Chap. VIH. EARTHQUAKES. 131 
young men, women, and children. This reverend 
gentleman and his youthful congregation had a 
part of the temple to themselves — a sort of chapel 
in fact, which was separated from the rest of the 
building by a network of string ; not strong cer- 
tainly, but perfectly sufficient for the purpose in 
this orderly country. On our entrance, followed 
by a noisy crowd, the preacher continued his dis- 
course apparently as if he was perfectly unconscious 
of our presence. It was very different, however, 
with the members of his congregation : all of them 
transferred their attention from the preacher to us ; 
turning round, they fixed their eyes upon us, and 
commenced laughing and chatting in a manner 
which, if complimentary to us, certainly was not so 
to their reverend instructor. Not willing to annoy 
the old man, we did not prolong our visit in the 
temple, but left him to finish his discourse, and 
his youthful audience to profit by his teaching. 
Earthquakes such as that which this temple and 
its monuments were designed to commemorate are 
fortunately rare even in Japan. In the days when 
Taiko-sama was king (about the year 1595), we 
are told that an earthquake of frightful violence 
took place. “ The sea rose to an extraordinary 
height, especially in the strait between Nipon and 
Sikok, attended with terrible destruction of life 
and property.” In 1793 another terrible earth- 
quake took place. “ The summit of a high moun- 
tain in the province of Fisen, west of Simbara, sunk 
entirely down. Boiling water rushed in torrents 
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