It is well known that the Chinese designate their empire as the “Middle Kingdom.” Another native name for China is “Chung-ho-a,” which I find translated as “the Flower of the Middle.” The empire is likewise designated as “the Four Seas”=ssu-hai and “the Four Mountains,” and it was actually divided by the emperor Yaou or Yāo (B.C. 2357) into four provinces converging at the capital, the central enclosure of which was considered as the centre of heaven and earth. It is extremely significant that, in this central enclosure there is a temple, consecrated to the god of the north star=The Imperial Ruler of Heaven, whereas altars only are dedicated to the sun and moon respectively. The existence in the central enclosure, or the “Carnation prohibited city,” of the Temple of Earth’s Repose, reveals that the idea of stability was associated with this terrestrial centre. The fact that the Empress and the female portion of the Imperial family resided in the “Palace of Earth’s Repose” affords an explanation of the possible origin of deforming the feet of noble women, this being a means of enforcing comparative repose upon them, in keeping with the symbolism of their surroundings. The most striking structure in this sacred enclosure is “an artificial mound, nearly one hundred and fifty feet high, having five summits, crowned with as many temples. Its height allows the spectator to overlook the whole city, whilst, too, it is itself a conspicuous object from every direction.” This sacred mound or pyramid actually marks the centre of the empire. From the surrounding walls of the sacred city four roads diverge towards the cardinal points, dividing the capital into four quarters. Each province was ruled by an official and both province and ruler seem to have been anciently designated by the term Mountain=Yo or Kan. A superior official, entitled the “President of the Four Mountains” is mentioned as the counsellor of Emperor Yaou in the Shu King. One name for mountain is yo, another is kan, a word which resembles k’an=water and kwăn=earth, which forms the name of the earth mother=Kwan-yin. Without drawing any hasty conclusions, I merely note the curious fact that the title “the President of the Four Mountains,” must sometimes have been rendered as Kan and as Yo, and that a variant the name of “four seas” may well have been “four _ho_” or lakes or rivers. The title kan, meaning mountain or eminence, and the idea of four rivers flowing from a common centre or spring, may well have developed themselves among Chinese-speaking people. It may be an odd coincidence only that the word kan=mountain, should be so intimately connected with the numeral four in the Chinese title; while it is a synonym for four in the Maya, it is also found employed in the honorific Maya title Kukul-kan=the divine Kan, and as a synonym for mountain in certain names of localities in the valley of Mexico. An interesting but little known fact is that the peak of the mighty Kulkun