Jump to content

Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 83.djvu/569

From Wikisource
This page has been validated.
REMARKABLE MONUMENT IN WESTERN CHINA
565

Colossi, his proportions preserved in all their pristine freshness, temples above and below him, and priests in attendance to keep the incense burning at his feet. There he sits, grimly gazing out over the tiled roofs of the city which lies before him.

A Stone Portal Spanning a Road in Far-western China. This specimen was erected in 1906.


While exploring the temple, I asked one of the priests the age of the image. His answer came, “Gee chien nien. Some thousands of years.” I give it for what it is worth.

Another thought which that monument inspired was in reference to a passage in one of Conan Doyle’s delightful stories, which describes a party of tourists viewing one of the ancient temples of Upper Egypt. The author makes one of the characters say: