The Royal Palace occupied the central space of the city of Mandalay. It
was almost entirely of woodwork, and was not only the counterpart of the
palace which Major Phayre saw at Amarapoora, but the identical palace
itself, conveyed piecemeal from its previous site and re-erected here. Its
outermost enclosure consisted of a massive teak palisading, beyond which
all round was a wide clear space laid out as an esplanade, the farther
margin of which was edged by the houses of ministers and court officials.
The Palace enclosure was a perfect square, each face about 370 yards. The
main entrance, the only one in general use, was in the centre of the
eastern face, almost opposite to which, across the esplanade, was the
_Yoom-dau_, or High Court. This gate was called the _Yive-dau-yoo-Taga_,
or the Royal Gate of the Chosen, because the charge of it was entrusted to
chosen troops. As I passed through it on my way to be presented to his
Majesty, the aspect of the "chosen" troops was not imposing. They wore no
uniform, and differed in no perceptible item from the common coolies of
the outside streets. They were lying about on charpoys and on the ground,
chewing betel or smoking cheroots, and there was not even the pretence of
there being sentries under arms. Some rows of old flintlock guns stood in
racks in the gateway, rusty, dusty, and untended; they might have been
untouched since the last insurrection. Crossing an intermediate space
overgrown with shrubbery, we passed through a high gateway cut in the
inner brick wall of the enclosure; and there confronted us the great
Myenan of Mandalay--the Palace of the "Sun-descended Monarch." The first
impression was disappointing, for the whole front was covered with
gold-leaf and tawdry tinsel-work which had become weather-worn and dingy.
But there was no time now to halt, inspect details, and rectify perchance
first impressions. A message came that the Kingwoon Menghyi, my host of
the previous evening--substantially the Prime Minister of Burmah, desired
that we--that was to say, Dr. Williams, my guide, philosopher, and friend,
and myself--should wait upon him in the _Hlwot-dau_, or Hall of the