824 



"Taoism from early days has taken the peach as its 

 particular fruit, signifying longevity, much as the apples 

 of Hesperides were symbolic in the Grecian mythology. 



"Furthermore peach stones are often made into rosa- 

 ries which are considered specially fine. There is a col- 

 lection of tales by one Cornaby to be found in almost 

 every library called 'A String of Peach Stones.' And a 

 host pf legends cluster around the tale of Sun, the stone 

 monkey, eating the peaches of immortality stolen from the 

 gardens of the genii, whereby he attains immortality. 

 This theme is seen elaborated in many scenes, that deco- 

 rate pottery, textiles, and congratulatory scrolls. 



"I wish that I were not tied down so much by tedious 

 detail in the medical work, as there is a most interesting 

 book that needs to be translated telling much of the folk 

 lore of the peach interwoven with the plot, which is sup- 

 posed to be the journey of Hsien tsang to bring back the 

 sacred sutras of Buddha from India. It is said that this 

 is an actual historic occurrence, but this tale is evi- 

 dently semi-religious and allegorical, as well, combining 

 in itself the characteristics of Bunyan's Pilgrim's Prog- 

 ress, Hans Christian Andersen, and the Arabian Nights, if 

 you can imagine such a mixture, yet giving graphic pic- 

 tures of Chinese life in various phases that are as true 

 as when the book was written. 



"However this is wandering far from the subject in 

 hand, of the true type of the peaches of the north China 

 group. I will make further inquiries of gardeners and 

 orchardists as I have opportunity, but I think you may 

 feel pretty sure, the fruit-bearing kinds are the white- 

 flowered small kinds, and the large pure white are only 

 for ornament; often they are grown so large and full as to 

 be like small roses. But why here in the north the white 

 should predominate I am puzzled, unless the symbolism has 

 something to do with it, for I recollect that both in west 

 and south China and Japan the large double cerise colored 

 peach blooms were quite common. In Japan the single pink 

 large flowered variety was sold quite as freely as the 

 white, but I do not have any clear recollection of this 

 light pink being doubled in any profusion, and certainly 

 since my residence here in north China I have not seen any 

 double light pink peach flowers, though the generally ac- 

 cepted idea is that the peach flower is pink. Maybe it 

 does not lend itself so readily to the doubling process as 

 the white or cerise varieties, but there is very evidently 

 a prejudice against the pink colored ones, nearly all the 

 distinctly pink flowers being apricots, against which, 

 strange to say, there is no prejudice. 



"One of the most charming legends of peach flower 

 lore is that of the 'Peach Blossom Fountain,' an allegory 







