Peking to Lhasa : vol.1 / Page 83 (Color Image)

0083	Peking to Lhasa : vol.1

TO MOUNT OMEI 53

up and down the sacred mountain, and the Prior

of the temple at the top told him several thousands

came up daily during the season, though Pereira

himself puts the number at not more than two

thousand. The women were about as numerous

as the men, and with their cramped feet must

have suffered much. But some of the richer are

carried up on a wooden frame on a man's back.

The path is paved practically the whole way, in

a series of steps of uneven height. But the climb,

though long and tedious, is not dangerous, like

the ascent of the Hwa Shan. There are no

precipices. The mountain is covered with trees

and shrubs, and there are plenty of wild flowers

near the top.

Starting at 7 A.M. from Wan-nien-ssu, Pereira

reached the top at 5 P.M. The distance was 15-i

miles. Unluckily, before he had gone far, a mist

settled down on the mountain and remained till

he returned on the 10th. In addition, it poured

with rain for six hours of the journey up, and for

nearly the whole time that he was at the top.

On the way he passed some twenty temples with

a few shanties for refreshments opposite to them.

These temples were not of much interest. In one

there were two mummies of Buddhist saints, but

the faces had been gilded over and the bodies

hidden by clothes. They looked like idols. Out-

side most of the temples is a queer-looking idol

with a painted mud tiger in a shrine like a cage.

The pilgrims in passing push incense into his face

and this gives an unintentional humorous look of

whiskers. In one temple the monk was chanting

prayers and banging a gong. But when he saw

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