INTH0DUCÏI0N. xxx v | , 



word with 3 points, as: Ree. lst Deg.\, for: Reception in the firsfc Degree. (*) The sectarians oi' 

 the Hun g-league also abbreviate the characters, and put two or three of these mutilated charac- 

 ters together, as y Jjj p for $t J|j| ^ Hung-sJiun-tJiang , „Hallof obedience to Hüng." (-) 



With the masons of the middle-ages the secret writing consisted in writing the vowelsa, e, 

 !, o and u, with the ciphers 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, and by always placing the firsfc letter before 

 the last letter of the word, as e. g. , 3 213 2 vb 2 for „I believe." ( 3 ) 



In the Hung-league some characters are formed nearly in the same way, as e. g., the name 

 of the league Hung lj)k) which is written : y /\ -^ — * f (3, 8 — pak for 100 which 

 is also pronounced pah — , 20 and 1), being the component parts of this character. ( 4 ) This way of 

 writing is the nearest approach to the Hebrew manner of secret writing. „In Hebrew there were, 

 as in Greek, no ciphers distinct from the letters: each letter representing a number. There- 

 fore, starting from. a superstitious idea of the inspiration of the sacred books, the rabbins 

 imagined that the sum obtained by the addition of the letters of a certain word had a myste- 

 rious signifïcation , which permifcted, in case of need, to snbstitute for this word another word 

 giving the same sum. In this way they corrected some passages scandalous in the narrow 

 Judaic view of the time. E. g., being shocked by the literal sense of a certain passage 

 (Numb. xii, 1), where ifc is said that Moses had married an Ethiopean woman, a coushith (word 

 equivalent to the number 736), they substituted for this ill-sounding term the word Jephath 

 niareheh (good looking) the letters of which, added together, gave, also, the sum 736; so that ir, 

 f hen meanfc that the Hebrew legislator had married „a good looking woman," which phrase no 

 longer scandalized them." ( 5 ) 



Another method of secret writing in the Hung-league is to add a character to the real one. Ge- 

 nerally they use the characters Tian, lightning, and Hou, tiger: these characters are added to the 

 leffc side of the intended one. Examples of this kind of secret writing are found on page 22 

 in the Genealogical table of the founders, and on pages 28 seq., in the Lodge-marks. 



This method is Taoistical, and characters, combined in such a way, are often found on Taoist 

 charms. So we saw on a Taoist print, representing a tiger or leopard, the characters ;ffi$ I^jt, 



Properly written these characters are -^ 0j| |pL i^ , ,, Kioang-ming protects the house." 

 Lasty we mighfc, also, perhaps, compare the three degrees in masonry of Apprenttce , Felloiocraft and 



Master to the terms of the Hung-league Ê^ J& , stoom Irother , l|| J^ ? adopted hrother and 

 ÜI 'fÓ? righteous uncle , which inean the younger brethern, those of the same degree, and 

 the elder brethern. (°) 



In conclusion we do not think it improbable that the Hung-league is the depositary of the 

 old religion of the Chinese; consisting in the belief in a single and undivided God worshipped, 



0) Symb. d. Freim., I, 94—95. ( 2 ) Comp. p. 51. ! s ) Symb. d. Freim., II, 257. 



( 4 ) Comp. p. 86, note 1. ( 5 ) Revue des Deux Mondes, 1 Oet. 1863. La Littératüre apocalyptique •' 



les Juifs et les Chrétiens, par Albert Eeville. t c ) See p. 23:3. 



