Sierra Club Bulletin 



"Confucius took this route." Another, of four characters, 

 means literally, "Good, Emperor, Wind, Flows," and illustrates 

 well the stenographic character of the Chinese language, for it 

 means "A good emperor goes up like wind and flows down like 

 water." This is in commemoration of a successful trip by 

 some long-dead potentate. 



Near the top is a precipice over which devotees used to throw 

 themselves in a religious ecstasy to the rocks below. So great 

 was the loss of life that the authorities have guarded the place 

 with a high wall. 



The climb itself is very gradual and not at all diflicult till 

 you reach the last stretch before the "South Heaven Gate" at 

 the top of the rocky gorge. Here the steps are very high and 

 very narrow, and travelers are wont to rest frequently. And 

 here an amusing incident occurred to me. I had hired a chair in 

 proper style, but I had not ridden in it at all on the way up, to 

 the delight of my coolies, who thought me nothing less than 

 half-witted to walk when I might have swung at ease. At this 

 last stretch they had gone ahead of me and were waiting on the 

 stairs. As I came up they all fell to clapping their hands and 

 giving nasal grunts that sound like "haw" and mean "good." 

 They smiled and flattered till I was forced to laugh, for I knew 

 that, while part of it was surprise that a foreign lady could 

 walk so far, the greater part of it was fear lest at the last min- 

 ute I should show a white feather and climb into the chair. But 

 I plodded on alone, and they applauded joyously. 



After the "South Heaven Gate" the path tops the rocky gorge 

 and turns out over a wide plateau, on which at a little distance 

 stands the temple of the summit. 



It is very clean and windy here. Below you on every side 

 stretches the flat brown plain, like the floor of earth. In the 

 foreground are green-flecked foothills and, beside you in this 

 airy space, the sloping gold-tiled temple roofs. A black bird, like 

 a crow, flies and circles over the blue abyss, and another bird 

 calls from somewhere with a song like our bob-white. 



Besides the temple, in the infinite spaciousness and peace 

 where the great winds are, stands a broken and crumbling mon- 

 ument. Carved on it are the words, "On this spot once Confu- 

 cius stood and felt the smallness of the world below." And though 



