﻿NO. 7 



SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS. I926 



125 



temples are found. Of two of these, especially, I made some detailed 

 study. Both temples are Buddhist, one located at the foot of the 

 mountain, the other near the top of one of the peaks. The one at 

 the foot was first built in the T'ang Dynasty, but has been destroyed 

 and rebuilt many times since, only the bell and drum-tower still 

 retaining a pre-Yiian style. The tcm])le on the peak, also, was first 

 built in the T'ang ])eriod, but burned during the Ming. The strati- 

 fication of the three dilTerent layers of culture is here plainly visible. 



Fig. 133. — Chieh-lisiu : in front of 

 Kuan-yao ]\Iiao. 



One of the halls is located very near to a cave. The images that are 

 worshipped at present are evidently of recent origin. Behind them is 

 another row of images cast in iron ; and finally in the cave I found 

 two broken statues of stone, one with a head and one without, carved 

 in simple, bold style, showing T'ang workmanship ; but they are 

 cast away in the rear of the cave and covered by dust. Perhaps, 

 however, the most interesting thing we saw on this trip is a stone 

 ox washed down by a mountain torrent some time ago, from where 

 no one knows. 



The river Feng has its source at Kuan-ch'in-shan and flows in a 

 straight southerly direction till it reaches Chiang Chou. From I-t'ang 



