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124.

are not reproduced by Chavannes. As he does not publish any pictures of the ceilings I made a special effort to photograph them and secure good rubbings, which I consider of prime importance in showing a striking connection between the stone caves of China and the wooden architecture of the Suiko period in Japan.
Three of the five caves have central pillars left in the solid rock from floor to ceiling, similar to those found in the grottos of Wan Fo T'ang in Manchuria and Yun Kang near Tat'ungfu. In each of the four faces of these square pillars is a niche containing a large seated statue cut so far from the matrix rock as to be almost in the round. On either side of the central figure are Bodhisattva and Arhat, cut in lower relief. Above the niches are carved baldachins and flying angels; below is a dado of lesser divinities.
Chapels A., C. and D. are lined with rows of typical "thousand Buddhas" cut in the walls above the dados, and interrupted by niches containing statues in higher relief and by processions of small figures. I know of only one carving parallel to these processions:--a relief in Lungmen of which Chavannes publishes a rubbing (1). Chapel E., which contains no central pillar and is the smallest of the five, suggests in many ways later work, perhaps T'ang, though the lotus flower and flying angels which replaced the imitation of beams carved in the other chapels, were strictly of North Wei style. 
Certain of the lesser divinities, of which five at least

(1) Chavannes: Plate CCCXXIX