The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1889-07-17
,aANATION OFTATTOOED MEN
STRANGE HABITS AND SUPFRsTI-
TIoNs OF THE BURMESE.

Burmah is the land Of the tattooed man
says Frank G. Carpenter in a letter from
Rangoon. In my visit TO the great prison
here, which contains more than thre,
thousand men, l saw 5000 tattooed legs
These pen and ink sketches on human
canvas peep out at you in every crowd
you enter. The origin of the custom ]
have not been able TO find out. 1t is here
the Burmese sign of manhood, and there
is as much ceremony about it as there is
about the ear piercing of the girls which
chronicles their entrance upon woman
hood. There are professional. tattoocrs,
who go about with books of designs, and
who will prick a flower or beast upon
your leg or arm for slight consideration.
The instrument used is a pricker about
two feet long, with heavy brass head.
The point is split into four prongs, and in
these the ink is held The tattooer first
outlines his sketch, and then, taking the
skin up in his hand, pinches It while he
puts in the punotures which are to dis
color it forever.
The coloring matter used is lamp
black, which turns purple with age and
which when finished makes the man
look as though he was dressed in kid
fitting tights of dark blue. The tattoo
ing is not all done at once, but figure by
figure, as the boy or man can stand it.
When finished there is complete mass
of figures from the waist on line to the
knee-cap, and you often see in addition
to this specimens of tattooing on other
parts of the body. The people are super
stitious about it, and certain kinds of
tattooing are supposed TO ward off dis
case. One kind wards off the snalIe-bite
and another prevents man from drown
ing. In 1881 man so tattooed tested
the efficacy of his tattooing by allowing
his hands and feet to be tied and himself
to be thrown into the river. 1t is need.
less to say that the current carried him
away, and neither tattoo nor man was
ever again seen.
The only tattooing affected by women
is that which produces love in the heart
of the desired one of the other sex. This
is triangle of peculiar color, which is
put on between the eyes, upon the lip, or
upon the tongue, as thetattooer prescribes.
Its color is made of mixture called by
the Burmese "the drug of tenderness y
and it is a compound not much different
from the hell broth brewed 10y the witches
in "Macbeth." Another kind of tattoo
ing is affected by school-boys. II pre-
vents, it is said, the boy feeling the whip
when he is punished at school, and it is
universally affected by the bold, bad
boys of every Burmese town.
The Burmese are Buddhists. and every
Burmese man is supposed at some time in
his life to be priest. The education of
the children is by the priests, and the
bulk of the population get their educa-
ton in the monastic schools. You find
Buddhist monasteries and Buddhist tenn
pies everywhere, and there is here at Ran
goon the finest Buddhist monument in
the world. 1t ranks with the Tai Mahal
as one of the great curiosities of India,
and it is the oldest and finest place
worshipin Indo China. It is the Shway
Dagohn pagoda or "the golden pagoda."
Imagine a mountain of gold, rising ter
race after terrace from a mighty platform
and growing smaller as it goes upward
until at last it plerces the skies in
golden spire, the top of which is $40 feet
from the ground. Make the base so
large that it is n quarter Of mile around
its outer golden rim and let the slope
OF the terraces go upward In bell like
stories to the distance of 100 feet from
the ground. There is not block in
New York as large as the base of this
monument, and its top is higher than any
building in America save the monument
at Washington. Its spire is taller than
that of st. Paul's Cathedral at London,
and the whole glistens under the blazing
sunlight as though it were solid gold.
AT its top there is now scaffolding, for
the great golden umbrella, which the last
King of Burmah before Thebaw gave to
it, is being restored to its place and the
jewellers are working upon this in the
sheds at its base.
This umbrella is great circular piece
OF gold which is studded with jewels, any
one of which would be fit wedding
present for a Princess. 1t cost more than
two hundred thousand gold dollars when
1t was made eighteen years ago. But
not long ago the winds shook it from its
moorings and jewels and gold came down
to the ground. This mighty pagoda has
cost millions of dollars. 1t is of brick
and stucco covered with gold leaf as fine
rs that ever put into an American tooth
and as costly as that whichcovers the new
gold frame which surrounds Mrs. Hayess
picture in one of the White House parlors.
1t has been regilded again and again, and
II its tons of material could be put through
one Of the great quartz mills Of Denver il
would yield as much good ore as Cali
foinia mine.
The base of this pagoda is on hill over
looking the city of Rangoon. 1t consists
of two terraces and the upper is paved
with flags of stone. This is 166 feet above
the level Of the ground, and it covers
about fourteen and half acres. The
great pyramid near Cairo has base of
thirteen acres, but the base OF this monu-
ment is bigger 1t is 800 feet long by
about 700 wide, and this fourteen acres is
covered with little temples with hundreds
of Buddhas of all shapes and sizes, some
OF which are of gold and others OF which
have been gilded again and again until
the layers Of gold upon them are in places
as thick as wedding-rings. 1t is impossi
bic to estimate the wealth that stands
upon this platform. The shrine has been
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