Defensive Armor of the T'ang Period 305 



three catties of salt of Ta-t'ung, three catties of saltpetre, five ounces of 

 stony nitre, and half a catty of sal-ammoniac. This mixture is tightly 

 shut up in a kettle, and boiled for a day and night. Then the kettle 

 is opened, and the mass is beaten with a leather ladle to secure various 

 grades of thickness, and formed into the shapes of willow-leaves, fish- 

 scales, square leaves, and rectangles. This armor has the advantage 

 of being light in weight, and is much employed in the south." 



This is apparently an alchemical recipe intended to produce a cut- 

 proof body protection. The ingredients like the scales of the pangolin 

 rest on sympathetic notions. Of course, it should not be understood 

 with Amiot that the armor was manufactured from this substance; the 

 illustrations show that the question is that of a substantial metal plate 

 armor, although in the text it is a question of scales, and that the metal 

 plates were covered with this essence. The idea of rendering the wearer 

 invulnerable was perhaps responsible for the title of "lion-armor;" and 

 this name, which conveys the impression of a rendering of Sanskrit 

 simhavarman, savors of Indian-Buddhist influence. Indeed, on ex- 

 amining closely the two designs of this armor, we cannot fail to notice 

 that it is identical with the one represented in the late Buddhist art of 

 China during the Ming period, especially in the statues of Wei-t'o (Veda) 

 and the Four Heavenly Kings, the guardians of the world and armed 

 defensors of the Buddhist religion. Numerous specimens of these in 

 all dimensions, carved from wood or cast in bronze, are in the Museum's 

 collection; whatever their artistic and scientific interest may be, they 

 have no value for the study of body armor which is mechanically copied 

 in various conventional and stereotyped designs not properly understood 

 by the artists. 



is an inhabitant of Fukien Province and Formosa, and has its trunk, limbs, and tail 

 covered with large, horny, imbricated scales, which it elevates in rolling itself into a 

 ball when defending itself against an enemy; the scales are medicinally employed 

 (see J. H. Edwards, China Review, Vol. XXII, p. 714). Regarding the word "pan- 

 golin" see Yule and Burnell (Hobson-Jobson, p. 668), and A. Marre (Petit 

 Vocabulaire des mots malays que 1' usage a introduits dans les langues d'Europe, p. 1 1 , 

 Rome, 1866). 



