206 
WANDERINGS IN CHINA. Chap. XIII. 
tea-manufactory near their summits. Sometimes they 
seemed so steep that the buildings could only be ap- 
proached by a ladder ; but generally the road was cut 
out of the rock in steps, and by 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 between, 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 won- 
derful. 
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 be- 
lieve that many of them have been formed by the water 
oozing out and trickling down the surface. 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 visiting these hills, have had 
