in order to obtain merit.  Some slight variety in these figures is produced by the fact that the Burmese venerate not only Gotama but the three Buddhas who preceded him.[187] The Shwe Dagon Pagoda is reputed to contain relics of all four; statues of them all stand in the beautiful Ananda Pagoda at Pagan and not infrequently they are represented by four sitting figures facing the four quarters.  A gigantic group of this kind composed of statues nearly 90 feet high stands in the outskirts of Pegu, and in the same neighbourhood is a still larger recumbent figure 180 feet long.  It had been forgotten since the capture of Pegu by the Burmans in 1757 and was rediscovered by the engineers surveying the route for the railway.  It lies almost in sight of the line and is surprising by its mere size, as one comes upon it suddenly in the jungle.  As a work of art it can hardly be praised.  It does not suggest the Buddha on his death bed, as is intended, but rather some huge spirit of the jungle waking up and watching the railway with indolent amusement.

In Upper Burma there are not so many large images but as one approaches Mandalay the pagodas add more and more to the landscape.  Many are golden and the rest are mostly white and conspicuous.  They crown the hills and punctuate the windings of the valleys.  Perhaps Burmese art and nature are seen at their best near Sagaing on the bank of the Irrawaddy, a mighty flood of yellow water, sweeping down smooth and steady, but here and there showing whirlpools that look like molten metal.  From the shore rise hills of moderate height studded with monasteries and shrines.  Flights of white steps lead to the principal summits where golden spires gleam and everywhere are pagodas of all ages, shapes and sizes.  Like most Asiatics the Burmese rarely repair, but build new pagodas instead of renovating the old ones.  The instinct is not altogether unjust.  A pagoda does not collapse like a hollow building but understands the art of growing old.  Like a tree it may become cleft or overgrown with moss but it remains picturesque.  In the neighbourhood of Sagaing there is a veritable forest of pagodas; humble seedlings built by widows’ mites, mature golden domes reared by devout prosperity and venerable ruins decomposing as all compound things must do.

The pagoda slaves are a curious institution connected with temples.  Under the Burmese kings persons could be dedicated to pagodas and by this process not only became slaves for life themselves but involved in the same servitude all their posterity, none of whom could by any method become free.  They formed a low caste like the Indian Pariahs and though the British Government has abolished the legal status of slavery, the social stigma which clings to them is said to be undiminished.