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CHINESE MUSIC. /

tlie K uenhm Mountains (the OljTnpus of China and the supposed source of the feng-shui),

to procure bamboo tubes to make the liis. It appears that there is a valley there called

Chiehku, where bamboos of regular tliickness grow. Ling Lun cut the piece of bamboo which

is between two knots, and the sound emitted by this tube he considered as the base, the

pitch-key, the tonic.^ He arranged a series of 12 tubes, according to the ideas of his master,

and they received the name f^ g (liis) —that is, laws, principles, pitch-pipes.Now, what led the inventor to the division of the octave into twelve semitones, each

represented by one lil ? Several versions are given :

1°. Some say that he arrived at it by listening to the singing of the Pengs or Fengs

(a powei-ful tribe living south of the Yangtze-kiang), the voices of the menffivinw him six demitones and those of the women the remaining six.-

2°. Others give the same theory with this particular change, that the Fengs were

not human beings, but birds ; the male being called gl, (feng), and the female

JIi (liiuingPUnfortunately for this theory, a third account assures us that

these birds were simply imaginary.*

3°. Another writer attributes to the rolling waves of the Yellow River the idea of

the first soimd. The bamboos growing on its borders were used to render it.*

4°. Aiaother writer, less poetical but not less positive, is convinced that Ling Lun cuthis bamboos according to the terms of a triple progression of 12 numbers, as

•. 3. 9. 27, 81, etc., which, indeed, exhibit the numerical values of a series of

perfect fifths. ^

But without questioning to what extent these theories may be acceptable, it is more

reasonable to believe that the discovery of the 12 divisions of the octave was due to simple

and natural causes.

That the ancient Chinese should notice the difference of pitch between the sounds emitted

by tubes of different length is quite natural ; that they contrived to find a tube the sound

of which corresponded exactly to the fundamental note of the then existing music is not

astonishing ; that they then became anxious to have tubes corresponding to the other sounds

of their scale is quite comprehensible ; and that when comparing, blowing, or cutting they

discovered the way to the division of the octave into 1 2 semitones is not at all impossible.

The Chinese have always been fond of seeking the simili tude or contrasts existing

between everything in creation. Between heaven and earth, they say, there is perfect harmony.

Now, 3 is the emblem of heaven, 2 is the sjonbol of earth.^ If two sounds are in the

proportion of 3 to 2, they will harmonise as perfectly as heaven and earth. On this principle

a second tube was cut measuring exactly two-thirds of the length of the first tube, and the

Douglas Oliina, p. 162.^ Journal of the North-China Branch of the Eoyal Asiatic Society, No. VIII, 1874, p. 96.

* Morrison s Dictionary : character ^.5 Amiot, Memories sur les Chinois.s Paul Peuny s Dictionary, P.art II. The jg* says:

^5c M ^-