ETHNOLOGY. 405 



corners, which are not incisive, however sharp they seem, are emblem- 

 atic of justice; the pearl-like jades, suspended from the hat or the gir- 

 dle as if falling, lepresent ceremony and politeness; the pure sound 

 which it emits when struck, and which suddenly stops, figures music; 

 as it is impossible for the ugly shades of color to obscure the handsome 

 ones, or for the fine colors to cover up the poor ones, so loyalty is pre- 

 figured; the cracks which exist in the interior of the stone, and can 1)3 

 seen from the outside, are figurative of sincerity ; its iridescent luster, 

 similar to that of the rainbow, is symbolic of the permanent; its won- 

 derful substance, extracted from mountains or from rivers, represents the 

 earth ; when cut as kuei or as chon, without other embellishment, it in- 

 dicates virtue; and the high value attached to it by the whole world, 

 without exception, is figurative of truth."' The Cbi-King, or book of 

 verses, says in confirmation of these analogies, " When I meditate on 

 that wise man, his thoughts appear to me like the jade;" whence the 

 value affixed by him to this gem. 



As we shall have occasion to notice, the Chinese are firmly convinced 

 that jade possesses many physical properties, which, according to the 

 Chou-wen of Hin-chin, may be reduced to these : The yu is a very hard 

 stone, unchangeable, sonorous, difficult to work, and possessing a soft 

 luster. The author of Pe-hou-thong adds further that when dried at the 

 fire it loses nothing of its weight, and is not any heavier by being 

 moistened. For this unchanging quality it is that the s.?ge was right 

 in his estimate. 



Modern Chinese partake with their ancestors a passion for this gem, 

 and their authors employ its name figuratively and for comparison when 

 they wish to indicate anything white, fine, or perfect. " When you ex- 

 pire I am tempted to think that your soul is jade," (/. e., white,) says the 

 poet Kao-tclii-ti in a piece in which he celebrates apple-trees in blossom, 

 a poetical composition which is reproduced in the Encyclopedia Youen- 

 Kien-Iouihan, and quoted by the author of Yu-kiao-li, or the romance of 

 the two cousins. "We may likewise read in the Fen-loui-tscu-Liii, "The 

 cold penetrates your clothes of jade ; you have a skin of jade and bones 

 of jade." 



And again, Li-thai-pe, one of the greatest poets of the age of Thung, 

 the seventh century before our era, to give an idea of the skill of some 

 musicians whom he was celebrating, said they had flutes of gold and of 

 jade, as was said by the Greeks, when speaking of an eloquent speaker, 

 "he has a mouth of gold," Chrysostom being so called. "How long does 

 the possession of gold or jade abide with us f likewise demands the same 

 poet, in his song of regrets. "A hundred years at the farthest," he an- 

 swers sadly, " the limit of the longest hopes. To live and then to die, 

 behold that is all that is vouchsafed to men. Regret has come, regret 

 has come." 



The Memoirs of Chi-i, or Things Neglected or Omitted, comprise some 

 moral sentiments relating to the stone of which we are speaking, 



; 



