174 USUAL DINNER COMPANY. [Cuar. X. 
sums collected by those of the order who are out on 
begging excursions at stated seasons of the year. 
The priests are of course of all grades, some of 
them being merely the servants of the others, both 
in the house and in the fields. They seem a harm- 
less and simple race, but are dreadfully ignorant 
and superstitious. The typhoon of the previous 
year, or rather the rain which had accompanied it, 
had occasioned a large slip of earth on one of the 
hill-sides near the temple, and completely buried 
ten or twelve acres of excellent paddy land. On 
our remarking this, the priests told us with great 
earnestness that every one said it was a bad omen 
for the temple; but one of them with true Chinese 
politeness remarked that he had no doubt any evil 
influence would now be counteracted, since the 
temple had been honoured with a visit from us. 
After inspecting the tea farms and the mode of 
manufacturing it, Mr. Thom, Mr. Morrison, a son 
of the late Dr. Morrison, and Mr. Sinclair, returned 
to Ningpo, leaving me to prosecute my research in 
natural history in this part of the country. I was 
generally absent from the temple the whole day, 
returning at dark with the collections of plants and 
birds which I had been lucky enough to meet with 
in my peregrinations. The friends of the priests 
came from all quarters of the adjacent country to 
see the foreigner; and, as in the case of a wild 
animal, my feeding time seemed to be the most 
interesting moment tothem. My dinner was placed 
ona round table in the centre of the room, and 
