The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-06-17
INA CHINESE MONASTERY.
A Travellers Impressions While
Touring in the NinEO District.
(From the Boston transcript,

into a beautiful country, and up to the
great Tien Dong Temple in the blue-tinted
hills. Embarking at Shanghai, the steam
er round up of the Far East we sailed
out of the mouth of the Gangtse on a quiet
May afternoon. The steamer reminded one
of the boats on the Boston-Portland run,
though she had greater carrying capacity.
Six hundred passengers were aboard We
were very comfortable in the big cabins.
and on the ample decks. The course was
shaped among the islands of the coast. In
the bright moonlight we passed the IA
nous Chusan Archipelago, which the Bit
ish Navy has long coveted and at early
dawn we drew up to the Ningpo jetty. The
foreign settlement, with the great and an
| cient native city in the background, SEEM
ed grey. sombre, and forsaken. l and my
companion were walking up and down It's
| "bund'' as the red sun burst over the hills.
| Ningpo is said not to be SO sleepy as 1t
looks. Much trade is conducted with this
port by the Shanghai importers. but tho
| Ningpo buyer insists on going TO Shanghai
| to make his selections. Foreigners nave
! found il impossible TO establish branch
| houses in Ningpo, to deal first hand Win
i the native trader. / remember no foreign
| settlement in China, unless 1t be Swato~,
| that presented such listless, lifeless APP
pearance.
In Ningpo there lives the Major" This
| is his full and sufficient designation. He
| fought in the TAPPING rebellion along with
Chinese Gordon, and boasts Of two-score
years and more in China. Out OF the Ma
| jor's beautiful rose garden we went into
| one of the Majors Households. The boat
was equipped with beds, folding table,
chairs, dishes, charcoal stoves, and had
| three we'll hammered boat hands. We took
our eatables, our cook, and our blankets
nd N
| stream.
| The country about Ningpo is perfect
garden intersected with water roads;
while over in the distance stand the high
hills; with the snowy valley in their
midst, and the chain of lakes at their
| feet.
and the chain of lakes at their feet.
| Our boat was soon drawn up out OF the
river into canal, by means Of man
| propelled windlass. The locks on Chi
! nese canal are toboggan slides; all boats
are fat-bottomed, and the passage from
| one level to another is accompanied by
hauling up the boat on one side and let
| ting it slide down on the other into the
water again.
After sailing along the broad. flower
| girdled canal for an hour or two, we came
to rest near a group Of farmers, blowing
their fields for the spring seeding-the win
4
pillow is as curious as 1t is simple. Ii has
but one handle, its share is shod with iron.
but it has almost no blade and the beam is
| part of young hard wood tree. Throughout
| mid-China, the COW is the pillow OK. We
saw new, painted pillow lying near
the path, the owner Of which app airing, we
tried TO negotiate for the same. He ass ed
81. We offered 81. He looked disturbed;
| his neighbors smiled. He came down to SO;
p,,ft hHrn fhn
tiations hung until our skipper quietly in
formed us that he could buy all the p.ows
| we required at the rate Of 81 each. The
pillow man shouidered his handy tool and
walked away, rejecting, no doubt, that he
had almost done us in trade" to usa
| q Yankee expression.
After a FIVE hours sail, after we hal
thoroughly elucidaied the pros and cons OF
the Boer war, and after breathing the
ozone of this garden land, VIZ reached the
head of the canal on which we were jour-
neying, and came to anchor for the night.
You will never know how good canned
Columbia River Salmon is until you make
| a breakfast of it before sun-up in the
morning, 1000 miles from home. Break
fast over. we started across country, ff'
teen II. to the noted Tien Dong Temple.
Although We were not members Of the Ap-
palachian Club yet We prepared to do
our mountains on foot rather than In
chairs. Not far out. We crossed the en-
battled pass which the Chinese had forti-
fed during the Japanese war, the mason
ry of which soldiers were now relaying.
Along the paved highway we came upon a
company of woodcutters. eating rather
elaborate meal and smoking their long
tobacco pipes One of us purchased, after
much dickering, the flint, steel, musk, and
tobacco pouch which these wo-kmen use
In default OF matches to ignite the tobacco.
He felt very self-satisied over his find, I'M
til the other one of the party purchased
the same combination at a roadside shop
for exactly half the price.
At length we came to stately avenue
Of trees belonging to the family OF the
! California redwood. We wound up through
its tortuous length, past the rushing
stream the glinting lakelet, the everglade
of ferns and bamboos; and then bursting
on our view, the great houses Of the gods.
| The steps and approaches were lively with
pilgrims, though the set pilgrimage had not
yet begun. Into the first great god-room
we went with the moving tide OF clean,
| well-dressed better-class natives. In ad-
dition to the Inevitable brass Buddhas,
there were four gigantic figures. two on
either side, impersonating the defties oil
the north. east, south, and west. we sat
down in a shaded nook and watched the
earnest worshipers. How could one laugh
even though he saw men, probably his
EQUALS in social standing. and In position
In their land, drawing lots with bamboo
sticks to find out whether their prayers to
Buddha were to have favorable answer
or not? 1t did not make one nirthful
but it made him heavy-hearted, as he
looked from the kneeling devotee up into
the Sinking, licentious face of the brass
god
Attracted by the sound of many voices
we assembled to the second temple and en-
tered the assembly hall, where four hun
dred Buddhist priests were chanting sa-
cred formulate to the ciink of brass pend
ants and the beating of the muffied drum
The service over. we tried to purchase
whose agency this unusual request wa.
granted proved to be an interesting per.
son. He took us to his private apartment.
and seated US at the head of his dining
table. servant first brought In cups o.
tea and then an Oriental lacQuered ira!
with compartments and an embossed cover
In red and gold. In each compartment o.
this tray we found delicious candies ant
dried fruits And, then, as the chief deli
cacy handfuls of melon seeds were placed
before us.
The conversation took religious turn
as was natural The priest was a native
of distant Kiangsi province, and, like al
his profession, had Travelled widely in Chi
ma. He told us that the worship OF the
idols did man no good unless he really
wanted to be good; that men worshipet
when they felt longing after virtue II
their breasts; that the value of the wor.
ship depended on the sincerity of the wor-
M