Page:Ningpo to Shanghai.djvu/34

20 The rock out of which the idol is cut, a conglomerate&mdash;porphyritic&mdash;resembling a hard gray green free stone) is about a hundred feet high with a N. E'ly aspect.

From the front of the knees (the figure being sculptured as sitting cross legged) the depth back is 29 feet, the recess being smoothly coved up until it meets in a lozenge arch three feet above the crown of the idol's head. Springing from walls rising 29 feet above the floor, and meeting, on its inner face, the natural rock, is an artificial well turned arch of curved stoned, 46 feet in span, extending out and forming 25 feet of the roof of the temple, which, on the floor, is 46 feet square. The table on which the idol sits is 5 feet from the floor, the whole height of the temple being 58 feet to the crown of the recess. Stout granite columns support the verandah forming the exterior of the Hall. Along the walls, on each side, are alcoves, with ten idols in each, of somewhat less than human size. In the centre of the area, 7 feet from the great Buddha, on a table 8 feet square, is a very jolly representation of the god Me-doe, 6 feet 6 inches high from his seat, supported on either side by the unfinished halves of two figures, intended, when complete, to be 18 feet high.

Excepting that the ears are extraordinarily long, the great Buddh is modelled in regular proportion. In the palm of the right hand, the fore finger of which measures 6 feet 6 inches in length, is an image on a pedestal. This image, viewed from the end of the temple,appears as diminutive as a doll. On measurement, however, it proves to be, with the pedestal, 2 feet 8 inches high. The great Buddha in order to make it smooth enough for gilding, is, in places, thickly plastered. The head is carved to the 