Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, first edition - Volume II, C-L.pdf/212

C H I that we may judge of a reign by the s which are ued in it.

The 21st and lat of the 9th period is named Vou hoai-chi; but they relate nothing of this  which is worthy of notice.

2. This is all that the fabulous times contain. If thee times cannot enable us to fix the real a of various inventions, (as the Chinee are o full of contradictions about the time of thee different dicoveries), we ee at leat from them, that the origin of has been much the ame among them as among other s. We are now come down to Fou-hi, who is conidered by the Chinee  as the founder of their. What they ay of this and his ucceors, has ome more olidity in it than what we have hitherto een.

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The Ouai ki, quoted in the Chinee, thus decribes the manners of mankind in thee days, "In the beginning, men differed nothing from other s in their way of life. As they wandered up and down in the woods, and women were in common, it happened that children never knew their fathers, but only their mothers. They abandoned themelves to lut without hame, and had not the leat idea of the laws of decency. They thought of nothing but leeping and noring, and then getting up and yawning. When hunger preed them, they fought for omething to eat; and when they were glutted, they threw the ret away. They eat the very s and of s, and drank their . They  themelves with  quite . The  Fou-hi began by teaching them to make lines for catching , and s for taking s. It was for this, that this  was named Fou hi-chi. He taught them further to feed s, and to ten them for laughter; for which they gave him the  of Poa-hi-chi."

It eems evident, that the ancient Chinee had at firt no other habitation than s, the hollows of s, and natural s. They were then infected with a kind of or  called iang; and when they met, they aked one another, Are you troubled with iangs? To this day they make use of this expreion, in aking after any peron's : Couéi-iang? What  have you? How do you do? Vou-iang. I am without iang; that is to ay, I am hearty, in perfect, without any.

It would be uperfluous to relate here, what the Chinee ay, in their, of the invention of , and of coua, after what hath been aid by F. Couplet and o many others on that ubject. We hall only add, that the treatie Hit-ee bears, that, at the beginning were  by means of certain s which they made on lender : that afterwards the  introduced writing in their place, to ait the s in performing all their offices, and the people in examining their conduct; and that it was by the   Kouai, that he conducted himself in the execution of his work.

Lopi, whom we have o often quoted already, ays, that Fou-hi extracted from the of ix lines every thing that concerned good. For example, Li gave him the hint of making lines for  and, and thee lines were a new occaion of inventing  for s. Lopi adds, that it is a mitake to imagine, that, in the times of Fou-hi, they still ued  tied and ted, and that s were not introduced till under Hoang-ti.

Fou-hi taught men to rear the ix s, not only for, but alo for victims, in the which they offered to Chine, and to Ki. They pretend that Fou-hi regulated the rites Kiao-chene.

Fou-hi alo intituted : before this the intercoure of the exes was indicriminate; he ettled the ceremonies with which s were to be contracted, in order to render this great foundation of repectable. He commanded the women to wear a different from that of the men, and prohibited a man's  a woman of the ame name, whether a relation or not, a  which is actually till in force.

Fou-hi appointed everal miniters and officers to ait him in the of the.

One of thee officers made the, another drew up the , a third the , a fourth practied , a fifth  the ground, a ixth was the mater of the s and s.

They pretend that Fou-hi applied himelf to. The Tcheou-pi ouane ays, that he divided the s into s, Lopi takes notice, that properly the s have no s, but that this term is ued with relation to the path of the in the coure of a.

The period of ixty s is reckoned due to Fou-hi. The Tiene-piene ays plainly, that this made a  to us the, and that he is the author of Kia-te. The Sane-fene ays the ame thing; and the Hane-li-tchi ays, that Fou-hi made the first by the Kia-te; but the Chi-pene acribes this to Hoang-ti. This is one of thee contradictions o common in the Chinee.

The ame Fou-hi, they ay, made, and ordained s. Thee were of , thoe of Chin-nong were of , and Tchi-yeou made ome of. Fou-hi drained off the s, and urrounded the with. In the mean time, as Chin-nong is eteemed the firt who made of, we mut uppoe that thoe raied by Fou-hi were only of  or.

Fou-hi gave rules to. Thoe who acribe this to Hoang-ti are deceived (or vice vera.) After Fou-hi had invented, he made a  for the. It was from his example that Chin nong made one for the labourers.

Fou-hi took of the of Tong; he made it hollow; and of it made a kine (a, or what you pleae to tranlate it) even two es long; the trings were of , to the number of 27; he commanded this  to be named Li. Others ay it had but 25 trings,