panese architecture. There also, lacquer and
gold are employed to an unusual extent but the flourishes, horns and
finials which in Burma spring from every corner and projection are
wanting and both Japanese and Chinese artists are more sparing and
reticent. They distribute ornament so as to emphasize and lead up to
the more important parts of their buildings, whereas the open-handed,
splendour-loving Burman puts on every panel and pillar as much
decoration as it will hold.

The result must be looked at as a whole and not too minutely. The best
work is the wood carving which has a freedom and boldness often
missing in the minute and crowded designs of Indian art. Still as a
rule it is at the risk of breaking the spell that you examine the
details of Burmese ornamentation. Better rest content with your first
amazement on beholding these carved and pinnacled piles of gold
and vermilion, where the fantastic animals and plants seem about to
break into life.

The most celebrated shrine in Burma is the Shwe Dagon Pagoda which
attracts pilgrims from all the Buddhist world. No descriptions of it
gave me any idea of its real appearance nor can I hope that I shall be
more successful in giving the reader my own impressions. The pagoda
itself is a gilt bell-shaped mass rather higher than the Dome of St.
Paul's and terminating in a spire. It is set in the centre of a raised
mound or platform, approached by lofty flights of steps. The platform,
which is paved and level, is of imposing dimensions, some nine hundred
feet long and seven hundred wide. Round the base of the central pagoda
is a row of shrines and another row runs round the edge of the
platform so that one moves, as it were, in a street of these edifices,
leading here and there into side squares where are quiet retreats with
palm trees and gigantic images. But when after climbing the long
staircase one first emerges on the platform one does not realize the
topography at once and seems to have entered suddenly into Jerusalem
the Golden. Right and left are rows of gorgeous, fantastic
sanctuaries, all gold, vermilion and glass mosaic, and within them sit
marble figures, bland, enigmatic personages who seem to invite
approach but offer no explanation of the singular scene or the part
they play in it. If analyzed in detail the artistic merits of these
shrines might be found small but the total impression is unique. The
Shwe Dagon has not the qualities which usually distinguish