164 Chinese Clay Figures 



etc., must likewise be the rhinoceros; andT'ao Hung-king is our witness 

 in establishing the identity of the animal as occurring in the Chinese 

 and Indo-Chinese zones. This fact is borne out also by the coincidence 

 of the definitions contributed by Kuo P'o and Liu Hin-k'i. 



In the T'ang period (618-906) the animal must have been plentiful 

 in many parts of China. The geographical section in the Annals of 

 that dynasty carefully enumerates the various articles sent up to the 

 capital as taxes from every district; and it is the local products which 

 come into question. Besides, rhinoceros-horn, as far as I know, was 

 not imported at that time from beyond the sea. The present terri- 

 tory of the province of Hu-nan in central China seems to have then 

 abounded in the animal, 1 for no less than eight localities within its 

 boundaries are on record which furnished rhinoceros-horn to the Court : 

 viz., Li-yang in Li chou, circuit of Shan-nan; Wu-ling in Lang-chou; 

 K'ien-chung in K'ien-chou; Lu-k'i in Ch'en-chou; Lu-yang in Kin- 

 chou; Ling-k'i in K'i chou (modern Yung-shun fu); Kiang-hua in Tao- 

 chou, circuit of Kiang-nan; and Shao-yang in Shao-chou. Rhinoceros- 

 horn was further supplied from Lung-k'i in Tsiang-chou, from T'an- 

 yang in Su-chou, Sze-ch'uan; from Ts'ing-hua in Shi-chou (now Shi- 

 nan fu) in Hu-pei Province; from Yi-ts'uan 2 in Yi-chou, province of 

 Kuei-chou; from Annam; and elephants and rhinoceroses were sent 

 from Ling-nan (Kuang-tung) , forming the southern part of Yang-chou. 3 

 Is it conceivable that the tribute of those regions should have con- 

 sisted of bovine horns which have hardly any commercial value? 

 From mediaeval times onward, as the geographical knowledge of the 

 Chinese more and more advanced, and their intercourse and trade with 

 the nations of the southern ocean increased, they became cognizant of 

 the existence of the rhinoceros in India, 4 Java, 5 and Sumatra, and even 



single-horned rhinoceros. The rhinoceros of India is indeed designated si (Hou Han 

 shu, Ch. 118, p. 5 b; Nan shi, Ch. 78, p. 7; T'ang shu, Ch. 221 A, p. 10 b). This proves 

 again that the word si refers to the rhinoceros, and to this animal only. 



1 Hu-nan, as said before, is mentioned also by T'ao Hung-king. In this province 

 formerly occurred both the rhinoceros and the elephant, furnishing hide and ivory, 

 respectively, at the time of the Chou dynasty (Hirth, The Ancient History of 

 China, p. 121, and above, p. 159). In Hu-nan fang wu chi, "Records of the Local 

 Products of Hu-nan" (Ch. 3, p. 14; edition of 1846), it is stated that there was rhi- 

 noceros-horn among the local products sent as tribute from Heng-chou; the text is 

 quoted from Kiu yii chi, a geographical description of China, which, according to 

 Bretschneider (Bot. Sin., pt. 1, p. 162), was published in 1080 a.d. 



2 Playfair, Nos. 6381, 6713 (2d ed., No. 5701). 



' Playfair, No. 8350 (2ded. No. 3939). Compare T'ang shu, Chs. 40, pp. 1 b, 6 b; 

 41, pp. 9 a, 9 b, 10 a; 43, p. 1 a. 



4 See note 3 on p. 163. 



5 As regards Java, rhinoceros-horn is listed among its products in T'ang shu 

 (Ch. 222 c, p. 3; and Groeneveldt, Miscell. Papers relating to Indo-China, Vol. I, 

 p. 139). The Sung shi (Ch.. 489; Groeneveldt, ibid., p. 144) reports a tribute from Java 



