History of the Rhinoceros 137 



when it was placed on the roof of a house, the birds did not dare to 

 assemble there. 1 There is also the horn of the female rhinoceros, which 

 is very long, with patterns resembling those of the male, but it is not 

 fit to enter the pharmacopoeia." 2 



1 The allusion to the hiai ki si occurs in Ch. 108 of Hou Han shu (compare Cha- 

 vannes, Les pays d'Occident d'apres le Heou Han Chou, T'oung Pao, 1907, p. 182; 

 and Hirth, China and the Roman Orient, p. 79), where this kind of horn is ascribed 

 to the country of Ta Ts'in (the Roman Orient). The legend given in explanation as 

 above is derived from the famous Taoist writer Ko Hung, who died about 330 a.d.; 

 and it is not accidental that the Taoist T'ao Hung-king here copies his older colleague, 

 for the legend is plainly Taoistic in character. It is quoted in the commentary to 

 Hou Han shu, but not in the text of the Annals. The view of Hirth, that it has arisen 

 in consequence of a false etymology based on the Chinese characters transcribing a 

 foreign word, seems to me unfounded. First, as Chavannes remarks, the foreign 

 word supposed to be hidden in hiai-ki has not yet been discovered, and in all probabil- 

 ity does not exist. Second, as will be seen from P'ei wen yiin fu (Ch. 8, p. 87 b), the 

 term hiai ki si does not occur in Hou Han shu for the first time, but is noted as early 

 as the Chan kuo ts'e at the time of Chang I, who died in B.C. 310, when the King of 

 Ch'u despatched a hundred chariots to present to the King of Ts'in fowl-scaring 

 rhinoceros-horns and jade disks resplendent at night (ye kuang pi). It is certainly 

 somewhat striking to meet here these two names, which are identical with those in 

 Hou Han shu, and occur there close together; and it cannot be denied that the passage 

 of Chan kuo ts'e might be an interpolation. Huai-nan-tse, who died in B.C. 122, 

 alludes to a rhinoceros-horn frightening foxes (si kio hiai hu, quoted in P'ei win yiin 

 fu, I. c, p. 89 a, "when placed in the lair of a fox, the fox does not dare return"), 

 which is a case analogous in word and matter to the fowl-frightening horn. These 

 notions must be taken in connection with the other legends regarding the rhinoceros, 

 which all seem to spring from indigenous Taoist lore. The text of Ko Hung, as quoted 

 in P'ei wen yiin fu and translated by Hirth and Chavannes, is fuller than cited 

 above in the Phi ts'ao, while the final clause in regard to placing the horn on the 

 roof does not occur in Ko Hung. The latter links the hiai ki si with the t'ung t'ien, 

 which Hirth and Chavannes translate "communicating with Heaven." This is cer- 

 tainly all right; but I prefer to avoid this term, because it may give rise to mis- 

 understandings, as we are wont to think of Heaven as the great cosmic deity. A com- 

 parative study of all passages concerned renders it clear that the rhinoceros is not 

 associated with spiritual, but with material heaven; that is, the sky. It is the stars 

 of the sky which are supposed to be reflected in the veins of the horn. This means 

 that the designs of the horn gave the impetus to the conception of connecting the 

 rhinoceros with the phenomena of the sky, — again a thoroughly Taoistic idea, in 

 which no trace of an outside influence can be discovered. Father Zottoli (Cursus 

 litteraturae sinicae, new ed., Vol. I, p. 301 ) renders the term t'ung t'ien si tai by " pene- 

 trantis coelum rhinocerotis cingulum." — Chao Ju-kua (Hirth's and Rockhill's 

 translation, p. 103) attributes hiai ki si or t'ung t'ien si also to Baghdad (but I see 

 no reason why these words should denote there a precious stone, instead of rhinoceros- 

 horn). On p. 108 (note 10) the twoauthors represent the matter as though this refer- 

 ence might occur in Ling-wai tai ta, but in fact it is not there (Ch. 3, p. 1 b); it must 

 therefore be due to Chao Ju-kua, who seems to indulge in a literary reminiscence taken 

 from Hou Han shu. The passage, accordingly, affords no evidence for a trade in rhino- 

 ceros-horns from Baghdad to China, which per se is not very likely. — In the illustra- 

 tions to the Fing shen yen i (ed. of Tsi ch'eng t'u shu, p. 9, Shanghai, 1908), T'ung 

 t'ien kiao chu (see W. Grube, Die Metamorphosen der Gotter, p. 652) is seated 

 astride a rhinoceros (outlined as a bull with a single striped horn), apparently because 

 his name T'ung t'ien has been identified with t'ung t'ien si. 



2 There are several additions to this text as edited in the Ching lei pen ts'ao, the 

 most interesting of which is that "only the living horns are excellent." This means 

 the horn of a live animal slain in the chase, which was believed to be superior in qual- 

 ity to a horn cast off and accidentally found (compare Hirth and Rockhill, Chau 

 Ju-kua, p. 233). Similar beliefs prevailed in regard to ivory. That coming from the 

 tusk of an elephant killed by means of a pike was considered the best; next in quality 



