186 FOREST LIFE AND SPORT IN INDIA 
as sacred, and that he had received it and retained 
it in all good faith. We left this Abbot, a gentleman 
in the truest sense of the word, with regret. 
It is curious to note the tendency to express merit 
or divinity by figures of colossal proportions, as is so 
often the case, not only in Burma, but with the 
Jains, and sometimes even with Hindus. This prac- 
tical aggrandizement of deities and others probably 
leads the uneducated, who are too prone to accept 
the symbol for the actual representation of unseen 
powers, to picture to themselves, not the human 
body with Divine attributes, but a figure possessing 
in reality grotesque additions which depict these 
attributes. It would follow that a simple Buddhist 
would base his conception of the “ Light of Asia” on 
the huge models in brass and alabaster which he 
sees in the temples, and demand that his tooth 
should be in proportion. The educated men, of 
whatever religion, fervently deny the imputation of 
idolatry, asserting that the images they revere have 
in themselves no intrinsic power or merit, but are 
useful merely in calling to remembrance the attri- 
butes of those they adore; so that, while admitting 
paganism, they demur to being classified as idolaters 
by the breezy confidence of the West. And thus, 
seeing that it is the educated who lead religious 
thought, there might perhaps be more success in 
proselytism if further consideration were given to 
this subject by those who take a practical interest 
in it. 
Leaving the Mu district, we proceeded northwards 
and met the officer commanding an escort of 
Gurkhas, with whom we hoped to travel to the jade- 
