1 |&MiE'Ch.VI,p. 36. 



2 jl ^ IE (^''^"^ '^^"^"'•y)' ^^- ±' p- ''96= i^ n ^ ^ :^ *i^ o 



3 Quoted T. S. Sect. ^ 0, Ch. 132, ifeji ^ H ^, P- ^6: || H ^ 



^ ^£ ^ i^ H^' 1"°*^^ ibidem, p. 2a. 



5S.V. (|5^,Ch.I, p. 9a: *i^f|S-tfe..^|Hc11>|t'feffij0J£^ 



6 S ^ :ffi M ) according to De Groot (Rel. Syst. Vol. Y, p. 864, note 2) "a 

 work in ten chapters by P'eng Shing, ^ ^ i of the eleventh century'', quoted in 



the T. S., Sect. -^ ^, Ch. 132, !^ ^ || ^, P- 1&- 



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79 



The Shih i ki ' (ith century) tells us that the Emperor Chao 

 of the Han dynasty (B. C. 86 — 74), when angling in the Wei river, 

 "caught a white Mao, three ehang long, which resembled a big 

 snake, but had no scaly armour. The Emperor said: 'This is not 

 a lucky omen', and ordered the Ta kwan to make a condiment 

 of it. Its flesh was purple, its bones were blue, and its taste was 

 very savoury and pleasant". 



The ancient Chinese apparently considered the Mao — some 

 four-legged water animal — to be a common, dangerous creature, / 

 but afterwards it was believed to be akin to the dragon and 

 called a dragon itself. Thus it became the principal god of rivers 

 and brooks. 



According to the Shuh i M ^ "old tiger-fishes become Mao'''', and 

 the author of the Tiu-yang tsah-tsu ^ instructs us that " when / 

 fishes weigh two thousand kin (catty) they become Mao'". Another 

 work, however, the Yuh hu tsHng hwa *, states that eggs left by 

 snakes or pheasants, when having been a thousand years in the 

 ground, become Mao. 



The P^i ya * describes this animal as follows : " The Mao belongs 

 to the same kind as the lung. Its shape resembles that of a 

 snake and yet it has four legs and a thin neck. Around its neck y 

 it has a white necklace. The big Mao are several spans thick. 

 They are born from eggs. Their eyebrows are united ( ^ ), reason 

 why they are called Mao (^)". 



The Mih ¥oh hioui si'^ says: "The Hao's shape is like that of 

 a snake, and its head is like that of a tiger. Its length reaches 

 several chang. Many of them live in rivulets and pools and under 

 rock caves. Their voices are like the bellowing of a cow. When 

 people walk on the shore or in the valleys of brooks, they are 



