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The Oil Wells. Dec. 13. - - This morning at about seven, we anchored at Ya-nauchoung. Ya-nau (earth oil), Choung (creek) (earth oil creek). It is pronounced. Ya-nou-joung; a town of about 1,000 houses. Here, it was understood, we were to stop long enough to visit the oil wells. After the usual scramble, and bluster, and delay, we got on shore, taking with us our saddles and bridles. The governor was absent on a visit to the "Golden Foot." We spoke at once for ponies and the Myo-oke promised us a supply; but as the Maulmain gentry were also in want of ponies, provision was not made that we should all be supplied. A full hour passed, during which time a large company were listening in front of the Myo-oke's house to the great things of God and of the gospel, before the ponies made their appearance. It seemed evident at a glance that our animals had not been selected with a view to suit our saddles and bridles. A sense of propriety and the fitness of things would have insisted on a generous enlargement of the ponies; but expediency suggested that a wiser policy would be the diminishing of the gear to suit the animals. Suffice it to say, that our tackling was adjusted to our ponies, and after a short ride of three miles, over a rough up and down road, through a very queer-looking country, we arrived at the wells. The country is uneven and broken, as if upheaved by internal forces, and shaken by fierce convulsions, and left in odd-shaped hills and hummocks, whose deformity was decidedly naked, with deep ravines and gorges. The soil is of the most unproductive kind, and largely mixed with a gray, soft sandstone, with layers of black granite-like rock, that remains and wears smooth in the sides of the gorges, while the soft sandstone is worn away by the furious torrents of water that rush through in the rainy season. There were no trees to be seen as far as the eye could range over the rough barren surface, except a few shrubs and dwarfed-looking trees. Among these the cactus was the most noticeable. I saw a few very large, with beautiful tree-shaped tops. The trunks of some were six or eight inches in diameter, and free from limbs for eight or ten feet. I saw a few century plants in blossom, the first I have seen; and another shrub-like tree with singular-shaped leaves and pretty blossoms that I never saw before.

But the oil wells. They were all in the same region, occupying a space of twenty, or perhaps I had better say, fifty or a hundred acres, the ground as high as any in that quarter. There are about 200 of these wells, in all directions and at varying distances from one another. They are about 160 cubits or 240 feet deep. We inquired particularly about one that was doing splendidly, as to its depth, yield, etc. That was 160 cubits; others near by had the same length of rope and were of the same depth. In drawing up the oil, they do not stand by the well and pull the rope, but start with the end of the rope and run down the sloping ground away from the well till the bucket comes up, one man standing by the windlass to take and empty the oil. Looking at these hard-worn paths, you see the length of the ropes and the depth of the wells. All the wells I saw were from four to five feet square, planked up, not with sawed, but with split, materials. The wood is " skah," from which cutch is obtained. The windlass is crude, but strong. The rope used for drawing up the oil is of raw hide, bullock or buffalo, firmly twisted, and only half an inch in diameter. The amount drawn at one time is ten viss, or thirty-five pounds of oil; but heavy lead weights are attached to the buckets to sink them quickly. The people at the ropes move fast, indeed run. One rope was drawn by a mother and her two daughters, under twelve or fourteen years, I should say. The mother had the rope tied around her body, so that no slip would let it go. At another well close by, a lean sickly-looking girl was the leader and had the rope tied around her waist, while a smaller girl and boy helped to pull it. The well where we first stopped had been recently opened. They had been three years in sinking and planking it, and it was yielding largely; 2,000 viss had been taken from it by the time we arrived (9 o'clock), and the buckets were still going as fast as these poor women could move. A man was sent down just after we got there, that we might have the pleasure of seeing him, I suppose, and reported the oil still deep. We could only see a little way down into these wells, thirty or forty feet at the most; being small, the light has no chance to penetrate. All we could see was a small, deep, dark, greasy hole in the ground; and it did not afford me any pleasure to know that a man was sent down 240 feet into such a place to gratify us.

Not fifty yards from this well was another that had yielded largely in its day, but had failed; this they were sinking further. Three men were doing the work at the bottom, but only one at a time. He is let down with a large rope made fast to him, and remains so till he is drawn up. The small rope moves briskly, bringing up the earth saturated with oil while he remains down, which is only about twenty minutes, more or less. When he can stay no longer, he jerks the large rope for a signal and is at once taken up, and another man gets into the rope and is let down, and so on. The man that comes up is quite exhausted, and throws himself on the ground in the shade till his turn comes again.

The pay these people get for their work is very small. A man and his wife and daughter, with a pair of bullocks and a cart, get only Rs. 10 per month. At the same time, paddy at that place is Rs. 110 for 100 baskets. The price of the oil at the wells is Rs. 10 for 100 viss when sold to merchants; but these people have to supply a gentleman in Mandelay on the king's order, 50,000 viss a month, for which they get only 1-8 for 100 viss. The appearance of the people is that of extreme poverty, but little clothing, scanty food, and miserable houses.

Population of the Valley. While we were gone to the oil wells, Mrs. Bennett called on the governor's wife, and talked to the women who flocked in crowds to see her. She gave away many books to the people of this place, and spoke to a large number during our stay of three or four hours. Ya-nau-choung is only about seventyfive miles from the frontier. Taking all the towns lying on the banks of the river, from sixty houses and upwards, we have twenty towns and villages, from sixty houses up to 1,000. These will average about 300 houses each. There are many villages having less than sixty houses; and many lying a little back from the river and up the

creeks that enter into the river are not included. In like manner between Ya-nauchoung and old Ava, are about thirty towns that will average over 300 houses each. I make this calculation from a map before me, drawn by a young man who recently took some pains to determine the channel of the river and the size of towns lying immediately on its banks. But my opinion is that it gives no adequate idea of the population of the valley or of the towns we really see in passing on a steamer.

Dec. 14. We stopped at Salay, where we met the steamer "Bentie" on her way down from Mandelay. Sent letters to Rangoon. We spent some time on shore, and saw something of the town and people. Salay has a good deal of trade. Much cotton is grown in this region, and much coarse, cheap cotton cloth is manufactured in Salay, so coarse and cheap that one kind is sold at the rate of twelve yards for one rupee; a much better kind is sold five yards for one rupee. Last year the Min Goon prince, on his way down after the rebellion, destroyed this town. More than 1,000 houses, it is said, were burned, and much paddy and all kinds of merchandise. We met many people and gave many books, giving only one tract to a man, as a rule. We had not time to talk long to any one company. Salay has many pagodas, kyoungs and priests. The king has promised to give up his private trade, or at least his monopoly of trade, except in earth-oil, teak timber, and precious metals and precious stones; but it is said that he is up to his old tricks as much as ever, much to the detriment of his people and the annoyance of merchants.

Principles of Trade and Policy. At Ma-lown the people are engaged largely in the manufacture of cutch. One of the king's wives came down and told the people they must sell their cutch to her, otherwise they should not be allowed to make it; but the price she would give was much less than the market value. So with people who have grain and cotton to sell; they are given to understand that the king or some one of his fifty wives wants it, and they dare not sell elsewhere, though they know the king will not give the market price. It is said the king has agents in every place, controlling trade and securing freight for the king's steamer. This is the talk we hear; for its truth we cannot vouch.

Much is said about the Min Goon (Min thah) prince. The whole country is disturbed by him, and British Burmah will suffer from the excitement. The Burmans ask, "Why did the English rulers at Rangoon receive him kindly? Did they not know that he was a rebel? Did they not know that he was a murderer, that he killed, burned and destroyed all the way down from Mandelay to the frontier? Yet they received him as if he had been a loyal prince and an honorable man! Is this English custom?" The Fenians might answer the questions of the Burmese better than I.

I saw at Salay a Tartar Chinese from Yunan; he was going to Rangoon on the "Bentie." He is recently from Yunan, and is a large, fine specimen of the animal man. He was dressed in warm clothing, his coat lined with fox or wolf skin with the fur on. One of our party had the sharpness to make him out, "an undoubted Fureigner."

Ruins of Pagan. Dec. 16.- We spent a part of the day yesterday at Pagan. I have not time, certainly not the ability, to describe the remains and ruins of this ancient and renowned city. They are vast and wonderful, to say the least. I hope I may be able to spend some time there on my way back; we only spent part of yesterday there, and it was Sunday. So I feel that I have only seen at a glance what I want to inspect at leisure. One needs to look many times and think much, and call in the aid of his imagination, if he would gain an adequate idea of the magnitude of the works, and an approximate estimate of the wealth, ambition, energy and skill, trial and pain, hope and disappointment they represent.

An immense plain, of not less than forty square miles, is covered with these ruins,

all of a religious character. There are many that are very large, and all but a few are more or less in a state of decay. From the top of one of these lofty structures, I could survey the extent of the ruins. There is but little else on this plain to be seen, except these ruins. Here and there were clusters of houses or huts where people live; but few trees could be seen, and they very unthrifty. Here and there cultivated fields, cattle and ponies could be seen; but thickly scattered over a surface of from eight to ten miles in length along the river's bank, and from four to five miles wide, could be seen pagodas and temples, still retaining more or less perfectly their original form, but in many cases only huge masses of bricks, thirty, fifty or a hundred feet high, covered with verdure, shrubs and trees. The wealth of ages, and the energy and skill of a people more numerous and far more able and accomplished in all that pertains to architecture than the present inhabitants of Burmah, have been lavished and squandered, it may be said, in Pagan.

Temples in Pagan. I visited three of the great temple-like structures of Pagan, that are still in almost perfect preservation; they are nearly of the same size, height and style of architecture. The first, as I visited them, was Gauda Palin. Palin is throne. Why Gauda Palin may not have been intended for Gaudama Palin, I do not see. I have not seen this suggested, though there is much speculation and disagreement as to the word Gauda. Some have stated that it is the name of a Nat, and that this temple was reared for his throne. But I cannot learn that any Nat disciple, priest or king, is known or mentioned in the Burmese sacred books by the name of Gauda; and Col. A. P. Phayre remarks that it is hardly probable that a Buddhist would dedicate a temple to a Nat. I prefer to think therefore, until something more plausible is put forth, that Gauda Palin is for Gaudama Palin, —the throne of Gaudama.

I next visited the " Thap-piu-yu," Omniscience, or the Omniscient, and last the "A-nan-da," the Infinite, the Boundless. Not far from these is a larger, and in its day more massive and imposing, structure than either I have mentioned; the name of this is Dema-yau-gyee, Sacred Reason the great. The upper stories of this temple are going to decay; the lower part is still good, or at least only shows the marks of centuries just enough to reveal the excellent materials and unsurpassed workmanship of these wonderful buildings. Of those I visited, the Ananda, though not the highest, is on the whole the most noble. To give an idea of the Ananda, I will say that its ground plan, drawn on paper, would remind one of an immense cross; but it is not exactly a cross. I will describe just how it is, and the reader can make it on paper. First, make a square, each one of the four sides 180 feet; then make a cross; let each of the two bars for the cross be 280 feet long and 80 feet wide; lay these bars across each other at right angles, making a cross, and let the centre of the cross be in the middle and centre of each bar. Then lay this cross on the square which you first made, so that the centre of the cross shall also be the centre of the square; do this, I say, and you have a ground plan of the Ananda.

But to attempt to give a description of the building would be to attempt to write a book, which I have no thought of doing. You see the ground plan; if you measure those parts that give it its crucifix form, you have 280 feet pointing to the four points of the compass; if only the square be measured, you have 180 feet. This building is nearly 200 feet high, say 180 or 190. But it is not carried up the size of the ground plan or foundation. The first story, so to speak, is of the dimensions of the ground plan; the second story is less, considerably; the third still less, and so on, till the whole terminates in a magnificent spire or dome, whose proportions seem perfect, and its form so graceful and its decorations, though elaborate and profuse, are continued with such taste and skill, as at once to force the judgment, and carry, as by an irresistible spell, the admiration of one of the plainest of plain-minded men. One sees but little in Lower Burmah that challenges his respect for the taste and art of the Burmese; but in contemplating the works at Pagan, one feels a thrill of admiration and a sensa

tion of wonder, so strange and profound as to be almost oppressive; - the more so perhaps, because these emotions seem to stick in the mind, for want of suitable terms to give them expression.

But you must not think that these temples, as they are called, are like European or American temples, or cathedrals. You must not expect to find grand audience rooms and spacious halls within, corresponding with the magnitude of their splendid exteriors. By far the greater portion of the space embraced within these extended walls, like the walls themselves, is of firm, solid masonry, the most enduring of its kind, brick. There are indeed, in all these temples quite large rooms, or what might be called halls, where several hundred people might sit at a time. There are four such apartments within the main square on the ground floor of the Ananda, to which the long, broad and high arched entrances, four in number, from the four points of the compass, lead.

Images and Corridors. Facing the audience in each one of these large spaces, with the back against the solid centre of the building, is an image of Gaudama, of great size. Between the outer wall of the large square (180 feet) and the solid centre, is a spacious corridor, extending all the way around the building, intersecting and passing through the four large apartments of the large images. This corridor is so wide and of such extent, that thousands of people could move around at a time; and this no doubt has been done thousands of times. Large numbers would thus have ample opportunity of passing into the presence of these large idols, and making their offerings and repeating their prayers in a short time.

This corridor is very high and beautifully arched above, and on this arch rests the first or lower roof of the building, all solid masonry, from three to five feet thick. As you range along the corridor, you pass a vast number of niches in the walls, in which are placed small idols, many hundreds, perhaps thousands, in number. Here I must mention what struck me as a most unique design, skillfully executed. The corridors and the large apartments of the large idols are not well lighted, and were not intended to be, I presume. The rays are feeble, and the whole interior wears a dim and rather sombre aspect. High overhead the light, of course, is still less; and you would expect that the head of this immense image, being twenty or thirty feet above where you stand, would scarcely be visible. But what a surprise! You look up, and behold a bright, yet mild and cheerful radiance, beaming in upon the face and encircling the head and shoulders of the idol, and illumining the spacious golden canopy under which it stands. Here is art and design most admirable, and the effect very pleasing; the more so, since from below it is impossible to see the aperture through which the light enters. No doubt thousands of the superstitious and benighted multitudes regard this light as supernatural, and as evidence of the Divine and heavenly character of their religion.

Besides the ample corridors I have described, there are aisles leading through the solid foundation, intersecting the corridors at different points. These aisles are arched, and are narrow and low compared with the corridors; there are also small stairway-like passages only large enough for one person to pass at a time, leading up into the second story and out on the roof.

Durable Character of the Structure. These aisles and passages are so small, compared with the bulk of the building, as scarcely to modify the statement that the great central portion, from bottom to top, is solid masonry; of bricks, it is true, but they must be of rare excellence. It is this that gives these vast and lofty structures their great strength and enduring qualities, enabling them to stand the waste of time, the storms of ages, and the shaking of earthquakes. These temples have outlived the race that gave them being, or lived to see that race so deteriorated in art and enterprise, as to be unworthy to claim these works as its own, and incapable of producing half their equals.