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THE PORCELAIN TOWER.

[JUNE,

reach-then, three or four miles distant, northward, you see the noble Yáng-tze-kiáng, from which a canal leads up to the city, and surrounds it, forming the moat.

A fine, spacious temple, covered with yellow glazed tiles, and filled with gilded idols, stands at the foot of this pagoda, and in the same extensive enclosure. Here we purchased of a priest a native cut, representing the tower, and containing some particulars relative to its history. Of a portion of it the following is a translation—

"The emperor Yúng-lóh, desiring to reward the kindness of his mother, began, in the tenth year of his reign, in the sixth month and fifteenth day, at mid-day, to build this tower. It was completed in the sixth year of the emperor Sien-tuh, on the first day of the eighth month, having occupied nineteen years in its erection. The order of the emperor to one of his ministers, Wong-tí-táh, of the Board of Public Works, was to build a tower according to a draft which he had prepared, and put into his hands. It was to be nine stories high, the bricks and tiles to be glazed, and of the 'five colours; and it was to be superior to all others, in order to make widely known the virtues of his mother. Its height was to be thirty cháng, nine feet, four inches, and nine-tenths of an inch. The ball on its spire to be of yellow brass overlaid with gold, so that it might last for ever, and never grow dim. From its eight hooks as many iron chains extend to the eight corners of the highest roof; and, from each chain, nine bells suspended at equal distances apart: these, together with eight from the corners of each projecting roof, amounting to 144 bells. On the outer face of each story are sixteen lanterns, 128 in all, which, with twelve on the inside, make 140. It requires sixty-four catties of oil to fill them. Their light shines through the thirty-three heavens,' and even illuminates the hearts of all men, good and bad, eternally removing human misery. On the top of the highest roof are two brazen vessels, together weighing 900 catties, and one brazen bowl besides, weighing 450 catties. The grounds belonging to the pagoda, and occupied by temples and other buildings, are nine li and thirty-three paces in circumference. Having been adorned by the emperor Yúng-lóh, its brilliancy will now endure to hundreds of generations, a monument of recompensing kindness to myriads of years. Therefore it is named Páu-gan-sz, i.e. Recompensing Favour Pagoda. An inscription on a tablet within calls it 'The First Pagoda.' Its cost was 2,485,484 taels of silver (3,452,000 dollars). Encircling the spire are nine iron rings-the largest being sixty-three feet in circumference, and the smallest twenty-four feet-all together weighing 3600 catties. In the bowl on the top are deposited, one nightshining pearl-one water-averting pearl-one fire-averting pearl-one wind-averting pearl-one dust-averting pearl-a lump of gold weighing forty taels-a picul of tea leaves-1000 taels of silver-one lump of orpiment weighing 100 catties-one precious-stone gem-1000 strings of cash,' bearing the stamp of the emperor Yúng-lóh-two pieces of yellow satin-and four copies of Buddhist classics.

"In the fifth year of the emperor Kía-king of the present dynasty, on the fifth month and fifteenth day, at daylight in the morning, the god of thunder drove poisonous reptiles to this pagoda, and immediately three sides of it were injured. The strength of the god of thunder was very

1857.]

THE HINDU MOTHER'S TEACHING.

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great, but Buddha's resources were infinite, therefore the whole edifice was not destroyed. The two highest mandarins at Nanking and Sucháu, the Tsúng-tóh and Fú-tái, thereupon informed the emperor of the accident, and besought him to have it repaired. So in the seventh year of his reign, on the second month and sixth day, the repairs were begun, and were finished on the second day of the sixth month in the same year, so that the building was as perfect as when new."

Such is the native account of this remarkable edifice; and when, on turning a corner of one of the large temples in the spacious enclosure, we came suddenly in view of the whole structure at once, its beauty and grandeur far surpassed our most glowing anticipations. But by far the most interesting circumstance associated with the Porcelain Tower is the fact, that it is a monument of filial affection-a magnificent tribute of the gratitude of a son for his mother's love.

Here is another of the many striking contrasts between the customs of the Chinese and of western nations. We deposit the record of the commencement of the work at its base, and under the superstructure. They, more significantly, do so on its completion, at its summit. The conception of the Chinese is the most sublime and grand-Finis coronat opus; but, practically, they may be wrong, as is suggested by the reports in Nanking, that the tower was blown up in order that the treasures, of course exaggerated in amount by the people, might be more easily obtained from the almost inaccessible depository. Since the possession of Nanking by the Taepings, all the idols in the tower, as elsewhere, have been destroyed, and the floors and means of ascent broken up.

["North-China Herald," Jan. 17, 1857.

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THE HINDU MOTHER'S TEACHING.

It is not the Brahmins or the Shasters that are the great teachers of idolatry and superstition in India. No: the great pillars of idolatrous superstition are the mothers: they cannot read themselves-that is contrary to Hindú law and practice-but they have their family priests, who worm themselves round them. They are eaten up with superstition: they have nothing else in their minds. Accordingly, you will find, in Bengal in particular, mothers, with their children in their arms, teaching them idolatry. You will see a mother pressing the family idol, with a little child that cannot yet lisp a word, holding it up, and making it look at it, and then bow down its head to it, then taking up its hands, and making a salaam to it. The little child does not actually know what it is doing; but it is not very astonishing, that, by dint of practice and habit, when pressing the idol, it should, by a sort of mechanical agency, go through the process without the mother helping it. Thus, before the child can speak, it is trained up in idolatry.

The mother is the great teacher of the child in India, and she has a catechetical way of setting about it. The child, perhaps, is hungry in the fast. An earthen vessel is on the fire. is wondering why its breakfast is so

morning, waiting for its breakThe rice is there, and the child long coming, until, at last, the

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THE HINDU MOTHER'S TEACHING.

[JUNE, mother, looking at the child, and pointing to the fire, will say, "What is it?" "Why, it is the fire, mother." "Yes; but what do you know about it? What does the fire do?" "It makes the rice boil, mother." "What, nothing else?" "It makes me warm." "But, is that all you know about it? Oh, you stupid little thing! Stop; and I will tell you." Then she will put on a grave face, and say that it is a god, giving it a name. Then she will begin to tell stories about the fire-god, and how it is to be propitiated, and what mischief it will do if it is not; and then she will bring some little offering and throw it into the fire, and show the child how it is to be done; and she does this so often, that, at last, the child is able to do it.

Then, the wind is blowing outside. "What is that, my child?" "The wind, mother." "What is the wind?" "Just the wind, mother." "What else? What does it do?" "I see it rolling about the dust and the leaves, mother." "Oh, you stupid thing! I'll teach you." Then the mother will give the wind the name of the wind-god, and teach the child how that god is to be propitiated.

So the mother will teach the child how the water is god, how the sun, moon, and stars, are gods, and tell stories about them. For instance, the sun-god is personified in an endless number of legends. The mother tells the child, "You see, when we worship the sun-god we don't give the whole rice to him. We must have it ground very small." She tells him the whole story; how there was an assembly of gods, and the sungod was there: how he offended the other gods; and how one of them knocked out his front teeth with a blow: therefore, he cannot eat the whole rice, but must have it beaten small. Then she may draw a moral, and say, "Don't you quarrel with other boys, lest you should be like the sun-god."

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Then, perhaps, the cow is lying outside the door, and the child thinks the cow rather impudent in coming so near, and takes up a stick and tries to drive it away. If the mother sees the child doing this she runs up to him in great alarm, and says, "O child, what are you doing?" Driving away the cow, mother; that's all." "Do you know what the cow does?" "Gives milk, mother; that's all." "But don't you know what the cow is?" And the mother is in a perfect towering indignation and misery. She does not know what to do, and she tells the child the name of the cow. It is an incarnation of one of their chief goddesses, and she says, "The goddess will be angry. We must go and propitiate her;" and she goes through ceremonies to show how the cow is to be propitiated, and makes the child ask pardon of the cow.

Now, these are the ways in which heathen mothers set about teaching their children idolatry, and those superstitions which they have themselves learned, and which are the root of all the abominations of India. Therefore it is that the mothers are the great teachers in India. And when one beholds these heathen mothers thus assiduous and earnest, oh, how one is led to look back to Christian, Protestant Britain, and to say, Would to God that Christian mothers were but one half as earnest, and one half as assiduous, in imbuing the minds of their tender infants with the knowledge of Jesus Christ and Him crucified, as those Hindú mothers are in imbuing the minds of their infants with idolatry and superstition ! [DR. DUFF.

MODE OF TAKING ELEPHANTS IN SOUTHERN GUINEA. SOUTHERN GUINEA is that portion of the West-African coast extending southward from the mouths of the Niger, and separated from the unexplored centre by the Sierra del Chrystal mountains, which run parallel to the sea-coast, at a distance of 250 or 300 miles. It

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74 MODE OF TAKING ELEPHANTS IN SOUTHERN GUINEA. [JULY,

is peopled by that numerous branch of the African race which has spread itself over the southern half of the continent, and which differs in many and important respects from the negro race to the northward of the Mountains of the Moon, more particularly in language. The tribal differences among themselves are very considerable, although not so much so as to cast doubt upon their common origin. The people who inhabit the mountain regions are of a lighter complexion than the sea-coast tribes. A very remarkable race of people within the last twelve years have descended from the mountains to the upper waters of the Gabun river. Their stature is of medium size, but compact and well-proportioned. Their features, although decidedly African, are comparatively regular, and their complexion two shades lighter than the people on the coast. Their hair is softer than the usual negro hair, and is usually plaited in braids, two being worn in front, and two reaching half-way down the back. They are nearly naked, but, instead of clothes, their bodies are smeared over with red ointment, while their legs and arms are decorated with rings of brass or ivory.

There is considerable traffic along this coast-palm-oil, ebony, red wood, copper-ore, gum-copal, and ivory. There are three ports along the coast, from each of which there is an exportation of ivory to the amount of fifty tons annually. Of the elephants which furnish this article of commerce an interesting account is given in the Rev. J. L. Wilson's "Western Africa'

Elephants abound in all parts of Southern Guinea, and, if not molested, they frequently come down to the sea-coast. They are much hunted by the aborigines, and chiefly on account of their tusks, which are valuable according to their size and weight. It is, however, a dangerous business to attempt to kill one of these monsters of the woods, and none but men of strong nerves and courageous hearts ever venture upon the perilous task. There are those, however, who follow it as their common avocation. The more common and successful mode of attack is to creep up behind and under the animal while he is busy munching a fresh tree-top, which he has just bent down to the ground with his powerful proboscis, and discharge the contents of a trebly-loaded musket in some vital organ. The gun is usually filled almost to the muzzle with slugs, spikes, and old nails, so that the discharge is really an explosion. There is always serious danger from the rebound, and the hunter is careful to hold his gun at full arm's length. If the shot has been well directed, the animal sinks down to the ground at once; but if he has merely received a slight wound, he turns upon his assailant with terrible fury. The only escape for the hunter, in such a case, is to fly to a large forest tree, upon which he had previously fixed his eye, and, by revolving around its base, he may keep out of reach of his infuriated pursuer until he is wearied out. If he trips up, and is caught, he is dashed to pieces in a moment.

Mr. Preston, of the Gabun Mission, gives an account of the manner by which the Pangwes destroy whole droves of these animals at one time. A forest vine, which is known to be excessively repulsive to the elephant,

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