Page:Ningpo to Shanghai.djvu/69

Rh be able to do. And yet they are not devoid of ambition ;&mdash;marks of superiority among the fraternity being shown in round spots on the caput over the frontal bone, nine or twelve, three in a row, about an inch apart, burnt in with an instrument kept for the purpose.

To keep the head shaved is also a rule of the order, and to wear robes of a peculiar kind, simple as can be, loose and flowing, kept over the breast by a large hook and ring. Excepting by his yellow silk shoes, and it may be by a little cleaner dress, the Abbot bears no insignia by which he may be known from those below him;&mdash;and the best reason in the world for keeping him to the proper performance of his duties is the knowledge of the fact, that those who have elected him can also depose him. Reports of such arbitrariness, however, are not common.

Pilgrims to these Monasteries from distant lands do very little themselves in the way of worship;&mdash;The details are left to the priests, who have a fixed price of 1600 Cash for any kind of religious service they may be called on to perform (20). These services appear to consist of a reptition of set forms of words, either in single voices or in chaunts by a company of priests, sometimes numbering as many as forty together&mdash;After a series of chaunts, at the striking of a bell there may be genuflexions for half anhour together, the most ardent of the worshippers, and some of them appear very sincere, striking the head on the ground two and three times before they rise, to wait, with hands uplifted in the attitude of prayer, another tap of the bell and another call to send them again prostrate. Some of the chaunts are particularly pleasing; but of the meanings of the 