Today I`m going to carry on looking at historical knowledge amongst the Chinese of the giraffe, through the interpretation of Berthold Laufer. This continues on from Part One, which appeared on December 27th 2010.
'There are in the Chinese Annals several records of giraffes being sent alive as gifts to the Chinese emperors during the fifteenth century. In that period a new impetus was given to the exploration of the countries of the Indian Ocean through the exploits of Cheng Ho, eunuch and navigator. In AD 1408 and 1412 he conducted, with a fleet of sixty-two ships, naval expeditions to the realms of south-eastern Asia, advancing as fas as Ceylon, and inducing many states to send envoys back with him to his native country. In 1415 and again in 1421 he returned with the foreign envoys to their countries in order to open trading links with them. …In A.D. 1414 (the twelth year of the period Yung-lo,under the emperor Ch`eng Tsu), Saifud-din, king of Bengal, sent envoys to China with an offering of giraffes and famous horses. The Board of Rites asked permission of the emperor to present an address of congratulation. As the giraffe was termed k` i-lin, and the fabulous k `i-lin of antiquity was reputed to appear only at the time of a virtuous ruler, the giraffe was obviously regarded as an auspicious omen, and the proposed address of congratualation was chiefly intended as a flattery to the sovereign, who had sense enough to see through the game and denied the request. (1)
In A.D. 1415 the country Ma-lin (Malindi in British East Africa) offered a giraffe to the emperor …In the year 1421 the chamberlain Chou travelled for the purpose of purchasing giraffes, lions, and other rare animals, rather to satisfy his own vanity than to make a contribution to knowledge…In the year 1430 Cheng Ho dispatched one of his companions to Calicut in southern India. Having heard that a trading vessel was to sail from that port to Arabia, he commanded this officer to embark and take Chinese goods as presents for the native ruler along. The voyage lasted a year. The Chinese envoy purchased there fine pearls, precious stones, a giraffe (k`i-lin), a lion, and an ostrich.… (2)
A note-worthy point is that the giraffes were not sent to China over the land route as the ostriches were but were conveyed in ships over the maritime route from Aden by way of India. It is a pity that we have no detailed story as to how the animals were transported, for their transportation is a difficult problem even at the present time. Giraffes are very nervous and hence very awkward animals to transport as they are liable to break their necks by suddenly twisting about in their travelling boxes. It is still more deplorable that the Chinese have not preserved a record of how the animals were cared for in their country, how long they lived, etc. (3)
To be continued.
1. B.Laufer The Giraffe in History and Art (1928) p.44
2. Ibid pp 44-46
3. Ibid p 46
IONA CHI-RHO
Colour of green
Green for the vine
For the leaves and the branches
Colour of red
Red for the wounds that are deeper than I can know
How deep the flow
By Him all things, were created
By Him all things, were created
And the fullness of the Godhead is in Him
Chi-Rho
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