quests for pence. Here, in these half-lit . corridors,
is gathered a singular epitome of life.' Women sit
nursing their babes, girls throw amorous glances and
quick words at the passing youth, nuns beg gently
in the open spaces, and loud-voiced Beggars call
upon the charity of the world : “ Amado, Amaungdo.
Thanahma sayaba myi kkinbya; tabya lauk thanadaiv
moogai-gyaba khinbya" (“ Good Folk— Ladies, gentlemen,
by your pity alone can I eat ; a copper, a copper,
I pray you ” ).
Ascending still, one comes upon the first moat of
the citadel, spanned by a drawbridge and defended by
an iron gate, whose chains and loopholes are , rusty
from want of use. On the east, the long moat reaches
away to the corner bastions ; on the west, to the barred
door of the arsenal guard-house. Here,, in this gate,
made for purposes alien to the Buddhist faith, there
is a mist of sunlight through which the figures of the
ascending crowd pass into the shadow of;the upper
stairs. The outer porch is of grey- wood and mosaic
gold and dark intricate carving, and the Chinese letters
testify to the race of the donor. The slant red sunlight
streams in unexpected bars amongst the shadows of
the stairs, falling here upon a woman’s face, transfiguring
it, there upon a mass of lambent gold on a white pillar ;
or it flames in the heart of the amber beads which fall
in curtains before the stalls. And thus, climbin. gO' on.
up the stairs, polished by the bare feet of. the worshipping
millions, one comes with a swift transition upon the
great court of the pagoda, and all that_.it has to show
104.
NUNS ON TH E PAGODA PLATFO RM