Blackfoot news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1891-1902, 1894-11-03
STRANGE is BURMAH.
LAND OF REMARKABLE SIGHTS
AND ODD IDEAS.
Horrible Boggars Who Line the Way to
the Great Pageda--The Golden Dome
Gilded Every Two Years at a Cost of
Ninety Thousand Dollars.

Burmah is country OF queer
sights and strange sounds.
was talking few days since to
Professor s S. Baldwin, the famed
traveller. so we'll known throughout
the East by the title OF 1.-The White
Mahatma, . writes New York ADJ
vertiser man. Said he: "Burmah
is what an American girl would call
a funny country
Rangoon is an attractive city Of
beautiful buildings, stately pagodas
and long avenues, oyerhung with
magnificent shade trees, yet right
| through the center of one of these
\ beautiful bouleyards runs sluggish
open stream OF the nature OF a
sewer. in which dead dogs, cats and
rats make the air redolent with a
4 perfume that is not at all suggestive
OF ''Araby the Blest. y"
| At Rangoon is the great golden
pagoda. situated at the top OF hill
in the outskirts OF the city. Tho
roadway from the valley to the top
OF the hill consists az series OF
/ irregular steps, some ten or twelve
1 feet wide. and from three to ten
! inches high These steps are en-
| tirely closed on the left side las you
proceed toward the top). and are
covered with IN arched and vaulted
Roof On the right side the roof is
supported by pillars and arches
opening out on q terrace Of gardens
and walled Enclosures. This stair
way is about one eighth Of mile
I 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 protrudiug 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 we'll as beautiful.
The pagoda itself is built ia the cen
I ter OF, and surrounded by, an i'm
mense garden OF palm trees, in one
| OF the most beautiful spots that one
can conceive OF. and il the place and
| the approaches were kept clean IL
would be lovely spot But at the
entrance OF the stairway, each side
is simply lined with the most dis
gushing naked beg gars-men. women
and children, but mostly men and
women with barely rag thrown
around their loins, thin and attenu-
ated, and mostly with some portion
Of their body half eaten away with
/ leprosY. These people simply
swarm around the traveller, clamor.
ing for aims, thrusting their mutt
lated arms and limbs that have been
partially eaten OIL BY the rayages OF
the disease. fairly into ones face
sometimes an eye will be gone Of d
I portion Of the jaw. II charity IS
\ given to one. il is almost a necessity
to give it to all his comrades. for
they crowd around you like Hies, and
bar your passage.
Most English tourists before visit.
ing this pagoda, which AZ one time
was deemed SO wonderful and beau.
titul that it was included FL ono 81
the lists OF the seven wonders or the
world, are cautioned to take with
them q stout stick. also light rattan
switch. The stick is intended as a
defense against tho pariah dogs,
with which the place b oyerfun.
The light Brattan Is 10 be used to
keep the beggars at a distance. for.
cruel as 1t may seem. often the only
way to keep them from absolute an
noyance is by vigorous slashing AT
I 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 inn
l precautions. As the beggars are all
religious mendicants they are looked
/ upon by most Of the natives With
! perhaps somewhat OF q spirit OF mod
flied generation, and unless the En-.
4 glish traveller is accompanied bv a
party sufficiently large to be per-
fectly able to take care OF themselves
it is just possible he might be
roughly handled by the natives IN
case Of any hurt to one OF the beg.
/ gars. Should the tourist be accom-
panied by native policeman. which
\ is often the case, the policeman has
no hesitation at all in pushing the
beggars right and left as II they
were nine pins. so that they gem
eraily keep at respectful distance.
1t Is said that it costs some eighty
or ninety thousand dollars TO Gid
the dome OF the large pagoda. but
this is done every two years or
Whereabouts. This IL usually the
gift OF religious Burmans as an Offer
ing to Buddha
Professor 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 Buamese village
many miles up the Irawaddy.
This pagoda was originally built
on the top OF very large bowlder
Of granite, some sixty or seventy
feet high After the pagoda was
butt the lower part Of the BOWLER
was gradually removed and rounded
until now 1t seems as II the pagoda
was resting upon an enormous ball
or globe Of solid rock. The rock Ia
so nicely balanced that heavy wind
or tho exertion of a person pushing