far ahead on the' river’s horizon loom successive spurs
•of the Shan mountains towering in stately beauty
above the distant city ot Mandalay.
Here the great defiles of the Irrawaddy end. The
river, leaving its infancy and hot strenuous youth
behind it, settles down to maturer life, till at the delta,
still many hundred miles distant, its power is broken
and lost in the ocean.
The present-day traveller in Burma is borne along
the great highway under very pleasant conditions. For
nine hundred miles the Irrawaddy is navigated by the
steamers of the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company, most of
which are well equipped with the comforts of civilisation.
For purposes of rapid travel the' fast mail-
steamers are the more^ suitable; but for interest
and local colour, and for the insight they offer
into the life of the people, the great cargo-boats of
the flotilla are to be preferred. To the gay,
light-hearted Burman, whose philosophy is perfect
indolence, and to whom time is indefinite in its opportunities
for doing nothing, the speed of the express
steamer is of no attraction. A Burmese village whicff
treats the arrival of the mail-packet with calm indifference
is plunged into excitement when the hoarse
whistle of its slower fellow is borne up the river. On
such occasions, Sleepy Hollows, where no one appears
to have anything to do but doze in a comfortable
corner or bathe in the cool river, attain to a ridiculous
energy. For to every little village secluded from the
great world beyond it, save in so far as it rests on
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the shores of the noblest of highways, the cargo-boats
with huge flats in tow mean the advent of news, of
gossip, and of trade; things especially dear to the
Burman woman’s heart. Each week they, leave Man-
LAN D IN G TH E PASSENGERS
dalay, the centre of all things to the Upper Burman
mind, for the long voyage up the river to Bharno, ^.nd
they bring with them all "that a Burman heart 'can
desire, all that a Burman village cannot furnish, from
tinned Swiss milk and potted salmon to silk and
pearls.
The process is eminently simple. The cargo-boat,
and at least one of her flats, are partitioned out into
stalls which are let for the entire voyage, a matter of
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