l68 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I42 



pies. It is a place of marvelous beauty, in a canyon the sides of 

 which are covered by green forests. There are many beautiful flowers, 

 including wild red poppies. Up the canyon is a snow-covered peak, 

 Hsueh-pao-ting-shan, and down the canyon is a ridge with unbe- 

 lievably beautiful foldings of the rock strata, A crystal-clear stream 

 flows down the canyon, on the bottom and sides of which are bright- 

 yellow stones. In the stream are dozens of pools like those of the 

 Yellowstone Park, This is a holy of holies for a very wide region, 

 and many thousands of pilgrims of many ethnic groups come every 

 year to worship. 



It is also true that mountains from which there are unusually fine 

 views are likely to be sacred and to have shrines and temples built 

 on them. Mount Omei is thought by some to be the most beautiful 

 mountain in the world. It has a great precipice 6,000 feet high and 

 hundreds of beautiful scenes, with cliffs, natural caves, mountain 

 streams, forests, and views of the Min and the Ya Valleys and of the 

 snow-covered peaks of eastern Tibet. Near the summit is an inscrip- 

 tion that expresses the feelings of the pilgrims, "One foot from 

 heaven." Wa Shan, apparently the highest mountain in central Szech- 

 wan, is striking and grand in appearance, its top flat and forest 

 covered. On every side is a perpendicular cliff, the highest rising 

 4,000 feet, and the top can be reached only by going over a steep and 

 perilous path. One who approaches and climbs this mountain, as I 

 have, will be almost overwhelmed by feelings of fear, wonder, and 

 awe. Little wonder that it is a sacred mountain. Minya Konka, on 

 the China-Tibetan border, is the highest mountain in Sikang. It is 

 over 24,000 feet high and from a distance looks like a great pure- 

 white pyramid. To the Tibetans it is not only sacred, but it is a god, 

 and at its base are temples where pilgrims come to worship. 



It is well known that there are four sacred mountains in China 

 where the emperors in former times went to worship heaven and 

 earth. On these there are now many temples where thousands of 

 pilgrims go to worship every year. It is not so well known that there 

 are many other sacred mountains in China, especially in West China. 

 The most sacred mountain of West China is Mount Omei. On its 

 sides and on its summit are many Buddhist temples, and to this 

 mountain come pilgrims from all over China, from Mongolia, and 

 from Tibet. 



Ch'ing-ch'eng-shan is the Taoist rival of Mount Omei in Szech- 

 wan. It is a high mountain peak across the Min River from 

 Kuanhsien, and on its sides and summit are many shrines and tern- 



