We finished up with the Temple
of the Five Hundred Genii, whose five hundred carved wooden statues,
thickly gilt, all very ugly, and all in different attitudes, stand
round the statue of a European in sailor's costume, said to be meant
for Marco Polo, but, whoever it may be, evidently considered an object
at least of veneration, if not of worship.
We now returned through the dirty city to Shameen, and the relief,
after crossing the bridge into an open space where one could breathe
freely and see the blue sky, was indescribable.
_Friday, March 2nd_.--Before we had finished breakfast the other
gentlemen strolled in from their various quarters, and the drivers and
guides arrived from the Vice-Consul's. A long morning's work had been
mapped out for us--thirteen sights before luncheon, then a visit to
the French Consulate, followed by eight more objects of interest to be
seen before we finally crossed the Pearl River to visit the Honan
Temple. Quitting the pretty cool suburb by another bridge, we passed
through streets quite as dirty as those of yesterday, until the heart
of the city had been reached. We went first to the wedding-chair shop,
where they keep sedan-chairs, of four qualities, for hire whenever a
wedding occurs. Even the commonest are made gorgeous by silver gilding
and lacquer, while the best are really marvels of decorative art,
completely covered with the blue lustrous feathers of a kind of
kingfisher.
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