SECT. III. PT. I.
THE YÜEH LING.
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Section III. Part I.
1. In the first month of autumn, the sun is in Yî; the constellation culminating at dusk being Kien-hsing, and that culminating at dawn Pî[1].
2. Its days are kǎng and hsin.
3. Its divine ruler is Shâo Hâo, and the (attending) spirit is Zû-shđu[2].
4. Its creatures are the hairy.
5. Its musical note is Shang; its pitch-tube is Î 𝖅eh[3].
6. Its number is nine. Its taste is bitter. Its smell is rank.
7. Its sacrifice is that at the gate; and of the parts of the victim the liver has the foremost place.
8. Cool winds come; the white dew descends[4]; the cicada of the cold chirps[5]. (Young) hawks at this
- ↑ Yî corresponds to Crater. Khien-hsing comprehends stars in Sagittarius (see page 257). Pî corresponds to the Hyades.
- ↑ Shâo Hâo follows Hwang Tî, whose eldest son he was, as the fourth in the list of the five Tî, or divine rulers (B.C. 2594). His capital was at Khü-fǎu, the city of Confucius; and I have seen, at a little distance from it, perhaps the only pyramid in China, which is in memory of him, and said to be on or near his grave. His personal appellation is Kin-thien (金天), or Thien-kin, the element to which he and his reign are assigned being kin, or metal. Zû-shâu was one of his sons.
- ↑ Î 𝖅eh, "the equalization of the Laws," is the tube giving the fifth of the upper musical accords.
- ↑ White dew is a name for hoar-frost
- ↑ This cicada (Williams thinks the cicada viridis) is called