in several countries associated with sun, moon,\nand stars. The horse is one of the animals associated with sky-gods; it\nwas, of course, later than the bull, stag, antelope, goat, ram, &c.\nCold as well as warmth was sent by the sky-god, who controls the\nseasons.\n\nThe mother-goddess is the Caldron\u2014the \u201cPot\u201d, which, as has already been\nnoted, was in Ancient Egypt the symbol of the inexhaustible womb of\nnature personified by deities like Hathor, Rhea, Aphrodite, Hera,\nIshtar, &c. The \u201cyoung heifer\u201d has a similar connection, while the\n\u201cwaggon\u201d seems to be another form of the \u201cPot\u201d. Cloth was woven by men\nand women, but the production of thread was always the work of women in\nAncient Egypt and elsewhere. Apparently the turning lathe was female,\nbecause the chisel was male; it may be that it was because the potter\u2019s\nwheel was female that it had to be operated by a man. \u201cA multitude\u201d may\nrefer to the reproductivity of the Great Mother of all mankind. The\ngoddess was, perhaps, parsimonious because during a period of the year\nthe earth gives forth naught, and stores all it receives.\n\nThe egg from which P\u02bcan Ku emerged appears to have been a symbol of the\nMother Goddess of the sacred West, remembered in Chinese legends as Si\nWang Mu, \u201cthe mother of the Western King\u201d, and in Japanese as Seiobo,\nwho was guardian of the World Tree, the giant peach, or the lunar,\ncassia tree (Chapter X). Other references to her, under various names,\nare scattered through ancient Chinese writings. In the \u201cAnnals of the\nBamboo Books\u201d mention is made of \u201cthe Heavenly lady Pa\u201d. She favoured\nthe Chinese monarch, Hwang Ti, who is supposed to have reigned during\n2688 B.C. by stopping \u201cthe extraordinary rains caused by the enemy\u201d.\n[417]\n\nHere we seem to meet with a vague reference to the Deluge legend. The\nBabylonian Ishtar was angered at the gods for causing the flood and\ndestroying mankind, as is gathered from the Gilgamesh epic:\n\n\n    Then the Lady of the gods drew nigh,\n    And she lifted up the great jewels [418] which Anu had made\n    according to her wish (and said):\n   \u201cWhat gods these are! By the jewels of lapis lazuli which are upon\n    my neck, I will not forget!\n    These days I have set in my memory, never will I forget them!\n    Let the gods come to the offering,\n    But Bel shall not come to the offering,\n    Since he refused to ask counsel and sent the deluge,\n    And handed over my people unto destruction.\u201d [419]\n\n\nA goddess who protests against the destruction of her human descendants\nby means of a flood, caused by the gods, was likely to protect them\nagainst \u201cextraordinary rains\u201d, caused by their human or demoniac\nenemies.\n\nAs we have seen in previous chapters, the Chinese Deluge legend, in one\nof its forms, was attached to the memory of the mythical Empress Nu\nKwa, the sister of the mythical Emperor Fuh-hi, sometimes referred to\nas \u201cthe Chinese Adam\u201d. Three rebels had conspired with the demons or\ngods of water and fire to destroy the world, and a great flood came on.\nNu Kwa caused the waters to retreat by making use of charred reeds\n(quite a Babylonian touch!). Then she re-erected one of the four\npillars of the sky against which one of the rebels, a huge giant, had\nbumped his head, causing it to topple over.\n\nAccording to Chinese chronology, this world-flood occurred early in the\n\u201cPatriarchal Period\u201d between 2943 B.C. and 2868 B.C.\n\nAnother reference to the mother-goddess crops up in a poem by \u201cthe\nstatesman poet, Chu Yuan, 332\u2013295 B.C., who drowned himself\u201d, Professor\nGiles writes, [420] \u201cin despair at his country\u2019s outlook, and whose\nbody is still searched for annually at the Dragon-boat Festival\u201d. The\npoem in question is entitled \u201cGod Questions\u201d, and one question is:\n\n\n   \u201cAs Nu-Chi had no husband, how could she bear nine sons?\u201d\n\n\nProfessor Giles adds: \u201cThe Commentary tells us that Nu Chi was a\n\u2018divine maiden\u2019, but nothing more seems to be known about her\u201d. It is\nevident that she was a virgin goddess, who, like the Egyptian Nut, was\nthe spirit of the cosmic waters. [421] It is of interest to find the\nmemory of the poet associated with the Dragon-boat Festival, which,\naccording to Chinese belief, had origin because he drowned himself in\nthe Ni-ro River. There is evidence, however, that the festival had\nquite another origin. Dragon-boats were used in China on the fifth day\nof the fifth month at water festivals. They were \u201cbig ships adorned\nwith carved dragon ornaments\u201d, the yih bird being painted on the prow.\n[422] De Visser says that these boats were used by emperors for\npleasure trips, and music was played on board them. \u201cThe bird was\npainted, not to denote their swift sailing, but to suppress the\nwater-gods.\u201d [423] According to De Groot, dragon-boat races were\n\u201cintended to represent fighting dragons in order to cause a real dragon\nfight, which is always accompanied by heavy rains. The dragon-boats\ncarried through the streets may also serve to cause rain, although they\nare at the same time considered to be substitutes.\u201d [424]\n\nHaving drowned himself, the poet became associated with the river\ndragon. \u201cOfferings of rice in bamboo\u201d, says Giles, \u201cwere cast into the\nriver as a sacrifice to the spirit of their great hero.\u201d [425] In like\nmanner, offerings were made to dragons in connection with rain-getting\nceremonies long before the poet was born. It is evident that he took\nthe place of the dragon-god as the mythical Empress Nu Kwa of the\nPatriarchial Period took the place of the Chinese Ishtar, and as Ishtar\ntook the place of the earlier Sumerian goddess Ninkharasagga, who, with\n\u201cAnu, Enlil, and Enki\u201d, \u201ccreated the black-headed (i.e. mankind)\u201d.\n[426]\n\nThe same Chinese poet sings of the mother-goddess in his poem, \u201cThe\nGenius of the Mountain\u201d, which Professor Giles has translated:\n\n\n   \u201cMethinks there is a Genius of the Hills clad in wistaria, girdled\n    with ivy, with smiling lips, of witching mien, riding on the red\n    pard, wild cats galloping in the rear, reclining in a chariot, with\n    banners of cassia, cloaked with the orchid, girt with azalea,\n    culling the perfume of sweet flowers to leave behind a memory in\n    the heart.\u201d\n\n\nLike Ishtar, who laments for her lost Tammuz, this goddess laments for\nher \u201cPrince\u201d.\n\n\n   \u201cDark is the grove wherein I dwell. No light of day reached it\n    ever. The path thither is dangerous and difficult to climb. Alone I\n    stand on hill-top, [427] while the clouds float beneath my feet,\n    and all around is wrapped in gloom.\u201d\n\n\nThis goddess is not only associated with ivy, the cassia tree, &c., but\nwith the pine. \u201cI shade myself\u201d, she sings, \u201cbeneath the spreading\npine.\u201d The poem concludes:\n\n\n   \u201cNow booms the thunder through the drizzling rain. The gibbons howl\n    around me all the long night. The gale rushes fitfully through the\n    whispering trees. And I am thinking of my Prince, but in vain; for\n    I cannot lay my grief.\u201d [428]\n\n\nThe goddess laments for her prince, as does Ishtar for Tammuz.\n\nThe mother-goddess is found also in the \u201cBook of Odes\u201d (The Shih King).\nShe figures as the mother of the Hau-Ki and \u201cthe people of Kau\u201d in the\node which begins as follows:\n\n\n   \u201cThe first birth of (our) people was from Kian Yuan. How did she\n    give birth to our people? She had presented a pure offering and\n    sacrificed, that her childlessness might be taken away. She then\n    trod on a toe-print made by God, and was moved in the large place\n    where she rested. She became pregnant; she dwelt retired; she gave\n    birth to and nourished (a son), who was Hau-Ki.\u201d [429]\n\n\nProfessor Giles refers to this birth-story \u201cas an instance in Chinese\nliterature, which, in the absence of any known husband, comes near\nsuggesting the much-vexed question of parthenogenesis\u201d. [430]\n\nOther Chinese references to miraculous conceptions, given below,\nemphasize how persistent in Chinese legend are the lingering memories\nof the ancient mother-goddess.\n\nAs was the case in Babylonia and Egypt, the rival biological theories\nof the god cult and the goddess cult were fused or existed side by side\nin ancient China.\n\nThe goddess cult influenced Buddhism even when it was adopted in China,\nand fused with local religious systems. To the lower classes the\n\u201cPoosa\u201d, who brings luck\u2014that is, success and protection\u2014may be either\na Buddha or a goddess. The name is \u201ca shortened form of the Sanskrit\nterm Bodhisattwa\u201d, and was originally \u201ca designation of a class of\nBuddha\u2019s disciples.... The \u2018Poosa\u2019 feels more sympathy with the lower\nwants of men than the Buddha (Fuh) does.\u201d\n\nOne of the holy beings referred to in China as a \u201cPoosa\u201d is Kwan-yin,\nthe so-called \u201cgoddess of mercy\u201d. Dr. Joseph Edkins [431] says that\n\u201cthis divinity is represented sometimes as male, at others as\nfemale.... She is often represented with a child in her arms, and is\nthen designated the giver of children. Elsewhere she is styled the\n\u2018Kwan-yin who saves from the eight forms of suffering\u2019 or \u2018of the\nsouthern sea\u2019, or \u2018of the thousand arms\u2019, &c. She passes through\nvarious metamorphoses, which give rise to a variety in names.\u201d\n\nThe \u201cPoosa\u201d of Buddhism or the ancient Chinese faith is a powerful\nprotector. Dr. Edkins tells that \u201cChinese worshippers will sometimes\nsay, for example, that they must spend a little money occasionally to\nobtain a favour of Poosa, in order to prevent calamities from assailing\nthem. I saw\u201d, he relates, \u201can instance of this at a town on the\nsea-coast near Hangchow. The tide here is extremely destructive in the\nautumn. [432] It often overflows the embankment made to restrain it,\nand produces devastation in the adjoining cottages and fields. A temple\nwas erected to the Poosa Kwan-yin, and offerings are regularly made to\nher, and prayers presented for protection against the tide.\u201d\n\nA vision of this Chinese Aphrodite was beheld about two years before\nthe British forces captured Canton. \u201cThe governor of the province to\nwhich that city belongs\u201d, says Dr. Edkins, \u201cwas engaged in\nexterminating large bands of roving plunderers that disturbed the\nregion under his jurisdiction. He wrote to the Emperor on one occasion\na dispatch in which he said that, at a critical juncture in a recent\ncontest, a large figure in white had been seen beckoning to the army\nfrom the sky. It was Kwan-yin. The soldiers were inspired with courage,\nand won an easy victory over the enemy.\u201d\n\nEdkins notes that \u201cthe principal seat of the worship of Kwan-yin is at\nthe island of Poots\u201d. Here the deity \u201ctakes the place of Buddha, and\noccupies the chief position in the temples\u201d. There are many small caves\non the island dedicated to the use of hermits. \u201cIn several of them,\nhigh up on a hill-side\u201d, Dr. Edkins \u201cnoticed a small figure of Buddha\u201d.\nHere we have an excellent instance of \u201cculture-mixing\u201d in China in our\nown day.\n\nShang-ti, the personal god who rules in the sky, is to the Chinese\nBuddhists identical with Indra, the Hindu god of thunder and rain. In\nIndia Indra was in Vedic times the king of the gods, but in the\nBrahmanic Age became a lesser being than Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu.\nWhen Buddha was elevated to the godhead these great deities shrank into\nminor positions. In China they stand among the auditors of the supreme\nBuddha, as he sits on the lotus flower, and \u201coccupy\u201d, as Edkins found,\n\u201ca lower position than the personages called Poosa, Lohan, &c.\u201d [433]\n\nIn the next chapter it will be found that floating myths were attached\nto the memories of mythical and legendary monarchs in China, and that\nnot a few of these myths resemble others found elsewhere.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV\n\nMYTHICAL AND LEGENDARY KINGS\n\n    P\u02bcan Ku as the Divine Ancestor\u2014The Mythical Age\u2014Gods as Kings\u2014The\n    Prometheus of China\u2014Fu Hi as Adam\u2014Doctrine of World\u2019s Ages in\n    China\u2014Links with Babylonia and India\u2014Legendary Kings\u2014The Chinese\n    Osiris\u2014Reign of the \u201cYellow God\u201d\u2014Empress and Silk-worm\n    Culture\u2014Royal Sons of Star-gods\u2014Yaou, Son of the Red Dragon\u2014Shun,\n    Son of the Rainbow\u2014The Hea Dynasty\u2014The Emperor Yu\u2014Star Myths\u2014Yu and\n    the River God\u2014Yu as P\u02bcan Ku\u2014The Flood Myth in Legends of Yu\u2014The\n    Dynasty of Shang\u2014Moon and Egg Myths\u2014The Wicked Wu\u2014A Hated Queen\u2014The\n    Dynasty of Chou\u2014A Chinese Gilgamesh\u2014The Pious King Wen\u2014Divination\n    by Tortoise and Grass\u2014The Chous as Invaders\u2014Historical\n    Dynasties\u2014Ancient Iranian Traders\u2014Trade and Civilization promoted\n    by the Dread of Death.\n\n\nP\u02bcan Ku, the first \u201cman\u201d or \u201cgod\u201d, was the ancestor of three\nfamilies\u2014the rulers of Heaven, Earth, and Mankind. In Tibet, as we have\nseen, the first man had three sons, who divided his body between them,\nand they were the ancestors of the three human races. Like the\nBabylonians, the Chinese had dynastic lists of antediluvian kings. P\u02bcan\nKu\u2019s descendants ruled the nine divisions of the prehistoric empire or\nworld. There were ten dynastic periods, the first being that of the\n\u201cNine Heads\u201d (kings), the second that of the \u201cFive Dragons\u201d, and so on.\nThe five dragon kings were connected with the five planets: Venus,\nJupiter, Mercury, Mars, and Saturn, and therefore with the five\nelements, for Venus was the Star of Metal, Jupiter that of Wood,\nMercury that of Water, Mars the Star of Fire, and Saturn the Star of\nEarth. Thus every part of the terrestrial surface, when identified with\none or more elements on account of its shape, is under the influence of\nthe corresponding metals, and also under that of the constellations\nthrough which these planets move. [434] As we have seen, the spirits of\ndragon swords appeared in the sky as stars. The star-gods, like the\ndragons, were fathers of some of the famous kings of China.\n\nTowards the end came the period \u201cHaving Nests\u201d, which indicates that\nhouses were built. Then came the period of Sui-zan, \u201cthe\nFire-producer\u201d, who has been referred to as the \u201cPrometheus of China\u201d.\n\nA new age was ushered in by Fu Hsia or Fu Hi, the so-called \u201cAdam of\nChina\u201d. He is the first monarch of China\u2019s legendary history, and was\nsupposed to reign from 2953 till 2838 B.C. Some regard him as the\nleader of a colony which settled in Shensi. But he is more like a\nmythical culture hero. He was the offspring of a miraculous conception,\nand had dealings with dragons. Like the Babylonian Ea he instructed the\npeople how to live civilized lives. Before Fu-hi came, they lived like\nanimals; they knew their mothers but not their fathers, and they ate\nraw flesh. They kept records by means of knotted cords, and he\ninstructed them in the mysteries of lineal figures, which had a mystic\nsignificance. These were eight in number\u2014the eight kw\u00e2 or trigrams,\nwhich represented: (1) the sky; (2) water of lakes and marshes; (3)\nfire, lightning, and the sun; (4) thunder; (5) wind and wood; (6) water\nas in rain, springs, streams, clouds, and the moon; (7) a hill; (8) the\nearth.\n\nFu-hi also instructed the people to worship spirits, and he instituted\nsacrifices. He kept in a park six kinds of animals, and sacrificed\ntwice a year at the two solstices, causing the days to be regarded as\nsacred, so that the people might show gratitude to heaven.\n\nAccording to the Taoists, Fu-hi disturbed the primal unity, and caused\nthe people to begin to deteriorate.\n\nHere we touch on the doctrine of the World\u2019s Ages. Like the Indians of\nthe Brahmanic period, the Chinese Taoists believed that the first age\nwas a perfect one, and that mankind gradually deteriorated. In the\nIndian Krita Age \u201call men were saintly, and therefore they were not\nrequired to perform religious ceremonies.... There were no gods in the\nKrita Age, and there were no demons.\u201d [435]\n\nLao Tze, who will be dealt with more fully in the next chapter,\nexclaims: \u201cI would make people return to the use of knotted cords\u201d. His\ndisciple, Kwang Tze, lamented that the paradisaical state of the early\nages had been disturbed by law-makers. Decadence set in with the\n\u201cPrometheus\u201d and the \u201cAdam\u201d, and continued until the people became\n\u201cperplexed and disordered, and had no way by which they might return to\ntheir true nature, and bring back their original condition\u201d. [436]\n\n\u201cIt is remarkable\u201d, says Legge, \u201cthat at the commencement of Chinese\nhistory, Chinese tradition placed a period of innocence, a season when\norder and virtue ruled in men\u2019s affairs.\u201d This comment is made in\nconnection with the following passage in the Shu King (Book XXVII, \u201cThe\nMarquis of Lu on Punishments\u201d): \u201cThe King said, \u2018According to the\nteachings of ancient times, Khih Yu was the first to produce disorder,\nwhich spread among the quiet, orderly people, till all became robbers\nand murderers, owl-like and yet self-complacent in their conduct,\ntraitors and villains, snatching and filching, dissemblers and\noppressors\u2019\u201d. [437]\n\nIn some accounts of the early period, Fu Hi is succeeded by his sister,\nthe Empress Nu Kwa, the heroine of the Deluge.\n\nFu Hi\u2019s usual successor, however, is Shen-nung (2838\u20132698 B.C.), the\nChinese Osiris, who introduced the agricultural mode of life and\ninstructed the people how to make use of curative herbs. He was\nworshipped as the god of agriculture. Thus an Ode sets forth:\n\n\n        That my fields are in such good condition,\n        Is matter of joy to my husbandmen.\n        With lutes, and with drums beating,\n        We will invoke the Father of Husbandry,\n        And pray for sweet rain,\n        To increase the produce of our millet fields,\n        And to bless my men and their wives. [438]\n\n\nShen-nung was not content with two annual sacrifices, and fixed two\nothers at the equinoxes, \u201cthat in spring to implore a blessing on the\nfruit of the earth, and that in autumn, after the harvest was over, to\noffer the first fruits to the ruler of heaven\u201d.\n\nAfter Shen-nung died the emperor Hwang-Ti (\u201cThe Yellow God\u201d) ascended\nthe throne. He was in the literal sense the \u201cSon of Heaven\u201d, for his\nreal father was the thunder-god, and he had therefore \u201ca dragon-like\ncountenance\u201d. As in the case of Osiris, who was reputed to have reigned\nover Egypt, it is difficult to conclude whether he was a deified\nmonarch or a humanized deity. He belongs, of course, to the mythical\nperiod of the \u201cfive Tis\u201d in Chinese legendary history.\n\nThe account of his origin sets forth that one night his mother\nwitnessed a brilliant flash of lightning which darted from the vicinity\nof the star ch\u02bcoo in the Great Bushel (the \u201cGreat Bear\u201d) and lit up the\nwhole country. Her Majesty became pregnant, but did not give birth to\nher son until twenty-five months later. Hwang Ti was able to speak as\nsoon as he was born. When he ascended the throne, he possessed the\npower of summoning spirits to attend at the royal palace, and his\nallies in battle included tigers, panthers, and bears, as those of\nRama, the hero of the Indian epic, the R\u00e1m\u00e1yana, included bears and\ngigantic monkeys. Hwang Ti was a lover of peace, and because he caused\npeaceful conditions to prevail, ph\u0153nixes nested in his garden, or, like\nswallows, perched on the palace roof and terraces and sang in the\ncourtyard. Other spirit-birds haunted the residence of the \u201cYellow\nGod\u201d.\n\nHe built a large temple so that he might not be prevented by bad\nweather from offering up sacrifices and performing other religious\nceremonies at any season of the year, and he instructed the people in\ntheir duties towards the spirits, their ancestors, and himself. He\nfixed the holy days and introduced music in temple worship. His wife\nundertook the duty of nourishing silk-worms and producing silk. An\nenclosure on the north side of the temple was planted with mulberry\ntrees, and in this grove the Empress and the ladies of her court\nattended to the silk-worms specially kept for the silk required for\nreligious ceremonies. Her Majesty was the goddess as her husband was\nthe god, and had therefore to promote reproduction and growth. She\ntherefore visited also the enclosure on the southern side of the temple\nin which grew the cereals and fruits offered to the deities.\n\nHwang Ti was specially favoured by the goddess known as \u201cthe heavenly\nlady Pao\u201d, who on one occasion stopped the heavy and destructive rains\nthat had been caused by the enemy.\n\nWhen the Emperor was in his seventy-seventh year, he retired from the\nworld, like an Indian ascetic, to practise austerities beside the Jo\nwater. He died in his one hundredth year. Some tell that when he was\nascending to heaven an earthquake occurred; others hold that he never\ndied but was transformed into a dragon. After he passed away, either as\na soul or dragon, to associate with the immortals, a wooden image of\nhim was made and worshipped by princes.\n\nHis successor is said to have been the Emperor Che, whose dynastic\ntitle was Shao-Hao. This monarch was the son of a star god. One night\nhis mother beheld a star, which resembled a rainbow, floating on a\nstream in the direction of a small island. After retiring to rest she\ndreamed that she received the star, and, in due course, she gave birth\nto her son. Ph\u0153nixes visited the royal palace on the day that he\nascended the throne. This monarch had some mysterious association with\nthe west\u2014probably with the goddess of the west\u2014and is said to have\ncommanded an army of birds.\n\nHe was followed by the Emperor Chuen-Heugh (Kao-Yang). He, too, was the\nson of a star-god. It chanced that his mother witnessed the Yao-Kwang\nstar passing through the moon like a rainbow. She gave birth to her son\nin the vicinity of the Jo water. There was a shield and spear on his\nhead at birth, a tradition which recalls that when the Indian princess\nPritha gave birth to Karna, son of Surya, the sun-god, he was fully\narmed.\n\nChuen-Heugh was a great sage. \u201cHe invented calendaric calculations and\ndelineations of the heavenly bodies,\u201d and composed a piece of music\ncalled \u201cThe Answer to the Clouds\u201d.\n\nNext came the Emperor Kuh (Kao-sin) who, like Richard III, had teeth\nwhen he was born. He similarly rose from the rank of a State prince to\nthe Imperial throne. The State of Yew-Kae was conquered by him. His\nson, named Che, proved to be unworthy, and his younger son, Yao, was\nselected as his successor.\n\nThe Emperor Yao was the son of a red dragon, as well as of the Emperor,\nand was not born until fourteen months after conception. He is said to\nhave been ten cubits in height when full grown. There were two pupils\nin each of his eyes. He was a great sage and wonderful happenings\noccurred during his reign.\n\nA mysterious grass grew on the palace stairs. It bore a pod on each day\nof the month. He selected as his colleague and successor the sage Shun,\nwho had held an undistinguished position. It is told that this\nselection was approved by five star-gods whose spirits appeared as five\nold men and walked about among the islands of the River Ho. On another\noccasion a bright light came from the river; then beautifully-coloured\nvapours arose and a dragon-horse appeared, carrying in its mouth a\nscaly cuirass for Shun, whose appointment was thus definitely approved\nby Heaven. Thirty years later a tortoise rose from the water and rested\non the altar. On its back was an inscribed order instructing Yao to\nresign in favour of Shun. This divine command was duly obeyed.\n\nShun\u2019s mother had conceived after seeing a rainbow. As has been stated,\na rainbow was believed to emanate from the gigantic oyster that lay in\nmid ocean. When the child was born his mother and father detested him,\nbecause his body was black and his eyes had double pupils, and because\nhe had a dragon face and a large mouth. When he became a youth he\nreached the height of six cubits, and was thus like the Egyptian Horus\nand the Norse hero Sigurd, a veritable giant. His parents endeavoured\non more than one occasion to cause his death by giving him difficult\ntasks to perform, and acting treacherously towards him. On one occasion\nthey ordered him to plaster a granary, and when he was engaged at the\nwork they set fire to the building. But Shun was clad in \u201cbird\u2019s work\nclothing\u201d, which seems to indicate that he had power to assume bird\nform, and he flew away. He was next ordered to deepen a well. He went\nto work obediently, and while engaged in his task the well was suddenly\nfilled up with stones. But Shun had \u201cdragon\u2019s work clothing\u201d, or was\nable to assume a dragon form, and contrived to escape through the side\nof the well. Like Hercules, he performed all his difficult tasks and\nescaped without injury.\n\nAlthough Shun is usually said to have been selected by Yaou as his\nsuccessor, a vague tradition states that he dethroned Yaou by force and\nkept him a prisoner. Before long, however, he degraded the young ruler\nand took his place.\n\nOn ascending the throne, Shun publicly worshipped the spirit of Shang\nTi (Ruler of Heaven, the personal god). He enacted new laws, so that\nthe government of the Empire might be regulated and strengthened, and\nhe was the first monarch to create Mandarins. Shun is credited with\nselecting his successor Yu.\n\nThe Emperor Yu was the first monarch of the Dynasty of Hea. According\nto tradition he was the son of a star-god. It is told that one night\nhis mother saw a falling star and became pregnant. She afterwards\nswallowed a pearl that had been dropped by a spirit. In due course she\ngave birth to Yu.\n\nA similar myth is attached to the memory of the Irish Christian saint\nCiaran of Saigir, which was probably taken over from some ancient\nCeltic hero, the son or grandson of Sirona (the aged one or\nstar-goddess). A Gaelic poem, believed to have been composed in the\nninth century, sets forth:\n\n\n    Liadaine (his mother) was asleep\n    On her bed (a saying not wrong).\n    When she turned her face to heaven\n    A star fell into her mouth.\n    Thence was born the marvellous child,\n    Ciaran of Saigir who is proclaimed to thee\n    And thence (a saying without pride)\n    Luaigne (Liadaine\u2019s husband) said he (Ciaran) was not his son.\n    [439]\n\n\nOsiris, as the son of the cow-goddess, was a son of the moon, from\nwhich fell a fertilizing ray of light. The Egyptian deities had star\nforms. As stars, they rose from malachite pools and perched in\nswallow-shape on the branches of the world-tree of the Great Mother.\nHathor and Isis were personified as the star Sirius, from which fell\nthe tear, or drop of dew, that caused the low Nile to have increase and\nrise in flood. As the morning star, the goddess was the mother of the\nrising sun. Much star-lore surviving from ancient times remains to be\ngleaned.\n\nWhen the star-deity\u2019s son, the Chinese Emperor Yu, was born, he had the\nmouth of a tiger. \u201cHis ears had three orifices; his head bore the\nresemblance of the star Kow and K\u02bceen. On his breast seemed a figure in\ngem of the Great Bear.\u201d When he grew up he reached the height of 9\ncubits, 6 inches. [440]\n\nThe Irish hero, Cuchullin, was likewise a marvellous youngster. He had\n\u201cseven toes to each foot, and to either hand as many fingers; his eyes\nwere bright, with seven pupils apiece\u201d, and so on.\n\nYu was probably a historical character, to whose memory many floating\nmyths and legends were attached. He figures as the hero of a deluge.\nOne night, during his youth, he dreamt that while bathing in the Ho\n(the Yellow River) he drank up the water. He also beheld a white fox\nwith nine tails\u2014a particularly good omen. This was during the reign of\nYau. Shun came to know about him and showed him special favour, causing\nhim to be promoted until he became an influential man in the Empire.\n\nThe gods were well pleased because he was loved by them. One day, as Yu\nstood on the banks of the River Ho, gazing at the water, a god appeared\nas a tall, white-faced man, with the body of a fish, like the\nBabylonian Ea. He addressed Yu and said: \u201cI am the spirit of the Ho.\nWan-ming shall regulate the waters.\u201d\n\nThe god then gave Yu a plan of the Ho, which gave full details\nregarding the regulating of the waters, and sank into the river.\n\nA good deal of controversy has been engaged in as to what Yu was\nsupposed to have done. In the Shu King (\u201cThe Tribute of Yu\u201d chapter) it\nis stated: \u201cYu divided the land, following the course of the hills, he\ncut down the trees. He determined the highest hills and largest rivers\n(in the several regions).... The (waters of the) Hang and Wei were\nbrought to their proper channels.\u201d Other rivers were similarly\ncontrolled. [441]\n\nIn another section Yu says: \u201cWhen the floods were lifted to the\nheavens, spreading far and wide, surrounding the hills and submerging\nthe mounds, so that the common people were bewildered and dismayed, I\navailed myself of four vehicles, [442] and going up the hills I felled\nthe trees.... After that I drained off the nine channels, directing\nthem into the four seas; I dug out ditches and canals and brought them\ninto rivers.\u201d [443]\n\nIn the fourth book of the Shu King, \u201cThe Great Plan\u201d, it is said: \u201cI\nhave heard that in old time Khwan dammed up the inundating waters, and\nthereby threw into disorder the arrangement of the five elements. God\nwas consequently roused to anger, and did not give him the Great Plan\nwith its nine divisions, and thus the unvarying principles (of Heaven\u2019s\nmethod) were allowed to go to ruin.\u201d [444]\n\nIn one of the Odes it is stated that \u201cwhen the waters of the Deluge\nspread vast abroad, Yu arranged and divided the regions of the land\u201d.\n[445]\n\nIt has been suggested by some that Yu constructed a great embankment to\nprevent the Yellow River changing its course\u2014a task even greater than\nconstructing the Great Wall, and that he formed dams and opened\nirrigating channels. It may be that he did much work in reclaiming land\nand regulating the government of the Empire. But there can be little\ndoubt that the traditions surviving from his age were mixed with the\nolder traditions regarding the Babylonian flood. Yu is no mere canal\ncutter. He hews the rocks and forms chasms between the mountains, like\nP\u02bcan Ku, the Chinese Ptah or Indra, he constructs the embankments of\nlakes, and makes channels for the great rivers, and he drains the\nmarshes. The grounds are made habitable and fit for cultivation. There\nare even faint echoes of the Osirian legend in the stories regarding\nhis achievements.\n\nAfter Yu had finished his work, Heaven presented him with a\ndark-coloured mace. [446] He was destined to become Emperor of the nine\nprovinces, we are told, but it is doubtful if the Empire was really so\nlarge during his reign. After Shun resigned, Yu ascended the throne.\nThe vegetation then became luxuriant, and green dragons lay on the\nborders of the Empire. Yellow dragons rose from the rivers when Yu\ncrossed them. His reign lasted for forty-five years.\n\nThe sixth Emperor of the Hea Dynasty was another famous man. This was\nShao-K\u02bcang. His father had been murdered, and his mother took flight\nand concealed herself. She gave birth to her son during her reign in\nShan-tung, when he became a herdsman. Like Horus, he was searched for\nby the monarch who had usurped the throne, and he had to take to flight\nand become a cook. In time he was able to collect an army and win a\ngreat victory, which enabled him to regain the throne of his father.\n\nThe last few Emperors of the Dynasty of Hea were weak and licentious\nmen. It is told of K\u02bcung-Kea, the fourteenth of his line, that he was\nthe cause of much misfortune, and caused the government to decay. Among\nthe terrible things he did was to eat a female dragon which had been\nslain and pickled for him. Kwei, the seventeenth Emperor, was the first\nto introduce men-drawn carriages, but the omens of his reign foretold\nthe approaching doom of the dynasty; the five planets wandered from\ntheir courses, and stars fell like rain in his tenth year. He was\noverthrown by T\u02bcang, the founder of the Dynasty of Shang.\n\nT\u02bcang had seven names, one of which was Li. He was descended from the\nEmpress Keen-tieh, who, having prayed for a son, entered a river to\nbathe. A dark swallow came nigh and dropped a variegated egg from her\nmouth, which the Empress swallowed. She became pregnant, and gave birth\nto a son named See, who, when he grew up, was appointed by Yao,\nMinister of Instruction, and was given the principality of Shang.\n\nThirteen generations later the wife of one of See\u2019s descendants gave\nbirth to T\u02bcang, the future Emperor. She had become pregnant after\nseeing a white vapour passing through the moon. The child had whiskers\nat birth, and his arms had four joints. He grew to the height of nine\ncubits.\n\nWonderful things happened to prove that T\u02bcang was the chosen by Heaven\nto reign over the Empire. When he visited the altar of Yao, he dropped\na jewel into the water. \u201cLo! yellow fishes leapt up in pairs; a\nblackbird followed him, and stood on the altar, where it changed into a\nblack gem.\u201d There also appeared a black tortoise, which had on its back\ncharacters intimating that T\u02bcang was to become the Emperor. A spirit\nappeared on Mount Pei at the same time. \u201cAnother spirit, dragging a\nwhite wolf, with a hook in his mouth, entered the court of Shang. The\nvirtue of metal waxed powerful; silver overflowed from the hills.\u201d\nT\u02bcang himself dreamed that \u201che went to the sky and licked it. After\nthis he became possessor of the Empire.\u201d [447]\n\nWhen the Dynasty of Shang began to decline, the rulers became weak and\nprofligate. It is told of Wu-Yih, who reigned for only four years\n(1198\u20131194 B.C.), he was \u201cwithout any right principle. He made an image\nof a man, and called it \u2018the Spirit of Heaven\u2019. Then he \u2018gamed with it\u2019\n(played dice, or at chess), causing someone to play for the image. \u2018The\nSpirit of Heaven\u2019 was unsuccessful, on which he disgraced it, and made\na leather bag, which he filled with blood, and then placed aloft and\nshot at (the image was probably in the bag as well), calling this\n\u2018shooting at Heaven\u2019.... In the fourth year of his reign, while hunting\nbetween the Ho and the Wei, Wu-Yih suddenly died. Ts\u02bceen says that he\nwas struck dead by lightning; and people recognize in that event the\njust and appropriate vengeance of Heaven which he had insulted.\u201d [448]\n\nThe Kafirs of Africa \u201cplay at a game of chance before their idols, and,\nshould chance be against them, kick and box their idols; but if, after\nthis correction, on pursuing their experiments they should continue\nunsuccessful, they burn the hands and feet off them in the fire; should\nill fortune still attend them, they cast the idols on the ground, tread\nthem under foot, dash them about with such force as to break them to\npieces. Some, indeed, who show greater veneration for the images,\ncontent themselves with fettering and binding them until they have\nobtained their end; but should this not take place as early as their\nimpatience looks for, they fasten them to a cord and gradually let them\ndown into the water, even to the bottom, thus trusting to force them to\nbe propitious\u201d. [449] It may be that Wu-Yih (Wuh-I) was engaged in some\nsuch ceremony when he disgraced and tortured his god.\n\nA successor is remembered as the first man who used ivory chop-sticks.\nThe Viscount of Ke admonished him, saying: \u201cIvory chop-sticks will be\nfollowed by cups of gem; and then you will be wanting to eat bears\u2019\npaws and leopards\u2019 wombs, and proceed to other extravagances. Your\nindulgence of your desires may cost you the Empire.\u201d This was Chou-sin,\nan intemperate and extravagant tyrant. He came under the influence of a\nbeautiful but wicked woman, called Ta-ke, whom he married. \u201cThe most\nlicentious songs were composed for her amusement and the vilest dances\nexhibited.\u201d A park was laid out for her amusement. \u201cThere was a pond of\nwine; the trees were hung with flesh; men and women chased each other\nabout quite naked.\u201d Drinking bouts were common in the palace, and when\nthe princes began to rebel, new and terrible tortures were introduced.\nThe queen had constructed a copper pillar, which was greased all over.\nIt was laid above a charcoal fire, and culprits were ordered to walk on\nit. When they slipped and fell into the fire, Ta-ke was \u201cgreatly\ndelighted\u201d.\n\nThe Dynasty of Shang was overthrown by King Wu, the founder of the\nDynasty of Chou. Wu was descended from the famous lady Kian Yuan,\nalready referred to (see Index). After treading in the toe-print (or\nfoot-print) made by God, she gave birth to her son, Hau Ki, suffering\nno pain. Like Gilgamesh, Sargon, Romulus and Remus, Karna, and other\nfamous heroes, the child was exposed after birth, the lady\u2019s husband,\naccording to one Chinese commentator, having been displeased with what\nhad taken place. In the Shih King the ode, which relates the legend of\nHau Ki, says:\n\n\n        He was placed in a narrow lane,\n        But the sheep and oxen protected him with loving care.\n        He was placed in a wide forest,\n        Where he was met by the wood-cutters.\n        He was placed on the cold ice,\n        And a bird screened and supported him with its wings.\n        When the bird went away,\n        Hau Ki began to wail.\n        His cry was long and loud,\n        So that his voice filled the whole way. [450]\n\n\nThe ode goes on to tell that when Hau Ki grew up he promoted husbandry\nand founded the sacrifices of his house. Some of the Osirian-Tammuz\ntraditions were attached to his memory, but, as Legge says, \u201che has not\ndisplaced the older Shan-nung, with whom, on his father\u2019s side, he had\na connection as \u2018the Father of Husbandry\u2019\u201d. [451]\n\nBefore Wu became Emperor, a red man came out of the river to secure the\nsupport of allies, and ph\u0153nixes brought messages to the effect that the\nreigning dynasty was doomed. The empire could not be enjoyed by the\nShang King; \u201cthe powerful spirits of the earth have left it; all the\nspirits are whisked away; the conjunction of the five planets in Fang\nbrightens all within the four seas\u201d. [452] King Wen, the father of Wu,\nto whom this revelation had been made, was a ruler in the west, and\nknew that his son\u2019s mission in life was the regeneration of the empire.\n\n\n        The dynasties of Hsia (Hea) and Shang\n        Had not satisfied God with their government;\n        So throughout the various States\n        He sought and considered\n        For a State on which he might confer the rule.\n\n        God said to King Wen:\n        I am pleased with your conspicuous virtue,\n        Without noise and without display,\n        Without heat and without change,\n        Without consciousness of effort,\n        Following the pattern of God.\n\n        God said to King Wen:\n        Take measures against hostile States,\n        Along with your brethren,\n        Get ready your engines of assault,\n        To attack the walls of Ts\u02bcung. [453]\n\n\nAfter Wu became the Emperor the worship of ancestors was promoted, and\ndragons, tortoises, and ph\u0153nixes made regular appearances, while\nvegetation flourished, and the mugwort grew so plentifully that a\npalace could be erected from it.\n\nAfter Wu died spirit-birds appeared, and a mysterious bean, which was\nan elixir, grew up. The Crown Prince was still a minor, and for seven\nyears the Duke of Chou acted as regent. Accompanied by the young king\nthe duke visited the Ho and the Lo. The king dropped a gem into the\nwater, and after day declined \u201crays of glory came out and shrouded all\nthe Ho (Yellow River), and green clouds came floating in the sky. A\ngreen dragon came to the altar, and went away. They did the same at the\nLo, and the same thing happened.\u201d A tortoise appeared, and on its shell\nwere writings that told of the fortunes of the empire till the\ndynasties of Ts\u02bcin and Han. [454]\n\nThe tortoise-shell and stalks of a variety of grass were long used in\nChina for purposes of divination. What the tortoise and the grass\nrevealed was supposed to be the will of the spirits. Nowadays lots are\ndrawn, spirit-writing is believed in, and revelations are supposed to\nbe made when a bean symbol is tossed in the air, as is a coin in the\nWest; when the flat side is uppermost the tosser is supposed to receive\na refusal to his prayer.\n\nThe Chou Dynasty was founded, according to Chinese dating, in 1122\nB.C., and lasted until 249 B.C. It has been suggested that although the\nChous claimed to be descended from one of Shun\u2019s ministers, they were\nreally foreigners partly or wholly of Tartar origin. King Wu introduced\nthe sacrifice of human beings to the spirits of ancestors, and favoured\nthe magicians, whom he appointed to high positions in his court. His\nempire consisted of a confederacy of feudal states, and its strength\nendured so long as the central state remained sufficiently powerful to\nexact tribute.\n\nAfter holding sway for about eight hundred years, the Chou Dynasty, and\nwith it the Feudal Age, came to an end. The State of Chin or Ts\u02bcin,\nwhich had been absorbing rival states, became so powerful that, in 221\nB.C., its king, Shih-huang-ti, became the first Emperor of China. He\nresolved that the future history of China should begin with himself,\nand issued a decree commanding that all existing literature should be\nburned, except medical and agricultural books, and those dealing with\ndivination. Those who disobeyed his order and attempted to conceal the\nforbidden books were put to death. Fortunately, however, some devoted\nscholars succeeded in preserving for posterity a number of the classics\nwhich would otherwise have perished. This extraordinary decree has cast\na shadow over the fame of the first emperor, who was undoubtedly a\ngreat man.\n\nDuring the early years of the Chin or Ts\u02bcin Dynasty the Great Wall to\nthe west and north of China was constructed, so as to protect the\nempire against the barbarians who were wont to raid and pillage the\nrich pastoral and agricultural lands, and impose their sway on the\nindustrious Chinese. \u201cThe building of the Great Wall\u201d, says Kropotkin,\n\u201cwas an event fraught with the greatest consequences, and one may say\nwithout exaggeration that it contributed powerfully to the premature\ndownfall of the Roman Empire.\u201d The Mongolian and Turki peoples who had\nbeen attempting to subdue China were forced westward, and tribal and\nracial movements were set in motion that ultimately led to the\ninvasions of Europe by nomadic fighting pastoralists from Asia. [455]\n\nThe Great Wall is said to have been built in ten years in a straight\nline of about 1200 miles, the average width at the base being 25 feet,\nand the average height 30 feet. Strong \u201cblock-house\u201d towers were\nconstructed in the wall for the accommodation of bodies of troops.\n\nIt was during this Dynasty that China and related forms of that name,\nbased on \u201cTs\u02bcin\u201d or \u201cChin\u201d, came into use in the west. The dynasties\nthat followed the Chin or Ts\u02bcin (221\u2013200 B.C.) are as follows:\n\n\n          The Han Dynasty        200 B.C.   \u2013    200 A.D.\n          The Minor Dynasties    200 A.D.   \u2013    600 \u00a0,,\n          The T\u02bcang Dynasty      600 \u00a0,,\u00a0   \u2013    900 \u00a0,,\n          The Sung Dynasty       900 \u00a0,,\u00a0   \u2013   1200 \u00a0,,\n          The Mongol Dynasty    1200 \u00a0,,\u00a0   \u2013   1368 \u00a0,,\n          The Ming Dynasty      1368 \u00a0,,\u00a0   \u2013   1644 \u00a0,,\n          The Manchu Dynasty    1644 \u00a0,,\u00a0   \u2013   1900 \u00a0,,\n\n\nThe evidence afforded by Chinese arch\u00e6ology, and Chinese religious\nbeliefs, symbols, and customs tends to emphasize that the early\ninhabitants of Shensi province were strongly influenced by\nculture-drifts from the mid-Asian colonies of the ancient\ncivilizations. Hunting and pastoral peoples adopted the agricultural\nmode of life, and with it the elements of a complex civilization which\nhad its origin in those areas where grew wild the cereals first\ncultivated by man.\n\nThe Chinese are a mixed race. In the north the oblique-eyed,\nyellow-skinned element predominates. Like the Semites, who overran\nSumeria and adopted Sumerian modes of thought and life, so did the\nMongoloid tribes overrun northern China and became a sedentary people.\nPetty kingdoms grew up, and in time found it necessary to unite against\nthe hordes who invaded and plundered their lands. The invaders included\nSiberian nomads, Manchus, Mongolo-Turki peoples, the Sac\u00e6 (western\nScythians), and the blue-eyed Usuns or Wusuns who are believed to have\nbeen congeners of the kurgan-builders of southern Siberia and southern\nRussia. It was against Manchus and Mongols that the Great Wall was\nerected, after northern China had been united as a result of those\nconquests which made petty kings over-lords of ever-widening areas.\nDuring the Han Dynasty southern China was subdued. There the\nbrownish-skinned Man-tze stock is most in prominence. Ancient\nIndonesian intrusions have left their impress on the racial blend.\n\nAlong the sea-coasts of China the sea-traders exercised their\ninfluence, and in time their mode of life was adopted by the conquerors\nfrom the inland parts of the growing empire. The types of vessels used\nby the ancient Egyptians, the Ph\u0153nicians, the peoples of the Persian\nGulf, the Indians, Burmese, Indonesians, and Polynesians became common\non the Chinese coast and rivers. Maritime enterprise was stimulated, as\nwe have seen, by the Far Eastern Columbuses who searched for the elixir\nof life and the fabled \u201cIslands of the Blest\u201d. \u201cThe Chinese,\u201d writes\nMr. Kebel Chatterton, \u201cin their own independent way went on developing\nfrom the early Egyptian models (of ships), and have been not inaptly\ncalled the Dutchmen of the east in their nautical tendencies.\u201d [456] It\nis believed that they were the inventors of the rudder, which took the\nplace of the ancient steering-oar.\n\nAlong their coastal sea-routes the Chinese were brought into touch with\nsouthern peoples, with whom they traded. Chinese records throw light on\nthe articles that were in demand at markets. \u201cIn Nan-\u010dao\u201d, [457] an\nancient text reveals, \u201cthere are people from P\u02bco-lo-men (Burma), Pose\n(Malay), \u0160e-po (Java), P\u02bco-ni (Borneo), K\u02bcun-lun (a Malayan country),\nand of many other heretic tribes, meeting at one trading-mart, where\npearls and precious stones in great number are exchanged for gold and\nmusk.\u201d [458] The early traders by sea and land attached great\nimportance to medicines and elixirs, and precious stones and metals,\nand pearls.\n\nThe overland trade-routes through Iran brought the Chinese into direct\ntouch with Lesser Fu-lin (Syria), and ultimately with Greater Fu-lin\n(the Byzantine Empire). The vine and other plants with ancient\nreligious associations were imported into China, and the Chinese peach\ntree reached Europe. With the peach went silk. \u201cIt is not impossible,\u201d\nsays Laufer, \u201cthat these two gifts were transmitted by the\nsilk-dealers, first to Iran (in the second or first century B.C.), and\nthence to Armenia, Greece, and Rome (in the first century A.D.).\u201d [459]\n\nAs the cuckoos hatched in the nests of hedge-sparrows, meadow-pipits,\nand wagtails overcome and eject the offspring of their foster-parents,\nso did the vigorous nomadic peoples who absorbed the elements of\nancient civilizations overcome and eject the offspring of their\n\u201cfoster-parents\u201d. The Babylonian Empire perished, and Irania, which had\nbeen stimulated by it to adopt civilized conditions of life, became, in\nturn, the nursery of vigorous states. Recent discoveries have brought\nto light evidence which shows that the Iranian peoples \u201conce covered an\nimmense territory, extending all over Chinese Turkestan, migrating into\nChina, coming into contact with the Chinese, and exerting a profound\ninfluence on nations of other stock, notably Turks and Chinese. The\nIranians were the great mediators between the West and the East,\nconveying the heritage of Hellenistic ideas to central and eastern\nAsia, and transmitting valuable plants and goods of China to the\nMediterranean area.\u201d [460]\n\nThe laws of supply and demand operated then as now on the trade-routes,\nwhich brought communities of regular traders into touch after they had\ncultivated plants or manufactured articles to offer in exchange for\nwhat they received. Before these routes could, however, have hummed\nwith commerce, a considerable advance in civilization had to be\nachieved. States had to be organized and laws enforced for the\nprotection of property and property owners.\n\nThe Iranians, who obtained silk from China, were not the originators of\nthe culture represented by this commodity; they simply stimulated the\ndemand for silk. Chinese civilization dates back to the time when the\nearly prospectors and explorers came into touch with backward peoples,\nand introduced new modes and conditions of life. These pioneers did not\nnecessarily move along the routes that were ultimately favoured by\nmerchants, nor even those followed by migrating tribes in quest of\ngreen pastures. They wandered hither and thither searching for gold and\ngems and herbs, sowing as they went the seeds of civilization, which\ndid not, however, always fall on good ground. But in those places where\nthe seed took root and the prospects of development were favourable,\norganized communities gradually grew up with an assured food-supply.\nThis was the case in Shensi province, in which was settled the \u201clittle\nleaven\u201d that ultimately \u201cleavened the whole lump\u201d of northern China. It\nwas after the empire became united under the Ts\u02bcin Dynasty that\norganized trade with the west assumed great dimensions, and was\nregularly maintained under assured protection.\n\nMyths as well as herbs and gems and garments were exchanged by traders.\nWith the glittering jewel was carried the religious lore associated\nwith it; with the curative herb went many a fable of antiquity. Laufer\nhas shown in his The Diamond how Hellenistic lore connected with that\ngem crept into Chinese writings. It is consequently possible to trace\nin the mosaic of Chinese beliefs and mythology certain of the cultural\nelements that met and blended and were developed on the banks of the\nYellow River.\n\nElixirs and charms were in great demand in all centres of ancient\ncivilizations. It can be held, therefore, that behind the commerce of\nearly times, as behind the early religious systems, lay the haunting\ndread of death. Gems warded off evil, and imparted vitality to those\nwho possessed them, and curative herbs renewed youth by restoring\nhealth. Even the dead were benefited by them. Progress was thus, in a\nsense, increasing efficiency in the quest of longevity in this world\nand the next.\n\nIn China, as elsewhere, the dread of death, as expressed in the\nreligious system, promoted the arts and crafts; artists, engravers,\narchitects, builders, jewellers, and scribes, as well as priests and\ntraders, were engaged in the unceasing conflict against the all-dreaded\nenemy of mankind, the God of Death. The incentive that caused men to\nundertake perilous journeys by land and sea in quest of elixirs, to\nlive laborious lives in workshops and temples, and to grasp at the\nmythical straws of hope drifted along trade-routes from other lands,\nwas the same as that which sent the Babylonian Gilgamesh to explore the\ndark tunnel of the Mountain of Mashu and cross the Sea of Death, and it\nis found on the ninth tablet of the most ancient epic in the world:\n\n\n    Gilgamesh wept bitterly, and he lay stretched out upon the ground.\n    He cried: \u201cLet me not die like Ea-bani!\n    Grief hath entered into my body, and\n    I fear death....\u201d [461]\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI\n\nMYTHS AND DOCTRINES OF TAOISM\n\n    Taoism and Buddhism\u2014The Tao\u2014Taoism and Confucianism\u2014Lao Tze and\n    Osiris\u2014The \u201cOld Boy\u201d Myth\u2014Lao Tze goes West\u2014Kwang Tze\u2014Prince who\n    found the Water of Life\u2014The \u201cGreat Mother\u201d in Taoism\u2014Taoism and\n    Egyptian Ptahism\u2014Doctrine of the Logos\u2014Indian Doctrines in\n    China\u2014Taoism and Brahmanism\u2014Metal Searchers as Carriers of Egyptian\n    and Babylonian Cultures\u2014The Tao and Water\u2014The Tao as \u201cMother of All\n    Things\u201d\u2014Fertilizing Dew and Creative Tears\u2014The Tao and Artemis\u2014The\n    Gate Symbol\u2014Tao and Good Order\u2014The World\u2019s Ages in Taoism\u2014Taoists\n    rendered Invulnerable like Achilles, &c.\u2014The Tao as the Elixir of\n    Life\u2014Breathing Exercises\u2014The Impersonal God\u2014Lao Tze and Disciples\n    deified and worshipped.\n\n\nThere are three religions in China, or, as native scholars put it,\n\u201cthree Teachings\u201d, namely Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism. Pure\nTaoism, as taught by Lao Tze, is, like the Buddhism of its founder,\nSiddhartha Gautama, metaphysical and mystical. It is similarly based on\na vague and somewhat bewildering conception of the origin of life and\nthe universe; it recognizes a creative and directing force which, at\nthe beginning, caused Everything to come out of Nothing. This force,\nwhen in action, is called the Tao. It is so called from the time when\nit began to move, to create, to cause Unity to be. The Tao existed\nbefore then, but it was nameless, and utterly incomprehensible. It\nexisted, some writers say, even when there was nothing. Others go the\nlength of asserting that it existed before there was nothing. We can\nunderstand what is meant by \u201cnothing\u201d, but we cannot understand what\nthe Nameless was before it was manifested as the Tao.\n\nThe Tao is not God; it is impersonal. Taoists must make unquestioning\nsubmission to the Tao, which must be allowed to have absolute sway in\nthe individual, in society, in the world at large. Taoism does not,\nlike Buddhism, yearn for extinction, dissolution, or ultimate loss of\nidentity and consciousness in the nebulous Nirvana. Nor does it, like\nBuddhism, teach that life is not worth living\u2014that it is sorrowful to\nbe doomed to be reborn. Rather, it conceives of a perfect state of\nexistence in this world, and of prolonged longevity in the next. All\nhuman beings can live happily if they become like little children,\nobeying the law (Tao) as a matter of course, following in \u201cthe way\u201d\n(Tao) without endeavouring to understand, or having any desire to\nunderstand, what the Tao is. The obedient, unquestioning state of mind\nis reached by means of Inaction\u2014mental Inaction. The Tao drifts the\nmeritorious individual towards perfection, out of darkness into light.\nThose who submit to the Tao know nothing of ethical ideals; they are in\nno need of definite beliefs. It is unnecessary to teach virtue when all\nare virtuous; it is unnecessary to have rites and ceremonies when all\nare perfect; it is unnecessary to be concerned about evil when evil\nceases to exist. The same idea prevailed among the Brahmanic sages of\nIndia, whose Krita or Perfect Age was without gods or devils. Being\nperfect, the people required no religion.\n\nConfucianism is not concerned with metaphysical abstractions, or with\nthat sense of the Unity of all things and all beings in the One, which\nis summed up in the term \u201cMysticism\u201d. It maintains a somewhat agnostic,\nbut not irreligious frame of mind, confessing inability to deal with\nthe spirit world, or to understand, or theorize about, its mysteries.\nIt recognizes the existence of God and of spirits. \u201cRespect the\nspirits,\u201d said Confucius, \u201cbut keep them at a distance....\u201d He also\nsaid: \u201cWisdom has been imparted to me. If God were to destroy this\nwisdom (his system of ethics) the generations to come could not inherit\nit.\u201d\n\nWhether or not Confucius ever heard of the system of Lao Tze is\nuncertain. If he did, it certainly made no appeal to him. His own\nsystem of instruction was intensely practical. It was concerned mainly\nwith ethical and political ideals\u2014with political morality. He was no\nbeliever in Inaction. The salvation of mankind, according to his\nsystem, could be achieved by strict adherence to the ideals of right\nliving and right thinking, and a robust and vigorous application of\nthem in the everyday life of individuals and the State.\n\nThe reputed founder or earliest teacher of Taoism was Lao Tze, about\nwhom little or nothing is known. He is believed to have been born in\n604 B.C., and to have died soon after 532 B.C. Confucius was born in\n551 B.C., and died in 479 B.C. There are Chinese traditions that the\ntwo sages met on at least one occasion, but these are not credited by\nWestern or modern native Chinese scholars. Confucius makes no direct\nreference to Lao Tze in his writings.\n\nLao Tze [462] means \u201cOld Boy\u201d, as Osiris, in his Libyan form, is said\nto mean the \u201cOld Man\u201d. [463] He was given this name by his followers,\nbecause \u201chis mother carried him in her womb for seventy-two years, so\nthat when he was at length cut out of it his hair was already white\u201d.\nJulius C\u00e6sar was reputed to have been born in like manner; so was the\nGaelic hero, Goll MacMorna, who, as we gather from Dunbar, was known in\nthe Lowlands as well as the Highlands; the poet makes one of his\ncharacters exclaim,\n\n\n    My fader, meikle Gow mas Mac Morn,\n    Out of his moderis (mother\u2019s) wame was shorn.\n\n\nThe same legend clings to the memory of Thomas the Rhymer, who is\nreferred to in Gaelic as \u201cthe son of the dead woman\u201d (mac na mna\nmarbh), because his mother died before the operation was performed.\nShakespeare\u2019s Macduff \u201cwas from his mother\u2019s womb untimely ripped\u201d.\n[464]\n\nIt may be that this widespread birth-story had its origin in Egypt.\nPlutarch, in his treatise on the Mystery of Osiris and Isis, tells that\nSet (the ancient god who became a devil) was \u201cborn neither at the\nproper time, nor by the right place\u201d, but that he \u201cforced his way\nthrough a wound which he had made in his mother\u2019s side\u201d.\n\nDifferent forms of the legend are found in China. According to the\ntraditions preserved in the \u201cBamboo Books\u201d, which are of uncertain\nantiquity, the Emperor Yao was born fourteen months after he was\nconceived, the Emperor Yu emerged from his mother\u2019s back, and the\nEmperor Yin from his mother\u2019s chest. The Aryo-Indian hero, Karna, a\nprominent figure in the Mah\u00e1bh\u00e1rata, emerged from one of his mother\u2019s\nears; he was a son of Surya, the sun-god.\n\nAccording to Taoist lore (after Buddhism and Taoism were partly fused\nin China), Lao Tze appeared from time to time in China during the early\ndynasties in different forms, and with different names. He had the\npersonal knowledge of the decline of the influence of the Tao from the\nPerfect Age. After Fu-hi and other sovereigns disturbed the harmonies\nof heaven and earth, \u201cthe manners of the people, from being good and\nsimple, became bad and mean\u201d. He came to cleanse the stream of\nspiritual life at its source, and was ultimately reborn as Lao Tze,\nunder the Plum Tree of Longevity, having been conceived under the\ninfluence of a star in the constellation of the Great Bear. Li (plum\ntree) was his surname.\n\nLao Tze is said to have held a position in the Royal Library of Kau.\nWhen he perceived that the State showed signs of decadence, he resolved\nto leave the world, like the Indian heroes, Yudhishthira and his\nbrothers. He went westwards, apparently believing, as did Confucius,\n\u201cthat the Most Holy was to be found in the West\u201d. On entering the pass\nof Hsien-Ku (in modern Ling-pao, Ho-nan province) the Warden, Yin Hsi,\na Taoist, welcomed the sage and set before him a dish of tea. Lao Tze\nsat down to drink tea with his friend. This was the beginning of the\ntea-drinking custom between host and guest in China. [465]\n\nSaid the Warden, \u201cAnd so you are going into retirement. I pray you to\nwrite me a book before you leave.\u201d\n\nLao Tze consented, and composed the Tao Teh King, [466] which is\ndivided into two parts, and contains over 5000 words.\n\nWhen he had finished writing, he gave the manuscript to the Warden,\nbade him farewell, and went on his way. It is not known where he died.\n\nThe most prominent of Lao Tze\u2019s disciples was Kwang Tze, who lived in\nthe fourth century B.C. Sze-ma Khien, the earliest Chinese historian of\nnote, who died about 85 B.C., says that Kwang Tze wrote \u201cwith purpose\nto calumniate the system of Confucius and exalt the mysteries of Lao\nTze\u201d. But although he wrote much, \u201cno one could give practical\napplication to his teaching\u201d. Other famous Taoist writers were Han Fei\nTze, who committed suicide in 233 B.C., and Liu An, prince of Hwai-nan,\nand grandson of the founder of the Han Dynasty, who took his own life\nin 122 B.C., having become involved in a treasonable plot.\n\nAnother form of the legend is that this prince discovered the Water of\nLife. As soon as he drank of it, his body became so light that he\nascended to the Celestial Regions in broad daylight and was seen by\nmany. As he rose he let fall the cup from which he had drunk. His dogs\nlapped up the water and followed him. Then his poultry drank from the\ncup and likewise rose in the air and vanished from sight. Apparently it\nwas not only the poor Indians \u201cwith untutored minds\u201d who thought their\ndogs (not to speak of their hens) would be admitted to the \u201cequal sky\u201d,\nthere to bear them company.\n\nIt is generally believed by Oriental scholars that both Taoism and\nConfucianism are of greater antiquity than their reputed founders.\nConfucius insisted that he was \u201ca transmitter, not a maker\u201d, and Lao\nTze is found to refer to \u201can ancient\u201d, \u201ca sage\u201d, and \u201ca writer on war\u201d,\nas if he had been acquainted with writings that have not come down to\nus.\n\nThere is internal evidence in the Taoistic texts of Lao Tze and Kwang\nTze that the idea of the Tao had an intimate association in early times\nwith the ancient Cult of the West\u2014the cult of the mother-goddess who\nhad her origin in water. The priestly theorists instructed the\nworshippers of the Great Mother that at the beginning she came into\nexistence as an egg, or a lotus bloom from which rose the Creator, the\nsun-god, or that she was a Pot containing water from which all things\nhave come\u2014the pot being the inexhaustible womb of Nature, and the\nsymbol of the Great Mother-goddess.\n\nBut they themselves were not satisfied with this myth. They recognized\nthat there was at work at the beginning a force\u2014a law which \u201copened the\nway\u201d, a phrase which may have had a physical significance but\nultimately became a mystical one. In Chinese Taoism, this force is the\nTao which is manifested in order, stability, and rightness; it is\nTruth.\n\nThe Ancient Egyptian philosophers believed, at as remote a time as the\nPyramid Texts period (c. 2500 B.C.), that everything had origin in\nMind. The Universe was the idea of Ptah, the \u201copener\u201d; he conceived it\nin his \u201cHeart\u201d (Mind); when he expressed the idea, the Universe came\ninto existence.\n\n\n    Ptah, the great, is the mind and tongue of the gods....\n    It (the mind) is the one that bringeth forth every successful\n    issue.\n    It is the tongue which repeats the thought of the mind:\n    It (the mind) was the fashioner of all gods...\n    At a time when every divine word\n    Came into existence by the thought of the mind,\n    And the command of the tongue. [467]\n\n\nAlthough Breasted first thought that this fragment was a survival from\nthe Empire period (c. 1500 B.C.), he has since become convinced, like\nErman, that it must, on the basis of orthography, be relegated to the\nPyramid Age.\n\n\u201cIs there not here,\u201d Breasted asks, \u201cthe primeval germ of the later\nAlexandrian doctrine of the \u2018Logos\u2019?\u201d [468]\n\nIn India Brahma (neuter) was the World Soul, \u201cthat subtle essence\u201d\nwhich, according to the composers of the Upanishads, exists in\neverything that is, but cannot be seen. The personal Brahma, as\nPrajapati, arose, at the beginning, from this impersonal World Soul.\n\u201cMind (or Soul, manas),\u201d an Indian sage has declared, \u201cwas created from\nthe non-existent. Mind created Prajapati. Prajapati created offspring.\nAll this, whatever exists, rests absolutely on mind.\u201d\n\nAnother Indian sage writes:\n\n\n   \u201cAt first the Universe was not anything. There was neither sky, nor\n    earth, nor air. Being non-existent, it resolved, \u2018Let me be.\u2019 It\n    became fervent. From that fervour smoke was produced. It again\n    became fervent. From the fervour fire was produced. Afterwards the\n    fire became \u2018rays\u2019 [469] and the \u2018rays\u2019 condensed into a cloud,\n    producing the sea. A magical formula (Dasahotri) was created.\n    Prajapati is the Dasahotri.\u201d\n\n\nWhen the Rev. Dr. Chalmers of Canton translated the Taoist Texts into\nEnglish in 1868 [470], he wrote: \u201cI have thought it better to leave the\nword \u2018Tao\u2019 untranslated, both because it has given the name to the\nsect\u2014the Taoists\u2014and because no English word is its exact equivalent.\nThree terms suggest themselves\u2014\u2018the Way\u2019, \u2018Reason\u2019, and \u2018the Word\u2019; but\nthey are all liable to objection. Were we guided by etymology, \u2018the\nWay\u2019 would come nearest to the original, and in one or two passages the\nidea of a Way seems to be in the term; but this is too materialistic to\nserve the purpose of a translation. \u2018Reason\u2019 again seems to be more\nlike a quality or attribute of some conscious Being than Tao is. I\nwould translate it by \u2018the Word\u2019 in the sense of the Logos, but this\nwould be like settling the question which I wish to leave open, viz.\nwhat amount of resemblance there is between the Logos of the New\nTestament and this Tao, which is its nearest representative in\nChinese.\u201d\n\nThe New Testament doctrine of the Logos may here be reproduced by way\nof comparison, the quotation being from Dr. Weymouth\u2019s idiomatic\ntranslation, which may be compared with the authorized versions: [471]\n\n\n    In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the\n    Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came\n    into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing that exists came\n    into being. In Him was Life, and that Life was the Light of men.\n    The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not\n    overpowered it.\n\n    There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a\n    witness, in order that he might give testimony concerning the\n    Light\u2014so that all might believe through him. He was not the Light,\n    but he existed that he might give testimony concerning the Light.\n    The true Light was that which illumines every man by its coming\n    into the world. He was in the world, and the world came into\n    existence through Him, and the world did not recognize Him.\n\n\nThe meaning of the word \u201cTao\u201d, says Max Von Brandt, \u201chas never been\nexplained or understood,\u201d and he adds, \u201cLike the Hellenistic \u2018Logos\u2019,\nit is at once the efficient and the material cause.\u201d [472] Professor G.\nFoot Moore says, \u201cTao is literally \u2018way\u2019; like corresponding words in\nmany languages, \u2018course\u2019, \u2018method\u2019, \u2018order\u2019, \u2018norm\u2019.\u201d [473] Archdeacon\nHardwick [474] was \u201cdisposed to argue\u201d that the system of Taoism was\nfounded on the idea of \u201csome power resembling the \u2018Nature\u2019 of modern\nspeculators. The indefinite expression \u2018Tao\u2019 was adopted to denominate\nan abstract cause, or the initial principle of life and order, to which\nworshippers were able to assign the attributes of immateriality,\neternity, immensity, invisibility.\u201d\n\nCanon Farrar has written in this connection: \u201cWe have long personified\nunder the name of Nature the sum total of God\u2019s law as observed in the\nphysical world; and now the notion of Nature as a distinct, living,\nindependent entity seems to be ineradicable alike from our literature\nand our systems of philosophy.\u201d [475]\n\nDr. Legge comments on this passage: \u201cBut it seems to me that this\nmetaphorical use of the word \u2018nature\u2019 for the Cause and Ruler of it\nimplies the previous notion of Him, that is, of God, in the mind.\u201d\n[476]\n\nDr. Legge notes that in Lao Tze\u2019s treatise \u201cTao appears as the\nspontaneously operating cause of all movement in the phenomena of the\nuniverse.... Tao is a phenomenon, not a positive being, but a mode of\nbeing.\u201d [477]\n\nOthers have rendered Tao as \u201cGod\u201d. But \u201cthe old Taoists had no idea of\na personal God,\u201d says Dr. Legge.\n\nDe Groot [478] refers to Tao as \u201cthe \u2018Path\u2019, the unalterable course of\nNature,\u201d and adds that the \u201creverential awe of the mysterious\ninfluences of Nature is the fundamental principle of an ancient\nreligious system usually styled by foreigners Tao-ism.\u201d\n\nThe idea of the Chinese Tao resembles somewhat that of the Indian\nBrahma (neuter). Lao Tze says: \u201cIt (Tao) was undetermined and\nperfected, existing before the heaven and the earth. Peaceful was it\nand incomprehensible, alone and unchangeable, filling everything, the\ninexhaustible mother of all things. I know not its name, and therefore\nI call it Tao. I seek after its name and I call it the Great. In\ngreatness it flows on for ever, it retires and returns. Therefore is\nthe Tao great.\u201d\n\nIn his chapter \u201cThe Manifestation of the Mystery\u201d, Lao Tze says:\n\n\n   \u201cWe look at it (Tao), and we do not see it, and we name it \u2018the\n    Equable\u2019.\n\n   \u201cWe listen to it, and we do not hear it, and we name it \u2018the\n    Inaudible\u2019.\n\n   \u201cWe try to grasp it, and do not get hold of it, and we name it \u2018the\n    Subtle\u2019.\n\n   \u201cWith these three qualities, it cannot be made the subject of\n    description; and hence we blend them together and obtain \u2018The\n    One\u2019.\u201d\n\n\nSome scholars, like Joseph Edkins and Victor von Strauss, have\ncontended that Lao Tze was attempting to express the ideas of Jehovah\nin Hebrew theology. Others incline to the belief that the influence of\nIndian Brahmanic speculations had reached China at an early period and\ninaugurated the intuitional teaching found in Lao Tze\u2019s treatise.\n\nThe idea of the first cause had arisen in India before the close of the\nVedic Age. At the beginning:\n\n\n        There was neither existence nor non-existence,\n        The Kingdom of air, nor the sky beyond.\n\n        What was there to contain, to cover, in\u2014\n        Was it but vast, unfathomed depths of water?\n\n        There was no death there, nor Immortality:\n        No sun was there, dividing day from night.\n\n        Then was there only THAT, resting within itself.\n        Apart from it, there was not anything.\n\n        At first within the darkness veiled in darkness,\n        Chaos unknowable, the All lay hid.\n\n        Till straitway from the formless void made manifest\n        By the great power of heat was born the germ. [479]\n\n\nThe Great Unknown was by the later Vedic poets referred to by the\ninterrogative pronoun \u201cWhat?\u201d (Ka).\n\nIn the Indian Khandogya Upanishad, the sage tells a pupil to break open\na fruit. He then asks, \u201cWhat do you see?\u201d and receiving the reply,\n\u201cNothing\u201d, says, \u201cthat subtle essence which you do not perceive there,\nof that very essence this great Nyagrodha tree exists. Believe me, my\nson, that which is the subtle essence, in it all that exists has\nitself. It is the True. It is self; and thou, my son, art it.\u201d [480]\n\nThe idea of the oneness and unity of all things is the basic principle\nof mysticism.\n\n\n    There is true knowledge. Learn thou it is this:\n    To see one changeless Life in all the lives,\n    And in the Separate, One Inseparable. [481]\n\n\nDr. Legge in his commentary on The Texts of Taoism, asks his readers to\nmark well the following predicates of the Tao:\n\n\n   \u201cBefore there were heaven and earth, from of old, there It was\n    securely existing. From It came the mysterious existence of\n    spirits; from It the mysterious existence of Ti (God). It produced\n    heaven. It produced earth.\u201d [482]\n\n\nLao Tze had probably never been in India, but that passage from his\nwritings might well have been composed by one of the Brahmanic sages\nwho composed the Upanishads.\n\nThe explanation may be that in Brahmanism and Taoism we have traces of\nthe influence of Babylonian and Egyptian schools of thought. No direct\nproof is available in this connection. It is possible, however, that\nthe ancient sages who gave oral instruction to their pupils were the\nearliest missionaries on the trade-routes. The search for wealth had,\nas has been shown, a religious incentive. It is unlikely, therefore,\nthat only miners and traders visited distant lands in which precious\nmetals and jewels were discovered. Expeditions, such as those of the\nEgyptian rulers that went to Punt for articles required in the temples,\nwere essentially religious expeditions. It was in the temples that the\ndemand for gold and jewels was stimulated, and each temple had its\nworkshops with their trade secrets. The priests of Egypt were the\ndyers, and they were the earliest alchemists [483] of whom we have\nknowledge. Such recipes as are found recorded in the Leyden papyrus\nwere no doubt kept from the common people.\n\nAssociated with the search for metals was the immemorial quest of the\nelixir of life, which was undoubtedly a priestly business\u2014one that\nrequired the performance of religious ceremonies of an elaborate\ncharacter. Metals and jewels, as we have seen, as well as plants,\ncontained the \u201csoul substance\u201d that was required to promote health and\nto ensure longevity in this world and in the next. It was, no doubt,\nthe priestly prospectors, and not the traders and working miners, who\nfirst imparted to jade its religious value as a substitute for gold and\njewels.\n\nWhen the searchers for wealth introduced into India and China the god\nPtah\u2019s potter\u2019s wheel they may well have introduced too the doctrine of\nthe Logos, found in the pyramid-age Ptah hymn quoted above, in which\nthe World Soul is the \u201cmind\u201d of the god, and the active principle \u201cthe\ntongue\u201d that utters \u201cthe Word\u201d.\n\nIf they did so\u2014the hypothesis does not seem to be improbable\u2014it may be\nthat as Buddhism was in India mixed with Naga worship, and was imported\ninto Tibet and China as a fusion of metaphysical speculations and crude\nidolatrous beliefs and practices, the priestly philosophies of Egypt\nand Babylonia were similarly associated with the debris of primitive\nideas and ceremonies when they reached distant lands. As a matter of\nfact, it is found that in both these culture centres this fusion was\nmaintained all through their histories. Ptah might be the \u201cWord\u201d to the\npriests, but to the common people he remained the artisan-god for\nthousands of years\u2014the god who hammered out the heavens and set the\nworld in order\u2014a form of Shu who separated the heavens from the earth,\nas did P\u02bcan Ku in China.\n\nIn India and China, as in ancient Egypt, the doctrine of the Logos, in\nits earliest and vaguest form, was associated with the older doctrine\nthat life and the universe emerged at the beginning from the womb of\nthe mother-goddess, who was the active principle in water, or the\npersonification of that principle.\n\nIn one of the several Indian creation myths, Prajapati emerges, like\nthe Egyptian Sun-god Horus, from the lotus-bloom floating on the\nprimordial waters. The lotus is the flower form of the Great Mother,\nwho in Egypt is Hathor.\n\nAnother myth tells that after the heat caused the rays to arise, and\nthe rays caused a cloud to form, and the cloud became water, the\nSelf-Existent Being (here the Great Father) created a seed. He flung\nthe seed into the waters, and it became a golden egg. From the egg came\nforth the personal Brahma (Prajapati). [484] Because Brahma came from\nthe waters (Narah), and they were his first home or path (ayana), he is\ncalled Narayana. [485]\n\nHere we have the \u201cpath\u201d or \u201cway\u201d, the Chinese Tao in one of its phases.\n\nWhen the Tao (neuter) became \u201cactive\u201d, it did not manifest itself as a\nGreat Father, however, but as a Great Mother. The passive Tao is\nnameless; the active Tao has a name. Lao Tze\u2019s great treatise, The Tao\nTeh King, opens:\n\n\n   \u201cThe Tao that can be trodden is not the enduring and unchanging Tao.\n    The name that can be named is not the enduring and unchanging name,\n    (Conceived of as) having no name, it is the Originator of heaven\n    and earth;\n    (Conceived of as) having a name, it is the Mother of all things.\u201d\n    [486]\n\n\nThe creation myths embedded in the writings of Lao Tze are exceedingly\nvague.\n\n\n   \u201cThe Tao produced One; One produced Two; Two produced Three; Three\n    produced All things. All things leave behind them the Obscurity\n    (out of which they have come), and go forward to embrace the\n    Brightness (into which they have emerged), while they are\n    harmonized by the Breath of Vacancy.\u201d [487]\n\n\nAnother passage seems to indicate that the One, first produced, was the\nMother, and that the two produced by her were Heaven and Earth\u2014the god\nof the sky and the goddess of the earth:\n\n\n   \u201cHeaven and Earth (under the guidance of Tao) unite together and\n    send down the sweet dew, which, without the direction of men,\n    reaches equally everywhere as of its own accord.\u201d [488]\n\n\nThe fertilizing dew, like the creative tears of Egyptian and Indian\ndeities, gave origin to earth and its plants, and to all living things.\nBut no such details are given by Lao Tze. He is content to suggest that\nthe Tao as \u201cthe Honoured Ancestor\u201d appears to have been before God.\n\nIn his chapter, \u201cThe Completion of Material Forms\u201d, he refers to the\nfemale valley spirit. \u201cThe valley,\u201d says Legge, \u201cis used metaphorically\nas a symbol of \u2018emptiness\u2019 or \u2018vacancy\u2019, and the \u2018spirit of the valley\u2019\nis \u2018the female mystery\u2019\u2014the Tao which is \u2018the mother of all things\u2019.\u201d\n\nChalmers renders Chapter VI as follows:\n\n\n   \u201cThe Spirit (like perennial spring) of the Valley never dies. This\n    (Spirit) I call the abyss-mother. The passage of the abyss-mother I\n    call the root of heaven and earth. Ceaselessly it seems to endure,\n    and it is employed without effort.\u201d\n\n\nDr. Legge\u2019s rendering is in verse:\n\n\n        The valley spirit dies not, aye the same;\n        The female mystery thus do we name.\n        Its gate, from which at first they issued forth,\n        Is called the root from which grew heaven and earth.\n        Long and unbroken does its power remain,\n        Used gently, and without the touch of pain. [489]\n\n\nThe symbolism of this short chapter is of special interest, and seems\nto throw light on the origin of the myths that were transformed by Lao\nTze into philosophical abstractions. We find the \u201cfemale mystery\u201d or\n\u201cabyss mother\u201d is at once a gate (or passage) and a \u201croot\u201d. The Greek\ngoddess Artemis was both. She was the guardian of the portals, and was\nherself the portals; she was the giver of the mugwort (the Chinese knew\nit), and was herself the mugwort (Artemisia), as Dr. Rendel Harris has\nshown. [490] She opened the gate of birth as the goddess of birth, her\n\u201ckey\u201d being the mugwort, and she opened the portal of death as the\ngoddess of death. As the goddess of riches she guarded the door of the\ntreasure-house, and she possessed the \u201cphilosopher\u2019s stone\u201d, which\ntransmuted base metals into gold. Artemis was a form of the Egyptian\nHathor, Aphrodite being another specialized form. Hathor was associated\nwith the lotus and other water plants, and was Nub, the lady of gold,\nwho gave her name to Nubia; she was the goddess of miners, and\ntherefore of the Sinaitic peninsula; she was the \u201cgate\u201d of birth and\ndeath. The monumental gateways of Egypt, India, China, and Japan appear\nto have been originally goddess portals. [491]\n\nThe goddess of the early prospectors and miners was, as has been said,\na water-goddess. In the writings of Lao Tze, his female and active Tao,\n\u201cthe Mother of all Things\u201d, is closely associated with water. The\nchapter entitled \u201cThe Placid and Contented Nature\u201d refers to water, and\nwater as \u201can illustration of the way of the Tao, is\u201d, Dr. Legge\ncomments, \u201crepeatedly employed by Lao Tze\u201d.\n\n\n   \u201cThe highest excellence is like (that of) water. The excellence of\n    water appears in its benefiting all things.\u201d [492]\n\n\nLao Tze, dealing with \u201cThe Attribute of Humility\u201d, connects \u201cwater\u201d\nwith \u201cwomen\u201d:\n\n\n   \u201cWhat makes a great state is its being (like a low-lying\n    down-flowing stream); it becomes the centre to which tend (all the\n    small states) under heaven.\n\n   \u201c(To illustrate from) the case of all females:\u2014the female always\n    overcomes the male by her stillness.\u201d [493]\n\n\nWater is soft, but it wears down the rocks.\n\n\n   \u201cThe softest thing in the world dashes against and overcomes the\n    hardest; that which has no (substantial) existence enters where\n    there is no crevice.\u201d [494]\n\n\nThe Tao acts like water, and (The Tao) \u201cwhich originated all under the\nsky is\u201d, Lao Tze says, \u201cto be considered as the mother of all of them.\nWhen the mother is found, we know what her children should be.\u201d [495]\n\nA passage which has puzzled commentators is,\n\n\n   \u201cGreat, it (the Tao) passes on (in constant flow). Passing on, it\n    becomes remote. Having become remote, it returns. Therefore the Tao\n    is great.\u201d [496]\n\n\nThe reference may be to the circle of water which surrounds the world.\nIt is possible Lao Tze had it in mind, seeing that he so often compares\nthe action of the Tao to that of water\u2014the Tao that produces and\nnourishes \u201cby its outflowing operation\u201d.\n\nLike \u201csoul substance\u201d, the Tao is found in all things that live, and in\nall things that exercise an influence on life. The Tao is the absolute,\nor, as the Brahmanic sages declared, the \u201cIt\u201d which cannot be seen\u2014the\n\u201cIt\u201d in the fruit of the tree, the \u201cIt\u201d in man. Lao Tze refers to the\n\u201cIt\u201d as the \u201cOne\u201d.\n\nIn his chapter, \u201cThe Origin of the Law\u201d, he writes:\n\n\n    The things which from of old have got the One (the Tao) are:\n\n            Heaven, which by it is bright and pure;\n            Earth endowed thereby firm and sure;\n            Spirits with powers by it supplied;\n            Valleys kept full throughout their void;\n            All creatures which through it do live;\n            Princes and Kings who from it get\n            The model which to all they give. [497]\n\n\nThe Tao may produce and nourish all things and bring them to maturity,\nbut it \u201cexercises no control over them\u201d. [498]\n\nMan must begin by taking control of himself: he must make use of the\nlight that is within him. The wise man \u201cdoes not dare to act\u201d of his\naccord. When he has acted so that he reaches a state of inaction, the\nTao will then drift him into a state of perfection. He must guard the\nmother (Tao) in himself by attending to the breath. \u201cThe management of\nthe breath,\u201d says Dr. Legge, \u201cis the mystery of the esoteric Buddhism\nand Taoism.\u201d [499] \u201cWhen one knows,\u201d Tao Tze has written, \u201cthat he is\nhis mother\u2019s child, and proceeds to guard (the qualities of) the mother\nthat belongs to him, to the end of his life he will be free from peril.\nLet him keep his mouth closed, and shut up the portals (of his\nnostrils), and all his life he will be exempt from laborious exertion.\u201d\n[500]\n\nBy giving \u201cundivided attention to the breath\u201d (the vital breath), and\nbringing it \u201cto the utmost degree of pliancy\u201d, he \u201ccan become as a\n(tender) babe. When he has cleansed away the most mysterious sights (of\nhis imagination), he can become without a flaw.\u201d [501]\n\nThe doctrine of Inaction pervades the teaching of Lao Tze, which is\nquite fatalistic. Salvation depends on the individual and the state\nallowing the Tao to \u201cflow\u201d freely.\n\n\n   \u201cIf the Empire is governed according to Tao, evil spirits will not\n    be worshipped as good ones.\n\n   \u201cIf evil spirits are not worshipped as good ones, good ones will do\n    no injury. Neither will the Sages injure the people. Each one will\n    not injure the other. And if neither injures the other, there will\n    be mutual profit.\u201d\n\n\nA native commentator writes in this connection:\n\n\n   \u201cSpirits do not hurt the natural. If people are natural, spirits\n    have no means of manifesting themselves, and if spirits do not\n    manifest themselves, we are not conscious of their existence as\n    such. Likewise, if we are not conscious of the existence of spirits\n    as such, we must be equally unconscious of the existence of\n    inspired teachers as such; and to be unconscious of the existence\n    of spirits and of inspired teachers is the very essence of Tao.\u201d\n    [502]\n\n\nThe scholarly sage thus reached the conclusion that it is a blessed\nthing to know nothing, to be ignorant. Good order is necessary for the\nworkings of the Tao, and good order is secured by abstinence from\naction, and by keeping the people in a state of simplicity and\nignorance, so that they may be restful and child-like in their\nunquestioning and complete submission to the Tao. \u201cThe state of\nvacancy,\u201d says Lao Tze, \u201cshould be brought to the utmost degree....\nWhen things (in the vegetable world) have displayed their luxuriant\ngrowth, we see each of them return to its root. This returning to their\nroot is what we call the state of stillness.\u201d [503]\n\nThere would be no virtues if there were no vices, no robberies if there\nwere no wealth.\n\n\u201cIf,\u201d the Taoists argued, \u201cwe would renounce our sageness and discard\nour wisdom, it would be better for the people a hundredfold. If we\ncould renounce our benevolence and discard our rightness, the people\nwould again become filial and kindly. If we could renounce our artful\ncontrivances and discard our scheming for gain, there would be no\nthieves and robberies.\u201d [504]\n\nHere we meet with the doctrine of the World\u2019s Ages, already referred\nto. Men were perfect to begin with, because, as Lao Tze says, \u201cthey did\nnot know they were ruled\u201d. \u201cIn the age of perfect virtue,\u201d Kwang Tze\nwrites, \u201cthey attached no value to wisdom.... They were upright and\ncorrect, without knowing that to be so was righteousness; they loved\none another, without knowing that to do so was benevolence; they were\nhonest and leal-hearted without knowing that it was loyalty; they\nfulfilled their engagements, without knowing that to do so was good\nfaith; in their simple movements they employed the services of one\nanother, without thinking that they were conferring or receiving any\ngift. Therefore their actions left no trace, and there was no record of\ntheir affairs.\u201d\n\nTo this state of perfection, Lao Tze wished his fellow-countrymen to\nreturn.\n\nThat the idea of the Tao originated among those who went far and wide,\nsearching for the elixir of life, is suggested by Lao Tze\u2019s chapter,\n\u201cThe Value Set on Life\u201d. He refers to those \u201cwhose movements tend to\nthe land (or place) of death\u201d, and asks, \u201cFor what reason?\u201d The answer\nis, \u201cBecause of their excessive endeavours to perpetuate life\u201d.\n\nHe continues:\n\n\n   \u201cBut I have heard that he who is skilful in managing the life\n    entrusted to him for a time travels on the land without having to\n    shun rhinoceros or tiger, and enters a host without having to avoid\n    buff coat or sharp weapon. The rhinoceros finds no place in him\n    into which to thrust its horn, nor the tiger a place in which to\n    fix its claws, nor the weapon a place to admit its point. And for\n    what reason? Because there is in him no place of death.\u201d [505]\n\n\nIt would appear that Lao Tze was acquainted not only with more ancient\nwriters regarding the Tao, but with traditions regarding heroes\nresembling Achilles, Siegfried, and Diarmid, whose bodies had been\nrendered invulnerable by dragon\u2019s blood, or the water of a river in the\nOtherworld; or, seeing that each of these heroes had a spot which was a\n\u201cplace of death\u201d, with traditions regarding heroes who, like El Kedir,\nplunged in the \u201cWell of Life\u201d and became immortals, whose bodies could\nnot be injured by man or beast. The El Kedirs of western Asia and\nEurope figure in legends as \u201cWandering Jews\u201d or invulnerable heroes,\nincluding those who, like Diarmid, found the \u201cWell of Life\u201d, and those\nwho had knowledge of charms that rendered them invisible or protected\nthem against wounds. The Far Eastern stories regarding the inhabitants\nof the \u201cIslands of the Blest\u201d, related in a previous chapter, may be\nrecalled in this connection. Having drunk the waters of the \u201cWell of\nLife\u201d and eaten of the \u201cfungus of immortality\u201d, they were rendered\nimmune to poisons, and found it impossible to injure themselves. When,\ntherefore, we find Lao Tze referring to men who had no reason to fear\narmed warriors or beasts of prey, it seems reasonable to conclude that\nthese were men who had found and partaken of the elixir of life, or had\naccumulated \u201cstores of vitality\u201d by practising breathing exercises and\ndrinking charmed water, or by acquiring \u201cmerit\u201d, like the Indian\nascetics who concentrated their thoughts on Brahma (neuter).\n\nIn the chapter, \u201cReturning to the Root\u201d, in his Tao Teh King, Lao Tze\nappears to regard the Tao as a preservative against death. He who in\n\u201cthe state of vacancy\u201d returns to primeval simplicity and perfectness\nachieves longevity through the workings of the Tao.\n\n\n   \u201cPossessed of the Tao, he endures long; and to the end of his\n    bodily life is exempt from all danger of decay.\u201d [506]\n\n\nHere the Tao acts like the magic water that restores youth. It is \u201csoul\nsubstance\u201d, and is required by the Chinese gods as Idun\u2019s apples are\nrequired by the Norse gods. Says Lao Tze:\n\n\n   \u201cSpirits of the dead receiving It (Tao) become divine; the very\n    gods themselves owe their divinity to its influence; and by It both\n    heaven and earth were produced\u201d. [507]\n\n\nThere were floating traditions in China in Lao Tze\u2019s time regarding men\nwho had lived for hundreds of years. One was \u201cthe patriarch Ph\u0103ng\u201d, who\nis referred to by Confucius [508] as \u201cour old Ph\u0103ng\u201d. It was told that\n\u201cat the end of the Shang Dynasty (1123 B.C.) he was more than 767 years\nold, and still in unabated vigour\u201d. We read that during his lifetime he\nlost forty-nine wives and fifty-four sons; and that, after living for\nabout 1500 years, he died and left two sons, Wu and I, who \u201cgave their\nnames to the Wu-i or Bu-i Hills, from which we get our Bohea tea\u201d.\n[509]\n\nKwang Tze refers to Ph\u0103ng. But instead of telling that he had\ndiscovered and partaken of the elixir of life, as he must have done in\nthe original story, he says that he \u201cgot It (the Tao), and lived on\nfrom the time of the lord Yu to that of the five chiefs\u201d. [510]\n\nOthers who got It (the Tao) in like manner were, according to Kwang\nTze, the prehistoric Shih-wei who \u201cadjusted heaven and earth\u201d, Fu-hsi\nwho \u201cby It penetrated to the mystery of the maternity of the primary\nmatter\u201d, the sage Hwang-Ti who \u201cby It ascended the cloudy sky\u201d, Fu\nYueh, chief minister of Wu-ting (1324\u20131264 B.C.), who got It and after\ndeath mounted to the Eastern portion of the Milky Way, where, riding on\nSagittarius and Scorpio, he took his place among the stars. Various\nspirits \u201cimbibed\u201d It likewise and owed their power and attributes to It\n(the Tao). [511]\n\nKwang Tze tells that a man once addressed a Taoist sage, saying, \u201cYou\nare old, sir, while your complexion is like that of a child; how is it\nso?\u201d\n\nThe reply was, \u201cI have become acquainted with the Tao\u201d. [512]\n\nHere the Tao is undoubtedly regarded as the elixir of life\u2014as \u201csoul\nsubstance\u201d that renews youth and promotes longevity. It was not,\nhowever, a thing to eat and drink\u2014the \u201cplant of life\u201d or \u201cthe water of\nlife\u201d\u2014but an influence obtained like the spiritual power, the \u201cmerit\u201d,\naccumulated by the Brahmanic hermits of India who practised \u201cyogi\u201d. As\nthe mystery of creation was repeated at birth when a new soul came into\nexistence, so did the Tao create new life when the devotee reached the\ndesired state of complete and unquestioning submission to its workings.\n\nThere were some Taoists who, like the Brahmanic hermits, sought refuge\nin solitary places and endeavoured to promote longevity by management\nof the breath, adopting what Mr. Balfour has called a \u201csystem of mystic\nand recondite calisthenics\u201d. As we have seen, Lao Tze makes reference\nto \u201cbreathing exercises\u201d, but apparently certain of his followers\nregarded the performance of these exercises as the sum and substance of\nhis teachings, whereas they were but an aid towards attaining the state\nof mind which prepared the Taoist for submission to the Tao. Kwang Tze\nfound it necessary to condemn the practices of those \u201cscholars\u201d who,\ninstead of pursuing \u201cthe path of self cultivation\u201d, endeavoured to\naccumulate \u201cthe breath of life\u201d so that they might live as long as the\npatriarch Ph\u0103ng. In his chapter, \u201cIngrained Ideas\u201d, he writes:\n\n\n   \u201cBlowing and breathing with open mouth; inhaling and exhaling the\n    breath; expelling the old breath and taking in new; passing their\n    time like the (dormant) bear, and stretching and twisting (the\n    neck) like a bird; all this simply shows the desire for longevity\u201d.\n    [513]\n\n\nThe genuine devotees \u201cenjoy their ease without resorting to the rivers\nand seas\u201d, they \u201cattain to longevity without the management (of the\nbreath)\u201d, they \u201cforget all things and yet possess all things by\ncultivating the qualities of placidity, indifference, silence,\nquietude, absolute vacancy and non-action\u201d. These qualities \u201care the\nsubstance of the Tao and its characteristics\u201d. [514]\n\nIt seems undoubted, however, that the system of Lao Tze, whereby\n\u201cspiritual fluid\u201d flowed into the placid, receptive mind, originated in\nthe very practices here condemned\u2014in the quest of \u201csoul substance\u201d\ncontained in water, herbs, metals, and gems. As Indian and Chinese\nsages retired to solitudes and endured great privations, so that they\nmight accumulate \u201cmerit\u201d, so did the searchers for herbs, metals, and\ngems penetrate desert wastes and cross trackless mountains, so as to\naccumulate the wealth which was \u201cmerit\u201d to them. They were inspired in\nlike manner by genuine religious enthusiasm.\n\nThe Taoists never forgot the \u201cElixir\u201d. Taoism began with the quest of\nthat elusive and mystical \u201cIt\u201d which renewed youth and ensured\nimmortality, or prolonged longevity after death, and the later Taoists\nrevived or, perhaps one should say, perpetuated the search for \u201cthe\nWater of Life\u201d, and the \u201cPlant of Life\u201d, the \u201cPeach of 3000 years\u201d, or\n\u201c10,000 years\u201d, the gem trees, gold, pearls, jade, &c. The fear of\ndeath obsessed their minds. They wished to live as long as the\nPatriarch Ph\u0103ng on this earth, or to be transferred bodily to the\nParadise of the West, the Paradise of Cloudland or Star-land, or that\nof the \u201cIslands of the Blest\u201d. Besides, it was necessary that the\nearthly life should be prolonged so that they might make complete\nsubmission to the Tao. Their lives had to be passed in tranquillity;\nthey were not to reflect on the past or feel anxiety regarding the\nfuture. The fear of death in the future tended to disturb their peace\nof mind, and they were therefore in need of water which, like the water\nof Lethe, would make them forget their cares, or some other elixir that\nwould inspire them with confidence and give them strength. Kwang Tze\nmight censure the ascetics for confusing \u201cthe means\u201d with \u201cthe end\u201d,\nbut ordinary men have always been prone to attach undue importance to\nceremonies and rites\u2014to concentrate their thoughts on the performance\nof rites rather than in accumulating \u201cmerit\u201d, and to believe that\n\u201cmerit\u201d can be accumulated by the performance of the rites alone.\n\nThe explanation of the state of affairs censured by Kwang Tze seems to\nbe that the transcendental teachings of Lao Tze and himself, in which\nthe vague idea of the Logos was fused with belief in a vague elixir of\nlife, were incomprehensible not only to the masses but even to\nscholars, and that the practices and beliefs of the older faith on\nwhich Lao Tze founded his system were perpetuated by custom and\ntradition by other adherents to the cult of which he was a teacher.\nOrdinary men, who were not by temperament or mental constitution or\ntraining either mystics or metaphysicians, required something more\nconcrete than the elusive Tao of Lao and Kwang; they clung to their\nbeliefs in the efficacy of life-prolonging herbs, jewels, metals,\ncoloured stones, water, fresh air, &c. Withal, they required something\nto worship, having always been accustomed to perform religious\nceremonies and offer up sacrifices. They could not worship or sacrifice\nto an abstraction like the Tao. Nor could they grasp the idea of an\nimpersonal God as expressed in the writings of Kwang Tze, who taught:\n\n\n   \u201cGod is a principle which exists by virtue of its own\n    intrinsicality, and operates spontaneously without\n    self-manifestation\u201d.\n\n\nThe people clung to their belief in a personal God, or personal gods\nincluding dragon-gods, and when the old deities believed in by their\nancestors were discredited by their teachers, they deified Lao Tze and\nhis disciples as the Indians deified Buddha and the Rishis. Lao Tze was\nsacrificed to in the second century B.C., and a superb temple was\nerected to him. One of the Emperors who embraced the Taoist faith\ncaused the statue of Lao Tze to be carried into his palace, with pomp\nand ceremony. The ordinary priests in the temples of China were called\nTaoists.\n\nWhen Buddhism began to exercise an influence in China between the third\ncentury B.C. and the first century A.D., the Taoists borrowed from the\nBuddhists, while the Buddhists, in turn, borrowed from the Taoists. The\nmyth then arose that when Lao Tze \u201cwent west\u201d, he was reborn in India\nas the Buddha. But the Taoists clung also to the older myth that after\nLao Tze died, he ascended to Cloudland and became the personal god of\nheaven, Shang Ti, the Supreme and Divine Emperor. It was as Shang Ti, a\nterm which includes the spirits of deceased Emperors of China, he was\nworshipped not only in temples but at domestic shrines, along with the\nvarious groups of demi-gods, some of whom were identified with the\ndisciples of Lao Tze. The Chinese Shang Ti, like the ancient Egyptian\nsun-god Ra and the Babylonian Marduk (Merodach), was the divine father\nof the living monarch.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII\n\nCULTURE MIXING IN JAPAN\n\n    Races and Arch\u00e6ological Ages\u2014The \u201cPit-dwellers\u201d\u2014Ainu Myths and\n    Legends\u2014Mummification\u2014Sacred Animals, Herbs, and Trees\u2014Ainu\n    Cosmogony\u2014Ainu Deluge Legend\u2014Pearl-lore in Japan\u2014Mandrake in Korea,\n    Japan, and China\u2014The Japanese \u201cDragon-Pearl\u201d as Soul\u2014Links with\n    America\u2014Medicinal Herbs and Jewels\u2014The \u201cGod-Body\u201d\u2014Sanctity of\n    Beads\u2014The Coral, Shells, Coins, Fruit, and Feathers of\n    Luck-gods\u2014Jade in Japan\u2014No Jade Necklaces in China\u2014Japanese\n    Imperial Insignia the Mirror, Sword, and Jewel\u2014Shinto Temples and\n    Artemis Gateways\u2014Mikado as Osiris\u2014The Shinto Faith\u2014Yomi\u2014Food of the\n    Dead\u2014The Souls of Mikados and Pharaohs\u2014The Kami as Gods, &c.\u2014Gods\n    of the Cardinal Points.\n\n\nThere was not only \u201cculture\u201d mixing but also a mixing of races in\nancient times throughout the Japanese Archipelago. Distinct racial\ntypes can be detected in the present-day population. \u201cOf these,\u201d says\nthe Japanese writer, Yei Ozaki, [515] \u201cthe two known as the patrician\nand the plebeian are the most conspicuous. The delicate oval face of\nthe aristocrat or Mongoloid, with its aquiline nose, oblique eyes,\nhigh-arched eyebrows, bud-like mouth, cream-coloured skin, and slender\nframe, has been the favourite theme of artists for a thousand years,\nand is still the ideal of beauty to-day. The Japanese plebeian has the\nMalayan cast of countenance, high cheek-bones, large prognathic mouth,\nfull, straight eyes, a skin almost as dark as bronze, and a robust,\nheavily-boned physique. The flat-faced, heavy-jawed, hirsute Ainu type,\nwith luxuriant hair and long beards, is also frequently met with among\nthe Japanese. Such are the diverse elements which go to comprise the\nrace of the present time.\u201d\n\nThe oblique-eyed aristocrats\u2014the Normans of Japan\u2014appear to have come\nfrom Korea, and to have achieved political ascendancy as a result of\nconquest in the arch\u00e6ological \u201cIron Age\u201d, when megalithic tombs of the\ncorridor type, covered with mounds, were introduced. [516] They brought\nwith them, in addition to distinctive burial customs, a heritage of\nKorean religious beliefs and myths regarding serpent- or dragon-gods of\nrivers and ocean, air and mountains. After coming into contact with\nother peoples in Japan, their mythology grew more complex, and assumed\na local aspect. Chinese and Buddhist elements were subsequently added.\n\nThere was no distinct \u201cBronze Age\u201d in Japan. \u201cAncient bronze objects\nare,\u201d says Laufer, \u201cso scarce in Japan, that even granted they were\nindigenous, the establishment of a Bronze Age would not be justified,\nnor is there in the ancient records any positive evidence of the use of\nbronze.\u201d [517] Although stone implements have been found, it is\nuncertain whether there ever was, in the strict Western European sense,\na \u201cNeolithic Age\u201d. The earliest inhabitants of the islands could not\nhave reached them until after ships came into use in the Far East, and\ntherefore after the culture of those who used metals had made its\ninfluence felt over wide areas.\n\nAs we have seen (Chapter III), the most archaic ships in the Kamschatka\narea in the north, and in the Malayan area in the south, were of\nEgyptian type, having apparently been introduced by the early\nprospectors who searched for pearls and precious stones and metals. In\nthe oldest Japanese writings, the records of ancient oral traditions,\ngold and silver are referred to as \u201cyellow\u201d and \u201cwhite\u201d metals existing\nin Korea, while bronze, when first mentioned, is called the \u201cChinese\nmetal\u201d and the \u201cKorean metal\u201d. [518] \u201cThe bronze and iron objects found\nin the ancient graves have simply,\u201d says Laufer, \u201cbeen imported from\nthe mainland, and plainly are, in the majority of cases, of Chinese\nmanufacture. Many of these, like metal mirrors, certain helmets, and\nothers, have been recognized as such; but through comparison with\ncorresponding Chinese material, the same can be proved for the rest.\u201d\n[519] At the beginning of our era, the Japanese, as the annals of the\nLater Han Dynasty of China record, purchased iron in Korea. The Chinese\nand Koreans derived the knowledge of how to work iron from the interior\nof Siberia, the Turkish Yakut there being the older and better\niron-workers. [520]\n\nThe racial fusion in ancient Japan was not complete. Although the\nKoreans, Chinese, and Malayans intermarried and became \u201cJapanese\u201d,\ncommunities of the Ainu never suffered loss of identity, and lived\napart from the conquerors and those of their kinsmen who were absorbed\nby them.\n\nAn outstanding feature of Japanese arch\u00e6ology is that Culture A appears\nto have been a higher one than Culture B, which is represented by Ainu\nartifacts. Culture A is that of a pre-Ainu people whom the Ainu found\ninhabiting parts of the archipelago, and called the Koro-pok-guru. The\nname signifies \u201cthe people having depressions\u201d, and is usually rendered\nby Western writers as \u201cPit-dwellers\u201d. In the Japanese writings the\nKoro-pok-guru are referred to as \u201cthe small people\u201d and \u201cearth\nspiders\u201d.\n\nDuring the winter season the Koro-pok-guru lived in pit-houses, with\nconical or beehive roofs. The depth of these earth houses was greater\non slopes and exposed heights than on low-lying ground. In summer they\noccupied beehive houses erected on the level. Their \u201ckitchen-midden\u201d\ndeposits have yielded pottery, including well-shaped vases, and\narrowheads of flint, obsidian, reddish jasper or dark siliceous rock.\nLike the \u201cpit-dwellers\u201d of Saghalin and Kamschatka, the Koro-pok-guru\nwere seafarers and fishers. Their houses were erected on river banks\nand along the sea coast.\n\nCulture B deposits are devoid of pottery. The Ainu have never been\npotters; their bowls and spoons were in ancient times made of wood.\nThey claim to have exterminated the Koro-pok-guru, who appear to have\nhad affinities with the present inhabitants of the northern Kuriles, a\npeople of short stature, with roundish heads, the men having short,\nthick beards, and being quite different in general appearance from the\n\u201chairy Ainu\u201d with long, flowing beards. Some communities of Ainu\npresent physical characteristics that suggest the blending in ancient\ntimes of the \u201clong beards\u201d and \u201cshort beards\u201d. The pure Ainu are the\nhairiest people in the world. They are broad-headed and have brown eyes\nand black beards, and are of sturdy build. Their tibia and humerus\nbones are somewhat flat. In old age some resemble the inhabitants of\nGreat Russia.\n\nThe Ainu [521] are hunters and fishers. Their women cultivate millet\n(their staple food) and vegetables, and gather herbs and roots among\nthe mountains. According to their own traditions, they came from Sara,\nwhich means a \u201cplain\u201d. Their \u201cculture hero\u201d, Okikurumi, descended from\nheaven to a mountain in Piratoru, [522] having been delegated by the\nCreator to teach the Ainu religion and law. Before this hero returned\nto heaven, he married Turesh Machi, [523] and he left his son,\nWaruinekuru, to instruct the Ainu \u201chow to make cloth, to hunt and fish,\nhow to make poison and set the spring-bow in the trail of animals\u201d.\n\nWhen Okikurumi first arrived among the Ainu, the crust of the earth was\nstill thin and \u201call was burning beneath\u201d. It was impossible for people\nto go a-hunting without scorching their feet. The celestial hero\narranged that his wife should distribute food, but made it a condition\nthat no human being would dare to look in her face. She went daily from\nhouse to house thrusting in the food with her great hands.\n\nAn inquisitive Ainu, of the \u201cPeeping Tom\u201d order, resolved to satisfy\nhis curiosity regarding the mysterious food-distributor. One morning he\nseized her and pulled her into his house, whereupon she was immediately\ntransformed into a wriggling serpent-dragon. A terrible thunderstorm\nimmediately broke out, and the house of \u201cPeeping Tom\u201d was destroyed by\nlightning.\n\nThis is an interesting Far Eastern version of the Godiva legend [524]\nof Coventry.\n\nGreatly angered by the breaking of the taboo, Okikurumi returned to the\ncelestial regions. His dragon-wife is not only a Godiva, but another\nFar Eastern Melusina. [525]\n\nOkikurumi is said to have worn ear-rings. He had therefore a solar\nconnection. The Aryo-Indian hero, Karna, son of Surya, the sun-god, who\nemerged from an ear of his human mother, Princess Pritha, was similarly\nadorned at birth with ear-rings. The Ainu have from the earliest times\nconsidered it essential that they should all wear ear-rings, and the\nears of males and females are bored in childhood. It was similarly a\nceremonial practice in ancient Peru to bore the ears of Inca princes.\nJacob objected to his wives wearing ear-rings, and buried those\nso-called \u201cornaments\u201d with the gods of Laban under an oak at Shechem.\n[526] Bracelets and \u201cear-ornaments\u201d were similarly favoured as\nreligious charms and symbols by the Ainu.\n\nIt is of special interest to note that mummification was practised by\nsome Ainu tribes or families. Whether or not they acquired this custom\nfrom the Koro-pok-guru is uncertain. Women tattooed their arms, their\nupper and lower lips, and sometimes their foreheads. Tattooing and\nmummification similarly obtained among the Aleutian Islanders. The same\npeculiar methods of preserving corpses obtained among the Ainu, the\nAleutians, and certain Red Indian tribes of North America. [527]\nAnother link between the Old and New Worlds is afforded by\nAmerican-Asiatic bone plate armour. [528]\n\nLike the Ostiaks and other Siberian tribes, the Ainu worship the bear.\nTheir bear feasts are occasions for heavy drinking and much dancing and\nsinging. Drunkenness is to them \u201csupreme bliss\u201d.\n\nThe bear-goddess was the wife of the dragon-god. She had a human lover,\nand that is why bears, her descendants, \u201care half like a human being\u201d.\n\nThe salmon is divine, and its symbol is worshipped. Folk-tales are told\nregarding salmon taking human shape, as do the seals in Scottish Gaelic\nstories. As in China and Japan, the fox is the most subtle of all\nbeasts. It supplanted the tiger as chief god, according to an Ainu\nfolk-tale. There is a great tortoise-god in the sea and an owl-god on\nthe land, and their children have intermarried. The cock is of\ncelestial origin. It was, at the beginning, sent down from heaven by\nthe Creator to ascertain what the world looked like, but tarried for so\nlong a time, being well pleased with things, that it was forbidden to\nreturn. Hares are mountain deities.\n\nThe oldest trees are the oak and pine, and they are therefore sacred,\nand the oldest and most sacred herb is the mugwort. In Kamschatka the\npine is associated with the mugwort. The mugwort is connected with\ngoddesses of the Artemis order. [529] Sacred, too, was the willow, and\nspecially sacred the mistletoe that grew on a willow tree. An elixir\nprepared from the mistletoe was supposed to renew youth, and therefore\nto prolong life and cure diseases. Siberians venerate the herb willow.\n[530] The drink prepared from it was a soporific for human beings, wild\nanimals, and deities. Far Eastern deities had apparently to be soothed\nas well as invoked as, it may be recalled, was Hathor-Sekhet in the\nEgyptian \u201cflood myth\u201d, when she was given beer poured out from jars, so\nthat she might cease from slaughtering mankind. [531]\n\nWhen the Ainu performed religious ceremonies, shavings and whittled\nsticks of willow were used, and libations of intoxicating liquors\nprovided. Deities were made drunk, as in Babylonia, [532] and then\nprovided with a soothing anti-intoxicant. The Ainu set up their willow\nsticks at wells and around their dwellings. They had no temples, and\nwhen they worshipped the sun, a shaven willow stick was placed at the\neast end of a house.\n\nThe moon-god came next in order to the sun-god. The fire-god was\ninvoked to cure disease. There was a subtle connection between fire and\nmistletoe, perhaps because fire was obtained by friction of soft and\nhard wood, and an intoxicating elixir prepared from a tree or its\nparasite was believed to be \u201cfire water\u201d\u2014that is, \u201cwater of life\u201d.\nOfferings were made to gods of ocean, rivers, and mountains.\n\nThe world was supposed to be floating on and surrounded by water, and\nto be resting on the spine of a gigantic fish which caused earthquakes\nwhen it moved. There were two heavens\u2014one above the clouds and another\nin the Underworld. A hell, from which the volcanoes vomit fire, was\nreserved for the wicked.\n\nLike the Chinese, the Ainu tell stories of visits paid to Paradise. A\nman, whose wife had been spirited away, appealed to the oak-god, who\nprovided him with a golden horse on which he rode to the sky. He\nreached a beautiful city in which people went about singing constantly.\nThey smelled a stranger, and, the smell being offensive to them, they\nappealed to the chief god to give him his wife. The god promised to do\nso if the visitor would agree to go away at once. He consented readily,\nand returned to the oak-god, who told him his wife was in hell, and\nthat the place was now in confusion because the chief god had ordered a\nsearch to be made for her. Soon afterwards the lost woman was restored\nto her husband. This man was given the golden horse to keep, and all\nthe horses in Ainu-land are descended from it.\n\nAnother man once chased a bear on a mountain side. The animal entered a\ncave, and he followed it, passing through a long, dark tunnel. He\nreached the beautiful land of the Underworld. Feeling hungry, he ate\ngrapes and mulberries, and, to his horror, was immediately transformed\ninto a serpent. He crawled back to the entrance and fell asleep below a\npine tree. In his dream the goddess of the tree appeared. She told him\nhe had been transformed into a serpent because he had eaten of the food\nof Hades, and that, if he wished to be restored to human shape, he must\nclimb to the top of the tree and fling himself down. When he awoke, the\nman-serpent did as the goddess advised. After leaping from the tree\ntop, he found himself standing below it, while near him lay the body of\na great serpent which had been split open. He then went through the\ntunnel and emerged from the cave. But later he had another dream, in\nwhich the goddess appeared and told him he must return to the\nUnderworld because a goddess there had fallen in love with him. He did\nas he was commanded to do, and was never again seen on earth.\n\nA story tells of another Ainu who reached this Paradise. He saw many\npeople he had known in the world, but they were unable to see him. Only\nthe dogs perceived him, and they growled and barked. Catching sight of\nhis father and mother he went forward to embrace them, but they\ncomplained of being haunted by an evil spirit, and he had to leave\nthem.\n\nThe Ainu have a Deluge Myth which tells that when the waters rose the\nvast majority of human beings were destroyed. Only a remnant escaped by\nascending to the summit of a high mountain. [533]\n\nAlthough the Ainu claimed to have exterminated the Koro-pok-guru, it is\npossible that they really intermixed with them and derived some of\ntheir religious ideas and myths from them, and that, in turn, the\nJapanese were influenced by both Ainu and Koro-pok-guru ideas and\nmyths. The aniconic pillars and the female goddess with fish\ntermination (the Dragon Mother) figure in Japanese as well as Ainu\nreligion. Both are found in Kamschatka, too. Dr. Rendel Harris,\ncommenting on the pillar and fish-goddess idols of the Kamschatdals,\n[534] recalls \u201cthe various fish forms of Greek and Oriental religions,\nthe Dagon and Derceto of the Philistines, the Oannes of the Assyrians,\n[535] Eurynome of the Greek legends, and the like\u201d. The pillar,\nsometimes shown to be clad with ivy, links with the symbols of Hermes\nand Dionysos. He adds: \u201cThe Kamschatdals and other Siberian tribes\nmanufacture for themselves intoxicating and stupefying drinks which\nhave a religious value, and are employed by their Shamans in order to\nproduce prophetic states of inspiration\u201d. The Japanese manufactured\nsake from rice with precisely the same motive, and, like the Ainu,\noffered their liquor to the gods.\n\nWhat attracted the Koro-pok-guru and the Ainu to Japan? As we have seen\n(Chapter III), the primary incentive for sea-trafficking and\nprospecting by sea and land was the desire to obtain wealth in the form\nof pearls, precious stones, and metals. Now, pearls are found round the\nJapanese coasts. Marco Polo has recorded that in his day the people of\nJapan practised the mortuary custom (obtaining also in China) of\nplacing pearls in the mouths of the dead. \u201cIn the Island of Zipangu\n[536] (Japan),\u201d he says, \u201crose-coloured pearls were abundant, and quite\nas valuable as white ones.\u201d Kaempfer, writing in the eighteenth\ncentury, stated that the Japanese pearls were found in small varieties\nof oysters (akoja) resembling the Persian pearl oyster, and also in\n\u201cthe yellow snail-shell\u201d, the taira gai (Placuna), and the awabi or\nabalone (Haliotis). A pearl fishery formerly existed in the\nneighbourhood of Saghalin Island. As pearls have from the earliest\ntimes been fished from southern Manchurian rivers, in Kamschatka, and\non the south coast of the Sea of Okhotsk, it may be that the earliest\nsettlers in Japan were prehistoric pearl-fishers. It is of special\ninterest to note here that, according to G. A. Cooke, pearls and\nginseng (mandrake) were formerly Manchurian articles of commerce. [537]\nThe herbs and pearls were, as we have seen, regarded as \u201cavatars\u201d of\nthe mother-goddess.\n\nIn Korea ginseng is cultivated under Government supervision. \u201cIt is\u201d,\nMrs. Bishop writes, [538] \u201cone of the most valuable articles which\nKorea exports, and one great source of its revenue.\u201d A basket may\ncontain ginseng worth \u00a34000. \u201cBut,\u201d she adds, \u201cvaluable as the\ncultivated root is, it is nothing to the value of the wild, which grows\nin Northern Korea, a single specimen of which has been sold for \u00a340! It\nis chiefly found in the Kang-ge Mountains, but it is rare, and the\nsearch so often ends in failure, that the common people credit it with\nmagical properties, and believe that only men of pure lives can find\nit.\u201d The d\u00e6mon who is \u201cthe tutelary spirit of ginseng ... is greatly\nhonoured\u201d (p. 243). A ready market is found in China for Korean\nginseng. \u201cIt is a tonic, a febrifuge, a stomachic, the very elixir of\nlife, taken spasmodically or regularly in Chinese wine by most Chinese\nwho can afford it\u201d (p. 95).\n\nIn Japan, ginseng, mushroom, and fungus are, like pearls, promoters of\nlongevity, and sometimes, says Joly, \u201cmasquerade as phalli\u201d: they are\n\u201cPlants of Life\u201d and \u201cPlants of Birth\u201d, like the plants searched for by\nthe Babylonian heroes Gilgamesh and Etana, and like the dragon-herbs of\nChina. [539]\n\nIn Shinto, the ancient religion of the Japanese, prominence is given to\npearls and other precious jewels, and even to ornaments like artificial\nbeads, which were not, of course, used merely for personal decoration\nin the modern sense of the term; beads had a religious significance. A\nsacred jewel is a tama, a name which has deep significance in Japan,\nbecause mi-tama is a soul, or spirit, or double. Mi is usually referred\nto as an \u201chonorific prefix\u201d or \u201chonorific epithet\u201d, but it appears to\nhave been originally something more than that. A Japanese commentator,\nas De Visser notes, has pointed out in another connection [540] that mi\nis \u201can old word for snake\u201d, that is, for a snake-dragon. Mi-tama,\ntherefore, may as \u201csoul\u201d or \u201cdouble\u201d be all that is meant by\n\u201csnake-pearl\u201d or \u201cdragon-pearl\u201d. [541] The pearl, as we have seen,\ncontained \u201csoul substance\u201d, the \u201cvital principle\u201d, the blood of the\nGreat Mother, like the \u201cjasper of Isis\u201d worn by women to promote birth,\nand therefore to multiply and prolong life; in China and Japan the\npearl was placed in the mouth of the dead to preserve the corpse from\ndecay and ensure longevity or immortality. The connection between\njewels and medicine is found among the Maya of Central America. Cit\nBolon Tun (the \u201cnine precious stones\u201d) was a god of medicine. The\ngoddess Ix Tub Tun (\u201cshe who spits out precious stones\u201d) was \u201cthe\ngoddess of the workers in jade and amethysts\u201d. She links with Tlaloc\u2019s\nwife.\n\nAccording to Dr. W. G. Aston [542] tama contains the root of the verb\ntabu, \u201cto give\u201d, more often met with in its lengthened form tamafu.\n\u201cTama retains its original significance in tama-mono, a gift thing, and\ntoshi-dama, a new year\u2019s present. Tama next means something valuable,\nas a jewel. Then, as jewels are mostly globular in shape, [543] it has\ncome to mean anything round. At the same time, owing to its precious\nquality, it is used symbolically for the sacred emanation from God\nwhich dwells in his shrine, and also for that most precious thing, the\nhuman life or soul.... The element tama enters into the names of\nseveral deities. The food-goddess is called either Ukemochi no Kami or\nUka no mi-tama.\u201d Phallic deities are also referred to as mi-tama. The\nmi-tama is sometimes used in much the same sense as the Egyptian Ka: it\nis the spirit or double of a deity which dwells in a shrine, where it\nis provided with a shintai (\u201cgod body\u201d)\u2014a jewel, weapon, stone, mirror,\npillow, or some such object.\n\nThe jewels (tama) worn by gods and human beings were not, as already\ninsisted upon, merely ornaments, but objects possessing \u201csoul\nsubstance\u201d. These are referred to in the oldest Shinto books. In\nancient Japanese graves arch\u00e6ologists have found round beads (tama),\n\u201coblong perforated cylinders\u201d or \u201ctube-shaped beads\u201d (kuda-tama), and\n\u201ccurved\u201d or \u201ccomma-shaped [544] beads\u201d (maga-tama). According to W.\nGowland, \u201cthe stones of which maga-tama are made are rock-crystal,\nsteatite, jasper, agate, and chalcedony, and more rarely chrysoprase\nand nephrite (jade)\u201d. He notes that \u201cthe last two minerals are not\nfound in Japan\u201d. [545]\n\nHenri L. Joly, writing on the tama, says [546] it is also \u201crepresented\nin the form of a pearl tapering to a pointed apex, and scored with\nseveral rings. It receives amongst other names Nio-i-Hojiu, and more\nrarely of Shinshi, the latter word being used for the spherical jewel,\none of the three relics left to Ninigi no Mikoto [547] by his\ngrandmother, Amater\u00e2su. [548] The necklace of Shinshi, mentioned in the\ntraditions, was lost, and in its place a large crystal ball, some three\nor four inches in diameter, is kept and carried by an aide-de-camp of\nthe Emperor on State occasions.\u201d\n\n\n[**ERROR: Contains unhandled entity &c.;]\nThe pearl (tama) is \u201cone of the treasures of the Takaramono, a\ncollection of objects associated with the Japanese gods of luck, which\nincludes the hat of invisibility (Kakuregasa), a lion playing with a\njewel, a jar containing coral, coins, &c.; coral branches (sangoju),\nthe cowrie shell (kai), an orange-like fruit, the five-coloured feather\nrobe of the Tennins, the winged maidens of the Buddhist paradise,\ncopper cash, &c.\u201d [549] But although the tama may correspond to the\nmani of the Indian Buddhists, it was not of Buddhist origin in Japan;\nthe Buddhists simply added to the stock of Japanese \u201cluck jewels\u201d.\n\nThe tama of jade has raised an interesting problem. Nephrite is not\nfound in Japan. \u201cIt is difficult\u201d, says Laufer, \u201cto decide from what\nsource, how and when the nephrite or jadeite material was transmitted\nto Japan.\u201d Referring to jade objects found in the prehistoric Japanese\ngraves, he says: \u201cThe jewels may go back, after all, to an early period\nwhen historical intercourse between Japan and China was not yet\nestablished; they [550] represent two clearly distinct and\ncharacteristic types, such as are not found in the jewelry of ancient\nChina. If the Japanese maga-tama and kuda-tama would correspond to any\nknown Chinese forms, it would be possible to give a plausible reason\nfor the presence of jade in the ancient Japanese tombs; but such a\ncoincidence of type cannot be brought forward. Nor is it likely that\nsimilar pieces will be discovered in China, as necklaces were never\nused there anciently or in modern times. We must therefore argue that\nthe two Japanese forms of ornamental stones were either indigenous\ninventions or borrowed from some other non-Chinese culture sphere in\nsouth-eastern Asia, the antiquities of which are unknown to us.\u201d [551]\n\nThe tama is of great importance in Shinto religion. At Ise, [552] \u201cthe\nJapanese Mecca\u201d, which has long been visited by pious pilgrims, a\nvirgin daughter of the Mikado used to keep watch over the three\nimperial insignia\u2014the mirror, the sword, and the jewel (tama)\u2014which had\nbeen handed down from Mikado to Mikado. There were no idols in the\ntemples. The Shintai was carefully wrapped up and kept in a box in the\n\u201choly of holies\u201d, a screened-off part of the simple and unadorned\nwooden and thatched little temple. The temple was entered through a\ngateway\u2014the tori wi, a word which means \u201cbird-perch\u201d, in the sense of a\nhen-roost. \u201cAs an honorary gateway\u201d, says Dr. Aston, \u201cthe tori-wi is a\ncontinental institution identical in purpose and resembling in form the\ntoran of India, the pailoo of China, and the hong-sal-mun of Korea.\u201d\n[553] When this symbol of Artemis [554] was introduced into Japan is\nuncertain. \u201cRock gates\u201d were of great sanctity in old Japan. There is\none at Ise\u2014the \u201ctwin-rocks of Ise\u201d.\n\nThe mirror was the shintai (god-body) of the sun-goddess; the sword was\nthe shintai of the dragon; and the jewel (tama) was the shintai of the\nGreat Mother, who was the inexhaustible womb of nature. At sacred Ise,\nthe chief deities worshipped were Ama-ter\u00e2su, the goddess of the sun,\nand Toyouke-hime, the goddess of food. [555] The high-priest was the\nMikado, who was a Kami (a god), and called \u201cthe Heavenly Grandchild\u201d,\nhis heir being \u201caugust child of the sun\u201d, and his residence \u201cthe august\nhouse of the sun\u201d. [556] After the Mikado had ascended the throne, the\nOhonihe (great food offering) ceremony was performed. It was \u201cthe most\nsolemn and important festival of the Shinto religion\u201d, says Aston, who\nquotes the following explanation of it by a modern Japanese writer:\n\n\n   \u201cAnciently the Mikado received the auspicious grain from the Gods\n    of Heaven and therewithal nourished the people. In the Daijowe (or\n    Ohonihe) the Mikado, when the grain became ripe, joined unto him\n    the people in sincere veneration, and, as in duty bound, made\n    return to the Gods of Heaven. He thereafter partook of it along\n    with the nation. Thus the people learnt that the grain which they\n    eat is no other than the seed bestowed on them by the Gods of\n    Heaven.\u201d\n\n\nThe Mikado was thus, in a sense, a Japanese Osiris.\n\nShinto religion was in pre-Buddhist days a system of ceremonies and\nlaws on which the whole social structure rested. The name is a Chinese\nword meaning \u201cthe way of the gods\u201d, the Japanese equivalent being Kami\nno michi. But although the gods were numerous, only a small proportion\nof them played an important part in the ritual (norito), which was\nhanded down orally by generations of priests until after the fifth\ncentury of our era, when a native script, based on Chinese characters,\ncame into use.\n\nOld Shinto was concerned chiefly with the food-supply, with\nchild-getting, with the preservation of health, and protection against\ncalamities caused by floods, droughts, fire, or earthquakes. It has\nlittle or nothing to say regarding the doctrine of immortality. There\nwas no heaven and no hell. The spirits of some of these deities who\ndied like ordinary mortals went to the land of Yomi, as did also the\nspirit of the Mikado, but little is told regarding the mysterious\nOtherworld in which dwelt the spirits of disease and death. \u201cIn one\npassage of the Nihon-gi,\u201d says Aston, [557] \u201cYomi is clearly no more\nthan a metaphor for the grave.\u201d It thus resembled the dark Otherworld\nor Underworld of the Babylonians, from which Gilgamesh summoned the\nspirit of his dead friend, Ea-bani. [558] No spirit of a god could\nescape from Yomi after eating \u201cthe food of the dead\u201d. When the\nBabylonian god Adapa, son of Ea, was summoned to appear in the\nOtherworld, his father warned him not to accept of the water and food\nwhich would be offered him. [559] The goddess Ishtar was struck with\ndisease when she entered Hades in quest of her lover, the god Tammuz,\nand it was not until she had been sprinkled with the \u201cwater of life\u201d\nthat she was healed and liberated. [560]\n\nThe Mikado, being a god, had a spirit, and might be transferred to Yomi\nor might ascend to heaven to the celestial realm of his ancestress, the\nsun-goddess. Some distinguished men had spirits likewise. But there is\nno clear evidence in the Ko-ji-ki or the Nihon-gi that the spirits of\nthe common people went anywhere after death, or indeed, that they were\nsupposed to have spirits. Some might become birds, or badgers, or\nfoxes, and live for a period in these forms, and then die, as did some\nof the gods. There are no ghosts in the early Shinto books. [561]\n\nThe ancient Pharaohs of Egypt, like the ancient Mikados of Japan, were\nassured of immortality. The mortuary Pyramid Texts \u201cwere all intended\nfor the king\u2019s exclusive use, and as a whole contain beliefs which\napply only to the king\u201d. There are vague references in these texts to\nthe dead \u201cwhose places are hidden\u201d, and to those who remain in the\ngrave. [562] The fate of the masses did not greatly concern the solar\ncult.\n\nBefore dealing with the myths of Japan, it is necessary to consider\nwhat the term kami, usually translated \u201cgods\u201d, signified to the\ndevotees of \u201cOld Shinto\u201d. The kami were not spiritual beings, but many\nof them had spirits or doubles that resided in the shintai (god body).\nDr. Aston reminds us that although kami \u201ccorresponds in a general way\nto \u2018god\u2019, it has some important limitations. The kami are high, swift,\ngood, rich, living but not infinite, omnipotent, or omniscient. Most of\nthem had a father and mother, and of some the death is recorded.\u201d [563]\nIt behoves us to exercise caution in applying the term \u201canimistic\u201d to\nthe numerous kami of Japan, or in assuming that they were worshipped,\nor reverenced rather, simply because they were feared. Some of the kami\nwere feared, but the fear of the gods is not a particular feature of\nShinto religion with its ceremonial hand-clappings and happy laughter.\n\nDr. Aston quotes from Mot\u00f6ori, the great eighteenth century Shinto\ntheologian, the following illuminating statement regarding the kami:\n\n\n   \u201cThe term kami is applied in the first place to the various deities\n    of heaven and earth who are mentioned in the ancient records as\n    well as to their spirits (mi-tama) which reside in the shrines\n    where they were worshipped. Moreover, not only human beings, but\n    birds, beasts, plants, and trees, seas and mountains, and all other\n    things whatsoever which deserve to be dreaded and revered for the\n    extraordinary and pre-eminent powers which they possess are called\n    kami. They need not be eminent for surpassing nobleness, or\n    serviceableness alone. Malignant and uncanny beings are also called\n    kami if only they are objects of general dread. Among kami who are\n    human beings, I need hardly mention, first of all, the successive\n    Mikados\u2014with reverence be it spoken.... Then there have been\n    numerous examples of divine human beings, both in ancient and\n    modern times, who, although not accepted by the nation generally,\n    are treated as gods, each of his several dignity, in a single\n    province, village, or family.\u201d\n\n\nIn ancient Egypt the reigning monarch was similarly a god\u2014a Horus while\nhe lived and an Osiris after he died, while a great scholar like\nImhotep (the Imuthes of the Greeks in Egypt who identified him with\nAsklepois) might be deified and regarded as the son of Ptah, the god of\nMemphis. Egypt, too, had its local gods like Japan; so had Babylonia.\n\nThe Japanese theologian proceeds to say:\n\n\n   \u201cAmongst kami who are not human beings, I need hardly mention\n    Thunder (in Japanese Nuru kami or the sounding-god). There are also\n    the Dragon and Echo (called in Japanese Ko-dama or the Tree\n    Spirit), and the Fox, who are kami by reason of their uncanny and\n    fearful natures. The term kami is applied in the Nihon-gi and\n    Manjoshiu to the tiger and the wolf. Isanagi (the creator-god) gave\n    to the fruit of the peach and to the jewels round his neck names\n    which implied that they were kami.\u201d [564]\n\n\nHere we touch on beliefs similar to those that obtained in China where\nthe dragon and tiger figure so prominently as the gods of the East and\nthe West. The idea that the peach was a kami appears to be connected\nwith the Chinese conception of a peach world-tree, a form of the Mother\nGoddess, the fruit of which contains her \u201clife substance\u201d or shen as do\nthe jewels like the pearl and jade objects; the peach is a goddess\nsymbol as the phallus is a symbol of a god.\n\nMot\u00f6ori adds:\n\n\n   \u201cThere are many cases of seas and mountains being called kami. It\n    is not their spirits which are meant. The word was applied directly\n    to the seas or mountains themselves as being very awful things.\u201d\n    [565]\n\n\nThere were a beneficent class and an evil class of kami. Beneficent\ndeities provided what mankind required or sought for; they were\nprotectors and preservers. Four guardians of the world were called \u201cShi\nTenno\u201d. They were posted at the cardinal points like the Chinese Black\nTortoise (north), the Red Bird (south), the White Tiger (west), and the\nBlue or Green Dragon (east). The Japanese colour scheme, however, is\nnot the same as the Chinese. At the north is the blue god Bishamon or\nTamoten; at the south the white-faced warrior Zocho; at the west the\nred-faced Komoku with book and brush or a spear; and at the east the\nwarrior with green face, named Jikoku, who is sometimes shown trampling\na demon under foot.\n\nIn India the north is white and the south black, and in Ceylon the\nBuddhist colours of the cardinal points are yellow (north), blue\n(south), red (west), and white (east).\n\nAlthough it is customary to regard the coloured guardians of the\nJapanese world as of Buddhist origin, it may well be that the original\nJapanese guardians were substituted by the Hindu and Chinese divinities\nimported by the Buddhists. The dragon-gods of China and Japan were\npre-Buddhistic, as De Visser has shown, [566] but were given, in\naddition to their original attributes, those of the naga (serpent or\ndragon) gods introduced by Buddhist priests.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVIII\n\nJAPANESE GODS AND DRAGONS\n\n    Japanese Version of Egyptian Flood Myth\u2014A Far Eastern\n    Merodach\u2014Dragon-slaying Story\u2014The River of Blood\u2014Osiris as a Slain\n    Dragon\u2014Ancient Shinto Books\u2014Shinto Cosmogony\u2014Separation of Heaven\n    and Earth\u2014The Cosmic \u201cReed Shoot\u201d and the Nig-gil-ma\u2014The Celestial\n    Jewel Spear\u2014Izanagi and Izanami\u2014Births of Deities and Islands\u2014The\n    Dragons of Japan\u2014The Wani\u2014Bear, Horse, and other\n    Dragons\u2014Horse-sacrifice in Japan\u2014Buddhist Elements in Japanese\n    Dragon Lore\u2014Indian Nagas\u2014Chinese Dragons and Japanese Water-Snakes.\n\n\nThere is no Shinto myth regarding the creation of man; the Mikados and\nthe chiefs of tribes were descendants of deities. Nor is there a Deluge\nMyth like the Ainu one, involving the destruction of all but a remnant\nof mankind. The Chinese story about Nu Kwa, known to the Japanese as\nJokwa, was apparently imported with the beliefs associated with the\njade which that mythical queen or goddess was supposed to have created\nafter she had caused the flood to retreat, but it does not find a place\nin the ancient Shinto books. There is, however, an interesting version\nof the Egyptian flood story which has been fused with the Babylonian\nTiamat dragon-slaying myth. Susa-no-wo, [567] a Far Eastern Marduk,\nslays an eight-headed dragon and splits up its body, from which he\ntakes a spirit-sword\u2014an avatar of the monster.\n\nHathor-Sekhet, of the Egyptian myth, was made drunk, so that she might\ncease from slaying mankind, and a flood of blood-red beer was poured\nfrom jars for that purpose. Susa-no-wo provides sake (rice beer) to\nintoxicate the dragon which has been coming regularly\u2014apparently once a\nyear\u2014for a daughter of an earth god. When he slays it, the River Hi is\n\u201cchanged into a river of blood\u201d.\n\nAnother version of the Egyptian myth, as the Pyramid Texts bear\nevidence, appears to refer to the \u201cRed Nile\u201d of the inundation season\nas the blood of Osiris, who had been felled by Set at Nedyt, near\nAbydos. [568] Lucian tells that the blood of Adonis was similarly\nbelieved to redden each year the flooded River of Adonis, flowing from\nLebanon, and that \u201cit dyed the sea to a large space red\u201d. [569] Here\nAdonis is the Osiris of the Byblians. Osiris, as we have seen, had a\ndragon form; he was the dragon of the Nile flood, and the\nworld-surrounding dragon of ocean. [570] He was also the earth-giant;\ntree and grain grew from his body. [571] The body of the eight-headed\nJapanese dragon was covered with moss and trees.\n\nSusa-no-wo, as the rescuer of the doomed maiden, links with Perseus,\nthe rescuer of Andromeda from the water-dragon. [572] The custom of\nsacrificing a maiden to the Nile each year obtained in Ancient Egypt.\nIn the Tiamat form of the Babylonian myth, Marduk cut the channels of\nthe dragon\u2019s blood and \u201cmade the north wind bear it away into secret\nplaces\u201d. [573] The stories of P\u02bcan Ku of China and the Scandinavian\nYmir, each of whose blood is the sea, are interesting variants of the\nlegend. [574]\n\nThe Japanese dragon-flood myth is merely an incident in the career of a\nhero in Shinto mythology, which is a mosaic of local or localized and\nimported stories, somewhat clumsily arranged in the form of a connected\nnarrative.\n\nOur chief sources of information regarding these ancient Japanese myths\nare the Shinto works, the Ko-ji-ki and the Nihon-gi. [575] Of these\nworks, the Ko-ji-ki (\u201cRecords of Ancient Matters\u201d) is the oldest; it\nwas completed in Japanese in A.D. 712; the Nihon-gi (\u201cChronicles of\nJapan\u201d) was completed in A.D. 720 in the Chinese language.\n\nAlthough the myths, formerly handed down orally by generations of\npriests, were not collected and systematized until about 200 years\nafter Buddhism was introduced into Japan, they were not greatly\ninfluenced by Indian ideas. Dragon-lore, however, became so complex\nthat it is difficult to sift the local from the imported elements.\n\nIn the preface to the Ko-ji-ki, Yasumaro, the compiler, in his summary,\nwrites:\n\n\n   \u201cNow when chaos had begun to condense, but force and form were not\n    yet manifest, and there was nought named, nought done, who could\n    know its shape? Nevertheless Heaven and Earth first parted, and the\n    Three Deities performed the commencement of Creation; the Passive\n    and Active Essences then developed, and the Two Spirits became the\n    Ancestors of all things.\u201d\n\n\nThe myth of the separation of Heaven and Earth dates back to remote\nantiquity in Egypt. Shu, the atmosphere-god, separated the sky-goddess\nNut from the earth-god Seb. In Polynesian mythology Rangi (Heaven), and\nPapa (Earth), from whom \u201call things originated\u201d, were \u201crent apart\u201d by\nTane-mahuta, \u201cthe god and father of forests, of birds, of insects\u201d. But\nin this case the earth is the mother and the sky the father. [576]\n\nAbout the \u201cThree Deities\u201d referred to by Yasumaro, we do not learn\nmuch. The idea of the trinity may have been of Indian origin. The\nPassive and Active Essences recall the male Yang and its female Yin\nprinciples of China. These are represented in the Ko-ji-ki by Izanagi\n(\u201cMale who Invites\u201d) and Izanami (\u201cFemale who Invites\u201d).\n\nDr. Aston translates the opening passage of the Nihon-gi as follows:\n\n\n   \u201cOf old, Heaven and Earth were not yet separated, and the In and\n    the Yo not yet divided. They formed a chaotic mass like an egg,\n    which was of obscurely defined limits, and contained germs. The\n    purer and clearer part was thinly diffused and formed Heaven, while\n    the heavier and grosser element settled down and became Earth. The\n    finer element easily became a united body, but the consolidation of\n    the heavy and gross element was accomplished with difficulty.\n    Heaven was therefore formed first, and Earth established\n    subsequently. Thereafter divine beings were produced between them.\u201d\n\n\nHere we meet with the cosmic egg, from which emerged the Chinese P\u02bcan\nKu, the Indian Brahma, the Egyptian Ra or Horus, and one of the\nPolynesian creators. It might be held that China is the source of the\nJapanese myth, because the In and the Yo are here, quite evidently the\nYang and the Yin, representing not Izanagi and Izanami as in the\nKo-ji-ki, but the deities of heaven and earth. But the Ko-ji-ki form of\nthe myth may be the oldest, and we may have in the Nihon-gi evidence of\nChinese ideas having been superimposed on those already obtaining in\nJapan, into which they were imported from other areas.\n\nBut to return to the Creation myth. An ancient native work, the\nKiu-ji-ki, which has not yet been translated into English, refers to\nseven generations of gods, beginning with one of doubtful sex, in whose\nuntranslatable name the sun, moon, earth, and moisture are mentioned.\nThis First Parent of the deities was the offspring of Heaven and Earth.\nThe last couple is Izanagi and Izanami, brother and sister, like Osiris\nand Isis, who became man and wife.\n\nAccording to the Ko-ji-ki the first three deities came into being in\nTakama-no-hara, the \u201cPlain of High Heaven\u201d. They were alone, and\nafterwards disappeared, i.e. died. The narrative continues: \u201cThe names\nof the deities that were born next from a thing that sprouted up like\nunto a reed-shoot when the earth, young and like unto floating oil,\ndrifted about medusa-like, [577] were the\nPleasant-Reed-Shoot-Prince-Elder-Deity, next the\nHeavenly-Eternally-Standing-Deity. These two Deities were likewise born\nalone, and hid their persons.\u201d [578] Earth and mud deities followed,\nand also the other deities who were before Izanagi and Izanami.\n\nIt may be that the \u201creed-shoot\u201d was the Japanese nig-gil-ma. (See\nChapter XIII.) As in one of the early Sumerian texts, the mysterious\nplant, impregnated with preserving and perpetuating \u201clife substance\u201d,\nwas the second product of Creation.\n\nIzanagi and Izanami were told by the elder deities that they must\n\u201cmake, consolidate, and give birth to this drifting land\u201d. They were\nthen given the Ame no tama-boko, the \u201cCelestial Jewel-spear\u201d. It is\nsuggested that the spear is a phallic symbol. The jewel (tama) is \u201clife\nsubstance\u201d. Izanagi and Izanami stood on \u201cthe floating bridge of\nheaven\u201d, which Aston identifies with the rainbow, or, as some Japanese\nscholars put it, the \u201cHeavenly Rock Boat\u201d, or \u201cHeavenly Stairs\u201d, and\npushed down the tama-boko and groped with it until they found the\nocean. According to the Ko-ji-ki, they \u201cstirred the brine until it went\ncurdle-curdle (koworo-koworo)\u201d, that is, as Chamberlain suggests,\n\u201cthick and glutinous\u201d. Others think the passage should be translated so\nas to indicate that the brine gave forth \u201ca curdling sound\u201d. When the\nprim\u00e6val waters and the oily mud began to \u201ccurdle\u201d or \u201ccook\u201d, the\ndeities drew up the spear. Some of the cosmic \u201cporridge\u201d dropped from\nthe point and formed an island, which was named Onogoro\n(\u201cself-curdling\u201d, or \u201cself-condensed\u201d). The deities descended from\nheaven and erected on the island an eight-fathom house [579] with a\ncentral pillar. Here we meet with the aniconic pillar, the \u201cherm\u201d of\nKamschatkan religion, the pillar of the Vedic world-house erected by\nthe Aryo-Indian god Indra, the \u201cbranstock\u201d of Scandinavian religion,\nthe pillar of the \u201cLion Gate\u201d of Mycen\u00e6; the \u201cpillar\u201d is the \u201cworld\nspine\u201d, like the Indian Mount Meru. [580] \u201cThe central pillar of a\nhouse (corresponding to our king-post) is,\u201d writes Dr. Aston, \u201cat the\npresent day, an object of honour in Japan as in many other countries.\nIn the case of Shinto shrines, it is called Nakago no mibashira\n(\u2018central august pillar\u2019), and in ordinary houses the Daikoku-bashira.\u201d\n[581]\n\nIzanagi and Izanami become man and wife by performing the ceremony of\ngoing round the pillar and meeting one another face to face. Their\nfirst-born is Hiruko (leech-child). At the age of three he was still\nunable to stand upright, and was in consequence placed in a reed boat\nand set adrift on the ocean.\n\nHere we have what appears to be a version of the Moses story. The\nIndian Karna, who is similarly set adrift, was a son of Surya, god of\nthe sun. The Egyptian Horus was concealed after birth on a floating\nisland, and he was originally a solar deity with a star form. [582] Ra,\nthe Egyptian sun-god, drifted across the heavens on reed floats before\nhe was given a boat. Osiris was, after death, set adrift in a chest.\nWhen the Egyptians paid more attention to the constellations than they\ndid in the early period of their history, they placed in the\nconstellation of Argo the god Osiris in a chest or boat. In the Greek\nperiod Canopus, the chief star of the constellation of Argo, is the\nchild Horus in his boat. Horus was a reincarnation of Osiris. The\nBabylonian Ea originally came to Eridu in a boat, which became\ntransformed into a fish-man. As the sign for a god was a star, Ea was\napparently supposed to have come from one. Lockyer refers to Egyptian\nand Babylonian temples, which were \u201coriented to Canopus\u201d. [583]\nSun-gods were the offspring of the mother-star, or their own souls were\nstars by night. \u201cHiruko,\u201d says Aston, \u201cis in reality simply a masculine\nform of Hirume, the sun female.\u201d [584] The sun and moon had not,\nhowever, come into existence when he was set adrift, and it may be that\nas the \u201cleech-child\u201d he was a star. He became identified in time with\nEbisu (or Yebisu), god of fishermen, and one of the gods of luck.\n\nIzanagi and Izanami had subsequently as children the eight islands of\nJapan, and although other islands came into existence later, Japan was\ncalled \u201cLand-of-the-Eight-great-Islands\u201d (Oho-ya-shima-kuni). \u201cWhen,\u201d\ncontinues the Ko-ji-ki, \u201cthey (Izanagi and Izanami) had finished giving\nbirth to countries they began afresh, giving birth to deities (kami).\u201d\nThese included \u201cHeavenly-Blowing Male\u201d, \u201cYouth of the Wind\u201d, the\nsea-kami, \u201cGreat-Ocean-Possessor\u201d, \u201cFoam Calm\u201d, \u201cFoam Waves\u201d,\n\u201cHeavenly-Water-Divider\u201d, or \u201cWater-Distributor\u201d\n(Ame-no-mi-kumari-no-kami), and the deities of mountains, passes, and\nvalleys.\n\nAccording to the Nihon-gi, the gods of the sea to whom Izanagi and\nIzanami gave birth are called Watatsumi, which means \u201csea children\u201d,\nor, as Florenz translates it, \u201cLords of the Sea\u201d. Wata, so like our\n\u201cwater\u201d, is \u201can old word for sea\u201d. It is probable that, as De Visser\nsays, \u201cthe old Japanese sea-gods were snakes or dragons\u201d. [585]\n\nIn the Ko-ji-ki two groups of eight deities are followed by \u201cthe Deity\nBird\u2019s-Rock-Camphor-Tree-Boat\u201d, another name for this kami being\n\u201cHeavenly Bird-Boat\u201d. Then came the food-goddess, \u201cDeity\nPrincess-of-Great-Food\u201d. She was followed by the fire-god, kagu-tsuchi.\nThis deity caused the death of his mother Izanami, having burned her at\nbirth so severely that she sickened and \u201clay down\u201d. Before she died, an\ninteresting group of deities, making a total of eight from \u201cHeavenly\nBird-Boat\u201d to the last named, \u201cLuxuriant Food Princess\u201d, came into\nbeing. From her vomit sprang \u201cMetal-Mountain Prince\u201d and\n\u201cMetal-Mountain Princess\u201d; from her f\u00e6ces came \u201cClay Prince\u201d and \u201cClay\nPrincess\u201d (earth deities); and from her urine crept forth Mitsu-ha\nno-Me, which Japanese commentators explain as \u201cFemale-Water-snake\u201d, or\n\u201cThe Woman who produces the Water\u201d. In the first rendering ha is\nregarded as meaning \u201csnake\u201d (dragon), and in the second as \u201cto\nproduce\u201d. Neither Florenz nor De Visser can decide which explanation is\ncorrect. [586] The dragon was, of course, a water-producer, or\nwater-controller, or a \u201cwater-confiner\u201d, who was forced to release the\nwaters, like the \u201cdrought demon\u201d, slain by the Aryo-Indian god Indra,\nand the water-confiner of the Nile, whose blood reddened the river\nduring inundation.\n\nWhen Izanami died, the heart of Izanagi was filled with wrath and\ngrief. Drawing his big sabre, he, according to the Ko-ji-ki, cut off\nthe head of the fire-god; or, as the Nihon-gi tells, cut him into three\npieces, each of which became a god. Other gods sprang from the pieces,\nfrom the blood drops that bespattered the rocks, the blood that clung\nto the upper part of the sabre, and the blood that leaked out between\nthe fingers of Izanagi.\n\nAccording to the Nihon-gi, the blood dripping from the upper part of\nthe sword became the gods Kura-okami, Kura-yama-tsumi, and\nKura-mitsu-ha. The meaning of the character kura is \u201cdark\u201d, and\nProfessor Florenz explains it as \u201cabyss, valley, cleft\u201d, [587] and\nnotes that okami means \u201crain\u201d and \u201cdragon\u201d. According to De Visser,\nKura-okami is a dragon- or snake-god who controls rain and snow, and\nhad Shinto temples \u201cin all provinces\u201d. Another reading in the Nihon-gi\nstates that one of the three gods who came into being from the pieces\nof the fire-god\u2019s body was Taka-okami, a name which, according to a\nJapanese commentator, means \u201cthe dragon-god residing on the mountains\u201d,\nwhile Kura-okami means \u201cthe dragon-god of the valleys\u201d. [588] The\nsecond god born from the blood drops from the upper part of the sword,\nKura-yama-tsumi, is translated \u201cLord of the Dark Mountains\u201d, and\n\u201cMountain-snake\u201d; and the third, Kura-mitsu-ha, is \u201cDark-water-snake\u201d\nor \u201cValley-water-snake\u201d. According to the Ko-ji-ki, the deities\nKura-okami and Kura-mitsu-ha came from the blood that leaked out\nbetween Izanagi\u2019s fingers.\n\nIt is of interest to note here that other dragon deities to which\nIzanagi and Izanami gave origin, included the mizuchi or \u201cwater\nfathers\u201d, which are referred to as \u201chorned deities\u201d, \u201cfour-legged\ndragons\u201d, or \u201clarge water-snakes\u201d. As Aston notes, [589] these \u201cwater\nfathers\u201d had no individual names; they were prayed to for rain in times\nof drought. Another sea-dragon child of the great couple was the wani,\nwhich appears to have been a combination of crocodile and shark. Aston\nthinks that wani is a Korean word. De Visser, on the other hand, is of\nopinion that the wani is the old Japanese dragon-god or sea-god, and\nthat the legend about the Abundant Pearl Princess (Toyo-tama-bime)\n[590] who had a human lover and, like Melusina, transformed herself\nfrom human shape into that of a wani (Ko-ji-ki) or a dragon (Nihon-gi),\nwas originally a Japanese serpent-dragon, which was \u201cdressed in Indian\ngarb by later generations\u201d. [591] Florenz, the German Orientalist,\nthinks the legend is of Chinese origin, but a similar one is found in\nIndonesia. \u201cWani,\u201d De Visser says, \u201cmay be an Indonesian word,\u201d and it\nis possible, as he suggests, that \u201cforeign invaders, who in prehistoric\ntimes conquered Japan, came from Indonesia and brought the myth with\nthem.\u201d [592]\n\nThere is a reference in the Nihon-gi (Chapter I) to a \u201cbear-wani, eight\nfathoms long\u201d, and it has been suggested that \u201cbear\u201d means here nothing\nmore than \u201cstrong\u201d. [593] The Ainu, however, as we have seen (Chapter\nXVII), associated bear and dragon deities; the bear-goddess was the\nwife of the dragon-god, and that goddess had, like the Abundant Pearl\nPrincess, a human lover. \u201cBear-wani\u201d may therefore have been a\nbear-dragon. There was a dragon-horse \u201cwith a long neck and wings at\nits sides\u201d, which flew through the air, and did not sink when it trod\nupon the water, [594] and there were withal Japanese crow-dragons,\ntoad-dragons, fish-dragons, and lizard-dragons.\n\nThe horse played as prominent a part in Japanese rain-getting and\nrain-stopping ceremonies as did the bear among the Ainu. White, black,\nor red horses were offered to bring rain, but red horses alone were\nsacrificed to stop rain. Like the Buriats of Siberia and the\nAryo-Indians of the Vedic period, the Japanese made use of the\ndomesticated horse at the dawn of their history. No doubt it was\nimported from Korea. There is evidence that at an early period human\nbeings were sacrificed to the Japanese dragon-gods of rivers, lakes,\nand pools. Human sacrifices at tombs are also referred to. In the\nNihon-gi, under the legendary date 2 B.C., it is related that when a\nMikado died his personal attendants were buried alive in an upright\nposition beside his tomb. [595]\n\nIn his notable work on the dragon, M. W. de Visser [596] shows that the\nChinese ideas regarding their four-legged dragon and Indian Buddhist\nideas regarding nagas were introduced into Japan and fused with local\nideas regarding serpent-shaped water-gods. The foreign elements added\nto ancient Japanese legends have, as has been indicated, made their\noriginal form obscure. In the dragon place-names of Japan, however, it\nis still possible to trace the locations of the ancient Shinto gods who\nwere mostly serpent-shaped. An ancient name for a Japanese dragon is\nTatsu. De Visser notes that Tatsu no Kuchi (\u201cDragon\u2019s mouth\u201d) is a\ncommon place-name. It is given to a hot spring in the Nomi district, to\na waterfall in Kojimachi district, to a hill in Kamakura district,\nwhere criminals were put to death, and to mountains, &c., elsewhere.\nTatsu ga hana (\u201cDragon\u2019s nose\u201d) is in Taga district; Tatsukushi\n(\u201cDragon\u2019s skewer\u201d) is a rock in Tosa province; and so on. Chinese and\nIndian dragons are in Japanese place-names \u201cryu\u201d or \u201cryo\u201d. These\ninclude Ryo-ga-mine (\u201cDragon\u2019s peak\u201d) in Higo; Ryu-ga-take (\u201cDragon\u2019s\npeak\u201d) in Ise; Ryu-kan-gawa (\u201cDragon\u2019s rest river\u201d) in Tokyo, &c.\n\nThe worship of the Water Fathers or Dragons in Japan was necessary so\nas to ensure the food-supply.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIX\n\nRIVAL DEITIES OF LIFE AND DEATH, SUNSHINE AND STORM\n\n    Izanagi visits Hades\u2014Origin of Thunder Deities\u2014The Flight from\n    Hades\u2014Japanese Version of the \u201cFar-travelled Tale\u201d\u2014The Sacred Peach\n    Tree\u2014Izanami as Goddess of Death\u2014Births of Sun and Moon from Eyes\n    of Izanagi\u2014The Sun-goddess\u2019s Necklace\u2014Susa-no-wo as \u201cImpetuous Male\n    Deity\u201d\u2014Connection with Typhoon and Rain\u2014A Japanese Indra\u2014Vitalizing\n    and Blighting Tears of Deities\u2014Deities Born from Jewels and\n    Sword\u2014The Harrying of Heaven\u2014Flight of Sun-goddess\u2014How Light was\n    Restored\u2014The Sacred Mirror\u2014Banishment of Susa-no-wo.\n\n\nAfter Izanagi had slain his son, the fire-god, and brought into being\nnew gods, including dragons, he was seized with longing to see Izanami\nonce more. Accordingly he set out to find her in Yomi (\u201cYellow\nstream\u201d), the dark Hades of the Underworld. \u201cThe orthodox Japanese\nderivation of Yomi,\u201d says Chamberlain, \u201cis from yoru, \u2018night\u2019, which\nwould give us for Yomo-tsu-kuni some such rendering as \u2018Land of\nGloom\u2019.\u201d Another view is that \u201cYomi\u201d is a mispronunciation of \u201cYama\u201d,\nthe name of the Aryo-Indian god of death. [597]\n\nWhen Izanagi reached the gloomy dwelling of his sister, she raised the\ndoor, and he spoke to her, saying: \u201cThine Augustness, my lovely young\nsister! the lands that I and you made are not yet finished; so come\nback\u201d. She replied out of the darkness: \u201cIt is sorrowful that you did\nnot come hither sooner, for I have eaten of the food of Yomi.\nNevertheless, it is my desire to return. I will therefore speak with\nthe kami of Yomi.\u201d [598] She added in warning, \u201cLook not at me!\u201d\n\nIzanami then went back to the place she had come from. She tarried\nthere for so long a time that Izanagi grew impatient. At length he felt\nhe could not wait any longer, so he broke off the end tooth of his\nhair-comb, which is called the \u201cmale pillar\u201d, and thus made a light,\nand entered. [599] He found his sister. Her body was rotting, and\nmaggots swarmed over it. The Ko-ji-ki proceeds:\n\n\n   \u201cIn her head dwelt the Great Thunder, in her breast dwelt the Fire\n    Thunder, in her belly dwelt the Black Thunder, in her private parts\n    dwelt the Cleaving Thunder, in her left hand dwelt the Young\n    Thunder, in her right hand dwelt the Earth Thunder, in her left\n    foot dwelt the Rumbling Thunder, in her right foot dwelt the\n    Couchant Thunder; altogether eight thunder deities had been born\n    and dwelt there.\u201d\n\n\nHorrified at the spectacle, Izanagi drew back suddenly; whereupon his\nsister exclaimed, \u201cYou have put me to shame!\u201d and became angry.\n\nHere Izanagi has broken a taboo, as did the Japanese youth who married\nthe dragon-maid, Abundant Pearl Princess, and as did the husband of\nMelusina in the French legend. It was an ancient custom in Japan to\nerect \u201cparturition houses\u201d. These were one-roomed huts to which women\nretired so as to give birth to children unseen. Ernest Satow tells that\non the island of Hachijo, until comparatively recent times, \u201cwomen,\nwhen about to become mothers, were ... driven out to the huts on the\nmountain-side, and according to the accounts of native writers, left to\nshift for themselves, the result not infrequently being the death of\nthe new-born infant\u201d. [600] It was taboo for a man to enter a\n\u201cparturition house\u201d. Apparently Izanami had retired to a \u201cparturition\nhouse\u201d in Yomi.\n\nEnraged against Izanagi, because he had put her to shame, Izanami\ncommanded the Ugly Females of Yomi to pursue and slay him.\n\nAt this point in the mythical narrative begins a version of the\nwidespread folk-story about the young man who makes escape from his\nenemy or enemies, and in the course of his flight throws down articles\nthat are transformed into obstacles, or into things which tempt the\npursuers to tarry and eat. [601]\n\nThe first article that Izanagi cast down behind him was his wreath or\nhead-dress, which was instantly turned into grapes. This is according\nto the Ko-ji-ki; the Nihon-gi makes the head-dress the second obstacle.\nHis pursuer (Ko-ji-ki) or pursuers (Nihon-gi), having devoured the\ngrapes, resumed the chase. Then Izanagi, as he fled, broke his\nhair-comb and threw it down; it instantly turned into bamboo sprouts.\nWhile these were being pulled up and eaten, he continued his flight.\n\nThe Ko-ji-ki (but not the Nihon-gi) here introduces another set of\npursuers. Izanami, finding that her brother had outwitted the Ugly\nFemale (or Females), \u201csent the eight Thunder-Deities with a thousand\nand five hundred warriors of Hades to pursue him. Izanagi, drawing the\nten-grasp sabre that was augustly girded on him, fled forward,\nbrandishing it in his back hand (brandishing it behind him); and as the\ndemons still continued to pursue him, he took, on reaching the base of\nthe Even Pass of Hades, [602] three peaches that were growing at its\nbase, and waited and smote (his pursuers therewith) so that they all\nfled back.\u201d [603]\n\nHaving thus rid himself of his pursuers, Izanagi addressed the peaches,\nsaying: \u201cAs you have helped me, so must ye help all living people in\nthe Central Land of Reed-Plains, when they are troubled and harassed\u201d.\n\nHere we have not only a native name of China (\u201cLand of Reed-Plains\u201d)\napplied to Japan, but also the sacred Chinese peach, a symbol of the\nGreat Mother, the Western Queen of Immortals (Si Wang Fu). The story of\na hero\u2019s flight from the Underworld has not survived in China, if ever\nit existed there. It is, however, found in the myths of Scandinavia.\n\nIn the Nihon-gi (Aston) the comment is added to the peach incident:\n\u201cThis was the origin of the custom of exorcising evil spirits by means\nof peaches\u201d.\n\nThe peach, like the bean, was in Japan a symbol of the mother-goddess,\nas was the shell in Egypt and the pig-shell in Greece.\n\nIzanami herself was the last to pursue Izanagi. When he saw her coming,\nIzanagi blocked up the Pass of Yomi with a huge boulder of rock, which\nit would take a thousand men to lift, and he stood on one side of it,\nwhile she stood on the other to \u201cexchange leave-takings\u201d (Ko-ji-ki), or\nto pronounce the formula of divorce (Nihon-gi).\n\nIn the Ko-ji-ki Izanami threatens to slay a thousand inhabitants in the\nland of the living, but Izanagi retorts that he will arrange for the\nbirth of one thousand and five hundred, so that the number born may\nexceed the number who must die.\n\nIzanami became thereafter Yomo-tsu-oho-kami (Yomi\u2019s Great Deity). [604]\nThe rock which blocks the Pass of Yomi became the\n\u201cGreat-Deity-of-the-Road-Turning-back\u201d.\n\nIn the Nihon-gi (Aston\u2019s translation) it is related that Izanagi flung\ndown various articles on leaving Hades, as the goddess Ishtar in\nBabylonian mythology flung down her clothing and ornaments on entering\nthe dread abode of Erish-ki-gal (Persephone). Having pronounced the\ndivorce formula:\n\n\n   \u201cHe also said, \u2018Come no farther\u2019, and threw down his staff, which\n    was called Funando-no-kami (pass-not-place-deity), or\n    Kunado-no-kami (come-not-place-deity). Moreover, he threw down his\n    girdle, which was called Nagachiha-no-kami. Moreover, he threw down\n    his upper garment, which was called Wadzurahi-no-kami (god of\n    disease). Moreover, he threw down his trousers, which were called\n    Aki-guhi-no-kami. Moreover, he threw down his shoes, which were\n    called Chi-shiki-no-kami.\u201d\n\n\nOn returning to the land of the living, Izanagi exclaimed: \u201cI have come\nfrom a hideous and polluted place. I will therefore perform the\npurification of my august body.\u201d\n\nHe went to bathe at a river mouth on a plain covered with bush-clover,\nbeside a grove of orange trees confronting the sun. It is here,\naccording to the Ko-ji-ki, that he flings down his staff and the\nvarious articles of clothing that are transformed into deities. Two\nevil deities were born from the filth of Hades that fell from his\nperson when he entered the water. He dived, and three sea-gods came\ninto being. He washed his left eye, and thus gave origin to the goddess\nof the sun, Ama-ter\u00e2su-oho-mi-kami (The\nHeaven-Shining-Great-August-Deity). He washed his right eye, and there\ncame into being the god of the moon, Tsuki-yomi-no-kami\n(Moon-Night-Possessor). He washed his nose, and from it was born\nTake-haya-susa-no-wu-no-mikoto [605]\n(His-Brave-Swift-Impetuous-Male-Augustness).\n\nIzanagi took off his necklace of jewels or beads (tama), and, shaking\nit so that the beads jingled, bestowed it on Ama-ter\u00e2su, the sun kami\nor goddess, and set her to rule the \u201cPlain of High Heaven\u201d. He\ncommanded the moon-god to rule the night, and Susa-no-wo to rule the\n\u201cSea Plain\u201d.\n\n\u201cAt this point,\u201d as Chamberlain says, \u201cthe story loses its unity. The\nmoon-goddess is no more heard of, and the traditions concerning the\nsun-goddess diverge from those concerning the \u2018Impetuous-Male-Deity\u2019 in\na manner which is productive of inconsistencies in the rest of the\nmythology.\u201d [606]\n\nChamberlain translates Susa-no-wo as \u201cImpetuous-Male-Deity\u201d, connecting\nhis name with susama, \u201cto be impetuous\u201d. But, as Aston points out, the\nimplied noun susa, \u201cimpetuosity\u201d, does not exist. There is, however, a\ntown named Susa in Idzumo, [607] with which area the legends regarding\nthe god are specially associated. Susa-no-wo may therefore have been\nsimply \u201cthe god of Susa\u201d. Aston, following Dr. Buckley, Chicago,\nregards him as a personification of the rain-storm. Japanese writers,\non the other hand, have connected him with Godzu Tenno, an Indian Hades\ndeity, and with the moon-god, or regarded him as a war-god, while some\nEuropean scholars have referred to him as a \u201crotating-heavens god\u201d.\nHaving been born from the nose of Izanagi, we should expect Susa-no-wo\nto have a connection with wind and \u201cthe air of life\u201d, as well as with\nrain and the sea. It is of special interest to note in this connection\nthat, as Aston says, [608] \u201cJapan is annually visited by destructive\ntyphoons, accompanied by great darkness and a terrific downpour of\nrain\u201d. Susa-no-wo is \u201ccontinually weeping, wailing, and fuming with\nrage\u201d, and is \u201ca lover of destruction\u201d, and he is associated with Yomi,\nthe habitation of the deities that work evil against mankind.\nSusa-no-wo may be the Japanese Indra, who brings rain. Japanese\nwind-gods were givers of rain, as well as wind. [609] Like Indra,\nSusa-no-wo is a dragon-slayer. A festival \u201ccelebrated in his honour at\nOnomochi in Bingo\u201d is described by a Japanese writer in these words:\n[610]\n\n\n   \u201cThe procession is a tumultuous trial of speed and strength. Bands\n    of strong men seize the sacred cars, race with them to the sea, and\n    having plunged in breast-deep, their burden held aloft, dash back\n    at full speed to the shrine. There refreshments are served out, and\n    then the race is resumed, the goal being the central flag among a\n    number set up in a large plain. Their feet beat time to a wildly\n    shouted chorus, and they sweep along wholly regardless of obstacles\n    or collisions.\u201d\n\n\nIndra, with Agni, the fire-god, was the winner in a race of the gods;\nhe links with Vayu or Vata, the wind-god, and he wages war against the\nDanavas, the demons of ocean. [611]\n\nIn China dragon-boat races were held so as to cause rain. Imitation\nboats were likewise carried through the streets to the seashore, and\nthere burned so as to take away evil influences. The boats represented\nfighting dragons, and these were rain-bringers. The Japanese imitated\nthese Chinese customs, but not, however, until about the eleventh\ncentury. [612]\n\nAs a trickster among the gods, Susa-no-wo bears some resemblance to the\nScandinavian Loki; he is, like that deity, an ally of the powers of\ndarkness and destruction, and he similarly suffers banishment from the\ncelestial land. Susa-no-wo also recalls Nergal, the Babylonian\nwarrior-god, who conquered Hades, and was \u201cthe death spreader\u201d\n(Mushtabarr\u00fb-m\u00fbtanu).\n\nThe deities of the sun and moon proceeded to rule the day and the night\nas commanded by their parent Izanagi, but Susa-no-wo did not depart to\nthe ocean, which had been committed to his charge; instead, he cried\nand wept until his eight-grasp beard reached the pit of his stomach.\nSays the Ko-ji-ki:\n\n\n   \u201cThe fashion of his weeping was such as by his weeping to dry up\n    all the rivers and seas. For this reason the sound of bad deities\n    was like unto the flies of the fifth moon as they all swarmed, and\n    in all things every portent of woe arose.\u201d\n\n\nThe reference to the god\u2019s tears causing the green mountains to wither\nand the waters to dry up has greatly perplexed Japanese commentators.\nBut there are statements in Asian and American mythologies regarding\n\u201cevil\u201d or \u201cpoisonous rain\u201d distributed, to the injury of vegetation, by\ndragons that may be sick or badly disposed towards mankind. De Visser\nrefers to a Buddhist legend about a poisonous Naga that guarded a big\ntree and killed all those who took a branch from it; when angry it sent\nthunder and rain. [613] Central Asian legends tell that evil rains were\nsent out of season by disturbed and enraged dragons. A Chinese story\ntells of a sick dragon that, having been roused by prayers, gave \u201ca\nbadly-smelling rain which would have spoiled the crops if a diviner had\nnot discovered it in time and cured the dragon at the latter\u2019s\nrequest\u201d. Thereupon a fertilizing rain fell and a very clear spring\ndashed forth from a rock. [614]\n\nIn Ancient Egypt the deities wept vitalizing tears (see Index). Ra\u2019s\ntears gave life to gods and men, the tears of the god Shu and the\ngoddess Tefnut became incense-bearing trees. The tears of Osiris and\nIsis caused life-giving herbs, &c., to grow, but the tears shed on the\nworld by the evil Set and his partisans produced poisonous plants. When\ndeities were enraged, their saliva, sweat, and blood on touching the\nearth germinated and produced poisonous plants, scorpions, serpents,\n&c. [615]\n\nThe Chinese Buddhists believed in a Naga that, by means of a single\ndrop of water, could give rain to one or two kingdoms, and even prevent\nthe sea from drying up. [616] Similarly a single tear from Isis-Hathor,\nas the star Sirius, that fell on the \u201cNight of the Drop\u201d, caused the\nNile to rise in flood.\n\nThe blighting and ocean-drying tears of Susa-no-wo were evidently those\nof an evil or angry deity, or of one who was sick with sorrow.\n\nIzanagi, beholding the ocean-ruler in tears, asked him why he wailed\nand wept.\n\nSusa-no-wo made answer: \u201cI wail because I wish to depart to the land of\nmy dead mother (Izanami) in the Nether-Distant Land (Yomi, i.e.\nHades)\u201d.\n\nIzanagi was very angry, and said: \u201cIf that be so, you shall not dwell\nin the ocean domain\u201d. He then banished Susa-no-wo to Afumi. [617]\n\nSusa-no-wo made answer that he would first take leave of his sister,\nAma-ter\u00e2su, goddess of the sun. He rose in the air, as does a\nthunder-bringing dragon. Says the Ko-ji-ki:\n\n\n   \u201c(With these words) he forthwith went up to Heaven, whereupon all\n    the mountains shook, and every land and country quaked. So\n    Ama-ter\u00e2su, alarmed at the noise, said: \u2018The reason of the ascent\n    hither of His Augustness my elder brother [618] is surely no good\n    intent. It is only that he wishes to wrest my land from me.\u2019\u201d [619]\n\n\nThe goddess unbound her hair, twisted it into bunches, put on her\nstring of five hundred curved jewels (maga-tama, i.e. claw-shaped),\n[620] and armed herself with bow and arrows. She stood \u201cvaliantly like\nunto a mighty man\u201d, and asked her brother why he had ascended.\nSusa-no-wo declared he had no evil intention, and she asked him to give\nproof of his sincerity and goodwill. He proposed that they should\npledge their faith and produce children. To this she consented, and\nthey \u201cswore to each other from the opposite banks of the Tranquil River\nof Heaven\u201d. [621]\n\nAma-ter\u00e2su asked Susa-no-wo for his sword. He gave it to her and she\nbroke it into three pieces. She then made a jingling sound with her\njewels, brandished and washed them in the True-Pool-Well of Heaven\n[622] and \u201ccrunchingly crunched them\u201d. Then from the mist (of her\nbreath) were born the deities Torrent-Mist-Princess,\nLovely-Island-Princess, and Princess-of-the-Torrent.\n\nSusa-no-wo then asked for and obtained from Ama-ter\u00e2su the string of\nfive hundred curved jewels [623] which was twisted in the left bunch of\nher hair. He made a jingling sound with the jewels, washed them in the\nPool, and, having crunched them, \u201cblew them away\u201d. From his breath were\nborn the god\n\u201cTruly-Conqueror-I-Conquer-Conquering-Swift-Heavenly-Great-Great-Ears\u201d,\nthe god Ame-no-hohi, [624] the god \u201cPrince-Lord of Heaven\u201d, the god\n\u201cPrince-Lord of Life\u201d, and the god of Kumano. In all eight\ndeities\u2014three goddesses and five gods\u2014were born.\n\nFrom these deities the Japanese noble families have claimed descent.\nThe Mikados were supposed to be descended from the Conquering God with\nGreat Ears (Masa-ya-a-katsu-kachi-haya-hi-ama-no-oshi-ho-mi-mi).\nAnother myth makes the Mikado a descendant of the sun-goddess and\nTaka-mi-musubi (the High, August God of Birth and Growth), who, in a\nsense, is a Japanese Osiris. He has been compared to the Hindu god\nShiva. Aston says that \u201cmusubi\u201d is \u201cthe abstract process of growth\npersonified\u2014that is, a power immanent in nature and not external to\nit\u201d. [625] Breasted similarly regards Osiris as \u201cthe imperishable\nprinciple of life wherever found\u201d. [626] Shiva, as \u201cthe fructifying\nprinciple\u201d, is represented by the phallus. It is believed that this\nsymbol was the \u201cshintai\u201d (god body) of Musubi. [627]\n\nAfter the three goddesses and five gods had come into being, Susa-no-wo\ndeclared, \u201cI have undoubtedly gained the victory\u201d. He then proceeded to\nharry the celestial regions. He broke down the divisions of the\nrice-fields, filled up the ditches, and fouled with excrement and urine\nthe palace in which the goddess took food. He became even more violent.\nHaving broken open a hole in the sacred house in which sat Ama-ter\u00e2su\nsuperintending the weaving of the garments of deities, he let fall into\nit a heavenly piebald horse that had been flayed backwards (a criminal\noffence). The celestial female weavers were terrified.\n\nAlarmed by Susa-no-wo\u2019s doings, the sun-goddess entered her cave, the\nHeavenly Rock Dwelling, [628] shut the door and made it fast. All the\nland became dark.\n\nThen the eight hundred myriad deities took counsel, sitting in the bed\nof the River of Heaven, so as to plan how they could entice the\nsun-goddess from her hiding-place. They made the cocks (\u201cthe\nlong-singing birds of eternal night\u201d) to crow loud, they caused the\nHeavenly Smith to shape a mirror of iron (the \u201ctrue metal\u201d) from the\nHeavenly Metal-Mountains (the mines), and charged the Jewel-Ancestor\n(Tama-noya-no-mikoto) to make a complete string of five hundred curved\njewels. A tree was then taken from the celestial Mount Kagu [629] and\non it were hung the mirror, the jewel, cherry bark, and other\nofferings. The ritual was recited, and thereafter Ama-no-Uzume (the\nDread Celestial Female), wearing metal head-gear (flowers of gold and\nsilver) and a sash of club-moss from the celestial mountain, and\nholding in her hands a posy of bamboo grass, danced on a tub [630]\nuntil the eight hundred myriad deities laughed. Wondering to hear\nsounds of merriment, instead of sounds of woe, the sun-goddess opened\nthe door of her cave a little and asked why they all laughed. She was\ntold that the deities rejoiced because they had among them a more\naugust goddess than herself.\n\nOne of the gods then held up the mirror, and the sun-goddess was\nastonished to behold a bright deity, not knowing it was her reflected\nimage, and gradually came forth, fascinated by her own beauty and\nbrightness. A strong deity took her hand and drew her out while another\ndeity, Grand Jewel, drew a straw rope behind her so as to prevent her\nretreating. [631] In this manner the sun-goddess was enticed to return\nand light up the world.\n\nThe second expulsion of Susa-no-wo followed. He was fined an immense\nfine of table-offerings, his beard was shorn, and his finger and toe\nnails were drawn out.\n\nAccording to the Ko-ji-ki, he begged for food from the food-goddess.\nShe took \u201cdainty things\u201d from various parts of her body which he\nregarded as filth, so he slew her. Then from her head \u201cwere born\nsilk-worms, in her two eyes were born rice-seeds, in her two ears were\nborn millet, in her nose were born small beans, in her private parts\nwere born barley, in her fundament were born large beans\u201d. These were\nused as seeds. According to the Nihon-gi, they were sown \u201cin the narrow\nfields and in the long fields of Heaven\u201d.\n\nThe reason for keeping the mirror and jewels (tama) in the shrine of\nIse, and for worshipping the sun-goddess and the food-goddess there,\nare thus explained in Shinto mythology. Virgin priestesses danced at\nreligious ceremonies as did the tub-thumping goddess, and offerings\nwere suspended from trees as in the celestial regions, while the straw\nrope was utilized to keep back demons and to ensure the rising of the\nsun by preventing the retreat of the sun-goddess.\n\nThe finding of the dragon-sword is dealt with in the next mythical\nstory.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XX\n\nTHE DRAGON-SLAYER AND HIS RIVAL\n\n    The Eight-headed Dragon\u2014Sacrifices of Maidens\u2014How the Dragon was\n    intoxicated and slain\u2014Finding of the Dragon-sword\u2014The Nuptial\n    House\u2014Adventures of Ohonamochi\u2014The Jealous Brothers\u2014Flight of\n    Ohonamochi to Hades\u2014Susa-no-wo as Giant-god of Hades\u2014Princess\n    Forward\u2014Far Eastern Version of Jack-and-the-Beanstalk Story\u2014The\n    Life-sword, Life-bow and arrows, &c.\u2014Ohonamochi\u2019s Conquest of\n    Japan\u2014A Japanese Odin\u2014Another Creation Myth\u2014The Elfin Deity in Bird\n    Skins\u2014A Shining Sea-god.\n\n\nAfter Susa-no-wo had been banished from heaven, he descended on\nTori-kami, beside the river Hi, in the province of Idzumo. A chopstick\ncame floating down the river, so he knew that people were dwelling\nnear, and he set out to search for them. He soon met an old man and an\nold woman who were weeping bitterly; between them walked a lovely\nmaiden.\n\n\u201cWho are you?\u201d asked Susa-no-wo.\n\nThe old man made answer: \u201cI am a god of earth, son of a mountain god,\nand my name is Ashi-na-dzu-chi (\u2018foot-stroker\u2019); this woman is my wife,\nand her name is Te-na-dzu-chi (\u2018hand stroker\u2019); the maiden is my\ndaughter Kush-inada-hime (\u2018Miraculous-rice-field-sun-maiden\u2019).\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy do you weep?\u201d asked Susa-no-wo.\n\nSaid the old man: \u201cI have had eight daughters, but each year the\neight-forked serpent (dragon) of Koshi has come and devoured one after\nthe other. I weep now because the time is at hand to give\nKush-inada-hime to the serpent.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat is the serpent like?\u201d\n\n\u201cIts eyes are red as the winter cherry [632]; it has a body with eight\nheads and eight tails, and on its body grow moss and trees. It is so\nlong that it stretches over eight valleys and eight hills. Its belly is\nconstantly bloody and inflamed.\u201d [633]\n\n\u201cIf this maiden is your daughter,\u201d said Susa-no-wo, \u201cwill you give her\nto me?\u201d\n\n\u201cYou honour me,\u201d the old man made answer, \u201cbut I do not know your\nname.\u201d\n\n\u201cI am the dear brother of the sun-goddess, and have just descended from\nheaven.\u201d\n\n\u201cMost obediently do I offer my daughter to you,\u201d the old man said with\nreverence.\n\nSusa-no-wo then transformed the girl into a comb, which he placed in\nhis hair. Having done this, he bade the old couple to brew rice-beer\n(sake). They obeyed him, and he asked them to construct a fence with\neight gates and eight benches, and to place on each bench a vat filled\nwith the beer.\n\nIn time the eight-forked serpent came nigh. It dipped each of its heads\ninto each of the vats, drank the sake, became drunk, and then lay down\nand slept. Susa-no-wo drew his two-handed sword, [634] and cut the\nserpent in pieces. The Hi River turned red with blood.\n\nWhen Susa-no-wo cut the middle tail his sword broke. He marvelled at\nthis. Taking the point of the sword in his hand, he thrust and split,\nand looked inside, and found a keen-cutting blade within this tail. He\ntook it out and sent it to his sister, Ama-ter\u00e2su, the sun-goddess.\nThis sword is the Kusa-nagi-no-tachi (the \u201cherb-quelling\u201d\ndragon-sword).\n\nSusa-no-wo afterwards built a house in the land of Idzumo, at a place\ncalled Suga. Clouds rose up from that place. He made an ode regarding\nthe eight clouds that formed an eight-fold fence for husband and wife\nto retire within the house. Then he appointed the maiden\u2019s father to be\nkeeper, or head-man of the house.\n\nIn this nuptial house children were born to Susa-no-wo and the young\nwoman he had rescued from the dragon. These children included\nOho-toshi-no-kami (Great Harvest deity), Uka-no-mitama (the August\nSpirit of Food), and Ohonamochi (\u201cGreat Name Possessor\u201d), the god of\nIdzumo, [635] who could assume snake form or human form at will.\n\nOhonamochi and his eighty brothers desired to marry the Princess of\nYakami in Inaba. On their way thither the eighty brothers tricked a\nhare, which came by a distressing injury, but Ohonamochi caused it to\nbe cured. The grateful hare of Inaba, now called \u201cthe Hare Deity\u201d,\npromised Ohonamochi, who carried the bag as a servant to his brothers,\nthat he would get the princess for wife.\n\nThe princess afterwards refused to marry any of the eighty brothers,\nsaying she favoured Ohonamochi. Being enraged, the brothers took\ncounsel together and said to Ohonamochi: \u201cThere is a red boar on this\nmountain, named Tema, in the land of Hataki. When we drive it down, you\nmust catch it. If you fail to catch it, we shall certainly slay you.\u201d\n[636]\n\nHaving thus spoken, the eighty deities kindled a fire, in which they\nheated a great boulder, shaped like to a boar. They rolled the stone\ndown the mountain-side, and when Ohonamochi seized it he was so\ngrievously burned that he died.\n\nThen his mother wept and lamented, and ascending to heaven, appealed to\nKami-musu-bi-no-kami (Divine-Producing Wondrous-Deity), one of the\nelder gods, [637] who sent Kisa-gahi-hime (Princess Cockle-Shell) [638]\nand Umugi-hime (Princess Clam) [639] to restore the dead deity to life.\nKisa-gahi-hime \u201ctriturated and scorched her shell\u201d, and Umugi-hime\n\u201ccarried water and smeared him as with mother\u2019s milk\u201d. [640] Thereupon\nOhonamochi came to life as a beautiful young man and walked again.\n\nThe eighty deities again deceived Ohonamochi. They led him to the\nmountains. There they cut down a tree, which they split, inserting a\nwedge in it, and having made him stand in the middle, they took away\nthe wedge, and thus killed him.\n\nOhonamochi\u2019s mother again wailed and wept. She cut the tree, and,\ntaking him out, restored him to life once more. Then he fled to the\nLand of Trees, escaping from his pursuers, who had fixed arrows in\ntheir bows, by dipping under the fork of a tree and disappearing. [641]\n\nOhonamochi was advised to seek refuge in the Nether-Distant-Land\n(Hades), where dwelt Susa-no-wo. Princess Forward met him, and they\nexchanged glances, and were married. She then informed her father,\nSusa-no-wo, that a very beautiful god had arrived. But Susa-no-wo was\nangry, and called the youthful deity \u201cUgly-Male-God-of-Reed-Plain\u201d, and\ncommanded him to sleep in the snake-house. The Princess Forward gave\nOhonamochi a snake-scarf, instructing him to wave it thrice when the\nsnakes threatened to bite him. This he did, and was protected. On the\nnext night Susa-no-wo placed the young god in the house of centipedes\nand wasps, but the princess gave him another scarf that protected him\nagainst attack.\n\nNext day Susa-no-wo shot a \u201chumming arrow\u201d [642] into the middle of a\nmoor, and made Ohonamochi fetch it back. But when the young god went\nout on the moor Susa-no-wo set fire to it all round. Ohonamochi could\nperceive no way of escape. As he stood there, a mouse [643] came and\ntold him of a hollow place in which he could shelter himself.\nOhonamochi hastened to the hole and hid in it till the fire had gone\npast. Then the mouse discovered and brought the humming arrow to\nOhonamochi. \u201cThe feathers of the arrows were brought in their mouths by\nall the mouse\u2019s children\u201d (Ko-ji-ki, p. 73). [644]\n\nPrincess Forward lamented for her husband, and Susa-no-wo believed he\nwas dead. But the princess found Ohonamochi, and took him to the house.\nHe returned the arrow to Susa-no-wo. This god had many centipedes in\nhis hair, and bade the youth take them out. Ohonamochi made pretence of\ndoing this, and Susa-no-wo fell asleep.\n\nThen Ohonamochi tied the hair of Susa-no-wo to the rafters, placed a\ngreat boulder against the door, and fled away with Princess Forward on\nhis back. He carried away, too, Susa-no-wo\u2019s life-sword and life-bow\nand arrows, and the heavenly-speaking lute. [645]\n\nAs Ohonamochi fled, the lute touched a tree, and the earth resounded\nwith its call. Susa-no-wo was awakened by the spirit-call. He pulled\ndown the great house so as to get out, but was so long delayed in\ndisentangling his hair from the rafters, that when he went in pursuit\nhe did not get within call of Ohonamochi until he reached the Even Pass\nof Yomi (Hades). [646]\n\nSusa-no-wo shouted to Ohonamochi, advising him to pursue the eighty\nhalf-brothers with the life-sword and life-bow and arrows until they\nwere swept into the river rapids. \u201cThen, wretch,\u201d said he, \u201cbecome\nOho-kuni-nushi (Great Master god of the land), and make Princess\nForward thy consort. Set up the temple-pillars at the foot of Mount Uka\non foundations of rock and raise the cross-beams to the Plain of High\nHeaven. Dwell there, you villain.\u201d\n\nOhonamochi pursued and destroyed the eighty deities. \u201cThen,\u201d the\nnarrative continues, \u201che began to make the land.\u201d\n\nHere we meet with another Creation myth.\n\nTwo children were born to Ohonamochi and Princess Forward; these were\nKi-no-mata-no-kami (Tree-fork-deity) and Mi-wi-no-kami (Deity of August\nWells).\n\nLike Odin, Ohonamochi woos in the course of his career more than one\ngoddess. One of these, the Princess of Nuna-kaha (Lagoon-river), sings\nto him:\n\n\n   \u201cBeing a man probably (thou) hast on the various island headlands\n    that thou seest, and on every beach headland that thou lookest on,\n    a wife like the young herbs. But as for me, alas! being a woman, I\n    have no man except thee.\u201d [647]\n\n\nAn elfin deity comes across the ocean to assist Ohonamochi to \u201cmake and\nconsolidate the land\u201d. He is named Sukuna-bikona (the Little Prince\ngod). Attired in bird [648] skins, the little god sailed in a boat of\nthe heavenly Kagami. [649]\n\nAfter Little Prince had for a time assisted to consolidate the land, he\ncrossed over to Toko-yo-no-kuni (the Eternal Land).\n\nThen came a deity illuminating the sea to assist in consolidating the\nland. He asked for a temple on Mount Mimoro and was afterwards\nworshipped there. He himself passed to the Eternal Land\n(Toko-yo-no-kuni), where grows the orange tree of life. [650] The deity\nthere who revealed Little Prince is called Crumbling Prince; his legs\ndo not walk, but he knows everything beneath the Heavens. [651]\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXI\n\nANCIENT MIKADOS AND HEROES\n\n    End of Dynasty of Susa-no-wo\u2014Dynasty of Sun-goddess\u2014The First\n    Emperor of Japan\u2014Mikado as Descendant of the Sea-god, the \u201cAbundant\n    Pearl Prince\u201d\u2014A Japanese Gilgamesh\u2014Quest of the Orange Tree of\n    Life\u2014The \u201cEternal Land\u201d\u2014The Polynesian Paradise and Tree of\n    Life\u2014Yamato-Take, National Hero of Japan\u2014Conflicts with Gods and\n    Rebels\u2014Enchantment and Death of Hero\u2014The Bird-soul\u2014Empress\n    Jingo\u2014Mikado deified as God of War\u2014Shinto Religion and\n    Nature-worship\u2014The Goddess Cult in Japan\u2014Adoration of the Principle\n    of Life in Jewels, Trees, Herbs, &c.\u2014Buddhism\u2014Revival of Pure\n    Shinto\u2014Culture-mixing in China and Japan\u2014China \u201cnot a nation\u201d.\n\n\nMany children were born to Ohonamochi, but the Celestials would not\ngive recognition to the Dynasty of Susa-no-wo, and resolved that\nNinigi, the august grandchild of the sun-goddess, should rule Japan.\nOhonamochi was deposed, and several deities were sent down from heaven\nto pacify the land for the chosen one.\n\nNinigi\u2019s wife was Konohana-sakuyahime, and two of their children were\nHohodemi, the hunter, and Ho-no-Susori, the fisherman.\n\nIt was Hohodemi who wooed and wed the \u201cAbundant Pearl Princess\u201d and\nlived with her for a time in the land under the ocean. [652] After she\ngave birth to her child, she departed to her own land, deeply offended\nbecause her husband beheld her in dragon (wani) shape in the\nparturition house he had built for her on the seashore.\n\nThis child was the father of the first Emperor of Japan, Jimmu Tenno.\n[653] The Mikados were therefore descended from the sun-goddess\nAma-ter\u00e2su and the Dragon-king of Ocean, the \u201cAbundant Pearl Prince\u201d.\n\nWhen engaged pacifying the land, Jimmu followed a gigantic crow [654]\nthat had been sent down from heaven to guide him. He possessed a magic\ncelestial cross-sword and a fire-striker. His two brothers, who\naccompanied him on an expedition across the sea, leapt overboard when a\nstorm was raging so that the waves might be stilled. They were\nsubsequently worshipped as gods.\n\nYamato now becomes the centre of the narrative, Idzumo having lost its\nformer importance.\n\nJimmu Tenno reigned until he was 127 years of age, dying, according to\nJapanese dating, in 585 B.C. His successor was Suisei Tenno. There\nfollows a blank of 500 years which is bridged by the names of rulers\nmost of whom had long lives, some reaching over 120 years.\n\nAt the beginning of the Christian era, the Mikado was Sui-nin, who died\nat the age of 141 years. This monarch sent the hero Tajima-mori to the\nEternal Land with purpose to bring back the fruit of the \u201cTimeless (or\nEverlasting) Fragrant Tree\u201d. The Japanese Gilgamesh succeeded in his\nenterprise. According to the Ko-ji-ki:\n\n\n   \u201cTajima-mori at last reached that country, plucked the fruit of the\n    tree, and brought of club-moss eight and of spears eight; but\n    meanwhile the Heavenly Sovereign had died. Then Tajima-mori set\n    apart of club-moss four and of spears four, which he presented to\n    the Great Empress, and set up of club-moss four and of spears four\n    as an offering at the door of the Heavenly Sovereign\u2019s august\n    mausoleum, and, raising on high the fruit of the tree, wailed and\n    wept, saying: \u2018Bringing the fruit of the Everlasting Fragrant Tree\n    from the Eternal Land, I have come to serve thee.\u2019 At last he\n    wailed and wept himself to death. This fruit of the Everlasting\n    Fragrant Tree is what is now called the orange.\u201d\n\n\nChamberlain explains [655] that \u201cclub-moss oranges\u201d signifies oranges\nas they grow on the branch surrounded by leaves, while spear-oranges\nare the same divested of leaves and hanging to the bare twig.\n\nThe location of the Eternal Land has greatly puzzled native scholars.\nSome suppose it was a part of Korea and others that it was Southern\nChina or the Loocho Islands. According to the Nihon-gi, Tajima-mori\nfound the Eternal Land to be inhabited by gods and dwarfs. As it lay\nsomewhere to the west of Japan, it would appear to be identical with\nthe Western Paradise which, according to Chinese belief, is ruled over\nby Si Wang Mu (the Japanese Seiobo), the \u201cRoyal Mother\u201d and \u201cQueen of\nImmortals\u201d. Instead of the Chinese Peach Tree of Life, the Japanese had\nin their own Western Paradise the Orange Tree of Life. The orange was\nnot, however, introduced into Japan until the eighth century of our\nera. [656] Whether or not it supplanted in the Japanese paradise an\nearlier tree, as the cassia tree supplanted the peach tree in the\nChinese paradise, is at present uncertain. It may be that the idea of\nthe Western Paradise was introduced by the Buddhists. At the same time,\nit will be recalled that the Peach Tree of Life grew on the borderland\nof Yomi, which was visited by Izanagi.\n\nA similar garden paradise was known to the Polynesians, and especially\nthe Tahitians. It was called Rohutu noanoa (\u201cPerfumed or Fragrant\nRohutu\u201d). Thither the souls of the dead were conducted by the god\nUrutaetae. This paradise \u201cwas supposed\u201d, writes Ellis, [657] \u201cto be\nnear a lofty and stupendous mountain in Raiatea, situated in the\nvicinity of Hamaniino harbour and called Temehani unauna, \u2018splendid or\nglorious Temehani\u2019. It was, however, said to be invisible to mortal\neyes, being in the reva, or aerial regions. The country was described\nas most lovely and enchanting in appearance, adorned with flowers of\nevery form and hue, and perfumed with odours of every fragrance. The\nair was free from every noxious vapour, pure, and most salubrious....\nRich viands and delicious fruits were supposed to be furnished in\nabundance for the frequent and sumptuous festivals celebrated there.\nHandsome youths and women, purotu anae, all perfection, thronged the\nplace.\u201d\n\nAnother Polynesian paradise, called Pulotu, was reserved for chiefs,\nwho obtained \u201cplenty of the best food and other indulgences\u201d. Its\nruler, Saveasiuleo, had a human head. The upper part of his body\nreclined in a great house \u201cin company with the spirits of departed\nchiefs\u201d, while \u201cthe extremity of his body was said to stretch away into\nthe sea in the shape of an eel or serpent\u201d. [658]\n\nThe Japanese had thus, like the Polynesians, a garden paradise and a\nsea-dragon-king\u2019s paradise, as well as the gloomy Yomi. It may be that\nthe beliefs and stories regarding these Otherworlds were introduced by\nthe earliest seafarers, who formed pearl-fishing communities round\ntheir shores. The Ainu believe that Heaven and Hell are beneath the\nearth, \u201cin Pokna moshiri, the lower world\u201d, but they have no idea what\nthe rewards of the righteous are. [659] Nothing is definitely known\nregarding the beliefs of the earlier and more highly civilized people\nremembered as the Koro-pok-guru.\n\nThe Mikado Sui-nin was succeeded by the Mikado Kei-ko, who died in A.D.\n130, aged 143 years. One of his sons, Yamato-Take, is a famous\nlegendary hero of Japan. He performed many heroic deeds in battle\nagainst brigands and rebels. At Ise he obtained from his aunt,\nYamato-hime, the priestess, the famous Kusanagi sword, and a bag which\nhe was not to open except when in peril of his life. He then set out to\nsubdue and pacify all savage deities and unsubmissive peoples. The\nruler of Sagami set fire to a moor which Yamato entered in quest of a\n\u201cViolent Deity\u201d. Finding himself in peril, he opened the bag and\ndiscovered in it a fire-striker (or fire-drill). He mowed the herbage\nwith the dragon-sword, and, using the fire-striker, kindled a\ncounter-fire, which drove back the other fire. The Kusanagi\n(herb-quelling) sword takes its name from this incident. Yamato-Take\nafterwards slew the wicked rulers of that land. He also slew a god in\nthe shape of a white deer which met him in Ashigara Pass. He lay in\nambush, and with a scrap of chive [660] hit the deer in the eye and\nthus struck it dead. Then he shouted three times \u201cAdzuma ha ya\u201d (Oh, my\nwife!). The land was thereupon called Adzuma.\n\nThen follows the mysterious story of the death of the hero. He went to\nthe land of Shinanu, in which Ohonamochi had taken refuge when Japan\nwas being subdued for the ruler chosen by the sun-goddess, and where,\nbeing pursued and threatened with death, Ohonamochi consented to\nabdicate and take up his abode in a temple. The country takes its name\nfrom shina, a tree resembling the lime, [661] and nu or no, \u201cmoor\u201d.\nYamato-Take entered this land through Shinanu Pass (Shinanu no saka),\nbetween the provinces of Shinano and Mino. He overcame the deity of the\npass, and went to dwell in the house of Princess Miyazu, of fragrant\nand slender arms. She welcomed him with love. In the house of the\nprincess he left the Kusanagi sword, and went forth against the deity\nof evil breath (or influence) on Mount Ibuki. As he climbed the\nmountain he met a white boar, big as a bull. Believing it was a\nmessenger of the deity, he vowed he would slay it when he returned, and\ncontinued to climb the mountain. But the boar was not a messenger; it\nwas the very deity in person, and it sent a heavy ice-rain. [662] The\nrain-smitten and perplexed hero was thus misled by the deity.\n\nOn descending the mountain, Yamato-Take reached the fresh spring of\nTama-kura-be (the \u201cJewel-store-tribe\u201d). He drank from it, and revived\nsomewhat. The spring was afterwards called Wi-same (the \u201cwell of\nawakening\u201d or \u201cresting\u201d).\n\nThen Yamato-Take departed, and reached the moor of Tagi, [663]\nlamenting the loss of bodily strength. He passed on to Cape Wotsu in\nIse, and there found a sword he had left at a pine tree, and sang:\n\n\n           \u201cO pine tree, my brother,\n            If thou wert a person,\n            My sword and my garments\n            To thee would I give\u201d.\n\n\nHaving sung this song, he proceeded on his way, yearning for his native\nland, delightful Yamato, situated behind Mount Awogaki. His next song\nwas one of love and regret.\n\n\n           \u201cHow sweet o\u2019er the skies\n            From Yamato, my home,\n            Do its white clouds arise,\n            Do its white clouds all come.\u201d\n\n\nHis sickness and weariness made him feel more and more faint, and he\nsang in his distress:\n\n\n           \u201cOh! the sharp sabre-sword\n            I left by the bedside\n            Of Princess Miyazu\u2014\n            The sabre-sword\u201d. [664]\n\n\nYamato-Take sank and died as soon as he had finished his song.\n\nIn time his wives came and built for him a mausoleum, weeping and\nmoaning the while, because he could not hear them or make answer. Then\nYamato-Take was transformed into a white bird, [665] which rose high in\nthe air and flew towards the shore. The wives pursued the bird with\nlamentations and entered the sea. They saw the bird flying towards the\nbeach, and followed it. For a time it perched on a rock. Then it flew\nfrom Ise to Shiki, in the land of Kafuchi, where a mausoleum was built\nfor it, so that it might rest. [666] But the white bird rose again to\nheaven and flew away. It was never again seen.\n\nAfter Mikado Kei-ko, father of Yamato-Take, had passed away, Sei-mu\nreigned until he was 108 years old. Then followed the Mikado Chiu-ai.\nHis capital was in the south-west on the island of Kyushu. A message\ncame from the goddess through the Empress Jingo, who was divinely\npossessed, promising him Korea, \u201ca land to the westward\u201d with\n\u201cabundance of various treasures, dazzling to the eye, from gold and\nsilver downwards\u201d.\n\nThe Mikado refused to believe there was a land to the west, and\ndeclared that the gods spoke falsely. Soon afterwards the heavenly\nsovereign was struck dead.\n\nNow the Empress Jingo was with child. Having received the instructions\nof the deities to conquer Korea for her son, she delayed his birth by\ntaking a stone and attaching it to her waist with cords. Korea was\nsubdued, the Empress having made use of the \u201cJewels of flood and ebb\u201d,\nas related in a previous chapter. Her child was born after she returned\nto Japan.\n\nEmpress Jingo is further credited with subduing and uniting the Empire\nof Japan, and again establishing the central power at Yamato. She lived\nuntil she was 100 years old.\n\nHer son Ojin Tenno, [667] who had a dragon\u2019s tail, lived until he was\n110 years old, and died in A.D. 310. He was worshipped after death as a\nwar-god, and the patron of the Minamoto clan. His successor, Nin-toku,\nwho died at the age of 110, was the last of the mythical monarchs, or\nof the monarchs regarding whom miraculous deeds are related. Japanese\nhistory begins and myth ends about the beginning of the fifth century\nof the Christian era.\n\nThe cult of Hachiman (Ojin Tenno) came into prominence in the ninth\ncentury with the rise of the Minamoto family; its original seat was\nUsa, in Buzen province. Hachiman\u2019s shintai (\u201cgod body\u201d) is a white\nstone, or a fly-brush, or a pillow, or an arm-rest.\n\nJimmu Tenno, the Empress Jingo, and Yamato-Take were similarly deified\nand worshipped. A ninth century scholar, Sugahara Michizane, was\ndeified as Temmang\u00fb, god of scholars. Living as well as dead Mikados\nwere kami (deities). \u201cThe spirits of all the soldiers who died in\nbattle,\u201d writes Yei Ozaki, [668] \u201care worshipped as deified heroes at\nthe Kudan shrine in Tokyo.\u201d\n\nThe worship of human ancestors in Japan is due to Chinese influence,\nand had no place in old Shinto prior to the sixth century. In the\nKo-ji-ki and Nihon-gi the ancestors of the Mikados and the ruling\nclasses are the deities and their avatars. As we have seen, the Mikados\nwere reputed to be descended from the sun-goddess, and from the\ndaughter of the Dragon King of Ocean, called the \u201cAbundant-Pearl\nPrincess\u201d, a Japanese Melusina.\n\nIt is far from correct, therefore, to refer, as has been done, to\nShinto religion as \u201cthe worship of nature-gods and ancestors\u201d. Even the\nterm \u201cnature-worship\u201d is misleading. The adoration in sacred shrines of\nthe mi-tama (the \u201cAugust jewel\u201d, or \u201cDragon-pearl\u201d, or \u201cspirit\u201d, or\n\u201cdouble\u201d) of a deity is not \u201cthe worship of Nature\u201d, but the worship of\n\u201cthe imperishable principle of life wherever found\u201d. At Ise, the\n\u201cMecca\u201d of Japan, the goddess cult is prominent. Both the sun-goddess\nand the food-goddess are forms of the Far Eastern Hathor, the\npersonification of the pearl, the shell, the precious jewel containing\n\u201clife substance\u201d, the sun mirror, the sword, the pillow, the\nstanding-stone, the holy tree, the medicinal herb, the fertilizing\nrain, &c. The Mikado, as her descendant, was the living Horus, an\navatar of Osiris; after death the Mikado ascended, like Ra, to the\ncelestial regions, or departed, like Osiris, to the Underworld of the\nDead. The Mikado of Japan, like the Pharaoh of Egypt, was a Son of\nHeaven.\n\nAfter Buddhism had been introduced into Japan in the sixth century, it\nwas fused with Shinto. The Shinto deities figured as avatars of Buddha\nin the cult of Ryobu-Shinto. Even the Mikados came under the spell of\nBuddhism.\n\nIn the eighteenth century began the movement known as the \u201cRevival of\nPure Shinto\u201d. It was promoted chiefly by Mot\u00f6ori and his disciple\nHirata. In time it did much to bring about the revolution which\nrestored to supreme political power, as the hereditary high priest and\nliving representative of the sun-goddess, the Mikado of Japan. Shinto\nis the official religion of modern Japan; but Buddhism, impregnated\nwith Shinto elements, is the religion of the masses. \u201cPure Shinto\u201d,\nhowever, was not \u201cpure\u201d in the sense that Mot\u00f6ori and Hirata professed\nto believe. It was undoubtedly a product of culture mixing in early\ntimes. \u201cThe Ko-ji-ki and Nihon-gi,\u201d as Laufer says, \u201cdo not present a\npure source of genuine Japanese thought, but are retrospective records\nlargely written under Chinese and Korean influence, and echoing in a\nbewildering medley continental-Asiatic and Malayo-Polynesian\ntraditions.\u201d [669] In China, Korea, Polynesia, &c., a similar process\nof culture mixing can be traced. Buddha and Mohammed were not the\nearliest founders of cults which have left their impress on the\nreligious systems of the Far East. Vast areas were influenced by the\ncultures of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia.\n\nThe history of civilization does not support the hypothesis that the\nsame myths and religious practices were of spontaneous generation in\nwidely-separated countries. Culture complexes cannot be accounted for\nor explained away by the application of the principles of biological\nevolution. As has been shown in these pages, there are many culture\ncomplexes in China and Japan, and many links with more ancient\ncivilizations.\n\nTouching on the problem of culture mixing in China, Laufer writes:\n\n\u201cIn opposition to the prevalent opinion of the day, it cannot be\nemphasized strongly enough on every occasion that Chinese civilization,\nas it appears now, is not a unit and not the exclusive production of\nthe Chinese, but the final result of the cultural efforts of a vast\nconglomeration of the most varied tribes, an amalgamation of ideas\naccumulated from manifold quarters and widely differentiated in space\nand time; briefly stated, this means China is not a nation, but an\nempire, a political, but not an ethnical unit. No graver error can\nhence be committed than to attribute any culture idea at the outset to\nthe Chinese, for no other reason than because it appears within the\nprecincts of their empire.\u201d [670]\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNOTES\n\n\n[1] Myths of Crete and Pre-Hellenic Europe, pp. 26 et seq.\n\n[2] Ibid. See illustrations opposite p. 20.\n\n[3] Professor Cherry The Origin of Agriculture (Mem. and Proc.\nManchester Lit. and Phil. Soc., 1920).\n\n[4] In Babylonian legends civilization is introduced by the \u201cgoat-fish\u201d\ngod Ea, who came from the Persian Gulf.\n\n[5] Those who give Osiris a Libyan origin believe his name signifies\n\u201cThe Old One\u201d, or \u201cThe Old Man\u201d.\n\n[6] The Ancient Egyptians, pp. 41\u201342.\n\n[7] Breasted\u2019s Religion and Thought in Egypt, p. 18.\n\n[8] S. Squire, Plutarch\u2019s Treatise of Isis and Osiris (Cambridge,\n1744).\n\n[9] In Egypt this was the Solutrean stage of the so-called \u201cPal\u00e6olithic\nAge\u201d.\n\n[10] There was no \u201cNeolithic Age\u201d in Egypt.\n\n[11] The Scope of Social Anthropology (London, 1908), pp. 12\u201313.\n\n[12] Primitive Man (Proceedings of the British Academy, Vol. VII), p.\n50.\n\n[13] The Yakut (in Russian), Vol. I, p. 378.\n\n[14] The Evolution of the Dragon, G. Elliot Smith (London, 1919), pp.\n178 et seq.\n\n[15] O. T. Mason, Origins of Invention, p. 166; and Woman\u2019s Share in\nPrimitive Culture, p. 91.\n\n[16] The Beginnings of Porcelain in China, by Berthold Laufer and H. W.\nNichols (Field Museum of Natural History Publication, 192,\nAnthropological Series, Vol. XII, No. 2. Chicago, 1917).\n\n[17] Ibid., pp. 153\u2013154.\n\n[18] The Journal of Egyptian Arch\u00e6ology, April, 1914, p. 14.\n\n[19] Aboriginal Pottery of the Eastern United States, p. 50 (Twentieth\nAnnual Report, Bureau of American Ethnology, Washington, 1903).\n\n[20] The Khasis, p. 61.\n\n[21] Tao Shuo, chap. ii, p. 2 (new edition, 1912).\n\n[22] The Beginnings of Porcelain in China, pp. 154\u20135. In \u201cculture\nmixing\u201d old local religious beliefs were not obliterated.\n\n[23] Chavannes, M\u00e9moires historiques de Se-ma Ts\u02bcien, Vol. I, pp. 72\u20134.\n\n[24] The Beginnings of Porcelain in China, p. 160.\n\n[25] Antiquities of India, L. D. Barnett, p. 176.\n\n[26] Madras Government Museum Catalogue of Prehistoric Antiquities, p.\n111.\n\n[27] Vedic Index of Names and Subjects, Macdonell and Keith, Vol. I,\npp. 31, 32.\n\n[28] Book I, chap. 194.\n\n[29] Breasted, Religion and Thought in Egypt, pp. 108, 158.\n\n[30] Early Modes of Navigation, Journal of the Anthropological\nInstitute, Vol. IV, p. 402.\n\n[31] Holmes\u2019s Ancient and Modern Ships, E. K. Chatterton\u2019s Sailing\nShips and their Story, Cecil Torr\u2019s Ancient Ships, Warrington Smith\u2019s\nMast and Sail in Europe and Asia, Elliot Smith\u2019s Ships as Evidence of\nthe Migrations of Early Culture, and the works of P\u00e2ris and Assmann,\nand Pitt Rivers (op. cit.).\n\n[32] Sailing Ships and their Story, pp. 25\u20136.\n\n[33] Ships as Evidence, &c., pp. 5, 6.\n\n[34] Myths of Crete and Pre-Hellenic Europe, pp. 146 and 191, et seq.\n\n[35] Breasted\u2019s A History of Egypt, pp. 114\u20135.\n\n[36] Sailing Ships and their Story, pp. 31, 32.\n\n[37] Maspero in his The Dawn of Civilization protests against this\nview.\n\n[38] Egyptian Myth and Legend, p. 372.\n\n[39] English translation of M. Huc\u2019s Recollections (London, 1852), p.\n21.\n\n[40] E. Kebel Chatterton\u2019s Sailing Ships and their Story, pp. 7 and 31,\nand illustration opposite page 8.\n\n[41] Sailing Ships and their Story, pp. 32\u20133.\n\n[42] Polynesian Researches, First Edition, 1829, Vol. I, p. 169.\n\n[43] Ancient Ships, p. 78.\n\n[44] Polynesian Researches, First Edition, 1829, Vol. I, pp. 181, 2.\nThe crescent-shaped vessel is quite Egyptian in character.\n\n[45] Ibid., Vol. II, pp. 50, 51.\n\n[46] Book II, 67.\n\n[47] 1 Kings, x, 22.\n\n[48] 1 Kings, ix, 26\u20138.\n\n[49] 1 Kings, x, 2.\n\n[50] Breasted\u2019s A History of Egypt, p. 274.\n\n[51] Breasted\u2019s Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt, p. 279.\n\n[52] Quoted from a Chinese work by Dr. W. M. W. de Visser in The Dragon\nin China and Japan (Amsterdam, 1913).\n\n[53] Muir\u2019s Sanskrit Texts, Vol. I, p. 516 (1890).\n\n[54] Dr. W. M. W. de Visser, The Dragon in China and Japan, p. 69.\n\n[55] Ibid., p. 223.\n\n[56] Shi i ki, chap. ii.\n\n[57] Religious System of China, Vol. V, p. 867.\n\n[58] This is the name of the Indian Naga king.\n\n[59] The Dragon in China and Japan, p. 139.\n\n[60] Chinese-English Dictionary, p. 1092.\n\n[61] Chine Ancienne, pp. 94 et seq.\n\n[62] Elliot Smith, The Evolution of the Dragon, pp. 216 et seq.\n\n[63] De Visser, The Dragon in China and Japan, p. 109.\n\n[64] Quoted by Prof. G. Elliot Smith, The Evolution of the Dragon, p.\n160.\n\n[65] Ellis, Polynesian Researches, First Edition, Vol. I, p. 178.\n\n[66] Rev. George Turner\u2019s Nineteen Years in Polynesia (1861), pp.\n238\u20139. The god emerging from the shell-fish is found in Mexico.\nJackson\u2019s Shells as Evidence of the Migrations of Early Culture, p. 52.\n\n[67] De Visser, The Dragon in China and Japan, p. 88.\n\n[68] Myths of Crete and Pre-Hellenic Europe, pp. 306\u20137. Pierced fish\nvertebr\u00e6 have been found in Malta, Italy, the south-east of Spain, and\nTroy. See Malta and the Mediterranean Race, R. N. Bradley (London,\n1912), p. 136.\n\n[69] Manuel d\u2019Arch\u00e9ologie Am\u00e9ricaine, Fig. 21, p. 114.\n\n[70] Ibid., p. 169.\n\n[71] Ibid., p. 169.\n\n[72] This mammal belongs to the order Sirenia, which includes manatees.\nIt is native to Indian seas. A variety has been found in the Red Sea.\n\n[73] Legends of Gods and Ghosts (Hawaiian Mythology), 1915, pp. 255\u20136.\n\n[74] A form of the mother-goddess.\n\n[75] The Religious System of China, Vol. III, p. 1143.\n\n[76] Hibbert Lectures, pp. 280\u201384.\n\n[77] Legends of Babylonia and Egypt, Leonard W. King, pp. 116\u20137 (1918).\n\n[78] Breasted, Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt, p. 20.\n\n[79] Ibid., p. 26.\n\n[80] The Voice of Africa, Vol. II, p. 467.\n\n[81] The Evolution of the Dragon, p. 130.\n\n[82] See illustration of the serpent enclosing the waters in the shrine\nof the Nile, from a bas-relief in the small temple of Phil\u00e6. Maspero\u2019s\nThe Dawn of Civilization, p. 39.\n\n[83] Breasted, op. cit., p. 38.\n\n[84] A kiao-lung is a dragon with fish scales.\n\n[85] A horned dragon.\n\n[86] A dragon with wings.\n\n[87] De Visser, The Dragon in China and Japan, pp. 72 et seq.\n\n[88] Horus while alive, and Osiris after he died, as Dr. Gardiner\ninsists.\n\n[89] The Dragon in China and Japan, p. 42.\n\n[90] Nehemiah, ii, 13.\n\n[91] \u00c6schylus, Prometheus Vinctus, 351\u201372.\n\n[92] The Dragon in China and Japan, p. 46.\n\n[93] Dr. A. Carmichael, Carmina Gadelica, Vol. I, p. 169.\n\n[94] The Dragon in China and Japan, p. 89.\n\n[95] Breasted, Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt, pp. 99 et seq.\n\n[96] The Religious System of China, Vol. VI, p. 1087.\n\n[97] See English translation by Walter Gorn Old (London, 1904).\n\n[98] The Religious System of China, Vol. IV, p. 26.\n\n[99] De Visser, The Dragon in Japan and China, p. 62.\n\n[100] Breasted\u2019s Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt, p. 21.\n\n[101] The Dragon in China and Japan, p. 67.\n\n[102] De Groot\u2019s The Religious System of China, Vol. I, p. 369.\n\n[103] Chats on Oriental China (London, 1908).\n\n[104] De Visser, The Dragon in China and Japan, p. 79.\n\n[105] The Dragon in China and Japan, p. 112.\n\n[106] A dragon appeared at the birth of Confucius.\n\n[107] De Visser, The Dragon in China and Japan, p. 145.\n\n[108] Legends of Gods and Ghosts (Hawaiian Mythology, 1915), p. 258.\n\n[109] Melanesians and Polynesians (London, 1910), pp. 334\u20135.\n\n[110] Ibid., p. 364.\n\n[111] Indo-China and its Primitive People, London (trans.), p. 192.\n\n[112] Hawaiian Mythology, p. 257.\n\n[113] Buddhist India, pp. 222\u20133.\n\n[114] Manual of Indian Buddhism, pp. 593 et seq.\n\n[115] Iliad, Book XII (Lang\u2019s, Leaf\u2019s, and Dyer\u2019s Trans.), p. 236.\n\n[116] The Natural History of Animals (Gresham, London), Vol. III, p.\n176 and pp. 46 et seq.\n\n[117] Budge, The Gods of the Egyptians, Vol. I, p. 481.\n\n[118] Chavannes\u2019 Contes et Apologues.\n\n[119] Indian Myth and Legend, pp. 314\u20135.\n\n[120] Laufer, The Diamond: a study in Chinese and Hellenistic\nFolk-lore, p. 7 (Chicago, 1915).\n\n[121] A\u00e7wamedha Parva, Section XC, Sloka 5.\n\n[122] Budge, Gods of the Egyptians, Vol. II, p. 107.\n\n[123] Myths of Babylonia and Assyria, p. 120.\n\n[124] Ibid., p. 62.\n\n[125] The Evolution of the Dragon, G. Elliot Smith, pp. 83 et seq.\n\n[126] De Visser, The Dragon in China and Japan, p. 130.\n\n[127] Westervelt\u2019s Legends of Gods and Ghosts, p. 258.\n\n[128] Buddhist India, pp. 224\u20135.\n\n[129] Teutonic Myth and Legend, p. 174 et seq.\n\n[130] Teutonic Myth and Legend, p. 286.\n\n[131] The Irish term sed (pronounced \u201cshade\u201d), the old form of which is\nset, signified a cow, a measure of value, property, and \u201ca pearl, a\nprecious stone, or a gem of any kind\u201d. Joyce, Irish Names of Places, p.\n355 (Dublin, 1875).\n\n[132] Breasted, A History of Egypt, p. 357.\n\n[133] Egyptian Myth and Legend, pp. 341, 342.\n\n[134] Seven Tablets of Creation.\n\n[135] The belief that the cat has nine lives may be cited, and also the\nbelief that if an eel or a serpent is cut in two it will come to life\nagain. A Chinese dragon may revive after being cut up and buried. The\nstory is told in Japan of a man who killed a snake-dragon, cut it into\nthree pieces, and buried them, but thirteen years later, on the same\nday of the year on which he slew the dragon, he cried out \u201cI drink\nwater,\u201d choked, and died. His death was caused by the dragon he had\nendeavoured to kill (de Visser, The Dragon in China and Japan, p. 195).\nThe \u201cDeathless Snake\u201d in an ancient Egyptian story comes to life until\nthe severed parts are buried separately.\n\n[136] Legends of Gods and Ghosts (Hawaiian Mythology), pp. 256\u20137.\n\n[137] The Dragon in China and Japan, p. 127. See also the Egyptian Bata\nstory, Egyptian Myth and Legend, pp. 49\u201356.\n\n[138] Egyptian Myth and Legend, p. 55.\n\n[139] The Dragon\u2019s Kupuas.\n\n[140] The odour of the herb was the body odour of the dragon. It helped\nto restore vitality, as did incense, when burned before an Egyptian\nmummy. Gods were similarly \u201cfed\u201d by offerings of incense. The\nBabylonian Noah burned incense, and the gods smelt the sweet savour.\nThe gods gathered like flies about him that offered the\nsacrifice.\u2014King, Babylonian Religion, p. 136.\n\n[141] De Visser, The Dragon in China and Japan, p. 63. Kwan Chung died\nin 645 B.C.\n\n[142] Polynesian Mythology, Sir George Grey, p. 33.\n\n[143] De Visser, The Dragon in China and Japan, p. 174.\n\n[144] A Galloway herbalist who was searching for herbs to cure a\nconsumptive girl, named May, saw a mermaid rising in the sea. According\nto the folk-story, the mermaid recommended mugwort (southernwood) as a\ncure by singing:\n\n        Would you let bonnie May die in your hand,\n        And the mugwort flowering in the land?\n\n[145] Jade disks, decorated with the rush pattern, were in China images\nof Heaven and badges of rank. The rain-dragon in human form carries in\nhis right hand a blue rush. The rush was connected with water\u2014the water\nbelow the firmament and the water above the firmament. Reeds were\nlikewise connected with the deities. In Babylonia, priests had visions\nin reed huts and the dead lay on reed mats. The reed and river-mud were\nused by Marduk when he created man. Apparently, the reed was an avatar\nof the water deity: it contained \u201csoul substance\u201d. Linen made from flax\nwas sacred and inspiring. It was wrapped round the dead, instead of\nanimal skins, in pre-Dynastic Egypt. The linen ephod was inspiring;\nlike the \u201cprophet\u2019s mantle\u201d it gave the wearer power to foretell\nevents.\n\n[146] S. Baring-Gould\u2019s Curious Myths of the Middle Ages, pp. 471 et\nseq.\n\n[147] A similar belief regarding supernatural beings prevailed in\nIndia. See story of Nala in Indian Myth and Legend.\n\n[148] The appearance of four servants (the gods of the four quarters)\nwith the dragon-god, indicates that the coming storm is to be one of\nexceptional violence.\n\n[149] The deep slumberer in a folk-tale is usually engaged \u201cworking a\nspell\u201d. As will be gathered from the story, the boy received his\nknowledge and power from his grandmother. She resembles the Norse Vala\nand the Witch of Endor.\n\n[150] The Norse Vala makes similar complaint when awakened by Odin. It\nlooks as if this Chinese story is based on one about consulting a\nspirit of a \u201cwise woman\u201d who sleeps in her tomb.\n\n[151] An interesting glimpse of the connection between colour symbolism\nand magic. Everything is yellow because a yellow dragon is being\ninvoked.\n\n[152] This sleep appears to be as necessary as that of the grandmother.\n\n[153] The latest spell had been worked, and it was not necessary that\nthe father should sleep any longer.\n\n[154] Indian fairy girl. There are apsaras in the Paradise of Indra.\n\n[155] Indian Fairy Stories (London, 1915), pp. 47 et seq.\n\n[156] Egyptian Tales (first series), W. H. Flinders Petrie (London,\n1899), pp. 81 et seq.\n\n[157] Folk Lore Journal, Vol. V, p. 257.\n\n[158] Myths of Babylonia and Assyria, pp. 177 et seq.\n\n[159] L. W. King, Legends of Babylonia and Egypt (London, 1918), p.\n146.\n\n[160] See references in Myths of Babylonia and Assyria, pp. 184 et seq.\n\n[161] Indian Myth and Legend, p. 256 and p. 381.\n\n[162] Book III.\n\n[163] Tennyson\u2019s The Passing of Arthur.\n\n[164] Like the Indian god Vishnu, who lies asleep on the Naga. This\nsleep, like that of magicians, is a spell-working or power-accumulating\nsleep.\n\n[165] Like the Egyptian hero who slays the river serpent which guards\nthe box containing magic spells. Sigurd, Siegfried, and other\ndragon-slaying heroes may be compared with this Far-Eastern hero.\n\n[166] De Visser, The Dragon in China and Japan.\n\n[167] Jade: A Study in Chinese Arch\u00e6ology and Religion, Berthold Laufer\n(Chicago, 1912), pp. 209\u201310.\n\n[168] Breasted, Religion and Thought in Egypt, pp. 133\u20137.\n\n[169] Breasted, Religion and Thought in Egypt, p. 102.\n\n[170] Myths of Babylonia and Assyria, pp. 181\u20133.\n\n[171] M\u00e9moires Historiques de Se-ma Ts\u02bcien (1895\u20131905).\n\n[172] He figures as a character (not a real one) in the writings of\nKwang-tze, who was born in the fourth century B.C.\n\n[173] Breasted, Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt, p. 145.\n\n[174] Dr. J. Legge, Chinese Classics, Vol. III, Part I, p. 240, and\nPart II, p. 554.\n\n[175] In Scottish giant-lore giants sit on mountains in like manner and\nfish for whales, using trees as fishing-rods.\n\n[176] Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan.\n\n[177] Genesis, ii, 8.\n\n[178] Navarrette, Coll. de Documents, I, p. 244, quoted in Curious\nMyths of the Middle Ages, p. 525.\n\n[179] William Ellis, Polynesian Researches (1st edition, London, 1829),\nVol. II, pp. 47 et seq.\n\n[180] Campbell, Popular Tales of the West Highlands, Vol. III, Tale\nLXXXVI.\n\n[181] Legends of Gods and Ghosts, p. 246.\n\n[182] Nineteen Years in Polynesia, p. 353.\n\n[183] Swarga-rohanika Parva, Section III (Roy\u2019s translation), p. 9. The\nchief of the gods says to Yudhishthira: \u201cHere is the celestial\nriver.... Plunging into it, thou wilt go to thine own regions\n(Paradise).\u201d Having bathed, the hero \u201ccast off his human body\u201d and\n\u201cassumed a celestial form\u201d.\n\n[184] Odyssey, XV (Butcher and Lang\u2019s trans.), p. 253.\n\n[185] S. H. O\u2019Grady, Silva Gadelica, Vol. II, pp. 393\u20134.\n\n[186] Ibid., Vol. II, p. 113.\n\n[187] The Voyage of Bran.\n\n[188] Ancient Irish Poetry, p. 8.\n\n[189] The Life and Exploits of Alexander the Great, trans. by E. Walter\nBudge, pp. 11 et seq., and 167 et seq.\n\n[190] \u201cVana Parva\u201d of Mah\u00e1bh\u00e1rata, and Indian Myth and Legend, pp.\n105\u20139.\n\n[191] Description of Sukh\u0101vat\u012b, the Land of Bliss, in Buddhist Mahayana\nTexts (Sacred Books of the East, Vol. XLIX), pp. 16, 17.\n\n[192] Ibid., p. 35.\n\n[193] Ibid., p. 56.\n\n[194] Ibid., p. 174.\n\n[195] Ibid., p. 180.\n\n[196] Ibid., p. 50.\n\n[197] B. Laufer, The Diamond (A Study in Chinese and Hellenistic\nFolk-lore) (Chicago, 1915).\n\n[198] L. W. King, Babylonian Religion (London, 1903), p. 171.\n\n[199] L. W. King, Legends of Babylon and Egypt (London, 1918), p. 136.\n\n[200] Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt, p. 130.\n\n[201] Myths of Babylonia and Assyria, p. 71.\n\n[202] Westervelt, Legends of Gods and Ghosts (Hawaiian Mythology), p.\n245.\n\n[203] Breasted, Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt, pp. 120 et seq.\n\n[204] Ibid., p. 134.\n\n[205] G. Elliot Smith, The Evolution of the Dragon, pp. 23 et seq.\n\n[206] Farnell, Cults of the Greek States, Vol. III, pp. 14, 30; Cook,\nZeus, Vol. I, p. 537.\n\n[207] Westervelt, Legends of Old Honolulu, pp. 22 et seq., and p. 29.\n\n[208] Teutonic Myth and Legend, pp. 424\u201332.\n\n[209] Westminster Review, November, 1892, p. 523.\n\n[210] When, some years ago, an ass was acquired by a tenant on a\nHebridean island, a native, on seeing this animal for the first time,\nexclaimed, \u201cIt is the father of all the hares\u201d.\n\n[211] Dr. Joseph Edkins, Religion in China, p. 151.\n\n[212] Myths of Babylonia and Assyria, pp. 185 et seq.\n\n[213] Laufer, Sino Iranica (Chicago, 1919), pp. 539 et seq.\n\n[214] Laufer, Sino-Iranica, p. 543.\n\n[215] Transactions Am. Phil. Association, Vol. XXIII, 1892, p. 115.\n\n[216] Sino-Iranica, pp. 542\u20133.\n\n[217] G. Elliot Smith, The Evolution of the Dragon, pp. 36 et seq.\n\n[218] Religious System of China, Vol. IV, pp. 272\u20136: and Elliot Smith,\nThe Evolution of the Dragon, pp. 38\u20139.\n\n[219] The Jack and Jill of the nursery rhyme.\n\n[220] Teutonic Myth and Legend, pp. 22 et seq.\n\n[221] Curious Myths of the Middle Ages, pp. 190 et seq.\n\n[222] Budge, Gods of the Egyptians, Vol. II, p. 104.\n\n[223] Babylonian Myth and Legend, p. 126\u20137.\n\n[224] Indian Myth and Legend, pp. 173 et seq., and 192\u201394.\n\n[225] Egyptian Myth and Legend, p. 19 et seq.\n\n[226] Teutonic Myth and Legend, pp. 352 (n.), 376, 383, 389, 391, 446.\n\n[227] For beliefs connected with pearls and shells, see Shells as\nEvidence of the Migrations of Early Culture, I. Wilfrid Jackson\n(London, 1917).\n\n[228] Some thunder birds are dark as thunder-clouds.\n\n[229] De Visser, The Dragon in China and Japan, p. 63.\n\n[230] G. A. Reisner, Early Dynastic Cemeteries of Naga-ad-D\u00ear, Vol. I,\n1908, Plates 6 and 7, and Shells as Evidence of the Migrations of Early\nCulture, 1917, p. xxi.\n\n[231] Jade, p. 1.\n\n[232] The Norse gods grew old when the apples of immortality, kept by\nthe goddess Idun, were carried away. After the apples were restored,\nthey ate of them and grew young again.\u2014Teutonic Myth and Legend, p. 57.\n\n[233] De Groot, The Religious System of China, Vol. I, p. 300.\n\n[234] De Groot, The Religious System of China, Vol. I, p. 295.\n\n[235] Shrieks like mandrakes torn out of the earth.\u2014Romeo and Juliet,\niv, 3.\n\n        Give me to drink mandragora ...\n        That I may sleep out the great gap of time\n        My Anthony is away.\u2014Anthony and Cleopatra.\n\n[236] The Ascent of Olympus, pp. 107 et seq.\n\n[237] Elliot Smith, The Evolution of the Dragon, p. 184; Rendel Harris,\nThe Ascent of Olympus, p. 73.\n\n[238] The Ascent of Olympus, p. 126.\n\n[239] Artemis, as goddess of birth, was a specialized form of the Great\nMother, who was herself the goddess of love and birth, of treasure,\n&c.\u2014the All-mother.\n\n[240] The Ascent of Olympus, p. 87.\n\n[241] Ibid., p. 86.\n\n[242] Joly, Legend in Japanese Art, p. 165.\n\n[243] Elliot Smith, The Evolution of the Dragon, pp. 183, 199 et seq.\n\n[244] The Ascent of Olympus, 79\u201380.\n\n[245] The Chinese Traveller (London, 1772), Vol. I, p. 247.\n\n[246] The Ascent of Olympus, p. 82.\n\n[247] The Chinese Traveller, Vol. I, p. 239.\n\n[248] The Chinese Traveller, Vol. I, pp. 237 et seq.\n\n[249] Genesis, xlix, 11.\n\n[250] The Ascent of Olympus (note on Ivy and Mugwort in Siberia), pp.\n96 et seq.\n\n[251] Sino-Iranica (Chicago, 1919), pp. 385 et seq.\n\n[252] Ibid., p. 386.\n\n[253] Indian Myth and Legend, p. 100.\n\n[254] Sino-Iranica, pp. 339\u201342.\n\n[255] Myths of Babylonia and Assyria, pp. 234\u20135.\n\n[256] Perry, Megalithic Culture of Indonesia, p. 68.\n\n[257] Megalithic Culture of Indonesia, p. 92.\n\n[258] Legend in Japanese Art, p. 195.\n\n[259] Religions of Ancient China, pp. 24\u20135.\n\n[260] Ibid., pp. 38\u20139.\n\n[261] See Chapter XIII re shining gems, jade, coral, &c.\n\n[262] The Dragon in China and Japan, pp. 39 and 64.\n\n[263] Laufer, Sino-Iranica, p. 568.\n\n[264] Elliot Smith, The Migration of Early Culture (London, 1915), and\nThe Evolution of the Dragon (London, 1919).\n\n[265] The other names are J\u0103ta-r\u016bpa, Su-varna, Harita, and Hiranya.\n\n[266] Macdonell and Keith, Vedic Index of Names and Subjects (London,\n1912), Vol. II, p. 504. See also for moon and gold, Vol. I, 254.\n\n[267] Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus (London, 1703 Edition),\np. 243.\n\n[268] History of Sumer and Akkad, pp. 326\u20137.\n\n[269] Breasted, A History of Egypt, p. 48.\n\n[270] Breasted, A History of Egypt, p. 190.\n\n[271] Ibid., p. 48.\n\n[272] L. W. King, A History of Sumer and Akkad, pp. 74, 75.\n\n[273] British Museum Guide to the Antiquities of the Bronze Age, p. 10.\n\n[274] British Museum Guide to the Antiquities of the Bronze Age, p. 9.\n\n[275] Ibid., p. 9.\n\n[276] A History of the Babylonians and Assyrians, p. 74.\n\n[277] In the Tell-el-Amarna letters, Western-Asian monarchs are\neloquent in their requests for gold from Egypt. In one a Babylonian\nking \u201casks for much gold\u201d and complains that the last supply was base,\nand that there was \u201cmuch loss in melting\u201d.\n\n[278] Sino-Iranica: Chinese Contributions to the History of\nCivilization in Ancient Iran. Chicago, 1919.\n\n[279] Ibid., p. 185.\n\n[280] The Relationship between the Geographical Distribution of\nMegalithic Monuments and Ancient Times. Manchester, 1915.\n\n[281] Mrs. Hawes, Gournia, p. 33.\n\n[282] The Dawn of Mediterranean Civilization, pp. 62\u20133.\n\n[283] Elliot Smith, The Ancient Egyptians, pp. 41 et seq.\n\n[284] It seems ridiculous to suggest that irrigation had origin in\nmid-Asia and not in areas like the deltas of Egypt and Sumeria.\n\n[285] British Museum Guide to the Babylonian and Assyrian Antiquities,\np. 157.\n\n[286] Peter, Nippur II, p. 134.\n\n[287] Scythians and Greeks (1913), p. 280.\n\n[288] Chapter V.\n\n[289] Religion in China (London 1878, 2nd Ed.), p. 38.\n\n[290] British Museum Guide to the Antiquities of the Bronze Age, p.\n107.\n\n[291] Arch\u00e6ologia, p. 276.\n\n[292] Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol. XLII, p.\n279.\n\n[293] Religion in China, p. 6.\n\n[294] Jade and other stone mirrors are referred to in ancient texts. No\ndoubt these were religious symbols. None survives. Jade shoes are\nmentioned too, but there are no surviving specimens. In Ireland bronze\nshoes were worn in ancient times\u2014perhaps in connection with religious\nceremonies. Obsidian mirrors were used in Mexico for purposes of\ndivination, and there were stone mirrors in Peru.\n\n[295] Jade: A Study in Chinese Arch\u00e6ology and Religion, Berthold Laufer\n(Field Museum of Natural History, Publication 154, Anthropological\nSeries, Vol. X, Chicago, 1912, p. 23).\n\n[296] Laufer notes that yu included nephrite, jadeite, bowenite, and\nsometimes \u201cbeautiful kinds of serpentine, agalmatolite, and\nmarble\u201d.\u2014Jade, p. 22.\n\n[297] Ibid., p. 29.\n\n[298] De Groot, The Religious System of China, Book I, pp. 275 et seq.\n\n[299] Jade, p. 299.\n\n[300] The Religious System of China, Book I, pp. 274 et seq.\n\n[301] Pronounced muk\u2019\u0103ra.\n\n[302] See illustrations in Professor Elliot Smith\u2019s The Evolution of\nthe Dragon, pp. 88, 89.\n\n[303] Like the ginseng (mandrake) in the Kang-ge mountains in northern\nKorea. (See Chapter XVII.)\n\n[304] De Groot, The Religious System of China, Book I, Vol. I, pp.\n272\u20133.\n\n[305] The Diamond, pp. 55, 56, n.\n\n[306] She is thus the divine spinner as the god Ptah of Egypt is the\ndivine potter.\n\n[307] The Syrian Goddess, Strong and Garstang (London, 1913), pp. 71,\n72.\n\n[308] Chicago, 1915, p. 58.\n\n[309] The Diamond, p. 7. Lesser Fu-lin was Syria, and Greater Fu-lin\nthe Byzantine Empire.\n\n[310] Ibid., pp. 55, n. 2, 56.\n\n[311] The Religious System of China, Book I, Vol. I, pp. 277\u20138.\n\n[312] Laufer, The Diamond, p. 22 and n. 3, and p. 69 and n. 7.\n\n[313] Ibid., pp. 68\u20139.\n\n[314] Laufer, Chinese Clay Figures, pp. 138, 151.\n\n[315] The Diamond, p. 71.\n\n[316] Elliot Smith, The Evolution of the Dragon, p. 157, n. 1. Laufer,\nSino-Iranica, pp. 520 and 525.\n\n[317] The Religious System of China, Book II, Vol. IV, p. 331.\n\n[318] The Religious System of China, Book I, pp. 278\u20139.\n\n[319] Legend in Japanese Art, pp. 354, 355.\n\n[320] Legend in Japanese Art, pp. 355\u20136.\n\n[321] Ibid., p. 355.\n\n[322] Jade, p. 21, n. 4.\n\n[323] Breasted, A History of Egypt, p. 357.\n\n[324] Laufer, Jade, p. 299, n. 1.\n\n[325] Budge, The Gods of the Egyptians, Vol. I, pp. 357\u20138.\n\n[326] Jade, p. 301 and n. 1.\n\n[327] Ibid., p. 310.\n\n[328] Jade, pp. 306\u20137.\n\n[329] The Religious System of China, Book I, p. 284.\n\n[330] The Religious System of China, Book I, p. 284.\n\n[331] Myths of Babylonia and Assyria, p. 332.\n\n[332] Legge, The Shih King, p. 395.\n\n[333] Ibid., p. 338.\n\n[334] Joly, Legend in Japanese Art, p. 297.\n\n[335] Breasted, Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt, p. 100.\n\n[336] The Religious System of China, Book I, Vol. III, p. 962.\n\n[337] De Groot, op. cit., Book I, Vol. III, p. 983.\n\n[338] Legge, The Yi King, pp. 43\u201344.\n\n[339] The Religious System of China, Book I, p. 327.\n\n[340] Op. cit., p. 327.\n\n[341] De Groot, op. cit., p. 317.\n\n[342] Legge, Texts of Taoism, Vol. II, p. 265.\n\n[343] Legge, The Shu King, pp. 38, 39.\n\n[344] Teutonic Myth and Legend, p. 5.\n\n[345] Myths of Babylonia and Assyria, pp. 330, 331.\n\n[346] Religion in China (London, 1878), p. 109.\n\n[347] Religion in China, p. 107.\n\n[348] Quoted by De Groot, The Religious System of China, Book I, Vol.\nIII, p. 983.\n\n[349] Green and blue are interchangeable in China.\n\n[350] Biot, Vol. I, pp. 434, 435, quoted by Laufer in Jade, p. 120.\n\n[351] The Religious System of China, Book I, Part III, p. 935.\n\n[352] Ibid., Book I, Vol. III, p. 949.\n\n[353] In Scotland south-flowing water is specially good and\ninfluential.\n\n[354] The Religious System of China, Book I, Vol. III, pp. 949, 950.\n\n[355] Jade, pp. 182\u20133.\n\n[356] Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. XXI, pp. 128\u20139.\n\n[357] See Egyptian Myth and Legend, Myths of Babylonia and Assyria,\nMyths of Crete and Pre-Hellenic Europe, and Indian Myth and Legend.\n\n[358] Breasted, Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt, p. 130.\n\n[359] See terra-cotta image of pig marked with stars in Schliemann\u2019s\nTroy and its Remains (translation by Smith, London, 1875), p. 232.\n\n[360] Elliot Smith, The Evolution of the Dragon, p. 96.\n\n[361] Laufer, Jade (for illustrations of tigers with thunder pattern),\npp. 180\u20134.\n\n[362] De Groot, Religious System of China, Vol. I, Book I, pp. 94 and\n110; Book II, pp. 5 et seq.\n\n[363] The Religious System of China, Book I, Vol. I, p. 226, n. 2.\n\n[364] De Groot, op. cit., Book I, p. 72.\n\n[365] The Religious System of China, Book I, Vol. I, pp. 241 et seq.\n\n[366] See references in Myths of Babylonia and Assyria, pp. 69, 70, and\n70 n.\n\n[367] Mrs. Bishop, Korea and Her Neighbours, Vol. II, pp. 84\u20135.\n\n[368] The Evolution of the Dragon, p. 50.\n\n[369] The Evolution of the Dragon, pp. 51\u20132.\n\n[370] De Groot, op. cit., p. 396, and Elliot Smith, op. cit., p. 48,\nand n. 1.\n\n[371] Breasted, Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt, p. 19.\n\n[372] Biot, Vol. I, p. 125.\n\n[373] Laufer, Jade, pp. 296 et seq.\n\n[374] Ibid., p. 1.\n\n[375] Ibid., p. 296.\n\n[376] Breasted, Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt, p. 23.\n\n[377] Laufer, Jade, p. 1.\n\n[378] Legends of Babylonia and Egypt in relation to Hebrew Tradition\n(The Schweich Lectures), London, 1918, pp. 56 et seq. and pp. 88 et\nseq.\n\n[379] The Babylonian Noah, who became an immortal and lived on an\n\u201cIsland of the Blest\u201d and near the island on which were the Plant of\nLife and the Well of Life.\n\n[380] Elliot Smith, The Evolution of the Dragon, p. 205.\n\n[381] The Ascent of Olympus, pp. 120\u20131.\n\n[382] History of the Rhinoceros in Chinese clay figures (Field Museum\nof Natural History, Publication 177), Chicago, 1914, pp. 73 et seq.\n\n[383] Legge, The Chinese Classics, Vol. II, p. 281.\n\n[384] Laufer, op. cit., pp. 160\u20131.\n\n[385] Op. cit., p. 161.\n\n[386] Legge, Sacred Books of the East, Vol. XXVII, p. 158, and Laufer,\nChinese Clay Images, p. 172.\n\n[387] Rhys David, Buddhism (London, 1903), p. 183.\n\n[388] Laufer, op. cit., p. 138.\n\n[389] Chinese Clay Images, pp. 150 et seq.\n\n[390] Like the \u201cgolden sun\u201d.\n\n[391] Chinese Clay Images, pp. 152\u20133 and p. 153 n. 2.\n\n[392] The Chinese Commercial Guide, p. 95 (Hong-Kong, 1863).\n\n[393] Chinese Clay Images, p. 139.\n\n[394] Ibid., p. 108.\n\n[395] Referred to by the philosopher Wang Ch\u02bcung in his work Lun heng\n(A.D. 82 or 83), quoted by Laufer, op. cit., p. 171 n. 3.\n\n[396] Schliemann\u2019s Ilios, p. 242.\n\n[397] Letter to the Times, 18th December, 1879.\n\n[398] Laufer\u2019s Jade, p. 2.\n\n[399] Jade, pp. 4\u20135.\n\n[400] Laufer\u2019s Jade, p. 196.\n\n[401] Ibid., pp. 186\u20139.\n\n[402] Athen\u00e6us Deipnos, Book III, chap. xlvi; and Jackson, Shells as\nEvidence of the Migrations of Early Culture, p. 77.\n\n[403] Like rhinoceros horn.\n\n[404] Heber R. Bishop, Investigations and Studies in Jade (New York,\n1906), Vol. I, p. 47; and A. Wylie, Notes on Chinese Literature\n(Shanghai, 1901), p. 194.\n\n[405] The Migration of Early Culture: A Study of the Significance of\nthe Geographical Distribution of the Practice of Mummification, &c.,\npp. 20 et seq.\n\n[406] Recollections of a Journey through Tartary, Tibet, and China, by\nM. Huc (English translation, London, 1852), pp. 219\u201320.\n\n[407] Budge, Gods of the Egyptians, Vol. I, p. 500 et seq.\n\n[408] The Elder Edda, translation by O. Bray, p. 19.\n\n[409] Ibid., p. 51.\n\n[410] Ibid., p. 277.\n\n[411] In Norse mythology the earth trembles when Loki moves.\n\n[412] The \u201cbreath\u201d which is \u201csoul substance\u201d.\n\n[413] Quoted by Breasted, Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt, pp.\n21\u20132.\n\n[414] Babylonian Myth and Legend, pp. 146\u20137.\n\n[415] Indian Myth and Legend, p. 95.\n\n[416] James Legge, The Texts of Confucianism, Part II, p. 430 (Sacred\nBooks of the East).\n\n[417] Legge, The Chinese Classics, Vol. III, Part I, p. 108.\n\n[418] This reference to the use of personal ornaments is highly\nsignificant.\n\n[419] King, Babylonian Religion, p. 136.\n\n[420] Religions of Ancient China, pp. 43\u201344.\n\n[421] For a discussion on \u201cEarly Biological Theories\u201d in this\nconnection see Professor G. Elliot Smith\u2019s The Evolution of the Dragon,\npp. 26 et seq., and pp. 178 et seq.\n\n[422] Wells Williams, Chinese-English Dictionary, p. 1092.\n\n[423] The Dragon in China and Japan, pp. 83\u20134.\n\n[424] De Groot, The Religious System of China; and De Visser, The\nDragon in China and Japan, p. 85.\n\n[425] Chinese Literature, p. 52.\n\n[426] King, Legends of Babylonia and Egypt (1916), p. 56.\n\n[427] Like the mountain-goddess of Crete.\n\n[428] Chinese Literature, pp. 52, 53.\n\n[429] Legge, Shu King, Shih King, Hsiao King (Sacred Books of the\nEast), Vol. III, pp. 396, 397.\n\n[430] Religions of Ancient China, pp. 21\u20133.\n\n[431] Religion in China (London, 1878, second edition), pp. 99 et seq.\n\n[432] The season controlled by the White Tiger-god of the west.\n\n[433] Religion in China, p. 104.\n\n[434] The Religious System of China, Book I, p. 959.\n\n[435] Indian Myth and Legend, p. 107.\n\n[436] Legge, The Texts of Taoism, Vol. I, pp. 370\u20131.\n\n[437] Legge, The Shu King (Sacred Books of the East), Vol. III, p. 255\nand n. 1.\n\n[438] Giles, Religions of Ancient China, p. 22.\n\n[439] Three Irish Glossaries, Whitley Stokes (London, 1862), p. lxxiii.\n\n[440] Legge, The Chinese Classics, Vol. III, Part I, p. 117.\n\n[441] Legge, The Shu King (Sacred Books of the East), pp. 64 et seq.\n\n[442] Boats, carriages, sledges, and spiked boots.\n\n[443] W. G. Old, The Shu King (London, 1904), pp. 36\u20137.\n\n[444] Legge, The Shu King, p. 139.\n\n[445] Legge, Ibid., p. 309.\n\n[446] The sky is the \u201cdark sphere\u201d, and the mace is therefore a\nsky-mace.\n\n[447] Legge, The Annals of the Bamboo Book, pp. 128, 129 (The Chinese\nClassics, Vol. III, Part 1).\n\n[448] Legge, The Shu King, n. 5, p. 269 (The Chinese Classics, Vol.\nIII, p. 1). Herodotus tells (Book II, chapter 122) that Pharaoh\nRhampsinitus (? Rameses) of Egypt descended to Hades and played dice\nwith Ceres (Isis), \u201csometimes winning and sometimes suffering defeat\u201d.\nA curious festival celebrated the event.\n\n[449] Pinkerton, A General Collection of the Best and Most Interesting\nVoyages and Travels (London, 1814), XVI, 696.\n\n[450] Legge, The Shih King, p. 397.\n\n[451] Legge, The Shih King, p. 398, n.\n\n[452] Legge, The Annals of the Bamboo Books, p. 143.\n\n[453] Giles, Religions of Ancient China, p. 20.\n\n[454] The Annals of the Bamboo Books, p. 147.\n\n[455] Geographical Journal, XXII, 1904, pp. 24, 176, 331, 772.\n\n[456] Sailing Ships and their Story, p. 310.\n\n[457] In Y\u016bn-nan\n\n[458] Sino-Iranica, p. 469.\n\n[459] Pliny, XV, 11, 13, and Sino-Iranica, p. 539.\n\n[460] Sino-Iranica, p. 185.\n\n[461] King, Babylonian Religion, p. 165.\n\n[462] One of his names during his lifetime was Li Po-Yang: after his\ndeath he was Li Tan.\n\n[463] Journal of Egyptian Arch\u00e6ology.\n\n[464] Macbeth, Act v, scene 7.\n\n[465] As has been stated, tea was an elixir.\n\n[466] \u201cKing\u201d signifies \u201cclassic\u201d.\n\n[467] Breasted, A History of Egypt, p. 357.\n\n[468] Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt, pp. 46\u20137.\n\n[469] In Egypt the \u201crays\u201d were the creative tears of the sun-god.\n\n[470] The Speculations in Metaphysics, Polity, and Morality of \u201cThe Old\nPhilosopher\u201d.\n\n[471] The Modern Speech New Testament (London, 1903): John, Chap. i,\nverse 1 et seq.\n\n[472] The Ancient Faiths of China, p. 49.\n\n[473] History of Religions (Edinburgh, 1914), p. 49.\n\n[474] Christ and Other Masters, Vol. II, p. 67.\n\n[475] Language and Languages, pp. 184\u20135. Jowett, in a letter to Mrs.\nAsquith in 1893, wrote, \u201cI think also that you might put religion in\nanother way, as absolute resignation to the Will of God and the order\nof Nature\u201d (Autobiography of Mrs. Asquith).\n\n[476] The Texts of Taoism p. 13 (Sacred Books of the East).\n\n[477] Ibid., p. 15.\n\n[478] The Religious System of China, Book I, p. 936.\n\n[479] Rigveda, X, 129.\n\n[480] Indian Myth and Legend, pp. 97\u20139.\n\n[481] The Bhagavad-Gita, Book 18.\n\n[482] The Texts of Taoism, p. 19.\n\n[483] The beginnings of Alchemy can be traced back to the early\ndynastic period in ancient Egypt.\n\n[484] The Egyptian gods Ra and Ptah similarly emerged from cosmic eggs.\n\n[485] Indian Myth and Legend, pp. 100\u20132.\n\n[486] Dr. Legge, Taoist Texts, p. 47.\n\n[487] Ibid., p. 85.\n\n[488] Ibid., pp. 74, 75.\n\n[489] Dr. Legge, Taoist Texts, p. 51.\n\n[490] Ascent of Olympus, p. 73.\n\n[491] For discussions on these gates see Elliot Smith in Journal of the\nManchester and Oriental Society (1916), and The Evolution of the\nDragon, pp. 184, 185.\n\n[492] Dr. Legge, Taoist Texts, p. 52.\n\n[493] Ibid., p. 104.\n\n[494] Ibid., p. 87.\n\n[495] Dr. Legge, Taoist Texts, pp. 94, 95.\n\n[496] Ibid., pp. 67\u20139.\n\n[497] Ibid., p. 82.\n\n[498] Ibid., p. 94.\n\n[499] The Texts of Taoism, p. 96.\n\n[500] Ibid., p. 95.\n\n[501] Ibid., pp. 53, 54.\n\n[502] Herbert A. Giles, Religions of Ancient China, p. 47.\n\n[503] The Texts of Taoism, p. 59.\n\n[504] Giles, Chuang Tzu, Mystic, Moralist, and Social Reformer.\n\n[505] The Texts of Taoism, pp. 92, 93.\n\n[506] The Texts of Taoism, p. 60.\n\n[507] Kwang Tze, Book VI, par. 7 (Balfour\u2019s translation).\n\n[508] Analects VII, 1.\n\n[509] The Texts of Taoism, p. 167 n.\n\n[510] The Texts of Taoism (The Writings of Kwang Tze), p. 245.\n\n[511] The Texts of Taoism, pp. 244 et seq.\n\n[512] Ibid., p. 245.\n\n[513] The Texts of Taoism, p. 364.\n\n[514] Ibid., pp. 364\u20135.\n\n[515] Customs of the World, p. 380.\n\n[516] The terraced mound tombs of the Emperors of Japan appear to be\nsurvivals of the ancient tombs. Although true dolmens have been found\nin Korea, they do not, so far as is known, occur in Japan (Journal\nAnthrop. Inst., xxiv, p. 330, and 1907, pp. 10 et seq.).\n\n[517] Chinese Clay Figures, p. 265, n. 3.\n\n[518] Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, Vol. X\n(supplement), p. xxxvi.\n\n[519] Chinese Clay Figures (Chicago, 1914), p. 265, n. 3.\n\n[520] Ibid., p. 271 and n. 3, p. 272 and n. 1.\n\n[521] In their own language Ainu-utara: \u201cutara\u201d is the plural suffix.\nTheir Japanese name is Yemishi; the Chinese came to know of them first\nin A.D. 659, and called them Hia-i. A later Chinese name is Ku-hi.\n\n[522] Pira, \u201ccliff\u201d; toru, \u201cto stay\u201d.\n\n[523] Turesh, \u201cyounger sister\u201d; machi, \u201cwife\u201d.\n\n[524] For other versions, see Hartland, The Science of Fairy Tales\n(London, 1891), pp. 71 et seq.\n\n[525] See Index under \u201cMelusina\u201d.\n\n[526] Genesis, chapter xxxv, 4.\n\n[527] Elliot Smith, Distribution of Mummification: Manchester Memories,\nVol. LIX (1915), pp. 90 et seq.\n\n[528] Laufer, Chinese Clay Figures, p. 269.\n\n[529] Rendel Harris, The Ascent of Olympus, pp. 56 et seq., with its\nNote on Ivy and Mugwort in Siberia, pp. 96 et seq.\n\n[530] Rendel Harris, op. cit., pp. 101\u20132.\n\n[531] Egyptian Myth and Legend, pp. 6 et seq.\n\n[532] Myths of Babylonia and Assyria, pp. 143\u20134.\n\n[533] Batchelor, The Ainu and their Folk-lore. Batchelor, Notes on the\nAinu (Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan), Vol. X, pp. 206 et\nseq. Milne, Notes on the Koro-pok-guru (Transactions of the Asiatic\nSociety of Japan), Vol. X, pp. 187 et seq. Chamberlain, Ainu Folk-tales\n(Folk-lore Society\u2019s Publications, Vol. XXII, 1888).\n\n[534] Note on Ivy and Mugwort in Siberia in The Ascent of Olympus, pp.\n99\u2013100.\n\n[535] The god Ea of the Sumero-Babylonians.\n\n[536] Zipangu and Cipangu are renderings of the Chinese Jih-p\u00ean (\u201cthe\nplace the sun comes from\u201d), with the word Kuo, \u201ccountry\u201d, added. The\nJapanese Nihon or Nippon, and our Japan, are other renderings of the\nChinese name which was first used officially in Japan in the seventh\ncentury A.D. Earlier Japanese names include Yamato and \u014c-mi-kuni, \u201cthe\ngreat dragon (mi) land\u201d, &c.\n\n[537] Yule, The Book of Ser Marco Polo (Book III, chapter iii), Vol.\nIII, p. 200. Kunz, Folk-lore of Precious Stones (Memoirs Internat.\nCongr. Anthrop., Chicago, 1894), pp. 147 et seq. G. A. Cooke, System of\nUniversal Geography, Vol. I (1801), p. 574. J. W. Jackson, Shells as\nEvidence of the Migrations of Early Culture (London, 1917), pp. 106 et\nseq.\n\n[538] Korea and her Neighbours (London, 1898), Vol. II, pp. 95 et seq.\n\n[539] The Chinese dragon, K\u2019\u00fch-lung, originated from a sea-plant called\nhai-l\u00fc. De Visser, The Dragon in China and Japan, p. 72.\n\n[540] The Dragon in China and Japan, p. 137.\n\n[541] The temple of the Mexican dragon- and rain-god, Tlaloc, was\ncalled \u201cEp-coatl\u201d, which signifies \u201cpearl-serpent\u201d or \u201cserpent-pearl\u201d.\nYoung children sacrificed to Tlaloc by being thrown into the whirlpool\n(pan tit lan) of the lake of Mexico, were also called \u201cEp-coatl\u201d. This\nsacrifice took place at the water festival in the first month of the\nMexican year. The infants were sacrificed at several points, some being\nbutchered on holy hills, including the \u201cplace of mugwort\u201d, sacred to\nthe mugwort and gem-goddess Chalchihuitlicue, wife of Tlaloc. But only\nthe children thrown into the lake were called \u201cEp-coatl\u201d.\n\n[542] Shinto (London, 1905), pp. 27 et seq.\n\n[543] This does not seem to be the reason for the sanctity of a round\nobject.\n\n[544] Or shaped like the teeth of tigers or bears.\n\n[545] Arch\u00e6ologia, 1897 (The Dolmens and Burial Mounds in Japan), p.\n478.\n\n[546] Legend in Japanese Art, pp. 354\u20136.\n\n[547] Ancestor of the Mikado.\n\n[548] Goddess of the Sun.\n\n[549] Legend in Japanese Art, pp. 350\u20131.\n\n[550] The Maga-tama and the Kuda-tama.\n\n[551] Jade, pp. 353\u20134.\n\n[552] Ise is the name of a province, and the nearest town to the\n\u201cMecca\u201d is Yamada.\n\n[553] Shinto (1905), pp. 231\u20132.\n\n[554] See Index under Artemis.\n\n[555] The temple of the sun-goddess is called Naiku, and that of the\nfood-goddess Geku. These temples are of wood, with thatched roofs.\nEvery twenty years the buildings are renewed.\n\n[556] Shinto, p. 38.\n\n[557] Shinto (1907), pp. 15\u20136.\n\n[558] King, Babylonian Religion and Mythology, pp. 35, and 174 et seq.\n\n[559] Myths of Babylonia and Assyria, pp. 72\u20133.\n\n[560] Ibid., p. 95.\n\n[561] Aston, Shinto (1907), p. 14.\n\n[562] Breasted, Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt, pp. 99 et seq.\n\n[563] Shinto (1907), p. 6.\n\n[564] Here we have the sanctity of jewels and other so-called\n\u201cornaments\u201d brought out very clearly.\n\n[565] Aston, Shinto (1907), pp. 6\u20137.\n\n[566] The Dragon in China and Japan.\n\n[567] See Chapter XX.\n\n[568] Breasted, Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt, p. 26. The Texts\nreferred to are: \u201cHis brother Set felled him to the earth in Nedyt....\nOsiris was drowned in his new water (the inundation).\u201d\n\n[569] De Dea Syria, Chapter VIII.\n\n[570] Breasted, op. cit., p. 20. Osiris was addressed: \u201cThou art great,\nthou art green, in thy name of Great Green (Sea); lo, thou art round as\nthe Great Circle (Okeanos); lo, thou art turned about, thou art round\nas the circle that encircles the Haunebu (\u00c6geans)\u201d.\n\n[571] Ibid., 22\u20133.\n\n[572] For various versions of this legend see Hartland, Legend of\nPerseus and River deities in Index.\n\n[573] King, Babylonian Religion, p. 77.\n\n[574] See Index under Ymir and P\u02bcan Ku.\n\n[575] A translation into English of the Ko-ji-ki, by Professor B. H.\nChamberlain, was printed as a supplement to Vol. X of the Transactions\nof the Asiatic Society of Japan (1893). The Nihon-gi was translated\ninto English by Dr. Aston, and printed in the Transactions of the Japan\nSociety for 1896.\n\n[576] Grey, Polynesian Mythology, pp. 1 et seq.\n\n[577] Like the Floating Island or Islands of the Blest.\n\n[578] \u201cHid their persons\u201d signifies, according to some commentators,\nthat they died. But certain Egyptian deities were \u201chidden\u201d; their\ninfluence remained: the Japanese hidden deity had a \u201cmi-tama\u201d (soul).\n\n[579] Eight is a sacred number in Japan.\n\n[580] See Myths of Crete and pre-Hellenic Europe, pp. 305\u20139.\n\n[581] Shinto (1905), p. 90.\n\n[582] He is the green falcon of the Morning Star in the Pyramid Texts.\n\n[583] The Dawn of Astronomy (London, 1894), pp. 383 et seq.\n\n[584] Shinto (1905), p. 132.\n\n[585] The Dragon in China and Japan, p. 137.\n\n[586] De Visser, The Dragon in China and Japan, pp. 136\u20137; and Florenz,\nJapanische Mythologie, Chap. III, p. 33.\n\n[587] Japanische Mythologie, p. 46.\n\n[588] De Visser, op. cit., pp. 135\u20136.\n\n[589] Shinto (1905), p. 73.\n\n[590] See Index under wani.\n\n[591] The Dragon in China and Japan, p. 140.\n\n[592] Ibid., pp. 141\u20132.\n\n[593] De Visser, op. cit., pp. 139\u201340.\n\n[594] De Visser, op. cit., pp. 147 et seq.\n\n[595] Aston, Shinto (1905), p. 56 and pp. 219\u201320.\n\n[596] The Dragon in China and Japan, pp. 231 et seq.\n\n[597] Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, Vol. X\n(supplement), p. 34.\n\n[598] The spirits of disease, decay, destruction, and darkness.\n\n[599] This phallic symbol had, apparently, like jade, rhinoceros-horn,\n&c., nocturnal luminosity.\n\n[600] Transactions of Asiatic Society of Japan, Vol. VI, Part III, pp.\n455\u20136.\n\n[601] For representative versions in various lands, see Andrew Lang\u2019s\nCustom and Myth (A Far-travelled Tale), pp. 87 et seq.\n\n[602] Or \u201cFlat Hill of Hades\u201d, the frontier line between the land of\nthe living and the land of the dead.\n\n[603] In the Ainu story about the man who visited the Underworld and\nwas transformed into a snake, a pine tree, inhabited by a goddess,\noccupies the spot on which grows the peach tree in this Japanese myth.\n\n[604] The Japanese Persephone.\n\n[605] \u201cSusa-no-wo\u201d for short.\n\n[606] Things Japanese, p. 145.\n\n[607] Shinto (1905), p. 141.\n\n[608] Shinto (1905), p. 137.\n\n[609] De Visser, The Dragon in China and Japan, pp. 153\u20134.\n\n[610] Shinto (1905), p. 140.\n\n[611] Indian Myth and Legend, pp. 14, 15, 24, 64, 65.\n\n[612] De Visser, The Dragon in China and Japan, pp. 83 et seq.\n\n[613] Ibid., p. 15.\n\n[614] The Dragon in China and Japan, p. 121.\n\n[615] Maspero, Dawn of Civilization, pp. 156 et seq.\n\n[616] De Visser, The Dragon in China and Japan, p. 13.\n\n[617] The modern Omi, Afumi (Aha-humi), \u201cFresh-water Lake\u201d:\nChamberlain, Transactions of Asiatic Society of Japan, Vol. X\n(supplement), p. 45, n. 12.\n\n[618] That is, the elder brother of her family. He was really younger\nthan herself.\n\n[619] As the Babylonian Nergal wrested Hades from Eresh-ki-gal\n(Persephone).\n\n[620] The so-called \u201ccomma-shaped\u201d beads, which represented the claws\nof tigers or bears, or a cut sea-shell.\n\n[621] The \u201cMilky Way\u201d by night, also called the \u201cHeavenly River of\nEight currents (or \u2018reaches\u2019)\u201d.\n\n[622] The ancient Egyptian Celestial Pool of the Gods.\n\n[623] Each jewel was eight feet long.\n\n[624] The \u201chohi of Heaven\u201d. What \u201chohi\u201d signifies is a puzzle.\n\n[625] Shinto (1905), p. 172.\n\n[626] Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt, p. 23.\n\n[627] Shinto (1905), p. 174. Professor Benoy K. Sarkar compares Shiva\nto Osiris. See The Folk-Element in Hindu Culture (London, 1917), p. 7.\n\n[628] In Ancient Egypt the mountain that splits when the sun emerges at\ndawn.\n\n[629] The tree Sakaki (Cleyera japonica) planted beside Shinto shrines.\n\n[630] The dance was a gross and indelicate one.\n\n[631] This rope (shime-naha) is tied round trees at Shinto shrines. At\nIse it stretches across a ravine, through which the sun is seen and\nadored at dawn. The straw is pulled up by the roots.\n\n[632] The modern hohodzuki (Physalis Alkekengi).\n\n[633] De Groot refers to a \u201cvenerable\u201d Chinese dragon living in a pond;\nit had nine heads and eighteen tails, and \u201cate nothing but fever\ndemons\u201d. The Religious System of China, Vol. VI, p. 1053. Another\ndragon is 1000 miles long; his breath causes wind; when he opens his\neyes it is day, and when he closes them it is night. De Visser, The\nDragon in China and Japan, p. 62.\n\n[634] In the Nihon-gi this sword is called Ama no-hawe-giri (the\nheavenly fly-cutter).\n\n[635] Idzumo is the next holiest place to Ise. The god had other names\nincluding Oho-kuni-nushi (\u201cGreat Land Master\u201d).\n\n[636] An incident that recalls the Diarmid story in Scottish and Irish\nGaelic folk-tales.\n\n[637] One of the first three deities, the children of Heaven and Earth.\n\n[638] The Arca inflata.\n\n[639] The Cytherea meretrix.\n\n[640] Chamberlain, in his translation of the Ko-ji-ki (p. 70), says\n\u201cthe meaning is that a paste like milk was made of the triturated and\ncalcined shell mixed with water\u201d. Mother (omo) may be read as \u201cnurse\u201d\ntoo. Mrs. Carmichael, widow of Dr. Alexander Carmichael, the Scottish\nfolk-lorist, informs me that in the Outer Hebrides women burn and grind\ncockle-shells to make a \u201clime water\u201d for delicate children. The clam is\nlikewise used. The ancient Japanese and ancient Hebrideans may have\nreceived this folk-medicine from the ancient seafarers who searched for\nshells and metals.\n\n[641] This was a magical act. He rendered himself invisible.\n\n[642] The \u201csounding arrow\u201d with a whistling contrivance made of bone.\nIt was known in China during the T\u02bcang Dynasty, and was used by hunters\nto make birds rise, and by soldiers to scare enemies. Laufer thinks the\nJapanese sounding arrows were of Chinese origin.\u2014Chinese Clay Figures,\np. 224, n. 4.\n\n[643] Or a rat.\n\n[644] Here one is tempted to see mouse-Apollo, or the mouse of the\nHomeric Apollo who shoots the arrows of disease. The mice that strip\nthe arrows of their feathers may be the arresters of disease. Mouse\nmedicine is of great antiquity in Egypt.\n\n[645] \u201cDivine messages,\u201d says Chamberlain, \u201cwere conveyed through a\nperson playing on the lute.\u201d The language of the \u201clute\u201d was thus like\nthe \u201clanguage of birds\u201d.\n\n[646] This is a Far Eastern version of the Jack-and-the-Beanstalk\nstory.\n\n[647] Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, Vol. X\n(supplement), p. 81.\n\n[648] Native commentators say \u201cgoose\u201d or \u201cwren\u201d; some consider that\nowing to a copyist\u2019s error \u201cinsect\u201d has been changed to bird, and that\nthe reading should be \u201cmoth\u201d or \u201csilk-worm moth\u201d or \u201cfire insect\u201d.\n\n[649] Some think this plant is one that bears a berry three or four\ninches long, and that the boat was a scooped-out berry.\n\n[650] This is not Yomi, but either the Chinese Paradise of the West or\nthe Paradise of the Buddhists.\n\n[651] A Chinese phrase signifying anciently the Chinese world or\nempire. The \u201cCrumbling Deity\u201d may be the \u201cleech-child\u201d, or the\ncaterpillar worshipped by a Japanese cult.\n\n[652] See Index.\n\n[653] This is his posthumous name. During his life he was\nKamu-Yamato-Iware-Biko.\n\n[654] The golden crow of the sun had three legs. In the moon was the\njewelled hare.\n\n[655] Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, Vol. X\n(supplement), p. 199, n. 5.\n\n[656] Chamberlain, Things Japanese, p. 57.\n\n[657] Polynesian Researches (First Edition, 1829), p. 327.\n\n[658] Turner, Nineteen Years in Polynesia (1861), p. 237.\n\n[659] Batchelor, Notes on the Ainu (Transactions of the Asiatic Society\nof Japan, Vol. X), p. 218.\n\n[660] Nira, the Allium odorum.\n\n[661] Tilia cordata. See Chamberlain\u2019s Ko-ji-ki, pp. 102 n. 26, and\n215.\n\n[662] An evil rain which did harm like the evil rain sent by a sick or\nan angry and destroying dragon.\n\n[663] The moor of the waterfall of the River Yoro in Mino.\n\n[664] Apparently the sword would have protected him against the fatal\nenchantment wrought by the white boar-god of Mount Ibuki.\n\n[665] Chidori, a dotteril, plover, or sandpiper.\n\n[666] As a god\u2019s mi-tama rests in a temple to be worshipped.\n\n[667] His posthumous title. During life he was called Hachiman.\n\n[668] Customs of the World (Japan), pp. 380 et seq.\n\n[669] Chinese Clay Figures, Part I, p. 272 (Field Museum of Natural\nHistory, Publication 177; Anthropological Series, Vol. XIII, No. 2).\nChicago, 1914.\n\n[670] Jade, p. 57.","title":"Myths of China and Japan: with illustrations in colour & monochrome after paintings and photographs","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":118506}