EMPERORS PREVENTED FISHING 465 
close time, and to permit no cutting of weeds in the waters during 
the spawning season.! 
The Emperors, especially the earlier Emperors, were keen 
all-round sportsmen,? but especially zealous disciples of the 
craft of Angling. Like all good fishermen, they rejoiced in 
having themselves or sharing with their friends a good day. 
Sometimes their keen hospitality made them entirely forget, 
or turn a blind eye on their own ordinances. Even fear of 
the wardens attached to the Imperial] Court, to whom was 
entrusted (according to the Chou Lz) ‘‘ the fishing appropriate 
to each season,” served not at times to stay their ardour. 
Fortunately they were saved from themselves and from 
breaches of the law, as Mr. Werner shows in a sentence, which 
in manner and “superior man”’ strangely recalls Sandford 
and Merton, and Mr. Barlow. ‘It appears from edifying 
anecdotes that the pleasures of the chase, etc., were a snare to 
the Chinese monarchs, but they were seldom left without some 
superior man to keep before them the moral ideas of earlier 
days.’’ 
That such was the case some 3000 years ago the story of 
one of the Chou Dynasty demonstrates. He was anxious in 
the extreme to go a-fishing with the Empress. None of his 
courtiers and none of his laws could deter him, although it 
was the fourth moon, when fish are spawning. 
At last his great minister, Tchang-sy-pe, flung himself at 
the Imperial feet, implored him not to violate one of the 
most essential laws of the realm, and so set an example which, 
if followed generally, would destroy one of ‘‘ the commonest 
and amplest staples of food.’ The ‘‘superior man ”’ succeeded. 
The Emperor, struck by Tchang’s reasoning, and perhaps by 
the enormity of his wrong-doing, immediately called the 
party off. 
Another “superior man’’ later on saves the situation, 
and his monarch, also one of the Chou Dynasty. 
1 De Thiersant, op. cit. 
2 Though they and their subjects rejoiced greatly in cock and quail fighting, 
nature denied to them the “‘ fighting fish,” which in Siam are the occasion of 
weekly contests, heavy wagering, and a fruitful source of revenue to the 
government from the sale of special licenses (cf. Wright, op. cit., 187-8). 
