had lived in China for 20 years, than to y. H., who had only arrived a day or two before. The rumour came to the ears of the Chinese authorities and the day before the copy was completed the model was removed to the »peiling».
The Pa San Kung temple in the E suburb is greatly venerated by the Chinese inhabitants. It is quite pretty and apparently very old. Two slabs with inscriptions on a gilded background record a visit paid by the imperial personages during their stay at Si-an-fu. — Another temple, very large and more richly decorated, stands on the main street not far from the centre of the town. It is called »cheng huang miao» (the temple of the town god) and is reached by a kind of passage — a covered-in, very lively shopping street built in the courtyard that invariably precedes a Chinese temple.
In the Mohammedan quarter of the town, covering a considerable space N of the centre of the town, there are several mosques. I visited the largest, a very beautiful mosque with wooden carvings along the walls, stone gates, pictures and pagodas in the large courtyard. The old mullah of the mosque was evidently used to foreigners' visits. He produced a couple of books at once, which he urged me to buy, assuring me that all foreigners were keen to acquire them. The name of the temple is »Cheng chun tasu» and it is said to have been founded during the T'ang dynasty, a fact which is supposed to be recorded on the stone slabs in it, both Chinese and Arabic.
The number of Dungans at Si-an-fu is said to be about 50,000. They are supposed to have removed there during the T'ang dynasty. A Chinese general of go (?) had admired their courage in Kouwai and had persuaded them to accompany him to Kuli. They themselves say that they came originally from Turkey (Istanbul), they still take a great interest in that country and speak of the Sultan with veneration. — The Chinese authorities, however, seem to have been displeased with the Dungans and soon the question was broached of massacring them. The old general suggested the Macchiavellian scheme
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