J 



16 THE SILK GODDESS 



with a vermilion collar. On this were embroidered the axes of authority. 

 and it was fitted also with a hem or edging of vermilion coloured silk 76 r 

 S u (7786) white silk is the expression used in the ode speaking of this 

 robe, and also in another ode to describe the strings in white sill?; of the 

 ear-stoppers of a bridegroom 77 . 



28. These various references show how important was the valuetattached- 

 to silk and silkworms amongst the ancient Chinese. Should any inven- 

 tion or discovery of the sort had been made by them at a certain time, 

 the souvenir of the event would have preserved in one or the other of 

 these ancient books. But nothing is said as if silkworm rearing had ever 

 existed. 

 Notes 



53) The Li-kl, Bk. A" II or Li yun, sect. I, par. 5, puts in the words 

 of Confucius that he found himself '"The Seasons of H i a " a 

 work which was preserved in the state of K'i in charge of the traditions 

 and sacrifices concerning the Hia dynasty. 



. r .4) This grammatical cunstruction, peculiar as it is, is that which is re- 

 ferred to in Les langues de la chine avant les chinots, par. 12. 



55) It was used at sacrifices and as food for silkworms. 



56) Hia siao tcheng. Cf. B. K. Douglas: Early Chinese texts. I. The 

 Calendar of the Hia dynasty, 1882, pp. 29, 32 and 31. The end of 

 the last statement is translated : . . . . the rearing-palace matters. 



57) Tchou-li, VII, 10 ; trad. Biot ; vol. I, p. 146. 



58) The commentators infer from this, in comparison with the statements 

 of the Hia siao tcheng, and of the Yueh ling which see infra, that there 

 existed since olden times an official building for the silkworms, other- 

 wise an official Magnanerie. 



59) Tchou Li, VII, 36-41. 



60) The Li ki, trad. Legge ; introd. pp. 7 and 20-21. 



61) On the third day of the third month ; according to Dr. J. de Groote, 

 cf. following note. 



62 Yueh ling, III, 6 ; in Li ki, trad. Legge, vol. I, p. 263. Dr. J. 

 J. de Groote : Les fetes annuellement celebre'es a Emouy, vol. I, p. 203 

 translates it to the plural. The Chinese texts quoted in Dr. Groote, 

 says simply that the Son of Heaven offers Kiilh robes to the ancient 



Ti(s?): De Groote translates .... vetements couleur d'aster 



Dr. Eitel, Cantonese dictionary, p. 296, explains ICiih as ' clothes 

 made of the fibres of the yellow mulberry.' Where they not the robes 

 made with the silk of the preceding year 1 



63) Yueh ling, III, 12 ; ibid. p. 265/ 



65) LI ki, XXI, sect. II, par. 7 ; Legge's translation, p. 2^3. 



66) Li ki, XXII, 5.— Legge, o.c. p. 239.— Mencius, (37 -289 b.c.) in 

 his book II. part 2, eh. Ill, par. 3, quotes the same passage, in his 



usual loose manner, 



67) She king ; Kivoh fung ; Odes of Tchao Nan. VII. 



68) Ibid. Ode XIII, 3. 



69) Ibid. Odes of Vet, II, 3. 



