Page:Ningpo to Shanghai.djvu/68

54 any thing besides food of grain and vegetables;&mdash;but these, in their modes of cookery, are well varied. Maize flour porridge or rice, eaten with salt, and vegetable soup, form the staples, accompanied by greens, fresh or in partial decomposition, pickled ginger, salad, beans, and grated bean curd, not unlike parmesan cheese both in taste and appearance.

In Sugar there appears to be little or no indulgence;&mdash;nor, excepting for the toast of the maize porridge from the pan, do they seem to have much relish for anything like Bread. Of liquids, Tea, and the ptisan, Tching-sha-yet, mentioned at page 51, are the principal indulgences;&mdash;no spirits&mdash;no opium&mdash;no tobacco, nor anything of an oleaginous nature. As a rule they appear in excellent health and spirits, and if, as has been stated, they are burnt to death for infringment of the rules of the institution&mdash;the principal of which are abstinence from animal food and sensual indulgence&mdash;they do not appear to live in much dread of the sword that hangs over them. Nor have they need, as it is competent for any of these priests of Buddha to give up their vocation and return to the world as soon as they feel dissatisfaction with the restraints imposed.

We might have supposed that in a service requiring some asceticism, and the display of peculiar talent to fit the superiors for the positions to which they are elected by vote among themselves, attempts would be made to elevate the order of the duties;&mdash;we might have thought that learning or scientific ability would be a qualification for higher posts.&mdash;But it is not so; and, for all that is known to the contrary, the Abbot of the largest Monastery may be unable to write his own name, or do any thing which the humblest of the brethren might not 