[86] The “sea-serpent” in this case was probably nothing more or less than some meteoric phenomenon.
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[87] The following is merely a single episode taken from a long and otherwise uninteresting story. Miss Fêng-hsien was a fox; hence her power to bestow such a singular present as the mirror here described, the object of which was to incite her lover to success—the condition of their future union.
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[88] Besides the all-important aspirate, this name is pronounced in a different tone from the first-mentioned “Tung;” and is moreover expressed in writing by a totally different character. To a Chinese ear, the two words are as unlikely to be confounded as Brown and Jones.
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[89] The Four Seas are supposed by the Chinese to bound the habitable portions of the earth, which, by the way, they further believe to be square. In the centre of all is China, extending far and wide in every direction, the eye of the universe, the Middle Kingdom. Away at a distance from her shores lie a number of small islands, wherein dwell such barbarous nations as the English, French, Dutch, etc.
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[90] The commentator, I Shih-shih, adds a note to this story which might be summed up in our own—
“The [wo]man that deliberates is lost.”
[91] Buddhist priests not unusually increase the revenue of their monastery by taking pupils; and it is only fair to them to add that the curriculum is strictly secular, the boys learning precisely what they would at an ordinary school and nothing else.
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[92] These consist simply of thin slips of wood dipped in brimstone, and resemble those used in England as late as the first quarter [of] the present century. They are said to have been invented by the people of Hang-chou, the capital of Chekiang; but it is quite possible that the hint may have first reached China from the west. They were called yin kuang “bring light,” (cf. lucifer), fa chu “give forth illumination,” and other names. Lucifer matches are now generally spoken of as tzŭ lai huo “self-come fire,” and are almost universally employed, except in remote parts where the flint and steel still hold sway.
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[93] The whole point of the story hinges on this.
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