One of the idols of this temple was a gigantic reclining image of Noah, who, with dimpled cheeks and laughing eyes, may perhaps have been intended to represent a happy old age. Beyond this, in a dimly lighted place, were three large, dusky, and neglected looking images, representing the men, or superhuman beings, who, as the Chinese say, held up the ark at the time of the Deluge. The largest Buddhist temple in Canton--as well as one of the oldest and most noted in China--is the _Hai-chwang-sz_, usually called by foreigners the Honam Joss House. It is situated near the river in the suburb of Honam; and the grounds, which contain several acres, are surrounded by a wall. The courts of the temple--as well as the avenue leading from the outer gate--are shaded with hoary banians, and the air is resonant with the cawing of the numerous rooks which have their nests in the wide-spreading branches. In order to be present at Vespers, we visited this temple at five o’clock in the evening, and, landing from our boat, entered the enclosure at the outer gateway, which opens on the street bordering the river. Traversing the gravelled walk to the high portico,--which is guarded by two frightful looking demons,--and passing through a small enclosure to a porch containing four great statues, we were conducted to the main temple, which is a low building, about one hundred feet square,--in the centre of which there are seated images of the Past, Present, and Future Buddha. These were more than twenty feet in height, and were surrounded by altars and smaller idols. The evening worship had just commenced as we reached the door of this grand presence-chamber. Here we found a large number of priests,--some in full canonicals,--who were marching in single file around the idols, and chanting in a drawling and nasal tone of voice their idolatrous invocations, accompanied by a sort of drum, tom-toms, and the occasional ringing of a bell. The officiating priests were arrayed in yellow, but most of the rest were in flowing gray robes. We observed one who had not performed the _tonsure_ in a long time, and whose clothing was also old and much patched; but we afterwards learned that an old garb and an unshaven head were the perscribed mourning of the Buddhist monasteries. Towards the close of the worship, a few at a time, on passing before the idols, stepped out of the ranks and fell on their knees before them, until finally all were prostrate. The priest playing the tom-tom knelt upon a low stool, and bowed himself close at the base of the centre idol; but the increased vigor with which he used the instrument, together with the beating of the drum and the ringing of the bell, rendered it impossible to hear the chanting. Finally, in the midst of this noise, bowing themselves three times, and touching their foreheads each time to the floor, they all performed the _kotau_, and thus ended their adorations.