Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 67.djvu/526

520 steadily pounding by the side of a small stream which came tumbling down by leaps and bounds over rocky places, and at several of these sudden descents small wooden over-shot water-wheels operated two long, heavy horizontal beams, making them see-saw up and down about a pivot where they pierced the wall of a squatty mat-shed, the half of which was a small closed chamber, within which the further ends of the beams carried great heavy stones, shaped like huge dull chisels, and these, working up and down on the stone floor of the closed room, pounded into a fine powder small chips of previously dried pine wood. The dry powder that results is the incense and is carried by coolies over the mountains to the towns and temples round about. This region was formerly the site of some four hundred monasteries and temples. and our route passed one sawed-off pinnacle which bore on its top the ruins of an old monastery while on a neighboring peak stood a delapidated pagoda, evidences of the wreck caused by the famous Tai Ping rebellion (1850-1864). On our way down to these mills we had several magnificent views from cliffs which dropped sheer off to the plains far, far below. With jagged rocky peaks to the right as we looked down, there ran precipitously between them and us a lovely silvery stream, all afoam from its conflict with the rocks and boulders. Away below stretched a row of small foothills clustered in groups of three and four, and around and beyond these a low level plain dotted with a thousand small lakes or ponds was intersected by dozens of streams and canals which at last combined to form a tributary of the Yangtsze, a long graceful curve of which appeared in the distance as it rounded a promontory, bearing on its shores the town of Kiukiang. Above all this plain and surrounding the nearer mountain crests hung great masses of cumulus cloud tinted by the rays of the setting sun, the whole effect presenting a picture of such beauty and sublimity that the beholder could easily appreciate why native scholars have so often celebrated it in gladsome song.

We made an early morning start from Kuling, so as to reach the grotto by noon. On attaining the summit of Nank'ang Pass we saw spread before us the region between the southeastern slope of the Lü Mountains and the sacred Poyang Lake, and on a small promontory, straight before us, on the west shore of the lake, the city of Nank'ang, with its striking pagoda, was just discernible. Several steam launches, looking like mere toy boats, could be seen plying between the many lovely and populous islets enclosed by this most important of China's few lakes (90 miles by 20 miles). Descending the stone-paved trail that led us down these mountain precipices, we headed toward a point about sever miles north of the city. For some distance, after reaching the region of the lower hills, our path led us along the shady banks of a beautiful stream, in the limpid water of which we stopped awhile to