SHANTUNG— CHINA'S HOLY LAND 



241 



All along the names given to special 

 spots are very picturesque. The whole 

 road is called "The Broad Way to 

 Heaven." An especially large projecting 

 boulder has its title cut deep in it, "The 

 Pillar Supporting the Left Side of 

 Heaven." 



l At one place, where the mountain 

 stream has smoothed a broad, flat rock, 

 are cut large characters, expressing 

 prayers of the devoted. At another 

 place, where the stream plunges over a 

 high wall of rock, the latter bears the 

 quotation from the classics, "A running 

 brook is clear in itself." 



For some distance the mountain slopes 

 on each side of the paved w T ay are fairly 

 covered with trees, cypresses mostly up 

 to 3,000 feet, cedars above that level. 

 The upper part of the ascent is very 

 steep and begins at an arch called the 

 "Stopping Horse Arch" and mounts past 

 the "Upper Gate of Heaven" to the last 

 eighteen flights, along the sides of which 

 heavy iron chains are hung for the use 

 of pilgrims who reach this stage ex- 

 hausted from their previous toils. 



On the sides of the gulch appear in- 

 scriptions directing the pilgrims to 

 "Enter gradually the Better Place" and 

 "Cautiously approach the Region of 

 Beauty." At the very top is the inscrip- 

 tion, "Ten thousand generations ador- 

 ing." 



AT THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN 



These eighteen flights end in a massive 

 portal which gives entrance to the court 

 of the middle temple group. We note 

 the highly ornamented roof of the cen- 

 tral pavilion, the huge bronze urn for the 

 burning of written prayers, and the tall 

 bronze tablet commemorating the visit of 

 the Emperor Wan-li. 



Besides the chief shrine to the Budd- 

 hist "Nurse or Mother of Heaven," there 

 are two other temple groups at the sum- 

 mit, one to Confucius, containing a rep- 

 lica of the large image of the Sage which 

 we shall see in the temple at Kiifu, where 

 he was born, while on the very topmost 

 knoll is one to the Taoist "Emperor of 

 the Sky," Yu-Huang. 



The view from the summit is wonder- 

 ful, but not so wonderful as the reach of 

 vision ascribed to Confucius and Yentzu 



on their visit two dozen centuries ago. 

 That they saw the sea, as claimed, is not 

 unlikely, for from an elevation of 5,100 

 feet the horizon is some 85 miles in ra- 

 dius, and the sea even now is only 100 

 miles away, but the strain on our cre- 

 dulity comes when we are told that Yentzu 

 spied what he took to be a white silk cur- 

 tain and something blue in front of it by 

 the gates of Soochow. "No," said Con- 

 fucius, "that is a white horse, and the 

 thing that looks blue in the distance is a 

 bundle of beans." "So great," adds the 

 commentator, "was the holy perspicuity 

 of the Sage." 



Great, indeed ! for Soochow is a full 

 400 miles away in a straight line. 



STONES THAT ACT AS TAUSMANS 



In all the cities and villages of Shan- 

 tung, and even in adjacent provinces, 

 stones from Tai Shan are much in de- 

 mand as talismans. It is believed to be 

 unlucky for a house to be so built as to 

 face a turning or a cross-road. To ward 

 off evil spirits, stones from Tai Shan are 

 inserted in the wall of the house so situ- 

 ated, with the inscription, "A stone from 

 Tai Shan. Who dares come this way?" 



Evidently the day of leisure which out- 

 carters had enjoyed while we visited the 

 Holy Mountaimhad spoiled them, for on 

 resuming our journey they gave no end 

 of trouble, until at last we were forced to 

 present them to a district magistrate for 

 reprimand and discharge. 



After that we proceeded on foot, with 

 a convoy of carrying coolies, straight to 

 Tsining, on the Grand Canal, where 

 through the magistrate we hired a cart 

 and an excellent pair of mules with a 

 well-behaved driver, who carried us to 

 Kiifu, the birth and burial place of Con- 

 fucius, and back in three days by way of 

 Yenchow. 



On the road in the early morning we 

 passed long lines of pack -donkeys, carry- 

 ing grain and tobacco, and merchants 

 riding to the markets on the backs of 

 diminutive burros, accompanied by their 

 attendants on foot. 



In crossing the Wen-ho by a granite 

 causeway we saw a number of fishing 

 nets operated in characteristic Chinese 

 fashion. 



We reached Kiifu in mid-afternoon. 



