Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 4.djvu/616

554 by a Burman for use or —his -s, of, -, the material of his drinking-, if it be of  or any other , the colour and quality of his  (an article in general use, and one of the principal  of rank), whether it be of brown ed , red, green, , or plain white, the royal —all indicate the rank of the person; if any of the lower orders usurp the  of a higher class, he may be slain with impunity by the first person who meets him; and so exclusive is the  spirit of the higher orders, that such a usurpation would be sure of. When a acquires he is registered by a royal  under the name of Thuthé or “rich man,” which gives him a title to the protection of the court, while it exposes him also to regular. The hood form a separate order, who are interdicted from all other, and are supported by. They are distinguished by the yellow s in their, which it would be reckoned in any other person to wear. A formal complaint was made, during the s with the previous to the peace, because some of their camp followers were seen dressed in yellow. There is also an order of s and es, who make a of, but may at any time quit their order. The free ing consist of proprietors or common ers; and they are all considered the s of the king, who may at all times call for their services as s, s, or common ers. Hence a Burman, being the of the king, can never  without his especial permission, which is only granted for a limited time, and never to women on any pretence. The and others who had  by Burmese women during a residence in the country experienced the greatest difficulty, even with the aid of heavy douceurs, in taking them along with them. The Dhammasat numbers seven classes of s, of which the most important are, and those who have d their services for a. The class of s consists of the s of the s, the of the, the ers and ers (who are generally condemned s), and the  and other , who are held in great abhorrence, and treated with singular caprice and cruelty. They are condemned to dwell alone, and in a state of disgrace; and any man who is infected with, however high his rank, is forced, by continual to the , to purchase an exemption from the penalties which attach to him. are also considered as s. The women in Burmah are not as in many other parts of the East, and excluded from the sight of men; on the contrary, they are suffered to appear openly in, and have free access in their own name to the s of , where, if ill-treatment is proved,  is readily obtained. In many other respects, however, they are exposed to the most degrading treatment. They are to strangers; and the practice is not considered shameful, nor the female in any respect dised. They are seldom to their new master; and many of them have proved essentially useful to strangers in the Burmese dominions, being generally of industrious and domestic habits, and not addicted to.

The es from which the arises are in general rude and ill-contrived expedients for, and are vexatious to the people at the same time that they are little productive to the. The most important is the or , which is said to be assessed by a , compiled by order of  in 1783. The amount varies greatly in different s, and to a remarkable extent in different districts. Next in order is the on, which is also very irregularly imposed. A large part of the land of the kingdom is assigned to favourites of the court or to  functionaries in lieu of stipends or salaries, or is appropriated to the expenses of  establishments, such as -s, s, &c.; and this assignment conveys a right to  the inhabitants according to the discretion of the assignee. The court favourites who receive these grants generally appoint s to manage their s; they pay a certain or  to the crown, and their s  from the  as much more as they can by every mode of oppression, often by. Besides this stated, extraordinary contributions are levied by the of the  directly from the s and  to whom the lands are assigned, who in their turn levy it from the , and generally make it a pretence for  and. es are also laid on -s, on the, on the -land on the  s, on the petroleum springs, on mines of gold and precious stones, on the  of s, s, s, and - s, on the  of , on the s of the , and on esculent s' s. As the consumption of s, , , and other  s is forbidden by , they cannot, of course, be subject to any.

In many of the useful s the Burmese have not made any great advances, while in others they are possessed of no small amount of proficiency. The of   erected in the  is of striking and effective character, though only of. The general style bears evidence of an n origin; but numerous local modifications have been introduced. Perhaps the feature of most interest is the use of the pointed as well as the flat and the circular, and that at a time long anterior to its employment in. Modern s are chiefly of ; s and, with extraordinary richness of detail, and often  all over, present an aspect of barbaric splendour. The s, or solid s, which form at once the objects and the localities of, are almost the only  structures now erected; and these are often  all over. In the Burmese s display unusual skill and inventiveness, and give full scope to the working of a luxuriant and whimsical fancy. As in , sometimes there is often displayed a large amount of satirical and facetious. The application of is carried to an extravagant extent; as much as 40,000 is said to have been expended on this article for a single. The finest s are to be found in the deserted  of ; and many of the most magnificent are greatly shattered by s. The number of  s, small and great, throughout the country is enormous; at every turn the traveller finds s or kyoungs, or lesser s, or zayats (resting-places for lers founded by the  in order to acquire religious merit). The ordinary s are of a very slight construction, and the is prevented from giving them any great height by the whimsical prejudice of the people against any one walking over their heads. The whole process of the  is performed by women, who use a rude but efficient species of, and produce an excellent , though they are much inferior in dexterity to the n. s are d at different places from. The favourite patterns are zigzag longitudinal stripes of different s, and the brilliance of the contrasts is frequently gorgeous in its results. The ing of the yellow s of the s is effected by means of the of the .