Viewing page 15 of 182

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

15

and half in China before this discovery. This serves to explain that these bone inscriptions did not have to sturggle much for recognition; they were in fact appreciated in the very beginning; the mentality of the scholastic world was well prepared to receive it at the time of its discovery.

In the same year when Sun I-jang first published the result of his study, a large scale digging occured at Hsiao-t'un for the second time. Chu K'uen(朱坤), a native of the village, was the leader in this enterprize. He proceeded with this work quite systematically right near the southern bank of the Huan River. It is said that he erected a temporary lodging by building five mat tents on the spot; the length of time, during which he carried out this work, must be therefore considerable. The quantity of the finds were said to be sufficient to load many carts. But it ended in a lawsuit over the right to dig; a mob fighting took place. The case was brought to the [[underline]]yamen[[/underline]] for settlement. The magistrate, wishing to avoid further trouble, issued an order forbidding such digging. The fate of the finds is an uncertain one. All that can be learned is that Chu K'uen sold his plunders to a curio dealer, Chu Hsü-chai(祝虛齋), who had them transported to Peking on whe^[[e]]l barrows; railway transportation was not yet available at that time.

The decree of the magistrate was evidently effective for at least five years, during which no further digging seem to have taken place. But in 1909 an accident occurred which was bound to start a fresh development. Potato planting on Chang Hsueh-hsien's farm right in front of the village, led to the discovery of a new horde of the inscribed bones. Hitherto the bones were found only in the northern farms of the village; but never within it. The discovery at a different locality therefore promisses a fortune for those who dare to dig. Among the villagers there are certainly many of such brave folks.