CHINESE PAILOOS.
The Pailoos, or, as they are commonly but erroneously called, triumphal arches, form an object of Chinese architecture which, from its constant recurrence in views of Chinese scenery, is almost as familiar to us as the pagoda. They are, in fact, monuments to deceased persons of distinction, generally of widows who have not married a second time, or of virgins who have died unmarried. The smaller and less important ones consist merely of two upright posts of wood or granite, supporting a flat board with an inscription, like, both in purpose and design, to the wooden rails which are used as substitutes for tombstones in some districts in England. The more important Pailoos have three openings, supported by several boards, with more or less ornament and carving. Sometimes they are wholly of wood; in others no material is used but stone, generally granite; and these two materials are combined in various proportions in other examples. Sometimes they are raised on platforms as in the annexed example, from a peculiarly graceful one near Canton.
At other times they are placed on the ground, and even across roads, so as to form arches, if they may be called, though certainly not triumphal ones.
REMARKABLE GROTTO, AND STORY CONNECTED WITH IT.
Near Lunel, in France, on the eastern bank of the river Hérault, is the grotto, known in this part of the country as la Baume de las Donmaisellas, or des Fées. This grotto consists of many large, deep apartments, some of which are indeed inaccessible; the second (and they are all one below the other), presents to the eye of the beholder four beautiful pillars, about thirty feet high, terminating at the top like palm trees; they are detached from the roof, which is only to be accounted for by supposing that the bottom, or floor, has, in some concussion of nature, sunk from its original level: the third chamber, still descending, and like the former only to be reached by ropes and ladders, presents, at the farther end, one vast curtain of crystal, to which the lights, carried on such occasions, give the appearance of all manner of precious stones. Some of the stalactites of this apartment are solid and white as alabaster, some clear and transparent as glass; they are of every fantastic form and description, as well as displaying perfect representations of cascades, trees, festoons, lances, pillars, fruits, flowers, and even the regular arrangement of architecture in a cathedral. The fourth chamber is a long gallery covered with fine sand: beyond this three great pillars present themselves, and behind, there is a lake of thick muddy water. All these grottoes have been long known to the peasantry, but another was lately penetrated, in which every former variety of stalactite was seen, but, in addition to these was found an altar, white, like fine china, having regular steps to it, of the same material: it is composed apparently of layers of the opaque stalactite, of a dazzling white and exquisite polish: four twisted columns, of a yellow colour and transparent, whose height is lost in the vast roof; an obelisk, perfectly round, of a reddish colour, of a great height, and a colossal figure of a woman, holding two children in her arms, and placed upon a pedestal, completed the astonishment of the daring explorers of this subterraneous cavern. But alas! this astonishment was changed into feelings of a more melancholy description, when they recalled the circumstance, still current in the neighbourhood, that, during the religious wars, a family (whether Protestant or Catholic is not ascertained), consisting of a father and mother and one or two children, sought refuge in these subterraneous grottoes from the persecution of their enemies, and there preserved a miserable existence, far from the cruelty of
Man, whom Nature formed of milder clay,
With every kind emotion in his heart,
And taught alone to weep.