Manchurian Books

These figures, which are in a sitting
posture, are of colossal dimensions.
We happened to visit the temple just as service was being performed.
It was a kind of mass for the dead, which a mandarin had ordered for
his deceased wife. At the right and left altars were the priests,
whose garments and gesticulations also resembled those of the Roman
Catholics. At the middle altar was the mandarin, piously engaged in
prayer, while two stood beside him, fanning him with large fans.
{104} He frequently kissed the ground, and every time he did so,
three wax tapers were presented to him, which he first elevated in
the air, and then gave to one of the priests, who placed them before
a statue of Buddha, but without lighting them. The music was
performed by three men, one of whom twanged a stringed instrument,
while the second struck a metal globe, and the third played the
flute.
Besides the principal temple there are various smaller ones, and
halls, all adorned with statues of gods. Especial honour is paid to
the twenty-four Gods of Pity, and to Kwanfootse, a demi-god of War.


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