axe was sent for, and the interior of the trunk thrown open,
whereupon a series of galleries was laid bare. At the root of the
tree a mound of earth was discovered, in shape like a city, and
swarming with ants. This was the capital of the kingdom in which
he had lived in his dream. A terrace surrounded by a guard of ants
was the residence of the King and Queen, two winged insects with
red heads. Twenty feet or so along another gallery was found an
old tortoise-shell covered with a thick growth of moss; it was the
Tortoise-back Hill of the dream. In another direction was found a
small mound of earth round which was coiled a root in shape like a
dragon's tongue; it was the grave of the King's daughter, Ch'un-yue's
wife in the vision. As he recalled each incident of the dream he was
much affected at discovering its counterpart in this nest of ants,
and he refused to allow his companions to disturb it further. They
replaced everything as they had found it; but that night a storm of
wind and rain came, and next morning not a vestige of the ants was
to be seen. They had all disappeared, and here was the fulfilment of
the warning in the dream, that the kingdom would be swept away.

Ch'un-yue Regenerate

At this time Ch'un-yue had not seen Chou-pien and Tzu-hua for some
ten days. He sent a messenger to make inquiries about them, and the
news he brought back was that Chou-pien was dead and Tzu-hua lying
ill. The fleeting nature of man's existence revealed itself to him
as he recalled the greatness of these two men in the ant-world. From
that day he became a reformed man; drink and dissipation were put
aside. After three years had elapsed he died, thus giving effect to
the promise of the ant-king that he should see his children once more
at the end of three years.

Why the Jung Tribe have Heads of Dogs

The wave of conquest which swept from north to south in the earliest
periods of Chinese history [49] left on its way, like small islands
in the ocean, certain remnants of aboriginal tribes which survived
and continued to exist despite the sustained hostile attitude of the
flood of alien settlers around them. When stationed at Foochow I saw
the settlements of one of these tribes which lived in the mountainous
country not very many miles inland from that place. They were those
of the Jung tribe, the members of which wore on their heads a large
and peculiar headgear constructed of bamboo splints resting on a
peg inserted in