Residence of the Chinese Pluto 121 



officiating Taoist priest indites a despatch to the T'ien tze, 

 duly addressed to Feng-tu-Ch^ng, notifying him of the new- 

 comer. This despatch is, however, not sent through the, 

 terrestrial post, but by the celestial road, being burnt to 

 ashes. No Chinaman will enter the precincts of the T'ien 

 tze Shan alone, nor venture near it at all after sunset, as it 

 is haunted by innumerable ghosts, as befits the residence of 

 the ruler of Hades. Their presence is known, not only by 

 their cries at night, but the priests put out every night a 

 bundle of birch rods. Sometimes these disappear altogether ; 

 at other times they are found all in splinters, having been 

 used to flog refractory, drunken, and other vicious spirits at 

 the ghostly tribunals. 



My Chinese companions, who are usually too lazy to 

 leave the boat, and who do not care how long the voyage 

 lasts as long as they can eat and sleep their fill, became 

 genuinely excited upon arriving at Feng-tu. They climbed 

 up the steep hillside — about 300 feet — bought incense and 

 candles, and performed a general Kow-tow all round. 

 Another show-place — for cash, be it well understood — is 

 a dry well, said to communicate with the river. We bought 

 paper cash of the priest, which was set alight and dropped 

 through a stone grating immediately in front of the altar, 

 thus contributing our mite to the aid of the struggling souls 

 in purgatory below. The burning paper soon lodged on 

 the bottom, and hence it would appear that the ash of the 

 biUions of cash deposited in it have filled up this wonderful 

 well to within a few feet of its mouth. We descended by 

 a fine, broad, easy, stone path through the wood, which, 

 interspersed with opium patches, covers this sacred mount. 

 At each turn are small temples adorned with Buddhas ; and 

 by the roadside are inlaid stone tablets with hortatory texts 

 engraved upon them ; such as, " The affairs of life are all 



