Page 127 - Chinese Porcelain Vol I, Galland

FABULOUS AND OTHER ANIMALS. 95

patriarch of the leathered tribe, and the aerial courser of the
immortals. There are said to be four kinds of ho, the black,
the the white, and the blue, of which the black is the
yellow,
longest lived. It reaches a fabulous age. When six hundred
old it drinks, but no takes food. Human
years longer beings
have been into its and it
repeatedly changed shape, constantly
"
manifests a peculiar interest in human affairs (see No. 335).
Egrets. — These seem also to be employed on porcelain as
an emblem of longevity.
Geese. — " Middle Kingdom," vol. ii. p. 59 : " After a brief
interval, she (the bride) returns into the hall, bearing a tray of
betel-nut for the and then a of
guests, worships pair geese
brought in the train with her husband, this bird being an
emblem of affection."
conjugal
274 : " Yen, the wild Said to be
Mayers, p. goose. peculiarly
the bird of the or of and in
yang, principal light masculinity
nature. It follows the sun in his course toward the
wintry
south, and shows an instinctive knowledge of the times and
seasons in its It always flies in and hence is
migrations. pairs,
employed as an emblem of the married state. In the ritual of
the Chow was enumerated
dynasty it accordingly among
betrothal The wild swan is considered a
presents. larger
congener of the wild goose, which it is said to accompany in its
flights."
Davis, vol. ii. p. 329 : " The country abounds in wild fowl
of all kinds, among which the immense flocks of which
geese,
during the winter months cover the Canton Kiver, always excite
the notice of to the north the
strangers. They migrate during
summer, and are distinguished, like all the tribe, by their gre-
garious habits ; but the Chinese, without any apparent founda-
tion in fact, make use of them as emblems of connubial
attachment, and as such they are always carried in wedding
processions. There is much more ground for this character in
the instance of the yuen-ydng, a teal of splendid plumage,
usually called the mardarin duck."
Duck. — Davis, vol. ii. p. 329 : " Mr. Beale's aviary afforded
a singular corroboration of the fidelity of the birds iu question.
Of a pair in that gentleman's possession, the drake being one
night purloined by some thieves, the unfortunate duck dis-
played the strongest marks of despair at her bereavement,