Cuar. VI.] TEMPLES, AND DEVOTION OF THE PEOPLE. 91 
one called the Fokien Temple is best and most 
showy. The Confucian Temple was formerly a 
large and celebrated place, but it was nearly 
destroyed during the war, and up to the time when 
I left China, no attempt had been made to rebuild 
it, or put it in a state of repair: the Chinese seemed 
to consider that the touch of the barbarian had 
polluted the sacred edifice. The Budhists’ temples 
are crowded with painted wooden images of their 
gods. The “three precious Budhas,” the ‘past, 
present, and future,” are generally enormously 
large, being often thirty or forty feet in height. 
To these, and to the numerous small images, the 
poor deluded natives bow the knee, burn incense, 
and engage in other exercises of devotion. The 
traveller meets with these temples, or joss-houses, 
as they are commonly called, in all the streets, at 
the gates of the city, and even on the ramparts, and 
cannot but admire the devotional spirit of the inha- 
bitants, although he may wish that it was directed 
toa higher and purer object. I have often looked on, 
when these simple people, —the women more parti- 
cularly,— seemed — like Jacob of old, “‘wrest- 
ling with God in prayer,” and using various means 
to ascertain whether the mind of the Deity had 
softened towards them, and granted their requests. 
Two small pieces of wood, flat on one side and 
rounded on the other, are generally used to accom- 
plish this end; these are thrown up in the air, and 
if they fall on the desired side, it was well; if not, 
some more incense was burned, and again and 
