THE CHINESE GEOMANCER'S COMPASS. 75 



use of the compass as for directing carriages, locating 

 buildings, etc. and its employment for finding the way at 

 sea, the latter being by far the more important. 



So far, it will be noted, no marine use of the compass 

 by the Chinese has been suggested. The first passage, 

 remotely capable of such interpretation, appears in the 

 official history of the Soung dynasty, which, after men- 

 tioning the carts, says that u under the Tsin dynasty (265 

 to 419 A. D.) there were also ships indicating the south." 

 During the same period Shih-hu is said to have built a 

 boat provided with a south-pointing magnet, and to have 

 used it on the " Pond of the Cackling Crane," but this 

 seems at most to have been but a toy. l No definite state- 

 ment, however, is found until the end of the nth century 

 is reached, and then, in a work entitled Mung-Khi-pi- 

 than, 2 we meet the following extraordinary passage: 



"The soothsayers rub a needle with the magnet stone, 

 so that it may mark the south; however, it declines con- 

 stantly a little to the east. It does not indicate the south 

 exactly. When this needle floats on the water it is much 

 agitated. If the finger-nails touch the upper edge of the 

 basin in which it floats they agitate it strongly; only it 

 continues to slide, and falls easily. It is better, in order 

 to show its virtues in the best way, to suspend it as follows: 

 Take a single filament from a piece of new cotton and at- 

 tach it exactly to the middle of the needle by a bit of wax 

 as large as a mustard seed. Hang it up in a place where 

 there is no wind. Then the needle constantly shows the 

 south; but among such needles there are some which, 

 being rubbed, indicate the north. Our soothsayers have 

 some which show south and some which show north. Of 

 this property of the magnet to indicate the south, like 

 that of the cypress to show the west, no one can tell the 

 origin. ' ' 



*De Lacouperie: cit. sup., noting the Tsin Kung Koh Ki of the 4th 

 century. See also note 2, page 76. 

 2 Thsa-chi, book 24, cit. by Biot. 



