ered out from under silken canopies on the shrines.
In one corner was a miniature wooden warrior, frantically riding a
fiery steed toward a joss who stood in his doorway awaiting the
rider's coming. A teapot of unique design, filled with fresh tea
every day, and a very small cup and saucer were always ready for the
warrior. This represented a man killed in battle, whose noble steed,
missing his master, refused to eat and so pined away and died. A
welcome was assured to them in the better land if the work of man can
accomplish it. The horse and rider were to them (the Chinese) what the
images of saints are to Christians. In another corner was a tiny bowl
of water; the gods occasionally come down and wash. At certain times
of the year, direct questions were written on slips of paper and put
into the hands of one of the greatest josses. These disappear and then
the joss either nodded or shook his head in answer. On the altar, or
altars, were several brass and copper vessels in which the worshiper
left a sandalwood punk burning in such a position that the ashes would
fall on the fine sand in the vessel. When one of these became full it
was emptied into an immense bronze vase on the balcony, and this, in
turn, was emptied into the ocean. The Chinese take good care of their
living and never forget their dead. Once a year, the fourteenth day of
the seventh month, they have a solemn ceremony by which they send gold
and silver and cloth to the great army of the departed.

A furnace is a necessity in a joss house. It is lighted on ceremonial
days and paper representing cloth, gold and silver is burned, the
ashes of the materials being, in their minds, useful in spirit land.
Private families send to their relatives and friends whatever they
want by throwing the gold, the silver and the cloth paper, also
fruits, into a fire built in the street in front of their houses. The
days of worship come on the first and fifteenth of each month.

Of the deaths in Chinatown by the earthquake and fire no reliable list
has been possible but in estimating the victims the construction of
the district should be regarded as an inconsiderable factor.

CHAPTER XX.

THE NEW SAN FRANCISCO.

=A Modern City of Steel on the Ruins of the City that
Was--A Beautiful Vista of Boulevards, Parks and Open
Spaces Flanked by the Massive Structures of Commerce
and the Palaces of Wealth and Fashion.=

With superb courage and optimism th