1 82 Through the Yang-tse Gorges 



and five feet thick. Within is the usual succession of court- 

 yards and lofty halls, with no upper story, the tiled roofs 

 supported by massive wooden pillars on stone bases, all 

 looking as fresh and brilliant as they did the day they were 

 put up. The walls are of brick, and the floors of stone. Each 

 court rises behind the other by a few steps, and at the back 

 of all is the scarped face of the rock, covered with ferns, 

 and surmounted by a bamboo grove, and from the face of 

 the rock spurts forth a refreshing stream, supplying the house 

 with spring water. Outhouses for servants, kitchen, and 

 stabling are on an extensive scale, and in front of the lowest 

 court, and between it and the outer hall, is a deep fish-pond 

 surrounded by a stone quay, and crossed by two zigzag 

 bridges of carved stone. In the grounds, which are filled 

 with the luxuriant sub-tropical vegetation of the latitude, 

 long untended, and rendering the winding paths almost 

 impassable, stood an elegant stone stage for open-air theatri- 

 cals, backed by a grove of the "lettered" bamboo— an 

 elegant variety distinguished by black lines imprinted on 

 the pale-green stem. The main buildings, most substantially 

 erected originally, were in remarkably good repair ; but the 

 only sign of occupation was in one of the smaller courts, 

 where a sort of temporary chapel had been fitted up, 

 decorated with coloured prints of the saints, with Notre 

 Dame au Sacrd Coeur in the centre tearing open her flaming 

 heart with most unpleasant effect. In the suffering attitudes 

 of our Christian worthies, as represented to their worshippers, 

 the asceticism of the Western creed shows forth in strong 

 contrast to the apparent cheerfulness of Buddhism — as 

 exhibited in the fat, jovial-looking images in the temples. 

 Probably both religions have deviated equally from the 

 doctrines of their founders, the latter being outwardly the 

 more attractive, the ennobling doctrine of self-denial being 



