The stones used for the _king_ have been cut from time to time in various grotesque shapes. Some represent animals: as, for instance, a bat with outstretched wings; or two fishes placed side by side: others are in the shape of an ancient Chinese bell. The angular shape shown in the engraving appears to be the oldest and is still retained in the ornamented stones of the _pien-king_, which is a more modern instrument than the _king_. The tones of the _pien-king_ are attuned according to the Chinese intervals called _lu_, of which there are twelve in the compass of an octave. The same is the case with the other Chinese instruments of this class. They vary, however, in pitch. The pitch of the _soung-king_, for instance, is four intervals lower than that of the _pien-king_. Sonorous stones have always been used by the Chinese also singly, as rhythmical instruments. Such a single stone is called _tse-king_. Probably certain curious relics belonging to a temple in Peking, erected for the worship of Confucius, serve a similar purpose. In one of the outbuildings or the temple are ten sonorous stones, shaped like drums, which are asserted to have been cut about three thousand years ago. The primitive Chinese characters engraven upon them are nearly obliterated. The ancient Chinese had several kinds of bells, frequently arranged in sets so as to constitute a musical scale. The Chinese name for the bell is _tchung_. At an early period they had a somewhat square-shaped bell called _té-tchung_. Like other ancient Chinese bells it was made of copper alloyed with tin, the proportion being one pound of tin to six of copper. The _té-tchung_, which is also known by the name of _piao_, was principally used to indicate the time and divisions in musical performances. It had a fixed pitch of sound, and several of these bells attuned to a certain order of intervals were not unfrequently ranged in a regular succession, thus forming a musical instrument which was called _pien-tchung_. The musical scale of the sixteen bells which the _pien-tchung_ contained was the same as that of the _king_ before mentioned. [Illustration]