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Portrait of Shinnung.
JUNE.
The people of his age were rude, and wholly unacquainted with the arts and advantages of agriculture. They subsisted on fruits, vegetables, and the flesh of birds and beasts. The Blazing emperor, not satisfied with this state of his empire, engaged in domestic im- provements; examined the qualities of the soil, and the character of the climate; made ploughs, &c.; and taught his people how to till the soil and raise grain. The interests of husbandry thus commenc- ed their advance, and most salutary results followed. Hence it was that his grateful subjects called him Shinnung, which means the Godly-agriculturist, or the Divine-husbandman.
inents.
But the sovereign did not stop with these more necessary improve- The people suffered from sickness, and he was thereby led to search for remedies. The vegetable kingdom was laid under con- tribution—as intimated by the portrait. The medical qualities of plants were tested; and his investigations went on rapidly, sometimes analyzing as many as seventy new plants in a single day. Books on the healing art were soon made, and the practice of medicine became a regular and honorable profession.
The streams and springs of water were likewise carefully ex- amined, and their mineral qualities noted, so that the people might know which to use and which to avoid. The inhabitants of the em- pire now began to live in security and quietude, enjoyed the fruit of their industry, and were relieved from all fear of dying. How splen- did! How glorious!
In such happy and prosperous times, commerce could not long be wanting. The people were all honest, faithful, and industrious. There were no domestic or foreign wars; and money was abundant. By imperial commands, markets were erected, and sales appointed. Soon people came from all quarters and all countries; and thus com- merce, both domestic and foreign, began to flourish.
Music and the other refined arts, under these circumstances, could not be long neglected. Instruments were made, and the song of the plentiful year was sung. The officers of
'The officers of government were arranged into classes, their ranks defined, and boards instituted with proper titles, and the most perfect method was everywhere preserved.
But the Divine-husbandman was not to live always, his healing art notwithstanding. The years of his reign were one hundred and forty. Ile died 2737 B. C. This melancholy event happened in the southern part of his empire-the Chinese say, in the province of Húkwáng. Sich are some of the sentiments and opinions entertained, by the black-haired race, regarding the successor of Fuhí
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