No. 2371. CATALOGUE OF BVDDH1ST ART— CASANOWICZ 343 



327. Geomantic compass (Chinese, lo-king, or lo-pan). — Consisting 

 of a disk of lacquered wood, beveled down at the bottom to the shape 

 of a saucer. The upper surface carries in its center a small compass, 

 around which run 17 inscribed concentric circles, containing the 

 sundry geomantic factors, as the 8 permutations of the trigram, the 

 12 signs of the zodiac, the 24 celestial constellations, and so forth. 

 It represents the ancient Chinese system of cosmogony and natural 

 philosophy, and forms the basis of a system of divination. 



Geomancy, or, as the Chinese call it, "wind and water," rules 

 (fung-sltui) , is much used by the Chinese for divining future events, 

 or ascertaining the luckiness or unluckiness of any event, or selecting 

 sites for houses, cities, and especially burial places, which are supposed 

 to have important results on the prosperity of the living. The prin- 

 ciples of geomancy depend on two supposed currents running through 

 the earth, known as the dragon and the tiger; a propitious site has 

 these on its" left and right. A skillful observer (fung-shui siensang, 

 or "wind and water doctor") can detect and describe such currents 

 with the help of the compass, also the direction of the watercourses, 

 shapes of the male and female ground and their proportions, position 

 of rivers, trees, and mountains, color of the soil, and the changes of 

 the elements. (Compare S. Wells Williams, The Middle Kingdom: 

 New York, 1853, vol. 2, pp. 245-247). Diameter, 1\ inches. China. 

 (Plate 91, Cat. No. 126954, U.S.N.M.) 18 



328. Divination slips (Chinese, clii en-toong). — Consisting of two 

 bamboo tubes containing slips of bamboo which are inscribed with dif- 

 ferent characters. The person wishing to know the will of the gods 

 or his fortune shakes the tube and, with averted face, draws out a 

 slip and reads the answer on it. Shanghai, China. (Cat. No. 158304, 

 U.S.N.M.) 



329. Divination Mocks (Chinese, chiao).— Consisting of two pieces 

 of split bamboo, kidney-shaped, with one side convex and the other 

 flat. The supplicant tosses them into the air in front of the altars 

 of the gods he is supplicating. If both convex sides turn up, the 

 answer is ijang-yang, which signifies the male principle of nature, 

 and means "indifferently good"; if both flat sides turn up it is 

 yin-yin, which signifies the female principle of nature, the answer is 

 understood to be negative and unfavorable; if one convex and the 

 other flat, the answer is considered as absolutely affirmative and the 

 prayer as granted. Shanghai, China. (Cat. No. 158301, U.S.N.M.) 



330. Divination cards. — Five disks of rough cardboard, painted in 

 red, green, blue, and yellow with concentric circles, with Tibetan 

 letters in the center and surrounded by flames on the margin. Dia- 



18 For a detailed explanation of the geomantic compass see j. j. M. de Groot, The Religions of China, Leide, 

 1897, vol. 3, p. 959, and Taul Cams, Chinese Thought, Chicago, 1907, p. 58. 



