WD540(32)

‘Sagain, and distant view of Ava, from the Sagain Hill.’

STANDING on the same spot from whence the preceding view was obtained, and turning southward, the scene embraces a very distant view of Ava, or the site of that old capital, which may be known by a dim and minute cluster of pagodas on the opposite shore, near to the broad elbow of the over-flooded river, which at that point turns up towards the spectator and the present capital. Directly opposite to Ava, lost to the eye amidst the woody expanse, is Sagain, once the capital of Burmah, to which the country between that spot and the foreground, appearing to be fully populated, forms the outskirts. Here the manufacturing of lime, the kilns for preparation of which are observable in the picture, may be seen busily carried on; the material being brought direct from the scarp of the hill on which the spectator is standing.

The flight of steps, 275 in number, of which portions may be seen here and there on. the right, with gigantic Lions at their base, is a portion of the wearisome ascent to the terrace of the Pagoda, perched on the pinnacle of the hill, probably 200 feet high, from the terrace of which these views were taken. The Pagoda is known either as the ‘‘Pudouk-choung’’ or ‘‘Shem-byuenaoung’.’