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407 



not allowed to suffer from want of repair or of a decent regard to cleanliness. The sculpture 

 of the various images was no hetter in art or more imposing in appearance than the ordinary- 

 figures of Joss in the Chinese temijles. An occasional picture is hung up as a votive offering 

 upon the walls, representing, rather rudely, some event in the life of the worshipper, in the 

 course of which he had reason, as he piously helieved, to he grateful for the services of Buddha 

 or some of his numerous progeny o^ subordinate deities. Certain boxes, distributed about the 

 temple, remind the Christian visitor of the duties of charity, and he thinks with a pious 

 recollection of the claims of the poor, which are suggested by a practice similar to that in the 

 -^Id churches of his own faith. His charitable feelings, however, are suddenly repelled when he 

 learns the objecr of the boxes, for the label upon them reads : " For feeding hungry demons," 

 and the promise which follows that, "his merit will be consolidated," is hardly inducement 

 enough to contribute toward the necessities of the devil, or any of his voracious legion. In front 

 of some of the temples pillars are found, ujion whicli are inscribed an edict forbidding any 

 liquors or meats to be carried within the sacred precincts. 



Connected with each monastery is a grave-yard^ in which there is a great variety of monuments 

 and tombstones. They are generally made of a greenstone found in the neighborhood of 

 Simoda, and have the various forms of simple slabs, raised tombs, ana obelisks. Among the 



>*««&. BtC 



Grave-yard and Temple at Simoda. 



monuments are distributed statues of Buddha, varying in size from the largeness of life to that 

 of only a foot or less. They are represented in various attitudes, some erect and others in 

 a sitting posture, while many are carved in relief upon slabs of stone, wnere Buddha is seen 



