three hundred dinars "of poor gold,
however,' with two thousand Venetian drachms
and other matters; and after having
remained a month and six days with the
Greeks, returned to Astrakhan.

CHIP.

LONG LIFE OF LOCUSTS.

A CORRESPONDENT, in reference to the
tenacity of life in locusts,* mentions "that
about twelve years ago an insect of the
locust tribe, about an inch and a half or
two inches in length (of body) flew or was
blown into the windows of a house on
Albury Heath. It was caught, and we
endeavoured to preserve it by washing it in
a solution of camphor; but the camphor
would not kill it. I then applied prussic acid
of the quality usually dispensed by good
druggists. I washed it well with a feather
over its head, back, wings, and legs. As soon
as applied, the insect dropped all of a heap,
as the vulgar expression is, and would remain
apparently lifeless for about six or eight
minutes. Then it would revive gradually,
and apparently regain its full life and vigour.
I did this for several days, and on some
occasions repeating the dressing from time to
time as soon as it had revived, sometimes as
soon as it showed symptoms of revival. I
forget what became of it, but assuredly
prussic acid did not kill it."

*See volume x. page 478.

THE CHINESE ADAM.

THE notions entertained by Chinese writers
on the subject of the first man and the
creation of the world, are very curious. They
begin, like our Scriptural account, with a
time when the earth was without form and
void; from that they pass to an idea that was
of old part of the wisdom of Egypt. Chaos
was succeeded by the working of a dual
power, Rest and Motion, the one female, and
named Yin,—the other male, and named
Yang.

Of heaven and earth, of genii, of men, and
of all creatures, animate and inanimate, Yin
and Yang were the father and the mother.
Furthermore, all these things are either male
or female: there is nothing in Nature neuter.
Whatever in the material world possesses, or
is reputed to possess, the quality of hardness
(including heaven, the sun, and day) is
masculine. Whatever is soft (including earth
the moon, and night, as well as—earth, wood,
metals, and water), is feminine. Choofoots
says on this subject, " The celestial principle
formed the male; the terrestrial principle
formed the female. All animate and inanimate
nature may be distinguished into
masculine and feminine. Even vegetable
productions are male and female; for instance,
there is female hemp, and there are male and
female bamboo. Nothing can possibly be
separated from the dual principles named
Yin and Yang,—the superior and hard,
—the inferior and soft." It is curious
to find that the Chinese have also a
theory resembling one propounded by
Pythagoras, concerning monads and duads.
"One," they say, " begat two, two produced
four, and four increased to eight; and thus
by spontaneous multiplication, the production
of all things followed."

As for the present system of things, it is
the work of what they call " the triad powers,"
—Heaven, Man, and Earth. The following
is translated from a Chinese Encyclopaedia,
published about sixty years ago,—" Before
heaven and earth existed, they were
commingled as the contents of an egg-shell
are." [In this egg-shell, heaven is likened
to the yellow, the earth to the white of
the egg.] " Or they were together, turbid and
muddy like thick dregs just beginning to
settle. Or they were together like a thick
fog on the point of breaking. Then was the
beginning of time, when the original power
created all things. Heaven and earth are
the effect of the First Cause. They in turn
produced all other things besides."

Another part of the tradition runs as
follows: " In the midst of this chaotic mass
Pwankoo lived during eighteen thousand
years. He lived when the heaven and the
earth were being created; the superior
and lighter elements forming the firmament,
—the inferior and coarser the dry land."
Again, " During this time the heavens
increased every day ten feet in height, the
earth as much in thickness, and Pwankoo in
stature. The period of eighteen thousand
years being assigned to the growth of each
respectively, during that time the heavens
rose to their extreme height, the earth
reached the greatest thickness, and Pwankoo
his utmost stature. The heavens rose aloft
nine thousand miles, the earth swelled nine
thousand miles in thickness, and in the
middle was Pwankoo, stretching himself
between heaven and earth, until he separated
them at a distance of nine thousand miles
from each other. So the highest part of the
heavens is removed from the lowest part of
the earth by a distance of twenty-seven
thousand miles."

The name of the Chinese Adam—Pwankoo
—means "basin-ancient," that is, "basined
antiquity." It is probably meant to denote
how this father of antiquity was nourished
originally in an egg-shell, and hatched like a
chick. Among the portraits commonly stored
up by native archaeologists, we find various
representations of Pwankoo. One is now before
me that exhibits him with an enormous head
tipped with two horns. His hair, which is
of a puritanical cut on the brow, flows loose
and long over the back and shoulders. He
has large eyes and shaggy eyebrows,—a very