332 SPORT AND TRAVEL PAPERS 



which are fast ruining the wonderful grandeur of my next 

 picture, the Falls of Niagara, as I saw the original long ago, 

 many years before any of the dollar-making contrivances were 

 even dreamt of. 



Man, assisted by Nature, has created three most fascinating 

 and beautiful tableaux on my list, and first and foremost comes 

 Nikko. If asked to name the most beautiful place which I 

 have seen, Nikko would be the answer. The Japanese proverb, 

 "Do not use the word 'magnificent' until you have seen Nikko," 

 has the best of foundations. There is everything of beauty here 

 and nothing without natural beauty and that wrought by hand. 

 Natural a wild valley among great rocks and mountains, the 

 latter green with beautiful trees and shrubs, and in springtime 

 gorgeous with huge masses of pink azalea blossom ; a rushing 

 torrent fighting its way between boulders from the mountains 

 above outlet from picturesque Chuzenji Lake passing presently 

 beneath the famous red lacquer bridge which leads from Nikko 

 village to the still more famous tombs and monasteries hidden 

 among those glorious groves of cryptomerias. 



Matchless in growth and solemn grandeur, these beautiful trees 

 guard the unmatched structures within their recesses and watch 

 over the graves of those two great Japanese shoguns, leyasu, 

 founder of the Tokugawa dynasty, and his grandson lemitsu. 

 Nothing could be more appropriate as a final resting-place for 

 these national heroes ; they lie in solemn and undisturbed 

 silence, surrounded by everything that is most beautiful in 

 nature, and overlook those glorious works of man, the temples 

 and shrines, the Torii, pagoda, and other structures, which for 

 architecture, most artistic carving, and gorgeous yet never gaudy 

 colouring are the wonder of the world. 



The most brilliantly beautiful scene I can recall was staged 

 at the Shoay Dagon, or Golden Pagoda, at Rangoon on a festival 

 day. Probably nowhere else were ever such surpassingly gor- 

 geous and varied colours brought together, the combined effect 

 constantly changing like the patterns of a kaleidoscope as the 

 crowd slowly moved round the huge hand-bell shaped pagoda, 

 the gracefully tapering spire of which rises to a height of 321 

 feet to be there crowned by the " Htee," resembling an open 

 umbrella, studded with bells and precious stones, worth 600,000 

 rupees, it is said. To the famous pagoda, renowned throughout 



