lets, big again as
the moon, about their
throats. Some are of
the Shan, flat of nose
—’tis the failing Jof
these people—fair of
skin, with even a
rosy flush in their
cheeks, plump, waddling,
comely, and
comfortable. All are
over-topped by the
great hat, symbol of
| the Far East. Here
¡¡5 and there in the crowd
O’ .
£ is a Burmese damsel,
« in silk, velvet, pearls,
and a yellow translucent
parasol, the
comforter of some
r u b y k i n g or
European adventurer.
Towering above
the line of slight
houses, is thé keep
of a prosperous trader,
all of stone, very
high ; and from its
mid-story protrudes
the head of a retainer,
pipe in mouth, his slit eyes restless, absorbing. At the
window of a house in the main street, barred like a
leopard’s cage, sit groups of Chetti, naked and intent,
sorting the rubies which lie in gleaming trays on their
knees. In a hut at a corner, where the stream of
yellow tailings runs by, a tanner from Qudh sits at
a c h in a m a n ’s s t o r e
work on the leopard-skins of a miner. A countryman
of his across the way rolls cigarettes by the hour, selling
them to the passers-by. At Intervals, there are Chinese
eating-houses, equipped with little tables and stools, and
dressers fitted out with blue china, ; and chopsticks,
and pewter spoons. The fare is varied and savoury,
and pigs’ trotters, plump fowls, cabbages, and ducks
hang from strings like a curtain, behind which the