150 
WANDERINGS IN CHINA. 
Chap. IX. 
On the following day we inspected various parts of 
the island. Besides the large temples just noticed, 
there are about sixty or seventy smaller ones, built 
on all the hill-sides, each of which contains three or four 
priests, who are all under the superior, or abbot, who 
resides near one of the large temples. Even on the top 
of the highest hill, probably 1500 or 1800 feet above 
the level of the sea, we found a temple of considerable 
size and in excellent repair. There are winding stone 
steps from the sea-beach all the way up to this temple, 
and a small resting-place about half way up the hill, 
where the weary devotee may rest and drink of the 
refreshing stream which flows down the sides of the 
mountain ; and in the little temple close at hand, which 
is also crowded with idols, he can supplicate Buddha for 
strength to enable him to reach the end of his journey. 
We were surprised to find a Buddhist temple in such 
excellent order as the one on the summit of the hill 
proved to be in. It is a striking fact that almost all 
these places are crumbling fast into ruins. There are a 
few exceptions, in cases where they happen to get a 
good name amongst the people from the supposed kind- 
ness of the gods ; but the great mass are in a state of 
decay. 
From the upper temple on Poo-to-san the view is 
strikingly grand. Rugged mountains are seen rising 
one above another, and capped with clouds. Hundreds 
of islands, some fertile, others rocky and barren, lay 
scattered over the sea. When we looked in one direction 
amongst the islands, the water was yellow and muddy ; 
but, to the eastward, the deep blue ocean had resumed 
