An enormous tope, or Buddhist tower, was seen by the traveller ten li east of Peshawur, in the Punjab. It was three hundred and fifty feet round, and eight hundred feet high. Every Buddhist structure in China is dwarfish beside this. From its erection till the year A.D. 550, a period of eight hundred and forty-two years were said to have passed. This would show that in B.C. 292 Buddhism was the prevalent faith in the Punjab (Koeppen, p. 191). Modern travellers have found it west of the city, and still remarkable for its immense size. It was built--if this statement can be accepted--in the reign of Chandragupta

(Sandrakottos), with whom Seleucus concluded a treaty, and at whose court at Pataliputra, the Greek historian Megasthenes appeared as an ambassador. But the Chinese travellers ascribe it to Kanishka; and this can be believed, for it is only in the time of powerful monarchs that monuments of this size can be erected; and Kanishka was a most devoted Buddhist. He was a contemporary of Augustus and Antony, as is known by coins. (See in Koeppen, p. 192.)

The prayers are chanted by the priests either sitting, kneeling, or standing. They consist of extracts from Sutras, or special books containing charms. The extracts are statements of doctrine, of the mercy and wisdom of Buddha, and the glory attaching to him.

The prayers are not prayers in our sense. They work a sort of magical effect. The law of a secret causation connects itself with the act of the reader of the law, or the offerer of incense, flowers, and fruits.

Music accompanies the worship. The following instruments I have noticed:--the drum, small bells, cymbals, tang-tsi, ch'ing, wooden fish, yin-ch'ing, and the large bell.

The drum has a clapper called ku-ch'ui.

The cymbals are of brass. Each has a cloth holder through the centre tied inside. The "cymbal" is called kwo.

The tang-tsi is a small gong, and is held by a half cross, to which it is tied by strings. It is of brass, and is struck by a small clapper.

The ch'ing is a flat metallic plate cut in the shape of flowers. It is supported by a wooden cylindrical box, and this again rests on a low table. It has a cloth-covered clapper.

A small kind of ch'ing is called yin-ch'ing. A thin iron rod strikes it to keep time for the chanters. This yin-ch'ing is two inches long by one deep, and is fastened tightly to a long carved wooden handle.

The large bell is struck by a wooden mallet.

In the images and the worship offered to them by the

[paragraph continues] Buddhist monkish community, may be found a key to the solution of the question, how Buddhism as a religion has lasted so long.