during the performance, that seemed’1 ''highly interesting'-to the audience.
Ram by a poisoned arrow ; the sages skilled in
medicine consulted on his cure ; they discovered, that on the mountain
Indragurty;'grew à‘1 certain tree that produced a gum5 which was a sove- •
reiom antidote against the- deleterious effects of poison ; but the distance
-was so great that none Could be found to undertake the journey : at length
Houymafh* leader of the army of apes, offered to go in quest of it. When
he Arrived at the place, being uncertain which was the tree, he- took up
half the mountain, and transported it with i.ease ; thus was the cure of
Ram happily effected, the enchantment was broken, and the piece ended
with a dance,'aiid songs of triumph. _■
On the 12th of April, the last day of the Birman year, we were invited
by the Maywoon lo bear a.part ourselves in a sport that is universally-
practised throughout the Birman dominions on the concluding day of their
anrniah'cycle; To wash away the impurities of the past, and commence
the new year free from stain, women on this day are accustomed to throw
water on èvery man they meet, which the men have the pi ivilege of retorting ;
this licence gives rise to a great deal of harmless merriment, particularly
amongst the young Women, who, armed with large syringes and flaggons,
endeavour to wet every man that goes along-the Street, .and, in their turn,
receive a wetting with perfect good humour; nor is the smallest indecency
ever manifested in this or in any other of their sports. Dirty water is
never cast ; a man is not allowed to lay hold of a woman, but may fling
* Honymaan is worshipped by the Hindoos under the form of an ape, and is one of
the most frequent objects of their adoration : almost every Hindoo pagoda has this figure
delineated in some part of it. Honymaan is the term used by the Hindoos to denote a lafge
fiitnfieh-watch6ver<hedias;-h:ei<pfeaSe^! provided she! h^slbeen the aggressor
fpbjiti if a- wbftianci Warns * 'w mad thatoishe tdo.e'sS Aotbrnean td join in the
tdiveMortl it* isSconsMered as an avowalufip^grianGyy.ahd she passes,with*
<6^IktSSldstatio'h.•
Abdufi all> holafebefijEeisunseti we wenti.t&sitheiMaywo(®hls,' and1 found
t h a t ' p r o v i d e d plentifully f e f l | § a -we^’rdceptjon; ■ JLn
itlic Altad A efe1 plaeedHhree'' large. ‘chin^jSrS, ib.ll (||wate'rj w ith bowls
iah^'?la|;}j|s^th o£;.Us-, onAntbipOTjWJud & bottle of rdsewa'teB.':
presentSd> to? o f which ||j ||m ’turn poured into the
pdlfrdhthe^Maywodn’^hand^whc^sprihkled-'if ||||p?Rfe pwrrivesVdf fe e
rflbwe'ffxfemiisljn'jAhhe* lady thcli TrCfdi? her apffyiiud^ at tl’EAdtmry’and
g'aye i^ fd 'u n d e rstan d that shei did not me'an,,t‘w|'diii in the -‘Sjjprkihdr-'
ifidft&but made ’daughter” a'jiretty child;Am1d i#0u'rsefs arms,
Ifeeur from" afgolda^h’Hji^fdme rose-watter mixed, with sandalF-jWfoodi first
feer^heBifathep,1- “ and thenyoivfef each of the English , gentlemen; this
ij£as$a signal for the*-spork,to begin. We went ■ being dressed in
liiidn-. waistcoats. From ten to twenty women,wafting- and- middle! agcd>;
gfu’shed -into the half , from, the,*inner apartments,' who ysurrohnded and
deluged without mercy four men disable to maintain so unequal a gou-
& s ti-' Thfe Maywoon was soon driven from the field;- But Mr. Wood
Bfeyifigigb't possession tifi.esfiS of the jars, were enabled to preserve our
’ground tilb th e water was exhausted ;i it seemed to afford-them great
diversMtf§i especially if we-appeared^at', alf- distressed by the. qu^trf|p,pf
Abater flung in our faces. All parties being tired, and.OOfip.hicfedrenched,
we went home to change our clothes, and in the way met fiidnydamsels' who
1 Would willingly have renewed the Spdrt;, they, how ever, were afraid to
begin without receiving encouragement from us, not knowing how it