"When the English captured Burmah, in 1824, they tried to carry the great bell away to England. While they were loading it into the ship the tackle broke, and the bell fell into the river, where it lay till after the country was restored to the Burmese. The latter fished it out and put it back in its place, and since then it has not been disturbed. The natives believed that so long as the bell remained here, and gave forth its sounds, the country could not be conquered; but their theories have been somewhat confused, as the English have had possession of this part of Burmah since 1852. "The golden pagoda and its enclosure were full of natives coming to their worship, or going from it, while not a few seemed to be there for the sole purpose of idling away the time. [Illustration: A BURMESE WOMAN.] "The Burmese have some resemblance to the Siamese in features and stature, but their physiognomy is not the same to a close observer, and there is a considerable difference in the dress of the two people. The children wear little clothing, or none at all, and when thus costumed they look very much like young Siamese in similar garb. Both men and women wear a short jacket of white material, and coming down about to the hips; the men wear a _putso_, which is a piece of silk or cotton cloth about a yard wide, wrapped around the waist, and descending to the knees, while the women have a similar garment that comes nearly to the ground. In each case this article is more or less gay in color, and the more red or yellow they can get into it the better are they suited. Both sexes wear the hair long; the women comb it straight back over the forehead, while the men make a bunch of it on the top of the head, and frequently cover it with a gaudy handkerchief. "Both sexes wear ornaments in the ears, and large ones too. The ear is pierced so that it looks as though a large piece had been taken out of it: we are told that they puncture the ear when a child is very young, and gradually enlarge the opening by inserting pieces of bamboo. The ear is not considered properly pierced until the hole through it is at least half an inch in diameter; then it is useful as well as ornamental, as it will hold a cigar or any article of similar size, and a Burmese clerk finds it a convenient place for carrying a pencil. Doctor Bronson says that when you send a messenger to carry a letter, he rolls it up and puts it in his ear; he might put it in his pocket, but then he is far less likely to have a pocket about him than to have his ear pierced. The women use their ears as bouquet-holders, and it is not unusual to see one of them walking along the streets with a bunch of flowers in her ears that would sell for at least ten cents on Broadway in a summer afternoon. [Illustration: A BURMESE JUDGE AND HIS ATTENDANTS.]