o f gold. There is gold everywhere, from the pediment
of the stately pillars to the topmost pinnacle o f the ascending
roofs. Each o f them has cost the donors, prosperous
brokers in the paddy trade, a sum of ,£10,000,
and the details of the expenditure are recorded in
golden letters upon marble stones which compel the
attention of the visitor. The fancy of hiding his
spiritual light under a bushel is unknown to the
Burman Buddhist. The acquisition of merit f§- of
the merit that helps souls to rise in the scale of
perfection, which eventually floats the perfect into the
infinite peace of Nirvana— is the laudable ambition of
every earnest man and woman in Burma. It is the
action that counts, and its efficacy is little affected by
the manner in which it is performed. Moreover, the
Burmese mind is too direct and simple to entertain
the idea of ceremonial modesty on the one hand, or
of hypocrisy on the other. All men when they have
prayed at the pagoda and bestowed their alms, strike
with a deer horn one of the great tongueless bells on
the platform to rouse the attention of the Recording
Angel,
The new tazoungs illustrate at once the vigour
and the element of decline in Burmese art. Between
the golden pillars there are screens of fine wood-carving
most delicately and skilfully wrought. The artist has
not followed any model but his own fancy. He has
had the courage to break away from the traditional
boldness of design and execution which characterise
the national carving ; but his efforts, great in them-
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C H A P E L S IN G L A S S M O S A IC