Another goddess who is popular with Chinese wives is Kum-Fa, the tutelary goddess of women and children. A native of Canton, she flourished during the reign of Ching-hwa, who ascended the throne A.D. 1465. When a girl of tender years, she was a constant and regular visitor to all the temples in her immediate neighborhood. She is said to have had the power of communing with the spirits of the departed. Becoming at length tired of the world, she committed suicide by drowning. In course of time, her body rose to the surface of the water, and when it was taken out the air became impregnated with sweet-smelling odors. It was placed in a coffin, and a sandal-wood statue or idol of Kum-Fa rose apparently from the bed of the river, and remained stationary. A temple was erected for the image, but an iconoclast deliberately destroyed it by fire, and it is now replaced by a clay figure. Her principal temple stands on the south side of the river at Canton. Her votaries are mostly wives who desire to become mothers. The list of the duties which her ministering attendants divide among them is a complete summary of the art of rearing children. One is considered to be the guardian of children suffering from small-pox. The second presides over the ablutions of infants. The third superintends the feeding of new-born babes and young children. The fourth is the especial patroness of male infants. The fifth attends to the careful preparation of infants’ food. The sixth watches over women laboring with child. It is in the power of the seventh to bestow upon women who have conceived, male or female children, in answer to their prayers. The eighth can bless women with male offspring. The ninth makes children merry and joyful. The tenth superintends the cutting of the umbilical cord. The eleventh causes women to conceive. It is the privilege of the twelfth to make children smile. The thirteenth has the care of infants until they are able to walk. The fourteenth teaches them to do so. It is the calling of the fifteenth to teach them how to suck. The sixteenth watches over unborn babes. On the seventeenth, it devolves to see that their bodies are, immediately before birth, free from sores or ulcers. The eighteenth is regarded as the special patroness of female infants. To impart strength to infants is the duty of the nineteenth; and the twentieth is named Fo-shee-fa-fu-yan. [Illustration: THE GODDESS MA-CHU AND HER ASSISTANTS.] [Illustration: THIRTEEN-STORIED PAGODA AT TUNG-CHO, CHINA.] IDOLS. [Illustration: CHINESE IDOL.] [Illustration: CHINESE IDOL.] [Illustration: CHINESE IDOL.]