176 - ATTENTIONS OF THE PRIESTS. [Cuap. X. 
large bronze bell in the belfry; all which showed 
that the priests were engaged in public as well as 
private devotion. Amidst scenes of this kind, in a 
strange country, far from friends and home, im- 
pressions are apt to be made upon the mind, which 
remain vivid through life; and I feel convinced I 
shall never forget the strange mixture of feelings 
which filled my mind during the first night of my 
stay with the priests in the temple of Tein-tung. 
I have visited the place often since, passed through 
the same little temple, slept in the same bed, and 
heard the same solemn sounds throughout the silent 
watches of the night, and yet the first impressions 
remain in my mind distinct and single. 
The priests, from the highest to the lowest, 
always showed me the most marked attention and 
kindness. As many of them as I wished cheer- 
fully followed me in my excursions in the vi- 
cinity of the temple; one carrying my specimen 
paper, another my plants, and a third my birds, 
and so on. The gun seemed an object of great 
interest to them, being so different from their 
own clumsy matchlocks ; and percussion caps 
were looked upon as most magical little objects. 
But they were great cowards, and always kept at 
a most respectful distance when I was shooting. 
One evening a deputation, headed by the high 
priest, came and informed me that the wild boars 
had come down from the mountains at night, and 
were destroying the young shoots of the bamboo, 
which were then just coming through the ground, 
