PREACHERS AT TRIENNIAL AND ANNUAL MEETINGS.

The appointed preacher having failed.

OFFICERS OF THE MISSIONARY UNION.

MARTIN B. ANDERSON, LL. D, N. Y., President.

REV. BARON STOW, D. D., Mass., Vice-Presidents.
REV. J. M. GREGORY, LL. D., Ill.,

REV. GEORGE W. BOSWORTH, D. D., Mass., Recording Secretary.

Board of Managers.

Executive Committee.

JONAH G. WARREN, D. D., Corresponding Secretaries.

JOHN N. MURDOCK, D. D.,

F. A. SMITH, Esq., Treasurer.

Auditing Committee.

Entrance to Monai. — As we came near the town we passed three or four Poongyee establishments, and as many clusters of pagodas, mostly looking well, and some new and tasteful. Our Shan preacher told us that Ming King, his native place, was the Pagan" of Shanland. We could not agree with him in this; Monai comes much nearer to it. There are many fine kyoungs about the town, and a few pagodas, among the many, that would attract attention among the best Buddhist structures in Burmah. Close to the zayat in which we stopped is a very beautiful pagoda, with unusually graceful proportions. Its base is four-square, and about fifteen feet from the ground are seven beautiful and highly ornamented niches, on each of the four sides, for images, with arched door- ways. These arches are ten feet high and two broad; the niches or cells are about two feet wide, and each contain a very large image of Gaudama, fifteen or twenty feet high, highly finished and heavily covered with gold. Adjoining this pagoda on the east is a large idol house, filled with a vast number of almost every variety of idols. We were there during one of their great worship days. Hundreds, I may say thousands, of women and children came to this place early in the morning, with their offerings of rice and fruit, prepared in their most savory fashion, with seeds and spices, and served in little dishes made of plantain leaves. They were tasteful and beautiful, and would have been much admired in any European society. There were many places of this kind in the city, where the thousands of Shan women, fair in skin, but dark in mind, paid their blind devotions that morning in Monai. The Poongyee establishments are very numerous, and many of the kyoungs are well built of teak, with elaborate carving. The Sin-doung kyoung is the most noted among them.

Attempt to turn a Mountain into a Pagoda. — It is called Sin-doung from sin, elephant, and toung, mountain, because on this mountain or hill is a huge elephant with a pagoda on his back. From the top of this hill a beautiful and extended view is obtained of the town and surrounding country. We were surprised to see how thickly scattered over the city were the clusters of kyoungs and pagodas. The pagodas and all the brick work on this little mountain are falling to pieces. They have at some

distant time gone by attempted to convert the rocky peak of Sin-doung into a pagoda, by filling up its crevices and irregularities with bricks and mortar; but it looks as if the mountain kicked against such wicked perversion, while it exclaimed, “I am the work and monument of the living God, not of a dead one." At all events, no one could blame the mountain for preferring to remain the rough, ragged, rocky mass it was, rather than the very ugly pagoda it is.

Princes and Palaces of Monai. Many of the pagodas and other brick work are badly cracked, said to be by earthquakes. There are quite a number of teak-plank houses in the town, but dwelling-houses are mostly of bamboo. There are many Burmans in Monai, and many of the Shans with whom I attempted to speak use the Burmese language well. Monai is the most powerful and important of the Shan states, now tributary to the kingdom of Burmalı; it is the centre of Burmese influence in Shanland. We called on the Woondook and the two young Tsaubwas. The Woondook was quite a young man, of fine appearance and superior ability, pleasant and friendly; he had known for weeks that we had started for the Shan country and might come to Monai.

The elder of the young Tsaubwas we were much pleased with; with the other, it was difficult not to be disgusted. The old Tsaubwa, the father of these men, is over seventy years of age. We were asked if we would see him; but, learning that he was ill of fever and very feeble, we declined. His palace looks like a palace, certainly more than anything we saw in Shanland. It is a succession of buildings with graduated roofs, those of the central building terminating in a respectable “ Pyatthat," crowned with the royal Tee. The Pyat-that occupies the place of the dome in western architecture, that is, it is over the centre of the building, and is the natura! termination of the graduated roofs; the part next above the highest and smallest roof, is called the "Du-be-gah." Upon this the Tee (umbrella) is fixed.

The palace grounds are inclosed with a high, substantial teak fence. They are pleasant, being well watered, and having many trees, fruit and ornamental. In front of the palace inclosure, and in the main street of the town, is a fountain, sending forth four streams to the four points of the compass from an upright pillar, twelve feet from the ground. Here people come to fill their water pots, and are allowed to wash face and hands, but not their bodies. Near the palace is the figure of a calf, out of whose mouth flows a stream of water. I saw a large male turkey in the palace grounds, a present, I was told, from a Maulmain merchant; also another magnificent bird, as tall as a man, of a beautiful blue color, a native of Shanland and northern Burmah. This bird, I am sure, I have seen in Michigan; it there changes its color with the dun, gray, red, and blue; it disappears with the setting in of winter and returns in spring. The shape and movements, and noise of this bird are so peculiar that one cannot well be mistaken. The Burmans call it "Jo-jah;" its flesh is excellent. Near Bahmo I shot one and found its flesh tender, sweet, and juicy; it made two good meals for seven of us. I have never seen this bird in British Burmah, but I am told it is found, as low down as Henthada and Donabew.

Prices in Monai — Business. — Provisions of all kinds were dear in Monai, owing mainly to the large number of troops sent from Burmah into that region. Paddy was Rs. 125 to 150 per 100 baskets; fowls, from nine to twelve rupees per dozen; eggs, ten for one rupee; bullocks, from twenty to forty rs.; good cows, from ten to twenty; ponies, from 50 to 200.

Teak timber abounds in the forests east of the Salwen, of the finest qualities. European silk and cotton goods are worn at Monai a good deal, and the bazaar was well supplied with silk and cotton handkerchiefs, long cloth, muslins, etc. The Chinese carry on a large trade with Monai, two or three large caravans coming every year.