Note 16 — X.—SERPENTS, DRAGONS, FABULOUS ANIMALS AND MONSTERS.

Of course our old friend—I might almost say, in view of the latest published accounts, our American friend—the Sea Serpent, turns up on the coasts of China, and the description given of him does not greatly differ from that recorded elsewhere. According to a popular legend the Chien Tang river was at one time infested by a great Kiau or sea serpent, and in 1129 A.D., a district graduate is said to have heroically thrown himself into the flood to encounter and destroy the monster. His wife forthwith put an end to her existence also, from devotion to him, and their virtues were commemorated by a temple erected for their worship.16 It has been already noted that most of the river gods are supposed to appear in the form of water snakes, and that the sea serpents noticed in Chinese records have always infested the mouths of rivers. From a tutelary deity to one purely malevolent is no great step. Other remarkable animals are noted by the writer above quoted (Dr. D. J. Macgowan) as stated to have visited the same river: In 488 A.D. a salt inspector discovered near its mouth a “sea-fish which the tide had left behind. It was more than 300 feet long, of a black colour, without scales,” and was eaten by its captors. About 120 years ago, again “a huge sea-fish appeared off Chapoo; it followed the vessels in with the tide and at ebb was unable to return. It measured one hundred feet in length, was ten feet high and twenty wide.” This is probably an exaggerated story of a whale, but as the Chinese have a distinct name for the whale, with which they are fairly familiar, there remains a possibility of the animal in question being something unknown to naturalists.