( 48 ) 



each in circumference. They were decapitated by the earthquake, 

 and the heads now he in fragments around them. 



86. We inspected the great bell, which, with the exception of 



The great bell of Mengoon. * nat at Moscow, is perhaps the largest 



in the world. It is suspended from 

 three teak beams strapped together with iron bands, resting on 

 teak uprights encased in masonry ; these, however, having been 

 thrown out of the perpendicular, the bell has now to be supported 

 on blocks of wood about eighteen inches high. Captain Strover and 

 myself crawled in from below to examine the workmanship, an 

 account of which is given below in the foot-note, as described by 

 that accurate observer and distinguished author, Yule.* 



87. Among the most interesting pagodas we visited in the 

 Unusual style of a Pagoda in the neighbourhood, was that undergoing 



neighbourhood of Mengoon. repairs at the expense of one of the 



Queens. Its unusual style of architecture cannot fail to attract 

 attention, and as we saw it newly white-washed, and capped with 

 a recently-gilded htee, it presented a most striking appearance. 

 It represents a series of concentric masonry circles, each diminish- 

 ing in size upwards until the seventh tier is reached, and a few 

 feet higher is the htee. Each circle is surrounded by a vandyked 

 parapet, with small recesses at equal distances, each being occupied 

 by a marble statuette of gaudama. We mounted the pagoda 

 by a flight of stairs within the building, but descended another 

 way which was evidently intended for egress, the steps leading 

 into the court yard. It was now time for us to take our 

 departure, as we anticipated a few interruptions on the way back. 

 It is fortunate we did not delay; for another quarter of an hour, 

 and the Made creek would have been so blocked by boats, rafts, 

 firewood, grass, &c, that it would simply have been impossible to 

 pass up that night ; as it was, we were a good deal delayed, and 

 eventually had to make elbow-room for ourselves for; the 



* Small ingots of silver (and some say pieces of gold) may still be traced, unmelted in the 

 mass, and from the inside one sees the curious way in which the makers tried to strengthen the 

 parts which suspended it by dropping into the upper part of the moidd iron chains round which 

 the metal has run. 



The Burmese report the bell to contain 555,555 viss of metal (about 900 tons). Its prin- 

 cipal dimensions are as follow ; — 



Ft. In. 

 External diameter at the Up . . . . . . 10 



Interior height . . . . . . 11 6 



Exterior ditto .. .. .. .. 12 



Interior diameter at top . . . . . . ..86 



The thickness of metal varies from six inches to twelve, and the actual weight of the whole 

 bell is by rough calculation, about eighty tons, or one-eleventh of the popular estimate. Accord- 

 ing to Mr. Howard Malcolm, whose authority was probably Colonel Burney, the weight is stated 

 by the Koyal Chronicle at 55,500 viss, or about ninety tons. This statement is probably therefore 

 genuine, and the popular fable merely a multiplication of it by ten. — Yule's Ava, page 171. 



