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to receive a smaller sum; and then, once in four years, one is to be selected to go into the higher courts of the province.
The King nich Shú yuen,
is a richly endowed collegiate institution, and the principal is appointed by the magis- trate. It is situated in the north-east quarter of the city, not far from
the Chinghwang máu.
The Ki mung Shi yuen, 啟蒙書院, has an extensive range
of buildings, and is said to be well endowed. It stands in the rear of the governmental college.
The Júi chú kung,, which stands near the great southern gate, is the seat of a public school or college. The build- ings are somewhat dilapidated. Once however, when in good re- pair, they must have formed a delightful academical retreat.
A lofty turret, surmounted by a stork, or some other bird points to the site. Other schools, of various ranks, and variously endowed, are men- tioned in the histories of this city; but many of them, now cease to exist. It is difficult to estimate the literary attainments of this peo- ple, so exclusive are they, and so incommunicative. To inquiries regarding the number of readers, one will tell you that among the males, above the age of ten, one half can read; a second says, one third; another says, one fourth; while some will not allow that one man in five, or one woman in fifty, can read and write their own lan- guage. With such diversities of opinion, among those who have been long on the spot, we shall not venture any opinion further than to say, that from what has come under our own observation, we should not suppose the readers could exceed one half among the men, and not one in fifty among the women.
¿
Common schools exist in and about the city, where boys are taught to read and write. The number of pupils in these varies from ten to thirty. They are supported by individuals, the government having nothing to do with primary education.
Religious institutions here, as everywhere else, in the world, have a powerful and permanent effect upon the whole character of the people, influencing their social intercourse and all their habits, manners and customs. The demoralizing and destroying effects of paganisin are dreadful, a hundred times more so, than can easily be conceived by those who have always lived in Christian lands. Pa- ganism lowers the standard of truth, and excludes man from the most powerful and most salutary influences enjoyed by those who have in their hands the inspired records of Holy Writ. Paganism is a yoke of bondage, enslaving the best feelings of the human soul,
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