steep ascent as I left the Pagoda after
my second visit there. I am glad for his sake, and for the sake of all
the millions to whom Buddha's doctrine is "the Light of Asia," that it
is a religion at least without the degrading, blighting tendencies of
Hinduism, and that the smiling faces of the images about the Shwe
Dagon present at least some faint idea of a God who tempers justice
with mercy and made human life good rather than a God of cruelty who
made life a curse and a mockery. Every traveller who sees Buddhist
Burma after having seen Hindu India comments on the greater
cheerfulness and hopefulness of the Burman people, and especially the
happier lives of the women--all a result, in the main, of the
difference in religion.

And yet Burman Buddhism, in all conscience, is pitiable enough--its
temples infested by fortune-tellers, witches, and fakirs, its faith
mingled with gross superstitions and charms to propitiate the "nats"
or spirits which are supposed to inhabit streams, forests, villages,
houses, etc., and to have infinite power over the lives and fortunes
of the people. A common sight on the morning streets is a group of
yellow-robed priests with their begging bowls, into which pious
Buddhists put food and other offerings; without these voluntary
offerings the priest must go hungry. A curious custom in Burma, as in
Siam, requires every youth to don the priestly robe for a few days and
get his living in this way.

The ordinary beast of burden in Rangoon is the Indian {193} bullock.
Often pure white, usually with a well-kept appearance and with a
clean, glossy coat of short hair, he looks as if he should be on the
way to a Roman sacrifice with garlands about his head. Teams of black
Hindus, three quarters naked, are also seen pulling heavy carts and
drays; and it may be that the small boys utilize the long-eared goats
(they have heavy, drooping ears like a foxhound's) to pull their small
carts, but this I do not know. The work-beast of the city that
interested me most was the elephant, and henceforth the elephants of
Rangoon shall have a place alongside the camels of Peking in my memory
and affection. Of course, the elephants of Rangoon are not so numerous
as are the camels in China's capital, but those that one sees display
an intelligence and certain human-like qualities that make them
fascinating.

One morning I got up early and went to McGregor & Co.'s lumber yard at
Ahloon on the Irrawaddy to see the tr