148 Chinese Clay Figures 



the so-called rhinoceros of K'ien.' l The / to chi 2 says, 'In the sea- 

 water of Shan-tung there is a bull that delights in the sounds of string and 

 wind instruments. When the people make music, this bull leaves the 

 water to listen to it, and at that moment they capture it.' 3 The rhino- 

 ceros has a horn on its nose, and another on the crown of its head. The 

 nose-horn is the one best esteemed. The natural histories (pen ts'ao) 

 are acquainted only with the mountain -rhinoceros. I have not yet seen 

 the water-rhinoceros." 4 



K'ou Tsung-shi, a celebrated physician of the Sung period, reports in 

 his Pen ts'ao yen i (completed in 1 1 16) 5 thus: "The designs in the horns 

 of the river-rhinoceros and the southern rhinoceros are fine. The 

 black rhinoceros-horn has designs clearly displayed, while the yellow 

 rhinoceros-horn has very sparse designs. None equals the patterns in 

 the horn of the Tibetan breed, which are high, and come out clearly at 

 both ends. 6 If the forms of objects pictured in the horn are yellow, while 

 the rest is black, the horn is 'standard color throughout' (cheng t'ou). 

 If the forms of objects are black, while the rest is yellow, the horn is 

 'inverted throughout' (tao fou). If the black color is taken as stand- 

 ard, and the forms of the design are imitative of real objects, the horn is 

 a treasure; this horn is styled t'ung si ('penetrating rhinoceros'). It 

 is an indispensable condition that the patterns come out clearly, and 

 that the yellow and black be sharply differentiated. If both ends are 

 moist and smooth, the horn is of the first quality." 7 



1 The territory of the province of Kuei-chou, where the rhinoceros formerly 

 occurred, as already attested by Su Sung (above, p. 140). 



2 Several works of this title were in existence (see Bretschneider, Bot. Sin., 

 pt. 1, p. 154). 



3 The animal in question is certainly not a rhinoceros, and has crept in here by 

 way of wrong analogy. In his notes on cattle, Li Shi-chen mentions a variety "ma- 

 rine ox" (hai niu, Ch. 51 A, p. 7 a). This creature is described after the Ts'i ti ki by 

 Fu Ch'en of the fifth century or earlier (Bretschneider, Bot. Sin., pt. 1, p. 201) as 

 follows: "Its habitat is around the islands in the sea near Teng-chou fu (in Shan- 

 tung); in shape it resembles an ox, it has the feet of an alligator (t'o No. 11,397, not 

 iguana, as Giles still translates, despite the correction of E. v. Zach, China Review, 

 Vol. XXIV, 1900, p. 197), and the hair of a bull-head fish. Its skin is soft, and can 

 be turned to manifold purposes; its blubber is good to burn in lamps." The marine 

 ox, accordingly, must be an aquatic mammal of the suborder of Pinnipedia (seals). 

 There may be a grain of truth in the above story : the intelligence of seals is remark- 

 able, they are easily tamed and susceptible to music. There is an interesting chapter 

 on tamed seals in the classical treatise of K. E. v. Baer, Anatomische und zoologische 

 Untersuchungen uber das Wallross {Memoir es de I' Acad. imp. des sciences de St. 

 Peter sbourg, 6th series, Vol. IV, 1838, pp. 150-159). 



4 The last clause is not in the text of Chhig lei pin ts'ao. 



6 Pelliot (Bulletin de I' Ecole francaise d' Extreme-Orient, Vol. IX, 1909, p. 217). 



6 The rhinoceros of Tibet has been discussed above, p. 116. 



7 The Arabic authors assert that the interior of the Indian rhinoceros-horn fre- 

 quently presents designs of a human figure, a peacock, or fish, and that the price paid 

 in China is raised according to the beauty of these designs (M. Reinaud, Relation 



