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23 chapters
MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
MYTHICAL MONSTERS.
THE FUNG WANG. ACCORDING TO FANG HENG. MYTHICAL MONSTERS. BY CHARLES GOULD , B.A., MEMBER OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF TASMANIA; LATE GEOLOGICAL SURVEYOR OF TASMANIA. WITH NINETY-THREE ILLUSTRATIONS. LONDON: W. H. ALLEN & CO., 13 WATERLOO PLACE. S.W. PUBLISHERS TO THE INDIA OFFICE. 1886. ( All rights reserved. ) LONDON: PRINTED BY W H ALLEN AND CO., 13 WATERLOO PLACE, PALL MALL S.W....
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PREFACE.
PREFACE.
The Author has to express his great obligations to many gentlemen who have assisted him in the preparation of this volume, either by affording access to their libraries, or by furnishing or revising translations from the Chinese, &c.; and he must especially tender them to J. Haas, Esq., the Austro-Hungarian Vice-Consul at Shanghai, to Mr. Thomas Kingsmill and the Rev. W. Holt of Shanghai, to Mr. Falconer of Hong-Kong, and to Dr. N. B. Dennys of Singapore. For the sake of uniformity, the
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INTRODUCTION.
INTRODUCTION.
It would have been a bold step indeed for anyone, some thirty years ago, to have thought of treating the public to a collection of stories ordinarily reputed fabulous, and of claiming for them the consideration due to genuine realities, or to have advocated tales, time-honoured as fictions, as actual facts; and those of the nursery as being, in many instances, legends, more or less distorted, descriptive of real beings or events. Now-a-days it is a less hazardous proceeding. The great era of adv
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CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER I.
ON SOME REMARKABLE ANIMAL FORMS. The reasoning upon the question whether dragons, winged snakes, sea-serpents, unicorns, and other so-called fabulous monsters have in reality existed, and at dates coeval with man, diverges in several independent directions. We have to consider:— 1.—Whether the characters attributed to these creatures are or are not so abnormal in comparison with those of known types, as to render a belief in their existence impossible or the reverse. 2.—Whether it is rational to
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CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER II.
EXTINCTION OF SPECIES. In reviewing the past succession of different forms of ancient life upon the globe, we are reminded of a series of dissolving views, in which each species evolves itself by an imperceptible gradation from some pre-existing one, arrives at its maximum of individuality, and then slowly fades away, while another type, either higher or lower, evolved in turn from it, emerges from obscurity, and succeeds it on the field of view. Specific individuality has in all cases a natural
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CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER III.
ANTIQUITY OF MAN. I do not propose to bestow any large amount of space upon the enumeration of the palæontological evidence of the antiquity of man. The works of the various eminent authors who have devoted themselves to the special consideration of this subject exhaust all that can be said upon it with our present data, and to these I must refer the reader who is desirous of acquainting himself critically with its details, confining myself to a few general statements based on these labours. In
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CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER IV.
THE DELUGE NOT A MYTH. If we assume that the antiquity of man is as great, or even approximately as great, as Sir Charles Lyell and his followers affirm, the question naturally arises, what has he been doing during those countless ages, prior to historic times? what evidences has he afforded of the possession of an intelligence superior to that of the brute creation by which he has been surrounded? what great monuments of his fancy and skill remain? or has the sea of time engulphed any that he e
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CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER V.
ON THE TRANSLATION OF MYTHS BETWEEN THE OLD AND THE NEW WORLD. Intercourse between various parts of the old world and the new was probably much more intimate even three or four thousand years ago than we, or at all events our immediate ancestors, have credited. The Deluge Tablets referred to in another chapter contain items from which we gather that sea-going vessels, well equipped and with skilled pilots, were in vogue in the time of Noah, and there is wanting no better proof of their seaworthi
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CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VI.
THE DRAGON. The dragon is defined in the Encyclopædia Britannica for 1877 as “the name given by the ancients to a huge winged lizard or serpent (fabulous).” Fig. 33. — Draco , or Flying Lizard from Singapore . ( After N. B. Dennys. ) The text also goes on to state that “they (the ancients) regarded it as the enemy of mankind, and its overthrow is made to figure among the greatest exploits of the gods and heroes of heathen mythology. A dragon watched the gardens of the Hesperides, and its destruc
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CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VII.
THE CHINESE DRAGON. We now approach the consideration of a country in which the belief in the existence of the dragon is thoroughly woven into the life of the whole nation. Yet at the same time it has developed into such a medley of mythology and superstition as to materially strengthen our conviction of the reality of the basis upon which the belief has been founded, though it involves us in a mass of intricate perplexities in connection with the determination of its actual period of existence.
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CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE JAPANESE DRAGON. There is but little additional information as to the dragon to be gained from Japan, the traditions relating to it in that country having been obviously derived from China. In functions and qualities it is always represented as identical with the Chinese dragon. In Japan, however, it is invariably figured as possessing three claws, whereas in China it has four or five, according as it is an ordinary or an imperial emblem. The peasantry are still influenced by a belief in its
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CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER IX.
THE SEA-SERPENT. That frank writer, Montaigne, says [252] :— “Yet on the other side it is a sottish presumption to disdaine and condemne that for false, which unto us seemeth to beare no show of likelihood or truth: which is an ordinarie fault in those who perswade themselves to be of more sufficiencie than the vulgar sort. “But reason hath taught me, that so resolutely to condemne a thing for false, and impossible, is to assume unto himself the advantage, to have the bounds and limits of God’s
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CHAPTER X.
CHAPTER X.
THE UNICORN. A belief in the unicorn, like that in the dragon, appears to have obtained among both Eastern and Western authors, at a very early period. In this case, however, it has survived the revulsion from a fatuous confidence in the fables and concocted specimens of the Middle Ages, and even now the existence or non-existence of this remarkable animal remains a debateable question. Until within a late period occasional correspondents of the South African journals continued to assert its exi
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CHAPTER XI.
CHAPTER XI.
THE CHINESE PHŒNIX. From the date of the earliest examination of the literature of China, it has been customary among Sinologues to trace a fancied resemblance between a somewhat remarkable bird, which occupies an important position in the early traditions of that Empire, and the phœnix of Western authors. Some mythologists have even subsequently concluded that the Fung Hwang of the Chinese, the phœnix of the Greeks, the Roc of the Arabs, and the Garuda of the Hindoos, are merely national modifi
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APPENDIX I.
APPENDIX I.
THE DELUGE TRADITION ACCORDING TO BEROSUS. [317] “Obartés Elbaratutu being dead, his son Xisuthros (Khasisatra) reigned eighteen sares (64,800 years). It was under him that the great Deluge took place, the history of which is told in the sacred documents as follows: Cronos (Ea) appeared to him in his sleep, and announced that on the fifteenth of the month of Daisios—the Assyrian month Sivan—a little before the summer (solstice) all men should perish by a flood. He therefore commanded him to take
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APPENDIX II.
APPENDIX II.
THE DRAGON. ÆLIANUS DE NATURÂ ANIMALIUM. Book II. ch. 26. The dragon [which is perfectly fearless of beasts], when it hears the noise of the wings of an eagle, immediately conceals itself in hiding-places. Book II. ch. 21. Æthiopia generates dragons reaching thirty paces long; they have no proper name, but they merely call them slayers of elephants, and they attain a great age. So far do the Æthiopian accounts narrate. The Phrygian history also states that dragons are born which reach ten paces
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APPENDIX III.
APPENDIX III.
ORIGINAL PREFACE TO “WONDERS BY LAND AND SEA” (“SHAN HAI KING”). The Classic containing “Wonders by Land and Sea” has been praised by all who have read it, for its depth, greatness, far sightedness and completeness; since the narratives therein contained are all wonderful and different from ordinary things. Moreover, the truth or veracity of the book is a matter of doubt to nearly all men, and I therefore think it fit that I should give my opinion on the subject. It has been said by the philosop
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APPENDIX IV.
APPENDIX IV.
A MEMORIAL PRESENTED BY LIU HSIU, BY ORDER OF HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY THE EMPEROR, ON THE “BOOK OF WONDERS BY LAND AND SEA.” The Memorialist, an officer of the Fourth Rank and Charioteer to His Majesty the Emperor, having received commands to comment upon and make right wonderful books, now reports that an officer named Wang, a subordinate in the Board of Civil Office, had already made comments and set right thirty-two chapters of the “Book of Wonders by Land and Sea,” but which the memorialist has
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APPENDIX V.
APPENDIX V.
AFTER PREFACE TO THE “BOOK OF WONDERS BY LAND AND SEA.” In the sayings of the philosopher Tso, the following remarks may be found: “Virtue existed during the times of the Hsia dynasty; drawings of all animals far and wide were made, and the metal from which the urn was made, for the purpose of engraving thereon the images of these animals, was presented as tribute by the feudal lords of the Nine Kingdoms. This urn contained the images of all manner and kinds of animals. This was for the purpose
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APPENDIX VI.
APPENDIX VI.
EXTRACTS FROM “SOCIAL LIFE OF THE CHINESE,” by Justus Doolittle . Ch. II., p. 264. “The dragon holds a remarkable position in the history and government of China. It also enjoys an ominous eminence in the affections of the Chinese people. It is frequently represented as the great benefactor of mankind. It is the dragon which causes the clouds to form and the rain to fall. The Chinese delight in praising its wonderful properties and powers. It is the venerated symbol of good. “The Emperor appropr
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APPENDIX VII.
APPENDIX VII.
EXTRACTS FROM THE “PAN TSAOU KANG MU.” The Kiao-Lung. (The four-footed coiled Dragon. The Iguanodon.— Eitel. ) This animal, according to Shi Chan, belongs to the dragon family. Its eye-brows are crossed, hence its name signifies “the crossed reptile.” The scaled variety is called the Kiao-Lung , the winged the Ying-Lung . The horned kind are called K‘iu , the hornless kind Li . In Indian books it is called Kwan-P’i-Lo . Shi Chan, quoting from the Kwan Cheu Ki , says: “The Iguanodon (?) is more t
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APPENDIX VIII.
APPENDIX VIII.
EXTRACT FROM THE “YUEN KEEN LEI HAN.” The Dragon.—Chap. I. The Shwoh Wăn says: “The dragon is the chief of scaly reptiles: in the spring he mounts the heavens, in the autumn he frequents the streams. This is favourable.” Again, “When the dragon walks he is called sah , when he flies he is a yao .” The Kwang Ya says: “When he has scales he is a Kiao , [320] when he has wings a Ying-Lung , [321] when horns a Kiu-Lung , [322] without horns a Chih-Lung .” The Ming Wuh Kiai of the Odes says the drago
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APPENDIX IX.
APPENDIX IX.
APPENDIX TO THE CHAPTER ON THE SEA-SERPENT. The Shan. [331] “The Shăn belongs to the snake species.” “The Tsah Ping Shu (Work on Military Science) says: ‘In drilling an army, [332] when you arrange it like the Shăn expelling its breath, its appearance is like that of a snake, but the waist is large; below there are scales, running backwards.’ “One says that its form is like that of the Ch‘i-lung, which has ears and horns and a mane of a red colour. When it exhales its breath, it forms a cloud ju
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