192 
WANDERINGS IN CHINA. 
Chap. XII. 
them had a most unprepossessing appearance ; his fore- 
head was low, he had a bold and impudent-looking eye, 
and was badly marked with the smallpox. In short, he 
was one of those men that one would rather avoid than 
have anything to do with. The old high-priest was 
quite a different-looking man from his subordinate. He 
was about sixty years of age, and appeared to be very 
intelligent. His countenance was such as one likes to 
look upon ; meekness, honesty, and truth were stamped 
unmistakeably upon it. 
Having seated ourselves at table, a cup of wine was 
poured out to each of us, and the old priest said, " Che- 
sue, che-sue'' — Drink wine, drink wine. Each lifted 
up his cup, and brought it in contact with those of the 
others. As the cups touched we bowed to each other, 
and said, " Drink wine, drink wine." The chopsticks 
which were before each of us were now taken up, and 
dinner commenced. Our table was crowded with small 
basins, each containing a different article of food. I was 
surprised to see in one of them some small fish, for I 
had always understood that the Buddhist priesthood were 
prohibited from eating any kind of animal food. The 
other dishes were all composed of vegetables. There 
were young bamboo-shoots, cabbages of various kinds 
both fresh and pickled, turnips, beans, peas, and various 
other articles, served up in a manner which made them 
very palatable. Besides these there was a fungus of the 
mushroom tribe, which was really excellent. Some of 
these vegetables were prepared in such a manner as 
made it difficult to believe that the}^ were really vege- 
tables. All the dishes, however, were of this descrip- 
