I20 Through the Yang-tse Gorges 



or Living ; and as that is the visible home of T'ien tze, or 

 Son of Heaven, so this is tlie type of the shadowy Emperor 

 of Hades. The only curious thing in the uncomfortably 

 dirty range of building and courtyards, filled with grimy 

 josses of aU sizes and shapes, is the figure of a woman in an 

 elegant modern dress, and with the usual gold or gilt face, 

 who sits enthroned on the left hand of the image, representing 

 the " Yin chien T'ien tze," which latter is a gilt figure, in no 

 way, that I could distinguish, different from the ordinary 

 Buddhist idol. On its right is a gilt female figure covered 

 with dust, the god's chief wife ; but the figure on the left 

 contains a real skeleton, to whom the women in the neigh- 

 bourhood annually present a new embroidered silk dress. 

 This second ^ife of the " Infernal " Emperor was only 

 acquired by him about fifty years ago, in the twelfth year 

 of the reign of " Chai-king," in the following manner : A 

 maiden of Ho-chow, a town situated above Chung-king, was 

 being carried in her bridal chair to the home of her betrothed, 

 when, half-way en route, the chair door was opened, but the 

 bride had disappeared. The husband's family entered an 

 action for breach of promise against the bride's family, 

 which, after proceeding over two years, was stopped by the 

 lady herself appearing in a dream to her parents, and in- 

 forming them that on her marriage day the " T'ien tze " had 

 claimed her for his second wife, and carried her off from her 

 chair ; and that her body, of which only the skeleton now 

 remains, would be found alongside her new husband's effigy 

 on the T'ien tze Shan. Of the fact that the earthly bride- 

 groom lost his bride, I have no doubt, nor of the ensuing 

 action at law ; of the rest of the legend, which is universally 

 believed as I have narrated it, each barbarian sceptic must 

 form his own explanation. F^ng-tu-ChSng is celebrated 

 over the whole eighteen provinces, as at every death the 



