36 
the deeps, and from him are the rains derived. There is evidence 
also of human sacrifice to the monster, for Hiouen-Thsang (the 
Chinese Buddhist pilgrim to India, seventh century a.p.) relates 
how that one Wat Yuen, on the failure of a river immolated him- 
self in propitiation of itsdragon ; and at the dragon boat festivals 
it is now believed that the boats intimidate the monster. Such 
ideas were probably carried to China and Japan with Buddhism 
(and perhaps there engrafted on national myths), for Buddha him- 
self was a dragon slayer, and there is much in Hiouen-Thsang 
throwing light upon the subject. It is possible very clearly to trace 
the dragon of Japan as a creature of marsh and slime, to which 
propitiation was made ; and it may be of interest to mention that 
a fairy story is now being sold in Tokio, entitled ‘‘ Yamata no 
Orochi,” in which an eight headed monster is appeased, much as 
in the chivalric myth, by the sacrifice of maidens. 
We will now if you please take a glance at another monster also 
very much akin to the dragon, that is the noble beast which strikes 
the visitor to London, with such awe not unmingled with astonish- 
ment. I refer to the griffin. The griffin or gryphon in the 
natural history of the ancients, is the name of an imaginary 
rapacious creature of the eagle species, represented with four legs, 
wings, and a beak, the fore part resembling an eagle, and the 
hinder, a lion. In addition, some writers describe him as having 
the tail of a serpent,—(the trail of the serpent is over them all). 
I was vastly amused when looking up the authorities on these 
matters, to find what a deal of description was always devoted to 
the tail. Well, the griffin is supposed to watch over gold mines 
and hidden treasures, and to be the enemy of the horse, (why, the 
historians do not say. He was consecrated to the sun, and the 
ancient painters represented the chariot of the sun as drawn by 
griffins. According to Spanheim, Jupiter and Nemesis were 
similarly provided. The griffin of the scriptures is probably that 
species of eagle called the osprey. ‘The griffin is related to inhabit 
Asiatic Scythia, where the lands abound in gold and precious 
stones, and when strangers approach to gather these spoils, the 
griffins leap upon the adventurers and tear them in pieces, ‘‘ thus 
chastising human avarice and greed” as the historian quaintly 
remarks, forgetting that the griffins are very avaricious them- 
selves, or they would not mind allowing others to share that 
which could be ofno possible use to them. However, to resume, 
the griffin has like the rest of these monsters, been seen by mortal 
eyes, and the celebrated Sir John de Mandeville in his “travels” 
described one he met with eight times larger than a lion. How- 
ever, be that as it may, and as geography is described as the 
science by which you learn about foreign countries from people 
who have never been there, so I may describe monsters that I 
