144 
WANDERINGS IN CHINA. 
Chap. IX. 
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, impressions 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 cheerfully followed me in my 
excursions in the vicinity 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, and were in a state in which 
they are highly prized as a vegetable for the table. 
" Well,'' said I, " what do you want me to do ? " 
