felt rugs, and at crowded .eating-houses, and the Chinese
Secret Societies’ Club, till I reach the entrance to the
joss-house, a gateway in the roadside, opening into a
long sunlit corridor paved with brick, which ends at the
door of the first court of the temple. Through its
circle there is a full view of the joss-house, rising up
from the shady court, all gilt and colour and winged
roof. On each side of the porch there is a caparisoned
horse, led by a splendid figure of a man, with a great
waist, and Tartar eyebrows, and a tremendous air.
Horse and man are screened behind a circular window,
richly carved into a pattern of rosettes. Overhead there
is a theatre, where entertainments are given to the
company assembled below.
There follows the second court, bounded at its far
end by a temple in which strange figures are depicted,
and incense burns perpetually. Through a narrow
doorway behind the shrine there is a passage into the
third court, and so on to the ultimate shrine, where on
high there is raised a white marble figure of the Buddha.
STRAN GE GODS