Chap. XII. EMPLOYMENT OF MONKEYS. 199 
witnessed. Anything said in praise of these hills seemed 
to please the good priests greatly, and rendered them 
very communicative. They informed us that there were 
temples erected to Buddha on every hill and peak, and 
that in all they numbered no less than nine hundred 
and ninety-nine. 
The whole of the land on these hills seems to belong 
to the priests of the two sects already mentioned, but by 
far the largest portion belongs to the Buddhists. There 
are also some farms established for the supply of the 
court of Peking. They are called the imperial enclo- 
sures ; but I suspect that they too are, to a certain 
extent, under the management and control of the 
priests. The tea- shrub is cultivated everywhere, and 
often in the most inaccessible situations, such as on the 
summits and ledges of precipitous rocks. Mr. Ball 
states * that chains are said to be used in collecting the 
leaves of the shrubs growing in such places ; and I have 
even heard it asserted (I forget whether by the Chinese 
or by others) that monkeys are employed for the same 
purpose, and in the following manner : — These animals, 
it seems, do not like work, and would not gather the 
leaves willingly ; but when they are seen up amongst 
the rocks where the tea-bushes are growing, the Chinese 
throw stones at them ; the monkeys get very angry, and 
commence breaking off the branches of the tea-shrubs, 
which they throw down at their assailants ! 
I should not like to assert that no tea is gathered on 
these hills by the agency of chains and monkeys, but I 
think it may be safely affirmed that the quantity pro- 
* Cultivation and Manufacture of Tea. 
