242 



TEA DISTEIGTS OF CHINA. 



Chap. XIV. 



summits. Sometimes they seemed so steep that the 

 buildings could only be approached by a ladder ; but 

 generally the road was cut out of the rock in steps, 

 and bv this means the top was reached. 



Du Halde, in describing these hills, says, " The 

 priests, the better to compass their design of making 

 this mountain pass for the abode of the immortal 

 beings, have conveyed barks, chariots, and other 

 things of the same kind, into the clefts of the steep 

 rocks, all along the sides of a rivulet that runs be- 

 tween, insomuch that these fantastical ornaments are 

 looked upon by the stupid vulgar as real prodigies, 

 believing it impossible that they could be raised to 

 such inaccessible places but by a power more than 

 human." 



I did not observe any of these chariots ; and if 

 they exist at all, they must either have been made 

 for the express purpose, or brought from some distant 

 country, as none are in use in these parts. Boats are 

 common enough on the river ; and if they are drawn 

 up into such places, the circumstance would not be 

 so wonderful. 



Some curious marks were observed on the sides of 

 some of these perpendicular rocks. At a distance 

 they seemed as if they were the impress of some 

 gigantic hands. I did not get very near these marks, 

 but I believe that many of them have been formed 

 by the water oozing out and trickling down the sur- 

 face. They did not seem artificial ; but a strange 

 appearance is given to these rocks by artificial means. 

 Emperors and other great and rich men, when visit- 



