Page:Ling-Nam; or, Interior views of southern China, including explorations in the hitherto untraversed island of Hainan (IA cu31924023225307).pdf/172

 168 Ling-Nam.

A sense of fear sometimes arrests us as the hollow resonance of some portion we are passing over suggests the thought that we are walking over the thin covering above some fearful pit. Not the least of the wonders of this cave is the effeet produced by the human voice, especially in singing. The nutmberless echoes blend in such perfect harmony, that from a certain point a single voice has the effect of a whole chorus, and even the lightest note, if clearly uttered, is faithfully reproduced from the dome and corridors of that grand chamber of silence.

The Chinese have left the cave untouched, so that nothing mars our contemplation of its perfect beauty, as produced by the hand of Nature. Native superstition in regard to it, however, appears in the names by which it is known among the people. It is called by some the “ Ox Cave,” from a belief that if cattle, when diseased, can be taken into the cave and left there for a night, they will recover. Another and more common name is the “ Shing- sin,” or “ Genii Cave,” so named, itis said, because a man from Yeung-chun, by a long course of fasting and medi- tation, which he accomplished sitting on a certain projec- tion stil! pointed out to the curious, attained immortality by being changed into a “ Sin,” or genie.

Coming down the hill from the cave, we find some living springs at the foot, where the water wells up among the sand and pebbles, and passing through one of the worst specimens of the villages that disfigure the fair face of Nature, we regain the boat and proceed up the river. We pass several small villages before a bend in the Stream brings us to the market town of Siu-kong, situated