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[[underline]] APPENDIX II. [/underline]]  21.
complete. In all probability some names of earlier rulers have dropped out, and their reigns have been added to those of others, better remembered, so as to make up the required time-interval. 
Some slight indication exists that in Wu, just as in Ch'u, succession to the kingship was originally by "borough English"---that is, to the youngest son of the preceding ruler. If so, by the former half of the 6th century B.C. there had been a change (no doubt under Chinese influence) to the form, approximating primogeniture, that has prevailed in China proper since the early days of the Chou period. [[superscript][ (55) [[/superscript]]
The two successive capitals of Wu seem both to have borne the same name as did the state itself. The earlier was situated a few miles to the northward of the present Soochow (Su-chou 蘇州 ), at or near the apex of what was then the delta of the Yangtze River. [[strikethrough]] [[superscript]] (56) [[/superscript]] [[/strikethrough]] In 513 B.C., however, Ho [strikethrough]] Liu [[/strikethrough]] [superscript]] Lü, [[/superscript]] 闔閭 (513-494 B.C.), the penultimate king of Wu, transferred the royal residence and seat of government to the actual site of the later Soochow, apparently because that locality afforded better facilities for the construction of the canoes upon which the people of the
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(55)
Under the Shang Dynasty, as the contemporary oracle bones have shown, succession to the kingship was "fraternal"; that is, a ruler was followed by each of his surviving younger brothers in turn before the office passed to a member of the next generation. The T'ai-speaking peoples, not very remote of kin to the Chinese, seem to have had a similar rule. 
During the Chou period, however, a form appeared like the one that has prevailed in China during all later times, to the very end of the Empire. By it, a deceased ruler's office has normally (though by no means invariably) gone to his eldest son by his chief wife. There has however been no hard-and-fast rule, and the lack of one has led to great disorders and calamities, caused by disputed successions. 
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(56) On the delta through which the Yangtze formerly entered the sea, [[underlined]] cf. [[/underlined]] page 19 and note 51 (on same page). The region at or about the head of a delta affords a natural location for a city. Familiar examples are Calcutta in India, Cairo (with, earlier, the nearby Memphis) in Egypt, Bangkok in Siam, and New Orleans in North America.
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Transcription Notes:
needs Chinese characters added.