ly-written work for other ideas in
this chapter.--E.J.D.]

[Footnote AV: From inquiries I find this custom is not general in some
parts of Western China--E.J.D.]

[Footnote AW: Temple to the Goddess of Mercy.

"Kwan-in was the third daughter of a king, beautiful and talented,
and when young loved to meditate as a priest. Her father, mother
and sisters beseech her not to pass the 'green spring,' but to
marry, and the king offers the man of her choice the throne. But
no, she must take the veil. She enters the 'White Sparrow Nunnery,'
and the nuns put her to the most menial offices; the dragons open a
well for the young maidservant, and the wild beasts bring her wood.
The king sends his troops to burn the nunnery, Kwan-in prays, rain
falls, and extinguishes the conflagration. She is brought to the
palace in chains, and the alternative of marriage or death is
placed before her. In the room above where the court of the
inquisition is held there is music, dancing, and feasting, sounds
and sights to allure a young girl; the queen also urges her to
leave the convent, and accede to the royal father's wish. Kwan-in
declares that she would rather die than marry, so the fairy
princess is strangled, and a tiger takes her body into the forest.
She descends into hell, and hell becomes a paradise, with gardens
of lilies. King Yama is terrified when he sees the prison of the
lost becoming an enchanted garden, and begs her to leave, in order
that the good and the evil may have their distinctive rewards. One
of the genii gives her the 'peach of immortality.' On her return to
the terrestrial regions she hears that her father is sick, and
sends him word that if he will dispatch a messenger to the
'Fragrant Mountain,' an eye and a hand will be given him for
medicine; this hand and eye are Kwan-in's own, and produce instant
recovery.

"She is the patron goddess of mothers, and when we remember the
value of sons, we can understand the heartiness of worship."--_The
Three Religions of China,_ by H.G. Du Bose.

]

THIRD JOURNEY

TALI-FU TO THE MEKONG VALLEY

CHAPTER XX.

_Stages to the Mekong Valley_. _Hardest part of the walking tour_.
_Author as a medical man_. _Sunday soliloquy_. _How adversity is met_.
_Chinese life compared with early European ages_. _Womens enthusiasm
over