"By the way," he added suddenly, as though the subject were too painful for him and he had been rehearsing his own life's experience, "is it not true that opium was brought to China by you English? How cruel of your people," he said with a passionate flash in his eyes, "to bring such wretchedness upon a nation that never did them any wrong!" The subject had taken an unlooked-for turn, and in that dimly-lighted room and with three men lying with ghastly upturned faces on the benches and the man gazing with ghoul-like features upon us, we felt that the opium question had entered upon a tragic phase that we were not prepared to discuss. Bidding the man a hasty good-bye, we passed out of the reeky, vile-smelling room past the screen, and into the open air, and though the ancient aroma of China was in it, it seemed as though we had got into the green fields and the fresh breezes were blowing over us, and we had escaped from a prison where we should have been stifled with a poison that would have killed us. [Illustration: CARRYING A COFFIN. _To face p. 201._] CHAPTER X HADES, OR THE LAND OF SHADOWS Death a great problem that has been studied by the Chinese--Attempts to solve the mystery--Conception of the Dark World--A counterpart of China--Story of the scholar--Other life a continuation of this--Doctrine of retribution--Metempsychosis--Modifications of this great doctrine possible--The stories of the witch--Happiness of the dead influenced by the condition of the graves--No babies in the Land of Shadows. The great problem of death is one that has oppressed the Chinese people in all ages with its profound mystery, and has cast its shadow upon the thought and life of the nation. The great sage of China, Confucius, discoursed eloquently upon Heaven and its great principles, and has left on record statements about it that cause those who can read below the surface to see in the picture he has drawn a dim and shadowy vision of the true God. He discoursed also about the duties of life and the human relationships with such broad and statesmanlike views that twenty-five centuries have passed by since they were first penned, and yet the Empire accepts them to-day as the very inspiration of genius. The subject of death was one that he would never discuss. He had evidently pondered over it, but had found it too full of mystery for him to grapple with, and he was too honest to pretend to be able to lay down any rules by which the anxious seeker could find comfort when he came to stand face to face with this grim enemy of our race. One of his disciples said to him one day, "Master, I venture to ask you to tell us something about death." Confucius replied, "Whilst we do not know sufficiently of life, how can we know anything about death?"