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The National Geographic Magazine 



many people were at liberty to serve his 

 religion as Cenobites in a manner that 

 was as free as running water. The suc- 

 cessor of Oh Wu Lo Hau was called 

 La, and was born in the 613th year of 

 Chow dynasty. His conscience and be- 

 nevolence were noted by every one as 

 he traveled to the Lah-na Mountains for 

 the purpose of informing them regarding 

 the Scripture. He restricted himself to 

 fruits and vegetables instead of meat 

 and bathed and fasted for forty days and 

 nights. He attended to his duty with the 

 utmost simplicity and sometimes even 

 forgot to eat or sleep, but never ceased 

 to pray with a sincere heart to his God, 

 for he had obtained a book containing 

 many sections. In this book there were 

 strange things that could not be easily 

 explained — in short, it indicated that the 

 good was affected by those who became 

 good, and the evil by those who did not 

 bear in mind the warning. The succes- 

 sor of La was called Lo Tze Loh, and 

 received from his predecessor the proper 

 doctrine and explained the four words — 

 "ching" (clear), "chew" (pure), "li" 

 (ceremonial), and "pai" (to worship with 

 a bow.) The word "ching" means to 

 "direct your heart singly to one religion." 

 The word "chew" means "not to be con- 

 fused by any other secular ideas." The 

 word "li" means "to stand on ceremony," 

 and the word "pai," "to worship with 

 a bow." With these instructions, the 

 Cenobites were to teach one another in 

 future. 



During the beginning of the Sung dy- 

 nasty (96 A. D.) there was a missionary 

 surnamed "Li," who was accompanied 

 by a crowd of Cenobites, and arrived in 

 China with a lot of western cloth, which 

 they presented to the Emperor of the 

 Sung dynasty and became citizens of the 

 country. Subsequently one of the grand- 

 sons of these people, called "Mu Sy Ta 

 Pan," was appointed to do the preach- 

 ing, and another, called "Jen Tu La," be- 

 gan to build a cenoby. It was destroyed 

 after that and had to be rebuilt at the 

 southeast of Tu Chai, in the i6th year 

 of the Yuen dynasty (1280 A. D.). 



The Emperor Tai-Tsu, of the Ming 

 dynasty (1368 A. D.), gave the Cenobites 

 descended from Li a piece of land for 

 their building, because he could well un- 

 derstand their Scriptures, which per- 

 suaded the people to do good instead of 

 evil." 



In the 19th year of "Wung Lo" (1403 

 A. D.) the cenoby was rebuilt, and was 

 long afterwards destroyed by water, and 

 the ruined scene that exists now proves 

 this little bit of narrative. 



The vast community referred to in the 

 inscription has dwindled down to 8 fami- 

 lies, numbering in all about fifty persons, 

 who have in a great measure forgotten 

 their characteristic observances through 

 frequent vicissitudes and varied condi- 

 tions of life. 



I reached the main gate of the city of 

 Kaifengfu (the ancient capital of the 

 Middle Kingdom) one night about ten- 

 thirty, with not too favorable an impres- 

 sion of Chinese carts or the shaggy little 

 Chinese pony, which had a great habit 

 of tearing off at every opportunity. The 

 soldiers belabored the massive gate most 

 industriously for about twenty minutes, 

 when a small trap-door opened and the 

 gate-keeper hurled epithets at us that 

 were volcanic and picturesque. But 

 when his saffron-colored palm had been 

 covered with a few coins, his ruffled na- 

 ture became as smooth as a sheet of pol- 

 ished silver, and we entered the ancient 

 capital of the Middle Kingdom. For two 

 miles we had to pick our way through 

 narrow, stinking, slushy streets, packed 

 with men, boys, horses, goats, sheep, 

 dogs, cats, and donkeys, sleeping all over 

 the place, while the changing of the night 

 watchman's irons and the piercing wail 

 of ragged, starving, filthy beggars car- 

 ried one for the moment to the land of 

 "ten thousand curses." What an un- 

 sneakable jov to reach the residence of 

 Mr. C. W. Shields, the district inspector 

 of Chinese posts, who received me with 

 the courtesy of a prince. We had 

 scarcely spoken a dozen words when the 

 mao-istrate's secretary called for my card. 



Next morning, before I was out of bed, 



