noble edifice of Shoemadoo, or the Golden Supreme.-This extraordinary pile of buildings is erected on a double terrace, one raised upon another. The lower and greater terrace is about ten feet above the natural level of the ground, forming an exact parallelogram: the upper and lesser terrace is similar in shape, and rises about twenty feet above the lower terrace or thirty above the level of the country. I judged a side of the lower terrace to be 1391 feet; of the upper 684. The walls that sustained the sides of the terrace, both upper and lower, are in a ruinous state; they were formerly covered with plaster, wrought into various figures; the area of the lower is strewed with the fragments of small decayed buildings, but the upper is kept free from filth, and is in tolerable good order. There is reason to conclude that this building and the fortress are coeval, as the earth of which the terraces are composed appears to have been taken from the ditch; there being no other excavation in the city, or in its neighbourhood, that could have afforded a tenth part of the quantity.

The terraces are ascended by flights of stone steps, which are now broken and neglected. On each side are dwellings of the Rhabaans, raised on timbers four or five feet from the ground; these houses consist only of a large hall : the wooden pillars that support them are turned with neatness; the roofs are covered with tiles, and the sides are made of boards; and there are a number of bare benches in every house, on which the Rhahaans sleep; but we saw no other furniture.

Shoemadoo is a pyramidical building composed of brick and mortar, without excavation or aperture of any sort; octagonal at the base, and spiral at the top; each side of the base measures 162 feet; this immense breadth diminishes abruptly, and a similar building has not unaptly been compared in shape to a large speaking trumpet.

Six feet from the ground there is a wide projection that surrounds the base, on the plane of which are fifty-seven small spires of equal size, and equidistant; one of them measured twenty-seven feet in height, and forty in circumference at the bottom. On a higher ledge there is another row consisting of fifty-three spires of similar shape and measurement.

A great variety of mouldings encircle the building;

and ornaments some what resembling the fleur-de-lys surround the lower part of the spire; circular mouldings likewise girt it to a considerable height, above which there are ornaments in stucco not unlike the leaves of a Corinthian capital; and the whole is crowned by a Tee, or umbrella, of open iron-work, from which rises a rod with a gilded pennant.

The tee or umbrella is to be seen on every sacred building that is of a spiral form; the raising and consecration of this last and indispensible appendage, is an act of high religious solemnity, and a season of festivity and relaxation. The present king bestowed the tee that covers Shoemadoo. It was made at the capital; and many of the principal nobility came down from Ummerapoora to be present at the ceremony of its elevation.

The circumference of the tee is fifty-six feet; it rests on an iron axis fixed in the building, and is farther secured by large chains strongly rivetted to the spire. Round the lower rim of the tee are appended a number of bells, which agitated by the wind, make a continual jingling.

The tee is gilt, and it is said to be the intention of the king to gild the whole of the spire. All the lesser pagodas are ornamented with proportionable umbrellas of similar workmanship, which are likewise encircled by small bells.

The extreme height of the edifice, from the level of the country, is 361 feet, and above the interior terrace, 331 feet.

On the south-east angle of the upper terrace there are two handsome saloons, or kioums, lately erected, the roofs composed of different stages, supported by pillars; we judged the length of each to be about sixty feet, and the breadth thirty: the ceiling of one is already embellished with gold leaf, and the pillars are lackered; the decoration of the other is not yet completed. They are made entirely of wood; the carving on the outside is laborious and minute: we saw several unfinished figures of animals and men in grotesque attitudes, which were designed as ornaments for different parts of the building. Some images of Gaudma, the supreme object of Birman adoration, lay scattered around.

At each angle of the interior and higher terrace, there

is a temple 67 feet high, resembling, in miniature, the great temple: in front of that, in the south-west corner, are four gigantic representations, in masonry, of Palloo, or the evil genius, hali beast, half human, seated on their hams, each with a large club on the right shoulder. The Pundit who accompanied me, said that they resembled the Rakuss of the Hindoos. These are guardians of the tempie.

Nearly in the centre of the east face of the area are two human figures in stucco, beneath a gilded umbrella; one, standing, represents a man with a book before him and a pen in his hand; he is called Thasiamee, the recorder of mortal merits and mortal misdeeds; the other, a female figure kneeling, is Mahasumdera, the protectress of the universe, so long as the universe is doomed to last; but when the time of general dissolution arrives, by her handthe world is to be overwhelmed and everlastingly destroyed.

A small brick building near the north-east angle contains an upright marble slab, four feet high, and three feet wide: there is a long legible inscription on it. I was told it was an account of the donations of pilgrims of only a recent date.

Along the whole extent of the north face of the upper terrace, there is a wooden shed for the convenience of devotees who come from a distant part of the country. On the north side of the temple are three large bells of good workmanship, suspended righ the ground, between pillars ; several deers' horns lie strewed around; those who come to pay their devotions first take up one of the horns, and strike the bell three times, giving an alternate stroke to the ground: this act, I was told, is to announce to the spirit of Gaudma the approach of a suppliant. There are several low benches near the foot of the temple, on which the person who comes to pray, places his offering, commonly consisting of boiled rice, a plate of sweetmeats, or cocoanut fried in oil; when it is given, the devotee cares not what becomes of it; the crows and wild dogs often devour it in presence of the donor, who never attempts to disturb the animals. I saw several plates of victuals disposed of in this manner, and understood it to be the case with all that was brought.