136 Chinese Clay Figures 



(si) is in the mountains and valleys of Yung-ch'ang and in Yi-chou; 1 

 Yung-ch'ang is the southern part of the present country of Tien (Yun- 

 nan)." 2 



The next author invoked by Li Shi-chen is T'ao Hung-king (452- 

 536), a celebrated adept of Taoism and a distinguished physician, 

 author of the Ming i pie lu, a treatise on materia medica. 3 He states, 

 "At present the rhinoceros (si) inhabits the distant mountains of 

 Wu-ling, 4 Kiao-chou, 5 and Ning-chou. 6 It has two horns; the horn on 

 the forehead is the one used in fighting. 7 There is a kind of rhinoceros 

 styled 'communicating with the sky' (t'ung t'ien), whose horn is in- 

 tersected by a white vein running clear through from the base to the 

 tip; the night dew does not moisten it. It is employed as a remedy, 

 whereby its wonderful properties are tested. In the opinion of some, 

 this is the horn of the water-rhinoceros, which is produced in the water. 8 

 The Annals of the Han Dynasty speak of the horn of 'the rhinoceros 

 frightening fowl ' (hiai ki si) : when it was placed in the rice that served as 

 food for the chickens, they were all scared and did not dare to peck; 



1 Playfair, The Cities and Towns of China, No. 8596 (2d ed., No. 7527, 1). In 

 the Han period, Yi-chou was the name of a province occupying the territory of the 

 present province of Sze-ch\ian, a part of Kuei-chou and Yun-nan (Bretschneider, 

 Bot. Sin., pt. 3, p. 565), while the southern part of Yun-nan is understood by the 

 designation Yung-ch'ang. The Pie lu, accordingly, locates in south-western China 

 the rhinoceros si, which, as follows from the comment of T'ao Hung-king, is the 

 two-horned species. 



2 This last clause is not contained in the text of the Ching lei pen ts'ao, and is 

 doubtless a later comment, presumably derived from T'ao Hung-king's edition of the 

 Pen ts'ao king, which is listed in the Catalogue of the Sui Dynasty, and according to 

 Bretschneider's supposition, embraced likewise the text of the Pie lu. 



3 His biography is in Nan shi (Ch. 76, p. 4 b) and Liang shu (Ch. 51, p. 12). 



4 Playfair, No. 81 12 (2d ed., No. 7080): district forming the prefectural city 

 of Ch'ang-te, Hu-nan Province. 



5 Northern part of the present Tonking (see Hirth and Rockhill, Chau Ju-kua, 

 p. 46). 



6 Playfair, No. 5239, 2 (4672, 2): in Lin-an fu, Yun-nan Province. Under 

 the Tsin it was a province comprising Yun-nan and part of Kuei-chou (compare 

 Hua yang kuo chi, Ch. 4, p. I, ed. of Han Wei ts'ung shu). 



7 Thus the two-horned (so-called Sumatran) rhinoceros is here clearly mentioned. 



8 The rhinoceros is fond of spending the hot hours of the day immersed in water, 

 and thence the Chinese designation "water-rhinoceros" may take its origin. In this 

 position particularly, the animal calls to mind the water-buffalo. In ancient times 

 it was therefore dreaded as being able to overturn boats, which is quite believable; 

 and soldiers crossing a river were encouraged to prompt action by their commander 

 shouting the name of the animal (Chavannes, Les M6moires historiques de Se-ma 

 Ts'ien, Vol. I, p. 225, Vol. IV, p. 37; Forke, Lun-Heng, pt. II, p. 322; according to 

 Forke, the reading of the text is ts'ang kuang, but as quoted in T'u shu tsi ch'hig 

 and P'ei win yiln fu it is ts'ang se, as in Se-ma Ts'ien). The water-rhinoceros (shui 

 si) is mentioned in Kuang chou ki (see Bretschneider, Bot. Sin., pt. 1, No. 377) as 

 occurring in the open sea off the district of P'ing-ting, resembling an ox, emitting 

 light when coming out of, or descending into, the water, and breaking a way through 

 the water (quoted in T'u shu tsi ch'ing). 



