Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1925-12-30

its estuaries offer a superb highway
with an adequate steamboat service.
Up the Irrawaddy by Boat.
Going up the Irrawaddy, there is
nothing Of special interest below Man
dalay except the ruins of Pagan, which
richly repay a visit. Here, scattered
over 8 considerable area (some eight
miles along the river and two miles
wide) lie the ruins of city the story
Of whose building and decay vies in
romantic interest with that Of Car
thage. Here were once thousands of
pagodas, some very beautiful; and a
few, in a fair state of preservation,
still exhibit the varied styles of the
peculiar architecture of the time and
country. Excavations In recent years
have uncovered some very interesting
buildings.
At Mandalay begins journey into
the country of the hill tribes, at war
with each other till within a few
years. 1t is said that surreptitious
"head-hunting" has not even now en-
tirely ceased among the wilder tribes
From Mandalay the journey up the
river should, by all means, be made by
cargo steamer.
Not only does the cargo boat stop
at tiny villages and at many points
where one sees no signs of a village,
but she lows, dashed alongside,
barge nearly as large as herself This
barge and the great after-deck of the
steamer form one big department
store" Space Is rented to native mer-
chants, who go back and forth each
trip, supplying the native with every
thing he needs, from sarongs to betel.
Each merchant, in his few square
feet of allotted space, arranges his
wares exactly as in the little booth
along the village street Hundreds of
natives swarm aboard at each stop
ping place, carrying baskets and bags
for their purchases.
One is reminded every hour Of the
day from how many and diverse ele-
ments is to be welded the Burmese
nation of the future. All originating
from the same parent stock Except,
perhaps, the Selung tribe), the vari-
GUS tribes have through the centuries
contended for possession of lands,
hunting and fishing grounds, for life
of the simplest form, till their char
acteristics have become as distinctive
as If Of different races.
Kachlns and Karens.
Here we find the stocky, pictur-
esque Shans, with their bright plaids,
heavily bedecked with brass and sill
yer buttons, bells and other orna-
ments. The Kachin women wear a
score or more belts of narrow hoops,
stained black and falling over the
hips in a manner to require frequent
adjusting. They come from the Shan
states to the east; are rather attrac-
tive in form and feature; eaters OF
lizards, of beetles, of snakes-in fact.
of everything except human flesh,
which is forbidden.
Here are (so-called) white Karens,
heavy and stolid and very dirty, OF
fairer skin than the Burmese and
WITH I more QlSlluClly MOhSOiAlh OJO'
They take kindly to Christianity,
whole villages at time, as also do
the red Karens, tribe less numer-
ous small and wiry, with broad red
dish faces. Heavy drinkers these, SON.
Der in mien, formerly very wild and
savage, they have been reduced from
stealers of men to stealers of cattle.
The females of one branch of the
Karens and Palaungs wear brass
rings around their necks, arms and
legs, weighing, 1t is said, 30 to 60
pounds. The neck rings, as thick as
the little finger, are put on the girl In
infancy four or five rings at first and
others added as fast as she grows, till
eighteen or twenty keep the neck al
ways stretched.
And so one journeys on and on,
each day bringing new scenes, new
types of people to study, and all ct
least 1000 years behind the epoch In
which we live. Everywhere ere pa
godas-great pagodas, little pagodas
all sorts and sizes of pagodas. to fl
the purses Of the people who sought
to "gain merit" In their building