C H A P T E R X X X V
SHW EG U N
A GLIMPSE -OF VILLAGE LIFE
SHW EGU N is the end of civilisation on the Sal win.
From here the steamers turn back to Moulmein,
and he who would travel farther must embark in the
slow-moving boats of the country, and face the primitive
life. It is a place in which to wait a day, before taking
the final plunge.
There is a house here for the traveller, built by
the river bank, and the village street, which is also
the highway, runs past it. Life therefore is ever afoot
under the windows of the house.
Here is the Myo-dk of Hlaingbwd, oil his way back
from the burning of a monk at U-daung. The Myo-ok
is the greatest man in Shwegun. He is an officer of
the empire, a link in that chain of office which begins
with the village headman and culminates in the august
person of the Viceroy. And here in all the wide
Hlaingbwe tract he is the personal embodiment of
British rule. No Viceroy has ever come to Hlaingbwd ;
no Lieutanant-Governor; no Chief Justice; no Com-
• 624
f P . ,