“At the foot of the great stairway are three large monumental slabs closely inscribed with names, titles, and laudatory records. An enclosure, resembling the holy ground that surrounds the ancient sanctuaries of Europe, is formed by means of walls connecting the rude rocks that occur in the circuit, and which are always religiously retained by Chinese artists to decorate. A balustrade, resting on this dwarf wall, is divided by compartments enriched with tracery, and decorated with various representations of instruments of music, implements of art, and weapons of war. A child, seated on a quadruped of a nondescript species, is attended by venerable men, and followed by two females carrying umbrellas; while Satan, adorned with monstrous horns, is fleeing from the party in the utmost dismay.[14] “Another division is filled with a group representing the dedication of the temple, and the votive act in which it had its foundation. The design of the temple includes five separate structures,--the centre more lofty, the lateral gradually descending from it, and different also in character and decorations. “A rich cornice supports a highly ornamental roof, entirely of porcelain, on which rests a boat or junk, sculptured with representations of various natural scenes and customs. Beneath the cornice are two oblong panels, enclosed in frames of bright and colored stone,--the higher containing bas-reliefs of grotesque figures and extraordinary combinations, the lower filled with apothegms from the writings of the great founders of the sect of idolaters who come here to worship. Beneath this latter tablet opens a large circular window, the frame of which appears to have been cut, with incalculable labor, from a single block of stone. Pilasters, wholly covered with inscriptions, separate the central from the lower divisions; and these are also adorned with porcelain roofs, massive cornices, and tablets, on which admonitions and wise maxims are emblazoned. “Each division is pierced by a square window of large dimensions, the carvings on which, although an extraordinary evidence of untiring labor, and unexampled perseverance, are neither beautiful nor intelligible.” It was here that I first met with the banian-tree, which is always found growing in the grounds of Buddhist temples. These trees had attained a great age, and were so near the buildings that their great gnarled roots grew over and under the rocks, while their branches overshadowed much of the pile. After examining the establishment we passed into one of the rooms of the cloister, where we were served with some New-Year’s confectionary by an old priest who had been an inmate of the temple fifty years.