rity to a place, and large sums are subscribed by the devout. A case occurred in 1843, which illustrates this spirit. One of the English officers brought an image of Wa-kwang, the god of Fire, from Chinkiang fu, which he presented as a curiosity to a lady in Macao. It remained in her house several months, and on the breaking up of the establishment, previous to a return to India, it was exposed for sale at auction with the furniture. A large crowd collected, and the attention of the Chinese was attracted to this image, which they examined carefully to see if it had the genuine marks of its ordination upon it; for no image is supposed to be properly an object of worship, until the spirit has been inaugurated into it by the prescribed ceremonies. Having satisfied themselves, the idol was purchased for thirty dollars by two or three zealous persons, and carried off in triumph to a shop, and respectfully installed in a room cleared for the purpose. A public meeting was shortly after called, and resolutions passed to improve the propitious opportunity to obtain and preserve the protecting power of so potent a deity, by erecting a pavilion, where he would have a respectable lodgment, and receive due worship. A subscription was thereupon started, some of its advocates putting down fifty, and others thirty dollars, until about $1200 were raised, with which a small lot was purchased on the island west of Macao, and a pavilion or temple erected, where Wa kwang was enshrined with pompous parade amid theatrical exhibitions, and a man hired to keep him and his domicile in good order.

No people are more enslaved by fear of evil than the Chinese, and none resort more frequently to sortilege to ascertain whether an enterprise will be successful, or a proposed remedy avail to cure. Confucius himself was not above his countrymen in this respect, for in the Due Medium he remarks, "The reason of perfect ones enables them to foreknow things: if a nation be about to flourish there will be happy omens, and unlucky ones if it totter to its fall. These will appear in the divining herb sz', in the tortoise, and in the airs and motions of the four members. When either happiness or misery is about to come, sages will foreknow both the good and the evil, so that the supremely sin cere are equal to the gods." This desire actuates all classes, and thousands and myriads of persons take advantage of it to their own profit. The tables of fortune-tellers, and the shops of

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geomancers, are met at the corner of every street; and one of the principal inducements for persons to repair to the temples is to cast lots as to the success of the prayers offered. One common way of divining is to hold up a bamboo root cut in halves, resembling in size and color a common potatoe, and let it drop as the petition is put up. Sometimes the worshipper drops it many times, in order to see if a majority of trials will not be favorable, and when disappointed the first time, not unfrequently tries again, if mayhap he can force the gods to be more propitious. The devotee may determine himself what position of the blocks shall be deemed auspicious, but usually one face up and one down is regarded as promising. The countenances of worshippers as they leave the shrines, some beaming with hope and resolution to succeed, and others, notwithstanding their repeated knockings and divinings, going away with vexation and gloom written on their faces at the obduracy of the gods and sadness of their prospects, offer a study not less melancholy than instructive. "Such is the weakness of mortals: they dread, even after mature reflection, to undertake a project, and then enter blindly upon it at a chance, after consulting chance itself as blind."

The fortune-tellers also consult fate by means of bamboo slips bearing certain characters. The applicant comes up to the table, and states his desire; he wishes to know whether it will be fair weather, which of a dozen doctors shall be selected to cure his child, what sex an unborn infant will be, where his stolen property is, or any other matter. Selecting a slip, the diviner dissects the character upon it into its radical and primitive, or in some

other way, and writes the parts upon a board lying before him, joining to them the time, the names of the person, five planets, colors, viscera, and other heterogeneous things, and from them all, putting on a most cabalistic, sapient look, educes a sentence which contains the required answer. The man receives it as confidently as if he had entered the sybil's cave and heard her voice, pays his fee, and goes away. Others, less shrewd, refer to books in which the required answer is contained in a sort of equivocal delphian distich.

The purchase of a lot for building upon, and especially the selection of a grave, involve many ceremonies; and when a succession of misfortunes come upon a family, they will sometimes disinter all their relatives and bury them in a new place to remove the ill luck. Before a house is built, a written prayer is tied to a pole stuck in the ground, petitioning for good luck, that no evil spirits may arise from beneath; when the ridge pole is laid, another prayer is pasted on, and charms hung to it, to insure the building against fire; and lastly, when the house is done, it is dedicated to some patron, and petitions offered for its safety. Prayers are sometimes offered according to forms, at others the suppliant himself speaks. Two middle aged women, attended by a maid-servant, were once met opposite Canton in the fields among the graves. They had placed a small paper shrine upon a tomb near the pathway, and one of them was kneeling before it, her lips moving in prayer; there was nothing in the shrine, but over it was written, "Ask and ye shall receive."

Answers are looked for in various ways. A man was once met at dusk repairing a lonely grave before which candles were burning, and plates of rice and cups of spirits arranged. He knelt and knocking his head, began to repeat some words in a half audible manner, when he was asked if the spirits of his ancestors heard his supplications. At the instant, a slight puff of air blew the candles, when he replied, "Yes, see they have come; don't interrupt me." Contingent vows are often made, and useful acts performed in case the answer be favorable. sick man in Macao once made a vow that he would repave a bad piece of road if he recovered, which he actually performed, aided a little by his neighbors; but it was deemed eminently unlucky that a man passing soon after, who was somewhat flustered, should fall into the public well. Persons sometimes insult

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the gods, spit at them or whip them, or even break the ancestral tablets, in their vexation at having been deluded into foolish deeds, or misled by divination, and legends are told of the vengeance which has followed such impiety.

The worship of street divinities is common, and some of the shrines in Canton are resorted to so much by women as to obstruct the path. The unsocial character of heathenism is observable at such places and in temples; however great the crowd may be, each one worships by himself as much as if no one else were present. That delightful union before a common God and Savior, when the devotees alike feel their need of his mercy from a common sense of sinfulness, is utterly unknown in pagan countries, and is lost, indeed, in Christian worship when saints and virgins are allowed to stand between. Before a senseless idol of whatever name, one or two persons may unite, but for a congregation to join in hearty prayer or praise to a stupid block is never seen in China; hymns or peans are also unheard. Altars are erected in fields, on which a smooth stone is placed, where offerings are presented and libations poured out to petition for a good crop. Few farmers omit all worship in the spring to the gods of the land and grain; and some go further, and present a thanksgiving after harvest. Temples are open night and day, and in towns are the resort of crowds of idle fellows. Worshippers go on with their devotions amidst all the hubbub, strike the drum and beat the bell to arouse the god, burn paper prayers, and knock their heads upon the ground to implore his blessing, and then retire; the one chiefly benefited being the priest who assisted them. Village altars are erected under trees to which the villagers resort, especially the women, who are the most devout in their worship.

The Chinese collectively spend enormous sums in their idolatry, though they are more economical of time and money than the Hindus. Rich families give much for the services of priests, papers, candles, &c., at the interment of their friends, but when a large sacrifice is provided, none goes to the priests, who are prohibited meat. The aggregate outlay to the whole people is very large, made up of repairs of temples, purchasing idols, and petty daily expenses, such as incense-sticks, candles, paper, &c., and charms and larger sacrifices prepared from time to time. The sum cannot of course be ascertained, but if the daily outlay

of each person be estimated at one third of a cent, or four cash, the total will exceed four hundred millions of dollars per annum, and this estimate is more likely to be under than over the mark, owing to the universality and constancy of the daily service. As an offset to this, it may be stated that it has been estimated that the total expenditure of all denominations in the United States for all purposes of a religious nature, including the erection of churches, salaries of clergymen and support of benevolent societies, is only half a dollar per annum for each man, woman, and child.

This brief sketch of Chinese religious character will be incomplete without some notice of the benevolent institutions found among them. Good acts are considered proofs of sincerity; the classics teach benevolence, and the religious books and tracts of the Budhists inculcate compassion to the poor and relief of the sick. Private alms of rice or clothes are frequently given, and householders pay a constant poor tax in their donations to the beggars quartered in their neighborhood. There is a foundling hospital in Canton founded in 1698, containing accommodations for about 300 children; its annual expenses are not far from $3500, a good part of which used to be filched from foreigners by a tax on their shipping. A retreat for poor aged and infirm or blind people is situated near it, the expenses of which are stated at about $7000, but the number of persons relieved is not mentioned. The peculation and bad faith of the managers vitiate many of these institutions, and indispose the charitable to patronize them. A translation of the annual report of the Foundling Hospital at Shanghai established in 1707, opens with Yungching's rescript of approbation accompanying his donation, and a tablet he sent to it in 1725; and then follows a preface, succeeded by the regular report. In this the people are exhorted to subscribe to an institution conducted with so much order and energy, and which emperors and empresses have sanctioned and supported. The rules for its management are given under fourteen heads:

1. Public meetings of its friends are to be held on the 1st and 15th of each month, when, after worshipping the idol and burning incense, the registers of the children are to be inspected, and the nurses' food and wages paid.

* Chinese Repository, Vol. XIV. pp. 177–195.