CHESS AND PLAYING-CARDS. 



885 



Fig. 194. 



OBVERSE OP CHINESE 



{Ts'in). 

 China. 



Analogous to these Korean objects are the tablets of authority carried by the Mon- 

 gol princes, which arc described by Marco Polo (Plate 34). These -were of silver, 

 silver gilt, and of gold, and were inscribed with a leyend commanding respect in 

 the name of the Kaan. To this was added the figure of a lion, and below the sun and 

 moon, while the highest lords received a tablet with gerfalcons. I have l)een led to 

 refer to these I'dizah, which are so fully described and illustrated by Colonel Yule 

 (Marco Polo, Book II, C. VII, Note 2), through their sug- 

 gesting in connection with other objects a theory of the 

 origin of the so-called "cash" or current money of China 

 (fig. 194). Tlicse coins, which unifonnly bear the name of 

 the regnal period, by which the sovereign is Ivuown to the 

 world, may be regarded as having been, like the Pdizah, 

 emblems of authority emanating from the sovereign. Spec- 

 imens of Chinese bamboo money (Plate 35), similar in 

 appearance to tlie Korean ho-hpai, occur in the Glover col- 

 lection in the United States National Museum. 



In ancient China, accord- 

 ing to the Book of History 

 (Shu King, Sec. II), the 

 nobles are described as hav- 

 ing five kinds of scepters 



made of precious stones. Of these, the two lowest 

 classes were round with a hole in the center and 

 about 5 inches in diameter. A specimen in the United 

 States National Museum (Cat. No. 130662, gift of 

 Chang Yen Hoon, His Imperial Chinese Majesty's 

 envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary) 

 (Plate 36) is made of jade, and is of the kind desig- 

 nated as luk pik, or "grain-besprinkled slab." 



We have in these scepters an ancient emblem of 

 authoritj' corresponding in form to the coin. "When 

 we examine the name of the latter, we find it to be 

 ts'in, a word difli'ering but slightly from tsin, "arrow," 

 from which I regard both the coin and tablet as 

 having in all probability been derived. The charac- 

 ter for ts'fn is written with the radical for "si)ear" 

 doubled, with the radical for "metal" on the left. It 

 differs in the substitution of metal for p' in, a "leaf" 

 or "slip," from the character isin used in writing the 

 name of the Korean playing cards, htou-ijyen (Chinese, 

 tail tsin) (No. 77). 



Analogous to the Korean ho-hpai are the amulet 

 bags {manwri hukiiro, protection bag), wJiicli Japanese 

 childrtMi used to wear outside their dresses with a 

 ticket containing their names and residences attached. 

 "At a later period they are concealed; but all classes 

 wear them during their natural lifetime. Some of 

 them contain Sanskrit characters, others pictures or 

 names of Shinto divinities or Buddhist saints, while all contain the navel cord of 

 the wearer with the date of his birth inscribed." i 



The Tlingit make and carry small flat bono and ivory tablets. A number collected 

 by Lieut. George T. Emmons, U. S. N., in the United States National Museum (Cat. 

 No. 168372) are represented in figs. 195-200. 



^ 



Fig. 195. 



TLLNOIT TABLET. 



Length, 6J inches. 

 Alaska. 



Cat. No. Ifi8372a, U.S.N. M. 



'Glimpses of Dreamland, translated by Ludovic Mordwin; The Chrysanthemum, 

 II, No. 2, Note, p. 50. 



