ill. But as usual in China, the temple itself, though originally
it must have been beautiful, is now crumbling in decay.

It was late when we returned, and as we were about to retire,
wearied with the toils of the day, the district magistrate called
with an imposing retinue and cordially inquired whether we
had seen all that we wished to see. When we replied that we
had been unable to enter the great temple, he graciously said
that he would have pleasure in informing the Duke, who would
be sure to arrange for our visit. The result was a message at
two o'clock in the morning to the effect that we might visit the
temple at daylight in the interval between the cessation of the
sacrifices of the night and their resumption at seven o'clock in
the morning. Accordingly we rose at three o'clock, and after
a hurried breakfast by candle-light, we proceeded to the temple.
About a hundred Chinese were awaiting us, among them two
men in official dress. We did not deem it courteous to ask
who or what they were, but we supposed them to be from the
magistrate's yamen, and as they were evidently familiar with
the temple, we gladly complied with their cordial invitation to
follow them.

I wish I had power to describe adequately all we saw in that
vast enclosure of about thirty acres, with its stately trees, its
paved avenues, its massive monuments, and, above all, its
imposing temple and scores of related buildings. One was the
Lieh Kew Kwei Chang Tien, the Temple of the Wall of the
Many Countries. Here are 120 tablets, each about sixteen by
twenty-two inches, and in the centre three larger ones measuring
two feet in width by four and a-half feet in height. In