CHINESE ARCHITECTURE BOERSCHMANN. 557 



of one of these small temples there is a representation of the pilgrims 

 with pious zeal striving to make the weary journey to the summit, to 

 reach the sanctuary of the goddess. The masses of pilgrims who to 

 this day make these ascents bear out the realistic truth of this scene. 

 Most pilgrims walk; the rich are carried in sedan chairs. A little 

 below the summit of this mountain the southern gate of heaven is 

 reached by means of steep steps known as heaven's ladder. The 

 mountain has four such approaches in the four cardinal directions, 

 and thereby reflects the totality of the sacred mountain with the 

 world order. The bald rocky peak is 1,500 meters high and is covered 

 with temples, ancient inscriptions, and religious curiosities. I passed 

 a wretched October night, unprepared for inclement weather, in the 

 highest temple, where broken windows on opposite sides permitted 

 the cold storm to blow through uncomfortably. 



The main hall of the temple of the southern sacred mountain 

 Hengshan, in Hunan, shows the elegant slender proportions of the 

 Province of Hunan, where they always use their favorite long slender 

 stone columns. 



The serrated cylindrical mountain of western Huashan, in Shen- 

 si, is seen projecting from the mountain masses two days' journey 

 distant. The ascent is really dangerous; nevertheless thousands of 

 pilgrims annually ascend it. Iron chains are fastened to it to safe- 

 guard from falling from the precipice. I measured this precipice, 

 which is 560 meters high in a vertical line. In June one finds a splen- 

 did forest and beautiful flowers in bloom at the summit, 2,000 meters 

 high. 



The flying clouds appear whitest at the highest peaks, and the 

 Chinese associate them with their conception of the departed spirits. 

 From these heights one looks down over the famous bend of the 

 Huang or Yellow River, that appears quite as distinctly as that 

 delineated on the map. 



The four sacred Buddhist mountains were obviously regarded as 

 sacred in ancient China already before the advent of Buddhism, and 

 traces of the ancient sanctity are still seen on "Wut'aishan and 

 Omeishan. The Buddhists then drave the old Taoists away, as they 

 are now doing gradually in the southern mountain Hengshan. The 

 four mountains are dedicated to the great Bodhisatvas of wisdom, 

 efficiency, the goddess of mercy, and the god of the nether regions, 

 that mercifully guides the soul. This sacred mountain is located in a 

 geologically famous region near Nganking and is of volcanic origin. 



The sacred Buddhist mountain Wut'aishan, in Shansi, is an excep- 

 tion to the other sacred mountains, inasmuch as the monastery build- 

 ings do not gradually extend up and connect with the summit to 

 reach the holiest sanctuary, but, seventy in number, are distributed 

 over the elevated plateau at a height of 1,800 meters, and surround 



