and, save
for the howling of jackals outside, or the yapping of a dog, silence
reigns throughout the village.

[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO A BURMESE VILLAGE. _Page 10._]

CHAPTER VII

TOWN LIFE

Owing to their primitive methods of building and choice of materials,
a Burmese town differs very little from a village except in point of
size, though occasionally the houses are of two stories and
timber-built throughout.

The stockade is absent, and in its place deep ditches, partly filled
with water, surround the houses, and run alongside of the streets,
which are, perhaps, somewhat wider and more regularly planned.

The approach to the town is often very pretty, the water reflecting
the waving palm-trees and picturesque buildings, while the roads,
which in Burma are usually nothing but a track, have, as they near the
town, some semblance of solidity.

Little bridges cross the ditches, and give access to the houses, round
about which are often raised paths or causeways of burnt brick set
"herring-bone" fashion. These prove a comfort in the rains, when the
streets of the town are rivers and the whole country a sea of mud.

Trees in plenty shade the road and houses, and shops and small bazaars
give an air of business to the town, whose principal street, however,
is largely covered with grass, and affords a convenient place in
which to try a pony's paces.

Some of the streets have side-walks, a shade less dusty (or muddy, as
the case may be) than the road itself, and in the least frequented of
them dwarf palmettos enjoy a lusty existence.

Enclosed by low palisades in front of many houses, cannas, hibiscus,
poinsettia, or lilies are growing, and rare orchids hang from the
eaves, to provide in their strange but lovely blossoms a flower for
some woman's hair. Indoors, in coloured pots or stands of often
elaborate design, are other flowers, always most carefully tended, for
the Burmans love what is beautiful in Nature.

In the streets the life of the people is only a slight amplification
of that of the villages, the shops with their attendant customers
marking the principal difference, while in bullock-carts of more
ornamental design than those of the villages, the families of the
well-to-do enjoy their outing.

Though always two-wheeled and drawn by a pair of oxen, there is a
certain amount of variety in the native carts. The wheels are
generally large, and are placed very wide apart, in order to lessen
t