New Britain herald., 1916-03-16
5OO-FOOT FOSSIL
 OF DRAGON FOUND
China Excited by Discovery in
 Lonesome Mountain Cave

Chinese have recently been greatly l excited by runlors which are spread l ing throughout the Republic concern l ing the discovery of the fossil of a dra gon five hundred feet long in a prehistoric cave at Ichang in Sze- chuen province. The Chamber of Commerce at Ichang, members of the schools and prominent citizens mem oralized the Central Government On l the subject saying: "Now monarch 1 has arisen like a dragon, and the foundation for a dynasty of ten thou 1 sand years Is to be laid. The fossil l of a divine dragon has appeared in l the regions along the Yang-tse river l It is a symbol of the protection of | heaven and the joy of the people. It i is therefore requested that telegram be sent to the throne to bring to the l notice of the public the discovery or i the stone dragon at Ichang, and the l fact referred to the bureau of ms tory to have it recorded for the ln- l formation of posterity. Thus 7he signs of heaven for prosperity or the nation will be appreciated and the i desires ot the people will be tulhileu This memorial was widely printed throughout China, and attracted very much attention, especially among ne
 
 l refute the rumor that the govern ment was responsible for the circuit ton of this story in such genera! i manner, the President issued n man 1 date discounting all attempts to capl- l talize superstition and urging pup lie to bring about general enlight- ment.
 Removal Prohibited.
 Ut is," says the mandate, absurd to get excited over matters which one cannot understand, and try to inter- l pret everything as a sign ot peace 1 and prosperity. The request to re- fer the above fossil to the bureau ot l history for record is not approVad' l However, as the ancient fossil deposit ed in the cave of mountains may serve as material for research, the 5ald governor and Chiang Chun are here- by instructed to make the local of ficials responsible for it's preserva- ton, thus students may proceed there 1 to institute Investigations J. O'Malley Irwin, who was mem Der of the party which discovered tie dragon last October, was panied by M. Hewlett, the British consul t Ichang, and a number of other forei- ] gners, He has recently published an account of the exploration. The cave in which the dragon fossil was dis covered is at the upper end of the lc- hang gorge, near customs station i called Ping Shan Pa. The Chinese 1 call the cave Shen Kan Tzu. In | describing the discovery MT. Irwin says: "A large rock is seen at the entrance to the cave and about eight yards behind this is a peculiar plH @ of rock somewhat like the coil of a large reptile. This resem blance, faint as it is evidently appealed 70 the Chinese mind, for we were informed that the cave was sometimes called the dragon cav and that it was 1e. , l puted to extend for fifty Ii or about seventeen miles, and to lead to +l,e Lung Wong Tung, or Cave of the dragon king situated near Ichang.
 ''In former years many foreigner: have penetrated far beyond the spo where the fossils are now plainly Visi ble, so that it seems likely that they have been recently uncovered, prob ably by a heavy discharge of water through the cave.
 when With the lighted lanterns we had penetrated about one hundred wards we found ourselves walking
 
 the surrounding pools of water, and il was the peculiar serpentine course of this ridge which excited our curiosity and led to a closer examination which revealed the fact that we were walk l ing along back of what we at first e,InnOsed to be a Chinese dragon carved in stone, and that there were six or eight of these stone dragons lying coiled together. Additional lights in the shape of flares of bam- boo rope and the examination of some loose pieces of scale informed us that the supposed stone carvings were in reality fossil.
 Having no means of measuring the 1 specimens we agreed to return to the cave early the following morning to | take measurements and make such 1 further investigations as the short time at our disposal would admit. The measurements and facts ascer- tained upon our return were as fol- lows: Length of the largest fossil was l between sixty and seventy feet from { point where the head was partially buried in the cavc wall to the first point of contact with any of the other specimens, thus showing the length to be at least sixty and seventy feet and it seemed to us that the same reptile extended for another sixty or ] seveny feet, but owing to the inter- l ningling of coils of various reptiles a this point error is possible here and confirmation or otherwise must be 1 left to more skillful observers with l plenty of time at their disposal.
 Starved To Death.
 The depth of the portion of body I in D1 n l was two feet. Two legs or paddles l partially uncovered were observed l about twelve or fourteen feet from l boa ntl h olar,llt foa,