As we returned to the city we agreed that no one should fail to visit the tombs who comes to Moukden. It is of course tiresome to have to get permits, and takes a little time, but there is nothing within the city that is half so picturesque as these two groups of tombs, to each of which a whole day should be devoted. Some inscriptions at the Foo Ling tomb, we were told, are quite unique, but the heavy snow when we were there prevented our doing justice to the fine details of architecture. There is an unpromising-looking hotel at Moukden called the Astor House, but Americans who stayed there assured us it was quite comfortable, and every one passing through Moukden ought certainly to stop and see it, especially in view of its being so rapidly modernised. The old temples seem to be in a state of utter disrepair, and the most interesting one, the Fox Temple, will soon cease to exist. The worship of the fox is very common in Manchuria, and is especially incumbent upon officials, all Mandarins being supposed to do it, as the fox is the keeper of the seals of office. Doolittle, in his “Social Life of the Chinese,” says: “There is in connection with some of the principal civil yamens a small two-storied building devoted to the worship of his Majesty, Master Reynard. There is no image or picture of a fox to be worshipped, but simply an imaginary fox somewhere. Incense, candles, and wine are placed upon a table in the room of the second storey of this building, and before this table the Mandarin kneels down and bows his head in the customary manner, as an act of reverence to Reynard, the keeper of his seals of office. This sacrifice, it is affirmed, is never performed by deputy. The Chinese believe the official seal of the Mandarin, after he has arrived at his yamen, to be in the keeping of the fox. They assert with great earnestness, and apparent sincerity, that if the Mandarin did not worship the fox on his arrival at his residence, his seal of office would shortly disappear in some inexplicable way, or some singular and strange calamity would certainly befall him or his yamen.” We visited the Temple of Hell, where all sorts of horrible penalties are vividly depicted in stucco, and these are more terrible as indicating what Chinese punishments have been, than in suggesting what may be expected in the future world. The temples seem to be little frequented by the people, and it is only on certain occasions that the people flock to them. The ancestral tablets in his own home have the main part of a Chinaman’s devotions.