There Are Many Of These Idol Houses, Both Large And
Small, Which Are Ordinarily Constructed In A Pyramidical Form, Like
Little Hills, Sugar-Loaves Or Bells, Some Of Them Being As High As An
Ordinary Steeple.
They are very large at the bottom, some being a
quarter of a mile in compass.
The inside of these temples are all built
of bricks laid in clay mortar instead of lime, and filled up with earth,
without any form or comeliness from top to bottom; afterwards they are
covered with a frame of canes plastered all over with lime to preserve
them from the great rains which fall in this country. Also about these
_varely_ or idol-houses they consume a prodigious quantity of leaf gold,
as all their roofs are gilded over, and sometimes the entire structure
is covered from top to bottom; and as they require to be newly gilded
every ten years, a prodigious quantity of gold is wasted on this
vanity, which occasions gold to be vastly dearer in Pegu than it would
be otherwise.
[Footnote 167: This is certainly an error, and Cesar Frederick has
mistaken the bamboo cane used in such erections for the sugar-cane. - E.]
It may be proper to mention, that in buying jewels or precious stones in
Pegu, he who has no knowledge or experience is sure to get as good and
as cheap articles as the most experienced in the trade. There are four
men at Pegu called _tareghe_ or jewel-brokers, who have all the jewels
or rubies in their hands; and when any person wants to make a purchase
he goes to one of these brokers, and tells him that he wants to lay out
so much money on rubies; for these brokers have such prodigious
quantities always on hand, that they know not what to do with them, and
therefore sell them at a very low price.
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