TEMPLE OF HIAlQNEIf. 
701 
nine, pillars of most enormous dimensions, built on the solid rock. 
Each of them appears to be about twenty-live feet in circumference ; 
there are two others much inferior in size, on which the centre of the 
church rests, and over which is the tower. The following is the 
legendary account of the origin of this church : 
In the reign of Childebert II. there was a bishop of Avranches, 
named St. Aubert. To this holy man the archangel Michael ap- 
peared one night, and ordered him to go to this rock to build a church. 
St. Aubert treated this as a dream, upon which the angel appeared 
a second time ; and being still disobeyed, he returned a third time, 
when, by way of printing his command upon the saint’s memory, he 
made a hole in his skull by touching it wdth his thumb. The skull 
is still preserved in the treasury of the church ; it is enclosed in a 
little shrine of gold, and a crystal, which opens over the orifice, 
admits the gratification of curiosity by a minute examination of it. 
The saint immediately repaired to the rock,, and constructed a small 
church. 
Here, however, true history supplies the place of fable, and informs 
us that in 966 Richard II. duke of Normandy, began to build the 
abbey. It was completed about 1070, under William the Conqueror, 
though many other additions were made by succeeding abbots. 
In the treasury ot the church are innumerable other relics, among 
which some few have a real and intrinsic value. There is a fine 
head of Charles VI. of France, cut in crystal, and the representation 
of a cockle-shell in gold, weighing many pounds, given by Richard II. 
when he founded the abbey. There is an arm said to belong to 
St. Richard, king of England ; but who this saint was, it must be very 
difficult to determine. 
Temple of Hiannen. 
Hiannen is an island near the coast of China, and is celebrated 
for the magnificence of its principal pagod, consecrated to their 
deity Fo. This temple is situated on a plain, terminated on one side 
by the sea, and on the other by a lofty mountain. The front is one 
hundred and eighty feet long, and its gate is adorned with figures in 
relief. The entry is a vast porctio, with an altar in the middle, on 
which is placed a gigantic statue of gilt brass, representing the god 
Fo, sitting cross-legged. Four other statues are placed at the corners 
of this portico, each eighteen feet high, although they represent people 
sitting. Each of these is formed from a single block of stone. One 
holds a serpent in its hand, which is twisted round its body in several 
folds ; the second has a bent bow and a quiver ; the other two present, 
one a battle-axe, and the other a kind of guitar. After crossing this 
portico, you enter a square outer court, paved with large gray stones, 
the least of which is ten feet long and four broad. At the four sides 
of this court are four pavilions, terminating in domes, and having 
communication with one another by a gallery that runs quite round 
it. One of these contains a bell ten feet in diameter. In the other is 
kept a drum of an enormous size, which the bonzes use to proclaim 
the day of new and full moon. The clappers of the Chinese bells are 
