WD540(42)

‘Street, and Eastern gate of Umeerapoora.’

The gate of honour at which the Mission entered on the several occasions of audiences with the King is called the ‘Ywè-dau-yoo-Taga,’ or the ‘Royal Gate of the Chosen’, because the care of it is entrusted to chosen troops. ‘It is the only gate of the Palace used as a public entrance.’ ‘(Capt. Yule’s Report, page 97.)’ Except to allow the Royal elephants to pass in or out, the opening of the great gate appeared to be confined to those public occasions. On private visits, a side or lesser door was invariably used. Whether this was to avoid the labour of opening the ponderous greater gate, or to mark the greater from the lesser occasion, cannot here be said; but Burmese love of distinctive formalities renders the latter the more probable.

The building partially seen in the foreground on the left is the ‘Yooung Dau (See Capt. Tripe’s Photograph, No. 72)’ or chief hall of Justice, and criminal tribunal. Directly opposite to it, on the north side of the road, and partly shaded by a large Tamarind tree, is the ‘Teya Yooung’, or Court for the trial of civil cases. The Jail is immediately behind it.

The gilded spire of the Palace appears near the centre. On the right of the gateway is a tower, about forty-five cubits in height, called the ‘‘Bohazim’’ On the upper platform of this tower, calling to mind the old clock of St. Dunstan’s, two men are seen to sound the periods of the day, by alternate strokes on a large bell, and a drum or gong. The former is struck on the outside, with the end of a bar of wood, which appeared to be slung like a battering-ram; — the latter with a massive round-headed mallet, swung with the full impetus afforded by a long handle and a strong arm. The periods are timed by a water clock.

The spirated white brick building between the Palace and the tower, is called the ‘Swè-dau-zeen’, and is the repository of a highly sacred relic — a reputed tooth of Gautma, brought from China as a present from the Emperor, it is said, about six hundred years ago.