178 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL, I42 



Among the Ch'iang the white stone is sacred hut generally is not 

 worshiped as a god, although I found a number of white stones and 

 some not white that are w^orshiped by these people as living gods. 

 White stones so worshiped are found at O-erh, at Ho-p'ing-chai, and 

 at Hsiao-chai-tzu, At Chia-shan-chai there is a white stone called the 

 White Stone King in a shrine in a temple that is worshiped as a local 

 god. In the sacred grove at Lung-ch'i-chai is a slender black stone 

 22 inches high that is worshiped as a local deity. In the temple is a 

 white stone that is worshiped as a mountain god. In the upper vil- 

 lage of K'a-ku in a shrine is a white stone worshiped by some as a 

 grain god and by others as Ts'ang-chih, the Chinese god of scholars. 

 Near Lo-bu-chai and Hsiao-chai-tzu a rock as large as a large house 

 is worshiped as a god who heals diseases. On a mountain near Li-fan 

 is a temple called Pai (white) -kung-ssu in which are three large white 

 stones worshiped as gods. 



There are many sacred trees in West China, some of which are 

 worshiped as gods. I have been told that tree gods are fairly com- 

 mon among the Ch'uan Miao, Among the Ch'iang there is one 15 li 

 from T'ao-tzu-p'ing, another, a great pine tree, behind the temple 

 at Ru-ta-chai, which is near Chia-shan-chai, and at least one at 

 Ho-p'ing-chai. Near Fu-yen-ch'i, west of An-pien, is a great banyan 

 tree, believed to be centuries old, which is worshiped as a god. Above 

 a shrine at the foot of the tree are four characters meaning "(he) 

 greatly manifests majesty and efficacy." On the right are five charac- 

 ters meaning "worship me, Mr. Huang," and on the left are five char- 

 acters meaning "(I will) protect you from calamities." 



At the Sen-lin-ssu, or Deep Forest Monastery, above An-pien are 

 three trees that are worshiped as gods. One is a banyan tree, one an 

 orange tree, and one is called in Chinese a mung-tsu-shoii. There is 

 a tradition that an official named Hsiao tied his horse to one of these 

 trees, but the horse refused to eat. The official said, "These trees are 

 gods," and worshiped them. After that the horse ate, which was re- 

 garded as evidence that the trees were gods. Since then the trees 

 have been constantly worshiped, and the temple was erected near the 

 trees. 



On Chen-wu-shan, a mountain near I-pin, there were formerly 

 two great old cypress trees that were tree gods. It is said that 

 they were planted during the Ming dynasty. One died and fell on a 

 nearby temple where it remained two or three years. People did not 

 wish to cut it up because it was a god. Then part of it was carved 

 into three gods which were placed in a Suifu temple, and the rest of 



