OF CHINA. 25 



native country. We may as well state here, previously to any enquiry, 

 that there is no possible connection between this Si-ling and the Si-ling, 

 ipsis litter is, which was the name in Hup eh, 10& applied under the Han 

 dynasty, to the region of the Mu-ling range of the present day in the N.E. 

 of the province. As it was substituted only at that timefor several names 

 which were different before, there is no possibility of any connection with 

 the personal name of Yuen-fei. 



As a fact Si-ling, meaning literally West hills, 106 might not suggest 

 any special region, and may have been applied to a mountainous tract any- 

 where provided it be consistent with the geographical location of the 

 interested writer. The matter requires a greater precision than w ehave 

 hitherto found in the statements quoted on the subject. 



46. The Si-ling name of the original country of Lui-tsu, has not yet 

 been identified, and therefore we may as well make an attempt at eluci- 

 dating this point of mythical geography, and enquire as to the possibility 

 that it should really indicate a region where silk industry was already in 

 existence before the arrival of the Chinese Bak tribes. It would be quite 

 in the natural order of things that the Chinese leader should have married 

 a daughter of the country, who being acquainted with the industry of her 

 native land, should have taught the rearing of silkworms and the winding 

 of the silk to the followers of her lord and master. Unhappily for the ver- 

 acity of the legend, sericulture was not known in Si-ling. 



47. In the Er-ya, section of the land 107 , the ancient lings are briefly 

 indicated thus : the Tung ling or East h i 1 s are Si?i 108 ; the Nan ling or 

 South hills are the Sik shen U9 ; the Si ling or West hills are the 

 Wei barbarians (which we shall refer to hereafter) ; the Tchung ling or 

 Central hills are the Tchu ieng ; the P eh ling or North hills are 

 the West Yii, it is the Yen gate (in N. Shansi). 



48. The Wei barbarians 110 mentioned therein are known in other 

 works, and their settlements were in the immediate south of the present 

 department of Tsing-ning in S. E. Kansuh 111 , The information is 

 consistent with that derived from the Book of Mountains and 

 Seas, which shows that the Si-ling or western hills of the story were to 

 be sought for in the mountain ranges of the North-west. And as these 

 mountains, being simply the spurs of the Kuen-lun range, extend east- 

 wards, running from the west and passing at proximity of the Heh shui 112 

 of the story, the identification is sufficiently accurate in its broad lines. 

 and we cannot expect a greater precision in a statement of legendary 

 geography. 



