- Author:
- O'Connor, V. C. Scott (Vincent Clarence Scott)
- Publication Info:
-
London:
Hutchinson and co,
1904,
pg 614
Text on page 614
The Silken East
of hemp, and rows of egg-plums. The bow-like vista of water ends here in monasteries and trees at the foot of the hill in which the cave lies hidden. I land and make my way through fields of purple beans, and ground creepers, past little huts under the drooping boughs of the wild plum, into the village. At its far end, the " street " tails off into a narrow
begins. Masses of rock, running parallel to the cliff's face, make the outer wall of the first chamber ; not strictly a cave, but a very singular and striking spectacle. Ten thousand images of the Buddha lie within the first sweep of the eye, from yellow-robed figures which line the footpath, to terra-cotta plaques fixed high on the jutting face of the cliff; from golden
AT THE CAVE'S MOUTH
avenue, which runs through the rice-fields right up to the entrance of the cave. The cliffs rise up abruptly from the last furrow, as they once did from the sea. At one point they bend outwards in a concave curve, and here, sheltered from rain and wind, the strange ornamentation of the cave
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