who has lived in Burma would willingly O J forOg et it '; for
its old-world air, for this very sentiment of failure that
clings to its atmosphere. It is a place to which old
clerkly pensioners retire when their life’s work is done.
Rangoon, they will tell you, is too great for them.
Lesser towns are. prone to be too small.- Moulmein,.
with its colony of resident Europeans, its friendly and
AN ISLAND IN THE SALWIN AT MODLMEIN
unpretentious ways, its temperate climate, and its cheap
living, makes a special appeal to quiet people.-
When it came into British hands three-quarters of
a. century ago, it was scarely more than unreclaimed
jungle. Yet it was not wholly unknown in thè great
days when Pegu dazzled the imaginations of men, and
Martaban, its neighbour across the water, was a viceregal
city. “ Some of the Peguans,” wrote the Jesuit
Pimenta, early in the seventeenth century, “ in this time
had with the Siamites’ help brought the Castle of
Murmulan into their possession, whom the king besieged
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