FOUR YEARS IN UPPER BURMA.
[Illustration: SACRED BUILDINGS OF THE BUDDHISTS.]
FOUR YEARS
IN
UPPER BURMA.
BY
W. R. WINSTON.
“Spread it then,
And let it circulate through ev’ry vein
Of all your empire; that where Britain’s power
Is felt, mankind may feel her mercy too.”
_The Tusk._
London:
C. H. KELLY, 2, CASTLE STREET, CITY ROAD, E.C.;
AND 66, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C.
1892.
Printed by Hazell, Watson, & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury.
PREFACE.
I had certainly no intention of writing a book when I commenced to put
together the information contained in these pages. All I purposed to
do was to prepare a short report of work done. But I found that the
interesting material at hand was too abundant to be compressed within the
limits I had originally intended.
The need for a better knowledge, on the part of our English people
generally, of the distant dependencies of the British Empire is
undeniable, if they are to discharge at all intelligently the duty of
governing the many races, which the circumstances of an ever-widening
empire, and the extension of the parliamentary franchise, have placed in
their hands. The story is told of a member of Parliament who did not know
Burma from Bermuda; and as I have myself found the very same confusion
of the two places, in three separate instances, by gentlemen that might
have been thought fairly well educated, to say nothing of a respectable
alderman who asked whether Burma was an island, and frankly admitted he
was very ignorant about it, I can quite believe the story to be true.
Not only is there a need for more knowledge of the countries and races
we govern, there is also a demand for it. The events of recent years,
especially those resulting from the annexation of King Theebaw’s country,
have drawn Burma into much closer touch with England; and many people,
by no means ignorant of Burma before, now feel a much deeper interest
than formerly in all that pertains to that interesting country, whose
destinies are henceforth so intimately bound up with our own.
I have endeavoured to draw as faithful and accurate a picture as possible
of the country and people, and I have tried to show, from the standpoint
of a sympathetic but impartial witness, what the annexation of an
Oriental country like Burma really means, what are its immediate results,
and what are the many strong points and the few weak points in our rule.
In seeking to raise the condition of a heathen people no remedy can
be regarded as a substitute for the Gospel. We value civilisation
very highly, with all that it implies in our case—in the way of good
government, material prosperity, the amelioration of the conditions of
life amongst the people, the progress of knowledge, and the introduction
of the arts and conveniences of life—but the only true basis for the
highest type of civilisation is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The best
instances of a civilisation without the Gospel are in the East, but even
the civilisation of the East is, at its best, an arrested civilisation.
Those races are “civilised but not enlightened”; they always stop short
of that capacity for constant progress which characterises only the
nations that have embraced the Gospel; and they achieve that capacity
when they have embraced it. Hence the carrying on of evangelistic work
in Burma is a matter of great importance, and my earnest desire is that
this little work may do its humble part in deepening that prayerful
interest upon which missionary effort depends for its support and
continuance.
In addition to those authors that I have consulted on Burma, and have
quoted here and there in the course of this work, I would especially
mention my indebtedness to that most appreciative and sympathetic
observer of the Burman, Mr. J. G. Scott (Shway Yoe), whose work, in two
volumes, entitled _The Burman: his Life and Notions_, gives perhaps
the best and most complete account of the Burmese people that has yet
appeared. I have availed myself of his extensive information to confirm
or supplement my own in points where it is obvious that four years was
not a long enough period upon which to form a reliable judgment.
W. R. WINSTON.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY 1
CHAPTER II.
THE JOURNEY TO MANDALAY 9
CHAPTER III.
MANDALAY IN 1887 20
CHAPTER IV.
THE PEOPLE OF MANDALAY 33
CHAPTER V.
THE PACIFICATION OF UPPER BURMA 42
CHAPTER VI.
BRITISH INFLUENCE IN THE SHAN STATES 54
CHAPTER VII.
FIVE YEARS OF BRITISH RULE 64
CHAPTER VIII.
INTOXICANTS IN BURMA—THE LIQUOR QUESTION 75
CHAPTER IX.
INTOXICANTS IN BURMA—THE OPIUM QUESTION 80
CHAPTER X.
THE FRONTIER MOUNTAIN RACES OF BURMA 91
CHAPTER XI.
BUDDHISM IN BURMA 107
CHAPTER XII.
BURMESE RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS AND USAGES 121
CHAPTER XIII.
THE BURMANS 135
CHAPTER XIV.
BURMESE HOME LIFE 148
CHAPTER XV.
A TRUE IDEAL MISSIONARY AND A FALSE MISSIONARY IDEAL 166
CHAPTER XVI.
OUR EARLY EXPERIENCES IN THE BURMA MISSION 187
CHAPTER XVII.
FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS 203
CHAPTER XVIII.
SEEKING THE LOST 224
CHAPTER XIX.
A JUNGLE JOURNEY 238
CHAPTER XX.
THE HOME FOR LEPERS AT MANDALAY 251
LIST OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
SACRED BUILDINGS OF THE BUDDHISTS _Frontispiece_
A VILLAGE ON THE IRRAWADDY 11
ENTRANCE TO A BURMESE PAGODA 13
ONE OF THE GATEWAYS OF THE ROYAL CITY OF MANDALAY 23
PART OF THE PALACE OF MANDALAY (SOUTH SIDE) 29
“THE SHANS ARE DISTINGUISHABLE BY THEIR DARK, BAGGY TROUSERS,
AND THE VERY LARGE PLIABLE STRAW SUN-HATS THEY WEAR” 35
DACOITS IN PRISON WITH INDIAN SEPOY GUARD 45
THE GOLDEN PAGODA AT MANDALAY 61
BURMESE WOMAN ON HER WAY TO THE WELL TO DRAW WATER 73
BURMESE CHILDREN 93
TATTOOING OF THE FACES OF CHIN WOMEN 105
“IMAGES OF BUDDHA ARE EXTENSIVELY USED” 109
“IN THE MORNING THE MONKS INVARIABLY GO FORTH, CARRYING THE
ALMS-BOWLS, TO COLLECT THEIR DAILY FOOD FROM THE PEOPLE” 117
BURMESE PEOPLE AT THEIR WORSHIP 125
GREAT BELL AT THE MENGOHN PAGODA 133
SPECIMEN OF BURMESE TYPE 137
A BUDDHIST MONASTERY 141
“EVERY BURMAN YOUTH, AS HE GROWS UP, IS TATTOOED FROM THE
WAIST TO THE KNEES” 149
BURMESE MOTHER AND DAUGHTER 153
SPECIMEN OF THE CARVINGS SEEN AT THE MONASTERY BUILDINGS 159
THE PREACHERS OF THE MISSION 171
OUR FIRST HOME IN MANDALAY 189
A DEPOSITORY FOR IMAGES OF BUDDHA 197
GROUP OF BURMESE LADIES 201
SCHOOL-CHAPEL AT PAKOKKU 205
SCHOOL-CHAPEL AT MANDALAY 209
“THERE ARE NO ZENANAS AMONG THE BURMANS” 217
GIRLS OF THE CHIN TRIBE 247
THE HOME FOR LEPERS, MANDALAY 259
[Illustration: PROVINCE OF BURMA
EAST INDIES]
FOUR YEARS IN UPPER BURMA.
CHAPTER I.
_INTRODUCTORY._
The annexation of Upper Burma on January 1st, 1886, opened up to England
a large and valuable addition to her foreign possessions, whilst it
perceptibly widened the ever-increasing area of her responsibilities,
both political and moral. Including the Shan States tributary to the
kingdom of Burma, the annexation added to Lower or, as it was then
called, British Burma, a territory as large as France, thus making all
Burma a compact province of our Indian Empire, as large as France and
Great Britain together, and bringing British India right up to the
frontiers of China.
The resources of Burma are very considerable. Its mineral wealth includes
gold and silver, iron and tin; its mines of rubies and sapphires are
noted all over the world; its coal and earth-oil are likely to prove of
great value; jade, a green stone much prized in China and Japan for the
manufacture of bracelets and trinkets, is found in large quantities in
Upper Burma, and amber is met with in the northern parts of the country.
As the country and its productions become opened up, these treasures are
sure to receive the attention they deserve.
The soil of Burma is generally very fertile, and with its diversified
elevation and climate of mountain, plain and tableland, almost every
variety of tropical productions can be grown, as well as many belonging
to the temperate zone. Lower Burma, especially the great delta of the
Irrawaddy, affords unrivalled scope and suitable climate for the growth
of rice, the staple food of so large a part of the human race. The area
under cultivation for rice in Lower Burma is 4,339,000 acres, and for
other crops 474,000 acres, and besides all local consumption, there is
the enormous total annual export of rice by sea of 1,145,000 tons.
The dry climate and rich soil of Upper Burma render it more suitable for
the growth of wheat, maize, cotton, and many native grains, vegetables
and fruits than for rice. On the mountains indigenous tea is grown, is
manufactured by natives, and can be bought in any bazaar. Burma is the
chosen home of the teak, that prince among timber trees. The reserved
forests are under the care of a Government Department for forest
conservation, and are the property of the Crown. They cover an area of
several thousand square miles, and yielded in the year 1889-90, 260,074
tons of teak, beside other valuable timbers and forest productions,
including indiarubber and cutch. Cutch is the common commercial name for
a product of the _Acacia Catechu_ tree, very valuable as a dye. These
forests brought into the public revenue, when all expenses were paid, a
net surplus of 3,388,400 rupees for the year 1889-90. The export of teak
timber, chiefly for the European market, amounted to 184,431 tons, and
the average value was about £10 a ton. Thus Burma is already a country of
great material wealth, with vast possibilities of growth and development.
According to the census of 1891 the population of Burma, including the
Shan States, is 8,098,014. This total is made up as follows:—
Lower Burma with an area of 87,957 sq. mls., population 4,658,627
Upper Burma ” ” 83,473 ” ” 3,063,426
Shan States ” ” 40,000 ” ” 375,961
---------
8,098,014
---------
With regard to the population of the towns, Mandalay stands first
with 188,815. Next to this is Rangoon, the capital and the seat of
Government, with 180,324; Maulmein has 56,000. The rest of the towns are
considerably smaller.
The population of Burma is scanty in proportion to its area and
resources; in fact, population is the great requisite for the development
of the country. The quickening touch of British rule and commerce is
effecting much in the direction of supplying this need. Every district,
without exception, in Lower Burma shows an increase in the last ten
years, an increase of 22 per cent. on the whole. The Indian Government
is disposed to make the rich province of Burma an outlet for the
congested populations of some of the provinces of India, and the great
steamer companies are accomplishing this by conveying many hundreds of
natives every week from the Indian ports to Rangoon, thereby enriching
themselves, enriching Burma, and giving to these people a sphere and
a chance in life, where their humble energies may receive their due
reward. It is in manifold ways like this that civilisation and a firm
and enlightened rule bestow such blessings on these teeming Oriental
populations. The number of these immigrants from India into Rangoon, the
chief seaport of Burma, during 1890 was 86,609. Owing to the customs of
the natives of India, and their reluctance to break entirely away from
home and country, there were in that year 65,055 who returned to India.
This leaves a balance of over 20,000 for the year, which may represent
approximately that very welcome addition to its population which Burma
receives from India year by year. Rangoon itself is largely Indian in
population, and Indians are to be found all over the country in great
numbers.
Both Upper and Lower Burma have yet large tracts of waste land,
unoccupied territory that would well repay cultivation, and it is to
be hoped that an agricultural population will be attracted from India.
Should the railway system of Burma, now being rapidly developed, be
united to that of India, that will no doubt be brought about in course
of time. As the price of labour, roughly speaking, is 100 per cent. more
than it is in India, and as the cost of living is not more than 50 per
cent. higher, the balance is decidedly in favour of the immigrant.
Burma is watered by magnificent rivers. Chief of these is the Irrawaddy,
with Rangoon near its mouth, and chief among its tributaries is the
Chindwin. Both these rivers are great arteries of trade, being navigated
not only by great numbers of the quaint-looking Burmese vessels, but by
the large and powerful steamers of the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company, which,
since 1867, has been trading on these rivers. Their steamers now ply
regularly several times a week up the Irrawaddy to Mandalay, 500 miles,
and even as far as Bhamo, some 250 miles farther, and up the Chindwin
as far as Kendat. These steamers are splendidly built of steel, with
flat bottom, and lower and upper deck, with ample accommodation both for
saloon and deck passengers, and are fitted throughout with the electric
light. Some of them will carry considerably over a thousand passengers
besides cargo.
Historically Upper Burma is a land of great interest. It was all that
remained of the once powerful Burmese empire, which in the early part
of this century was strong enough to menace our Indian territory, and
extended from Siam, in the south, to the confines of Bengal, in the
north, and from China to the Bay of Bengal.
Each of the three Burmese wars has arisen in a similar way, and has been
marked by the same features on the part of the Burmese Government,—viz.,
an unwillingness to listen to reason, with much bluster and ignorant
self-sufficiency at the outset, and inferior military qualities in the
performance,—and each has resulted in the annexation of some part of the
kingdom to British territory. Arakan and Tenasserim were acquired by
treaty after the first Burmese war in 1824-26; the province of Pegu was
occupied and retained, consequent on the second war in 1852-53; this gave
us the command of the Irrawaddy, with Rangoon for a seaport; the third
and last war, in 1885, took away all that remained of Burmese rule, and
the kingdom of Burma became a thing of the past.
Much may be said against war in the abstract, and against wars of this
description in particular. It would be easy to represent such a war as
this, so far away from England, as aggressive and unjustifiable. I am no
advocate for war of any kind, and I am not anxious to defend this action
of England in conquering and annexing the last remnant of the Burman
kingdom. But I can see that a question of this kind is not to be so
summarily settled as may appear on the face of it.
England long ago embarked in India on a career of empire, prompted rather
by the force of circumstances than of set purpose; and now it often
seems difficult to decide when to go forward and where to stop. I will
not attempt to unravel this tangled skein, but will merely say that,
leaving aside the questions of how England came by her vast power and
influence in the East, and whether she ought ever to extend it, and if
so under what circumstances, it seems to me that ultimately and finally
the verdict must turn on the use she makes of this unique position, and
what she accomplishes with her unrivalled opportunities in the material,
intellectual, social and moral advancement of the many races and nations
that she rules or protects.
Coming now to the immediate causes of the Burmese war of 1885, the
following is the official account of them from the British standpoint:—
“Complaints against the Burmese Government meanwhile multiplied,
British subjects suffered insult and violence at the hands of local
officials, and no redress could be obtained. Trade monopolies were
created in defiance of the express terms of the Treaty of 1867. The
disorganisation of Upper Burma infected with disorder the adjacent
districts of the British province. Negotiations were carried on by the
Burmese Government for the purpose of contracting close alliances with
other European countries, to the studied neglect of England. These causes
had contributed to make the situation very unsatisfactory to the British
Government, but were not such as to demand active interference. A _casus
belli_ arose, however, out of a specific act of the Burmese Government,
who raised a large claim, amounting to several lakhs of rupees, against
the Bombay-Burma Trading Corporation, a company of merchants, mainly
British subjects, who had a large business in Upper Burma. In view of
the magnitude of the claim, and of the interests of British subjects
involved, mediation was attempted by the British authorities in order
to ensure an impartial investigation. The mediation was ignored; and
the company, without being allowed reasonable opportunity for defending
themselves, were condemned by the Burmese Council to be mulcted to the
amount of 2,300,000 rupees. The British Government protested against this
arbitrary act; and their demand to have the proceedings stayed until
the matter had been referred to an arbitrator was peremptorily refused.
It was on this refusal that the British Government decided to send to
the King of Burma an ultimatum, which should be designed to adjust once
for all the relations between the two countries. The ultimatum required
the king not only to suspend proceedings against the corporation, and
to receive an envoy with a view to the settlement of the matter at
issue, but also for the future to permit the residence at Mandalay of a
British agent, who should be treated with due respect. It was added, too,
that the external relations of Burma should in future be regulated in
accordance with the advice of the British Government, and that facilities
should be given for opening up trade with China. This ultimatum was
dispatched on October 22nd, 1885, and a satisfactory reply was demanded
by November 10th. On November 9th the reply was received, containing
an absolute refusal of the proposed terms. Moreover, on November 7th
a proclamation had been issued by the King of Burma, calling on his
subjects to rally round him, that he might annihilate these heretic
foreigners, and conquer and annex their country. The ultimatum had thus
led to war. The expeditionary force, already prepared, crossed the
frontier on November 14th, and within a fortnight from that day Mandalay
had been occupied by General Prendergast and his troops, and the king was
a prisoner. The only serious resistance met with had been at Minhla.”
Such were the events leading up to the war. The demands of the British
Government seem not unreasonable, but the stubborn folly of the King of
Burma refused them. One cannot but regret that the resources of modern
civilisation have as yet established no alternative in such a case of a
petty Oriental monarch and a great power like England but an ultimatum
and war. King Theebaw was such a ruler that it was in vain to think of
reinstating him; no other likely ruler was to be found; annexation was
the only way to meet the case. The king was removed to India with his
family, his retinue, and his chief astrologer, and there he has been in
gilded seclusion ever since. On January 1st, 1886, the proclamation was
made that Upper Burma was annexed to our Eastern possessions, and the
fact came home to the British mind that a large, valuable, interesting
country was now open to British enterprise and incorporated with our
Indian Empire.
To the Christian public of England the announcement of the annexation
came as a call to duty in regard to the spread of the Gospel amongst a
people who had long been suffering from a cruel and tyrannical ruler.
From time immemorial the palace of the Burman rulers, chiefly owing
to the general practice of polygamy on the part of the kings, and the
consequent troops of queens and princes and princesses, has been the
scene of much intrigue and corruption, and occasional bloodshed and
revolution. Absolute monarchy is almost inseparable from occasional acts
of cruelty and tyranny, even if just and kind in the main. But a weak
ruler with an insecure title, like the last of the Burmese kings, cannot
afford to be lenient, and is more likely to be cruel than a stronger man
would be. The disorders of the reign of King Theebaw had made a deep
impression on the English mind. He had gained the throne by a court
intrigue, for he was not the rightful heir, so that he had to keep by
force what he had got by fraud. The result was the massacre of about
seventy of the royal family, who were put to death as possible rivals of
the new king. That was in 1879, but a greater massacre occurred in 1884,
when, owing to the intrigues of certain Burman officials, an attack was
made upon the jails of Mandalay, and over three hundred persons were put
to death, including some inoffensive princes.
As a very striking proof of the fact that the country was in a most
wretched state, bordering on anarchy, by reason of misgovernment,
extortion, bad trade and dacoity, it may be mentioned that in a few
years no less than ten thousand people of Upper Burma had crossed the
border and taken up their abode in British Burma, in order to escape
oppression, and live in security under a more beneficent rule. The tide
of population has since the annexation been flowing back to Upper Burma.
Naturally much interest was felt in England over the altered condition
of things, and thousands of Englishmen, on seeing the news of the
annexation, felt that no time should be lost in securing to the Upper
Burmans the liberty of British subjects, and that security to person and
property enjoyed by all who are under British rule; and many felt, above
all things, that it was a call to give them the Gospel.