''''For Richer for Poorer'' 33 



Forty years ago India was a travelers' Mecca, but rela- 

 tively few thought Burma worth more than a glance. They 

 would sail from Calcutta to Rangoon, look at the great 

 pagoda, rush up to Mandalay and see the sights of the 

 city, interesting enough to be sure, and then call it a day 

 and move on. We decided to do a Httle differently. 



We crossed from Calcutta to Mandalay and found some- 

 thing which I have never forgotten and which really 

 whetted our appetites for more. This was not Shwe-Dagon, 

 astounding as that great temple is, but rather a row of big 

 trees of Amherstia nobilis encircling the lake in the city 

 park. Amherstia is certainly the A number i flowering 

 tree of the whole world and this is its homeland. The indi- 

 vidual blossoms look like tiny hummingbirds each mounted 

 on a slender wire and all tied into a long dropping cord, 

 so that the dozen or more little birdlike flowers stick out 

 quite evenly in all directions. The individual blooms are 

 scarlet with big blobs of gold symmetrically placed and 

 as sharply defined as if each one were hand-painted. The 

 fohage of the tree, especially the new shoots, is delicately 

 tinted, and with the leaves makes up a combination of 

 color and form which is superb. After driving out re- 

 peatedly to look at the Amherstias, we decided to post- 

 pone our trip to Java, where we had a real job to do, in 

 order to see a little more of this fascinating country. For 

 the more we heard of it the more we wanted to see. And 

 naturally we took time to watch the elephants a-piUn' teak 

 and all that sort of thing while we were making plans. Late 

 one afternoon a comfortable train landed us in Mandalay, 

 where we did the ordinary sightseeing of palaces and 

 shrines. Rosamond reveled in the silk market and I went 



