Page:Chinese Life in the Tibetan Foothills.djvu/94

 seem as if there was also a union with some piratical elements. The term chiang-hu, so often used, means "rivers and lakes" and is supposed to mean "rovers of the waters." The terms to-pa-tzŭ (拕把子) "helmsman"; ma-t‘ou (碼頭), "anchorage"; hai (海) "sea"; shui (水), "water"; all seem to point to a piratical origin, but are in constant use in the fraternity.

The Ko-lao-hui was originally divided into eight lodges, each known by a distinctive character, as follows: (1) jên (仁), "benevolence"; (2) i (義), "rectitude"; (3) li (禮), "propriety"; (4) chih (智), "wisdom"; (5) hsin (信), "sincerity"; (6) san-yüan (三元), "the Taoist trinity"; (7) ssŭ-hsi (四喜) "four joys"; (8) wu-fu (五福), "five happinesses."

All recognize the Benevolent Lodge as being not only the senior, but also the aristocratic part of the brotherhood. Its members are called (清水胞哥) "clear-water womb-brothers"; their conduct is more enlightened and their customs more rigid than in the other lodges. This Benevolent Lodge is now amalgamated with the Western Lodge of ancient Han Liu, and I believe their character-marks are interchangeable.

In the second, or Rectitude Lodge, are massed the turbid-water (渾水) womb-brothers, probably the real Han Liu members; all the lawless elements in the district adjoining Chêngtu are mustered under this Rectitude mark.

In these districts, strange to say, a few belong to the Benevolent Lodge, the majority to the Rectitude Lodge, and the other lodges are mere empty names. In districts on the Yangtze, however, it is not so; there, some of the other lodges are fully occupied and organized; the Ko-lao-hui element seems the stronger there, while in the Chengtu districts the Han Liu element predominates.

Those in the Rectitude Lodge call the brethren of the Benevolent Lodge by the term "uncle." It is sometimes easy to mistake the sworn adoptive relationships for those of blood.

Each lodge has twelve grades of membership, pai (排) or tai (代).