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instructed them in agriculture, inventing the necessary im- plements of husbandry, and teaching the people to sow five sorts of grain, hence his name, which signifies Heavenly Husbandman. On the fifteenth day after the sun enters Aquarius, which is the commencement of Spring, a feast is held in honour of husbandry and celebrated husbandmen, numerous figures in connection with this art are carried in procession, and among them a huge cow of clay, so large that forty men can with difficulty carry it Behind this cow, whose horns are gilt, is a young child with one foot naked and one covered, representing the genius of labour and diligence. The child strikes the earthen cow without ceasing with a rod, as if to drive her forwards. She is followed by all the husbandmen with musical instruments, and by companies of masquers. At the governor's palace this cow is broken in pieces, and the fragments, with a number of small cows taken from the larger one, are .dis- tributed to the multitude, whilst the governor makes a discourse in praise of agriculture. The Chinese, who have always been diligent agriculturists, attach great importance to the influence of the moon upon vegetation, and have a table of those plants which invariably flower in the night, and their great religious agricultural festival, at which the emperor ploughs a furrow with his own hand and sows the five kinds of grain, is always regulated by the moon. The five kinds of grain sown by the emperor are those introduced by Chin-Nong, and con- sist of wheat, rice, millet, beans, and caoleang, probably Holcus sorghum, which is widely cultivated in Asia and Africa, and was formerly well known in Greece and Rome, and which is now called Guinea corn or Caffre corn, although MAIZE AND MILLET 39 it may possibly have been maize, which, as I have pointed out, was known early in China. A festival very similar to that of China took place in ancient Egypt and in Peru, in both of which countries the monarch held the plough and sowed the grain, which, of course, in Peru consisted of maize, and at the close of the maize harvest some of the corn was made into an image called a ' Pirva,' which was held in great veneration. A writer in the Monthly Packet (November 1877) has pointed out the great resemblance between this ancient Peruvian festival and some harvest customs which still exist in Great Britain. Thus in Northumberland it was formerly the custom to dress an image, crowned with flowers and holding a sheaf of corn and a sickle, and to fix it to a pole in the fields, whence it was brought home on the last day of harvest by the reapers with music and dancing ; in some villages a kern or corn baby is still kept. Devonshire farmers make a kind of image of the last ears of corn twisted together, which is brought in with great rejoicings at every harvest home, and called a knack, which it is very unlucky to part with till the next harvest. In Scotland the last handful of corn reaped used to be called the Maiden, and was formed into a cross and carefully kept, the supper following being called the Maiden Feast. It will be observed that not only is maize absent from the five kinds of grain sown by Chin-Nong, but also barley and oats, so that we may conclude that all three were alike unknown in China at that early period, although barley was certainly very anciently known and cultivated in Egypt.