138 



TEA DISTRICTS OF CIIINA. Chap. VIII. 



ranked highest were intelligent and active-looking 

 men ; but all had a kind of swarthy paleness of coun- 

 tenance, which was not agreeable to look upon. Many 

 of them rose as I entered their dining-hall, and po- 

 litely asked me to sit down and eat rice. I thanked 

 them, but declined the invitation, and proceeded 

 with an inspection of the place. In the kitchen the 

 wonders shown to the visitors are some enormously 

 large coppers in which the rice is boiled. 



I was now taken to the library, which contains an 

 extensive assortment of religious books, carefully 

 locked up in presses, and apparently seldom perused. 

 I had heard that in this part of the building there was 

 a precious relic, nothing less than one of Buddha's 

 teeth, and other things, which were sometimes shown 



to visitors with a great 

 deal of ceremony. Hav- 

 ing requested the priest 

 to show me these, he led 

 me to a small temple ad- 

 joining, where he said 

 they were kept. " Have 

 you any money in your 

 pocket?" said he with 

 great gravity, " for before 

 the precious box can be 

 opened I must burn in- 

 cense on this altar." I 

 gave him a small piece of 

 money, but told him that 

 as I did not worship 



WSSB' 



[Relic Cage.] 



