and that 10,000 more elapsed before the yin, or 'secondary principle' was produced, and the earth formed; that 10,000 more passed away before the yin and yang united to produce the various material existences; and, further, that 40 or 50,000 years more passed away, before the process of the two principles was finished, and the sages appeared! Such a tale is contrary to all sense and reason. From the time of the sages Yaou and Shun to the present age is not more than 3000 and odd years. How can it be believed that 40 or 50,000 years elapsed after the formation of the heavens and the earth, before man appeared, or the earth and water were adjusted, and food supplied to human beings? or that, if the world had existed so long, these things should not have been arranged before Fŭh-he and his successors? It is evident that Pwan-koo, the first man, according to the fabulous records of the Chinese, who acted at the separation of heaven and earth, could not have been long before Fŭh-he, perhaps a thousand years, certainly not ten thousand; and the time of Fŭh-he must have been very near Yaou and Shun, perhaps a hundred years, certainly not a thousand. No scholar should decline a thorough enquiry." Sze-ma-tsëen, another very celebrated historian of China, does not record anything relative to the three emperors above mentioned; how much less then might he be expected to refer to Pwan-koo, who is placed before them.
Thus Chinese authors of the greatest reputation agree in considering the first part of Chinese history as entirely fabulous. Whilst, however, we fully coincide with them in this opinion, we cannot help, on a review of their brief allusion to this period, suggesting
