Cuar. X.] POO-TO-SAN— ITS PRIESTS. 185 
number of priests are estimated at 2000, but many 
of them are constantly absent on begging expedi- 
tions for the support of their religion. This esta- 
blishment, like Tein-tung, has also a portion of land 
allotted to it for its support, and the remainder of 
the funds are made up by the subscriptions of the 
devotees. On certain high days, at different periods 
of the year, many thousands of both sexes, but par- 
ticularly females, resort to these temples, clad in 
their best attire, to pay their vows and engage in 
the other exercises of heathen worship. Little 
stalls are then seen in the temples or at the door- 
ways for the sale of incense, candles, paper made 
up in the form of the ingots of Sycee-silver, 
and other holy things which are considered accept- 
able offerings to the gods, and are cither consumed 
in the temples or carried home to bring a blessing 
upon the houses and families of those who purchase 
them. The profits of these sales, of course, go to 
the support of the establishment. When we con- 
sider that these poor deluded people sometimes 
travel a distance of several hundred miles to worship 
in the temples on Poo-to-san and other celebrated 
places, we cannot but admire their spirit of devo- 
tion. Iwas once staying in the temple of Tein-tung 
when it was visited for three days by devotees from 
all parts of the country. As they lined the roads 
on their way to the temple, clad in the graceful and 
flowing costume of the East, the mind was naturally 
led back to those days of scripture history when 
Jerusalem was in its glory, and the Jews, the chosen 
