Turning. the corner we enter the sully on the sides of Which are' 8 Tuimber of houses" and wer ere' Sure Drlsed to ud that even in a mids the village we may pickup Sent fragments, and that they: ae "also forte embeded in the mad embank ment st our side. A "number of Mibllants come cut of thetr_ourer td. the, word goes round that curio buyers" have come, with the rear that" stall Sowa foley ether and we are offered many things Which have been dug up fromthe neighbouring elds. The most common trices are rice bowls of creamy white colour, Wut there ae aleo's Thumbes of smolt delicate white figures both mate and female, anes various Inds, and men on horses Miniature: brown of lack bowls stig appear, together with many Eroken pecos of wary fine Tat Coow Ware. and iso fogments of kind mottled marble design, of "which, Howevers I have never' seen acura? Dlete' specimen. Tiny white pagodas, miniature black cups and bowls are tag to Be found, anda. number sith articles covered. with & greens iRinase. Pieces of white poreelin with black, decorations re not Common, but Chun. ware is scarce Sed always in small pieces. Copper Cash, nimaot a of the Feign of oan Ning uioniioy AD) are plentiful Ihave Been dug up in many places found' the sillagesand Inthe Neigh Sourhood' of the Jade Temple"
Moving made a few purchases we culm oh '2°path through the Towss fide ana terraces and' came. trail sancny. noun, Meo. CRipuo. we "Jade Temple" On the waueiwe find that the embank tents of the foes terraces ate full of Sinkers from the line: and saggers eollndrieal clay pote in which the hethenware articles were baked. The fGrple elt evidently stands SURS of what war ak and frag fronts of all kinds abound"
The crowd follows us and more articles" ae offered, one of which tonsils of several fairy large tage ments joined together and which once formed part of a magnificent vase of -Ra" Chote wores with a bisek Back: ground and white decorations. The Broken fragments, however contain: the essenlal portion of the decora-font oamelys, we white. Birds and it was the finest specimen of this kind that we had ever Seen, The owner of this relic would not sell he had fust dug it hoped to find the remaining pieces, and so become one of the local rich men. We may say here that he was Unsuccessful in his search, and we eventually became owners of this unt-que piece at a very moderate price. ang it has now gone to enrich one of the finest collections in the world.
The land all around had been dug up, not once but several times, ant it was the custom for curio dealers to come from the towns and buy. the right to dig a certain piece of ground, It was, of course, a very. Speculative business, and of late years few have cared to take the risk, specially as local workmen had to be employed and constant vigilance was necessary in order to prevent them concealing in their persons any rare piece that might be dug up. Digging. of course, only took place after the harvest had been got in, and in the absence of dealers many' of the local people dug on their own account. A Stroll round the outskirts of the village revealed the remains of a number of other kilns and the industry must at one time have been a very extensive one.
Practically all the specimens brought to us were broken, and even the whole ones were either misshapen or had some flaw in them, which points to the fact that they had been dug up from the waste heaps of the kilns, where they had been thrown, as they were of no value, We have been a number of times to this most interesting place and the inhabitants are constantly bringing to US the results of their diggings, so that it is possible to make with fair accuracy a list of the things that fare found there, and from that get an idea of the products of the kilns when they were working.
Rice Bowls Commonest, By far the commonest article foun' {is rice bowls such az would be used by the peasants of thet time. Other owls are are also excavated, but in semparatively small numbers. White Chiects with black decorations are fairly numerous, also teacups, vases and various objects of a black or a dull Fed colour.
Fragments of Tei Chow ware are abundant and some of them are of a very fine quality, while small pieces of a mottled marble ware frequently
covered with a green glaze with white appear,' Pillows and other artletes ud yellow decorations are another feature of the place, as well as speci mens of Chun ware, which, as we have said, are of a coarse type, a characteristic. of al! Chun pieces made north of the Yellow River.
Of considerable interest are certain small white or black and white articles resembling an elongated apricot kernel, and through which there 13, a hole, They are whistles, and it is said that they were fastened to the tails of carrier pigeons, and this accounted for the whistling noise the birds made when flying.
Counters for Chinese chess are found in considerable numbers, and the markings show that the game has changed little since Sung times, as far fs. the counters are concerned.
The most important group of obfects obtained, however, from these waste heaps are miniature representa. tions, chiefly of people, but there are also those of animals, cups and sauc~ fers, pagodas, plates, bowls, and many other things. The best ones are of
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.