Page 135 - Chinese Porcelain Vol I, Galland

TRICES, FRUITS, FLOWERS, AND PLANTS. 10 i

of a are common the coast. . . . The inland
good quality along
waters of shells. . . . The land shells are
produce many species
abundant. . Cantor mentions
eighty-eight genera occurring
.
.
between Canton and Chusan. Pearls are found in China."
"
83 Before childbirth a recites the
Doolittle, p. : priest
classics appropriate to the occasion. Ten or twenty pieces of
a kind of grass, cut about an inch long, and several likenesses
of the crab, cut out of common are into the censer
paper, put
and burned, or sometimes several live crabs, after being used in
the ceremony, are taken and turned out into the street. It
is thought that these will greatly aid in frightening these bad
or their will not dare
spirits propitiate good will, so that they
to come into the room at the time of childbirth. The reason
why crabs are used is that the name of one of these demons
sounds like the name for ' crab ' in the dialect of this "
place
(Fuhchau),

TREES, FRUITS, FLOWERS, AND PLANTS.
Trees.
"
Franks, p. 245 : The Chinese say that the pine, bamboo,
and plum are like three friends, because they keep green in
cold weather."
— "
Pine. Franks, p. 245 : The pine tree (sung) is a very
common emblem Its was said to turn
(of longevity). sap
"
into amber when the tree was a thousand years old (see
No. 329, dwarfed, 250).
This tree seems to grow as far south in China as the
northern limits of Canton where Davis
province, (vol. ii. p. 340)
says the Pinus massoniana and Lanceolata grow in abundance.
" "
Middle Kingdom," vol. i. p. 280 : Many species of the
and the three subdivisions of cone-
pine, cypress, yew, forming
exist in China, and furnish a
bearing plants, large proportion
of the timber and fuel."
Doolittle, p. 395, Festival of the tombs: "A branch or
two of the fir or other tree, or a handful of
green green