5i^ii^^^^^5^^5^ -:5^^^^™H«»^r^^"?™^H?™«*i» 356 BELIQION. This magisterial priest is addressed^ not Joong, but Lesa, " He, the Temple." The dress of the priests is black or grey, their trousers being as universally black as that of the rest of the populace is white. Their official robe, gasa, which they wear at worship, is in shape like the Chinese ; passing over the right shoulder, and under the left arm. They also use a crooked staff in their chanting. Their rosary consists of one hundred and eight beads, which they diligently count over in prayer. Their remarkable similarity to the various ecclesiastical grades and the ordinary forms and ceremonies of Romanism, is very extraordinary; so much so, that the priests accuse the devil of having stolen the rites of holy mother church and of teaching them to Buddhism. The priest is severely beaten if discovered breaking his strict rules of vegetarianism and chastity. In this respect they seem to be superior to the Chinese. The believers in Buddhism are not in equal proportions over the kingdom. In some places scarcely a third follow the priests; in others, almost all the people. Fervent believers assiduously frequent the temples ; others once a month, or once a year, at the great festivals. There are more believers in the god of the mountains than in Buddhism. This god is the representative of the mountains, and his temples are on the highest and most precipitous slopes. This god is worshipped once a year; the family making it the occasion of a picnic. Seven days before, and as many after the day of worship, no meat is eaten ; and the cereal and vegetable food must be of the cleanest possible kind, — the rice being pounded many times more carefully than during ordinary times, and the vegetables are washed with seven- fold care. Everything on the person and in the house must be without spot It is in this respect like the Pongol of India. Though the mode of worship differs in toto from the Chinese, we imagine the idea of gods for the mountains came from China, where it exists and has long existed much as it did in ancient Greece. Loongwang, the god of rain, is believed in by all the believers
