542
ever,
Pagodas in and near Canton.
Ост.
or
"The two pagodas within the walls of the city of Canton are not as conspicuous to persons coming up the river as their height would indicate, in consequence of the intervening city walls, masts, flagstaffs, &c., which partly hide them. They are seen to good advantage, how-
from the hills north of the city. The Kwang taha Plain Pagoda, as it is commonly called, is remarkable, as it shows the wealth and power of the Mohammedans in Canton at the time it was erected, about a thousand years ago. The Mohammedans still reside in its neighborhood, and maintain a mosque for their religious services, which surrounds the base of the pagoda, it rising like a minaret from the centre. The Manchú garrison is also stationed in this quarter. The account of the Plain Pagoda given in the Kwáng chau Chi is very meager :-
Hum
“The Hwai Shing az', or Remembering-the-Holy Monastery, is situated within the city, and was built during the Táng dynasty by fo- reigners; it can be ascended by circuitous stairs. It is 165 cubits high. Ia the days of Ming, Abdallah, a foreign officer lived here with seventeen families. On the summit was a golden cock, which turned with the wind, and every year the foreigners used to go up to the top of it during the fifth and sixth moons about four o'clock in the morning, and call out with a loud voice, praying to the weathercock. In 1388, a tyfoon threw down the golden cock, which was carried to the imperial treasury, and a copper one put up in its place; this was thrown down, and a [wooden] gourd put up, which was again thrown down in 1670.'
"If this notice is complete as regards its erection, it shows that the structure must be very solidly built, to have resisted the effects of climate and time; and though a few shrubs can be seen growing on the upper part, it is not ruinous. Not far from it stands the Hwá tahor Flowery Pagoda, as it is called for distinction's sake, but as no foreigner can go in and see these erections, I can only give the native account, from which it appears that the Flowery Pagoda is a very ancient edifice, though not so old as its fellow :-
"The Tsing Weisz'
(i. e. Placid Intelligence Monastery) i■ situated in the northwest part of Canton, under the jurisdiction of the Nánhái magistrate. In the time of the Eastern Hán (A.D. 25-190), the Longevity Monastery was erected on the spot, and a niece of the Imperial house of Liú dwelt there as a nun. In the reign of Tátung (A.D. 537), the lama Tányü erected a pagoda here to hold a relic, and called the edifice the Precious Dig- nified Monastery; this was recorded in a tablet put up about the year (20 by Wáng Poh. In 988, the name was changed to Tsing Wei; at this date the pagoda was dilapidated. About the year 1090, Lin Siú, the deputy district magistrate of Pauki in Shensí, took the lead in giving funds for rebuilding it
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