noticed in several published narratives of journeys in the country. But our materials for a description of them are scarcely more ample than in the case of the older capital. For these accounts give us no particulars from which we can discover what peculiar characteristics Buddhism assumed in this country, or what degree of civilisation the Burmese had reached during the long period that this city maintained itself as capital of the empire.

From such materials as are available we collect that the city contains no ancient example of the great dome-like topes which form such remarkable objects in India and Ceylon. Some there are of considerable size, but they are modern, whereas the ancient ones are, if circular, of a tower-like form, probably more like those in Afghanistan than any others we are acquainted with. But the greater number of the religious edifices here seem to have been square in plan, with porticos and central chambers, and terminating upwards in octagonal or polygonal straight-lined pyramids or spires. It is not improbable that these buildings are monasteries with relic-shrines included in their precincts. It will be remembered that in the more modern caves at Ajunta and elsewhere the monastery had come to contain a chapel and place of worship in some measure independent of the temple to which it was originally subordinate. The same seems to have been the case here, but carried to a greater extent. These buildings, therefore, being a distinct class from any of those hitherto described, may be properly called pagodas, by which name they are generally known.

One feature remarked by Colonel Symes, and shown in several drawings, published and unpublished, is worthy of observation, which is the existence in these ruins of pointed arches of the Gothic form, coupled with vaulted apartments. This presents a peculiarity unknown elsewhere in Buddhist architecture, or indeed in any Indian style of any age; but until we know the epoch of the buildings in which these arches are found, it is needless speculating on their existence, or guessing at the mode of their introduction. At the same time, if they are old, which it is generally supposed they are, they form the most interesting features of these edifices.

In the modern capitals of Burmah there are no religious edifices, of brick or stone, remarkable either for their size or beauty. It will be well therefore to confine what further remarks are to be made on the pagodas of the country to those specimens which seem to be the finest and best that the land possesses.

The first of these, called Khomadoo, is situated on the opposite bank of the Irrawaddy from Ava, and a short distance lower down. It is described both by Symes and Crawford.* According to the latter authority it is 160 ft. 9 in. high, and surmounted by a spire 22 ft. in height and 15 in diameter; the circumference of its base is 944 ft., and it is surrounded by a stockade of dwarf pillars of sandstone, about 5 ft.

in height and 802 in number. Its form is nearly that of a perfect hemisphere.

From these particulars it is evident that it is extremely similar to the greater topes of Anuradhapoora, only slightly less in size, the diameter being apparently 300 instead of 360 ft. It also possesses the circumscribing circle of pillars which in Ceylon is confined to the smaller examples. Its age has not been ascertained. The natives consulted by Colonel Symes ascribed its erection to the most remote antiquity; while Mr. Crawford, from an inscription, dates it as late as A.D. 1626, probably the time of the last repair. From its form we should infer that it belongs to the earlier centuries of the Christian era; but without more details than we possess it is not easy to fix its age even approximately.

The next in importance is the great Shoëmadoo' pagoda at Pegue, of which a plan and elevation are given from those published by Colonel Symes in his account of his embassy to Ava. As will be seen from the woodcuts opposite, the plan deviates considerably from the circular form, which is exclusively used in all edifices of this class hitherto described. Here it approaches more nearly to those elaborately polygonal forms which are affected by all the Hindu builders of modern date. It returns, however, to the circular form before terminating. and is crowned, as all Burmese buildings of this class are, by an iron spire richly gilt.

Another peculiarity is strongly indicative of its modern date; it is that, instead of a double or triple range of pillars surrounding its base. we have a double range of small models of pagodas, a mode of ornamentation that subsequently became typical in Hindu architecture; their temples and spires being covered and indeed composed of innumerable models of themselves, clustered together so as to make up a whole. As before remarked, something of the same sort occurs in Roman art, where every window and opening is surmounted by a pediment or miniature temple end, and in Gothic art, where a great spire is surrounded by pinnacles or spirelets; but in these styles it is never carried to the excess to which it goes in Hindu art. In this instance it is interesting as being one of the earliest attempts at this class of decoration.

The building stands on two terraces, the lower one about 10 ft. high, and 1391 ft. square; the upper one, 20 ft. in height, is 684 ft. square; from the centre of it rises the pagoda, the diameter of whose base is 395 ft. The small pagodas are 27 ft. high, and 108 or 110 in number; while the great pagoda itself rises to the height of 331 ft. above its terrace, or 361 ft. above the country, thus reaching a height nearly equal to that of St. Paul's Cathedral; while the side of the upper terrace is only 83 ft. less than that of the great Pyramid.

Tradition ascribes its commencement to two merchants, who raised it to the height of 12 cubits at an age slightly subsequent to that of

Buddha himself. Successive kings of Pegue added to this from time to time, till at last it assumed its present form, most probably about three or four centuries ago.

The third pagoda in importance, so far as we know, is the more generally known Shoëdagong pagoda at Rangoon, a building very similar in dimensions to the last, and by no means unlike it, except

that the outline of the base is more cut up, and the spire more attenuated-both signs of a more modern date. Its base is even more crowded by little templets than that at Pegue, and it is a few feet lower. There is, however, no essential difference between the two, and it is principally interesting as leading us one step further in the series from the solid hemispherical mound to the thin spire, which, both in this country and Siam, is the more general modern form which these edifices assume, till they lose all but a traditional resemblance to the buildings which were the originals from which they sprang.

This pagoda, like all the more important ones, is fabled to have been commenced about 2300 years ago, or about the era of Buddha himself: its sanctity, however, is owing to its containing relics, not only of the last Buddha, but also of his three predecessors-Buddha having vouchsafed eight hairs of his head to two merchants, on the understanding that they were to be enshrined with the relics of the three former Buddhas, where and when found. After numerous miraculous indications, on this spot were discovered the staff of Kakusanda, believed to have lived some 3000 years before Christ, the water-dipper of Konagamma, and the bathing-garment of Kasyapa, which, with the eight hairs above-mentioned, are enshrined within this great pagoda. Originally, however, notwithstanding the value of its deposit, the building was small, and it is probably not more than a century since it assumed its present form.

An immense number of smaller pagodas surround this larger one, of all sizes, from 30 ft. in height to 200 ft., and even more. There is scarcely a village in the country that does not possess one or two, and in all the more important towns they are numbered by hundreds; so that they may almost be said to be innumerable in this country. They are almost all quite modern, and so similar one to another as not to merit any distinct or separate mention. They indicate, however, a degree of increasing wealth and power in the nation, from the earliest times to the present day, and an increasing prevalence of the Buddhistical system. This is a direct contrast to the history of Ceylon, whose hour of greatest glory was in the earlier centuries of the Christian era, and was passing away more than 1000 years ago, at a time when the architectural history of Burmah first dawns upon us. Thus the buildings of one country are an exact continuation to those of the other, and together they present a series of examples of the same class ranging over more than 2000 years, reckoning from the oldest topes in Ceylon to the most modern in Burmah.

MONASTERIES.

As Burmah is a country in which the monastic system of Buddhism flourishes at the present day to the fullest extent, if we had some information regarding its monasteries, or kioms as they are called, it

1 See p. 4.

2 See account of the Great Bell at Ran

goon, by the Rev. G. H. Hough.-Asiatic Researches, vol. xiv. p. 270.

might enable us to understand the arrangement of the older ones. The travellers who have visited the country have been silent on the subject, principally because the monasteries are, in almost all instances, less magnificent than the pagodas to which they are attached, and are, with scarcely an exception, built of wood-a practice destructive of their architectural character, and also depriving them wholly of that monumental appearance of stability which is so essential to true architectural expression.

This peculiarity of being of wood is not confined to the monasteries; all residences, from that of the poorest peasant to the palace of the king, having been constructed from time immemorial of this perishable material. The custom has now passed into a law, that no one shall have the power of erecting buildings of stone or brick, except it be the king himself, or the edifices be of a purely religious character. Nor is this exception taken advantage of, for the king's palace itself is as essentially a wooden erection as the dwelling of any of his subjects. It is, however, not the less magnificent on this account-rather, perhaps, more so-immense sums being spent on the most elaborate carvings, and the whole being lacquered, painted, and gilt, to an extent that we have no conception of in our more sober clime.

The same profuse decorations are bestowed upon the monasteries, one of which is represented in the annexed woodcut (No. 35), showing

a building in which all the defects arising from the use of so easily carved a material are carried to excess. If the colouring and gilding could be added, it would represent a building such as the West never saw, and, let us hope, never will see; for, however dazzling its splendour, such barbaric magnificence is worthy only of a half-civilized race.