and is explained by educated people to mean "The Mother of All Living," but the common people say she was originally a young woman who went up the mountain' some thousands of years ago to devote herself to pectigious life, and became s0 saintly that zhe never came down again but became a divinity. In earlier times worship outban at present, people coming from here was auch more vigorously, carrie all parts of the empire to pa) their respects to this celebrated female god-ess; even Emperors journeying here in person to make their offerings at her shrine. The last Imperial visit is said to have taken place towards the end of the last century. North of the city is a building, three or four storeys in height, which is said to have been specially erected for the use of a former Empress who came here to worship.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.