THE COLLEGE OF THE WHITE DELE. 521 



bathe, for it was impossible to resist the temptation to test the depth 



of such a series of great pot-holes as here invited to a plunge. Passing 

 on. now among stunted pines, now across stretches of arid red sand- 

 stone and clay, over no real roads, hut by winding paths let ween many 

 small divisions of cultivated field, we came at last to a secluded valley 

 at the junction of two rippling brooks, with ' five old peaks ' standing 

 like parapets on a rampart for the background, and the lake winding 

 up a larger valley and spreading out beyond the undulating foothills. 



Genius in China, as elsewhere, renders a place illustrious, and few 

 spots are more celebrated than this lovely vale of the White Deer, where 

 Chii Fit Tsz, the greatest commentator of Confucius, lived and taught 

 in the twelfth century. It is still a place of pilgrimage to Chinese 

 literati, for Chii's writings are prized by them next to their classics. 

 Crossing the ' Fairy Bridge ' over one of the rivulets, whose constant 

 murmur lent enchantment to the otherwise quiet nook, we saw before 

 us a high ' compound ' Avail, red in part and white in part. Passing the 

 lesser gates, under gilded ideographs, we stood at last in the courtyard 

 of a college older than any university of Europe, Salerno not excepted. 

 This ancient seat of learning was rebuilt when the banners of the third 

 crusade were advancing on Jerusalem, and its real beginning is hid 

 behind the veil of past ages. 



According to Chinese history, the grotto, which shows no signs of 

 a natural origin, being dug out of a cliff and arched over with masonry, 

 was the retreat of the illustrious poet Li P'u (or Li Tai-peh), who 

 flourished during the T'ang dynasty, toward the latter part of the ninth 

 century. P'u had a tame white deer which accompanied him in his 

 walks abroad, and thus he became known as the ' white deer gentleman ' 

 and his dwelling as ' the white deer grotto.' A very crude stone image 

 a deer, placed there by Ho Tsing in the fourteenth century, now stands 

 beneath this arch. When promoted to be sub-prefect at Kiangchou, 

 now Kiukiang, P'u built a kiosk over his former sequestered abode, 

 rendering the spot memorable from that day. 



At a time when dynasty fast gave way to dynasty (five successive 

 houses holding swav between f>0T-f>60) this sheltered corner was the 

 retreat of worthy scholars from far and near, and here fields were 

 bought, buildings erected, students gathered, and a school opened, from 

 the famous halls of which were to come men able to help guide the 

 affairs of state. Si Shan-tao, a master of the Xine Canonical Books, 

 was taken from the Imperial Academy to become the president of this 

 institution, styled the C4overnment School of the Lii Mountains. In 

 90G it was raised to the grade of a university coordinate with the other 

 three universities of the realm. The enrolment was then one hundred 

 students. 



The fortunes of this seat of learning suffered many reverses, fol- 



