36? 



trouble mankind. Very g-ood men, after death, may become Nats. 

 The day of a Nat is equal to a hundred years of the days of many 

 and their lives consist of a thousand years of these days ; they then 

 vanish into nothing, as from nothing they arose, 



(6) Such is the number of the diseases their writings say the 

 body is subject to. 



(7) First, the place where a woman rules ; second, that where only 

 brute animals exist ; third, where a minor is king, &c. &c. Hell. 



(8) Rulers, thieves, fire, water, people who hate one. 



(9) The speaker prays for that which as an ordinary man he 

 would wish for in a future state of existence. As a priest, he must 

 not even touch gold or silver, arid should not possess any secular 

 property. 



(10) Thabike is the name of the black earthen pot which the 

 priests suspend in front of them when they go their rounds to col- 

 lect food. It should be five spaps in circumference. 



(1 1) Thanegan is the name of the robe, or upper garment, which 

 the priests wear. The people look with the greatest reverence on it^ 

 and with corresponding horror on its being applied to any common 

 purpose, as was often shewn during the late war by their remarks 

 when any of our troops or followers were seen in possession of one.* 



Although youths of all ages appear clothed in it, they are not 

 yet priests, nor can they be till the ag@ of twenty-one. Up to this 

 period they are merely probationers, and employ themselves in read- 

 ing the sacred writiugs, attending on the elder priests, and studying 

 the " ten rules," viz. First, not to take away life ; second, not to 

 take furtively the smallest thing ; third, to lead a life of celibacy ; 

 fourth, not to speak untruths ; fifth, not to partake of any thing of 

 inebriating quality ; sixth, not to eat after noon ; seventh, not to 

 dance; eighth, not to wear any scented or other flowers, not to use 

 any perfume or look in a glass, ?nd not to look on at feasts and 

 dancing, or listen to music ; ninth, not to sleep on any bedstead of 

 more than a cubit high, nor on a soft bed, but on a mat or carpet ; 

 tenth, not to touch even gold, silver, or precious stones. If a novice 

 offend against any of the first five of these, he cannot remain as a 

 student, but must put oft' the priest's garment, and as the phrase is, 



become a man again," until by penance he has amended. Of- 

 fence against the other five may be forgiven, upon merely perfarm- 

 ing certain acts of peaance enjoined by the superior, as sweeping 

 the floor, drawing water, &c. &c. 



* The Chinese priests sometimes use a similar sort of garment. 



