Note 11 — X.—SERPENTS, DRAGONS, FABULOUS ANIMALS AND MONSTERS.

The authentic species of dragon or Lung, has, according to Chinese belief, a camel’s head, a deer’s horns, a rabbit’s eyes, a cow’s ears, a snake’s neck, a frog’s belly, a carp’s scales, a hawk’s claws and a tiger’s palms. The chief distinction between the snake and the dragon in Chinese eyes is that, while the former is worshipped as a real, everyday object, the latter is avowedly supernatural. A popular proverb says, “Dragons bring clouds, and tigers bring winds.”11 The dragon is in fact an all-pervading element of every myth relating to the powers of nature, and its worship is not, when we trace its serpent origin, surprising.