little postern gate,
th e w e a l t h o f
C a p e l a n has
passed for centuries
on its way
to the great world ;
to the treasuries
É m M 1 1 ■ of kings, to the
' fingers of princes,
to the necks of
beautiful women ;
to the making of
one, the undoing
of another. Yet
of all this there
<1\_ is little trace in
U f y ^ the sleepy linea-
\ Is ments of Thabeitkyin.
Thé red
stream of wealth
has left it a quiet
village. Three or
four times a week,
the steamers call
here; every morning at this season small caravans of pack
mules set out for the ruby mines, and every day at noon,
or evening, long lines of weary mules file in to this the
last stage of their journey. Bullock carts and buffalo
carriages creak and toil along the road. But there is
no trace anywhere of abounding life or vigour. No one
756
PANTHAY MULETEER
Thabeit-kyin
hurries here but the newcomer ; and a day’s delay in
effecting a start for the mines, or the waste of a
forenoon in adjusting the load of a single mule, are
regarded with mild complacency by the habitués of the
place. The village headman, in pink silk, sits on his
hams in the shade, and looks gravely on, the caretaker
of the rest-house ambles to and fro in his loin-cloth,
interjecting philosophic remarks, the caravan-man pulls
a cord, mumbles in a strange Celestial patois, and makes
prolonged journeys between the waiting baggage and
his shed in the little hollow by the landing-place. Sixty
miles from here there are rubies, the finest rubies in the
world, ; but at Thabeit-kyin all is indolence .and peace.
Remote as the place is, strange people drift here
from far corners of the. world. . Beech-combers and
adventurers ; Australians, who have failed on Thursday
Island ; discharged soldiers, who have fought over half
the empire, or say they have ; voluble half-castes, with
restless eyes. They drift here drawn by the spell of
the ruby, and are undeterred by the company’s typewritten
warnings in all the rest-houses on the way to
the mines, that “ by going to Mogôk, they are undertaking
a tiresome journey to no purpose.”
The Silken East '■*-