TO THE COURT OF AYA. 113 
is ho foundation for this opinion; for, in the vi¬ 
cinity of Rangoon, I have seen several very 
good arches in buildings of recent structure. 
The truth is, that their modern buildings, con¬ 
sisting generally of masses of solid masonry, or 
of wood, necessarily exclude the use of the arch. 
The temple of Thapin-nyu contains some mo¬ 
dern images of Gautama, of an enormous size, 
composed of common brick and plaster, gilt over, 
but very rudely and clumsily executed. Its con¬ 
struction is ascribed to Alaum-chao-sii, a prince 
of Pugan, whose reign commenced in 1081, and 
ended in 1151 of Christ. 
From the temple of Thapin-nyu we proceed¬ 
ed to another large one, called, after Ananda, the 
favourite disciple of Gautama. This is in a 
much more complete state of repair, and the 
spire has been lately gilt over. These improve¬ 
ments were effected by the father of his present 
Majesty, and were in progress during Colonel 
Syme’s visit to the country. As a place of wor¬ 
ship, it has the highest reputation of any of the 
temples of Pugan. We found here a number 
of persons at their devotions, and among them 
a party of men and women of respectable ap¬ 
pearance, who had come from Ava for this ex¬ 
press purpose. Each angle of this temple was 
found to measure two hundred and twenty-five 
VOL. i. 
i 
