162 THE LYCHEE AND LUNGAN 



brothers Lin Ch'ien-po and Lin Shou-po and we agreed to meet 

 once every day until the lychee fruiting season was over and then 

 stop. The by-laws of our club consisted of five articles. I was 

 made director of the club. Though this fruit is a wonderful and 

 mysterious thing, yet we are able to value, cherish, and also guard 

 it by forming into a club those who have the same liking for it as 

 ourselves. 



"We will meet when the weather is fine. For a tent we will 

 use the heavy shade. For a bath we will use the cold fountain. 

 For a covering we will use clothing that the breezes blow through. 

 For illumination we use cool moonlight. To mix with the lychee 

 we will use dark blue wine. For relief (from over-eating) we 

 will drink cold syrup. To verify statements concerning the lychee 

 we will use the old records. To record our business we will 

 use new poems. 



"Although we are living in a foul, dusty world, still we are 

 able to view the borders of the capital of the genii and while our 

 bodies dwell within a fiery city, our spirits roam throughout the 

 cool valleys. Not only those people of leisure living in Wu and 

 Yuen cannot gratify these longings, even Po Fu 1 who broke the 

 purple silk in Nan-pin 2 or Su Weng who was presented with some 

 deep red hornless dragon pearls (ch'en ch'iu chu) 3 in Ling-piao 4 

 are like one who calls himself venerable when there is no Buddha 

 around and that they could not compete with us is clear. 



By-Laws: 



(1) "The club begins to meet when the Huo shan (Volcano) 

 variety is entirely ripe and ceases to meet on the day when the 

 Sung lei (Pine cone) variety comes forth. Each day one member 

 acts as director and procures three thousand fruits as an average, 

 but if there are more, then the pleasure is greater. 



(2) "Whoever acts as director sends out announcements 

 before the time of meeting. As the club has no fixed meeting- 

 place, either an old Buddhist temple or a famous garden will be 



* This is an allusion to the following incident n6ted in the biography of Po Chu-i found in 

 Old History of the T'ang dynasty: "The lychee fruit grown around the gorges of Pa I or Eastern 

 Ssuch'iian has a hull that is like red silk, and inner skin that is like purple silk. Its pulp is bright 

 like frozen snow with juice of a 'sweet sour' taste like rich, sweet wine." See P ei Wen YSn Fu, 



3 Ch'en Ch'iu chu deep red, hornless dragon pearls. This is an allusion to an incident 

 mentioned in the following two lines of a poem written by Su Tung-p'o upon eating some lychee fruit 

 on the nth day of the 4th month: 



'You rinse the wine cups and pour out the excellent wine, 

 While on this transparent dish you present me with these 

 deep-red hornless dragon pearls.' 



* Ling-nan. See P'ei W6n Yun Fu, Bk. 7, Pt. i, p. 108, r. 



