Feb., 1912. Jade. 189 



silver originating from Ts'ien Liu, and perhaps another jade tablet 

 likewise due to the latter. Similar offerings of the Sung and Yuan 

 periods are known only from literary and epigraphical records, but no 

 actual specimen of those times has survived (compare Pelliot, Bulletin 

 de V Ecole francaise d 1 Extreme-Orient, Vol. IX, 1909, p. 576). It there- 

 fore seems that the jade image of the dragon remained restricted 

 to the Han period and was substituted at later ages by prayers in- 

 scribed on jade or metal tablets. A survival of the ancient custom may 

 be seen in the large paper or papier-mache figures of dragons carried 

 around in the streets by festival processions in times of drought to 

 insure the benefit of rain. 



