244 Dr. Milne's Account of a Secret Association in China. 



which he cuts off the head of a cock, which is the usual form of a Chinese 

 oath, intimating — " thus let perish all who divulge the secret." But it is 

 said the grand ceremony can only be performed where there is a considerable 

 number of members present. They worship Heaven and Earth on those 

 occasions, and sometimes, when the place is sufficiently secluded, perform 

 the initiatory rites in the open air. 



Fifthly, Secret Signs. 



Some of the marks by which the members of the San hd hwuy make 

 themselves known to each other, are those that follow : — Mystic numbers ; 

 the chief of which is the number three. They derive their preference for 

 this probably from the name of their society, " the Triad Society." In 

 conformity with this preference they adopt odd rather than even numbers, 

 when it can be done. They say three, three times ten, three hundred, three 

 thousand, three myriads, rather than txco,Jbur times ten, &c. 



The word * Hu7ig, above-mentioned, contains tiie number three hundred 

 and twenty-one, and is often used by them for particular purposes. They 

 separate its component parts thus: \ san — pcih—urh-shih—yih. The cha- 

 racter San is properly a form oiXskxvuy (water), as used in composition, and 

 should have this sound ; but in the analysis of any Chinese character, of 

 which this form ofshwuy constitutes the dexter component, the teacher says 

 to his pupil, § san-teen shwuy, i.e. put " three points water at the side," or 

 " the three point form of shwuy." But when used by the san ho hwuy, the 

 word san (or three) alone is employed ; the other parts being out of place 

 for them. ll Pa, or eight, much resembles in sound % plh (an hundred), 

 and in a rapid conversation is scarely distinguishable from it. ** Urh-shih 

 is the united or mercantile form of tt urh shih, or " two tens " run together 

 tor the sake of expedition in business, tl Yih is the common form of one. 

 Now hearing the component parts of Hung gone over in this manner, it 

 seems to the uninitiated to mean %% san pih urh shih yih, '^^ three hundred 

 and twenty-one." What the members themselves mean by it, it is impossible 



* See Plate I, No. 14. t See Plate I, No. 15. { See Plate I, No. 16. § See Plate I, No. 17. 



II See Plate I, No. 18. f See Plate I, No. 19. ♦* See Plate I, No. 20. 



tt See Plate I, No. 21. %% See Plate I, No. 22. §§ See Plate I, No. 23. 



