The steam-whistle called our friends back to the boat, and in a little while they were heading up the river once more. As they turned a bend above Myanaong, the captain pointed to a plain that stretched away for several miles along the bank of the river, and was backed by a dense forest.
"On that plain," said the captain, "I saw a fine example of the superiority of the European mode of warfare over that of these sleepy Orientals. I have already told you how we overset a fleet of their war-boats without endeavoring to do so, and now I'll tell how we dispersed an army of several thousand men in about five minutes:[5]
[5] For these two incidents the writer is indebted to the author of "Up and Down the Irrawaddy."
"The steamer that I was on during the second Burmese war was ordered to come up the river to prevent any re-enforcements going to the Burmese in Rangoon before we assaulted the place. Just before reaching this point we heard the sound of gongs and trumpets; it grew louder and louder, and we slowed our engines and crept gently along. Soon we discovered a great flashing and sparkling all over the plain, and from the mast-head we made out that an army was marching to the relief of Rangoon.
"Three 'woons,' or governors of as many districts, were leading the army, and it was a gorgeous array of elephants, horses, wagons, gongs, flags, trumpets, brass trappings, and all 'the pomp and circumstance of glorious war.' The three woons were on as many elephants in the front rank, seated on gilded howdahs, and shaded by gold umbrellas. Their servants knelt behind them with fans and betel-boxes, and the driver on each elephant's neck was flourishing his wand as though proud of the honor of directing the stately beast who carried a woon. Then came five elephants drawn out in a line, and laden with servants and baggage, and then twelve elephants bearing the sons and nephews of the woons, together with the staff-officers. Next came the horsemen, three or four hundred strong, and behind them the beaters of gongs and cymbals, with the blowers of trumpets; then followed the infantry, and then the wagons and the camp-followers, making a long, irregular column that stretched far away to the forest.