lavished, on hidden gargoyles and saintly figures far out
of reach of the.thronging world b.elow ; and one admires
the; restraint, the - humility, and the. fine purpose.. But
it is only. in. Burma,: so ; often accused of : superficiality,
that men put; a great ran.spm in-jewels where, no eye
can testify to their splendour.
Thè platform upon which the pagoda stands is
approached by four great flights of stairs at the càrdinal
points. O f these the southern stairs are the most
frequented, facing as they do the immemorial road
which 'leads up from the banks of the river, straight
through the heart of the town to the pagoda. The
eastern and the northern stairs are used by the
smaller- communities of people who reside in their
neighbourhood. The western stairs have been closed
to worshippers at the pagoda since the irony of events
converted it into a British fortress. Each of these
stairs has an individuality of its own.
THE SOUTHERN APPROACH
Here, the first steps on the roadside are flanked
by a pair of colossal gryphons, at whose feet there
are strange contrasts of lepers in the toils of death
and children unconsciously at play. Beyond the
gryphons there is a modern arch of masonry, which is
unworthy of its-place in the forefront of the great fane.'
Beyond 'it again, there reach away, in deep gloom, the
first stairs of the covered passage to more open
spaces where the light falls in golden bars upon
ioo
YOUNG GIRLS AT THEIR DEVOTIONS.