At 05:00 PM 6/15/99 -0700, allyn yonge wrote:

Hi,
I'm not an expert by any means. However:

--- Gary Kleppe <kleppe@execpc.com> wrote:

Alan Harnum <harnums@thekeep.org> wrote:

    The mid-day sun drew curls of mist from the

pools in the valley.

Nearly half of them bore bamboo poles as memorials

for the creatures

##IMO it seems more likely these poles are part of the
Bok Hok Pai (White Crane) test of courage. 
Poles similar to these are used in the "Cotten Needle
Set" (Remember Ranma and Genma jumping around on top
of the poles? The Cotten Needle Set is a fairly
complex �dance' atop the poles) In training the set is
carried out on poles about 30cm high. The advanced Mui
Fa Joong(Plum blossom poles) were about 3 meters long
and about 6cm in diameter. Oh, and they were
surrounded by sharpened wooden stakes. It was
surprising how many people could do the exercise on
30cm poles fell to their death when the poles were
raised to 3meters and surrounded by sharp pointy
things. ^_^ In this case I believe the sharp pointy
things have been replaced by cursed pools. This is my
opinion only. 

Well, the logic we used was that the bamboo poles were originally intended
as memorial markers, and that the emergence of them for use in training is
comparatively recent.  The conjecture you make is logical, however, and the
information is interesting.  Thanks for sharing it.

Ciao,
-Alan Harnum