94 



Li Chao ' says in his Kwoh sA^j?^i ("Commentary to the Dynastic 

 Histories")^: "When the spring water comes and the fishes ascend 

 the Dragon-gate (comp. above, this chapter, § 12, p. 86), there are a 

 great many of cast-off bones, which are gathered by the people 

 to make medicines from them. Some of them are five-coloured. 

 The Dragon-gate is Tsin land, which agrees with the statement 

 of the Pen king (comp. above). Are the dragon's bones perhaps 

 the bones of these fishes?" So Sung \ who quotes this passage, 

 instructs us that in his time these bones were found in many 

 districts of Ho tung province. 



Another work of the eleventh century * tells us about a man 

 who in a dark night saw a branch of a tree which spread a bril- 

 liant light. He broke it off and used it as a torch. The next 

 morning he discovered that the light was due to a cast-off skin 

 of a dragon, in size resembling a new shell of a cicada, and 

 consisting of head, horns, claws, and tail. Inside it was hollow, 

 yet it was solid, and wheii he knocked against it, it produced a 

 sound like precious stones. The brightness of its light blinded 

 the eye, and -in the dark it was a shining torch. He preserved 

 it as a treasure in his house. 



The strong light spread by the cast-off dragon's skins is, of 

 course, due to the strong Tang power of the dragons. 



In 1553, when, the water being very low, a dragon's skeleton 

 was discovered on a small island in a river, the people were 

 all very anxious to get one of the bones. " 



Also dragon's teeth were consid ered to be a good medicin e. The 

 Pen-ts^ao kang-muli ^ quotes 'St GHi^^Ts']n-*pwbe--6ftidT'''^3!s'a rule 



2 ^ §N ^^, written in the beginning of the ninth century. T. S., 1.1., Ch. 127, 

 p. 8b. 



3 ^ ^, author of the Sin i siang fah yao, ^ /^ ^ ^ ^, an astronomic 

 work written at the close of the eleventh century (cf Wvlie, p. 107); quoted ibidem. 



4 The Ch'^un chu ki wen, ^^ ^^ -f^ ^^ , ten chapters of miscellanies written by 

 Ho Wei, 'fej'^^f > who lived in the eleventh century (cf. De Groot, Rel. Syst., Vol. 

 IV, p. 110); Ch. II, p. 11. 



5 Shang han lun fiaopien, -^t ^^ g^ -j^ 4^, written in 1589 by Fang Yiu- 



CHIH, ~j^ /^ ^ ; Sect. 2(5: ^. 



6 L. 1., p. 4a. 



7 ^^ ^ yj , a famous physician who lived in the second half of the sixth cen^ 

 tury, author of the Lei hiing yoh tui, fl* ^^ ^ ^ (cf. Bretschneider, 1.1., p. 



-IK* yt* 



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