a winding and inconvenient staircase runs up to the ninth story.

There are several Buddhist monasteries throughout China. The Temple of Longevity, within two miles of the city of Canton, situate to the north-west of the factories, forms a residence for a great number of priests. These buildings consist of large porticos, sometimes paved with polished marble; halls and pavilions, a principal and lesser temples, are situate in a variety of courts, these buildings being connected together by covered passages or galleries; green and yellow tiles cover the roofs, which are ornamented with dragons and other animals, of the same colours and grotesque forms. Almost all of these monasteries have a tower or pagoda attached to them, but the size of them is considerably less than that of the Temple of Gratitude.

The Temple of Ho-nan is not the least remarkable of these pagan monasteries; it is entered through a very long court in which there is a large stone, on which a tortoise is engraved. After passing a second gate you enter another court, where four enormous statues are placed as sentinels; on each side there are two, their appearance is very fanciful and savage, and they might be mistaken for some of the gods of ancient Rome. At the extremity of this court stands the principal temple, where the three Buddhas are placed, together with a variety of other images and several altars, which give a solemn aspect to the place.

There are a large number of cells built round the principal court, which are appropriated as residences

for the priests, and offices of the establishment. The sacred pigs are here domiciled in a habitation assigned to their use, and are maintained in a state of great luxury. The reason which is given for this is to recompense the species in the persons of these favoured swine for the injuries they have sustained, through the oft-repeated sins committed by the disciples of Buddha in devouring the flesh of pigs, their slaughtered relatives and brethren. In one part of this monastery there is erected a description of furnace in which the corpses of departed priests are reduced to ashes; these ashes are then carefully collected and placed in urns, which are deposited in a neighbouring chamber, where they remain until the annual opening of the adjoining mausoleum, into which they are then removed. Gardens, groves, and rice or paddy fields, are enclosed within the walls, and the whole premises occupy about eighty acres of land.

Tradition gives a very early date to the establishment of this temple, but the cause of its notoriety is accounted for by the following story. Ho-nan and the surrounding country were in a state of revolt in the reign of the Emperor Kang-he, about a hundred and fifty years since, when the Emperor's son-in-law with a powerful force, reduced the rebels to submission. Ho-nan is said to have experienced much of the wrath of the conquering prince, who gave orders for the slaughter of all the inhabitants. Immediately after issuing these orders he encountered one of the priests of this monastery, who possessed a corporation conformable to Chinese ideas of muscular

beauty, whom he censured and accused of hypocrisy, in assuming to refrain from animal food and spirituous liquors, while his portly carcass gave the lie to his profession.

The prince sentenced the unfortunate priest to be executed; but reversed the sentence of condemnation the following morning, owing to a dream which had disturbed his nocturnal slumbers. The god Buddha appeared to the prince with an angry aspect, assuming the most hideously terrific form, asking him how he dared to attempt to molest, much less put to death one of his priests and disciples: inquired if he knew that putting a priest to death was one of the most heinous crimes that a man could be guilty of; the punishment for which was severe and never ending. The god informed the trembling prince that if he dared to molest his servant in the slightest degree, the empire should be overthrown, war should ravage the land, famine and pestilence should reign lords paramount in China; that his life should be short, and that upon his decease, his soul should enter the carcass of a loathsome leper; that after dragging on years of wretchedness under this form, he should die, when his soul should pass into the body of a loathsome reptile; that after life had quitted the reptile's frame, his soul should pass into the regions of eternal torment. But if the prince would protect his Buddhas, priests, and disciples, endow. his temples, lead a good life, and follow the tenets inculcated by Buddhism, all should prosper with him in this world, and after his decease, his soul should pass into the regions of bliss, finally

becoming absorbed in the god Buddha. In the morning, therefore, the prince not only reversed the sentence, but overpowered the now happy priest with presents, and bestowed princely riches upon the monastery.

The Confucian Temple at Ning-po was a very large and celebrated one; during the late war, however, it was partially destroyed, and has not since been restored; whether this is from want of funds, or owing to an impression that the building had been too much polluted or contaminated by the fanquis, is a question which we cannot solve, although we are inclined to believe that it is solely occasioned from want of funds, as many temples throughout the empire are falling into decay it is believed for the same reason. The Fokien Temple is the most conspicuous, and its internal decorations are the most gaudy of those now standing in Ning-po, it is filled with idols and painted, tinselled, and decorated, most `showily; but the style of decoration is similar to all the other temples in China.

The monastic temples generally have attached to them Tas or pagodas, the sizes of which are regulated according to the devotion and wealth of those who endowed them; and the same causes regulate the embellishments and decorations of the buildings, the most celebrated are built on rising ground, or on mountain sides. These pagan places of worship invariably consist of porticos, courts, halls and pavi ́lions, with cells or offices built round the courts; these are connected together by long galleries or covered ways, ornamented with stone or brazen statues, and images. The roofs are covered with glittering yellow

and green tiles, and ornamented with dragons and imaginary animals; while the interiors are decorated with arabesque painting, tinsel, and images, and figures in basso relievo.

The three gigantic figures of Buddha, the past, present, and future, stand in the principal temples, with all the usual accompaniments of altars, offerings, and burning joss-sticks. The Tas or pagodas, as we have already said, vary in height, measuring generally from one hundred and twenty, to one hundred and sixty feet, the diameter of their bases being about a fourth of their height; like the Temple of Gratitude at Nan-kin, they are built in stories, but none of them can be compared with it in beauty.

Monuments are to be found in almost every city in China, which have been erected either to perpetuate the memory of some of their heroes, who have signalized themselves by deeds of valour, or of princes, philosophers, or mandarins, who have done the State some service. On the top of a mountain, near the city of Nan-heon, in the province of Kwang-tung, a monument has been erected to the memory of an individual, a native of the province, who from patriotic motives and at great labour and expense, cut a passage through the aforesaid mountain. His countrymen, having been previously obliged to toil their weary way over this mountain, at the imminent risk of breaking their necks, have in gratitude recorded his praiseworthy deed upon the monument, and placed his statue thereon.

A favorite place for the erection of monuments, appears to be in the neighbourhood of temples or

monasteries, where several are to be found. These monuments, or Che-pee, are composed of stone or marble, and sometimes of brass, and consist commonly of two pieces, a base and an upright, the latter being nicely fitted into a mortise cut in the former. Some of them stand about eight feet high, two feet in breadth, and one foot in thickness, but in general they are not more than four or five feet high, and their other dimensions are in proportion. A few are more elegantly constructed, having tortoises or animals of the lizard species to form their bases. Upon the face of these Che-pee are engraved the names of the individuals to perpetuate whose memories they have been constructed, and the reasons which had led to their erection. Some again, are records of memorable events, and some are enclosed within buildings more or less expensive.

These buildings are of a square form, with a somewhat rounded roof, surmounted with a grotesque figure. But when the monument has been erected to commemorate an action of an emperor's life, or a favor or honor conferred by him, dragons are engraven upon the monument itself, and the roof of the building is covered with yellow tiles, the whole edifice is more elaborately ornamented, and a variety of grotesque figures stand within and without.

One of this description is situate near the city of Soo-chow-foo, in the province of Kiang-nan, which commemorates the distinction conferred upon the inhabitants by a visit, paid to their city by the Emperor Kang-he, on which occasion he divested himself of a great part of the usual pomp and state which are