As long as the steamers run at full speed, the draft
made by their movement keeps the enemy at bay ; but
the grinding of the anchor chains is a signal for attack,
and he invades in hordes. The slow-moving boats of
the country fare worst; but a night in the Panhlang
creek is an experience that all travellers willingly
avoid.
YANDOON TO PROME
Some time in
the dawn, we pass
up by Yandoon
(rendezvous of all
the boats that bear
the I r r a waddy
trade, and chief
depot for the sale
of stinking fish)
into t h e m a i n
eastern branch of
the great river. It is wide enough here, and splendid
■enough, to rank by itself as a river of the world. No
longer is it possible to shout across it from bank to bank.
It loses much of its winding beauty, its hedges of giant
grass, its avenues of stately forest. Its sweep is too
wide to be compassed at a glance, or measured by the
■eye. Immensity is now its chief characteristic. It trails
away from one end of the misty horizon to the other ; it
dominates the entire landscape, and conveys the impression
of a world of waters.
236
P LO UGHIN G
As we near Donabyu, there is a village on our
right, protected by embankments against the flood.
All along here these embankments exist, and the bed
of the river is being slowly lifted above the level of the
surrounding lands. Some day the river will burst its
bonds, and produce great catastrophes.
The little village is graced with a small pagoda, all
covered with new gold. . On the foreshore the village
boys play at “ Association” football, with such a degree
of vivacity and animation as only the laziest people
in the world can compass. Sometimes the football
falls into the river, where it bobs helplessly to and fro,
till it is rescued and sent back ashore with a kick from
a naked toe. The village cattle and the village dogs
reflect in their appearance the general prosperity.
Wealth is stamped upon every feature of the landscape,
and there is room for many millions more than there
are at present to share it.
On the farther shore lies Donabyu, its importance
marked by its golden pagoda and its long lines of iron
roofs. Facing it is one of the many low-lying islands
embraced by the river in its flood season. It is covered
with a dense forest of river-grass, which bends under
the breezes, and is blown about like the tresses of a
girl. Here, as all along the river, thepeingaws, drawn
ashore and loftier than the houses, or propelled by
twenty rowers, or flying like great birds up the river
with the gale behind them, are the feature of every
landscape"; and objects of perpetual interest. Burmese
craftsmanship has produced nothing that surpasses them;.