Iw nothing is the contrast between the Chinese and the inhabitants of the Tndo-Malayan peninsula so marked, as in the different aspect assumed by Buddhism in the two countries. In China, Buddhism has never really risen above a superstition, except now and then in a rare and exceptional case; while in the various States comprising the peninsula we may see it daily as a religion, really influencing the daily life of thousands. The most important event in British Burmah during the year 1871, judging from the effect on the masses at large, was undoubtedly the fixing of anew Htee or umbrella, presented by the King of Burmah, to the Shwe Dagon Pagoda at Rangoon. Nearly all the pagodas in Burmah are surmounted by a similar ornament, which is held to be the symbol of royalty or sovereignty, and is placed on the summit of Buddhist temples in mark of reverence to Gautama Buddha.
The Htee in Rangoon was, however, to have excelled all others in value and size; and the fact of its being presented to the chief pagoda in British Burmah by the King, was enough to lead mischievous individuals to disturb the minds of the simple and credulous inhabitants. For these reasons the ceremony, which was to have taken place the preceding year, was postponed till October 1871, when, with the full permission of the British an. thorities, the Htee, escorted by ninety. three officials under the command of an assistant Minister of State, arrived in Rangoon from Mandalay, in a barge towed by a steamer. All along the Trrawady it had been an object of wor. ship to the country-people on the banks—the inhabitants of the British province being however less conspicnous in their devotion than those of the native State—and at last was set up under a temporary structure at Ran. goon, prior to being lifted finally into its place at the Pagoda, a mile and a, half distant. The Htee itself consisted of seven stages, one over the other, in diminishing sizes, and at top carried a vane. The framework was of wrought iron, but the whole was covered with gold plates studded with precious stones, The lower tier was no less than 13} feet in diameter and weighed a ton and a third, and the height of the whole was 47 fect. As the setting up of the Htee in British territory might have been supposed to have some political signification, the Government insist. ed on its being given over to the Chief Commissioner, who in his. turn delegated the conduct of the affair to a Committee of Elders of the town, the local authorities interfering only so far as was necessary to preserve order. The time chosen for carrying the Htee to the pagoda was the full moon of the month Ta-soring-mong, a customary festival at the temple, and which fell on the 28th October. On that day it was carried with great pomp from. the temporary building to the pagoda, "The Htee, consisting of ten pieces," we are told, "was taken down, and each piece was carried on a sort of triumphant stage; whilst the people crowded around to offer their shoulders to the burden, and thus to take as large a share as possible in what was regarded asa pious work. Each piece had a procession of its own, including bands of dancers well and carefully dressed, composed of young men of respectable families from each quarter of the town. The whole length of the road, a mile and half in extent, was lined with white cloth, which had been contributed by a pious resident of the town. The procession consisted of 50,000 persons, and lasted six or seven hours, but it was singularly orderly and well conducted." Fornearlya month afterwards, the people pressed into Rangoon from all parts of the country, while preparations were made for removing the old, and_setting up the new Htee. The Shwe Dagon pagoda is ona hill a consider able height above the town of Rangoon, and on this again the structure rises in three separate stages. The upper terrace is a platform some 900 fect by 700, and is about 76 feet over the roadway. From the centre of this terrace, surrounded by chapels, rises the pagoda proper, to a height of 217 feet more, on which the Htee was to be fixed.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.