220 A NATURALIST IN WESTERN CHINA 



whole of the mountain is, or rather was, church property, 

 much of the land on the lower slopes suitable for cultivation 

 having from time to time been sold away from the church. 

 Voluntary subscriptions are now the chief sources of revenue 

 of the religious houses, though many of the temples have 

 money as well as land endowments. 



Many thousands of pilgrims, coming from all parts of the 

 Chinese Empire, visit this mountain annually. At the time of 

 my visit there were several pilgrims who had walked all the 

 way from Shanghai, some 2000 miles distant, for the express 

 purpose of doing homage before the shrines of Mount Omei. 

 Thibetans and even Nepalese make pilgrimages here. The 

 images and sacred objects are numberless, many of them being 

 of pure bronze or copper. Three mummified holy men, 

 lacquered, gilded, and deified, the elephant above mentioned, 

 and a tooth of Buddha are among the more interesting objects. 

 The tooth is about a foot long and weighs 18 English lb., and 

 is in all probability a fossil-elephant's molar. On the extreme 

 summit of the mountain, the Golden Summit, as it is called, 

 are the ruins of an ancient temple which was built of pure 

 bronze. It is said to have been erected by the Emperor Wan-li 

 (a.d. 1573-1620), and was destroyed by lightning in 1819. 

 Since this catastrophe nine or ten abbots have come and 

 gone, but none has been able to collect enough money to 

 rebuild it. The mass of metal at present heaped around, 

 consisting of pillars, beams, panels, and tiles, is all of bronze. 

 The panels are particularly fine pieces of work. I measured 

 one panel which had dimensions as follows : 76 inches high, 

 20 inches wide, i^ inches thick ; some of the panels are slightly 

 smaller than this. All are ornamented with figures repre- 

 senting seated Buddhas, flowers, and scroll-work, and on the 

 reverse with hexagonal arabesques. Many of the panels have 

 been incorporated in one of the two small temples which now 

 stand on the crest of the precipice. Wan-li's tablet, which 

 was contained in the ancient bronze temple, is to-day accommo- 

 dated in an outhouse along with fuel. The crown-piece is 

 detached and lies outside. This tablet is of bronze, but is 

 hollow. With crown-piece and pedestal it measures 90 inches 

 high, 32 inches wide, and 7 inches thick. Another grand relic 



