WEST GATE, ARACAN PAGODA
shops jostle each other, growing more numerous, till I
reach where the great masonry cats are scarcely visible
from the press o f their multitude.
From here to the latticed doors, behind which the
profile o f the Buddha is faintly visible in the interior
gloom, there is a long aisle, half-lit, and filled with yet
other stall’s.
Some of the pillars o f the hall are o f plain unpainted
wood, others are rich with mirror mosaic and gold.
The scene is so attractive, so charged with incident and
multiplicity of beauty, that I come insensibly to a standstill.
1 he long vista ahead tempts my feet forward ;
the shops, the bars o f diffused light streaming through
the corridors behind, tempt me to stay and look back.
One who came here for the first time would need to be
374
IN THE EASTERN CORRIDOR
