The tortoise is the centre of a great circle of pleasing superstitions, and hence is one of the set of symbols oftenest employed in Corean art. The practice of divination is mostly associated with tortoise-shell, the figuring of a tortoise’s back having a mystic signification. In Chinese legend a divine tortoise emerged from the Yellow River, on the shell of which a sage discovered the system of numerals, and thus obtained the foundation of mathematics and the rudiments of philosophy. This tortoise was said to be the embodiment of the star in Ursa Major, and the progenitor of all the tortoise tribe. It can transform itself into other forms of life and lives to the age of ten thousand years. Hence it is the symbol of long life. It is said to conceive by thought alone. There are said to be ten kinds of tortoises, one of them being half dragon, half tortoise, and with a tail like a fringe of silver. This is the attendant of the god of waters, and hence is often used as the top of a well. The tortoise is also the symbol of immortality and strength, hence is often used over walls and places of entrance. Many Corean gateways are surmounted with huge tortoises sculptured in stone. The same idea is expressed in making the representations of this creature, cut from a single rock, the base for monumental tablets set into its back. The great seal of state, the regalia of sovereignty in Chō-sen, has the form of a tortoise. The phœnix is also represented as standing upon a tortoise. Closely connected with the Hindoo idea of the world resting on an elephant which stands on a tortoise, is the Chinese idea of “supporting the earth with the feet of a tortoise.” A common idea in Chō-sen, as in China, is the huge tortoise which supports mountains on its back, and having a shell which is one thousand leagues in circumference. The phœnix (fung-wang or hōwō), like the kirin, appears on the earth at or near the birth of a good ruler, and hence is the emblem of peace and good government. The male is called fung, or ho, and the female wang, or wō, hence the generic name fung-wang or hōwō. In its marvellous plumage the sheen of the five colors may be descried, each of which is typical of the five cardinal virtues. In figure it seems to be an ideal combination of the peacock and the golden pheasant, but with feathers wondrously curled and made into ringlets. It is not only a symbol of auspicious government, but of inseparable fellowship, and many stanzas of poetry refer to it as typical of courtship and conjugal love. In its voice are many intonations, to each of which a name is given. For this reason it is a favorite element in the decoration of musical instruments.