used. In the prefecture of Shu-hing, where marble quarries abound, they are in many cases made of that material. At Pun-new-chan, a market town on the banks of the Grand Canal, I saw in a ruined monastery three large iron idols representing the Past, Present, and Future Buddhas. I have also seen in certain temples stone, earthenware, and porcelain figures. The three large idols in the Tai-fat monastery at Canton, are said to be made of copper, and many of the small idols of Buddha are also said to be made of the same material. Buddha is represented in a variety of postures, and some of the figures have smiling, whilst others have sorrowful, countenances.

Buddhist temples are more frequented by female than by male votaries, in search of such blessings as wealth, offspring, longevity, or literary distinction. To prevail upon the deity to grant the gift prayed for, the votary repairs to the pagoda in the large hall of the temple, and there, in presence of the various figures of Buddha, prefers his petition, and offers a vow to preserve the life of some living creature-such a vow being regarded most favourably by Buddha. The animal, very often a fowl, is then presented in front of the pagoda, and solemnly dedicated to the deity, after which it is consigned to the especial care and blessing of the priests, ample provision for its maintenance having been previously made. In the monastery of Honam, Canton, there is a large pig-sty containing ten or twelve sacred pigs of very ample dimensions, for which provision has thus been made. Of all the sacred pigs which I saw, by far the largest was in the Pow-toong monastery, in the vicinity of Wu-chang. It was perfectly black, and had been presented to the temple in the year 1855, by a rich Chinese merchant. At the former monastery, in addition to its well-stocked pig-sty, there is a poultry-yard well filled with fowls, ducks, and geese, and a pen containing a few sheep and goats. In some of the temples

surprised me. Such figures are, I believe, not at all uncommon in the monastic establishments of North China. Some of them tend to remind the beholder of the mythological story of Jupiter and Europa. The essence of this corrupt worship, which the Buddhists borrowed from an Indian religion, consists, I suppose, in a reverence for the male and female principles of the universe.

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RELIGION. BUDDHISM.

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one may find several head of horned cattle placed there by anxious suppliants. In one monastery near Hoo-shee-woo, in the province of Chili, I saw a number of sacred horses and mules; and of all the equide I saw in China, these were the best groomed. All animals thus consecrated to Buddha are, as a rule, carefully tended by the monks; and when they die, their remains are consigned to the earth with no ordinary degree of tenderness. In the grounds attached to many of the temples are ponds into which fishes of all kinds, rescued by worshippers of Buddha from the troughs in which they lay exposed for sale at the fishmonger's stall, are thrown as votive offerings. On the banks of such ponds generally stands a pillar of stone, upon which the words, "Preserve life," are inscribed in large characters. In the temple at Honam I once saw a person offering to Buddha ten or twelve large carp which were disporting themselves in a tub of water placed in front of the altar, and which were eventually put into the pond. In the temple of the Flowery Forest monastery, or Temple of the Five Hundred Genii, as it is not unfrequently called, there is a pond in the rear of the visitors' hall, the waters of which are alive with tortoises placed there by votaries desirous of rescuing them from the table of the epicure -an act considered so highly meritorious as to procure from the beneficent Buddha temporal blessings. Another mode of propitiating Buddha, is to set at liberty a number of sparrows or pigeons. At the temple to which I have just referred, I once saw a lady making a vow before its beautiful marble pagoda to preserve the lives of several tens of sparrows. When the vow had been made, the cage containing the birds was carried by the priest in attendance into an adjoining corridor, where the lady, opening the door of their prison, set them free. As sparrows are so frequently made the subject of a vow, large numbers of them are in consequence exposed for sale at the shops of poulterers. The birdcatcher has rather a singular method of taking these birds. He besmears the end of a long rod with birdlime, and so soon. as he espies a number of sparrows clustering together on the ground or among the long coarse grass, he thrusts the point of his rod amongst them with such

dexterity as generally to bring away one or two on the end of it. The captured birds are then lodged in a cage which he carries on his back. In several Buddhist temples there are cages resembling hen-coops, containing pigeons which have been bought and placed there by the monks themselves. On the doors of the cages are written the words, "Preserve life;" and on a visitor to the temple dropping a piece of money-the value of a pigeon-into a cage, a feathered inmate is set at liberty by a monk in attendance. Sometimes the vows which are made at the shrines of Buddha are not fulfilled until the blessing which the votary seeks has been bestowed. Upon receiving the blessing, he seldom fails to return to the temple and fulfil it, lest he should be visited for his unfaithfulness. One of the vows sometimes made by votaries of both sexes, is that of abstinence from animal food for a definite period of time. I have known many instances where this vow has been openly violated. With the view of making atonement for sins some expend large sums of money in paving highways. Thus one of the flights of granite steps by which the White Cloud Mountains are ascended was erected at the expense of a widow by way of atoning for the sins of her husband.

Many of the Buddhist monasteries have been built on the sides of hills and mountains, and command extensive and magnificent views. The most beautiful I have seen in the south of China, in point of situation, is that called the Ting-hoo-Shan on the banks of the western branch of the Canton river, and near the entrance to the Shu-hing pass. On all sides of this monastery lie scenes of rich variety and beauty. Here spread wide plains adorned with waving grain; there hills covered with trees of luxuriant foliage, rise in gentle slopes, down which rivulets hasten to lose themselves amongst the stately trees that surround the monastery. In the distance, the mountains forming the Shu-hing pass raise their summits towards the clouds, while between their rugged sides the western branch of the Canton river rolls with apparently resistless impetuosity, till widening beyond into a smooth expanse, it presents the appearance of a lake at the base of the mountains. At this monastery there is a pagoda shrine which is regarded as very sacred; and which no