144 Chinese Clay Figures 



dishes, utensils, platters, and the like. 1 Then there is the horn ' frighten- 

 ing fowl ' with a white, silk-like thread ; placed in the rice, it scares the 

 fowl away. The ' dust-dispelling horn ' is utilized to make hairpins and 

 combs for women; it keeps dust out of the hair. As to the 'water- 

 dispelling horn,' when brought into the water of a river or the sea, it 

 has the power of breaking a way across it. Exposed to a fog, and in the 

 evening, it does not contract moisture. As to the 'resplendent horn,' 

 this one, when put in a dark house, emits its own light. 2 Of all these 

 various horns, I know only from hearsay, for I have not been able to 

 procure and see them." 



The Yu yang tsa tsu by Tuan Ch'eng-shi of the ninth century 3 

 makes the following comments on the rhinoceros: "The variety of 

 rhinoceros styled ' communicating with the sky ' dislikes its own shadow, 

 and is in the habit of drinking muddy water. 4 When the animal is im- 

 mersed in the water, men avail themselves of this opportunity to cap- 

 ture it, as it is impossible for it to pull its feet out of the mud. The natu- 

 ral structure of the horn is such that it is filled with figures resembling 

 objects of nature. It is asserted by others that the designs penetrat- 

 ing the rhinoceros-horn are pathological. 5 There are three varieties 

 of design, styled tao ch'a ('lines inverted and inserted'), cheng ch'a 

 ('straight and inserted'), and yao ku ch'a ('inserted like a barrel-shaped 

 drum'). 6 They are styled 'inverted,' if one half of the lines pass 



1 The colors indicated by the Chinese writers altogether answer the facts. In its 

 exterior, the color of rhinoceros-horn is usually black or dark brown. A cross-section 

 reveals various colors. A specimen kindly presented to the Museum by Mr. F. W 

 Kaldenberg of New York exhibits in the interior a large black zone running through 

 the centre and extending from the base to the tip, and filling the entire space of the 

 extremity. In the lower, broad portion it is surrounded on the one side by a gold- 

 brown section, about 3.5 cm wide and 21 cm long, and on the other side by a mottled 

 light-yellow and greenish zone almost soap-like in appearance. This horn was 

 found in the woods, and is in places eaten through by insects. The surface of the 

 base exhibits the tips of the bristles, and appears like a coarse brush. The fibres 

 running longitudinally, owing to the effect of weathering, can be easily detached. 



2 As shown above (p. 138), optic properties are attributed to the horn as early as 

 the time of Ko Hung. The subject is discussed in detail below (p. 151). 



3 As now established by P. Pelliot (T'oung Pao, 1912, pp. 373-375), this work 

 was published about 860. 



4 The Ptn ts'ao adds, " In order to avoid beholding its reflection." This notion is 

 doubtless derived from the animal's predilection for a mud-bath; its favorite haunts 

 are generally in the neighborhood of swamps (Lydekker, /. c, p. 31). 



6 The P£n ts'ao adds, "But the natural reason cannot be ascertained." This is 

 a comment of Su Sung. 



6 The meaning of these technical terms is not quite easy to grasp. The word tao 

 (No. 10,793) is "to invert," ch'a (No. 205) means "to insert:" tao ch'a, accordingly, 

 may mean "lines inserted in the horn in an inverted position;" and cheng ch'a, "lines 

 inserted straight." Yao ('loins') ku (No. 6421; in Pen ts'ao erroneously No. 6227) is 

 the former name for a barrel-shaped drum (hua ku, see A. C. Moule, Chinese Musical 

 Instruments, p. 57, where an example from a verse of Su Tung-p'o is quoted). Yao 

 K'uan, the author of the Si k'i ts'ung yii, written about the middle of the twelfth 



