b, when a civilian present at once offered me 50
rupees for the pony; he did not know the pony, he explained, but--he
knew Roberts.

In a steamer of the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company I came down the river
from Bhamo to Mandalay. When I left the Commissioner's bungalow, the
entire staff of the establishment and of some neighbouring bungalows
assembled to do me honour, creeping up to me, and with deep humility
carrying each an article of my possessions from my room down to the
porch. There were the _dhobie_ and _bearer_, the waterman with his
goatskin waterbag, the washerman who washed my blue Chinese garments as
white as his own, the _syce_ who did not collect grass, the cook who
sent me ten bad eggs in three days, and the Christian Madrasi, the
laziest rascal in Bhamo, who early confessed to me his change of faith
and the transformation it had effected in the future prospects of his
soul. There was the Burmese watchman, and the English-speaking Burmese
clerk, and the coolie who went to the bazaar for me, and many others.
They lined the stairs as I came out, and placed their hands reverently
to their foreheads when I passed by. It was pleasant to see such
disinterested evidence of their good will, and my only regret was that I
could not reward them according to their deserts. But to the Chinese
coolie who was grinning to see my paltry outfit carried by so many
hands, and who gathered together all I possessed and swung off with it
down past the temples to the steamer landing in the native city, I gave
a day's pay, and cheerfully--though he then asked for more.

In Mandalay I was taken to the club, and passed many hours there reading
the home papers and wandering through its gilded halls. Few clubs in the
world have such a sumptuous setting as this, for it is installed in the
throne-room and chambers and reception-halls of the palace of King
Theebaw.

In the very centre of the building is a seven-storeyed spire,
"emblematic of royalty and religion," which the Burmese look upon as the
"exact centre of creation." The reception-hall at the foot of the
throne is now the English chapel; the reading-room with its gilded dais
where the Queen sat on her throne, with its lofty roof, its pillars of
teak, and walls all ablaze with gilding, was the throne-room of
Theebaw's chief Queen.

Mandalay is largely Chinese, and on the outskirts of the city there is a
handsome temple which bears the charming inscription, so characteristic
of