CHALFANT: EARLY CHINESE WRITING 33 
style of the writing used. More than six hundred signs have been noted, the most 
of which are (as yet) undeciphered. Some of the most striking pictographs are the 
following : 
af (% “horse’”’) ; < (2); ¥ (dragon ?); B, (2); x (Prarie or Fe 
“heaven”? ?): a F ey A SONS and - sao, WY ¢ ee oe Gas 
heaven” ?) ; < and (stag ?); 0) AN ste) (bird?); y (scorpion ?); e (rat?) 
P i an rau ayy a polatine ¢ life): Oe. 
or (tiger?); oe ay, Ny, ae e (symbols relating to plant-life) ; cai (cae 
Rigi 
(Rev. ) (Text in the Modern Character. ) 
i ae een eae 
in ss : 2 \ 
/ ace \ 
aoe 
he 
© 
‘ 
ye } 
( 
1 
\ 
fe) FY : 
| ' 
= ! 
Zz y 
a ( 
= t 
Z ; ras, 
ZI IN ‘ & fol He (2) \ 
go 5 Wee 3) 
é hoe ; 
Z LJ i fe, Le : 
2 ' oa oo ‘ 
elt ; 
( (ER ae i 
EE, ‘ ; 
, wt Sr Ke . ‘ 
NU (Ory See ee : (3) be 
} A \\\ : See A 
Fic. 14. Inscribed bone, with lower end missing. The obverse has three separate sentences differing only in the 
dates. ‘The rendering is: ‘‘ [Date] divination. I ask the Serpent-father to enquire.” It appears that at least four 
enquiries are recorded, inasmuch as the sign x at the bottom begins what was probably the same formula with a new 
date. Liu T‘ie Yiin interprets ‘‘Serpent-father’’ as a mystic title of the soothsayer. The reverse records a date 
(4 ke) and undeciphered signs. This fragment shows discoloration from fire. (Actual size. ) 
(Original in R. A. Soc. Museum, Shanghai. ) 
AN OR? “capital city’’): a (@ ec CIemlOu ss): ae (halberd); <{ (bow); pha (bal 
ances?); it (FH wine-jar); ey (@ (2) reverence); <y (gly “hill”); FA (“field”); 
“ Bya2va\ he «“ Ze [¥] Ghee lo. 1y 
g (A axonal“) yA moon”); Ee a] park”’), 
60 A common old form inverted. 
