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Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
 CHAPTER I.

Geographical sketch—Character of the country—

Climate—The river Irawadi—The Petroleum wells—
The Saluen, &c.—Forests—Plants—Minerals—
Animals—Races of Burmah—Character of the
Burmese nation.

Before the war in 1824, 1825, and 1826, the empire of Burmah
was the most considerable among those of the Indo-Chinese nations
inhabiting the farther peninsula of India. Previous to the events of
that campaign it comprehended the whole of the extensive region
lying between the latitudes 9° and 27° N. At present, however, its
limits are lat. 16° and 27° or 28° N., and long. 93° and 99° E. Its
northern boundary is, even at the present day, imperfectly known;
and we are in still greater uncertainty concerning the frontier to the
east, in Upper Laos, partly subject to the king of Ava or Burmah.
Berghaus is probably the most correct in following Sir Francis
Hamilton,[2] who has done far more for the geography of these
countries than any one else, and extending it to 100° E. long., about
the parallel of 22° N. It is bounded on the west by the British
provinces of Arakhan, Cassay, and Chittagong; to the north, by a
portion of Assam and Thibet; to the north-east it has the Chinese
province of Yunan; to the east, the independent Laos country and
the British territory of Martaban; and to the south it has the kingdom
of Siam and the Indian Ocean.
Taken in its most extensive sense, that is, including all the
countries subject to Burman influence, its area may contain 194,000
square miles. The population is probably about 4,000,000. The
climate of a country comprehending such a vast extent of territory,
cannot fail to exhibit much variety, and topographical circumstances
cannot fail to produce a still greater difference. But notwithstanding
that the southern levels at the mouth of the Irawadi are swampy, yet
the climate is not, even there, insalubrious, while farther north it is
very similar to that of Hindostan. Col. Symes, to whose excellent,
though somewhat overcharged narrative, we shall have ample
occasion to refer, insists upon the salubrity of the climate in very
strong terms indeed. The aspect of the country is low and
champaign up to the full latitude of 17½°N.; but from thence to the
22° it assumes a hilly aspect, and beyond that it rises into
mountains. Burmah is inclosed on the east and west by two branch
ranges of the Himalaya; other ranges run down, in general, from
north to south, gradually decreasing in height toward the south.
The upper portion of Burmah is mountainous. The scenery is
among the most beautiful in the world. Plains and mountains, lovely
valleys and gaping chasms, present themselves to the wondering
eye of the traveller. Now there is a space of level ground, covered
with straggling underwood; plants trail along the earth, the high
disorderly grass of the jungle waves, and the wild stunted trees
stretch their deformed limbs toward heaven, as if to pray that the
hand of civilised man might at length relieve them. The waving grass
is gone, and we are again amid the mountains, clothed with majestic
trees, arching gloriously over the weary traveller’s head, and
concealing from his view the wild animals that house there. Such is
the greater part of Burmah, thus uninhabited and neglected; such
the condition of a region belonging to an unenergetic people; and
such it will remain, until the nations can recognise the vast wealth
that the gorges and abysses of the mountains contain. Rich and
unexhausted is the land; but the race that shall gather its treasures,
and turn its wild wastes into populous cities, is not, and will never
be, that of the Burman!
The coasts and rivers are well studded with towns and villages,
and the busy hum of the healthy labourers is heard everywhere. Yet
there is a blank place in the maps for many portions still. No
European voice has listened in the wildernesses of the Naga tribes,
or in those of the Murroos. The land whence the human race first
came is now left silent.
 In the maritime portions of the country the year has two seasons,
—the dry and the wet. The latter always begins about the tenth of
May, with showers gradually growing more frequent, for several
weeks. It afterwards rains almost daily until about the middle of
September, when it as gradually goes off, and in the course of a
month entirely ceases. During this time from one hundred and fifty
to two hundred inches of water fall. This is the only time when the
country is unhealthy for foreigners, and even then, there are many
places where persons may reside with impunity. In other parts of the
country there are three seasons. In the highest and wildest
provinces there are severe winters.
Amidst these mountain-passes rises the great and sacred river
Irawadi, named from the elephant of Indra, which, like the stream of
history, flows down from amidst obscurity and uncertainty. The
sources of the Irawadi are yet undiscovered; but Lieutenant Wilcox,
who explored a considerable portion of Burmah, was informed, that
they were not far distant from that of the Burampooter, or
Brahmapootra. It has a course of more than twelve hundred miles to
the sea; and passing through the whole of the empire, it falls into
the Gulf of Martaban, by a great number of mouths, in the kingdom
of Pegu. Its breadth varies from one to three, and even five miles in
various parts of its course. How different from its narrowest width of
eighty yards, at about forty miles from its supposed source.
The river issues from the mountains, and enters an extensive
valley, occupied by the tribes of the Khunoongs. At this early point of
its course, the country is perfectly level, and is partly cultivated,
while the remainder is studded with small woods of bamboo. The
Irawadi is little more than eighty yards broad at the town of
Manchee, and is quite fordable. The plain of Manchee is 1,855 feet
above the level of the sea. After passing through this plain, it runs
through countries very little blown to Europeans, for about 120
miles. Rugged mountain-chains here form the banks of the river,
sometimes diversified by a plain of some extent.
 Bamoo is the first place of consequence on the river after
Manchee, and is about 350 miles distant from the latter town. The
level of the river falls 1,300 feet between the two places. At some
distance from Bamoo, near a village called Kauntoun, the river
suddenly turns westwards but soon runs south-west again. A little
above Hentha it takes a direction due south, so continuing to
Amarapura. From Bamoo to Amarapura the country is only navigable
for small boats.
“With the change of the river the face of the country is changed.
Issuing from the narrow valley, it enters a very wide one, or rather a
plain. Along its banks, and especially on the southern side, the level
country extends for many miles, in some places even to thirty, and
even then is not bounded by high mountains, but by moderate hills,
which increase in height as they recede farther from the river.
Considerable portions of these plains are covered by the inundations
of the river in the wet season. On the north side of the river the hills
are at no great distance from the banks, and here the ground is
impregnated with muriate of soda, and with nitre, of which great
quantities are extracted.”[3]
The Irawadi now rolls its majestic floods towards the ocean, and
receives an accession in the confluence of the Kyan Duayn, a river
which first receives that name near the Danghii hills; it then
continues its course, and arrives at the former boundary of the
kingdoms of Ava and Pegu, the promontory of Kyaok-ta-rau.
“The valley of the Irawadi, south of its confluence with the Kyan
Duayn, to the town of Melloon (south of 20° N. lat.), is, in its general
aspect, hilly and very uneven; but the hills rise to no great height, at
least not near the river, and are in many places separated by tracts
of flat country, which in some places are extensive and well
cultivated. South of Melloon the hills approach nearer the river, and
often form its banks. They are in most places covered with forest
trees of considerable size; among which teak-trees are frequent.
Cultivation is confined to the narrow flat tracts which here and there
separate the hills from the river.”[4]
 In this neighbourhood are situated the famous Petroleum wells, at
a village called Re-nau-khaung, from three to four miles from the
river. Colonel Symes did not visit the interesting spot at that time,
but he has given us an excellent idea of the locality, by his brief but
vigorous sketch:—
“The country,” he tells us,[5] “now displayed an aspect different
from any we had yet seen; the surface was broken into small
separate hills, entirely barren and destitute of vegetation, except
some stunted bushes that grew on the declivities, and in the dells,
and a few unhealthy trees immediately in the neighbourhood of the
villages: the clay was discoloured, and had the appearance of red
ochre. We were informed, that the celebrated wells of petroleum,
which supply the whole empire, and many parts of India, with that
useful product, were five miles to the east of this place. The Seree
brought me a piece of stone, which he assured me was petrified
wood, and which certainly had much the appearance of it. In
walking about, I picked up several lumps of the same, in which the
grain of the wood was plainly discernible; it was hard, siliceous, and
seemed composed of different lamina. The Birmans said it was the
nature of the soil that caused this transmutation; and added, that
the petrifying quality of the earth at this place was such, that leaves
of trees shaken off by the wind were not unfrequently changed into
stone before they could be decayed by time. The face of the country
was altered and the banks of the river were totally barren; the
ground was superficially covered with quartz gravel, and concreted
masses of the same material were thickly scattered. The mouth of
the creek was crowded with large boats, waiting to receive a lading
of oil; and immense pyramids of earthen jars were raised within and
around the village, disposed in the same manner as shot and shells
are piled in an arsenal. This place is inhabited only by potters, who
carry on an extensive manufactory, and find full employment. The
smell of the oil was extremely offensive; we saw several thousand
jars filled with it ranged along the bank; some of these were
continually breaking, and the contents, mingling with the sand,
formed a very filthy consistence.”
 On the colonel’s return, however, he and Dr. Buchanan rode over
to the wells; and their account of their visit is too interesting to be
omitted here:[6]—
“The face of the country was cheerless and sterile; the road,
which wound among rocky eminences, was barely wide enough to
admit the passage of a single cart; and in many places the track in
which the wheels must run was a foot and a half lower on one side
than the other: there were several of these lanes, some more
circuitous than others, according to the situation of the small hills
among which they led. Vehicles, going and returning, were thus
enabled to pursue different routes, except at particular places where
the nature of the ground would only admit of one road: when a cart
came to the entrance of such a defile, the driver hallooed out, to
stop any that might interfere with him from the opposite side, no
part being sufficiently wide for two carts to pass. The hills, or rather
hillocks, were covered with gravel, and yielded no other vegetation
than a few stunted bushes. The wheels had worn ruts deep into the
rock, which seemed to be rather a mass of concreted gravel than
hard stone, and many pieces of petrified wood lay strewed about. It
is remarkable, that wherever these petrifactions were found the soil
was unproductive, and the ground destitute of verdure. The evening
being far advanced, we met but few carts; those which we did
observe, were drawn each by a pair of oxen, of a length
disproportionate to the breadth, to allow space for the earthen pots
that contained the oil. It was a matter of surprise to us how they
could convey such brittle ware, with any degree of safely, over so
rugged a road: each pot was packed in a separate basket and laid
on straw; notwithstanding which precaution, the ground all the way
was strewed with the fragments of the vessels, and wet with oil; for
no care can prevent the fracture of some in every journey. As we
approached the pits, which were more distant than we had
imagined, the country became less uneven, and the soil produced
herbage: it was nearly dark when we reached them, and the
labourers had retired from work. There seemed to be a great many
pits within a small compass: walking to the nearest, we found the
aperture about four feet square, and the sides, as far as we could
see down, were lined with timber; the oil is drawn up in an iron pot,
fastened to a rope passed over a wooden cylinder which revolves on
an axis supported by two upright posts. When the pot is filled, two
men take the rope by the end, and run down a declivity, which is cut
in the ground to a distance equivalent to the depth of the well: thus,
when they reach the end of the track the pot is raised to its proper
elevation; the contents, water and oil together, are then discharged
into a cistern, and the water is afterwards drawn off through a hole
in the bottom.”
It is impossible to read this, without stopping to smile at the
backwardness of the people, who, having invented all the machinery
for a well, should still remain at that distance from the application of
this discovery, as to resort to such a complicated and cumbersome
arrangement, as cutting a trackway equal in length to the depth of
the well! How easy to have applied the winch and coiled the rope, as
other nations as far back in civilisation have done, in the way with
which we are acquainted! But it is such little hitches that impede a
nation’s progress![7] But to continue the narrative of the envoy.
“Our guide, an active, intelligent man, went to a neighbouring
house and procured a well-rope, by means of which we were
enabled to measure the depth, and ascertained it to be thirty-seven
fathoms; but of the quantify of oil at the bottom we could not judge.
The owner of the rope, who followed our guide, affirmed, that when
a pit yielded as much as came up to the waist of a man, it was
deemed tolerably productive; if it reached to his neck, it was
abundant; but that which rose no higher than the knee was
accounted indifferent. When a well is exhausted, they restore the
spring by cutting deeper into the rock, which is extremely hard in
those places where the oil is produced. Government farms out the
ground that supplies this useful commodity; and it is again let to
adventurers, who dig wells at their own hazard, by which they
sometimes gain and often lose, as the labour and expense of digging
are considerable. The oil is sold on the spot for a mere trifle; I think
two or three hundred pots for a tackal, or half a crown. The principal
charge is incurred by the transportation and purchase of vessels. We
had but half gratified our curiosity, when it grew dark, and our guide
urged us not to remain any longer, as the road was said to be
infested by tigers, that prowled at night among the rocky
uninhabited ways through which we had to pass. We followed his
advice, and returned, with greater risk, as I thought, of breaking our
necks from the badness of the road than of being devoured by wild
beasts. At ten o’clock we reached our boats without any
misadventure.”
Captain Hiram Cox, the British resident at Rangoon in 1796-7,
describes the town of Re-nau-khyaung, or as he spells it,
Ramanghong, meaning the town through which flows a river of
earth-oil, as “of mean appearance; and several of its temples, of
which there are great numbers, falling to ruins; the inhabitants,
however,” he continues, “are well dressed, many of them with
golden spiral ear ornaments.”[8] Altogether the town or village, and
its environs, are as bleak as bleak can be, if we may trust the
description. We shall hereafter return to the consideration of the
Petroleum trade as a source of revenue to the government.
The most important place about this portion of the course of the
Irawadi is Prome, a city which we shall hereafter have to mention as
one of those celebrated in the ancient history of the country; we will
therefore omit further notice of it here. Exclusive of the Delta of the
Irawadi, to which we must now turn our attention, there is very little
low land in the Burman territory. Like the Delta of the Nile it is
exceedingly fruitful, and it produces abundant crops of rice. It is,
too, the commercial highway of the land.
Malcom, who travelled in the country, expresses his astonishment
at the number of boats ever passing up and down the river. It would
seem that the navigation is very tedious; for, according to the same
traveller, the boats are generally from three to four months
ascending from the Delta to the city of Ava.[9]
 The Irawadi finally embouches into the Bay of Bengal by several
mouths, of which the chief are, the Bassein river, the Dallah, the
Chinabuckeer, and the Rangoon or Syriam river.
The Saluen or Martaban river rises in the same range of mountain
whence the Burampooter, the Irawadi, and the great Kamboja rivers
originate. In the early part of its course, it is named Nou-Kiang by
the Chinese, through whose territory it at first flows. It disembogues
into the Gulf of Poolooghoon opposite the island of that name.
The Kyan Duayn is a river which, rising near the sources of the
Irawadi, traverses the Kubo valley, and falls into that river in lat. 21°
35´ N., long. 95° 10´ E.; forming several islands at the junction. The
principal of these is Alakyun.
The river Setang makes a grand appearance, as Malcom says,
upon the map, still it is of little use, as its depth is only four feet,
though at different places it has a depth of from ten to fifteen feet.
It must at one time have been deeper and navigable, for the ancient
capital of Tongho, in the kingdom of that name, is built upon it.
There is a bore of three feet on the Setang. The other rivers of
Burmah are of little consequence. There are but few lakes, and the
most considerable will be noticed hereafter.
The fruits of Burmah are very varied in their character, and though
they surpass their neighbours in the article of timber, yet the fruit-
trees are far inferior. A very complete list is given in Malcom’s
comprehensive work, to which I must refer the reader.[10] The teak
forests, whose produce forms no inconsiderable article in Burmese
commerce, are situated in the province of Sarawadi, in the hilly
mountainous district east and north-east of Rangoon. The forests in
this part of Asia, like the woody and uncultivated parts of Hindostan,
are extremely pestiferous, and even though the wood-cutters be a
hardy and active race of men, on whom climate and suffering would
seem to have little effect, yet they never attain to any considerable
age, and are very short-lived.
 Dr. Wallich, on his visit to Burmah in 1826, collected specimens of
upwards of sixteen thousand different sorts of trees and plants. I
need only refer the reader to his learned and magnificent work for a
description and classification of them.
The mineral riches of the land, which are considerable, are not
sufficiently attended to. The head-waters of the various rivers
contain gold-dust, and from Bamoo, on the frontier of China, much
gold has been obtained. Malcom suggests that want of enterprise
and capital has alone prevented these sources of prosperity from
being worked. Yes, it has been that curse! From the earliest ages
they have laboured under it, and time seems not to have taught
them the important lesson that all the world beside are learning and
repeating every day,—the necessity of progress. Much of their gold is
drawn from China, and their love for using it in gilding edifices
resembles the taste of the Incas, who, richer in the metal, plated
their temples with gold.[11] What is not used for this purpose is
employed in the setting of the jewels of the great, and as in Peru,
remains in the hands of the Inca lords. It is rarely used as currency,
and then in ingots.
Notwithstanding that there is much silver elsewhere, the only
mines worked are in Laos, and there even the mines are not
wrought by the Burmese, but by natives of China and Laos, to the
number of about a thousand. The estimated produce does not seem
large, amounting annually to only one hundred thousand pounds, on
which the contractors pay a tax of five thousand pounds.
The diamonds are all small, and emeralds are wanting. Rubies are
found in great quantities, however, at about five days’ journey from
Ava, near the villages of Mo-gout and Kyat-pyen. Malcom saw one
for which the owner asked no less than four pounds of pure gold.
The king is reported to have some which weigh from one hundred
and twenty to one hundred and fifty grains. Sapphires, too, abound.
“Some have been obtained,” Malcom assures us, “weighing from
three thousand to nearly four thousand grains.”[12] Many other
precious stones are to be found in this wealthy country. Much amber
is found round the Hu-kong valley, on the Assam frontier. Iron, tin,
lead, and many of those staples of commerce which form the real
wealth and resources of every country, abound, and coal is to be
found in the inland provinces.[13] Marble, and of the finest, also
exists in the land; better than which there would seem to be none in
the world. What might such a country be in the hands of an
energetic and intelligent people!
I subjoin a translation of a description of the mines of precious
stones in Kyat-pyen, from the original of Père Giuseppe d’Amato.[14]
It gives a clearer and conciser account of the mines than I can meet
with elsewhere, and I therefore offer it to the reader in an abridged
form.
“The territory of Kyat-pyen [written Chia-ppièn by d’Amato] is
situated to the east, and a little to the south of the town of Mon-thá
(lat. 22° 16´ N.), distant about seventy miles. It is surrounded by
nine mountains. The soil is uneven and full of marshes, forming
seventeen small lakes, each having a particular name. It is this soil
which is so rich in mineral treasures. It should be noticed, however,
that the dry ground alone is mined. The miners dig square wells,
supporting the sides with piles and cross-pieces. These wells are
sunk to the depth of fifteen or twenty cubits. When it is secure, the
miner descends with a basket, which he fills with loose earth, the
basket is drawn up, and the jewels are picked out and washed in the
brooks in the neighbouring hills. They continue working the wells
laterally till two meet, when the place is abandoned. There are very
few accidents. The precious stones that are found there consist of
rubies, sapphires, topazes, and other crystals. Many fabulous stories
are related concerning the origin of the mines at Kyat-pyen.” An
anecdote was told Amato, as he says, “by a person of the highest
credit,” of two masses (amas) of rubies at Kyat-pyen. One weighed
eighty viss.[15] When the people were taking them to Ava to the
king, a party of robbers attacked the convoy, and made off with the
smaller one; the other, injured by fire, was brought to Ava.
 The animals of the country are very numerous. The domestic
quadrupeds of the Burmans are the ox, the buffalo, the horse, and
the elephant. The two first are very much used throughout the
country. They are both of a very good species, and generally well
kept. The ox is to them an expensive animal, as their religion forbids
its use as food, and they have, therefore, no profitable manner of
disposing of the disabled cattle. This, probably, led to the taming of
the buffalo, an animal which has been in use among them from time
immemorial. It is less expensive to rear, and is contented with
coarser food. But it is not so valuable in some respects, for though
stronger, it is not so hardy, and cannot endure long-continued
exertion. The horse is never full-sized in Burmah, as in every Asiatic
tropical country east of Bengal, and it somewhat resembles the
Canadian pony. The animal is expensive, and rarely used except for
the saddle. In some parts of the country it is almost unknown.
The elephant, well named the Apis of the Buddhists by M. Dubois
de Jancigny,[16] is now much more the object of royal luxury and
ostentation than anything else, and I shall, when speaking of the
religious ceremonies of the Burmans, again refer to the place it
occupies in their estimation. It is only used in Laos as a beast of
burden.
Hogs, dogs, cats, besides asses, sheep, and goats, which last are
but little known, are little cared for, and they are allowed to pursue
their own paths unmolested. The camel, an animal, which as Mr.
Crawfurd says, is “sufficiently well suited to the upper portions of the
country,” is unknown to the Burmese.[17]
Wild animals of many descriptions abound in Burmah, still it is a
remarkable fact, noticed by Crawfurd, that neither wolves, jackals,
foxes, nor hyenas, are to be found in the country. Many species of
winged game abound, as also hares.
The Indo-Chinese nations are considered by Prichard[18] to consist
of various races, while Pickering[19] seems to be able to detect but
two, the Malay, and, in an isolated position, the Telingan. It is
therefore difficult with such contradictory evidence to arrive at the
probable result. But as, without a slight sketch of this important
subject, my work would fall under the just imputation of
incompleteness, I shall venture to give some account of the races of
Burmah, and I the rather take Prichard as my chief guide, as his
research is the completer of the two, notwithstanding that Pickering
has shown himself well able through his work to distinguish the
Malay race from every other, in the most difficult and delicate cases.
I shall not trouble the reader with any account of the adjacent races,
but occupy myself solely with the principal nations under the
Burman dominion. And first of the people of Pegu:[20] they inhabit
the Delta of the Irawadi, and the low coast which terminates in the
hilly country of the Burmans or Maramas. They are called by the
Burmans, Talain; but their own name for themselves is Mân or Môn.
The Pegu race, we shall see in the course of its history, was once
very powerful, and its ascendancy remained for many years, and
during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the empire of Pegu is
often spoken of in the Portuguese chronicles as powerful and
magnificent. Their language is entirely different from that of the
Burmese and Siamese, as Leyden judged,[21] and Low has since
amply proved.[22] In Low’s opinion, the Mân is the most original of
the Indo-Chinese language. They use the Pali alphabet, and
probably had it before the Burmans.
The Karian race inhabits the borders and low plains in Bassein
province, but do not present any salient points for consideration.
The Maramas or Burmans inhabit the high lands above Pegu,
where they created a powerful empire for themselves in very ancient
times. They are some of that valiant Malay stock who subsequently
colonized so large a portion of the globe, and passed by way of
Polynesia to the American continent. They, like the Incas of Peru,
boast a celestial origin; and the similarity of some of their
institutions lead to no unfair presumption of their being of the same
original family.[23] They are the most extended race in the Burman
empires, reaching from the frontiers of Laos and Siam westward to
Arakhan.
The country of Arakhan, which next claims our attention, and
concludes our consideration of the races of Burmah, stretches along
the eastern shore of the Gulf of Bengal, from about 21° to 18° of
north latitude. Having in ancient times formed a portion of the
empire of Magad’ha, they were for centuries connected with India.
The Burmans themselves derive their origin from them; but this is
only indirectly true. The solution of the problem remains yet to be
told. The opinion of the Burmans regarding the antiquity of the
Rúkheng, or Arakhan dialect, is fully borne out by Dr. Leyden. The
chief modifications it has undergone are traceable to the Pali.[24]
The ethnology of the Burman empire is neither so intricate or so
unsatisfactory as some others. There does not seem to have been a
similar extent of change of race, and probably to that very
circumstance do they owe the feebleness of character, which,
however willingly we would omit seeing, does not fail to make itself
conspicuous in a consideration of their prowess, social institutions,
and advancement. The very fact of their quiescent state has
debarred from progress, as the most mixed race is ever the most
energetic. Witness our own, where so many various bloods have
commingled, and formed a nation, which, emphatically speaking, is a
progressive one, and now more than ever.
The Burmans have not made the advancement they might have
made. There has been sluggish, age-lasting improvement in their
empire, and it has been the want of a stimulating and decisive
energy alone that has kept them back. Simplicity forms, too, no
inconsiderable part of the national character, and this, by leading
them to accept various doctrines without examination—a quality
usually observable in semi-civilised races—has not given them any
reason to think and to look around. Like the American races, they
proceeded to a certain point, and then improved but little.
Colonel Symes, who was inclined to magnify the importance of the
nation in every way, applied some remarks to them, which, however
applicable now, were certainly not then. With those remarks I shall
terminate this chapter, leaving their truth or falsehood to be
discovered in the course of the work.
“The Birmans,” observes he,[25] “are certainly rising fast in the
scale of Oriental nations; and it is to be hoped that a long respite
from foreign wars will give them leisure to improve their natural
advantages. Knowledge increases with commerce; and as they are
not shackled by any prejudices of castes restricted to hereditary
occupations, or forbidden from participating with strangers in every
social bond, their advancement will, in all probability, be rapid. At
present, so far from being in a state of intellectual darkness,
although they have not explored the depths of science, nor reached
to excellence in the finer arts, they yet have an undeniable claim to
the character of a civilised and well-instructed people. Their laws are
wise, and pregnant with sound morality; their police is better
regulated than in most European countries; their natural disposition
is friendly, and hospitable to strangers; and their manners rather
expressive of manly candour than courteous dissimulation: the
gradations of rank, and the respect due to station, are maintained
with a scrupulosity which never relaxes. A knowledge of letters is so
widely diffused that there are no mechanics, few of the peasantry, or
even the common watermen (usually the most illiterate class), who
cannot read and write in the vulgar tongue. Few, however, are
versed in the more erudite volumes of science, which, containing
many Shanscrit terms, and often written in the Pali text, are (like the
Hindoo Shasters) above the comprehension of the multitude; but the
feudal system, which cherishes ignorance, and renders man the
property of man, still operates as a check to civilisation and
improvement. This is a bar which gradually weakens as their
acquaintance with the customs and manners of other nations
extends; and unless the rage of civil discord be again excited, or
some foreign power impose an alien yoke, the Birmans bid fair to be
a prosperous, wealthy, and enlightened people.”
 CHAPTER II.

The king absolute—Instances of despotism—Titles—

Form of government—Offices—The law courts—
Their iniquity—Instances—The Book of the Oath
epitomized—The oath—Laws—Police—Revenues—
Petroleum—Family tax—Imports and exports—
Exactions—Army—Equipments—Cowardice—March
—The Invulnerables—Discipline—Military character
—The white elephant—Description of an early
traveller—Its high estimation—Treatment—
Funeral.

All writers are unanimous in the cry that there is no potentate

upon earth equally despotic with the lord of Burmah. There is no
disguise about the fact, and he openly asserts, in his titles, that he is
lord, ruler, and sole possessor of the lives, persons, and property of
his subjects. He advances and degrades; his word alone can
promote a beggar to the highest rank, and his word can also utterly
displace the proudest officer of his court. His people is a capacious
storehouse, whence he obtains tools to work his will. As soon as any
person becomes distinguished by his wealth or influence, then does
he pay the penalty with his life. He is apprehended on some
supposed crime, and is never heard of more. Every Burman is born
the king’s slave, and it is an honour to the subject to be so called by
his sovereign.
Sangermano mentions that, in approaching the royal person, the
petitioner or officer is to prostrate himself before him, clasping his
hands together above his head.[26] The fact is curious, and I
mention it here, as it presents a striking similarity to the act of
homage to which the Inca race themselves were subjected in
approaching the sacred person of the Child of the Sun.[27] They
clasped their hands over their heads, and bore a burthen upon their
backs. Now the usage is such here, for the manner of clasping the
hands in the Burman court is typical of bearing a burthen, the actual
presence of which is dispensed with.
It is, however, an honour both to the institutor of the Burman law
and the sovereign, who, though absolute, obeyed it, to mention that
no married woman can be seized on by the emissaries of the king.
This, of course, leads the Burmese to contract marriages very early,
either actually or fictitiously.
The property of persons who die without heirs is swept into the
coffers of the state, and by law the property of unmarried foreigners
is subject to the same regulation upon their death. Jetsome and
flotsome belong to the king. These last provisions have not,
however, been much enforced, in consequence of the urgent
representations of the foreigners residing at Rangoon, Bassein, and
other places. The king alone decides upon peace and war, and his
call brings the whole population to the rescue. All serve, all are
conscripts. “The only effectual restraint,” as Crawfurd remarks, “on
the excesses of maladministration is the apprehension of
insurrection.”
However, notwithstanding his being acknowledged as absolute,
he, like a present president in Europe, has two nominal councils,—a
public one and a cabinet. But he is neither bound to abide by their
advice, nor does he. His measures are predetermined, and should
they prove unwilling to give an immediate and unconditional assent,
he has been known to chase his ministers from his presence, with a
drawn sword. Two instances are related of his rigour, which will
suffice to show the capriciousness of the unrestrained Oriental.
The first is related by Crawfurd.[28] “The workman who built the
present palace committed some professional mistake in the
construction of the spire. The king remonstrated with him, saying
that it would not stand. The architect pertinaciously insisted upon its
stability and sufficiency, and was committed to prison for contumacy.
Shortly afterwards the spire fell in a thunderstorm, and about the
same time accounts were received at court of the arrival of the
British expedition; upon which the architect was sent for from
prison, taken to the place of execution, and forthwith decapitated.
This,” concludes the envoy, “although upon a small scale, is a fair
example both of the despotism and superstition by which this people
are borne down.”
The second instance, for the truth of which I would scarcely
vouch, was reported to Malcom,[29] whence I quote it. “On a late
occasion, for a very slight offence, he had forty of his highest
officers laid on their faces in the public street, before the palace
wall; kept for hours in a broiling sun, with a beam extended across
their bodies.” This is scarcely credible, and I think Malcom’s informer
must have been a Burmese Chartist, an Oriental Cuffey. However
that traveller pithily observes, that he is “seldom allowed to know
much of passing events, and particularly of the delinquencies of
particular officers, who are ever ready to hush up accusations by a
bribe to their immediate superior.”
Many circumstances lead me to suspect, however, that the king
has little real power, and that the officers reap the benefits of the
acts of enormity which he commits at their instigation, or which they
commit under the shadow of his responsibility. It has often been the
case in the world’s varied history, and why not here? Facts will show.
As a specimen of the pride of the Burmese government, I shall
append the form of address, which an English envoy received with
the recommendation that he should pronounce it before the king.[30]
“Placing above our heads the golden majesty of the Mighty Lord,
the Possessor of the mines of rubies, amber, gold, silver, and all
kinds of metal; of the Lord, under whose command are innumerable
soldiers, generals, and captains; of the Lord, who is King of many
countries and provinces, and Emperor over many Rulers and Princes,
who wait round the throne with the badges of his authority; of the
Lord, who is adorned with the greatest power, wisdom, knowledge,
prudence, foresight, &c.; of the Lord, who is rich in the possession
of elephants, and horses, and in particular is the Lord of many White
Elephants; of the Lord, who is the greatest of kings, the most just
and the most religious, the master of life and death; we his slaves
the Governor of Bengal, the officers and administrators of the
Company, bowing and lowering our heads under the sole of his royal
golden foot, do present to him with the greatest veneration, this our
humble petition.”
I have, by my italics, pointed out the “richest” parts of this
grandiose address, which, I think, requires no further comment. It
may be as well to add, however, that the presence and attributes of
the sovereign are always represented as golden.
The form of the Burman administration may be thus briefly
described. There is not here, as in other countries of the East, any
official answering to the post of Vizier or Prime Minister. The place of
such an officer is supplied by the councils mentioned above. The first
or public council is the higher in rank, and it has received the name
of Lut-d’hau or Lwat-d’hau. Its officers are four in number, and
Sangermano adds four assistants as a staff,[31] which Crawfurd
omits to mention.[32] The ministers bear the official name of Wun-kri
(Burthen-bearers great). It is now understood to signify figuratively
any one who is responsible; but in the days when the future
colonists of Peru left the land, there is not a doubt that it was
literally applied to the officers. For in the first place the designation
would be applied to them as constantly bearing burthens, being
continually in the presence of the king; and then, far from being a
term of contempt, it would be a designation of honour and
consideration. Thus they were literally, and are figuratively, Bearers
of the Great Burthens.[33] The questions of state are discussed by
this body, and the decision is by a majority of voices. Its sittings are
held within the precincts of the palace in a spacious hall. All the
royal edicts and grants pass through this council, and require its
sanction; in fact, though they are the king’s acts, yet his name never
appears in them. The custom is somewhat similar to our own of
never mentioning the sovereign directly by name in the houses of
parliament. The king is occasionally himself present at their
deliberations. The edicts of the council are written upon palm-leaves,
and a style of extreme brevity is adopted. Indeed, Sangermano
assures us that “the more concise it is, the more forcible and
efficacious the sentence is considered.” Would that our legislators
and lawyers with their lengthy documents thought so! They may yet
learn a lesson from barbarians.
The proclamations and writings of the council all bear the device
of a sabre, to intimate the strength and swiftness of the punishment
awaiting the transgressors of its decrees. The assistants or deputies
are called Wun-tauk (Burthen-proppers). The literal signification was
equally in force in ages gone by. Beside the Wun-tauks there are
from eight to ten secretaries, called Saré-d’haukri (Scribes-royal
great).
The second council, like the first, has deliberations with the king.
But those of the Atwen-wun (Interior burthen-bearers) are private
and preliminary to those of the Wunkri. They are considered to be
inferior to the Wunkri, and yet they have a great deal of by-
influence, from their position in the royal palace. The subjects of
their deliberations are precisely similar to those of the Lut-d’hau, and
they exercise the same judicial functions; and even now it is a
question of some doubt as to which of the assemblies is in reality
the higher. There are various officers attached to the Atwen-wun, as
to the Wun-kri.
The number four is retained in the next rank of officers. They are
the four general commanders and surveyors of the northern,
southern, eastern, and western parts of the empire respectively.
Then follow many subordinate officers attached in various capacities
to the administration. None of this numerous staff of officers receive
any regular salary, but their payment somewhat resembles the
system of repartimientos established in the Spanish colonies of
America, being assignments of the lands and labour of certain
numbers of the people. These are granted to officers of the
executive governments, in the same way as the king of Persia
assigned various cities and lands to Themistocles in more ancient
times.[34] Towns and lands are also granted to the ladies of the
king’s harem, and to the other numerous members of the royal
family. The whole country is looked upon as crown property; and the
waste and uncultivated parts are at the disposition of any one who
will settle in them. The only duty incumbent on the settler is that he
must inclose and cultivate it. If he do not improve the land within a
certain period, it reverts to the Crown, and may be settled by
another. Strangely enough, this does not prevent the sale,
inheritance, or leasing of land, which goes on just as in Europe,
although, of course, contrary to law. The conditions of mortgage are
simpler than with us; for the lender takes possession of the
mortgaged estate, and he becomes the owner of it, if the borrowed
amount be not returned before the expiration of three years.[35]
In civil disputes the parties have the right to select their own
judges, while criminal causes are tried before the chief governor of
the town or village.[36] At first this system of administering justice
would appear to be a fair and equitable plan, being apparently
merely an agreement to refer the matter to the consideration of
umpires. This is, however, not the case. The orders of government
forbid this, but nevertheless the prohibition is not observed; the
utmost corruption prevails, for any complainant goes to a sufficiently
influential person in the neighbourhood, and for a bribe obtains a
decision in his favour. Sangermano sarcastically remarks, “It may be
easily conceived to what injustice and inconvenience this practice
must necessarily lead.” The severest calamity that can befall any
person is “to be put into justice.” There is no small degree of wit in
this Burman phrase.
Crawfurd mentions an instance of the strange proceeding of the
Burman courts, which may be interesting.[37]
“In 1817, an old Burmese woman, in the service of a European
gentleman, was cited before the Rung-d’hau, or court of justice, of
Rangoon. Her master appeared on her behalf, and was informed that
her offence consisted in having neglected to report a theft
committed upon herself three years before, by which the
government officers were defrauded of the fees and profits which
ought to have accrued from the investigation or trial. On receiving
this information, he was about to retire, in order to make
arrangements to exonerate her, when he was seized by two
messengers of the court, and informed, that by appearing in the
business he had rendered himself responsible, and could not be
released unless some other individual were left in pledge for him,
until the old woman’s person were produced. A Burman lad, his
servant, who accompanied him, was accordingly left in the room. In
an hour he returned with the accused, and found, that in the
interval, the lad left in pledge had been put into the stocks, his
ankles squeezed in them, and by this means, a little money which he
had about his person, and a new handkerchief, extorted from him.
The old woman was now put into the stocks in her turn, and
detained there until all were paid, when she was discharged without
any investigation whatever into the theft.”
One would imagine that this circumstance was much more likely
to have happened in our High Court of Chancery, under the “sharp
practice” of a Dodson and Fogg. It seems to be a mutilated Burman
version of one of our “great” institutions made into a matter of
physical force by Malcom’s Oriental Chartist. I may here mention an
affecting incident related by Sangermano,[38] and doubtlessly too
true.
A poor widow, who was hard pinched to pay the tax demanded of
her, was obliged to sell her only daughter to obtain the sum. The
money was received, and heavy at heart she returned home, and
put it in a box in her house, intending to lament that night, and
carry the money to her inexorable creditor in the morning. But the
measure of her sorrows was not yet full. Some thieves broke into the
house and stole the money. In the morning she discovered her loss,
and this additional circumstance caused the bounds of her grief to
flow even beyond that of silence, and sitting before her door she
gave herself up to loud lamentations. As she was weeping, an
emissary of the city magistrate passed by, and inquired into the
cause of her sorrow. He, upon hearing the sad story, related the
matter to his master. The poor creature was then summoned to the
court of justice, and commanded to deliver up the thief. Of course
this was impossible. She was detained in the stocks until she could
scrape together money enough to satisfy the rapacity of the judge.
Sometimes these affairs are very comical. The same author relates
another, the circumstances of which are as follows:—
A woman employed in cooking fish for dinner was called away for
an instant. The cat, watching her opportunity, seized a half-roasted
fish, and ran out of the house. The woman immediately ran after the
cat, exclaiming, “The cat has stolen my fish!” A few days afterwards
she was summoned before the magistrate, who demanded the thief
at her hands. It was of no use that she explained that the thief was
a cat. The magistrate has nothing to do with that. His time was
valuable, and the expenses of the court must be paid.
The report of Captain Alves, cited in Crawfurd,[39] contains ample
accounts of the court charges.
How very similar the Burman law courts are to our own! The
following extract from the good father’s work will show it:[40]—“In
civil causes, lawsuits are terminated much more expeditiously than is
generally the case in our part of the world, provided always that the
litigants are not rich, for then the affair is extremely long, and
sometimes never concluded at all. I was myself acquainted with two
rich European merchants and ship-masters, who ruined themselves
so completely by a lawsuit, that they became destitute of the
common necessaries of life, and the lawsuit withal was not decided,
nor will ever be.” Just like Jarndyce and Jarndyce,—the same costly
affair everywhere!
Witnesses, both in the civil and criminal causes, are sometimes
examined upon oath, though not always. The oath is written in a
small book of palm-leaves, and is held over the head of the witness.
Foreigners, however, take their own oaths. The substance of the
Book of Imprecations, or, as the Burmese call it, the Book of the
Oath, is as follows:[41]—
False witnesses, who assert anything from passion, and not from
love of truth,—witnesses who affirm that they have heard and seen
what they have not heard or seen, may all such false witnesses be
severely punished with death, by that God who, through the
duration of 400,100,000 worlds, has performed every species of
good work, and exercised every virtue. I say, may God, who, after
having acquired all knowledge and justice, obtained divinity, leaning
upon the tree of Godama, may this God, with the Nat who guards
him day and night, that is, the Assurâ Nat, and the giants, slay these
false witnesses.
[Here follows the invocation of many different Nats.]
May all those who, in consequence of bribery from either party, do
not speak the truth, incur the eight dangers and the ten
punishments. May they be infected with all sorts of diseases.
Moreover, may they be destroyed by elephants, bitten and slain by
serpents, killed and devoured by the devils and giants, the tigers,
and other ferocious animals of the forest. May whoever asserts a
falsehood be swallowed by the earth, may he perish by sudden
death, may a thunderbolt from heaven slay him,—the thunderbolt
which is one of the arms of the Nat Devà.
May false witnesses die of bad diseases, be bitten by crocodiles,
be drowned. May they become poor, hated of the king. May they
have calumniating enemies, may they be driven away, may they
become utterly wretched, may every one ill-treat them, and raise
lawsuits against them.[42] May they be killed with swords, lances,
and every sort of weapon. May they be precipitated into the eight
great hells and the 120 smaller ones. May they be tormented. May
they be changed into dogs. And, if finally they become men, may
they be slaves a thousand and ten thousand times. May all their
undertakings, thoughts, and desires, ever remain as worthless as a
heap of cotton burnt by the fire.
 Such is the fearful anathema held over the head of the witness.
The oath that the witness himself pronounced is very curious, and
being unique in its way, I shall insert it here.[43] The book of the
oath is held over the deponent’s head, and he says:—
“I will speak the truth. If I speak not the truth, may it be through
the influence of the laws of demerit, viz., passion, anger, folly, pride,
false opinion, immodesty, hard heartedness, and scepticism, so that
when I and my relations are on land, land animals, as tigers,
elephants, buffaloes, poisonous serpents, scorpions, &c., shall seize,
crush, and bite us, so that we shall certainly die. Let the calamities
occasioned by fire, water, rulers, thieves, and enemies oppress and
destroy us, till we perish and come to utter destruction. Let us be
subject to all the calamities that are within the body, and all that are
without the body. May we be seized with madness, dumbness,
blindness, deafness, leprosy, and hydrophobia. May we be struck
with thunderbolts and lightning, and come to sudden death. In the
midst of not speaking truth may I be taken with vomiting clotted
black blood, and suddenly die before the assembled people. When I
am going by water, may the water Nats assault me, the boat be
upset, and the property lost; and may alligators, porpoises, sharks,
or other sea monsters, seize and crush me to death; and when I
change worlds, may I not arrive among men or Nats, but suffer
unmixed punishment and regret, in the utmost wretchedness,
among the four states of punishment, Hell, Prita, Beasts, and
Athurakai.
“If I speak the truth, may I and my relations, through the
influence of the ten laws of merit, and on account of the efficacy of
truth, be freed from all calamities within and without the body; and
may evils which have not yet come, be warded far away. May the
ten calamities and five enemies also be kept far away. May the
thunderbolts and lightning, the Nat of the waters, and all sea
animals, love me, that I may be safe from them. May my prosperity
increase like the rising sun and the waxing moon; and may the
seven possessions, the seven laws, and the seven merits of the
virtuous, be permanent in my person; and when I change worlds,
may I not go to the four states of punishment, but attain the
happiness of men and Nats, and realize merit, reward, and perfect
calm.”
The last term requires explanation. It is the Buddhistic state of
extreme delight, called nib’han, or nieban. A Burman rarely takes the
oath, for it is not only terrible but expensive, as the report of Captain
Alves will show:[44]—

Administration of the oath ten ticals.

Messenger for holding the book one tical.
Two other messengers’ fees two ticals.
Recorders two ticals.
Pickled tea used in the ceremony half a tical.

The pickled tea, as it is called, is a rough, coarse tea, chewed at

the conclusion of the ceremony, and without it no oath is binding.
There is another way in which causes are decided on very rare
and special occasions,—the trial by ordeal. This is either by water or
melted lead. In the first instance, the plaintiff and defendant are
made to walk into the water, and whichever can hold out longest
under its surface is declared the winner. The other mode consists in
putting the finger in boiling water or melted lead, and trying who
can keep it in the longest. The stocks are a great torture in this
country, for they are made to slide up and down, so that the head
and shoulders touch the floor. Of the prisons, sad and disagreeable
accounts are given, but they are very insecure.
I may here remark, that it is an accepted truth, that the only use
to be derived from the examination of the institutions of other
countries, is that they may be compared by us with our own, and
that they may serve as a standard whereby to measure the
enlightenment to which we have attained. I hope, therefore, that I
shall find some one willing to excuse me for having mentioned our
“noble institution,” that “bulwark of our liberties,” the most High
Court of Chancery, in the same page with the law courts of Burmah,
where so much equity and moderation prevail. Because, of course, it
is only the “rabble,” the “herd,” the “great unwashed,” that suffer,
and these are of no account whatever in either nation, British or
Burman, especially in the eyes of Secretaries at War.
Having now ended my account of the Burmese law courts, I shall
pass on to a totally different subject,—the Burmese law.
The various codes of laws which are considered of authority are,
according to Crawfurd,[45] the Shwe-men, or Golden Prince, the
Wan-da-na, and the Damawilátha, to which may be added the
Damasat or Damathat, a Burmese translation of the Institutes of
Manu. In these law courts, however, all codes whatever are dead
letters, for to none does any judge ever refer. Malcom observes:[46]
—“As a great part of their income is derived from lawsuits, they [the
rulers] generally encourage litigation.”
The flight of a debtor does not relieve his family of the liability;
but no wife can be obliged to pay the debts he has contracted
during a former marriage. When a loan is entered upon, each of the
securities is responsible for the whole amount, and the lender can
force the first person to pay that he can catch. The property of
insolvents must be equally shared among the creditors without
preference. The eldest son inherits the arms, wardrobe, bed, and
jewellery of his father; the rest of his property is divided into four
equal shares, of which the widow has three, and the family,
exclusive of the eldest son, take the remaining fourth.
The different punishments for offences are these, increasing with
the enormity of the crime:—Fines, the stocks, imprisonment, labour
in chains, flogging, branding, maiming, pagoda slavery, and death.
The last, which seldom occurs but for murder and treason, is
inflicted by decapitation, drowning, or crucifixion. But killing slaves is
not criminal, and is atoned by fines. A libel is punished by the
infliction of the punishment corresponding to the crime unjustly
charged upon the plaintiff by the libeller: however, if the truth of the
charge be proven, it is not a libel. In our country, it is a well-known
fact that the truth alone is a libel, a falsehood needing no refutation.
Judgments, as in England, go by default of appearance, though that
is no rule in Burman practice, whatever it maybe in theory.
The husband has power to chastise his wife for misbehaviour,
after repeated admonitions and remonstrances in the presence of
witnesses. In the event of continued offences, he has the power to
divorce her, without appeal. A woman whose husband has gone
away with the army is at liberty to marry at the expiration of six
years; if his object were business, she must wait seven years; and if
he was sent on any religious mission, she must wait ten years. The
slave-laws are very strict, yet favourable on the whole; but I should
imagine that judge’s opinion settled the matter.
Changing a landmark is heavily punished. Betting debts are
recoverable from the loser, but not from any person in any way
otherwise responsible. A person hurt in wrestling, or any other
athletic exercise, cannot recover damages: but if he be mortally
hurt, the other must pay the price of his body. An empty vehicle
must give place before a full one; and when two loaded men meet,
he that has the sun at his back must give way. The following value is
set upon men, women, and children:—

£. s. d.
A new-born male infant 4 ticals = 0 10 0
A female infant 3 ” = 0 7 6
A boy 10 ” = 1 5 0
A girl 7 ” = 0 17 6
A young man 30 ” = 3 15 0
A young woman 35 ” = 4 2 6

Rich persons pay in proportion to their wealth and importance. Of

course the high officers of the administration thus become very
valuable men, in one respect at least.