258
Nihongi.
The Buddhist priest Chiyu made a south-pointing chariot.[1]
South-pointing Chariot.It was reported from the province of Idzumo:—"On the shore of the northern sea the fish are dying in heaps three feet in depth. In size they resemble the globe-fish.[2] They have the beaks of sparrows and thorny scales several inches long. The common people say that they are sparrows which have gone into the sea and become changed into fish, and give them the name of 'sparrow-fish.'"
One book says:—"In the seventh month of the sixth year, Pèkché sent Envoys with the following message to the Empress:—'Great Thang and Silla have (XXVI. 11.) joined their powers for an attack upon us. They have taken away as prisoners King Wichă, his Queen,[3] and the Heir to the Throne. Our Government has therefore stationed troops on the north-western frontier and repaired
- ↑ i.e. a compass. For some curious learning about the compass, vide "The Night of the Gods," Vol. I. p. 97, by John O'Neill. Tradition says that a south-pointing chariot was made in the days of the Emperor Hoang, so that his troops might find their way surely in foggy weather. Vide Mayers, p. 21, where the tradition of a south-pointing chariot being made in B.C. 1110 is referred to.
- ↑ The Tetraodon Hyxtris, or fugu, a poisonous fish, which has the power of puffing out its belly, a kind of globe-fish. There is a pretty conflict of authority as to the fish intended by 鮐, the character here used. One Japanese dictionary gives same or shark, and hata, the terranus moara, while the interlinear gloss is yebi or prawn.
- ↑ The interlinear version has Koniworu for Queen, and Konikishi for Heir to the Throne. I cannot identify these with any modern Corean words.
