232 WILD LIFE IN CHINA. 



reuniting itself. This is the Chinese story : the splitter has 

 a length of about fourteen inches and the circumference of 

 a copper-cash, say about the size of a halfpenny. If a man 

 comes near it, it leaps into the air, and coming down to 

 earth again divides into twelve pieces. (These stories are 

 always precise in detail.) If the man should be so incau- 

 tious as to pick up one of these segments a head grows out 

 from either end of it, the man is bitten, and inevitably dies. 

 Should he be wary enough to leave so uncanny a creature 

 to itself, the segments afterwards unite again. 



Southern China and Annam can boast possession of the 

 wonderful snake known as the Caller, or Calling Snake. 

 Lonely travellers will hear it sometimes crying out, 

 "Where are you from, and where are you going to ? " If 

 the man answers, the snake will follow him for several tens 

 of li, and will sneak into his hotel when he reaches it in the 

 evening. But as it invariably carries with it a very offensive 

 smell, the inn-keeper seems to know what to expect. So he 

 asks the traveller, "Did you hear any voice calling to you on 

 the way?" The traveller answers, "Yes." Then the inn-keeper 

 knows exactly what has happened and what to do. He 

 takes a Wii-kiing, a sort of flying centipede, and puts it in a 

 box near the traveller's pillow. In the night, when the of- 

 fensive smell shows that the caller is approaching, they open 

 the box and the centipede bounces out, attacks the snake, 

 gives it one bite, and kills it. Should a caller escape this 

 dreadful fate — the penalty of coveting forbidden prey — he 

 may live a very long time, during which period his body 

 grows until it. is several thousand catties in weight, after 

 which, if he is killed his fat makes a lamp oil, which when 

 burning defies the wind to blow it out. 



Burma and Cochin China have a human-faced snake with 

 the features of a pretty girl. There are two feet growing 

 out from under the neck and these have each five human- 

 looking fingers. If the captor cuts this snake in two it turns 

 instantly into a pretty girl complete. The male of the same 

 breed is said to be green in colour and to have a long beard. 

 Its strength is such that it can coil round and kill a tiger, but 

 it is afraid of the fox which attacks and eats it. 



The last of the series is the Jan, or boa, of Kiung- 

 chow in the Island of Hainan. As we have seen, boas or 

 pythons are well known in Hongkong and in the south 

 of China generally, and it is not surprising to find folk- 

 lore well supplied with stories of their immense strength, 

 size, and ferocity. The Jan is said to grow to a length 

 of several chang, the chang being in English measure 

 nearly 12 ft. This species is reputed to have a liking' for 

 young damsels whom it follows. Knowing this, hunters 



