Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1888-07-22
MOULMEIN, BURMAH.
THE PLACE, ITS SITE, AND ITS GREAT
TEMPLE.
The Backyard Elephants at Work-A Visit
to the Underground Labyrinth
Place Of Horror.

"A letter from Moulmeln, Burrnan, 10
the Times says This will probably be
my last letter from Burmah, and our
visit TO the Golden Kingdom ha,
certainly been filed with adventures up
to the very end. Tradition tells that
during passing visit to Vienna the old
King Of Bavaria and several lesser
German princes took refuge from
heavy shower of rain beneath
the archway of concert-hall, and
that one OF the ultra-radical jour
nails INDUCED in some pointed illusions
10 a noise mkde outside the ball by "a
lot Of Kings and other low people who
had congregated there" We ourselves
have heard and seen suficiency OF
"Kings and other low people" within
the last week, for our final voyage down
the Irrswnddy was made in the company
OF five Burmese robbers, and our
last visit in Rsngoon was paid to
three Burmese Queens In truth
like tho small boy who played at
hunting, and called out that he was
knee-deep in tigers we have lived
for the last few days in perfect atmos-
phero of robbers. -Four ddcoit, NATIVE
brigand0 were hanged at Mansalay on
the last morning OF our stay there. Five
moro (as | have said accompanied us
down thu river in irons under strong
guard, and hear that twenty other gem
tlemen of the Same respectable class are
to he our fcllow-passengers from Burmah
/ to Calcutta three or four days hence.
But | must keep the description Of
the Queens and the robbers for another
time, Moulmein itself beng quite
enough for one letter. It's proverbial
renewn as cone of the prettiest places
IN Burmah is certainly not undiscovered
The first token OF its presence in APP
preaching it by sea from Rangoon Is the
sight Of the noble mountains OF Pegu
hanging like a cloud of shadewy
purple on the bright evening sky.
Then a long, low bank of dark
green begins to unroll itself
along tho edge OF the blue, shining sea,
extending in such an uubroken limo on
either side AS far as the eye can reach
that it seems ms if you were going TO sail,
like tho Flying Dutchmsn, right across
the land But the sudden change of the
clear green water to a thick, soapy
brown shows that there must be a river
not far of, and sudden turn around a
low, wooded promonotory brings your
steamer into the broad, muddy estuary
Of the Salween.
Just at FIRST, however, there is little
token of civilization. or Of human life
in any form, amid the painless wilder
ness of thickets that bristle along either
bank. Almost the only sign OF mans
presence is the occasional appearance OF
small wooden signal-towers, which, with
their caunt white ribs and the huge
whitewashed ball that surmounts them,
look unpleasantly like the blcached
skeletons of criminal giants who have
been tied to stakes and left TO drown.
But little by little tiny bamboo huts
and leaf-thatched native cottages be-
gin to peer through the endless
tansle OF intertwined boughs. Then
civilization asserts itself unmistaksbly in
the curling smoke of huge brick chin
ncy belonging to q timber mil on the
right bank. Another chimney shows
itself on the opposite side little further
up and then sharp curve of the stream
gives asa glimpse OF Moulmein in tho
distance, throned amid a glittering maze
of rivers that come rushing to meet each
other through the great palm forest,
against the dark glossy green OF which
the white houses of the dainty little town
stand out like ivory carvings.
As we glide up to our moorings along
the river front of the port many a spy
glass is turned adniringly from our upper
deck upon the great Buddhist temple set
like disdem on the brow of a steep
pyramidal hill overhsnging the town,
along the brink of which runs low.
white boundary wall, inclosing as il
in a frame the silded pagodas and
crimson turrets and carved cornices and
painted doorways which stand ont be
meath the rich glow of sunset in one
dazzling blaze of glory, while through
the stiffness Of evening comes floating
down to us the SOFT sweet chime of the
tiny golden bells hung all around the
great central pinnacle and stirred into
music by the passing breeze. But evcn
this glorious spectacle loses its power
when a keen-eyed passenger suddenly
runs forward to the starboard side of the
deck, and, pointing to the shore, calls
out excitedly. "There are tho ele-
plants y.
There they are. sure enough. the
famous "dock-yard elephants of Moul-
mein, whose feats of strength and ga
eacity, real or invented, are among the
standard stories regularly told for the
edification OF every newcomer to Bur
nah. We are just passing big timber
yard and amcns the piled-up lsss wo
can see the mighty figures Of the huge,
patient, toiling monsters moving slowly
to and fro, pushing or hauling So
foot beams rs easily as one would shove
newspaper across s table, and laying
sllem one upon the other with n nicely of
adjustment which no carpenter could ex-
eel. Moulmein is now tho chief centre
OF this curious Industry, for in Rsnsoon
the four-iooted laborers oftAe dock-yards
are now being fast superseded by the
stronger power OF Hing Steam.
But the special sight of Moulmein j,
that strange underground labyrinth
popularity known as 1.-The caves, form
ing so fully recognized part Of the pro
gramme every true believer in the creed
of globe.trotting that to visit Moulmein
without seeing it would be as bad as
passing through Cairo without going out
to the Pyramids, or visiting Kieff with
out descending into the Catscombs of
st. Anthony. Accordingly, at day
break on the morning after our
arrival, Mrs. Ker and /, with
another lady passenger to keep
us company, find ourselves rumbling
through cloud of dust in afour-wheeled
dog kennel, drawn by something which
was once horse, over road which
seems to have been made by an eruption
of Vesuvius and repaired by the earth
quake OF Lisbon. Once clear of the
town--which stretches along struggling
shred of bamboo novels and paper-lan-
terms and quaint Chinese characters into
the open country beyond-we come out
upon high, broad table-land, thinly
wooded and swept by fresh breeze.
which is very refreshing after the hot,
dusty closeRess and sickening odors OF
the native town below.
As matter OF course We pass three or