CllAP. IX. 
FRIGHTENING WILD BOARS. 
147 
the thicket, where a man is stationed. When the boars 
come down in the dead of night to attack the young 
shoots, the man pulls the rope backwards and forwards, 
and clank, clank, clank goes the bamboo, producing a 
loud and hollow sound, which on a quiet evening maybe 
heard at a great distance. The animals are frightened 
and make off to their dens on the hills. The first time 
I heard these things beating at night, all over the 
country, I imagined that some religious ceremony was 
going on, the hollow sounds of the bamboo being not 
unlike those produced by an instrument used in the 
Buddhist worship in all Chinese temples. 
There are a large number of Buddhist temples scat- 
tered over all this part of the country. One named 
Ah-yu-wang, which I also visited, is, like Tein-tung, of 
great extent, and seemingly well supported. They 
both own large tracts of land in the vicinity of the 
monasteries, and have numerous small temples in different 
parts of the district, which are under their control. All 
the temples, both large and small, are built in the most 
romantic and beautiful situations amongst the hills, and 
the neighbouring woods are always preserved and encou- 
raged. What would indicate the residence of a country 
gentleman in England, is in China the sign of a Buddhist 
temple, and this holds good over all the country. When 
the weary traveller, therefore, who has been exposed for 
hours to the fierce rays of an eastern sun, sees a large 
clean-looking house shoiving itself amongst trees on the 
distant hni-side, he may be almost certain that it is one 
of Buddha's temples, where the priests will treat him not 
only with courtesy but with kindness. 
H 2 
