Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 03.djvu/783

BURMA. bamboo is universal and exceedingly useful. Planted in front of the houses are cocoanut and betel palms, giant bamboo, tamarind, mango, and jack, useful for their fruit and shade. The screw pine, castor-oil plant, crotons, begonias, caladiums, balsams, arc cultivated in many places. Other fruits are limes, citrons, jujube, guava, cashew, custard-apple, orange, mangosteen, and durian, the latter being highly prized. The plantain and lianana are the leading fruits of Burma; pineapples and many garden vegetables also abound.

Elephants, rhinoceroses, tigers, leopards, four species of deer, buffaloes, oxen, and goats, bears, tapirs, boars, wildcats, monkeys, gibbons, and crocodiles furnish game for the hunter. The Asiatic elephant attains a larger size here than elsewhere.

Burma is, in fact, the land of elephants; they are not only still plentiful in the wild state, but are used to a large extent as draught-animals. The ox, horse, and buffalo also serve the purposes of labor, and especially among these the buffalo, which is a valuable draught-animal in the muddy regions. Peacocks (the national emblem), silver pheasants, and jungle-fowl of various sorts abound, as do also many other birds that are hunted for sport and food. Rats are almost a plague in the north provinces.

Burma is believed to be very rich in mineral resources, though little beyond a rough survey has been made, and most of the gold and silver used is imported from China, India, and Europe. Some of the rivers contain gold in the sand, which is washed out by the natives. Silver, copper, lead, iron, antimony, bismuth, and tin are also mined, but not, as yet, in large quantities. Nitrates, salt, limestone, and amber, serpentine, coal in abundance, and petroleum are found. The chief mineral wealth thus far developed has come from the mines of jade, amber, ruby, and sapphires, which are discovered in the sand and gravel of Upper Burma. Mining is still in its rudimentary stages, but in recent years modern machinery has been introduced, and the amount of metal obtained from the ore, and the size of the slabs of the more valuable kinds of stone, are much larger than formerly. The finest variety of white marble found near Mandalay is much used in the Buddhist sculptures, and in the decoration of temples.

Like most Indian provinces, Burma is chiefly agricultural. The prevailing system of tenure is the ráyatwárí, i.e. the farmer leasing his land directly from the State, and being assessed a tax in proportion to the area cultivated. The main agricultural product is rice, grown almost exclusively in the lowlands. About one-tenth of the area of the province can be utilized for the cultivation of rice. The extension of rice-culture has been very rapid, and Burma is now looked upon as a chief source for the world's supply. Out of a total area of over 9,500,000 acres under cultivation in Upper and Lower Burma in 1899-1900, over 8,000,000 acres were in rice, and the remainder in grains, oil-seeds, cotton, tobacco, sugarcane, tea, and indigo. The methods of cultivation are primitive, and elephants are not infrequently used in farming. The native religion prohibits meat-eating, consequently there is no raising of cattle for beef. Burma has few large manufacturing establishments. The weaving of silk in Lower Burma and of cotton in Upper Burma is almost universal. Pottery is also produced extensively in both parts of the country. A number of industries are carried on on a small scale, often as adjuncts to agriculture. There are many skillful workers in gold, iron, and wood, and the native products have high artistic value.

The commerce of Burma has developed along with agriculture, and as the largest product is rice, it is also the chief article of export, usually constituting about 80 per cent. of the total exports. The foreign trade is wholly controlled by foreigners, mostly English and Chinese, while the internal trade is in the hands of the natives. Usury prevails to a great extent, the rate of interest ranging from 1 to 6 per cent. per month. The sea trade of the province (excluding Government imports and exports) steadily increased from $75,000,000 in 1891-92 to $101,200,000 in 1899-1900. In 1899-1900 the excess of exports over imports was Rs.6,00,00,000 ($19,440,000). Besides rice, the exports include teak, about 9 per cent.; catechu; raw hides, 2.4 per cent.; raw cotton; india-rubber, about 2 per cent. The imports embrace cotton, wool, and silk goods, raw silk, metals and metal products, and fish. The foreign trade is with Great Britain and its colonies, and to some extent with America. The inland trade, at the end of the century, was a little over Rs.3,00,00,000 ($9,720,000), of which about 60 per cent. was with Western China, and the rest with the Shan States and Siam. Rangoon is the chief commercial centre of the province, and receives about 80 per cent. of the total trade. The merchant marine numbers over 6200 vessels, with a total tonnage of over 4,000,000.

Under British rule new systems of roads and bridges have been introduced, three navigable canals dug, the Irrawaddy embanked and furnished with a large fleet of steamers, the chief cities fortified in modern style, and hospitals, court-houses, and churches built in many places. The chief railways extend from Rangoon to Mandalay and Myitzyina, with a branch from Meiktila to Myingyan, and one from Rangoon to Thayetmyo. From Mandalay the road extends into the region of the jade and amber mines. Another road is projected from Mandalay to Kun-lon, which is the Mandalay-Salwin line. It is on this line, between Mandalay and Kun-lon, that the famous Gokteik viaduct has been built over the gorge through which flows Chunzzoune Creek. Here, 500 feet above the water, rises a remarkable natural bridge of limestone, and upon the top of this freak of nature rests the 320 feet of steel trestle-work that forms the Gokteik viaduct—2260 feet long and about as high as the towers of the new Brooklyn bridge. All the material and skilled labor in connection with that structure came from the United States. In 1896 this Burma Railway Company, with a capital of $10,000,000, had 1000 miles open to traffic, the Government guaranteeing interest at 2½ per cent., and a participation in the surplus profits. The roadbed passes through jungles not long since occupied by elephants and tigers.

Burma, before it came under the rule of Great Britain, was a despotic monarchy, though the King, or ‘Lord of the White Elephant,’ was assisted by a high council of four Ministers of State, who gave