Just as a matter of curiosity, is there a translation of the
illustration in chapter 54 of Roughing It?  I had assumed that it
represented a laundry tag.  Mark notes that many Chinese, in Virginia
City, were employed in the laundry business and always attached a tag or
bill to cleaned clothing.

I asked a friend, from mainland China, but she was unable to provide a
clear translation.  She did think that it probably represented or was
possibly found as part of a shrine.  Mark also spend some time in this
chapter discussing how the Chinese deal with their dead.

  
-- 
 There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of
                          in your philosophy.
                        http://bscottholmes.com