Characteristics of the Races of Burma
The cosmopolitan character of the population of Rangoon has been given,
and it is only necessary to add that all towns near the sea and on the
railways have the same intermingling of foreign and native peoples. But
there is a much greater preponderance of those races which are at home
in Burma. As you go inland, of all the immigrants the most ubiquitous
is the Chinese.
The Burmese are easily the chief people of Burma over any other race,
native or immigrant, in any part of Burma. Indeed, they rank high
among all peoples of Asia. I am aware that when I exalt the Burman, I
invite the criticism of the champion of other races. It is a common
observation that missionaries especially come to champion the worth
and virtues of the peoples among whom they labor, and perhaps estimate
them above their value, as compared with other races. This trait is
worth something to the world in that it brings to the front one class
of optimists of the value of men as they are, or of what they shall be.
When any man loses faith in any race, he can no longer be of signal
service to that race.
In rating the Burmese people highly, I am not aware of being
prejudiced in their favor by reason of exclusive association. Our
mission work has brought us into contact with nearly all the races in
Burma. As a result of our experience, the Burman must be given a place
second to none. Personally, I believe he has more to be said in his
favor than any other Asiatic race of which I have any knowledge.
I know it will be said that he is lazy and unreliable. The former
accusation is well-nigh universal. To undertake even to qualify this
charge of indolence is a large task; but still I am ready to say
something for the Burman’s industry. It is admitted that several of the
races of India are ploddingly industrious. The Burman’s industry is
less continuous, but I think not less genuine. He has more festivals
and idle days, but he certainly works rapidly, and for long hours, when
he works.
This is especially true of the cultivator. He is in the field a little
after daylight, and with only a short time of rest at midday he works
on till dark. In harvesting time he does the same. One evening when
darkness had fallen I was going up a tidal creek in a boat making my
way to the village of Naunguyi, when my attention was attracted by
sounds on the bank, and looking up I could see outlined against the
sky two Burmans loading a cart with rice sheaves. It would have been
too dark to see them if we had all been on a level. These men had been
working since daylight. During the threshing time the work is often
kept going on the threshing floors till midnight. Now I am persuaded
that men naturally indolent do not work in this way. In clerkships, and
as subordinate officials, they do not compare unfavorably with other
Asiatic races; while the Burmese women are notably industrious, whether
in the village, or in the bazar in the cities.
Eight or ten years ago we heard much of the hard-working, money-loving
Madrassi supplanting the Burmese land-owner and cultivator of Lower
Burma. But with a somewhat close observation I am convinced he is not
succeeding in this much faster than the Burman finds it to his own
advantage to allow the black man from across the Bay of Bengal to
succeed him. The same thing is true if it comes to larger trading.
In such lines as the Burman cares to enter, he gives a good account
of himself. If there is one man who will beat him in trade, that man
is the Chinaman. There are certain kinds of employment the Burman
dislikes, and he avoids them; but in his chosen lines he is not
discounted by comparison.
The Burmese are racially very proud. There is a good deal of dignity
in this pride, as well as of less worthy elements. Among themselves
the Burmese have no caste system, except that of the pagoda slave,
hence all kinds of work are honorable. But when the Indian, with his
caste system, comes in and classifies life into the infinitesimal
distinctions of respectability, and the reverse in all kinds of work
whereby all domestic service is put under this caste system, the proud
Burman refuses to be a servant! Who can blame him? He is a standing
protest against a system that is wholly wrong. In Upper Burma, where he
is not so much in competition with the caste man, he takes fairly well
to all manner of work.
Even when he competes with the coolie labor of other races he maintains
himself. This was strikingly illustrated in cutting the new road up
Thandaung three years ago. The officers tried Karen labor till it
failed, though the work was in their own hills. Then the Madrassis were
brought in, and they gave way after repeated trials. Then, as a last
resort, the Burmese coolies came and completed what the other races had
failed to accomplish.
It is certainly true that the Burmese race is much respected by most
Europeans. I do not think any other Asiatic race is equally respected
by foreigners resident in Burma.
The manners of the Burmese are pleasant. The Burman is a friendly man,
and approachable. There is none of the exclusive, non-communicative
characteristics about him. He will share his house and his food with
you always. His religion, while having something of bigotry in it, as
almost all religions have, is not offensive to men of other faiths.
The toleration by Buddhism of other faiths, perhaps more apparent than
real, yet is sufficient to attract much favorable comment in Burma.
One fact much to the Burman’s credit, in comparison with the other
races of Asia, is his ability to read; that is, a very large majority
of the men read, at least to some extent, and a good many women.
Lately in America we have heard the school system of the Chinese much
lauded. And since Minister Wu, at Washington, has so distinguished
himself and his race by his striking addresses, many people have jumped
at the conclusion that an ignorant Chinaman is the exception. But I am
told by those who ought to know, that in China only about one man in a
hundred, and one woman in ten thousand, can read. The Japanese alone of
Asiatic races are more literary than the Burmese.
The Burman is peculiarly proud of his knowledge of the Buddhist
doctrines. He calls them the “law.” In consequence of the system
of doctrine he upholds, he is unwilling to be taught religion by
a man whom he has hitherto believed incompetent to teach. It is
this, I believe, which makes him unwilling, as a rule, to be taught
Christianity by a Karen. All his racial and religious pride comes up as
he faces the suggestion of the Karen teaching him, whom he would always
regard in a peculiar way as a “son of the jungle.” He knows the Karen
formerly had no social standing and no written language, while his
vague demonology was wholly wanting as a system of religious teaching.
No, he is not ready to receive Christianity from the Karen.
For hundreds of years the Burmese have been the dominant people in the
land of Burma, and the Shans, Chins, and Karens were conquered and
dominated by them. They have had some able rulers, and at times have
had a strong enough government to wage war with distant people; even
with China herself they were often at war.
[Illustration: A BURMESE FAMILY]
The Burmese have a distinctly developed racial type. They, like all
peoples in Burma, China, and Siam, are of the Mongolian type of men.
Their complexion is much lighter than most Indian peoples, and they
naturally look upon the black man from across the Bay of Bengal as the
“Kalla,” dark of color and an inferior. While they have distinct racial
features, they evidently are a blending of the Chinese and the Malay.
This has been noticed particularly by comparison between the Burmese
and the Filipinos. Visitors to Manila, who are acquainted with the
Burmese, say the resemblance to the Filipino is very striking. We know
the Filipino has a Chinese and Malay infusion of blood.
The more than six millions of Burmese people are the chief people of
this land, whether studied from a governmental, racial, or missionary
point of view. To the American interested in missions it is of special
importance to remember these people. In America there is just now much
interest in carrying the gospel to eight or ten millions of people
in the Philippine Islands. This interest is largely because they are
under the American flag. Let not the millions of Burmese Buddhists be
forgotten while hastening to new fields.
The Shans take second rank among the races of Burma, though much more
attention has been given to the Karens by the missionaries. The Shans
in appearance are the most like the Chinese of any of the inhabitants
of Burma. They are racially closely related to them. Their language,
appearance, and dress bear out the resemblance.
The Shans are found widely distributed in Burma; but they live chiefly
in the hills in the northeast of the province. Like the Chins, Kachins,
and several tribes of the Karens, they seem to prefer residence in the
hills. In this they all contrast with the Burmese, who always prefer
a home on the plains, and they are never for a long time or in large
numbers resident in the hills in any part of Burma. The plains are
the richest part of the country, and as the conquering Burmese came
down from the north they naturally occupied the fertile portions of
the country, and have remained there, the weaker peoples taking to the
hills and finding their permanent home in places relatively difficult
of access and easy of defense.
The Shans are a strong race, and a little taller than either the
Burmese or the Karens. They are raisers of cattle and ponies, and
are great traders, bringing the products of the distant hills to the
railway centers.
In religion the Shans are Buddhists. They have a written language,
and the Bible has been translated into their tongue by the Baptist
missionaries.
In matters of moral purity the Shans must be rated very low. By those
best informed, it is said that their girls are nearly all corrupted
before they are grown. A missionary resident among them for years,
told me that the principal chief had in his reception room a picture
portraying all the vices known to the human race, placed on the wall
in plain view of every one who came to see him. Here men, women, and
children, when calling on the chief, looked upon this horrible picture,
and discussed it as a commonplace affair.
The missionary, who was the chief physician, told him he would not come
to his house again if he did not take that picture down from his walls.
The chief expressed surprise, and readily agreed to take the picture
away, and explained that he did not know it was wrong to have it there.
“Did not know it was wrong!” Can any one regard this absence of the
moral sense among an entire people, and not believe in the need of
Christian missions? The hundreds of thousands of Shans must be included
in the plans for the evangelization of Burma.
The Karens are a distinct people, but of a number of different tribes
or divisions. During Burmese domination they were very much oppressed.
For the most part they lived in villages apart from the Burmese. Many
of them lived far back in the hills, probably for better security, and
certainly for freedom from interference on the part of the Burmese.
Owing to this exclusive village life for long ages they have become
very clannish. The Karen, while admitting that the Burman is the
superior man, still preserves his racial pride. His village is very
dear to him. Unlike the Burman, who moves annually or monthly, if it
suits him, and seems about as much at home in one place as another,
the Karen does not easily become dislodged from the village where he
was born. Lately there has been some migration from the hills to the
richer plains, but still the community life seems to be pretty well
preserved.
This village life has its advantages and disadvantages. The cultivation
of rice is made in a community. While each man has the field which he
clears, it is so ordered that no one in the village is left entirely
destitute. The land has been held as a village, and is therefore not
easily alienated. The area belonging to a given village is great,
especially in the hills, but the amount cultivated is very little.
The style of cultivation, if indeed it should be dignified by that
name, is unique, and will never be adopted by a people of advanced
methods of agriculture. The hills are heavily wooded, and when a
suitable area is selected for the next year’s cultivation, the whole
village proceeds to cut it down with the most complete destruction.
After the forest is felled during the dry season it becomes very dry,
and just before the rain fire is touched to it, and the flames with a
terrific rush cover the entire clearing in a few moments, and consume
nearly every stick of wood. The few logs which remain are collected
and burned, and with the beginning of the rain the rice is planted on
the steep hillsides, the earth being enriched by a heavy coat of fresh
ashes. The ground is not plowed, but the grain is dropped into small
cuttings made by the thrust of a small spade-like iron on the end of a
long handle. The sprouts that spring from the roots in the ground are
cut away as the rice grows. The harvesting is with the sickle, and
when threshed is carried to the village, frequently a long distance
away, on the backs of men and heads of women, the latter carrying the
larger loads, as is usual in the East. This is most laborious and
tedious. As there are only mountain paths, and as the Karen, even when
well to do, does not care for road improvements, he climbs up and down
as his fathers have done before him for hundreds of years.
As the soil is never cultivated, they depend on the fresh ashes to
force their crop. This requires a fresh clearing every year, while a
new jungle growth springs up on the last year’s field. They do not
wish to cut the jungle oftener than once in ten years. It will be seen
how wasteful is this strange method of cultivation. How wonderful the
forest growth that will maintain itself over all these hills under such
destructive treatment!
The Christian Karens are a living miracle of the century of Christian
missions. They need much teaching yet; but when one sees these people
so uplifted from the state they were once in, be what he may, he must
believe in Christian missions. The Baptists, under God, deserve nearly
all the credit for the conversion of this people.
The Karen, as a man, is a study. He is affectionate, especially toward
his missionary. Yet he will often be guilty of conduct quite at
variance with that sentiment. Yet of this conduct he will repent again
soon; but it is a repentance usually without tears or apparent sense of
regret. He will take offense easily, and a little later reappear with
a smile on his face, as forgetful of his recent temper as a child. But
he is not a child. He enjoys a joke, even at his own expense. He is
also a very obstinate man, even when his obstinacy is against all his
own interests.
But if you would see the Karen at his best, go to his village and see
his children in school, a school which the missionary founded, but
which the village now supports. Remember the missionary gave this
people their written language. Attend the evening prayers when the
village pastor leads their devotions in their simple chapel. Hear them
sing! There is probably no more inspiring singing in the world. You
will want to hear them again. Go to church on Sunday, and hear a sermon
by a trained preacher, whose great-grandfather worshiped “gnats” or
demons, who he supposed inhabited the surrounding hills and had his
life in their malevolent control. How great is the distance from the
demon-worshiper to the intelligent and devout Christian! The missionary
was the human agent, and God the author of this transformation through
the preaching of the gospel. Yet some people would say they do not
believe in missions!
The Chins and Kachins inhabit the hills of North and Northeast Burma.
They are kindred peoples. There are possibly two hundred thousand of
them. Like other isolated people, they have everything to learn from
civilization and the Christian religion. The Government officer and the
missionary have undertaken the problem of these people.
The Chins have given much trouble to the Government within the last
few years. They lived formerly by raiding the peaceful people of the
plains. When the English Government annexed Upper Burma, it punished
them for this. Soon the whole hill country rose against the Government.
A band of soldiers was dispatched into the hills to subdue them. After
some sharp fighting they sued for peace, promising good behavior. Sir
Alexander MacKenzie, the efficient chief commissioner, was then the
head of the province of Burma. He instructed Mr. Cary, the political
officer of the Chin Hills, to bring several Chin chiefs to Rangoon to
see the city and the emblems of authority and power of the Government.
His idea was that if these savage mountainmen saw the power of the
Government they would be induced to keep the peace. He treated them
kindly, but told them they must respect their neighbor’s property
and obey the Government. But this wholesome exhortation of the chief
provincial officer of the great Indian Empire was wholly lost on these
daring, but ignorant, men of the hills. Their whole life ran riot
over all obligations recognized by civilized men. Almost immediately
they began again to rob and kill. This time they were more severely
punished. Their villages were burned and they were defeated in any
attempt to give battle, though the punitive force, almost all of native
soldiery, under the energetic and capable political officer, Mr. Cary,
was very small. They were fined fifteen hundred guns. Of course, they
protested they did not have three hundred. But under pressure they
surrendered the required number.
Here was a revelation! Every antiquated gun of Europe, of fifty or one
hundred years ago, had been brought by unscrupulous traders and sold to
these wild tribes! The sales had not been made recently, it is true;
but nevertheless the only firearms these wild men had they had secured
probably of British traders of earlier years, who disposed of them
along the coast and they had been carried inland, where years afterward
they were used in armed robberies of peaceful subjects of this empire
and against British authority. Some so-called civilized men sacrifice
much of civilization for a little gain in trade.
After the country was substantially disarmed, a large number of these
chiefs were brought to Rangoon by Mr. Cary to attend a more imposing
display of the greatness of the Government. On this occasion the
viceroy summoned them and their official head, Mr. Cary.
The viceroy is appointed for five years, and usually once in his term
he visits Burma. Lord Landsdowne was the viceroy, and held a _durbar_,
an official reception, attended by all officials and the general
public. At this durbar he recognized the eminent service of Mr. Cary,
and decorated him before the great assembly. His excellency also called
forward these Chin chiefs, and gave each a beautifully ornamented large
knife, as a token of his good will. He probably could not have given
any present so highly valued. Most half-civilized men live with their
knives in their hands.
At this time a touching incident occurred which ought to be perpetually
remembered to the credit of a brave and unselfish officer. Mr. Cary was
the honored guest at the quarters of the chief secretary of government.
The Chin chiefs were camped at the Royal Lakes, living in their usual
uncivilized manner. They probably were eating more than they ever had
eaten before in their lives. At any rate, cholera broke out among them.
On receiving report of their distress, Mr. Cary left his comfortable
quarters and the society of his superior officers, and went into the
camp of these chiefs and nursed the sick and dying. Some of them died
in his arms. The cholera is the worst epidemic of the East, and most to
be dreaded. Yet this brave man risked his life to nurse these wild men,
who had been, until very recently, trying their hardest to kill him. It
is such heroism as this on the part of British officers that makes the
British rule great throughout the world. They stop at no sacrifice of
their own lives to put turbulent countries in order, and then are no
less heroic in times of peace in serving their high trust of poor and
dependent people.
I rode all day with Mr. Cary and his fifty wild chiefs on their
homeward journey. I was greatly interested in the story of the
pacification of all that Chin and Lushai country, of which he had the
management. I was surprised that Mr. Cary attributed his practical
ability in all his arduous labors to the drill he received on an
American farm and as a cowboy in the Northwest for four years before
going to Burma. Though an Englishman, he had spent these years in
America.
The Karens, Chins, and Kachins are being rapidly converted to the
Buddhist religion. Christianity and Buddhism are in an unconscious race
to win them to one or the other of these faiths. The first to reach
them will win them to its system of religious teaching.