good quarters were obtained in Yen-an Fu, and we all settled down to spend 
Christmas and New Year in comfort. 
Yen-an, a city of about three thousand inhabitants, was built, it is 
believed, early in the Sung dynasty. It has sustained many sieges from time 
to time, these chiefly at the hands of the Mongols, whose ravaging hordes 
poured in from the Ordos by the valley of the Yen Shui, on which river 
Yen-an Fu is situated. During the Ming dynasty the northern part of Shensi 
was in the hands of the Mongols, from whom it was wrested by the famous 
Yang. This intrepid soldier, making his headquarters in Yen-an, drove the 
intruders back across the border, and there held them successfully at bay. 
His remains lie in a large cemetery situated in the valley about a mile to the 
north of the city. In more recent times the city was sacked by Mohammedan 
rebels, the inhabitants cruelly massacred, and the temples—in part at least— 
destroyed. It is built under the brow of a high and precipitous hill, and the 
wall as usual runs up the steep slope taking in the crest, which is divided from 
the rest of the ridge by a deep chasm cut by the original builders to preclude 
the possibility of attack from that quarter. Immediately outside the eastern 
wall flow the muddy waters of the Yen Shui. 
Up the side of a high sandstone cliff, facing the city on the left bank of 
the river, is built a most beautiful temple—a relic of the Sung dynasty. Its 
most interesting feature is an enormous hall hewn out of the solid rock, in 
which sit three colossal Buddhas, each on the sacred lotus lily. These, 
however, received but little of our attention, as though large and very 
gorgeously painted they are made only of mud. But the walls of the hall 
itself are lined with thousands of little Buddhas carved from the rock in 
strong relief, not one square foot of wall being left blank. Here and there 
were larger statues of other deities; one of which, a beautifully carved figure 
of the Goddess of Mercy in a reclining attitude, called forth our special 
admiration, and considerable pains were taken to obtain a good photograph of 
this exquisite piece of work. There were evidences that the carvings and 
statues had been at one time coated with paint; but that they look far better 
in their present condition we have no doubt. There were signs of a strong 
Indian influence in this artistic work. The priest attached to the temple told 
us, on being questioned, that it was six hundred years old. On the crest of a 
high hill above, and beyond this, there are still visible the remains of what 
must have been at one time another magnificent temple. It was evidently of 
very considerable proportions, and is said to have been destroyed by the 
Mohammedans. Sections of an immense stone stairway are still visible on 
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