set beyond the Dalla plains, a view of surpassing
interest and beauty. Tufted palms- rise up here, dark
and stately, in the forefront; the grass-covered bastions
of the fort lie below and beyond, reaching away to
the horizon, spreads the fair site of the city of Rangoon.
The Pegu river and the Hlaing meet -therd under the
guns of Monkey Point and the loops of the smaller
river reach away through the heart of the level plain
to the misty land of the dawn. The spire of Syriam
pierces the distant sky ; the dark smoke-clouds of factories
trail in the wake of the invisible winds. Where
the Puzun-Daung creek opens out like an estuary into
the wide space of waters, the pent roofs of the mills,
and the anasts of the cargo boats, cluster together, and
in the sapphire mist there are traced in outline the
lineaments of a great and populous city. Much nearer,
and under the eastern slopes, the Royal lakes lie like a
chance mirror, and every phase of the passing day is
caught upon their surface.
Here, true to his instinct of piety, his love of .the
beautiful, the Burman pilgrim who has paid his. devotions
at the great shrine retires for silent meditation.
Maybe it is an old man who sits here alone as the
evening- draws in, his eyeS'-turned. towards the world
o f palm-trees and distant rivers, of red roofs and the
paling1 hues of the sunset; while a rosary moves in
his fingers, responsive to the prayer falling from his
lips,- his ' face wrapt in an ecstasy of holiness. There
is kome-quality in the Burman which lifts him up at
such-times, and in such places, to a great dignity. I
■ 108
THE P ILG R IM ’S REST