The magicians were in the Han dynasty called--not without a touch of sarcasm--the "Feathered scholars" (Yu-shi), as being able to fly. The legend of Chang Tau-ling, ancestor of the Chang T'ien-shi, head of the Tauist hierarchy at the present time, is sometimes stated as follows:--In the latter part of the second century, this Pope of

the Tauists, if he may be so called, was engaged in the province now called Si-ch'wen in the Ho-ming shan (Mountain where the crane sien-ho calls), in manipulating the "elixir of the dragon and tiger," lung-hu-tan. He met a spirit who said, "In the Pe-sung mountain is a stone house where may be found writings of the three emperors and a liturgical book. By getting these you may ascend to heaven, if you pass through the course of discipline which they enjoin." He dug and found them. By means of them he was able to fly, to hear distant sounds, and to leave his body. Lau-kiun then came down to him on the night of the feast of lanterns, and ordered him to subdue the demons of the "Shu country" (Si-ch'wen), in order to confer blessings on humanity. Lau-kiun gave him a powerful and secret "charm" (lu), a "liturgy" (king), a "composition in verse or measured prose" (kiue), a "sword" (kien), and a "seal" (yin). After going through a thousand days of discipline, and receiving instructions from a certain goddess called Yu-nu, who taught him to walk about among the stars, he proceeded to fight with the king of the demons, to divide mountains and seas, and to command the wind and thunder to come and go. All the demons fled before him, leaving not a trace behind of their retreating footsteps. On account of the prodigious slaughter of demons by this hero, the wind and thunder were reduced to subjection, and various divinities came with eager haste to acknowledge their faults. In nine years he gained the power to ascend to heaven and prostrate himself before the first in rank of the Three Pure Ones. A temple in Ch'eng-tu is said to have been the place where Lau-kiun discoursed to Chang Tau-ling. He afterwards went eastward, and settled his residence on the mountain Lung-hu shan, where his descendants have ever since resided in possession of great honour and emolument, as his hereditary representatives. The present occupant of the patriarchate had to fly at the time of the T'ai-p'ing rebellion, and the temple where he resides was partially

destroyed. The repairs of the buildings are now nearly completed.