226 Chinese Clay Figures 



arrow, should aim at the same, under penalty of decapitation. To 

 ascertain how far his followers might be relied upon, he speedily put 

 them to the test. Taking the sounding arrow, he aimed at his favorite 

 horse, when some of his attendants hesitated to follow his example, and 

 were decapitated on the spot. A sterner test was soon in store: his 

 attendants stood aghast at seeing the sounding arrow fly at his cherished 

 wife; those fearing to comply with the order were at once beheaded. 

 Afterwards he went ahunting and discharged the sounding arrow at 

 King T'ou-man's favorite horse; his men without exception duly followed 

 suit: thus Moduk knew that his adherents could be trusted, and finally 

 resolved on the accomplishment of his grand coup d'etat. While on a 

 hunting-expedition with his father, he seized a favorable opportunity 

 to let a sounding arrow fly at the Shan-yu, whereupon a volley was 

 fired at him by his adherents. The king fell ; and his death was followed 

 by the massacre of his wives (except Moduk's own mother), his youngest 

 son , and all officers of state who refused allegiance to the victor. Moduk 

 set himself up as Shan-yu in b.c. 201. 1 



There is assuredly the fact of a large political movement at the bot- 

 tom of this narrative. Certainly, there was no need of a brigade or 

 two of cavalry to eliminate the person of the king; it was a wrestle for 

 the kingdom which involved a contest with a huge army. The problem 

 confronting Moduk was how to overrun the king's powerful host. At 

 this point his reform set in : he became the drill-master of his equestrian 

 archers and a prominent cavalry tactician. His task was beset with 



hardly string, and two arrows with silver heads full of holes, which whistled like 

 a pipe when they were shot; Mangu sent these as a symbolic gift to the King of the 

 Franks (W. W. Rockhill, The Journey of William of Rubruck, p. 180). As to the 

 Ming period, these arrows are figured in the Wupeichi of MaoYtian-iof 162 1 (Ch. 102, 

 p. 10). Those used in the army under the Manchu dynasty are illustrated and 

 described in the Huang ch'ao li k'i Vu shi (Ch. 14). They exhibit a great number of 

 types and varieties which require a special study; in principle, there are two chief 

 classes, — arrows with sharp iron points stuck into the whistle; and arrows with 

 whistle, but without any iron point. The latter do not serve the purpose of killing, 

 but of making only a certain impression. The Kalmuk of the eighteenth century availed 

 themselves of whizzing arrows in hawk-hunting. When the water-fowl frightened 

 by birds of prey would not rise, it was roused by means of such arrows provided 

 with a bone knob, but without iron; for the fowl should not be slain while in the 

 water (P. S. Pallas, Sammlungen, Vol. I, p. 147)- Such blunt sounding arrows were 

 used till the end of the Manchu dynasty by the imperial body-guards to frighten ob- 

 trusive people when the emperor was driving out. Wounds from this weapon, if any, 

 were of course harmless. This type of arrow is styled pao (E. v. Zach, Lexicogra- 

 phische Beitrage, Vol. I, p. 50) ; it is not, however, as v. Zach explains, merely the bone 

 knob which is so called, but the entire implement. The bone knob is termed ku 

 pao. The word pao first appears in the T'ang leu Hen (the "Six Statutes of the T'ang 

 Dynasty") in the sense of a bone arrowhead. At one time, sounding arrows were 

 used in old England, the arrowheads being perforated (J. Strutt, Sports and Pastimes 

 of the People of England, p. 127). 



1 This is the date given by M. Tchang (Synchronismes chinois, p. 118). Wylie 

 gives the date as B.C. 209. 



