Page:Ling-Nam; or, Interior views of southern China, including explorations in the hitherto untraversed island of Hainan (IA cu31924023225307).pdf/85

 stmong the Palms. 81

years. The lease was signed by all the elders and men of influence in the village, and a heathen temple converted into a church for the worship of the true God.

Behind the city rises a fine group of mountains, pro- minent among which are the two lofty spires known as Kiver-fung, “Sceptre Peak,” and Wan-fung, “Cloud Peak.” In a ravine on the slope of Sceptre Peak is an old monastery, almost deserted, from whose crumbling portico we look out upon the plain beneath, the city grey and sombre, its high north wall thickly overgrown with ferns and feathery grasses, the palm fields glistening in the sun, the boats threading their way in all directions, the distant Nagi-mun, with its temples and shrines, recall- ing the tragic past, and the glimmer of the ocean waves beyond. The slopes of this hill in the spring are covered with flaming red azaleas.

On the same hill, somewhat higher up, is a small temple now in ruins, called the Sin-neung-miu, ‘“Fairy-Maiden Temple.” According to Chinese custom, the elder daugh- ter should marry first. If she should die before betrothal the parents go to this or similar temples, or have some one go for them, and betroth her to the spirit of some man. This is done by writing their names on tablets in the temple, and after this ceremony is performed they believe the spirit will not return to trouble the family. The whole place is supposed to be filled with the spirits of the dead, and people are now afraid to go into it. They cannot get workmen to repair it, so that it is in a ruinous state. The people were incredulous when I told them of my visit to it, and assured them that the only creature I saw near it was a fox, which fled at the sight of me.

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