from the solid rock. The Buddhas, seated as usual on lotus Hly pedestals, 

 must be from twenty-five to thirty feet high, whilst the figures grouped 

 around, all of which are standing, must be from twelve to eighteen feet. 



All the figures in both these temples are exceedingly ugly and ill- 

 proportioned, in strong contrast to the beautiful statues found in the Sung 

 dynasty temples of a later date round Yen-an Fu, and in north-central Shensi 

 generally. Other points of difference between temples of the two periods are 

 that the T'ang temples are much higher, and contain fewer but larger figures ; 

 on the other hand the Sung temples have their walls lined with innumerable 

 little images of Buddha carved out of the rock. It would seem as if at the 

 earlier date the idea of multiplying images of Buddha, as an act of merit, had 

 not been developed, though what may be regarded as the germ of the later 

 idea is traceable in the Lung-k'ou Miao by tablets and slabs of rock, on 

 which have been carved in low relief rows of little Buddhas an inch or so in 

 height. It is interesting to note that the idea of excavating Buddhist temples 

 from solid rock cliffs and mountains seems to have originated in India. The 

 mouths of these caves are usually built up with beams, bricks, and mortar, 

 and afterwards finished with tiling to form the roofs, verandahs and balconies, 

 in imitation of the fronts of ordinary temples. 



But little of interest happened to us during our march to Lan-chou. We 

 found the inn-keepers more artful and cunning than further north ; certainly 

 more sophisticated than a man near Yu-lin Fu, who had run after us for three 

 miles to enquire if we had taken his dish-cloth. At one place on this road 

 we noticed a sediment in some hot water supplied to us ; this the inn-keeper 

 tried to explain away as ** only a few millet grains." But on being cross- 

 examined he admitted that he had put the millet in on purpose to disguise the 

 sediment, or at least to have an explanation ready. He was outdone, 

 however, by another man who, on being asked for tea, gave us what seemed 

 to be hot water with some grains and bits of stick in it. The sticks he 

 described as ** mountain tea." On being asked for millet gruel, he pointed to 

 the grains, ** This is millet gruel." On being asked for hot water, he again 

 pointed, ** This is hot water " ; thus keeping one fluid to meet all require- 

 ments. It was certainly as much like one as another. 



This road from Hsi-an to Lan-chou has been described in detail by other 

 travellers, and consequently requires but little description here. It runs through 

 Hsien-yang Hsien, Li-ch'Uan Hsien, Ch'ien Chou, Yung-shou Hsien, Pin Chou, 

 Ch'ang-wu Hsien, and, passing into Kansu, traverses Kan-chou Fu, P'ing-liang 

 Fu, Ching-ning Chou, and then via Hui-ning and An-ting {vide pp. 58, 59). 



63 



