_The Crowd break up into groups_. U. RAI GYAN THOO _and_ MOUNG PHO MHIN _converse on the tendency of the King to interference in affairs of State_; _his extreme youth and delicacy of temperament_; _the pity that the marriage is to be so long delayed_; _the necessity to find him some distraction in the meantime_. _Suddenly the tom-toms sound loudly_. _There is much movement_. _The moon rises over the sea_. _Torches flare as the attendants move to and fro in the gardens beyond_. _The White Elephant of the King_, _with its trappings of gold_, _is led to the entrance where_, _at a word_, _it sinks obediently to the ground_. THE KING _appears_. _He has changed his gay apple-green dress to one of more sombre hue_. _He enters the howdah_--_the elephant rises_--_the procession starts_. _It consists of not fewer than two hundred persons_, _keeping in view of the audience until lost by a bend in the avenue_. SCENE II THE PAGODA OF GOLDEN FLOWERS Midnight _Surrounded by Peepul-trees_, _the great Htee_, {6} _with its crown of a myriad jewels_, _rises towards the violet_, _star-studded sky_, _its golden bells tinkling in a soft night-wind_. _When the curtain rises_, _the circular platform is deserted_. _Statues of Buddha seated and recumbent fill the numberless niches in the wall_, _and before each burn long candles_; _heaped-up pink roses and japonica on brass trays are lit from above by swinging coloured lamps_. _At intervals are stalls laden with fruit and cheroots_. _All is mysterious_, _solemn_, _beautiful_. _A deep Burmese gong tolls_. _People emerge from the four staircases that lead up to the platform_. _Men_, _women_, _and children_, _all in gala attire_. _The young people conversing_, _gesticulating_, _smiling_. _The older people_, _more subdued_, _carry beads and votive offering to Buddha_. _Charming Burmese girls_, _with huge cigars_, _meet and greet handsome Burmese men smoking cheroots and wearing flowers in their ears_. _Children play silently with coloured balls_. _In the corners_, _under canopies_, _are seated fortune-tellers_, _busy casting horoscopes_. _It is a veritable riot of colour_, _with never a discordant note_.