REMARKABLE MONUMENT IN WESTERN CHINA 559 



river Min and moored his boat at the gates of Jah-ding. Leaving the 

 stream, he ascended Mt. Omei, and the resulting account, which he pub- 

 lished in England, provoked the curiosity of the traveling and scientific 

 world, for it was the first to call attention to that strange old mountain, 

 with its clustering monasteries and temples, its noble bronzes, and its 

 glorious natural scenery. But Baber found other wonders besides those 

 of Omei which were worth recording. A few hundred yards from Jah- 

 ding stands the ruin of an immense image of Buddha. Twelve hun- 

 dred years ago, a niche two hundred feet high was cut in a cliff which 

 stands by the side of the river. The recess extended the full height of 

 the cliff, and in it was carved an immense image. Unprotected from 

 the elements, and neglected by the people, time has done its work; 

 practically all that is left consists of a few vestiges of the face. The 

 entire niche is overgrown with brush; vegetation hangs from the fea- 

 tures so as to give it the appearance of possessing eyebrows and mus- 

 tache. Standing on the opposite bank, it is possible dimly to discern the 

 outlines of a countenance; that is all. 



Baber freely admitted that this old image is a ruin and a disappoint- 

 ment. He also admitted having been informed through a Eussian 

 traveler that a hill, two days' travel east of Jah-ding, had been hewn 

 into a representation of the seated form of Buddha " several hundred 

 feet high, which far overtops the roofs of surrounding temples." Here, 

 it would seem, was something worth the effort to visit and describe, yet 

 he made no attempt to do so. 



About ten years later (1887), Virgil Hart, American missionary, 

 followed in Baber's footsteps and duplicated his journey, collecting as he 

 went the material for one of the most vivid, accurate and delightful 

 books of travel that have ever treated of China. The volume which he 

 published challenged attention and provoked admiration. Hart's flowing 

 phrases were in striking contrast to the baldness and bareness of 

 Baber's account. The reverend gentleman treated Mt. Omei with espe- 

 cial fulness and enthusiasm. He said : 



Mt. Omei is a center of natural and artificial wonders, the like of which may 

 not be found elsewhere upon the globe. I speak advisedly. The world is large, 

 and in regions like Switzerland and Alaska, nature seemingly has been taxed to 

 the uttermost to produce a combination of natural objects of surpassing beauty 

 and grandeur. Here, however, near the borders of Chinese civilization, we find a 

 region of unequaled sublimity — a combination of lofty mountains, of swift 

 rivers and of valleys of wondrous fertility. Then also of the works of man there 

 are many — such as thousands of brine-wells, a great silk culture, a white wax in- 

 dustry, mountains chiseled into the forms of idols, colossal bronze statues, 

 pagodas, and one temple wholly of rich bronze. Great Omei Mountain is scores 

 of miles in circumference, rising 11,000 feet, its highest point enveloped in the 

 everlasting clouds. All these wonders are within a radius of forty miles. 



On another page, Hart quoted Baber's account of the figure sculp- 

 tured in the river bluff above Jah-ding, and added (p. 176) : 



