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The lecturer made some observations on the serious danger 

 of a State education that refuses to deal with religion. Though 

 the Hindu religion seems so terribly degrading that one might 

 at first sight be inclined to say that no religion would be pre- 

 ferable to it, yet it is a grave question whether human nature 

 is not better with a religion of a very low type than without a 

 religion at all, and, of course, when our scientific education 

 comes to these people their present faiths must disappear, 

 leaving nothing under the present system to take its place but 

 blank atheism. 



The lecturer described his journey, after leaving Calcutta, 

 to British Burmah, and his visits to the three principal 

 towns — Rangoon, Bassein, and Moulmein. He was much im- 

 pressed with the enormous size and magnificence of the Showay 

 Dragon Pagoda, or great golden temple of Godama, at Rangoon. 

 The area on which this pagoda stands is 800 feet square. The 

 entrance is approached by an enormous flight of stairs, which 

 is guarded by two huge mystical figures about fifty feet high, 

 with blue heads and red mouths. The pagoda itself is a 

 stupendous mass of solid masonry tapering gradually from an 

 octagonal base, 1,355 square feet in extent, to a spire of small 

 circumference, surmounted by the sacred '! tie " or umbrella, of 

 open ironwork. The umbrella is said to be studded with jewels 

 of very great value, and the whole building is one blaze of gold. 

 The " Pooh Yees," or Buddish priests, dress in a long yellow 

 garment, and live in monasteries called kouyns, made of wood, 

 and richly carved. At Maybin, a village on the Irrawaddy, 

 the mosquitoes are so fierce and numerous that large fires have 

 to be lighted by the natives in the evening to keep them away, 

 and even the horses and milch cows are sheltered by mosquito 

 nets. The Burmese seem to lead a quiet, contented life, and, 

 as far as one can judge, are fairly satisfied with the British rule. 

 The women, unlike their sisters in India, are allowed much 

 freedom by social custom, and many of them take an active and 

 independent interest in business affairs, such as the sale of rice 

 and other produce. 



