[583] “The inhabitants are called shên jên, spirit-like beings, a term hardly synonymous with hsien, though the description of them is consistent with the recognised characteristics of hsien. The passage runs as follows: ‘Far away on the Isle of Ku-shê there dwell spirit-like beings whose flesh is [smooth] as ice and [white] as snow, and whose demeanour is as gentle and unassertive as that of a young girl. They eat not of the Five Grains, but live on air and dew. They ride upon the clouds with flying dragons for their teams, and roam beyond the Four Seas. The shên influences that pervade that isle preserve all creatures from petty maladies and mortal ills, and ensure abundant crops every year.’”—Yetts, Major W. Perceval, Folklore, XXX., i., p. 89.
[584] Proc. Roy. Irish Acad., xxxiv., c. 8, p. 135.
[585] Folk Memory, p. 339.
[586] De B. Gallico, v., 19.
[587] Annals, xxxiv.
[588] Hearnshaw, F. J. C., England in the Making, p. 22.
[589] Origines Celticæ, ii., 240.
[590] Folk Memory, p. 349.
[591] Agricola, xv.
[592] Tacitus, Annals, xxxiii.