A Burmese wonderland; a tale of travel in Lower and ... - Khamkoo

Mount Popa^ has left
CHAPTER XIII.
Mount Popa.
{Map Square C.K.).
with me the happiest memories.
I shall not forget days spent in leisurely travel by
bullock-cart from the river at Pakkan-Nge to Moimt
Popa, and then back again via Tamig Sin (" Descent from
the Mountain ") to the river at Pagan, a distance of 60
miles. Nights passed in friendly wayside zdyats, or rest
sheds, where my wants were hospitably supphed by
kindly Burmans ; meals taken under splendid tamarind
trees ; and sometimes whole days passed in their grateful
shade, have altogether made an unusually pleasing
impression. These were picnic days, and sometimes the
simplest picnics are the best, because pleasure is most
illusive the more elaborately it is sought.
Mount Popa rises behind PSgan to a height of
about 5,000 feet out of the middle of Upper Burma.
It is visible from both railway and river : but, being
very far away, is not conspicuous, and is not often visited.
Nevertheless it is the combined Olympus and Fuji of
Burma. The 37 greater Nats have their godly residence
upon this mountain ; and Uke Fuji, Popa is of volcanic
origin. It has the same perfect fan-shaped cone as
^
Map Square C.K.