He gives particulars of the agencies to be found there that offer escape from the physical evils of this earth, nay more, that actually confer immortality and restore life to the dead. In one island from a precious (lit. "jade") rock 10,000 feet high there flows a spring tasting like sweet wine. Whoso drink of it pass through a short period of intoxication to a life indefinitely prolonged beyond the normal span. A spring with nine founts is also spoken of; and in another island all the waters have the flavour of sugar and milk. But more potent still in their vitalizing properties are certain plants, and chief among them are various kinds of fungi collectively called chih.
The writer tells in what rich profusion they grow upon the islands. In Fang-chang, for example, the crops of chih cultivated by the hsien are likened in abundance to fields of rice. Another island, Tsu Chou, produces a variety called "the chih that feeds one's vital spirit,"[1] so powerful in its workings that mere contact suffices to bring back life to corpses three days after death—a fact once signally proved when some ravens carried the plant in their beaks over to China and dropped it upon the faces of the slain.
The Record of the Ten Islands also gives illuminating details concerning the beings who people the island Otherworld. The great majority belong to the class of hsien, but it is clear that they are not all of equal status. For instance, P'êng-lai is accessible only to those who can fly, and another island is the chosen resort of hsien who have abandoned desire to reach celestial regions. There are, besides, beings on more exalted planes. In palaces of heavenly splendour on the peaks of P'êng-lai there live some who rank among the holiest of adepts,[2] certain of whom bear the title of the "Nine Ancient Worthies."[3] Furthermore, in Fang-chang the "Arbiters of Destiny of the Three Heavens"[4] hold their court, and it seems that they very nearly, if not
