158 
WANDERINGS IN CHINA. 
Chap. IX 
allude to processions in honour of the gods. I saw one 
of them at Shanghae which must have been at least a 
mile in length. The gods, or josses, were dressed up in 
the finest silks, and carried about in splendid sedan- 
chairs, preceded and succeeded by their numerous 
devotees, superbly dressed for the occasion, and bearing 
the different badges of office. The dresses of the 
officials were exactly the same as of those who form the 
train of some of the high mandarins. Some had a 
broad fan, made of peacock feathers, which they wore 
on the sides of their hats ; others were clad in glaring 
theatrical dresses, with low caps, and two long black 
feathers stuck in them, and hanging over their shoulders 
like two horns. Then there were the ill-looking execu- 
tioners, with long, conical, black hats on their heads, and 
whips in their hands for the punishment of the refrac- 
tory. Bands of music, placed in different paxts of the 
procession, played at intervals as it proceeded. Anxious 
to see the end of this curious exhibition, I followed the 
procession until it arrived at a temple in the suburbs, 
where it halted. The gods were taken out of the sedan- 
chairs, and replaced, with due honours, in the temple, 
from which they had been taken in the morning. 
Here their numerous votaries bent low before them, 
burned incense, and left their gifts upon the altar. 
Numerous groups of well-dressed ladies and their 
children were scattered over the ground in the vicinity 
of the temple, all bending their knees and seemingly 
engaged in earnest devotion. A large quantity of 
paper, in the form of the Sycee ingots, was heaped 
up on the grass as it was brought by the different 
