Examination- Hall in the Temple of Confucius. 433 



which plays so important a part in the worship of the Chinese, 

 and owing to! their zealous and frequent use are heaped up 

 in immense piles, for consumption by fire in a gigantic 

 furnace. 



Much more edifying than the interior of the great Budd- 

 hist temple with its troops of swag-bellied idols in their parti- 

 coloured apparel, some with a good-humoured leer, others 

 sulkily scowling on the beholder, is the appearance of tlie 

 temple of Confucius * in a remote quarter of the city. In 

 this extensive building, at once elegant and simple, and with 

 numerous halls and corridors, the scholars undergo their 

 examination for the service of the state ; here the Government 

 officials at stated seasons perform certain religious ceremonies, 

 and here all the literati assemble for the discussion of grave 

 questions of debate. The main hall has its red-tinted walls 

 covered with Chinese and Tartar inscriptions, all of which 

 refer to Confucius, his doctrines and his wisdom. At inter- 

 vals, a number of tablets let into the wall inform the visitor 

 that this edifice is devoted to the instruction of the virtuous, 

 and the cultivation of the endowments. At the same time 

 every person who passes this in a sedan chair or on horse- 



"Sycee" paper in Canton English, because the prayers addressed to the Divinity are 

 usually for riches and silver ingots (Sycee), which the suppUants hope to obtain by 

 entreaty. 



* Properly spelt Kong-fu-tseu, from which the Europeans have constructed the 

 Latinized name Confucius. Kong-fu-tseu (sometimes also written Komj-tse) was 

 born 550 B. c. in the city of Kio-siu-bien, in the modern province of Shan-tung. 

 VOL. II. 2 F 



