PLANTS MENTIONED IN CLASSICAL WORKS. 245 
believe in seasons and days, revere spiritual beings, stand in 
awe of their laws and orders ; the method also by which they 
made them determine their perplexities and settle their 
misgivings, The commentator & J& Lit says that 4% stands 
here for = shi. 
Tbidem I, 298 [ Yue ling) :—First month of winter. 
Orders are given to the Grand Recorder to smear with blood 
the tortoise-shell and the divining stalks (#€ explained as 
above) and by interpreting the indications of the former and 
examining the fi gures formed by the latter, to determine the 
good and evil of their intimations. I, 885:—The ancient 
Kings made use of the stalks [as above] and the tortoise-shell. 
Shu king, 335 :—Diyination. In all the indications are 
‘even, five given by the tortoise, two by the milfoil (shz). 
Bior says [in an article on the Manners of the Ancient 
Chinese, translated by Leece in his Shi king, Proleg. 
: 142-171] :—We do not know well how this divination was 
_ performed formerly. At the present day they place on the 
: | right and on the left a packet of leaves of this plant (shz) ; 
: then they recite some mysterious words, and by taking a 
handful of leaves from each packet, they prognosticate 
tecording to their number, LEGcr observes that stalks, and 
os: Not leaves, haye always been mentioned to him by Chinese 
describing the method of divination. 
: In the Shi ‘ki, or Historical Record, in the article on 
> divination, it is said that a hundred stalks of the s/i plant 
ome out from the same root. Where this plant: grows 
neither tigers, wolves nor poisonous plants are found. 
The Skuo wen says:—The shi is a kind of hao (Artemisia). 
The plant, will yield, when a thousand years old, three hundred 
- Stalks. . The lengths of the stalks used in the manipulation | 
Were: for the Son of Heaven 9 feet, for the feudal princes 7, 
for the high officers 5, and for the graduates 3 feet, 
