OF CHINA. 17 



70) Ibid. Odes of Yung, IX. 1-3.— The fourth of the Odes of Wei in 

 the same part of the She King, contains an allusion to a lad who came 

 to exchange cloth or p'u against silk or se ; which the critic ex- 

 plains by woven silk and raw silk. 



71) Ibid. XIV, Odes of Tsao, III, 2, 



72) She King, Part III, div, 3, Ode II, 9. 



73) She Kmg, Part. II, div. 1, Ode III, 3. 



74) She King, Part. IV, div. 1, sub. div. Ill, Ode VII.— Edward Biot 

 in his valuable Recherche?, sw les mceurs cmciennes des Chinois, a" 

 apres le Chi king, 1843, states that in Shensi the King of Ts'in wore 

 a garment of fox-fur, - with one of broidered silk over it, and refers to 

 I. xi. V;butithe expression used is simply ^j^ ^ kin y, broidered 

 robe, without reference to the material of the cloth. The Ode I. iii. 

 XII, also quoted as showing that similar garments of fox-skins were 

 worn at the court of P'ei by the officers, does not speak of silk at alL 



75) I. xix. 7, XX. 



76) I. x. One IV. — J. Legge, Chines Classics, vol. IV, p. 179 note 



77) Ode III, 1 of I, viii. 



III. 



Various tutelary Spirits and Goddesses of silk and Silkworms. 



29. No allusion is made to the invention of silk among the many dis- 

 closures attributed to the early rulers in the great appendiceto the 

 Yh-king where a not unconsiderable amount of ancient lore has been 

 piled up. The authorship of the document is attributed to Confucius, and 

 it would have been pencilled down by one of his disciples. 



The same silence occurs in the various fragments of olden times which 

 have been added to the Book ofMontains and Seas, under the Han 

 dynasty, 



30. But if there is no allusion to the invention of silk in these ancient 

 documents, theisame condition rather ominous exists no morein late works. 

 The Li hi or Record of Rites has a curious passage sketching a 

 period of savage life in the history of the people 78 . 



"Formerly the ancient kings had no houses. In winter they lived in 

 caves which they had excavated, and in summer in nests which they had 

 framed. They knew not yet the transforming power of fire, but ate the 

 fruits of plants and trees, and the flesh of birds and beasts, drinking the 

 blood, and swallowing the hair and feathers (as well'i. They knew not 

 yet the use of flax and silk, but clothed themselves with feathers and 

 skins. 



"The later sages arose, and men (learned) to take advantage of the 

 benefits of fire. They moulded the metal and fashioned clay, so as to 



