National Baptist world., 1894-09-21
STRANGE is BURMAH.
A Land of Remarkable Sights and Ouee

Burmah is country of queer sights
and strange sounds.
] was talking a few days since to
Prof. s. S. Baldwin, the famed travel
er, so well known throughout the east
by the title of The White Mahatma. >
Said he: ''Burmah is what an Americ-
an girl would call a funny country "
Rangoon is an attractive city of beau
| tlful buildings, stately pagodas and
! long avenues, overhung with magnifi-
cent shade trees, yet right through the
! center Of one of these beautiful boule-
! wards runs sluggish open stream of
/ the nature of sewer. in which dead
dogs, cats and rats make the air redo
lent with perfume that is not at all
suggestive of ''Araby the Blest."
At Rangoon is the great golden
| pagoda, situated at the top of a hill in
the outskirts of the city. The roadway
+ from the valley to the top of the hill
consists of a series of irregular steps,
some ten Or twelve feet wide, and from
three to ten inches high. These steps
are entirely inclosed on the left side
'as you proceed towards the top). and
are covered with an arched and vaulted
roof On the right side the roof is sup
ported by pillars and arches opening
out on terrace of gardens and walled
Enclosures. This stairway is about
one-elghth of mile long and at the
bottom on each side are two enormous
dragons, some thirty Or forty feet high
carved out of brick and plaster work
These dragons have immense mouths
wide open, showing horrible fangs and
protruding tongue, while the tail of
the beast is curled and forked, like
that of the traditional devil The
architecture is extremely quaint and
interesting, as well as beauti.
ful. The pagoda itself is built in
the center of, and surrounded
by, an immense garden of palm
trees, in one of the most beautiful
spots that one can conceive Of and
If the place and the approaches were
kept clean it would be a lovely spot
But at the very entrance of the stair
way, each side is simply lined with the
most disgusting naked beggars men.
women and children, but mostly men
and wOmen-with barely a rag thrown
around their loins, thin and attenuated,
and mostly with some portion of their
body half eaten away with leprosy
These people simply swarm around the
traveller, clamoring for aims, thrust
ing their mutilated arms and limbs,
that have been partially eaten off by
the ravages of the disease, fairly into
ones face; sometimes an eye will be
gone or a portion of the jaw. If chari-
ty is given to one, it is almost a neces-
sity to give it to all his comrades, for
they crowd around you like flies, and
fairly bar your passage.
Most English tourists before visiting
this pagOda, which at one time was
deemed so wonderful and beautiful
that it was included in one of the lists
of the seven wonders of the world, are
cautioned to take with them a stout
stick, also light rattan switch. The
stick is intended as defense against
the pariah dogs, with which the place
is overrun. The light rattan is to be
used to keep the beggars at distance,
for, cruel as it may seem, often the
only way to keep them from absolute
annoyance is by a vigorous slashing at
their bare backs Or nude limbs, and
then they will often stand at little
distance and spit at the traveller and
Overwhelm him with curses and impre-
cations. AS the beggars are all religious
mendicants, they are looked upon by
most of the natives with perhaps some
what of a spirit of modified venerat ton,
and unless the English traveller is ac-
companied by a party sufficiently large
to be perfectly able to take care of them
selves it is just possible he might be
roughly handled by the natives in case
of any hurt to one of the beggars
Should the tourist be accompanied by
a native policeman, which is often the
case, the policeman has no hesitation
at all in pushing the beggars right and
left as if they were nine pins, SO that
they generally keep at respectful dis.
tance.
1t is said that it costs some eighty Or
ninety thousand dollars to gild the
dome of the large pagoda, but this is
done every two years or thereabouts
This is usually the gift of religious
Burmans as an offering to Buddha.
Prof. Baldwin, who has had very
many years of oriental travel, states
that one of the most peculiar things
which he has ever seen is the rocking
pagoda at Burmese village many
miles up the 1rawaddy.
This pagoda was originally built on
the top of very large bowlder of gran
tie, some sixty or seventy feet Aigh.
After the pagoda was built the lower
part of the bowlder was gradually re-
moved and rounded until now is seems
as if the pagoda was resting upon an
or globe of solid rock.
The rock is SO nicely balanced that a
heavy wind or the exertiOn of person
pushing strongly on the rock will cause
t to slightly oscillate. 1t does not go
'ar enough to cause any damage, but
oils and rocks backward and forward
ike an enormous rocking chair. This
oagoda is kept exclusively for the
priests. The only access to it being by
means of a rope ladder, which is drawn
Up after them, they are thus kept from
annoyance.
The phoongyi, or priests, are very
each father, especially
lmOng the better class, making every
,ffort SO that one son at least shall be.
ong to the order. They are lazy and
ndolent lot, and to the European OBJ
erver never seem to be engaged in any
pecial duties except squatting on their
launches and holding conversation