LANDING ON THE BEACH.
[CHAPTER XII.]
FIRST DAY IN BURMAH.—THE GOLDEN PAGODA.
The first land they saw in approaching Burmah was, as Fred expressed it, a light-house without any land visible for it to stand on. The light-house is on a dangerous reef of rocks more than a mile long, and quite covered at high-tide, and many a ship came to grief there before the beacon was erected. As there is no sign of land at the point where the light-house is first seen, the sight is a curious one. Fred and Frank were much interested in the spectacle, and when they first saw the tall structure of stone, 150 feet in height, they could hardly believe the evidence of their eyes.
CREEK LEADING FROM THE RANGOON RIVER.
A boat headed for them, and before passing the light-house they had taken on board the pilot who was to show them the way to Rangoon. The city stands on one of the mouths of the Irrawaddy, twenty-six miles from the sea, and the boys were forcibly reminded of their visit to Saigon by the general similarity of the scenery at the mouths of the Meikong and the river they were now ascending. The branch on which Rangoon stands is known as the Rangoon River; it is nearly two miles wide at its mouth, but gradually narrows until it is only about a third of a mile across at the city itself. The banks are low and flat, and the scenery is monotonous; there are many little creeks and canals branching off from the river, and forming quite a net-work of waters navigable for small boats. Rice-fields and uncultivated swamps stretch away for long distances, and it was hardly necessary for the captain of the steamer to say that the region was an unhealthy one for foreigners.