184. SUBGEON-GENERAL C. A. GORDON. 
as Yu had assisted Suun in his government during his life- 
time, he was unanimously called to the vacant dignity, and so 
became founder of the Hea dynasty. 
A record of the inundation referred to has been stated 
to exist in the form of an inscription traced in “tadpole 
characters”? on the rocks of Kaw lan shan, one of the peaks 
of Mount Hang, in the province of Hunan.* 
According therefore to the records quoted, large tracts of 
country having thus been reclaimed, they were rendered habit- 
able. Communities hadtobe formed, andasystem of government 
elaborated, for which purpose history states that Yu sought 
for his ministers “ servants of God, the supreme Ruler.” He 
divided his territory among his chiefs or nobles, and so insti- 
tuted a feudal system, while he himself retained the regal 
power and drew the Imperial revenues from the entire empire. 
The system so established in China thus anticipating by 
upwards of a thousand years the introduction of feudalism 
into our own country. 
Even at this early period certain of the arts had made 
considerable progress. ‘The black-haired race,” as the 
Chinese were even then called, were acquainted with the 
growth of the mulberry tree, and with the culture and manu- 
facture of silk. Ifalso we are to credit early history, the art 
of shipbuilding,—that is,'of vessels to be propelled by means 
of sails,—dates from the same period. History relates that 
during this reign the manufacture of wine, or, more probably, 
ardent spirits, was discovered ; that no sooner did the monarch 
taste it than he exclaimed, “ ‘This liquor will cause the greatest 
trouble in the empire.”’? He forthwith banished its discoverer. 
But, according to the records of the time, the high qualities 
of Yu did not descend to his immediate successors. ‘hus 
we learn that his son, who came to the throne B.C. 2188, 
neglected his public duties, abandoned himself to ‘‘ pleasure,” 
music, wine,t and hunting, with the not unnatural result, even 
in those early times, that he was detested by his people, and 
_ by them dethroned, although not until he had reigned twenty- 
nine years. 
A somewhat romantic episode of the ancient period we are 
now concerned with may be here recounted :—About the year 
B.C, 2146, Ts Seana, contemporary with the date of AbranAM, 
occupied the throne of China. A weak prince and ruler, he 
fell completely into the hands of a clever and designing 
minister, named Hanrsu, who ultimately usurped the regal 
* Williams, vol. ii. p. 149. 
+ It thus appears that this particular vice was not suppressed by the 
banishment of E Trexn, the discoverer of wine. 
