566 TEE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



If one could come wandering here alone — stumble upon it by chance, as it 

 were — and find oneself in absolute solitude in the dim light of the temple, with 

 these grotesque figures all around, it would be perfectly overwhelming. A man 

 would be prostrated with wonder and awe. But when Belmont is puffing his bull- 

 dog pipe, and Stuart is wheezing, and Miss Sadie Adams is laughing — and that 

 jay of a dragoman speaking his piece. 



My thought ^vas that, if such are Conan Doyle's preferences, he 

 would enjoy a visit to the place before which I stood. The visitor would 

 ascend to a broad stone platform that lies before the white front of the 

 temple. He would enter a dimly lighted interior, where priests are 

 tapping the drum and raising their rude chants before grotesque carven 

 images of the types so common in China. Turning, the visitor would 

 ascend to a platform built before the feet of the Colossus, below which 

 he could stand and gaze with head thrown back at the giant bulk above 

 him. There would be no danger of his being disturbed by the idle 

 chatter and empty laughter of gaping tourists, for I have already 

 intimated how scarce travelers are in that portion of the world. It 

 would be as though time had rolled back twenty centuries and he stood 

 in one of the temples of ancient Eg}^pt. 



To get a nearer view of the face of the Buddha, it would be neces- 

 sary to circle the hill and ascend one of two trails which lead around the 

 front of the cliff. Along these trails, life-size figures have been carved 

 in the face of the sandstone. They are in a very ruinous condition and 

 are only remarkable because of their belonging to the ancient Greek type 

 of sculpture, so different from the modern Chinese type. They resemble 

 the rock sculptures photographed and described by the Count d'Ollone 

 (p. 196). Above the end of either trail a tablet containing a long 

 Chinese inscription has been carved in the solid rock. No doubt 

 these inscriptions contain much interesting information concerning the 

 great Buddha, but the writer's limited knowledge of the language pre- 

 vented him from deciphering them. 



As we come to the end of this account it would be entirely reasonable 

 for the reader to inquire why the missionaries — of whom there are 

 many in western China — have not written any account of this image. 

 if it is "the most remarkable monument in that part of the world." 

 The missionary attitude toward such objects may be explained most 

 easily by reference to a trifling incident in my own experience. On my 

 arrival in western China, I met an American cleric who had been 

 stationed in a very out-of-the-way corner of that country. Eagerly I 

 asked him to tell me some of his experiences. What sort of a life had 

 he and his family led? "Oh, Mr. Sprague," he said, "it was just like 

 life anywhere else." From his point of view the answer was correct. 

 For him, life did not extend one inch beyond the end of his nose. His 

 interest in the external universe was nil. So it is, as a rule, with the 

 missionary. Absorbed in his books, his family and his congregation, the 

 world around him escapes his notice. 



