Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1889-07-26
j NATION OF TATTOOED MEN
STRANGE HABITS AND SUPERSTI-
TIONS OF THE BURMESE.
n Mountain of Gold Erected to Bud
dha on a Hill Overlooking the City
OF RanSoOn-Oncring to the Idol

dha on a Hill Overlooking the City
fRangoOn-Oncrin to the Idol.
Burmah is the land of the tattoocd man,
says Frank &. Carpenter in a letter from
Rangoon. In my visit to the great prison
here, which contains more than three
thousand men, l SAW 5000 tattoocd leus.
These pen and ink sketches on human
canvas peep out at you in every crowd
you enter. The origin of the custom l
have not been able to find out Ii is here
the Burmese sign of manhood and there
is1ls much ceremony about it us there is
about the car piercing Of the girls which
chronicles their entrance upon woman
hood. There are professional tattoocrs.
who 20 about with books of designs. and
who will prick flower or beast upon
your leg orarm for slight consideration
The instrument used is Il pricker about
two feet long, with heavy brass head.
The point is split into four prongs, and in
these the ink is held. The tattoocr first
outlines his sketch, and then, taking the
skin up i'll his hand, pinchrs il while he
puts i'll the puncturcs which arc to dis
color il forever.
The colorinS 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 ut once, but figure by
figure, MS the boy or man can stand it.
When finished there is IL complete mass
of figures from the waist OH line to the
kncc-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 oil dis
case. One kind wards of the snalc-bitc
and another prevents man from drown
ing. In 1881 Il man so tattoocd 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 bv 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 the tattoocr prcScrbcs.
It's color is made of Il mixture called bv
the Burmese 'thc drug of tenderness
and il is II compound not much different
from the hell broth brcwcd 10y the witches
i'll "Alarbcih.' Another kind of tattoo
ing is affected by school-boys. 1t pre-
vents, ii is said, the boy feeling The whip
when lc is punished at school, and il is
universally affected by the bold, bad
boys Of every Burmese town.
The Burmese are BuddhiS.s. and every
burmese man is supposed nj some time in
his life To be II priest The education of
the children is by the priests, and the
bulk of the population get their cluc;.-
ton in the monastic schools. You find
buddhist monasterics and Buddhist tenn
pies everywhere, and there is here at Ran
COON the finest buddhist monument in
the world. 1t ranks with The Tai Mahal
rs one Of the great curiosiics of India.
and it is the oldest and finest place
ofworshipin Indo China. 1t is the Shway
Da"ohn pagoda or "thc golden pagoda. y
Imagine II mountain of gold, rising ter
race after terrace from mighty platform
and growing smaller as it goes upward
until mt last it pierceS the skies in Il
1'''N' 'l'tiS, Auc lbDbi W HlCu Is olU rect
from the ground. Make the base so
large that it is Il quarter of Il mile around
its outer golden rim and let the slope
of the terraces 90 upward in bcll-likc
stories to the distance of 100 feet from
the ground. There is not IL block in
New York us large rs the base of this
monument, and its top is higher than any
building i'll America save the monument
Mt Washington. Its spirc is taller than
that of St. Paul's Cathedral Mt London.
and the whole glistcns under the blazing
sunlight ms though it were solid gold.
At its top there is now scairoldng, for
the great golden umbrella, which the last
King of Burmah before Thehaw gave to
it, is being restored to its place and The
jewelers. are working upon this in the
sheds mt 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 n Princess. IL cost more than
two hundred thousand gold dollars when
1t was made eighteen years ago But
not long ago the winds shook it from It's
moorngs 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 rs costly as that which covers the new
gold frame which surrounds Mrs. Haycss
picture i'll one of the White House parlors.
1t has been regilded again and again, and
if its tons of material could he put through
one of the great quartz mills of Denver it
would yield as much good ore as Cali
fornia 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 1866 feet above
the level of the ground, and it covers
about fourteen and n half acres. The
great pyramid near Cairo has base OF
thirteen acres, but the base of this monu-
mcnt is bigger. 1t is 900 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 gildcd again and again until
the layers of gold upon them are in places