CHAPTER V
THE FORMS AND OUTLINES OF NATURE
We now come to the last division of the system of Feng-shui--the doctrine of nature's outlines and forms of appearance. This section, however, forms merely a practical application of the general rules and ideas laid down in the preceding chapters, and I need not therefore enter upon details at great length. I have already spoken of those elevations of the ground which indicate the presence of nature's breath, with its two currents of male and female, positive and negative energy, symbolically called dragon and tiger. The relative position and configuration of these two, the dragon and tiger, as indicated by hills or mountains, is the most important point, as regards the outlines and forms of the earth's surface. I will not enter into an enumeration of all those configurations which make the relative position, extent and direction of these two symbolic elements favourable or unfavourable. Suffice it to say that they are most happily placed when they form a complete horse-shoe, that is to say where two ridges of hills starting from one point run out to the right and left in a graceful curve their extremities gently turning inwards towards each other. Such a formation of hills or mountains is the sure index of the presence of a true dragon and--if other conjunctions counteract it not--the influence of a locality, chosen at the point where dragon and tiger start to the right and left, will be all that can be desired.
Another important element in the doctrine of the outward forms of nature is the direction of the water-courses. We have had occasion to allude to this more than once, and the chief point is, that water running off in straight lines or
