CLXIV.

THE INCORRUPT OFFICIAL.

Mr. Wu, Sub-prefect of Chi-nan, was an upright man, and would have no share in the bribery and corruption which was extensively carried on, and at which the higher authorities connived, and in the proceeds of which they actually shared. The Prefect tried to bully him into adopting a similar plan, and went so far as to abuse him in violent language; upon which Mr. Wu fired up and exclaimed, “Though I am but a subordinate official, you should impeach me for anything you have against me in the regular way; you have not the right to abuse me thus. Die I may, but I will never consent to degrade my office and turn aside the course of justice for the sake of filthy lucre.” At this outbreak the Prefect changed his tone, and tried to soothe him.... [How dare people accuse the age of being corrupt, when it is themselves who will not walk in the straight path.] One day after this a certain fox-medium[694] came to the Prefect’s yamên just as a feast was in full swing, and was thus addressed by a guest:--“You who pretend to know everything, say how many officials there are in this Prefecture.” “_One_,” replied the medium; at which the company laughed heartily, until the medium continued, “There are really seventy-two holders of office, but Mr. Sub-prefect Wu is the only one who can justly be called an official.”

FOOTNOTE:

[694] Certain classes of soothsayers are believed by the Chinese to be possessed by foxes, which animals have the power of looking into the future, &c., &c.

APPENDIX A.

Visitors to Chinese temples of the Taoist persuasion usually make at once for what is popularly known amongst foreigners as the “Chamber of Horrors.” These belong specially to Taoism, or the ethics of Right in the abstract, as opposed to abstract Wrong, and are not found in temples consecrated to the religion of Buddha. Modern Taoism, however, once a purely metaphysical system, is now so leavened with the superstitions of Buddhism, and has borrowed so much material from its younger rival, that an ordinary Chinaman can hardly tell one from the other, and generally regards them as to all intents and purposes the same. These rightly-named Chambers of Horrors--for Madame Tussaud has nothing more ghastly to show in the whole of her wonderful collection--represent the Ten Courts of Purgatory, through some or all of which erring souls must pass before they are suffered to be born again into the world under another form, or transferred to the eternal bliss reserved for the righteous alone. As a description of these Ten Courts may not be uninteresting to some of my readers, and as the subject has a direct bearing upon many of the stories in the previous collection, I hereto append my translation of a well-known Taoist work[695] which is circulated gratuitously all over the Chinese Empire by people who are anxious to lay up a store of good works against the day of reckoning to come. Those who are acquainted with Dante’s _Divine Comedy_ will recollect that the poet’s idea of a Christian Purgatory was a series of nine lessening circles arranged one above the other, so as to form a cone. The Taoist believes that his Purgatory consists of Ten Courts of Justice situated in different positions at the bottom of a great ocean which lies down in the depths of the earth. These are sub-divided into special wards, different forms of torture being inflicted in each. A perusal of this work will shew what punishments the wicked Chinaman has to expect in the unseen world, and by what means he may hope to obtain a partial or complete remission of his sins.

_The “Divine Panorama,” published by the Mercy of Yü Ti,[696] that Men and Women may repent them of their Faults and make Atonement for their Crimes._

On the birthday of the Saviour P‘u-sa,[697] as the spirits of Purgatory were thronging round to offer their congratulations, the ruler of the Infernal Regions spake as follows:--“My wish is to release all souls, and every moon as this day comes round I would wholly or partially remit the punishment of erring shades, and give them life once more in one of the Six Paths.[698] But alas! the wicked are many and the virtuous few. Nevertheless, the punishments in the dark region are too severe, and require some modification. Any wicked soul that repents and induces one or two others to do likewise shall be allowed to set this off against the punishments which should be inflicted.” The Judges of the Ten Courts of Purgatory then agreed that all who led virtuous lives from their youth upwards shall be escorted at their death to the land of the Immortals; that all whose balance of good and evil is exact shall escape the bitterness of the Three States,[699] and be born again among men; that those who have repaid their debts of gratitude and friendship, and fulfilled their destiny, yet have a balance of evil against them, shall pass through the various Courts of Purgatory and then be born again amongst men, rich, poor, old, young, diseased or crippled, to be put a second time upon trial. Then, if they behave well they may enter into some happy state; but if badly, they will be dragged by horrid devils through all the Courts, suffering bitterly as they go, and will again be born, to endure in life the uttermost of poverty and wretchedness, in death the everlasting tortures of hell. Those who are disloyal, unfilial, who commit suicide, take life, or disbelieve the doctrine of Cause and Effect,[700] saying to themselves that when a man dies there is an end of him, that when he has lost his skin[701] he has already suffered the worst that can befall him, that living men can be tortured, but no one ever saw a man’s ghost in the pillory, that after death all is unknown, etc., etc.,--truly these men do not know that the body alone perishes but the soul lives for ever and ever; and that whatsoever evil they do in this life, the same will be done unto them in the life to come. All who commit such crimes are handed over to the everlasting tortures of hell; for alas! in spite of the teachings of the Three Systems[702] some will persist in regarding these warnings as vain and empty talk. Lightly they speak of Divine mercy, and knowingly commit many crimes, not more than one in a hundred ever coming to repentance. Therefore the punishments of Purgatory were strictly carried out and the tortures dreadfully severe. But now it has been mercifully ordained that any man or woman, young, old, weak or strong, who may have sinned in any way, shall be permitted to obtain remission of the same by keeping his or her thoughts constantly fixed on P‘u-sa and on the birthdays of the Judges of the Ten Courts, by fasting and prayer, and by vows never to sin again. Or for every good work done in life they shall be allowed to escape one ward in the Courts below. From this rule to be excepted disloyal ministers, unfilial sons, suicides, those who plot in secret against good people, those who are struck by lightning (_lit._ thunder), those who perish by flood or fire, by wild animals or poisonous reptiles[703]--these to pass through all the Courts and be punished according to their deserts. All other sinners to be allowed to claim their good works as a set-off against evil, thus partly escaping the agonies of hell and receiving some reward for their virtuous deeds.

This account of man’s wickedness on the earth and the punishments in store for him was written in language intelligible to every man and woman, and was submitted for the approval of P‘u-sa, the intention being to wait the return[704] of some virtuous soul among the sons of men, and by these means publish it all over the earth. When P‘u-sa saw what had been done, he said it was good; and on the 3rd of 8th moon proceeded with the ten Judges of Purgatory to lay this book before God.[705]

Then God said, “Good indeed! Good indeed! henceforth let all spirits take note of any mortal who vows to lead a virtuous life and, repenting, promises to sin no more. Two punishments shall be remitted him. And if, in addition to this, he succeeds in doing five virtuous acts, then he shall escape all punishment and be born again in some happy state--if a woman she shall be born as a man. But more than five virtuous acts shall enable such a soul to obtain the salvation of others, and redeem wife and family from the tortures of hell. Let these regulations be published in the _Divine Panorama_ and circulated on earth by the spirits of the City Guardian.[706] In fear and trembling obey this decree and carry it reverently into effect.”

THE FIRST COURT.

His Infernal Majesty Ch‘in Kuang is specially in charge of the register of life and death both for old and young, and presides at the judgment-seat in the lower regions. His court is situated in the great Ocean, away beyond the Wu-chiao rock,[707] far to the west near the murky road which leads to the Yellow Springs.[708] Every man and woman dying in old age whose fate it is to be born again into the world, if their tale of good and evil works is equally balanced, are sent to the First Court, and thence transferred back to Life, male becoming female, female male, rich poor, and poor rich, according to their several deserts. But those whose good deeds are outnumbered by their bad are sent to a terrace on the right of the Court, called the Terrace of the Mirror of Sin, ten feet in height. The mirror is about fifty feet[709] in circumference and hangs towards the east. Above are seven characters written horizontally:--“Sin Mirror Terrace upon no good men.” There the wicked souls are able to see the naughtiness of their own hearts while they were among the living, and the danger of death and hell. Then do they realize the proverb,--

“Ten thousand taels of yellow gold cannot be brought away: But every crime will tell its tale upon the judgment day.”

When the souls have been to the Terrace and seen their wickednesses, they are forwarded into the Second Court, where they are tortured and dismissed to the proper hell.

Should there be any one enjoying life without reflecting that Heaven and Earth produce mortals, that father and mother bring the child to maturity--truly no easy matter; and, ignoring the four obligations,[710] before receiving the summons, lightly sever the thread of their own existence by cutting their throats, hanging, poisoning, or drowning themselves:--then such suicides, if the deed was not done out of loyalty, filial piety, chastity, or friendship, for which they would go to Heaven, but in a trivial burst of rage, or fearing the consequences of a crime which would not amount to death, or in the hope of falsely injuring a fellow-creature--then such suicides, when the last breath has left their bodies, shall be escorted to this Court by the Spirits of the Threshold and of the Hearth. They shall be placed in the Hunger and Thirst Section, and every day from 7 till 11 o’clock they will resume their mortal coil, and suffer again the pain and bitterness of death. After seventy days, or one or two years as the case may be, they will be conducted back to the scene of their suicide, but will not be permitted to taste the funeral meats, or avail themselves of the usual offerings to the dead. Bitterly will they repent, unable as they will be to render themselves visible and frighten people,[711] vainly striving to procure a substitute.[712] For when the substitute shall have been harmlessly entrapped, the Spirits of the Threshold and Hearth will reconduct the erring soul back to this Court, whence it will be sent on to the Second Court, where its balance of good and evil will be struck, and dreadful tortures applied, being finally passed on through the various Courts to the utter misery of hell. Should any one have such intention of suicide and thus threaten a fellow creature, even though he does not commit the act but continues to live not without virtue, yet shall it not be permitted in any way to remit his punishment. Any soul which after suicide shall not remain invisible, but shall frighten people to death, will be seized by black-faced long-tusked devils and tortured in the various hells, to be finally thrust into the great Gehenna, for ever to remain hung up in chains, and not permitted to be born again.

Every Buddhist or Taoist priest who receives money for prayers and liturgies, but skips over words and misses out sentences, on arriving at this, the First Court, will be sent to the section for the Completion of Prayer, and there in a small dark room he shall pick out such passages as he has omitted, and make good the deficiency as best he can, by the uncertain light of an infinitesimal wick burning in a gallon of oil. Even good and virtuous priests must also repair any omissions they may have (accidentally) made, and so must every man or woman who in private devotion may have omitted or wrongly repeated any part of the sacred writings from over-earnestness, their attention not being properly fixed on the actual words they repeat. The same applies to female priests. A dispensation from Buddha to remit such punishment is put in force on the first day of each month when the names are entered in the register of the virtuous.

O ye dwellers upon earth, on the 1st day of the 2nd moon, fasting turn to the north and make oath to abstain from evil and fix your thoughts on good, that ye may escape hell! The precepts of Buddha are circulated over the whole world to warn mankind to believe and repent, that when the last hour comes their spirits may be escorted by dark-robed boys to realms of bliss and happiness in the west.

THE SECOND COURT.

His Infernal Majesty, Ch‘u Ching, reigns at the bottom of the great Ocean. Away to the south, below the Wu-chiao rocks, he has a vast hell, many leagues in extent, and subdivided into sixteen wards, as follows:--

In the first, nothing but black clouds and constant sand-storms. In the second, mud and filth. In the third, _chevaux de frise_. In the fourth, gnawing hunger. In the fifth, burning thirst. In the sixth, blood and pus. In the seventh, the shades are plunged into a brazen cauldron (of boiling water). In the eighth, the same punishment is repeated many times. In the ninth, they are put into iron clothes. In the tenth, they are stretched on a rack to regulation length. In the eleventh, they are pecked by fowls. In the twelfth, they have only rivers of lime to drink. In the thirteenth, they are hacked to pieces. In the fourteenth, the leaves of the trees are as sharp as sword-points. In the fifteenth they are pursued by foxes and wolves. In the sixteenth, all is ice and snow.

Those who lead astray young boys and girls, and then escape punishment by cutting off their hair and entering the priesthood;[713] those who filch letters, pictures, books, etc. entrusted to their care, and then pretend to have lost them; those who injure a fellow-creature’s ear, eye, hand, foot, fingers, or toes; those who practise as doctors without any knowledge of the medical art; those who will not ransom grown-up slave-girls;[714] those who, contracting marriage for the sake of gain, falsely state their ages; or those who in cases of betrothal, before actual marriage, find out that one of the contracting parties is a bad character, and yet do not come forward to say so, but inflict an irreparable wrong on the innocent one;--such offenders, when their quota of crime has been cast up, their youth or age and the consequences of their acts taken into consideration, will be seized by horrid red-faced devils and thrust into the great Hell, and thence despatched to the particular ward in which they are to be tormented. When their time of suffering there has expired, they will be moved into the Third Hall, there to be tortured and passed on to Gehenna.

O ye men and women of the world, take this book and warn all sinners, or copy it out and circulate it for general information! If you see people sick and ill, give medicine to heal them. If you see people poor and hungry, feed them. If you see people in difficulties, give money to save them. Repent your past errors, and you will be allowed to cancel that evil by future good, so that when the hour arrives you will pass at once into the Tenth Hall, and thence return again to existence on earth.

Let such as love all creatures endowed with life, and do not recklessly cut and slay, but teach their children not to harm small animals and insects--let these, on the 1st of the 3rd moon, register an oath not to take life, but to aid in preserving it. Thus they will avoid passing through Purgatory, and will also enter at once the Tenth Hall, to be born again in some happy state.

THE THIRD COURT.

His Infernal Majesty Sung Ti reigns at the bottom of the great Ocean, away to the south-east, below the Wu-chiao rock, in the Gehenna of Black Ropes. This Hall is many leagues wide, and is subdivided into sixteen wards, as follows:--

In the first everything is Salt; above, below, and all round, the eye rests upon Salt alone. The shades feed upon it, and suffer horrid torments in consequence. When the fit has passed away they return to it once again, and suffer agonies more unutterable than before. In the second, the erring shades are bound with cords and carry heavily-weighted _cangues_. In the third, they are perpetually pierced through the ribs. In the fourth, their faces are scraped with iron and copper knives. In the fifth, their fat is scraped away from their bodies. In the sixth, their hearts and livers are squeezed with pincers. In the seventh, their eyes are gouged. In the eighth, they are flayed. In the ninth, their feet are cut off. In the tenth, their finger-nails and toe-nails are pulled out. In the eleventh their blood is sucked. In the twelfth, they are hung up head downwards. In the thirteenth, their shoulder-bones are split. In the fourteenth, they are tormented by insects and reptiles. In the fifteenth, they are beaten on the thighs. In the sixteenth, their hearts are scratched.

Those who enjoy the light of day without reflecting on the Imperial bounty;[715] officers of State who revel in large emoluments without reciprocating their sovereign’s goodness; private individuals who do not repay the debt of water and earth;[716] wives and concubines who slight their marital lords; those who fail in their duties as acting sons,[717] or such as reap what advantages there are and then go off to their own homes; slaves who disregard their masters; official underlings who are ungrateful to their superiors; working partners who behave badly to the moneyed partner; culprits who escape from prison or abscond from their place of banishment; those who break their bail and get others into trouble; and those infatuated ones who have long omitted to pray and repent--all these, even though they have a set-off of good deeds, must pass through the misery of every ward. Those who interfere with another man’s Fêng-Shui; those who obstruct funeral obsequies or the completion of graves; those who in digging come on a coffin and do not immediately cover it up, but injure the bones; those who steal or avoid paying up their quota of grain;[718] those who lose all record of the site of their family burying-place; those who incite others to commit crimes; those who promote litigation; those who write anonymous placards; those who repudiate a betrothal; those who forge deeds and other documents; those who receive payment of a debt without signing a receipt or giving up the I O U; those who counterfeit signatures and seals; those who alter bills; those who injure posterity in any way--all these, and similar offenders, shall be punished according to the gravity of each offence. Devils with big knives will seize the erring ones and thrust them into the great Gehenna; besides which they shall expiate their sins in the proper number of wards, and shall then be forwarded to the Fourth Court where they shall be tortured and dismissed to the general Gehenna.

O ye sons of men, on the 8th day of the 2nd moon, register an oath that ye will do no evil. Thus you may escape the bitterness of these hells.

THE FOURTH COURT.

The Lord of the Five Senses reigns at the bottom of the great Ocean, away to the east below the Wu-chiao rock. His Court is many leagues wide, and is subdivided into sixteen wards, as follows:--

In the first, the wicked shades are hung up and water is continually poured over them. In the second, they are made to kneel on chains and pieces of split bamboo. In the third, their hands are scalded with boiling water. In the fourth, their hands swell and stream with perspiration. In the fifth, their muscles are cut and their bones pulled out. In the sixth, their shoulders are pricked with a trident and the skin rubbed with a hard brush. In the seventh, holes are bored into their flesh. In the eighth, they are made to sit on spikes. In the ninth, they wear iron clothes. In the tenth, they are placed under heavy pieces of wood, stone, earth, or tiles. In the eleventh, their eyes are put out. In the twelfth, their mouths are choked with dust. In the thirteenth, they are perpetually dosed with nasty medicines. In the fourteenth, it is so slippery they are always falling down. In the fifteenth, their mouths are painfully pricked. In the sixteenth, their bodies are buried under broken stones, &c., the head alone being left out.

Those who cheat the customs and evade taxes; those who repudiate their rent, use weighted scales, sell sham medicines, water their rice,[719] utter base coin, get deeply in debt, sell doctored[720] silks and satins, scrape[721] or add size to linen cloth; those who do not make way for the cripples, old and young; those who encroach upon petty trade rights[722] of old or young; those who delay in delivering letters entrusted to them; steal bricks from walls as they pass by, or oil and candles from lamps;[723] poor people who do not behave properly and rich people who are not compassionate to the poor; those who promise a loan and go back on their word; those who see people suffering from illness, yet cannot bring themselves to part with certain useful drugs they may have in their possession; those who know good prescriptions but keep them secret; those who throw vessels which have contained medicine or broken cups and bottles into the street; those who allow their mules and ponies to be a nuisance to other people; those who destroy their neighbour’s crops or his walls and fences; those who try to bewitch their enemies,[724] and those who try to frighten people in any way,--all these shall be punished according to the gravity of their offences, and shall be thrust by the devils into the great Gehenna until their time arrives for passing into the Fifth Court.

O ye children of this world, if on the 18th day of the 2nd moon you register an oath to sin no more, then you may escape the various wards of this Hall; and if to this book you add examples of rewards and punishments following upon virtues and crimes, and hand them down to posterity for the good of the human race, so that all who read may repent them of their wickednesses--then they will be without sin, and you not without merit!

THE FIFTH COURT.

His Infernal Majesty, Yen Lo,[725] said,--“Our proper place is in the First Court; but, pitying those who die by foul means, and should be sent back to earth to have their wrongs redressed, we have moved our judgment-seat to the great hell at the bottom of the Ocean, away to the north-east below the Wu-chiao rock, and have subdivided this hell into sixteen wards for the torment of souls. All those shades who come before us have already suffered long tortures in the previous four Courts, whence, if they are hardened sinners, they are passed on after seven days to this Court, where if again found to be utterly hardened, corruption will overtake them by the fifth or seventh day. All shades cry out either that they have left some vow unfulfilled, or that they wish to build a temple or a bridge, make a road, clean out a river or well, publish some book teaching people to be virtuous, that they have not released their due number of lives, that they have filial duties or funeral obsequies to perform, some act of kindness to repay, &c., &c. For these reasons they pray to be allowed to return once more to the light of day, and are always ready to make oath that henceforth they will lead most exemplary lives. We, hearing this, reply,--In days gone by ye openly worked evil, but now that your boat has reached the midstream, ye bethink yourselves of caulking the leak. For although P‘u-sa in his great mercy decreed that there should be a modification of torture, and that good works might be set off against evil, the same being submitted to God and ratified by Divine Decree, to be further published in the realms below and in the Infernal City--yet we Judges of the Ten Courts have not yet received one single virtuous man amongst us, who, coming in the flesh, might carry this _Divine Panorama_ back with him to the light of day. Truly those who suffer in hell and on earth cannot complain, and virtuous men are rare! But now ye have come to my Court, having beheld your own wickedness in the mirror of sin. No more--bull-headed, horse-faced devils, away with them to the Terrace[726] that they may once more gaze upon their lost homes!”

This Terrace is curved in front like a bow; it looks east, west, and south. It is eighty-one _li_ from one extreme to the other. The back

## part is like the string of the bow; it is enclosed by a wall of sharp

swords. It is 490 feet high; its sides are knife-blades; and the whole is in sixty-three storeys. No good shade comes to this Terrace; neither do those whose balance of good and evil is exact. Wicked souls alone behold their homes close by and can see and hear what is going on. They hear old and young talking together; they see their last wishes disregarded and their instructions disobeyed. Everything seems to have undergone a change. The property they scraped together with so much trouble is dissipated and gone. The husband thinks of taking another wife; the widow meditates second nuptials.[727] Strangers are in possession of the old estate; there is nothing to divide amongst the children. Debts long since paid are brought again for settlement, and the survivors are called upon to acknowledge claims upon the departed. Debts owed are lost for want of evidence, with endless recriminations, abuse, and general confusion, all of which falls upon the three families[728] of the deceased. They in their anger speak ill of him that is gone. He sees his children become corrupt, and his friends fall away. Some, perhaps, for the sake of bygone times, may stroke the coffin and let fall a tear, departing quickly with a cold smile. Worse than that, the wife sees her husband tortured in the yamên; the husband sees his wife victim to some horrible disease, lands gone, houses destroyed by flood or fire, and everything in unutterable confusion--the reward of former sins.[729] All souls, after the misery of the Terrace, will be thrust into the great Gehenna, and, when the amount of wickedness of each has been ascertained, they will be passed through the sixteen wards for the punishment of evil hearts. In the Gehenna they will be buried under wooden pillars, bound with copper snakes, crushed by iron dogs, tied tightly hand and foot, be ripped open and have their hearts torn out, minced up and given to snakes, their entrails being thrown to dogs. Then, when their time is up, the pain will cease and their bodies become whole once more, preparatory to being passed through the sixteen wards.

In the first are non-worshippers and sceptics. In the second, those who have destroyed or hurt living creatures. In the third, those who do not fulfil their vows. In the fourth, believers in false doctrines, magicians, and sorcerers. In the fifth, those who tyrannize over the weak but cringe to the strong; also those who openly wish for another’s death. In the sixth, those who try to put their misfortunes on to other people’s shoulders. In the seventh, those who lead immoral lives. In the eighth, those who injure others to benefit themselves. In the ninth, those who are parsimonious and will not help people in trouble. In the tenth, those who steal and involve the innocent. In the eleventh, those who forget kindness or seek revenge. In the twelfth, those who by pernicious drugs stir up others to quarrel, keeping themselves out of harm’s way. In the thirteenth, those who deceive or spread false reports. In the fourteenth, those who love brawling and implicate others. In the fifteenth, those who envy the virtuous and wise. In the sixteenth, those who are lost in vice, evil-speakers, slanderers, and such like.

All who disbelieve the doctrine of Cause and Effect, who obstruct good works, make a pretence of piety, talk of other people’s sins, burn or injure religious books, omit to fast when praying for the sick, interfere with the adoration of Buddha, slander the priesthood, or, if scholars, abstain from instructing women and children; those who dig up graves and obliterate all traces thereof, set light to woods and forests, allow their servants to be careless in handling fire and thus endanger their neighbours’ property; those who wantonly discharge arrows and bolts, who try their strength against the sick or weak, throw potsherds over a wall, poison fish, let off guns, catch birds either with net, sticky pole,[730] or trap; those who throw down salt to kill plants, who do not bury dead cats and venomous snakes deep in the ground, who dig out corpses, who break the soil or alter their walls and stoves at wrong seasons,[731] who encroach on the public road or take possession of other people’s land, who fill up wells and drains, &c., &c.,--all these, when they return from the Terrace, shall first be tortured in the great Gehenna, and then such as are to have their hearts minced shall be passed into the sixteen wards, thence to be sent on to the Sixth Court for the punishment of other crimes. Those who in life have not been guilty of the above sins, or, having sinned, did on the 8th day of the 1st moon, fasting, register a vow to sin no more, shall not only escape the punishments of this Court, but shall also gain some further remission of torture in the Sixth Court. Those, however, who are guilty of taking life, of gross immorality, of stealing and implicating the innocent, of ingratitude and revenge, of infatuated vice which no warnings can turn from its course,--these shall not escape one jot of their punishments.

THE SIXTH COURT.

This Court is situated at the bottom of the great Ocean, due north of the Wu-chiao rock. It is a vast, noisy Gehenna, many leagues in extent, and around it are sixteen wards.

In the first, the souls are made to kneel for long periods on iron shot. In the second, they are placed up to their necks in filth. In the third, they are pounded till the blood runs out. In the fourth, their mouths are opened with iron pincers and filled full of needles. In the fifth, they are bitten by rats. In the sixth, they are enclosed in a net of thorns and nipped by locusts. In the seventh, they are crushed to a jelly. In the eighth, their skin is lacerated and they are beaten on the raw. In the ninth, their mouths are filled with fire. In the tenth, they are licked by flames. In the eleventh, they are subjected to noisome smells. In the twelfth, they are butted by oxen and trampled on by horses. In the thirteenth, their hearts are scratched. In the fourteenth, their heads are rubbed till their skulls come off. In the fifteenth, they are chopped in two at the waist. In the sixteenth, their skin is taken off and rolled up into spills.

Those discontented ones who rail against Heaven and revile Earth, who are always finding fault either with the wind, thunder, heat, cold, fine weather or rain; those who let their tears fall towards the north;[732] who steal the gold from the inside[733] or scrape the gilding from the outside of images; those who take holy names in vain, who shew no respect for written paper, who throw down dirt and rubbish near pagodas or temples, who use dirty cook-houses and stoves for preparing the sacrificial meats, who do not abstain from eating beef and dog-flesh;[734] those who have in their possession blasphemous or obscene books and do not destroy them, who obliterate or tear books which teach man to be good, who carve on common articles of household use the symbol of the origin of all things,[735] the Sun and Moon and Seven Stars, the Royal Mother and the God of Longevity on the same article,[736] or representations of any of the Immortals; those who embroider the Svastika[737] on fancy work, or mark characters on silk, satin, or cloth, on banners, beds, chairs, tables, or any kind of utensil; those who secretly wear clothes adorned with the dragon and the phœnix[738] only to be trampled under foot, who buy up grain and hold until the price is exorbitantly high--all these shall be thrust into the great and noisy Gehenna, there to be examined as to their misdeeds and passed accordingly into one of the sixteen wards, whence, at the expiration of their time, they will be sent for further questioning on to the Seventh Court.

All dwellers upon earth who on the 8th day of the 3rd moon, fasting, register a vow from that date to sin no more, and, on the 14th and 15th of the 5th moon, the 3rd of the 8th moon, and the 10th of the 10th moon, to practise abstinence, vowing moreover to exert themselves to convert others,--these shall escape the bitterness of all the above-mentioned wards.

THE SEVENTH COURT.

His Infernal Majesty, T‘ai Shan, reigns at the bottom of the great Ocean, away to the north-west, below the Wu-chiao rock. His is a vast, noisy Court, measuring many leagues in circumference and subdivided into sixteen wards, as follows:--

In the first, the wicked souls are made to swallow their own blood. In the second, their legs are pierced and thrust into a fiery pit. In the third, their chests are cut open. In the fourth, their hair is torn out with iron combs. In the fifth, they are gnawed by dogs. In the sixth, great stones are placed on their heads. In the seventh, their skulls are pierced. In the eighth, they wear fiery clothes. In the ninth, their skin is torn and pulled by pigs. In the tenth, they are pecked by huge birds. In the eleventh, they are hung up and beaten on the feet. In the twelfth, their tongues are pulled out and their jaws bored. In the thirteenth, they are disembowelled. In the fourteenth, they are trampled on by mules and bitten by badgers. In the fifteenth, their fingers are ironed with hot irons. In the sixteenth, they are boiled in oil.

All mortals who practise eating red lead[739] and certain other nauseous articles,[740] who spend more than they should upon wine, who kidnap human beings for sale, who steal clothes and ornaments from coffins, who break up dead men’s bones for medicine, who separate people from their relatives, who sell the girl brought up in the house to be their son’s wife, who allow their wives[741] to drown female children, who stifle their illegitimate offspring, who unite to cheat another in gambling, who act as tutors without being properly strict, and thus wrong their pupils, who beat and injure their slaves without estimating the punishment by the fault, who regard districts entrusted to their charge in the light of so much spoil, who disobey their elders, who talk at random and go back on their word, who stir up others to quarrel and fight--all these shall, upon verification of their sins, be taken from the great Gehenna and passed through the proper wards, to be forwarded when their time has expired to the Eighth Court, again to be tortured according to their deserts.

All things may not be used as drugs. It is bad enough to slay birds, beasts, reptiles, and fishes, in order to prepare medicine for the sick; but to use red lead and many of the filthy messes in vogue is beyond all bounds of decency, and those who foul their mouths with these nasty mixtures, no matter how virtuous they may otherwise be, will not only derive no benefit from saying their prayers, but will be punished for so doing without mercy.

Ye who hear these words make haste to repent! From to-day forbear to take life, buy many birds and animals in order to set them free,[742] and every morning when you wash your teeth mutter a prayer to Buddha. Thus, when your last hour comes, a good angel will stand by your side and purify you of your former sins.

Some steal the bones of people who have been burnt to death or the bodies of illegitimate children, for the purpose of compounding medicines; others steal skulls and bones (from graves) with the same object. Worst of all are those who carry off bones by the basketful, using the hard ones for making various articles and grinding down the soft ones for the manufacture of pottery.[743] These, no matter what may have been their good works on earth, will not obtain thereby any remission of punishment; but when they are brought down below, the Ruler of the Infernal Regions will first pass them from the great Gehenna into the proper wards, and will send instructions to the Tenth Court that when they are born again on earth it shall be either without ears, or eyes, hand, foot, mouth, lips, or nose, or maimed in some way or other. Yet such as have thus sinned may still avoid this punishment, if only they are willing to pray and repent, vowing never to sin again. Or if they buy coffins for the poor and persuade others to do likewise, by these means giving a decent burial to many corpses--then, when the death-summons comes, the Spirits of the Home and Hearth will make a black mark upon the warrant, and punishment will be remitted.

Sometimes, when there is a famine, people have nothing to eat and die of hunger, and wicked men, almost before the breath is out of their bodies, cut them up and sell their flesh to others for food--a horrid crime indeed. Those who are guilty of such practices will, on arrival in the lower regions, be tortured in the various Courts for the space of forty-nine[744] days, and then the judge of the Tenth Court will be instructed to notify the judge of the First Court to put them down in his register for a new birth,--if among men, as hungry famished outcasts, and if among animals as loathing the food that falls to their lot, and by-and-by perishing of hunger. Such is their reward. Besides the above, those who have eaten what is unfit for food and willingly continue to do so, will be punished either among men or animals according to their deserts. Their throats will swell, and though devoured by hunger they will be unable to swallow, and thus die. Those who do not err a second time may be forgiven as they deserve; but those who in times of distress subscribe money for the sufferers, prepare gruel, give away rice to the needy, or distribute ginger tea[745] and soup in the open street, and thus sustain life a little longer and do real good to their fellow creatures--all these shall not only obtain remission of their sins, but carry on a balance of good to their account which shall ensure them a happy old age in the life to come.[746]

Of the above three clauses, two were proposed by the officials attached to this Seventh Court, the third by the Chief Justice of the great Gehenna, and the whole submitted together for the approval of God, the following Rescript being obtained:--“Let it be as proposed; let the three clauses be copied into the _Divine Panorama_, and let the officials concerned be promoted or rewarded. Also, in case of crimes other than those already provided for, let such be punished according to the statutes of the Rulers of the Four Continents on earth, and let any evasion of punishment and implication of innocent people be at once reported by the proper officials for our consideration. This from the Throne! Obey!”

O ye sons and daughters of men, if on the 27th of the 3rd moon, fasting and turned towards the north, ye register a vow to pray and repent, and to publish the whole of the _Divine Panorama_ for the enlightenment of mankind, then ye may escape the bitterness of this Seventh Court.

THE EIGHTH COURT.

His Infernal Majesty, Tu Shih, reigns at the bottom of the great Ocean, due east below the Wu-chiao rock, in a vast noisy Court many leagues in extent, subdivided into sixteen wards as follows:--

In the first, the wicked souls are rolled down mountains in carts. In the second, they are shut up in huge saucepans. In the third, they are minced. In the fourth, their noses, eyes, mouths, &c. are stopped up. In the fifth, their uvulas are cut off. In the sixth, they are exposed to all kinds of filth. In the seventh, their extremities are cut off. In the eighth, their viscera[747] are fried. In the ninth, their marrow is cauterized. In the tenth, their bowels are scratched. In the eleventh, they are inwardly burned with fire. In the twelfth, they are disembowelled. In the thirteenth, their chests are torn open. In the fourteenth, their skulls are split and their teeth dragged out. In the fifteenth, they are hacked and gashed. In the sixteenth, they are pricked with steel prongs.

Those who are unfilial, who do not nourish their relatives while alive or bury them when dead, who subject their parents to fright, sorrow, or anxiety--if they do not quickly repent them of their former sins, the spirit of the Hearth will report their misdoings and gradually deprive them of what prosperity they may be enjoying. Those who indulge in magic and sorcery will, after death, when they have been tortured in the other Courts, be brought here to this Court, and dragged backwards by bull-headed horse-faced devils to be thrust into the great Gehenna. Then when they have been tortured in the various wards they will be passed on to the Tenth Court, whence at the expiration of a _kalpa_[748] they will be sent back to earth with changed heads and faces for ever to find their place amongst the brute creation. But those who believe in the _Divine Panorama_, and on the 1st of the 4th moon make a vow of repentance, repeating the same every night and morning to the Spirit of the Hearth, shall, by virtue of one of three characters, _obedient_, _acquiescent_, or _repentant_, to be traced on their foreheads at death by the Spirit of the Hearth, escape half the punishments from the first to the Seventh Court inclusive, and escape this Eighth Court altogether, being passed on to the Ninth Court, where cases of arson and poisoning are investigated, and finally born again from the Tenth Court among mankind as before.

To this God added, “Whosoever may circulate the _Divine Panorama_ for the information of the world at large shall escape all punishment from the First to the Eighth Court inclusive. Passing through the Ninth and Tenth Courts, they shall be born again amongst men in some happy state.”

THE NINTH COURT.

His Infernal Majesty, P‘ing Têng, reigns at the bottom of the great Ocean, away to the south-west, below the Wu-chiao rock. His is the vast, circular hell of A-pi, many leagues in breadth, jealously enclosed by an iron net, and subdivided into sixteen wards, as follows:--

In the first, the wicked souls have their bones beaten and their bodies scorched. In the second, their muscles are drawn out and their bones rapped. In the third, ducks eat their heart and liver. In the fourth, dogs eat their intestines and lungs. In the fifth, they are splashed with hot oil. In the sixth, their heads are crushed in a frame, and their tongues and teeth are drawn out. In the seventh, their brains are taken out and their skulls filled with hedge-hogs. In the eighth, their heads are steamed and their brains scraped. In the ninth, they are dragged about by sheep till they drop to pieces. In the tenth, they are squeezed in a wooden press and pricked on the head. In the eleventh, their hearts are ground in a mill. In the twelfth, boiling water drips on to their bodies. In the thirteenth, they are stung by wasps. In the fourteenth, they are tortured by ants and maggots; they are then stewed, and finally wrung out (like clothes). In the fifteenth, they are stung by scorpions. In the sixteenth, they are tortured by venomous snakes, crimson and scarlet.

All who on earth have committed one of the ten great crimes, and have deserved either the lingering death, decapitation, strangulation, or other punishment, shall, after passing through the tortures of the previous Courts, be brought to this Court, together with those guilty of arson, of making _ku_ poison,[749] bad books, stupefying drugs, and many other disgraceful acts. Then, if it be found that, hearkening to the words of the _Divine Panorama_, they subsequently destroyed the blocks of these books, burnt their prescriptions, and ceased practising the magical art, they shall escape the punishments of this Court and be passed on to the Tenth Court, thence to be born again amongst the sons of men. But if, having heard the warnings of the _Divine Panorama_, they still continue to sin, from the Second to the Eighth Court their tortures shall be increased. They shall be bound on to a hollow copper pillar, clasping it round with their hands and feet. Then the pillar shall be filled with fierce fire, so as to burn into their heart and liver; and afterwards their feet shall be plunged into the great Gehenna of A-pi, knives shall be thrust into their lungs, they shall bite their own hearts, and gradually sink to the uttermost depths of hell, there to endure excruciating torments until the victims of their wickedness have either recovered the property out of which they were cheated, or the life that was taken away from them, and until every trace of book, prescription, picture, &c. formerly used by these wicked souls has disappeared from the face of the earth. Then, and only then, may they pass into the Tenth Court to be born again in one of the Six States of existence.

O ye who have committed such crimes as these, on the 8th of the 4th moon, or the 1st or 15th (of any moon), fasting swear that you will buy up all bad books and magical pamphlets and utterly destroy them with fire; or that you will circulate copies of the _Divine Panorama_ to be a warning to others! Then, when your last moment is at hand, the Spirit of the Hearth will write on your forehead the two words _He obeyed_, and from the Second up to the Ninth Court your good deeds will be rewarded by a diminution of such punishments as you have incurred. People in the higher ranks of life who secure incendiaries or murderers, who destroy the blocks of bad books, or publish notices warning others, and offer rewards for the production of such books, will be rewarded by the success of their sons and grandsons at the public examinations. Poor people who, by a great effort, manage to have the _Divine Panorama_ circulated for the benefit of mankind, will be forwarded at once to the Tenth Court, and thence be born again in some happy state on earth.

THE TENTH COURT.

His Infernal Majesty, Chuan Lun,[750] reigns in the Dark Land, due east, away below the Wu-chiao rock, just opposite the Wu-cho of this world. There he has six bridges, of gold, silver, jade, stone, wood, and planks, over which all souls must pass. He examines the shades that are sent from the other courts, and, according to their deserts, sends them back to earth as men, women, old, young, high, low, rich, or poor, forwarding monthly a list of their names to the judge of the First Court for transmission to Fêng-tu.[751]

The regulations provide that all beasts, birds, fishes, and insects, whether biped, quadruped, or otherwise, shall after death become _chien_,[752] to be born again for long and short lives alternately. But such as may possibly have taken life, and such as must necessarily have taken life, will pass through a revolution of the Wheel, and then, when their sins have been examined, they will be sent up on earth to receive the proper retribution. At the end of every year a report will be forwarded to Fêng-tu.

Those scholars who study the Book of Changes, or priests who chant their liturgies, cannot be tortured in the Ten Courts for the sins they have committed. When they come to this Court their names and features are taken down in a book kept for the purpose, and they are forwarded to Mother Mêng, who drives them on to the Terrace of Oblivion and doses them with the draught of forgetfulness. Then they are born again in the world for a day, a week, or it may be a year, when they die once more; and now, having forgotten the holy words of the Three Religions,[753] they are carried off by devils to the various Courts, and are properly punished for their former crimes.

All souls whose balance of good and evil is exact, whose period, or whose crimes are many and good deeds few, as soon as their future state has been decided,--man, woman, beautiful, ugly, comfort, toil, wealth, or poverty, as the case may be,--must pass through the Terrace of Oblivion.

Amongst those shades, on their way to be born again in the world of human beings, there are often to be found women who cry out that they have some old and bitter wrong to avenge,[754] and that rather than be born again amongst men they would prefer to enter the ranks of hungry devils.[755] On examining them more closely it generally comes out that they are the virtuous victims of some wicked student, who may perhaps have an eye to their money, and accordingly dresses himself out to entrap them, or promises marriage when sometimes he has a wife already, or offers to take care of an aged mother or a late husband’s children. Thus the foolish women are beguiled, and put their property in the wicked man’s hands. By-and-by he turns round upon and reviles them, and, losing face in the eyes of their relatives and friends, with no one to redress their wrong, they are driven to commit suicide. Then, hearing[756] that their seducer is likely to succeed at the examination, they beg and implore to be allowed to go back and compass his death. Now, although what they urge is true enough, yet that man’s destiny may not be worked out, or the transmitted effects of his ancestors’ virtue may not have passed away;[757] therefore, as a compromise, these injured shades are allowed to send a spirit to the Examination Hall to hinder and confuse him in the preparation of his paper, or to change the names on the published list of successful candidates; and finally, when his hour arrives, to proceed with the spirit who carries the death-summons, seize him, and bring him to the First Court of judgment.

Ye who on the 17th of the 4th moon swear to carry out the precepts of the _Divine Panorama_, and frequently make these words the subject of your conversation, may in the life to come be born again amongst men and escape official punishments, fire, flood, and all accidents to the body.

The place where the Wheel of Fate goes round is many leagues in extent, enclosed on all sides by an iron palisade. Within are eighty-one subdivisions, each of which has its proper officers and magisterial appointments. Beyond the palisade there is a labyrinth of 108,000 paths leading by direct and circuitous routes back to earth. Inside it is as dark as pitch, and through it pass the spirits of priest and layman alike. But to one who looks from the outside everything is seen as clear as crystal, and the attendants who guard the place all have the faces and features they had at their birth. These attendants are chosen from virtuous people who in life were noted for filial piety, friendship, or respect for life, and are sent here to look after the working of the Wheel and such duties. If for a space of five years they make no mistakes they are promoted to a higher office; but if found to be lazy or careless they are reported to the Throne for punishment.

Those who in life have been unfilial or have destroyed much life, when they have been tortured in the various Courts are brought here and beaten to death with peach twigs. They then become _chien_, and with changed heads and altered faces are turned out into the labyrinth to proceed by the path which ends in the brute creation.

Birds, beasts, fishes and insects, may after many myriads of _kalpas_ again resume their original shapes; and if there are any that during three existences do not destroy life, they may be born amongst human beings as a reward, a record being made and their names forwarded to the First Court for approval. But all shades of men and women must proceed to the Terrace of Oblivion.

Mother Mêng was born in the Earlier Han Dynasty. In her childhood she studied books of the Confucian school; when she grew up she chanted the liturgies of Buddha. Of the past and the future she had no care, but occupied herself in exhorting mankind to desist from taking life and become vegetarians. At eighty-one years of age her hair was white and her complexion like a child’s. She lived and died a virgin, calling herself simply Mêng; but men called her Mother Mêng. She retired to the hills and lived as a _religieuse_ until the Later Han. Then, because certain evil-doers, relying on their knowledge of the past, used to beguile women by pretending to have been their husbands in a former life, God commissioned Mother Mêng to build the Terrace of Oblivion, and appointed her as guardian, with devils to wait upon her and execute her commands. It was arranged that all shades who had been sentenced in the Ten Courts to return in various conditions to earth should first be dosed by her with a decoction of herbs, sweet, bitter, acrid, sour or salt. Thus they forgot everything that has previously happened to them, and carry away with them to earth some slight weaknesses such as the mouth watering at the thought (of something nice), laughter inducing perspiration, fear inducing tears, anger inducing sobs, or spitting from nervousness. Good spirits who go back into the world will have their senses of sight, hearing, smell, and taste very much increased in power, and their physical strength and constitution generally will be much bettered. But evil spirits will experience the exact contrary of this, as a reward for previous sins and as a warning to others to pray and repent.

The Terrace is situated in front of the Ten Courts, outside the six bridges. It is square, measuring ten (Chinese) feet every way, and surrounded by 108 small rooms. To the east there is a raised path, one foot four inches in breadth, and in the rooms above-mentioned are prepared cups of forgetfulness ready for the arrival of the shades. Whether they swallow much or little it matters not; but sometimes there are perverse devils who altogether refuse to drink. Then beneath their feet sharp blades start up, and a copper tube is forced down their throats, by which means they are compelled to swallow some. When they have drunk, they are raised by the attendants and escorted back by the same path. They are next pushed on to the Bitter Bamboo floating bridge, with torrents of rushing red water on either side. Half way across they perceive written in large characters on a red cliff on the opposite side the following lines:--

“To be a man is easy, but to act up to one’s responsibilities as such is hard. Yet to be a man once again is harder still.

For those who would be born again in some happy state there is no great difficulty; It is only necessary to keep mouth and heart in harmony.”

When the shades have read these words they try to jump on shore, but are beaten back into the water by two huge devils. One has on a black official hat and embroidered clothes; in his hand he holds a paper pencil, and over his shoulder he carries a sharp sword. Instruments of torture hang at his waist, fiercely he glares out of his large round eyes and laughs a horrid laugh. His name is _Short Life_. The other has a dirty face smeared with blood; he has on a white coat, an abacus in his hand and a rice sack over his shoulder. Round his neck hangs a string of paper money; his brow contracts hideously, and he utters long sighs. His name is _They have their reward_, and his duty is to push the shades into the red water. The wicked and foolish rejoice at the prospect of being born once more as human beings; but the better shades weep and mourn that in life they did not lay up a store of virtuous acts, and thus pass away from the state of mortals for ever.[758] Yet they all rush on to birth like an infatuated or drunken crowd; and again, in their early childhood, hanker after the forbidden flavours.[759] Then, regardless of consequences, they begin to destroy life, and thus forfeit all claims to the mercy and compassion of God. They take no thought as to the end that must overtake them; and finally, they bring themselves once more to the same horrid plight.

FOOTNOTES:

[695] The _Yü Li_ or _Divine Panorama_.

[696] The Divine Ruler, immediately below God himself.

[697] See No. XXVI., note 182.

[698] See _Author’s Own Record_ (in _Introduction_), note 28.

[699] The three worst of the Six Paths.

[700] That the state of one life is the result of behaviour in a previous existence.

[701] _Lit._--the skin purse (of his bones).

[702] Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism.

[703] Violent deaths are regarded with horror by the Chinese. They hold that a truly virtuous man always dies either of illness or old age.

[704] Good people go to Purgatory in the flesh, and are at once passed up to Heaven without suffering any torture, or are sent back to earth again.

[705] The Supreme Ruler.

[706] See No. I., note 36.

[707] Supposed to be the gate of the Infernal Regions.

[708] Hades.

[709] Literally, “ten armfuls.”

[710] To Heaven, Earth, sovereign, and relatives.

[711] Held to be a great relief to the spirits of the dead.

[712] It is commonly believed that if the spirit of a murdered man can secure the violent death of some other person he returns to earth again as if nothing had happened, the spirit of his victim passing into the world below and suffering all the misery of a disembodied soul in his stead. See No. XLV., note 267.

[713] A very common trick in China. The drunken bully Lu Ta in the celebrated novel _Shui-hu_ saved himself by these means, and I have heard that the Mandarin who in the war of 1842 spent a large sum in constructing a paddle-wheel steamer to be worked by men, hoping thereby to match the wheel-ships of the Outer Barbarians, is now expiating his failure at a monastery in Fukien. _Apropos_ of which, it may not be generally known that at this moment there are small paddle-wheel boats for Chinese passengers, plying up and down the Canton river, the wheels of which are turned by gangs of coolies who perform a movement precisely similar to that required on the treadmill.

[714] In order that their marriage destiny may not be interfered with. It is considered disgraceful not to accept the ransom of a slave girl of 15 or 16 years of age. See No. XXVI., note 185.

[715] The soil of China belongs, every inch of it, to the Emperor. Consequently, the people owe him a debt of gratitude for permitting them to live upon it.

[716] Do their duty as men and women.

[717] A Chinaman may have three kinds of fathers; (1) his real father, (2) an adopted father, such as an uncle without children to whom he has been given as heir, and (3) the man his widowed mother may marry. The first two are to all intents and purposes equal; the third is entitled only to one year’s mourning instead of the usual three.

[718] As taxes.

[719] Visitors to Peking may often see the junkmen at T‘ung-chow pouring water by the bucketful on to newly-arrived cargoes of Imperial rice in order to make up the right weight and conceal the amount they have filched on the way.

[720] That is, with a false gloss on them.

[721] In order to raise to nap and give an appearance of strength and goodness.

[722] Costermongers and others acquire certain rights to doorsteps or snug corners in Chinese cities which are not usually infringed by competitors in the same line of business. Chair-coolies, carrying-coolies, ferrymen, &c., also claim whole districts as their

## particular field of operations and are very jealous of any

interference. I know of a case in which the right of “scavengering” a town had been in the same family for generations, and no one dreamt of trying to take it out of their hands.

[723] Chiefly alluding to small temples where some pious spirit may have lighted a lamp or candle to the glory of his favourite P‘u-sa.

[724] This is done either by making a figure of the person to be injured and burning it in a slow fire, like the old practice of the wax figure in English history; or by obtaining his nativity characters, writing them out on a piece of paper and burning them in a candle, muttering all the time whatsoever mischief it is hoped will befall him.

[725] Popularly known as the Chinese Pluto. The Indian _Yama_.

[726] The celebrated “See-one’s-home Terrace.”

[727] Regarded by the Chinese with intense disgust.

[728] Father’s, mother’s, and wife’s families.

[729] I know of few more pathetic passages throughout all the exquisite imagery of the Divine Comedy than this in which the guilty soul is supposed to look back to the home he has but lately left and gaze in bitter anguish on his desolate hearth and broken household gods. For once the gross tortures of Chinese Purgatory give place to as refined and as dreadful a punishment as human ingenuity could well devise.

[730] A long pole tipped with a kind of birdlime is cautiously inserted between the branches of a tree, and then suddenly dabbed on to some unsuspecting sparrow.

[731] If this is done in Winter or Spring the Spirits of the Hearth and Threshold are liable to catch cold.

[732] I presume because God sits with his face to the south.

[733] Pious and wealthy people often give orders for an image of a certain P‘u-sa to be made with an ounce or so of gold inside.

[734] Primarily, because no living thing should be killed for food. The ox and the dog are specified because of their kindly services to man in tilling the earth and guarding his home.

[735] The symbol of the Yin and the Yang, so ably and so poetically explained by Mr. Alabaster in his pamphlet on the Doctrine of the Ch‘i.

[736] One being male and the other being female. This calls to mind the extreme modesty of a celebrated French lady, who would not put books by male and female authors on the same shelf.

[737] The symbol on Buddha’s heart; more commonly known to the western world as Thor’s Hammer.

[738] Emblems of Imperial dignity.

[739] Supposed to confer immortality.

[740] Unfit for translation.

[741] This is ingeniously expressed, as if _mothers_ were the prime movers in such unnatural acts.

[742] On fête days at temples it is not uncommon to see cages full of birds hawked about among the holiday-makers, that those who feel twinges of conscience may purchase a sparrow or two and relieve themselves from anxiety by the simple means of setting them at liberty.

[743] Bones are used in glazing porcelain, to give a higher finish.

[744] The seven periods of seven days each which occur immediately after a death and at which the departed shade is appeased with food and offerings of various kinds.

[745] To warm them.

[746] When they are born again on earth.

[747] Heart, lungs, spleen, liver, and kidneys.

[748] Many millions of years.

[749] The following recipe for this deadly poison is given in the well-known Chinese work _Instructions to Coroners_:--“Take a quantity of insects of all kinds and throw them into a vessel of any kind; cover them up, and let a year pass away before you look at them again. The insects will have killed and eaten each other, until there is only one survivor, and this one is _Ku_.”

[750] He who “turns the wheel;” a _chakravartti raja_.

[751] The capital city of the Infernal Regions.

[752] The ghosts of dead people are believed to be liable to death. The ghost of a ghost is called _chien_.

[753] On the “Three Systems.” See note 702, _Appendix_.

[754] Women are considered in China to be far more revengeful than men.

[755] See _Author’s Own Record_ (in _Introduction_), note 28.

[756] While in Purgatory.

[757] It was mentioned above that the rewards for virtue would be continued to a man’s sons and grandsons.

[758] That is, go to heaven.

[759] Of meat, wine, &c.

APPENDIX B.

ANCESTRAL WORSHIP.

“The rudimentary form of all religion is the propitiation of dead ancestors, who are supposed to be still existing, and to be capable of working good or evil to their descendants.”--SPENCER’S ESSAYS. Vol. iii., p. 102.--_The Origin of Animal Worship._

BILOCATION.

“As a general rule, people are apt to consider it impossible for a man to be in two places at once, and indeed a saying to that effect has become a popular saw. But the rule is so far from being universally accepted, that the word ‘bilocation’ has been invented to express the miraculous faculty possessed by certain saints of the Roman Church, of being in two places at once; like St. Alfonso di Liguori, who had the useful power of preaching his sermon in church while he was confessing penitents at home.”--TYLOR’S _Primitive Culture_. Vol. i., p. 447.

BURIAL RITES.

“Hence the various burial rites--the placing of weapons and valuables along with the body, the daily bringing of food to it, &c. I hope hereafter, to show that with such knowledge of facts as he has, this interpretation is the most reasonable the savage can arrive at.”--SPENCER’S ESSAYS. Vol. iii., p. 104.--_The Origin of Animal Worship._

DREAMS.

“The distinction so easily made by us between our life in dreams and our real life, is one which the savage recognises in but a vague way; and he cannot express even that distinction which he perceives. When he awakes, and to those who have seen him lying quietly asleep, describes where he has been, and what he has done, his rude language fails to state the difference between seeing and dreaming that he saw, doing and dreaming that he did. From this inadequacy of his language it not only results that he cannot truly represent this difference to others, but also that he cannot truly represent it to himself.”--SPENCER’S ESSAYS. Vol. iii., pp. 103, 104.

SHADE OR SHADOW.

“The ghost or phantasm seen by the dreamer or the visionary is an unsubstantial form, like a shadow, and thus the familiar term of the _shade_ comes in to express the soul. Thus the Tasmanian word for the shadow is also that for the spirit; the Algonquin Indians describe a man’s soul as _otahchuk_, ‘his shadow;’ the Quiché language uses _natub_ for ‘shadow, soul;’ the Arawac _ueja_ means ‘shadow, soul, image;’ the Abipones made the one word _loákal_ serve for ‘shadow, soul, echo, image.’”--TYLOR’S _Primitive Culture_. Vol. i., p. 430.

SHADOW.

“Thus the dead in Purgatory knew that Dante was alive when they saw that, unlike theirs, his figure cast a shadow on the ground.”--TYLOR’S _Primitive Culture_. Vol. i., p. 431.

THE SOUL.

“The savage, conceiving a corpse to be deserted by the active personality who dwelt in it, conceives this active personality to be still existing, and his feelings and ideas concerning it form the basis of his superstitions.”--SPENCER’S ESSAYS. Vol. iii., p. 103.--_The Origin of Animal Worship._

TRANSMIGRATION.

“Whether the Buddhists receive the full Hindu doctrine of the migration of the individual soul from birth to birth, or whether they refine away into metaphysical subtleties the notion of continued personality, they do consistently and systematically hold that a man’s life in former existences is the cause of his now being what he is, while at this moment he is accumulating merit or demerit whose result will determine his fate in future lives.”--TYLOR’S _Primitive Culture_. Vol. ii., p. 12.

TRANSMIGRATION.

“Memory, it is true, fails generally to recall these past births, but memory, as we know, stops short of the beginning even of this present life.”--TYLOR’S _Primitive Culture_. Vol. ii., p. 12.

TRANSMIGRATION.

“As for believers, savage or civilised, in the great doctrine of metempsychosis, these not only consider that an animal may have a soul, but that this soul may have inhabited a human being, and thus the creature may be in fact their own ancestor or once familiar friend.”--TYLOR’S _Primitive Culture_. Vol. i., p. 469.

TREE-SOULS.

“Orthodox Buddhism decided against the tree-souls, and consequently against the scruple to harm them, declaring trees to have no mind nor sentient principle, though admitting that certain dewas or spirits do reside in the body of trees, and speak from within them.”--TYLOR’S _Primitive Culture_. Vol. i., p. 475.

THOS. DE LA RUE AND CO., PRINTERS, BUNHILL ROW, LONDON.

INDEX TO THE NOTES.

VOL. PAGE NOTE

Abstinence from Wine and Meat i. 23 52

Actors i. 218 188

Adoption i. 386 310 „ ii. 156 492 „ ii. 272 611

Adulteration ii. 332 675

Age of graduates i. 345 274

Age to marry i. 113 112

Alchemy i. 65 83 „ ii. 313 654

Alms’-bowl i. 246 211 „ i. 395 320

Amusements, Literary i. 215 186

Anatomy, Chinese ii. 253 590

“Angels” of Taoism i. 17 48

Arbiter of Life and Death i. 226 194

Archery i. 91 92

Aristocracy, The i. 186 156

Auspicious Sites i. 336 268

Bad Sons i. 147 131 „ „ ii. 212 545 „ „ ii. 281 622

Bambooing i. 55 76

Banquets, Theatrical Entertainments during ii. 54 396

Beadles ii. 17 373

Beauty, Chinese ii. 123 449

Beggars i. 246 212

Betrothals i. 108 108 „ i. 193 165 „ i. 227 195

Bikshu i. 395 320

Blowing into meat ii. 306 647

Blue China Epoch ii. 303 645

Bôdhisatva i. 208 182

Bridal procession i. 338 269

Bridegroom living in bride’s family i. 193 163

Brotherly deference i. 314 247 „ dependence i. 318 250

Brothers having separate establishments ii. 322 669

Brown deer of Formosa i. 399 329

Buddha, Repeating the name of i. 367 293

“Bull’s hide” trick, The ii. 180 518

Burials i. 197 171

Burying stray bones, &c. ii. 147 485

Caligraphy ii. 174 512

Capping verses i. 332 262 „ „ ii. 57 399

Cash i. 6 42 „ ii. 171 503

Cat and dog Restaurant ii. 308 649

Catalepsy i. 4 40 „ ii. 73 410

Celibacy i. 23 52

Censorate, The i. 229 197

Chai-mui i. 333 265

Chamber of Horrors i. 93 94

Change of residence i. 321 251

Charitable gifts i. 137 129

Chess, Chinese i. 46 66

Chou, General ii. 221 557

Chowry ii. 71 407

Clay-image makers ii. 276 616

Clepsydra i. 49 70

“Climbing trees to catch fish” ii. 305 646

Coffins i. 102 104 „ i. 197 172 „ deposited in Temples i. 237 203 „ for poor people ii. 316 658 „ Sleeping in ii. 354 691

Concubines i. 395 321

Confucius, Descendants of i. 33 61

Conservatism i. 427 348

Contemplation, Priestly ii. 71 406

Coroners ii. 196 530

Counting cattle, Method of ii. 255 594

Cow-herd and the Lady i. 27 55

Cricket-fighting i. 75 85

Crows, Feeding the i. 279 229

Cumquats ii. 301 644

Cycle, The Chinese i. 180 152

Cynthia, The Chinese i. 171 147

Damon and Pythias i. 166 143

Death i. 150 134 „ Fear of i. 101 103

Death-summons, The i. 150 134

Decapitation ii. 78 414

Degrees, The three i. 1 37

Devils, Good and bad ii. 201 534

Dice ii. 145 480

Divorce i. 360 288

Doctors ii. 293 634

Dogs, Chinese ii. 309 651

Dolphin, Fresh-water ii. 43 386

_Double-entendres_ ii. 176 515

Dragon-boat festival ii. 168 497

Dragons ii. 112 439 „ ii. 349 686

Dreams ii. 250 586

Dwarfs i. 224 193

Drunkenness i. 30 59 „ i. 365 292 „ ii. 30 378

Eating ii. 111 438

Education i. 297 237 „ ii. 322 668

Elixir of Immortality i. 19 49 „ „ ii. 168 498

Examinations, Competitive i. 195 168 „ „ ii. 64 403 „ „ ii. 91 426

Eye, Pupils of the i. 8 43

Fa Hsien’s journey ii. 232 567

Fabulous Lion ii. 343 682

Facing the South ii. 103 431

Falconry i. 22 51

Fan, An Autumn i. 361 289

Fantan i. 421 343

Fatalism i. 340 270

Feet of betrothed tied together i. 431 354

Fêng-Shui ii. 322 667

Feudal Governor ii. 287 628

“_Fiancé_,” Death of a i. 99 101

Figure-head ii. 54 395

Fire-wells ii. 238 575

Flageolets i. 28 58

Folk-lore in the North and South ii. 329 674

Fondness for children i. 401 332

Foot-binding i. 192 161

Fortune-tellers i. 47 68

Foundries, Iron ii. 216 549

Four Books, The i. 297 237

Four Seas, The ii. 116 444

Fox influence i. 32 60

Foxes, Soothsayers possessed by ii. 358 694

Gambling i. 421 343

Ganges, The ii. 28 377

Gates of a city shut at night ii. 262 598

Geese i. 255 217

“Gentleman,” The Chinese i. 168 145

Geomancy i. 227 195

Gioros i. 66 84

Girdles, The pearl i. 283 230

Glass i. 249 214 „ ii. 233 571

Go-betweens i. 187 157 „ ii. 154 490

God of War, The i. 2 39

“Golden lilies” i. 188 159

“Golden Orchid” Societies i. 196 170

Gongs ii. 105 433

Good fortune, Absorbing only a certain quantity of i. 342 271

Graduates by purchase i. 202 177

Graduates, Senior i. 199 175

Grave, The i. 240 207

Great beam, Fixing the ii. 267 602

Greed ii. 74 411

Han dynasty i. 258 219

Han-lin, The Chinese National Academy i. 195 169

Heart, The i. 96 97, 98

Homicide i. 353 285

Honesty in olden times ii. 250 587

“Hsi-yüan-lu,” The i. 98 100

“Hu,” The name i. 89 90

Hué i. 397 325

Human life, Value of ii. 338 678

Hungry devils ii. 270 607

Immortality i. 157 139

Immortals, Record of the ii. 88 423

Imperial mandates ii. 240 578

Impressment i. 220 190

Infernal Regions ii. 95 427 „ „ ii. 354 690

Inheritance, Law of ii. 345 683

Initiation of a Priest ii. 69 405

Inner apartments i. 53 74 „ „ i. 252 215 „ „ ii. 46 388

Jelly-fish ii. 332 676

Judas tree ii. 151 488

Judges ii. 96 429

Jugglers ii. 189 527

Khakkharam, The i. 395 320

Kangs ii. 133 469

Keeping secret professional knowledge ii. 255 593

Kidnapping i. 183 154

Kite-flying Festival ii. 268 605

Knife Hill, The ii. 205 539

Kot‘ow, The i. 388 314

K‘u-ts‘an ii. 255 592

Kuan-yin i. 241 208

Lanterns, Feast of i. 99 102

Li T‘ai-poh ii. 144 476

Lictors ii. 205 537

Lighting the Eyes ii. 224 558

Lingering death, The i. 396 322

Literary chancellor ii. 284 626

Literati, The ii. 36 384

Literature, God of ii. 320 662

Liu Ch‘üan and the melon ii. 351 689

Living Lictors of Purgatory, The i. 207 180

Loans ii. 171 501

Locusts ii. 242 579

Lohans ii. 321 666

Long Robes ii. 273 612

Lots, Drawing ii. 73 409

Love-matches i. 115 113

Lucifer Matches ii. 120 447

Lunatics ii. 30 378

Lü Tung-pin ii. 296 639

Magic Sword i. 62 80

Mandarin Dialect i. 398 327

Manslaughter i. 222 192

Marriage Ceremonies i. 10 45 „ „ i. 181 153 „ „ i. 227 195 „ „ i. 228 196

Marriages i. 108 109 „ i. 193 165

Marrying a second time i. 112 110

Mars, The Chinese i. 2 39

Medical testimonials ii. 292 633

Memorial tablet, Inking ii. 224 558

Mercy, The Goddess of i. 241 208

Messengers of good tidings ii. 252 589

Milky way, The i. 152 135

Miracles i. 396 323

“Mirror and Listen” trick ii. 251 588

Misappropriation of funds ii. 224 559

Moon, The Goddess of the i. 19 49 „ The Lady of the i. 19 49

Mothers-in-law i. 315 249

Mourning for a father i. 199 174

Mules ii. 242 580

Murders i. 230 198

Names, Family i. 92 93 „ Personal ii. 132 466

Night, Divisions of the i. 215 187

Nine grades of official life i. 388 313

Nunneries i. 262 221

Oath of confederation ii. 146 482

Oblivion, Potion of ii. 207 544

Official corruption ii. 79 415 „ responsibility i. 232 199

Officials i. 237 202

Old age ii. 31 379

Olive, the sign of peace i. 324 256

Paper men i. 49 71 „ money i. 391 317 „ „ ii. 172 505

Pao Shu i. 166 143

Patra, The i. 395 320 „ „ i. 246 211

Pawn-shops i. 198 173

Persia ii. 25 376

Phœnix Tower ii. 270 608

Physiognomy, Professors of ii. 290 630

Planchette ii. 295 638

Playing _wei-ch‘i_ for money ii. 271 609

Poetical proficiency i. 33 62

Police system i. 221 191

Politeness ii. 203 536

Poor scholars i. 160 142

Pope of the Taoists i. 118 114

Porterage ii. 181 519

Posthumous Honours i. 305 241

Praying for good or bad weather ii. 294 637

Praying-mat ii. 183 521

Precedence at table i. 332 261

Predestination i. 48 69 „ i. 156 138

Primogeniture i. 203 179

Prisoners in China i. 372 299 „ „ ii. 96 428 „ „ ii. 261 597

P‘u-hsien, God of Action ii. 232 569

Pulse, The i. 39 64

Punishments i. 381 306

Pupils taken by priests ii. 119 446

Purgatory, Capital of ii. 238 575

Quail-fighting i. 75 85

Quail’s Tail, A i. 209 183

Rebel, The first ii. 52 392

Red-garment figure, The i. 19 50

Red-haired barbarians ii. 179 517

Relationship, Test of ii. 278 619

Religion and the drama i. 345 277

Resemblance between soul and body ii. 280 620

Retinues of mandarins i. 389 315 „ „ ii. 174 510 „ „ ii. 175 513

Returning invitations ii. 227 561

Revenge i. 310, 243, 311 244 „ for adultery i. 62 81

Reward of filial piety i. 351 283

Rising when spoken to ii. 280 621

Roc, The ii. 341 680

Rosary, The Buddhist i. 369 295

Royal Mother, The ii. 187 525

Rulers of animal and vegetable kingdoms i. 292 235

Running water ii. 110 437

Sacred edict, The i. 203 179

Sale of children i. 183 154 „ degrees ii. 170 499

Salt monopoly ii. 215 547

“Same-year men” i. 136 128

Saving life ii. 200 533 „ „ ii. 214 546

Scribbling and carving names ii. 123 451

Sea-serpent, The ii. 113 441

Secret societies i. 196 170

Sections of Purgatory, The nine ii. 205 538

Senses, The five i. 259 220

Separation of sexes ii. 167 496

Shaking hands i. 287 233 „ „ ii. 151 489

Sham entertainment i. 323 254

Shampooing ii. 53 393

“Shang-yang” brings rain ii. 131 464

“Shoes” of silver i. 148 133

Short weights ii. 325 670

Shun, The Emperor i. 37 63

Shun Chih, The Emperor ii. 184 522

Sickness i. 107 107

Six Boards, The i. 26 54

Slave-girls’ feet i. 430 353

Slavery i. 211 185

Small feet i. 76 86 „ „ i. 192 161 „ waists ii. 47 390

Sons i. 64 82

Spirit calling i. 189 160 „ entering another’s body ii. 24 375

Spirits, Disembodied i. 79 87 „ „ i. 119 115 „ „ i. 123 119 „ „ i. 157 139

Spiritualistic _séances_ ii. 133 467

Sponge, A i. 248 213

Spring festival ii. 186 524

Squeezes i. 219 189

Staff of Buddhist priests, The i. 395 320

Stealing, Pardonable ii. 217 551

Strong rooms ii. 172 504

Styx, The ii. 216 548

Subscriptions ii. 220 556

Substantiality of ghosts i. 239 205 „ „ ii. 236 574

Substitution theory i. 334 267

Suicide i. 311 244 „ Meritorious ii. 142 475

Superior man, The i. 168 145

Supernatural government i. 292 235

Supreme Ruler, The i. 242 209

Surnames, Common i. 210 184

Sutra, The Diamond i. 238 204

Tails of horses not cut ii. 286 627

Taking life i. 79 88

Talking when born i. 243 210

Tao i. 14 46

Taot‘ai ii. 229 562

Tartar general ii. 128 461

Temples, Repairs to ii. 127 460

Theatricals i. 218 188

Threshing-floors ii. 236 573

Thunder, God of i. 43 65 „ „ ii. 112 440

Ting P‘u-lang ii. 109 435

Titles of Nobility i. 305 241

Torture ii. 81 417 „ Supply of instruments of ii. 238 576

Tree worship ii. 72 408

Trousseau, Bride’s i. 256 218

Tung-t‘ing Lake i. 271 226

Types of friendship i. 166 143

Tzŭ-ang, a Chinese Landseer ii. 287 629

Ulysses, A Chinese i. 91 91

Ushnisha, The ii. 320 665

Valuables in coffins i. 311 245

Verdict i. 56 78

Visiting the tutor ii. 126 458

Vital spots on the body ii. 356 693

Wang Wei, The poet ii. 149 487

Washing-blocks ii. 315 656

Watchmen i. 51 72

Wedding-presents i. 28 57

Wei-ch‘i ii. 268 604

Wên-shu, the God of Wisdom ii. 232 569

White Lily sect ii. 189 526

Widowers ii. 183 520

Widows ii. 39 385

Windows i. 61 79

Wine ii. 259, 595, 260 596

Wine-cup upside down, Turning the i. 264 224

Wine taken hot ii. 144 477

Witnesses in a court of justice ii. 156 491

Women ride astride i. 354 286

Wooden fish, The ii. 195 529

Works of supererogation i. 426 346

Worldly-mindedness ii. 312 653

Wu Wang i. 278 228

Yamên i. 2 38

Yang Ta-hung ii. 310 652

Yang-tsze, The ii. 176 514

Years, Names of i. 113 111

Yellow girdles i. 66 84

_Yin_ and the _yang_, The i. 176 150

Yojana, A i. 394 319

Yü-chiao-li, The ii. 164 495

_BY THE SAME AUTHOR:--_

CHINESE SKETCHES. Demy 8vo. pp. 204.

CHINESE WITHOUT A TEACHER. Being a Collection of Easy and Useful Sentences in the Mandarin Dialect, with a Vocabulary. Post 8vo. pp. 60, paper cover.

DICTIONARY OF COLLOQUIAL IDIOMS. In the Mandarin Dialect. Demy 4to, half bound.

FROM SWATOW TO CANTON OVERLAND. Demy 8vo. pp. 76, paper cover.

A GLOSSARY OF REFERENCE, on subjects connected with the Far East. Demy 8vo. pp. 184, paper cover.

HAND-BOOK OF THE SWATOW DIALECT. With a Vocabulary. Demy 8vo. pp. 60, paper cover.

RECORD OF THE BUDDHISTIC KINGDOMS. Translated from the Chinese. Demy 8vo. pp. 130, paper cover.

SYNOPTICAL STUDIES IN THE CHINESE LANGUAGE. Demy 8vo. pp. 118, half bound.

THE SAN TZU CHING; or, Three Character Classic and the Ch‘ien Tzŭ Wên or 1,000 Character Essay Metrically translated. Post 8vo. pp. 28, paper cover.

A SHORT HISTORY OF KOOLANGSU. Demy 8vo. pp. 38, paper cover.

* * * * *

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE

This book was printed in two volumes, of which this is a combination.

Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.

Obvious typographical errors repaired. Punctuation, spelling, hyphenation, use of accented characters and stylistic presentation standardized when a predominant preference was found in this book. Capitalization and hyphenation of Chinese personal names has been standardized. Otherwise left as printed.

Footnote numbers were re-indexed in this electronic text, internal references renumbered correspondingly.

Footnote 46, ‘old’ changed to ‘odd’ (presenting a very odd appearance).

Footnote 109, ‘Marriages’ changed to ‘Marriage’ (Marriage between persons of the same surname is forbidden).

Footnote 267, ‘CVI’ changed to ‘CVII.’ (later story (No. CVII.),).

Footnote 427, ‘excepting’ changed to ‘except’ (except in the matter of light).

Footnote 447, ‘of’ added (first quarter of the present century).

Footnote 479, ‘denôuement’ changed to ‘dénouement’ (important to the _dénouement_ of the story).

Footnote 495, ‘dénoûement’ changed to ‘dénouement’ (The _dénouement_ of the _Yü-chiao-li_).

Footnote 527, ‘Ibu’ changed to ‘Ibn’ (Ibn Batuta writes as follows).

Footnote 679, ‘LXVII.’ changed to ‘LXVIII.’ (See No. LXVIII.).

Page i-36, ‘villanous’ changed to ‘villainous’ (he writes a villainous hand).

Page i-86, ‘dare’ changed to ‘dared’ (nobody dared go near her).

Page i-306, ‘grottos’ changed to ‘grottoes’ (from each of the holes or grottoes on the stone).

Page i-378, ‘Shan’ changed to ‘Shan-hu’ (Shan-hu held out her arms).

Page i-408, ‘watching’ changed to ‘watched’ (watched the moon rising in the east).

Page i-411, ‘bid’ changed to ‘bade’ (Wang’s father bade him hide).

Page ii-19, ‘of’ added (a number of curious stones).

Page ii-65, ‘be’ changed to ‘he’ (but he soon reflected).

Page ii-145, ‘sung’ changed to ‘sang’ (whereupon he sang the following lines).

Page ii-198, ‘he’ changed to ‘be’ (that he would be only too happy).

Page ii-208, ‘according’ changed to ‘accordingly’ (accordingly, when the King was looking).

Page ii-254, ‘Ch‘êng’ changed to ‘Ch‘ên’ (This frightened Ch‘ên).

Page ii-255, ‘Ch‘êng’ changed to ‘Ch‘ên’ (Ch‘ên himself was a cattle-farmer).

Page ii-286, ‘servants’ changed to ‘servant’ (rode away, telling his servant).

Page ii-287, ‘a Mr. Ts‘ui’ changed to ‘Mr. Ts‘ui’ (who lived next door to Mr. Ts‘ui).

Page ii-41, ‘He then bit her across the neck’ should probably be ‘He then hit her across the neck’.