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22
At the West Lake Seal Society we spent a couple hours looking at rubbings and reproductions of famous paintings by contemporaries. When we came away our collection of rubbings had been somewhat augmented. We took a boat home across the lake. 

Sunday, 19 July. 

We set out fairly early this morning with our lunch, and hired for the day the boat we had used once before to go to the Island of the Three Pools. We set out to follow the lake shore, heading south and west. We stopped at several temples along the way, as we came to them. The [[insertion]] Ch'ien [[/insertion]] [[strikethrough]] Te [[/strikethrough]] Wang [[Strikethrough]] Miao [[/strikethrough]] [[insertion]] Tzu [[/insertion]] is being restored by the Chao family, and they are doing a very good job of it. The buildings are in excellent condition, tablets are carefully housed, and, most interesting, workmen were busy making new shrines, modelling mud gods and putting gold-leaf on carved doors. This will be a gorgeous place when finished. Another little temple had little to recommend it as a temple, but its courts and lotus pond made us want to stay there for many days. The outer court was green with four towering phoenix trees, and six plantains, and bamboos against white walls, and lotus through moon doorways all make pictures. The Thunder, Peak pagoda is but a mass of bricks now, and there is little left to tell its former grandeur. The Monastery of Pure Compassion has a beautiful forecourt with a red screen bearing the words facing the temple from across a lotus pond. Before the temple gate is a wide terrace, and within the courts are spacious. The halls pile up onto the hillside, with galleries connecting various chapels and dwelling quarters. The monks tell us that this is a T'ien T'ai temple. Several of the halls are of bare wood without paint or decoration, and are quite attractive to me. The miraculous well is rather amusing. Through this wood was transported by Buddha is response to prayer asking for assistance in rebuilding the temple. A priest lowers a candle into the well until it rests on something which he claims is end of a log of wood sticking up. It might be, but- He is scarcely courteous is one goes off without leaving a tip. It is noteworthy, though, that there is practically none of trailing visitors around in these places, and the relief from paying admissions and tipping begging dogging soldiers and priests is great. We ate lunch in a side lagoon, walled under