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BIRMAH. 199
arched dome supports a ponderous superstructure.
Within, an image of Guadma sits enshrined. Four
arched door-ways open into the dome." In one of
these, Colonel Symes saw a human figure erect,
which, he was told, represented Guadma, and another
of the same personage, lying on his right side, asleep;
both colossal. He supposes the erect figure, however,
to be rather, the Hindoo, Ananda, and the recumbent
one, Na-ra-yan, sleeping on the waters. A very curious
and ancient temple was being repaired by order
of the Engy-Teekien, at the time of Colonel Symes's
"
return. It was built of masonry, and comprehended
several arches, forming separate domes, into which
four arched porches led, that faced the four cardinal
points. On each side of the doors, in recesses in the
walls, were seated gigantic human figures, made of
stucco, with large staring eyes, and the head protruded
forward, as if to look at those who approached
the threshold. These were the preternatural porters,
whose power of perception is believed to be such, that
they can penetrate the recesses of the heart, and discover
the sincerity of devotion." The prince intended
to gild this temple; and four visa of gold, equal to
600/., were already prepared for it. The art of turning
well-formed arches of brick, exhibited in the more ancient
temples, is now lost in Birmah; and wooden
buildings have every where superseded the more substantial
edifices of masonry erected by a former race of
inhabitants.
Pah-gahn stands in lat. 21 9' N., long. 94 35' E.,
about 260 miles distant from Rangoon. A small
river, named in the days of its splendour Shoe-Jciaungy
the golden stream, here falls into the Irrawaddy.
The modern town of Neoundah, about four miles to
the north, is, in fact, a continuation of Pah-gahn, and
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