Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 4.djvu/618

556  in many of the s. The popular interest in the tic exhibitions is intense, and, as in, the same piece often drags its slow length along for s together. Specimens of the plots will be found in the appendixes to Yule's Narrative, Williams's Through Burmah, and Bastian's Reisen. The al s, or s of the s (Maha-Radza Weng), go back at least in name to the early centuries of the, but their  value is of a very dubious kind. are common throughout the country, principally in the. Though a certain kind of is  from , the usual material of the s is the  , while for ordinary  purposes a kind of black , called a parabeik, and a   are employed. A of Burmese was  by Judson at  in 1852; Schleiermacher made the language the object of a remarkable study in his Influence of Writing upon Language, 1835; and  has contributed an essay on the literature to the ''Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenl. Gesellschaft, 1863, and has also published an interesting sketch of the peculiarities of the language in his Sprachvergleichende Studien'',, 1870.

The Burmese are votaries of, and the rites, doctrines, and hood are in their main features the same as in other where prevails. Every Burman must, at some period or other of his life, spend some time in a ; and it is no uncommon thing for a man to for a longer or shorter period from the bustle of life without any intention of permanently adopting the yellow robe which is the distinctive mark of the regular. has supplied a great many interesting details on the beliefs and ceremonies of the people, but they are as yet unfortunately scattered through the pages of his Travels. Neither nor  has made much progress, though a certain number of  have existed, especially at the, for a long time, and have s there. Foreigners enjoy toleration, but the Burmese rulers view any attempt to  the natives to the  or any other foreign  as an interference with their allegiance. An  was settled in the country in 1815, under the conduct of Dr Judson before mentioned, who brought to this perilous service zeal and discretion; but it entirely failed of success, not from any bigotry on the part of the natives, but from the opposition of men in power. On the war breaking out with the the  were, and narrowly escaped with their lives, and on their release they retired to prosecute their labours in the   of. There are now in the representatives of both  and. throughout the Burman empire is still in the ecclesiastical stage, but the nal compare favourably with those of many portions of. The first, according to, which is put into the hands of the boys in the s is the Sinpungyi, or Great Basket of Learning, in which the meaning of the Burmese letters is explained. After this they learn the injunctions of in the Mengalasut, and next the s of  in the Pharitgyi, which is written in, so that their study consists in mechanically committing it to. They then proceed to the Djats ( or s) in which the Burmese words are mingled with expressions and contractions; later on they pass to the study of Saddo or, and finally to that of the Yok or general. For those who enter the there remain the  texts. The s are then read, as well as the Pu-és or tic productions. and according to their own system of  are the common possessions of the  Burmese, and an unshaken conviction in the truth of their  is almost universal.

It is probable that Burmah is the Chryse Regio of, a name parallel in meaning to Sonaparanta, the classic title assigned to the country round the  in Burmese documents. The royal history traces the of the s to the ancient   of. This no doubt is fabulous, but it is hard to say how early communication with  began. From the 11th to the 13th century the old Burman empire was at the height of its power, and to this period belong the splendid remains of at. The and the  were destroyed by a  (or rather ) invasion (1284 A.D.) in the reign of. After that the empire fell to a low ebb, and Central Burmah was often subject to. In the early part of the 16th century the Burmese s of, in the north-east of , began to rise to power, and established a which at one time held possession of , , and. They made their at, and to this  belong the gorgeous descriptions of some of the travellers of the 16th century. Their s exhausted the country, and before the end of the century it was in the greatest decay. A new arose in, which subdued , and maintained their supremacy throughout the 17th and during the first forty years of the 18th century. The ans or then ed, and having taken the , and made the  er, reduced the whole country to submission. , left by the conqueror in charge of the of, planned the deliverance of his country. He attacked the ans at first with small detachments; but when his forces increased, he suddenly advanced, and took possession of the in the autumn of 1753. In 1754 the ans sent an armament of -s against, but they were totally defeated by ; while in the districts of , , , &c., the Burmans revolted, and expelled all the s in their s. In 1754  was bed by the  of , who was again defeated by , and the  was transferred from the upper provinces to the mouths of the  s, and the numerous s and s which intersect the. In 1755, the of 's brother, was equally unsuccessful, after which the ans were driven from  and the adjacent country, and were forced to withdraw to the  of , distant twelve s from. Here they enjoyed a brief repose, being called away to quell an  of his own subjects, and to repel an invasion of the ; but returning victorious, he laid  to the  of  and took it by surprise. In these wars the sided with the ans, the  with the Burmans. , the of, had sent two s to the aid of ; but the master of the first was ed up the  by , where he was d along with his whole. The other escaped to. was now master of all the s; and the ans, shut out from foreign aid, were finally subdued. In 1757 the conqueror laid to the  of, which capitulated, on condition that their own  should  the , but that he should do  for his , and should also surrender his daughter to the victorious. never contemplated the fulfilment of the condition; and having obtained posesssion of the, abandoned it to the fury of his s. In the following year the ans vainly endeavoured to throw off the. afterwards reduced the and  of, and finally undertook the conquest of