e_ which gave the slightest clue to the sound of the
word it represented. Each character, therefore, had to be learned and
recognized by a separate effort of memory. The first step in a new, and,
as it ultimately proved, the right direction, was the borrowing of a
character already in use to represent another word identical in sound,
though different in meaning. Owing to the scarcity of vocables noted
above, there might be as many as ten different words in common use, each
pronounced _fang_. Out of those ten only one, we will suppose, had a
character assigned to it--namely [Ch] "square" (originally said to be a
picture of two boats joined together). But among the other nine was
_fang_, meaning "street" or "locality," in such common use that it
became necessary to have some means of writing it. Instead of inventing
an altogether new character, as they might have done, the Chinese took
[Ch] "square" and used it also in the sense of "locality." This was a
simple expedient, no doubt, but one that, applied on a large scale,
could not but lead to confusion. The corresponding difficulty which
presented itself in speech was overcome, as we saw, by many devices, one
of which consisted in prefixing to the word in question another which
served to determine its special meaning. A native does not say _fang_
simply when he wishes to speak of a place, but _li-fang_ "earth-place."
Exactly the same device was now adopted in writing the character. To
_fang_ "square" was added another part meaning "earth," in order to show
that the _fang_ in question had to do with location on the earth's
surface. The whole character thus appeared as [Ch]. Once this phonetic
principle had been introduced, all was smooth sailing, and writing
progressed by leaps and bounds. Nothing was easier now than to provide
signs for the other words pronounced _fang_. "A room" was [Ch]
door-_fang_; "to spin" was [Ch] silk-_fang_; "fragrant" was [Ch]
herbs-_fang_; "to inquire" was [Ch] words-_fang_; "an embankment," and
hence "to guard against," was [Ch] mound-_fang_; "to hinder" was [Ch]
woman-_fang_. This last example may seem a little strange until we
remember that man must have played the principal part in the development
of writing, and that from the masculine point of view there is something
essentially obstructive and unmanageable in woman's nature. It may be
remarked, by the way, that the element "woman" is often the
determinative in characters that stand for unam