an
invitation to dinner. Several other visitors came on board in the
course of the afternoon, and at five o'clock we landed and went for a
drive.

Important as are the commercial aspects of the place, it is not these
which interest and arrest the attention of the stranger, but rather
what is old, quaint, and perhaps more or less effete. The appearance
of the people themselves, to begin with, is most picturesque. Nearly
all the men are naked to the waist, or wear a small white open linen
jacket, with a voluminous _putso_ wound tightly round their loins and
gathered into a great bundle or knot in front. Their long hair is
beautifully trimmed, plaited, and oiled, and their glossy locks are
protected from the sun by an oiled-silk umbrella. The women wear much
the same costume, except that the _tamieri_ which replaces the _putso_
is gayer in colour and more gracefully put on. There seems to be a
strong family likeness between our own Scotch kilts, the Malay
sarongs, the Burmese putsos and tamieris, and the Punjaubee tunghis.
They are evidently the outcome of the first effort of a savage people
to clothe themselves, and consist merely of oblong or square unmade
pieces of cloth wound round the body in a slightly differing fashion.
Some people profess to be able to recognise the Bruce and Stewart
plaids in the patterns of the sarongs. Stripes and squares are
comparatively cheap, while anything with a curved or vandyked pattern
is expensive, because for each curved or vandyked line a special
instrument, called a _loon_, must be used. Hence the probable
derivation of _langoti_, by which name the same garment is called in
India. The rain-hats are also remarkable, being sufficiently large to
enable the wearer to dispense with an umbrella, though an oiled-paper
parasol is generally carried in case of a shower.

[Illustration: Great Pagoda Court]

But it was not only the people who interested me. There were the great
pagodas, like huge hand-bells, gilded and decorated in various styles,
with curious little _htees_, or gilt crowns, at the top, ornamented
with rubies and emeralds. On the extreme summit, in the place of
honour, is almost invariably fixed an English soda-water bottle,
while the minor positions of importance are occupied by tonic-water
bottles, which are of the same shape, but of a blue colour. The still
more inferior places are crowned by dark green square-shouldered
seltzer-water bottles. It seems a curious idea th