Page:Ling-Nam; or, Interior views of southern China, including explorations in the hitherto untraversed island of Hainan (IA cu31924023225307).pdf/61

 Through the Delta. 57

Pak-ngotam, “ White Goose Pool.” On the right are seen the groves and cloisters of the ancient Buddhist monastery Tai-tung, whose quiet courts and cool pavilions make it a popular resort for excursionists. Within the enclosure of the monastery is a well, remarkable, according to native accounts, for the vapours that were formerly said to have issued from it, presaging storms and tempests not only in the immediate vicinity, but at points remote in the interior and along the coast. A thick, lurid mist, it is said, issuing from some deep cavern, was wont to rise in volumes, covering the monastery and groves about, and ascending high into the air. These vapours are now said to appear in the well at certain times, but seldom extend beyond that narrow space. Accompanying the lurid mist, it is said that sounds like the cackling of geese are heard, leading to the belief that there is some subterranean connection’ between this well and the deep pool of Pak-ngotam adjacent. This pool, again, which is said to be in one place fathomless, is believed to be subterraneously connected with places as far north as Shiu-kwan, two hundred and eighty miles distant, as far west as Ko-chow, two hundred and fifty miles off, and as far east as Chiu-chow, about the same distance. The well in which the mist appears is also called the “Dragon Well,” and is supposed to presage storms, the “pulses of the earth ” as these subterranean watercourses are called, bearing in advance the warning of their approach. The outward effect of these vapours is thus deseribed by a native rhymester—

“When Tai-tung sends its clouds of mist afloat, Each fishing craft appears a passage boat,”