It is a-large gem, the size of my thumb-nail, almost
flat-bottomed, but spherical above, displaying a faint
series of concentric rings—a bauble of price. It is
not yet sold, but the owner has received an offer of
17,000 rupees. From whom? Ah! he does not know!
But it is rumoured abroad in the town that he may
command that price. Bargaining is a delicate affair, and
if you seek a wife or a pearl of price, you begin thus
tenderly, floating a rumour upon the air through the
mouth of a friend.
Some more talk, and we move on past the bazaar
where large-eyed girls sell silk, to the house of U
Shway E , the Chinaman with the quart bottles full
•of pearls. His father, he tells us, piloted the English
T:o Rangoon in the year 1825; and when the English
left Rangoon, having “ allee fixee ” with the Burmese,
he, feeling his life might be a troubled one if he stayed,
took the opportunity to embark for Calcutta. But long
before this,, when his father was a younger man, he
had visited London, and learnt the ways of the
English.
U Shway E ’s intimacy with the Salon of the
archipelago began when he accompanied Captain Shore
to these islands. Since then he has ever been their
friend. Every Englishman who has sought to know
anything of these strange people has come to him.
He supplied Dr. Anderson with many of his facts,
and made a census of the gypsies for Master Eales,
the Census Commissioner.
This old man of the silvery pigtail and courteous
502
manner, who has made a fortune out of the "simple
Salon, poses as their friend and benefactor. Recently,
he says, he asked the Government for a grant of the
A GIRL OF MERGUI
islands, with a view to reclaiming them to civilisation :
but the Deputy Commissioner said: “ Do you want
the Salon then to be your subjects-for ever ? ” He
claims that he has always been kind to them, and has
never sold them liquor. It is very true that they have
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