Page:Ling-Nam; or, Interior views of southern China, including explorations in the hitherto untraversed island of Hainan (IA cu31924023225307).pdf/57

 “ The City of Rams.” 53

one of the many ferry boats, where the regular fare is two cash (one-tenth of a penny)—and the whole boat can be chartered for the trip for a cent—we reach the suburb of Honam, which, as its name indicates, lies along the southern bank of the stream. Furniture shops, tea hongs, and large matting manufactories oceupy the chief place in its trade. Several streets are devoted to the work of porcelain painting, which is a delicate and in- teresting industry, requiring a good knowledge of colours and their properties to secure the right shades and combination after the ware has been submitted to the furnace.

The Great Buddhist Temple, covering several acres with its various halls and shrines, is worthy of a longer study than we can give it. The main hall, with its colossal images of the three precious Buddhas sitting on lotus flowers, is where the morning and evening liturgical services are performed, scores of shaven monks in yellow colashes joining in the repetitions. Sacred pigs and chickens, rescued from the vulgar fate of the butcher’s knife, are cared for in a side apartment, until they die of old age, when they receive an honoured burial. Fruit and flower-gardens extend behind the buildings, and in a remote corner is seen the furnace in which the priests are cremated.

After this general view of the native city we are drawn irresistibly to the beautiful little island of Sha-meen, where most of the foreign residents live. Formerly a mere sandbank in the stream, it has been surrounded by a strong wall, and elevated above the reach of the highest tides, and shut off from the native town by a