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REV. MR. KRONE
The inhabitants of a pretty little village on Deep Bay called "Kam-tin", also trace their origin up to the Sung dynasty. A high mandarin, they say, of the name of Tung, came to Sanon from the interior of China, and was so much pleased with the country around Deep Bay, that he settled down and made himself very popular, by giving gratuitous instruction. The grandson of this man having done some meritorious service to the State, the emperor Ko-tsung, of the Sung dynasty, gave him his daughter in marriage. This princess became so enchanted with Kam-tin, that she had no wish to return to the Imperial court. This pair were the progenitors of a numerous posterity.
Having finished our account of the cities, we will make a few remarks on the principal buildings which are found in other parts of the district. These consist of temples, ancestral halls, pagodas, convents, and triumphal arches.
The Triumphal Arches are numerous. They are erected to the memory of aged people and chaste women. The oldest person mentioned in the list given in the Sanon-che, is a woman who attained to the age of 105.
Three classes of "chaste women" are recognised. The first are such as willingly sacrifice their lives to save their honour. The second includes those who lost their intended husband before marriage, and still remained single, living in the house of their parents-in-law and serving them. The third numbers those who lost their husbands shortly after marriage, and who afterwards remained widows, and maintained their chastity to an advanced age.
Pagodas, Sanon contains twelve pagodas, and all of these are situated in the three plains previously mentioned. They are not of great size; all, except the five-storied one at Namtaou, have only three stories. The places on which they are erected are selected according to the rules of geomancy, a superstitious science which has very great influence over the minds of the Chinese. The pagodas themselves are supposed to exert a beneficial geomantic influence.
The Ancestral Halls are very numerous, as each village contains several of them. They are of two different classes: The first, the Tse-tong, are of larger dimensions, and are owned by a whole clan. These edifices are very considerable, consisting of