NOTES AND QUERIES 



Mr. L. C. Arlington, Hangchow, writes : 



I have been much interested in the various criti- ' 



The 



cisms in Adversaria, Series II, No. 1, and in 



Rhinoceros No 48 of the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 

 re the much debated "rhinoceros." 



We are all acquainted with the saying "When doctors dis- 

 agree, God help the poor patient." It might with equal truth be 

 said that "when sinologues disagree, God help the poor student." 



As a humble student worshipping at the shrine of sinology, may 

 I be permitted to venture a few remarks as to the difference between 

 the hsi and the ssul 



Without any prejudice to the arguments of the doctors it is quite 

 correct to make a distinction between the beasts. My reasons are 

 as follows : In the first place we all know that of the five known 

 species of the rhinoceros, two of them are African and three Asiatic ; 

 all have three-toes on each foot. While the Asiatic species has only 

 a single horn, the African has two horns. Then again, Mr. Laufer 

 places the extermination of the rhinoceros in China to the a.d. 13th 

 cent., and even later. If this is so, what do we make of the following 

 taken from Mengtzu, Chap, iii j$ £ & g| fi£ $ft J? & jffi if & 

 (The Great Yii 2000 B.C., "banished the tiger, leopard, hsi and 

 elephant." This fact carries us a long way back from a.d. 13th cent., 

 but it would be interesting to know where Yii drove the beasts. 



Probably he cleared them out at the time he was dividing the 



waters. It may well be asked why it is that the hsi and ssu became 



extinct in China, but not the tiger and leopard? It may be owing 



to the predatory habits of the latter which required a wider range 



l 

 in search of food, whereas the former not being predacious did not 



venture back again ? It must however, not be forgotten, that extinct 

 rhinoceroses of many genera have been found (the earlier forms 

 hornless) in both hemispheres. May not the Chinese description of 

 them belong to these earlier species? 



Cf., also Shih King, chap, iv, Erh Ya .^J^C AW Hunting Party 

 of King Hsuan (f £) 8th Cent. B.C. The commentary states dis- 

 tinctly that the ssu is a yeh-niu or "wild-buffalo." The hunt and 

 killing of the ssu mentioned took place on the banks of the river 



