Page:Leaves from my Chinese Scrapbook - Balfour, 1887.djvu/181

 somewhere in the mountains, in which a mysterious wind blows perpetually—a wind so cold as to pierce to the very bones, and so strong that the most powerful man is unable to stand against it. There is something like this to be found in the Western Hills near Peking. Among the ruins of an old temple on the hillside there is a little cave, quite open to the air, and at the farther end of it a hole, opening apparently into the earth, up which rushes a strong blast of cold wind. The entire cave is several degrees colder than the surrounding atmosphere, and the line which divides the two temperatures is very precisely defined. The fourth wonder of Corea is the Ineradicable Forest. This is a large grove of pinetrees, which sprout again directly they are cut down. It matters not what injury is done to the root; the tree may be hacked to pieces or burnt with fire—nothing will avail to destroy it, but up it will sprout again in no time, like a phoenix from its own ashes. The fifth wonder is more wonderful still. This is the Floating Stone, and a temple has been reared in its honour, called the Fou Shih Miao. In front of the temple stands, or appears to stand, the extraordinary stone. It is of great bulk, and a sort of irregular cube in shape. To all appearance it is resting on the ground, and perfectly free from all supports on any side. But if two men, standing at opposite ends of it, hold each the opposite ends of a thread, they will find themselves able to pass the thread under the stone without encountering any obstacle! In other words, the stone is actually hovering a little way above the earth, and the miracle can be tested in the way described by anybody who cares to pay the priest a trifling sum for the privilege of doing so. The