69 



centipedes ', of the leaves of the lien tree(Melia_A^giieraehV-aftd__ 

 of tlve^M u ui'ed ailk threa d. TtergfttfTlhose^who have eaten 

 swallows avoid to cross the water, and those who prayjorjrain 

 use swallow-g; those who suppress water calamity (inundations) 

 us.e _iron. th ese who -^tir-up theJHra^aC^Ctorcauselifl^^ make 



j- ain) u se the wang plant, and those who offer to K'tlh Yuen use 

 leaves of the Melia Azederach and coloured silk thread, wrappiug 

 dumplings in them which they throw into the river. Also w jien 

 phvsici a -ng naa rlr agnn's Hnnoa, f -jqp y Tuii s t k u ow thfise particula rs 



- about the drag£m:&_pa.tn rft . a .s _tn t.hftjr UTringg and hatrftds" 2. 



The beautiful gems remind us of the Indian dragons; the 

 pearls of the sea were, of course, in India as well as in China 

 and Japan, considered to be in the special possession of the 

 dragon-shaped sea-gods. As to the k%ng-tsHng, this is explained 

 to be a hollow stone with water inside, or the vital spirit (^, 

 tsing) of copper. Swallows are also mentioned as food of the 

 shen (^)^ The same- particulars are to be found in the Nan 

 fu sin shu *, where we read that the dragons are afraid of wa x. 



-an d that their fa.t mak es °^1T^ garm'^nts im permeable to wate r. 

 In regard to the dragons' fear of iron we- may mention a 



Giles and Couveehe, but found in the Japanese dictionary entitled Kanwa daijiten, 

 '^ ^P "^ *X*- -ffl- ) P- ^'232, where we read : " IS , Vo, mo, a special liind of plant 



resembling +^ 2& ("swallow-oats", also called karasu-mugi, avena fatua), minogome - 

 (according to Brinkley's diet. "Beckmania erucaeformis") ; its grains are used as food". 

 The ^S , ko, is described there as a special kind of plant with a red stalk and white 

 flowers. Its leaves resemble those of the ^ 1 aoi (hollyhock ; Wells Williams, p. 487 : 

 "the sunflower; a term for some malvaceous plants, as the Malva, Althea, and Hibiscus; 

 it also includes other large leaved plants")". The ^S ^^ , kang-U'ao, is described by 

 Wells Williams (Diet. p. 319, s. v.) as "a trailing plant, vitis ficifolia, which bears 

 white flowers and small grapes that are said to remove stupidity" But the Pen-ts^ao 

 kang-muh gives jffl|", not j^ . 



1 AS. j^, wu-kung^ 



f I ^ # ^> ^ 5^^ # ^ ^ ^ ^tt iH^ » 



3 See below, p. 76. 



^ ^ 0^^ ^, written by Ts'ien Yih, ^ ^) i" the later Sung dynasty; 



Ch. ^, 



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