FORESTERS’ LIFE IN BURMA 185 
learning of our camp in the vicinity, they had come 
to report. Their astonishment at the events of the. 
night before was great, but they could not explain 
the occurrence, and we were content to believe that 
the birds of the air had conveyed the matter to two 
wandering orphans in distress. 
At Manlé we reached the depository of one of 
Buddha’s numerous teeth, which we were told had 
been presented by a German scientist, who had 
acquired it in Ceylon. The relic, which appeared 
to be of solid ivory, and similar in shape to the tusk 
of a walrus, did not afford so much interest as its 
custodian, a venerable Abbot with a charming pres- 
ence, and manners calculated to command reverence, 
and even affection. We went to call on this gentle- 
man, who, though debarred by the customs of his 
religion from approaching any woman, thought he 
had sufficiently deferred to the prejudices of his 
subordinates by placing me between himself and the 
lady visitor, and thus seated he related to us the 
history of his life and work. Later on he took us to 
the small pagoda in which the sacred tooth was kept 
behind the barred iron gratings. The monks lined 
the sides of the narrow staircase, and the beaten- 
gold shrine containing the relic was handed down 
from hand to hand, received by the Abbot, and 
placed on an altar under the trees. Then all bent 
in silent, almost tearful, adoration. There could be 
no doubt of the intensity of the feelings evoked, and 
when I forced myself to ask whether the Abbot 
believed that this was a human tooth—an impossi- 
bility save by the force of simple faith—the reply 
came firmly that the relic was entrusted to him 
