rill bells and the beating of dull gongs, and all the
hideous paraphernalia of Eastern celebrations. The populace--Shan almost
to a man--were bent on seeing me, a task rendered difficult by the
gathering darkness of night. Soldiers guarded the way, and there were
several broken heads. They came, stared and wondered, and then passed
away for others to come in shoals, laughingly, and seeming no longer to
harbor the hostile feelings apparent as I entered the town.

My shaving magnifier amused them wonderfully.

There was an outcry as I entered the room after we had dined, followed
by a scream of women in almost hysterical laughter. When they caught
sight of me, however, a brief pause ensued, and the solemn hush, that
even in a callous crowd invariably attends the actual presence of a
long-awaited personage, reigned unbroken for a while; then one spoke,
then another ventured to address me, and the spell of silence gave way
to noise and general excitability, and the people began speedily to
close upon me, anxious to get a glimpse of such a peculiar white man.
Later on, when the shutters were up and the public thus kept off, the
family foregathered unasked into my room, bringing with them their own
tea and nuts, and laying themselves out to be entertained. My whole
gear, now reduced to most meager proportions, was scrutinized by all.
There were four men and five women, the usual offshoots, and the aged
couple who held proprietary rights over the place. They sat on my bed,
on my boxes; one of the children sat on my knee, and the ladies,
seemingly of the easiest virtue, overhauled my bedclothes unblushingly.
The murmuring noise of the vast expectant New Year multitude died off
gradually, like the retreating surge of a distant sea, and the hot
motionless atmosphere in my room, with eleven people stepping on one
another's toes in the cramped area, became more and more weightily
intensified. The husband of one of the women--a miserable, emaciated
specimen for a Shan--came forward, asking whether I could cure his
disease. I fear he will never be cured. His arm and one side of his body
was one mass of sores. Before it could be seen four layers of Chinese
paper had to be removed, one huge plantain leaf, and a thick layer of
black stuff resembling tar. I was busy for some thirty minutes dressing
it with new bandages. I then gave him ointment for subsequent dressings,
whereupon he put on his coat and walked out of the room (leaving the