50 



QUESTIONS AND ANSWEKS. 



Chap. III. 



and servants to crowd into a room where visitors 

 are being received and entertained, and even to 

 take part in the conversation. My own servant 

 Tung-a was amongst the crowd, and was quite a 

 lion for the time. Hundreds of questions were 

 put to him as to my country, the time I had 

 resided in China, and the objects I had in view in 

 visiting the " central flowery land." He did not 

 fail to answer the whole in a most satisfactory 

 manner to himself and his audience, but whether 

 his answers were to be depended upon or not was 

 quite another matter, nor did he seem to care much 

 so long as his interrogators were satisfied. Being 

 engaged during my spare hours in making a col- 

 lection of the insects of this part of China, Tung-a 

 carried in his hand, in addition to a small cork- 

 lined box and insect-net, a nice-looking bottle with 

 a glass stopper. This was an object of much 

 interest to the priests and their attendants, and 

 was handed about from one to another all over 

 the room. Before taking my leave I presented 

 this bottle to the high-goriest, who was quite charmed 

 with my liberality, and almost went down on his 

 knees to thank me. Oftentimes afterwards I re- 

 newed my visit to the old man, particularly during 

 the heat of the day, when 1 was glad to seek 

 shelter from the burning rays of the sun, and 

 always found him kind and obliging. In the 

 autumn of this year I received from him some 

 valuable seeds which are now vegetating both in 

 England and India. 



