SOME RARE RELICS.

Greymouth Evening Star, Volume XXXI, 6 December 1901, Page 4

SOME RARE RELICS.

Found in a Chinese God.

Near the famous Pckin Summer Palace, on a little hill, stood a pagoda, a gem of Chinese art, in which was a satuo of Bhudda. After the relief of the Legations this place was looted by the Italian sold lers, who knocked out the hollow base of the statue and began to explore the interior.

Within the bronzo the Italians discovered much ancient wadded cotton, almost in dust; then rice and lentils and lotus-sccd; rolls of prayers ; deeper in were bags of old coin, gold, silver and brass, with much brass cash (the Chinese coin with a square hole in the middle of it) Above this was a war-club covered with Sanscrit characters, and above this several rolls of paper money. Some of this paper money was obtained by the officer mentioned above Tho find proved to bo of intonso interest. One of those notes was submitted to tho author of "Ohineso Characteristics." Dr Smith, who is considered the most learned man in China, translated tho lettering on the bills with the utmost facility, although it proved to be so ancient.

Thero can ho no doubt of its authenticity. The Oriental ncholar found if. to bo '"a Treasury noto" and "issued by tbn Board of Revi nuc of thn Emperor Hu<g Wuin the ,vc;ir 1307;" fu th-r, it s stttcd that "the value is i>o taels," and it is "redeemable) in silver syco" (bullion). This is not an cngravrd note, but one printed with some sort of inovablf) typo. Thus we have hero a Treasury note printed on paper much more than 500 years old. What a revelation of progress it is—paper to make books, the fcyp3 to print them, and tho art in a flourishing condition 1 Naturally one will ask, who wa3 the old emperor whoso notes were concealed in the statue of Buddha when is was first set up, and havn renmnes hidden for centuries? Hung Wu was iht son of a Chinese working man. He was the child of fortune, and the brilliant product of a successful rebellion. He hud

the good luck to end one dynasty and set up another. "Yuen" .dynasty which he overthrew was fouiided tiy the great Mogul conqueror, Genghis Khan, who, and all his house, were famous makers of paper money. They were net tho first, lir!*evnr-, to ieflru the trick: 'lho history .i paper money in China can be traced back to as remote a porioi as 140 rs.c