1864.] JExtraet from Journal of a Trip to Bhamo. 



191 



gap in the north wall, which seemed mostly levelled with the ground of 

 the city, though its site is plainly marked by the brickwork, and found 

 myself on the steep bank of the creek mentioned by the Thoogyee. 

 Looking northwards, a long stretch of gradually narrowing water 

 appears at last to end in a cul-de-sac amidst dense jungle. This is 

 evidently an old passage, and at present an open one in the rainy season. 

 To the right, close along the wall of the city, stretched a piece of low 

 jungly ground, through which a small stream of water issued into the 

 main creek. I went along this north wall till jungle and approach- 

 ing darkness stopped me, The line of brickwork was plain enough, 

 and close outside it, the ground sloped to the low swampy jungle 

 which the natives said is covered with deep water every summer.. 



The present village, I should explain, is situated on the north-west 

 corner of the old city : one or two old pagodas are near and several 

 modern ones. The chief object of reverence to fear, however, is a Nat, 

 which is said to possess great power for evil as well as good, and espe- 

 cially inflicts the stomach-ache on any offender. The material repre- 

 sentative of this spirit is a rude head on a post, the whole of wood, 

 about four feet high, with a tapering head-dress, half globes for eves, 

 a well formed nose and no mouth, but rather big ears. This dreaded 

 image is lodged in a wooden shed like a Zayat, a portion of which, 

 covered by an extra roof, is boarded off into a chamber about six feet 

 square : within this stood the ugly post, amidst earthen vases and little 

 pans in which flowers and lamps had been offered to it. As sketched 

 from memory the outline of the thing was as below. (Fig. 1.) 



I have heard of this terrible nat at Mandalay, and have been 

 consulted by a former Thoogya for an incurable stomach-ache and 

 asthma inflicted by it while he was in office here. The nat bears 

 a bad reputation for vindictiveness and being easily offended. The 

 origin of this particular worship at this spot, I will enquire further 

 into before I make any guesses. In the evening I witnessed a strik- 

 ing example of the reverence the nat exacts from all comers to his 

 neighbourhood. My Burman servants had evinced some fear in the 

 day and refused to accompany me in a close inspection of his devil- 

 ship. At the puey given by the Thoogya in the evening, the 

 actors in which were a company of players from Moutshobo, I noticed 

 these latter always making a shiko to somebody I could not see, before 



2 c 2 



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