Chap, xvii.] CHINESE STORIES OF PIGMIES. 



369 



The idea that Rhinoceros horn acted as an antidote to 

 poisons, was ancient in India. Hence, no doubt, arose the 

 behef that the Narwhal ivory, supposed to be that of the 

 Unicorn, which beast was in reaUty the Rhinoceros, had the 

 same properties. The story no doubt travelled together with 

 that of the animal. Drinking-cups, elaborately carved out of 

 Rhinoceros horn, were used in the East, and were supposed 

 to detect or neutralize poisons poured into them. The forms 

 of these cups have been largely copied by the Chinese, in 

 ivory-white porcelain. 



Rhinoceros horn is still used in Chinese medicine, and is 

 to be seen hanging up, together with Antelopes' and other 

 horns, in every druggist's shop in Canton. 



Chinese medical prescriptions are excessively long, contain- 

 ing a vast number of ingredients, most of them inactive. It 

 is only lately that English prescriptions have been shortened, 

 and they still sometimes contain a good deal which is super- 



" The Small Men's Country is to the eastward of Tai Tong. The inhabitants 

 are nine inches high." 



fluous. A certain air of mystery is still preserved about them. 

 Herbalists still practise upon the uneducated in London, in 

 a style in some respects not very different from that of the 

 Chinese physician. 



A large variety of most amusing mythical animals are 

 figured in Chinese works on natural history. Many of them 

 are familiar and classical, such as the Cyclops; and the 

 Pigmies, who are described as going about arm-in-arm for 

 mutual protection, for fear the birds should mistake them for 

 worms and eat them. The story is evidently identical with 

 that of Homer, where the Pigmies are described fighting with 

 the Cranes, on the shores of Oceanos. In Japanese pictures 

 of the Pigmies, the " little men " (sho jin) are represented as 

 walking arm-in-arm on the seashore, with the cranes hovering 

 over them ready for the attack. The measured height of the 

 Pigmies is usually given in classical accounts, just as in the 



Chinese. 



24 



