It also keeps up a standing army of about twenty thousand men, and provides watchmen, etc.

In return for their five per cent the priests attend to the service of the temples, carry out all religious ceremonies, and keep schools, where they teach whatever they think desirable, which is not very much.

Some of the temples also possess private property, but priests as individuals cannot hold property.
And now comes a question which I find some difficulty in answering.
Are the Zu-Vendi a civilized or barbarous people?
Sometimes I think the one, sometimes the other.

In some branches of art they have attained the very highest proficiency.

Take for instance their buildings and their statuary.