66 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. X. 



writing-material. In Lei-chou every thunderstorm is connected with 

 a big downpour of rain in which large objects like sandstones fly down 

 and small ones like bits of stones, others in the shape of fingers, hard 

 like stone, of black color, lustrous and very heavy.' — Liu Sun says in 

 his book Ling piao lu (T'ang dynasty): 'In Lei-chou, after a rain, 

 men have frequently found in desert places stones like jet 1 which they 

 call inkcakes of the God of Thunder; when struck, they yield a sound 

 like metal; they are of bright lustre and nice.' — Li Chao narrates in 

 his book Kuo shih pu (beginning of ninth century): 'Thunderstorms 

 abound in Lei-chou. At the advent of the autumn they cease, and it 

 looks as if thunder would then hibernate in the soil. The people dig 

 it up, take and eat it, and in view of this fact, such objects appear as 

 the fruits of thunder.' " 2 



These "inkcakes" are doubtless natural productions, and not 

 wrought stone. Soft stones available for writing with are frequently 

 mentioned. Johan Neuhof (Die Gesantschaft der Ost-Indischen 

 Gesellschaft, p. 317, Amsterdam, 1669) alludes to a stone found near 

 Nan-hing in Kuang-tung Province "very similar in color to Chinese 

 ink, by means of which the Chinese write on white polished boards in 

 the same manner as Europeans with chalk." 



The thunder stones have also an artistic or ornamental function 

 in a curious wood-engraving inserted in the Fang-shih mo p'u (published 

 in 1588) and here reproduced in Fig. 10. Six so-called "precious 

 objects of good omen" are there united in a circular zone on a back- 

 ground of cloud-ornaments. On the right side, two hatchets will be 

 recognised which are explained as "thunder stones." The other 

 objects are: below, two hooks by means of which the empress cuts 

 the leaves of the mulberry -tree, 3 a jade seal, beads of the white coral 

 called lang-kan? the red jewel called mo-ho, and the precious pearl 

 granting every wish. 



Li Shih-chen refers in another passage also to acupuncture needles 

 having been made of stone in ancient times. They are called pien 

 shih (Giles No. 9194) or chen shih (No. 610). His note runs as follows: 



1 See Laufer, Historical Jottings on Amber in Asia, pp. 222-225. 



2 In the Wu It siao shih by Fang I-chih (Hirth, T'oung Pao, Vol. VI, p. 428) 

 it is said that thunder assumes the shape of a swine in the ground. Hirth (Chinesi- 

 sche Studien, p. 158) thinks that a plant like a truffle is understood. 



3 This is an ingenious instrument combining the two functions of a hook and a 

 cutter. Those which I have seen in central China were in the shape of a small 

 scythe to the back of which a projecting hook is attached. The instrument is 

 provided with a socket into which a long bamboo stick is inserted. The farmer uses 

 the hook to seize and bend down towards himself the branches of the mulberry-tree, ' 

 and when they are within easy reach, he cuts them off with the scythe-like knife. 



4 See Chavannes, T'oung Pao, 1907, p. 182; Forke, Mitteilungen des Seminars, 

 Vol. VII, 1904, p. 148. 



