Rangoon

the capital of lower Burma. It is situated on the Rangoon river, near the sea, in the region east of the mouth of the Irawadi. The site is elevated. The city was founded by a Burmese ruler in 1753. It passed into the hands of the British in 1852. Broad boulevards and well built churches, schools, colleges, hospitals, museums, a town hall, and custom house give the city a modern appearance. Large shipments of rice, cotton, timber, ivory, horns, precious stones, and other articles, to the value of $50,000,000 a year, are made. A railway has been built into the interior as far as Mandalay. One of the features of the city is an oriental pagoda. The base is many sided, and is about 400 feet in diameter. The roof, having a corresponding number of sides, is carried up in an incurving cone to a sharp finish 300 feet high. The base is surrounded by a number of small pagodas which make the central building seem all the larger.