Oct., 1891 . 
BURMA AND ITS PEOPLE. 
229 
tion); and third, for any wayfarer who may claim shelter for 
the night at the Zyat or rest-house attached to the monastery. 
I do not attempt to describe the quaint architecture of these 
Kyoungs, or the strange conventional dragon and serpent 
sculptures (cliinthays) which always surround them, because 
the numerous photographs which I took during my stay in 
Burma, sufficiently illustrate their peculiarities. 
Then one meets many a charming group of girls going or 
coming to or from early market, basket on head and cheroot 
in mouth (for everyone from five years old and upwards seems 
to have a weakness for the fragrant weed in this country), 
their jet-black hair worn in a coil on the top of the head and 
often decorated with a white or scarlet flower. Daintily 
coloured robes do not conceal the movement of limbs to 
which an ungraceful attitude seems impossible, and as they 
pass along under shadow of palm and bamboo and forest tree, 
a ripple of merry voices marks their way. 
Here and there irrigation is being carried on in the fields ; 
and in the roads, where cottages are scattered about and 
almost buried in tropical vegetation, trades and handicrafts of 
a simple kind may be seen in full swing in the open air—the 
blacksmith at his fire, the potter moulding his vessels or 
carrying them to his primitive kiln, or women dyeing and 
spinning silk or weaving it into fabrics. 
By about 9 a.m. prudence suggests a retreat, for the 
sun smites hard out of a heaven which is as brass above us, so 
we turn homeward, always reluctantly enough. 
Then comes the grateful morning tub, and, at noon, the 
welcome tiffin; after which each of our party engages in 
whatever occupation he wills till afternoon tea is served in the 
verandah, about which time the languid movement of a leaf 
here and there proclaims the approach of the evening breeze. 
From five to seven a drive round the well-kept cantonments, or 
to the Tongoo lakes, is always delightful. An illustration of a 
street in Tongoo is given in Plate 11. 
At such times we often came upon a group of Burmese 
youths gathered at some open space for the practice of the 
national game of ball, in which a sphere of wicker-work, 
about six inches in diameter, is kept going entirely by the 
feet, the kick being given either from the instep or backward 
from the heel, with marvellous dexterity, the ball being driven 
high into the air and often cast from one to another of the 
players fifty or sixty times before it falls to the ground. 
As darkness comes on—and there is scant twilight so 
near the equator—lights begin to twinkle among the trees 
and groups gather around fires which are kindled outside the 
