Mandalay has been said to be remarkable for three things, Phoongyees,
Pagodas and Pariah dogs. The phoongyees are the brethren of the yellow
robe, the Buddhist monks, who are to be seen in Mandalay by thousands,
and all through the country in like proportion to the population. The
pagodas form here as everywhere in Upper Burma a feature in every
landscape. The pariah dogs are uncommonly numerous. You might guess at
once you were in a Buddhist country from the thousands of homeless, poor,
emaciated, mangy creatures, nobody’s dogs, that roam over the city,
eating anything they can pick up, the vilest refuse, and acting as the
scavengers of the place. They are never on any consideration killed by
the Buddhists, but suffered to multiply to any extent. As you walk about
you often come upon eight or ten of these dogs at a time, and they seem
as if they would tear you to pieces; but though they seem so savage and
so numerous they prefer to keep at a safe distance.
Passing through the streets of the town, a drive of about two miles
brought us to the moat outside the walls of the royal city. The city is
in the form of a square, each face of which is over a mile in extent, and
is surrounded by an enormous brick wall twenty-six feet high, many feet
in thickness, and with battlements on the top. Outside the city walls
is a broad open space of ground all the way round, and outside of that
is a deep, broad moat, intended to serve the double purpose of military
defence for the city, and of supplying drinking water to the inhabitants.
For the purpose of communicating between the city and the town outside
are five gateways, two on the townward or west side, and one on each of
the others, with gates of enormous size and strength. Over each gate is a
lofty and handsome tower built of teak wood, and rising to a point. Here
and there along the walls at stated intervals, and facing the ends of the
streets of the town, which run at right angles to the wall, are smaller
towers of similar style, that serve to adorn the great wall of the city,
and give it quite a handsome appearance.
At the time I speak of the walled city was inhabited by a large
population of Burmans, chiefly people who had been in close connection
with the palace; but owing to the decision of Government to make this
place the military cantonment, the five thousand houses within the walls
have been all cleared out, compensation being paid according to the
value, and a very handsome cantonment has been made of it, with barracks
for European and Indian troops. As the great majority of the houses were
of teak or bamboo, this was not nearly so serious a matter as it might
seem. The cantonment is now known by the name of Fort Dufferin.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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