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

134 A BURMESE WONDERLAND.
superstitions ! Why, I wonder, are Sunday, Tuesday
and Saturday
*****
lucky days for cutting the hair, and why
will Burmese women never sew a garment on Saturday,
lest it be burnt ?
It was evening when we reached Shya Bin and Gwe
Gyo—two charming villages which lie
beneath a range
of pagoda-crowned hills. The Thugyi^ had put chairs
under a tree. Here we had tea, enjoyed the calm of the
evening, and listened to the deep note of a gong that
someone was beating. At dusk we moved on through
toddy-palms, meeting the xdllage cattle on their way
home. It was late before we reached Kyauk Badaung.
The Great Bear and Scorpio had set,
and before dinner
was served Taurus and the Pleiades had risen in the
west, forerimners of winter. We had also another
promise of winter this day (Hth September) in the first
appearance of the wagtails, I had watched them stream
away in countless thousands on their
summer migration
on the 12th of March. Now their advance guards had
begun to return.
Kyauk Badaung^ is a pretty, shaded village of
exceptional interest. A series of rocks and crags rise
to a height of
60 or 70 feet out of the plain in a curious
fashion, and I suppose suggest the Burmese name of
the village wliich means ' Stone Axle.' At any rate no
Buddhist could reasonably be expected to resist the
'
'
Headman.
Map Square C.K.