is a typical Burmese town, embowered in tamarind groves, on the right bank of the Irrawaddy a few miles below Mandalay. It is the southern terminus of the railway to Myit-kyi-na and is also connected by rail with Mônywa and Alôn on the Chindwin. From Mandalay, a steam ferry plies several times a day in connection with the railway. Except as the headquarters of a Division and District, Sagaing has no special importance but it has many associations and notable neighbours. Nearly opposite on the left bank of the river stood the ancient and famous city of Ava, now in ruin and decay. A little to the north is the great bell of Mingun, the largest hung bell in the world. Cast in 1790, it weighs 80 tons, with a height of 12 feet and a diameter at the mouth of 16 feet. It was re-hung a few years ago. Close by, at Mingun, is a vast uncompleted pagoda planned by Bodawpaya to be of unapproached dimensions, but abandoned after it had been split by an earthquake in 1839. With a base of 450 feet square and height of 162 feet, it enjoys the unromantic distinction of being the greatest mass of solid brick work extant. Hard by is Sinbyushin, a beautiful terraced pagoda, dating from the 14th century. To the north the hills along the river are crowned with white pagodas in picturesque disorder; hollowed out of the hills are cave dwellings of hermits.
Shwebo. Shwebo (10,605), an inland town on the Myitkyina railway, is noted as the birth-place of Alaungpaya and the capital of his kingdom. Traces of the royal city still remain. In Burmese times Shwebo was often the seed- plot of rebellion.
Bhamo. Bhamo (7741), an ancient town on the left bank of the Irrawaddy, 687 miles from the sea, is an emporium of the caravan trade with China. It is one of the places to which European traders first penetrated. Among its inhabitants are a fair sprinkling of Chinese from Yünnan and some from Canton; its most conspicuous building is an elaborately ornamented Chinese temple Bhamo is im-
