A little river near Ning Kuo-fu in Anhwei. (See map.)
Note 75.
Really, one cannot help laughing to think that, until now, the rapid current celebrated by Yen
Has usurped all the fame.
The philosopher Yen Kuang (circa A.D. 25) is better known as Yen Tzŭ-ling. The river in which he loved to fish was the Hsin An.
[ANSWER TO AN AFFECTIONATE INVITATION FROM TS'UI FIFTEEN]
Note 76.
A party of friends who are in the habit of meeting each other constantly are called by numbers according to age. The same custom is used to distinguish members of a family. (See Introduction.)
Note 77.
You have the "bird's foot-print" characters.
Writing is supposed by the Chinese to have been invented by Ts'ang Chieh, a minister of the Yellow Emperor (2698-2598 B.C.) who, having "observed the shapes of things in the heavens and the forms of things on earth, also the foot-prints of birds and beasts on the sand and mud," suddenly conceived the idea of pictographic writing. It is highly complimentary to speak of a person's writing as being like the "bird's foot-prints."