“Lately, on the fifteenth day of the fifth moon, of the fifth year of Kia King, at four in the morning, the God of Thunder, in his pursuit of a monstrous dragon, followed it into this temple, struck three of the sides of the fabric, and materially damaged the ninth story; but the strength and majesty of the God of the temple are most potent, and the laws of Fo are not subject to change. The tower, by his influence, was therefore saved from entire destruction. The Viceroy and the Foo-Yen reported the circumstance to his imperial majesty; and, on the sixth day of the second moon of the seventh year, the restoration of the damaged parts was commenced, and on the nineteenth day of the fifth moon the repairs were completed.
“On the twenty-ninth day of the sixth moon of the twelfth year of his present majesty, at four in the afternoon, on a sudden there fell a heavy shower of rain, and the God of Thunder again rushed forth in front of the tower, and, penetrating the roof, pursued the great dragon from the top to the bottom. The glazed porcelain tiles of the sixth story were much damaged, and where the God of Thunder issued out at the great gate several of the boards taken from the wood of the heavenly flower-tree were broken. Thus, the God of Thunder, having finally driven away the monstrous dragon, returned to his place in the heavens.
“The priests of the temple reported the event to the local authorities, and the officer Hen submitted the report to his Imperial Majesty, and awaited the issue of the sums required to defray the charge of the repairs. The gates of the tower have been closed for a year while the interior has been repairing.
“‘Deny not the presence of a God—a God there is;
He sounds his dread thunder, and all the world trembles.’”
Such is the singular register of the Porcelain Pagoda at Nankin. The terraced mountains have been often mentioned as another wonder of China; but recent travellers declare that these enterprises are exceedingly few in the “flowery” land.
To revert to Europe; the great difficulty is to select the themes of Enterprise. Here is one, however, of a somewhat rude, but yet highly adventurous, and also highly useful kind. It is a sketch of a Swiss wonder—the famous “Slide of Alpnach.”
For many centuries the rugged flanks and deep gorges of Mount Pilatus were covered by impenetrable forests; lofty precipices encircled them on all sides. Even the daring hunters were scarcely able to reach them, and the inhabitants of the valley never conceived the idea of disturbing them with the axe. These immense forests were therefore allowed to grow and perish, the most intelligent and skilful considering it quite impracticable to avail themselves of such inaccessible stores.
In November, 1816, Mr. John Rulph, of Rentingen, and three other Swiss gentlemen, entertaining more sanguine hopes, drew up a plan of a slide, founded on trigonometrical measurements; and, having purchased a certain extent of the forests from the commune of Alpnach for 6000 crowns, began the construction of it.
The slide of Alpnach was formed of about 25,000 large pine trees, deprived of their bark, and united together without the aid of iron. It occupied about one hundred and sixty workmen during eighteen months, and cost nearly one hundred thousand francs, or 4166l. It was about three leagues, or 44,000 English feet long, and terminated in the Lake of Lucerne. It had the form of a trough about six feet broad, and from three to six deep. Its bottom was formed of three trees, the middle one of which had a groove cut out in the direction of its length, for receiving small rills of water for the purpose of diminishing the friction. The whole slide was sustained by about two thousand supports, and in many places was attached in a very ingenious manner to the rugged precipices of granite. The direction of the slide was sometimes straight and sometimes zigzag, with an inclination of from ten to eighteen degrees. It was often carried along the sides of precipitous rocks, and sometimes over their summits; occasionally it passed underground, and at other times over the deep gorges by scaffoldings one hundred and twenty feet high.