WD540(31)

‘Distant view of Umerapoora, from the Sagain Hill.’

UMEERAPOORA, the capital of Burmah, seen from the summit of the southern hill at Sagàin, over the broad expanse of the Irrawaddy, smooth and brilliant as a mirror, presented a spectacle which neither pencil nor pen could flatter.

The city, with its white spires arid specks of gold, was spread over the low shore, at the foot of majestic hills, which were clad in purple and gold, and a world of ethereal and ever varying tints, that were repeated from sky and land upon the glassy surface of the quiet river. All this, — taken with the foreground formed by the Sagain shore beneath, — a sloping forest of low foliage, amidst the upper part of which the limestone rock bared its chalky surface, whilst the lower, or skirt of the river, was studded with innumerable white temples of surpassing beauty and grace, — produced a picture altogether which no member of the Mission who witnessed it will readily forget. ‘Nothing on the Rhine could be compared to it.’ ‘(Captain Yule’s Report, page 72.)’