monuments themselves are of considerable antiquity, notably the Hsia Yii 
Ch’ti Shui Pi, the pair of Mohammedan monuments, the Nestorian tablet, 
and the sixteen classics. The stones are usually oblong in shape, and over 
six inches thick. In many, the sides have been decorated with beautiful scroll 
work, showing marked signs of Indian influence. In some of these designs 
are figures of animals and birds that strongly call to mind the Assyrian 
sculptures. Especially is this the case with some lions, which bear no 
resemblance whatever to the conventional Chinese form. For a moderate 
sum excellent rubbings of all the monuments can be bought from the 
gate-keepers of Monument Grove, who are moreover ready with any amount 
of information, accurate or otherwise. 
In a large pagoda a mile or so south of Hsi-an are. two Buddhist 
monuments dated the fourth year of Yung Hui, which corresponds to the year 
653-4 A.D. of our Calendar. They tell of the visit of a Chinese pilgrim to 
India to learn what he could of Buddhism ; of how, after crossing the Ganges, 
he studied the language of the country and the new faith; and of his eventual 
return to Hsi-an, where he was loaded with honours. The stones further 
relate how he translated 250 Buddhist books into Chinese; but perhaps their 
date is the most interesting feature, coming as it does within a year or so of 
a date upon the Nestorian tablet. This seems to suggest that Christianity 
and Buddhism may have reached parts of China almost simultaneously. 
A few other monuments or tablets may be noticed here, though they 
cannot be said strictly to belong to Hsi-an Fu. Two of these form a pair 
near Chou-chih Hsien, a small town situated at the foot of the Middle-South 
Mountains (Chung-nan Shan), fifty miles west of Hsi-an. On these monuments 
are inscribed the whole of the Tao-tei-ching, the Taoist classics. At Yao 
Chou, a large town some fifty miles north of Hsi-an, is a broken Buddhist 
tablet dated 529 a.pD. This is one of the oldest monuments in the district, 
but is otherwise of no great interest. There are besides, tablets, though of no 
very ancient date, cemented into the walls of the buildings within the grounds 
of the hot springs at Lin-t’ung Hsien, and testifying to the healing properties 
of the waters. 
At Hsi-an we were detained some days by the necessity of taking 
astronomical observations, but by May 6th we were once more on the road to 
Lan-chou. After clearing the western suburb and traversing some ten miles 
of low-lying country, we once more crossed the Wei Ho, and stopped the first 
night at Hsien-yang Hsien, which lies on the bank of that river. About three 
miles from this town the road begins to ascend a series of loess steps, and from 
51 
