228 KITAN. body was placed on the top of a tree, wheve it was left for three years, when the bones were picked up and burnt The son poured out a libation and prayed to his deceased parent : "Insummerta look south, in winter to look north, and to^help him to more wild boar and venison.'^ The spirit is apparently a bird of passage T In the centre of Shamo (Gobi) the winds were most bitterly cold. The people had no houses, but lived on carts or on horse- back In summer and autumn the desert was as extremely hot as it was cold in winter. The people dwelt where abundance of water and grass found them subsistenca There was a particular gathering-place for each of the four seasons, called TaabiiCL The spring Tsdbiia was at Yadsu ho,* where willows and elms cover the landa On the first moon, tenth day (Feb.-March), their king went thither just before the arrival of the migrating Swan,*!^ and pitched his tent on the ice. Men were placed as sentries in all directions, to look out for the arrival of the swans ; and a& soon as a swan flock was seen, the lucky observer unfdrled a flag to inform his king, who, in his regal robes and hat, led out his men to shoot the swans with arrows as they flew overhead. In the beginning of spring, women cut out the character for spring^' and some other similar one& They also made a flag, on which they painted a dragon and a firog. On the sixth day of the first moon, they ate wheaten loaves in the central hall of the house. On the fifth of fifth moon, the cook prepared a dessert of Whangmi (a glutinous small millet) and milk. The people then strung cash od a five coloured thread, put it over the shoulder, and called it the String of Ckmcord and Happiness. Another coloured thread was worked into the form of a man and placed on the head ; this was called the Braid of Immortaliiy. On the ninth of the ninth moon (Nov.), the king went out with all his great officials to hunt, choosing a high place for hia tent When all was ready for the hunt, the king handed round
- Tadtu Biver is an ancient name of the Songari flowing north. (Hist. Liaotong.)
1 1 have seen several flocks of swans, though in Manchuria they are rare oom« pared with those of ducks, geese, and Manchnzian cranes. If the swan here waa a goose, it would more resemble present facts.
