"Under heaven there are four famous mountains but Omei stands first." Such is the announcement at the gateway of one of the temples that we pass on the way to the top. Whether this is true or not it is not necessary to enquire; but that Omei is a popular resort for the votaries of what passes for Buddhism in China no one will care to deny who has witnessed, day after day, for several weeks, the vast crowds of pilgrims that constantly proas their way to the Golden Summit. While there ore a large number of temples and monasteries on the mountain—some of them very large—there is not one that impresses the visitor by its beauty or stateliness. There ly not a temple on the mountain that can for a moment compare with many others in Szechuan in these respects. There has probably. been serious decline from past times, A few places, such as the Wanniensi, Kiulaoféng, and the summit are very interesting to the visitor for other reasons. There ato some really fine and massive pieces of bronze, cast in the Ming dynasty, and the rather extraordinary brick building at the Wanniensi to be seen; but one is soon convinced that the dominating idea in the construction of the temples was not an artistic, but rather a utilitarian one, namely, the accommodation of the greatest possible number of guests. Daring the busy season a single temple will furnish food and sleoping accommodation for hundreds and even thousands of pilgrims, day after day. The catering to the bodily needs of the pilgrims is altogether in the hands of the priests, and involves a vast amount of work on their part, of urely business kind.
It is well-nigh impossible to get any accurate knowledge of the number who annually visit this mountain, but probably itis not much under a quarter of a million. The winter time is the favourite season for the Tibetans to come. The summer season is the busiest one. At the height of the season there sre upwards of ten one time. We have made it a special thousand pilgrims on the mountain at point this summer to find out where the pilgrims come from and as. they usually come in large companies, this has not been such a difficult matter as it might appear. We have been surprised to find that an overwhelming majority came from avery restricted neighbourhood. Taking the mountain for centre and describing circle having a radius of one hundred miles, then over nine-tenths of the pilgrims will be found to have come from the district within the circumference of the circle described. Scareely any come from so great distance as Chungking, few from Chengtu, and few from the remote parts of the Province. A few come from the most distant parts of the Empire, but these are chiefly
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.