Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 03.djvu/784

BURMA. to the governors of provinces. The Hindu Code of Manu, translated into Burmese, served as a body of laws; decrees were often issued by the King; but custom played the most important part in the legal system. The insignia of royalty were the white elephant and white umbrella. There was no hereditary nobility, but rank was conferred by office, and its various degrees were indicated by the different shades of garment, furniture, or utensils, and especially by the color of umbrellas. The lower grades of office, however, were, and still are, hereditary. This is especially true of the headmen, who levy the taxes from the people. The extortion of officials frequently drove the villagers to assassination; the common term for ‘the people’ was ‘the poor,’ and the popular category of the five enemies were Fire, Water, Robbers, Rulers, and Ill-wishers. The governors and deputies who acted as judges heard cases in an open shed in a public place, but every cause was presented in the first instance at the official's house, to which none could come empty-handed. The village elders constituted the ultimate tribunal of government, and they were consulted by the officers on all matters affecting the people. Burma is now under the Viceroy of India, and is governed by a Lieutenant-Governor, assisted by a Legislative Council at Rangoon. In each of the eight divisions is a commissioner, who is the chief judicial and executive officer. Each division is again subdivided into districts, townships, and village communities, in which Burman magistrates preside. The headmen of the village still retain local police and revenue powers, and each village has its judicial commissioner and recorder. The police force is made up of natives jind Indians, under the command of European officers. There are 37 districts, about 500 magistrates under salary, and 125 native honorary magistrates. The chief revenue sources are the tax on land, amounting to about 40 per cent. of the total; the poll-tax (4 rupees per head); customs: forests; opium and salt monopolies; and the income tax. In 1899-1900 the revenues and expenditures of Burma were Rs.7,04,36,240 ($24,650,000) and Rs.4,57,33,116 ($16,006,600), respectively.

The principal towns of Burma are Mandalay, Rangoon, and Maulmain.

In 1901 the inhabitants of Burma, mostly native, numbered 9,221,161, the increase being over 18 per cent. since 1891. The original Burman tribes are believed to have descended southward from Tibet. The tribe of Bama, or Burma, settled on the northern Irrawaddy, where they came into contact with the Peguan or Mun race, probably of Annamitic origin. The Burmans are Mongoloid, with a suggestion of the Aryan, with flat faces and broad skulls, black hair, rich brown skin, and brilliant black eyes. They are usually well-formed, medium-statured, thick-set, the men being fond of athletics. They wear a simple dress, consisting of paso and tamein, the former for men, 10 yards long and a half-yard wide, which is hitched round the loins and disposed in various ways over the body, making a dress without buttons or strings, but with pockets and infinite capacities. The woman's garment, only 4½ feet long, is of cotton, silk or calico. The white cotton coat is common to both sexes. The old costume seems now to be giving way to a new tartan-like dress or garment,

about 9 or 10 feet long. On their heads they usually wear a knot of their own hair or bright-figured silk kerchiefs. They are very fond of personal decorations, and the native jewelers are expert at gold and silver work. The smoking of tobacco and the chewing of betel-nut are almost universal. The houses, usually set on piles, on account of river floods, are made of bamboo, laid on timber framework, and covered with the leaves of the palm, or by other suitable vegetable leaf and fibre. The Burmese are fairly industrious, but the women excel the men in variety of domestic employments. They are temperate and hearty, but not fond of continued labor. The number of festivals is very great, and they are enthusiastically kept and enjoyed by the people at large. Among the amusements may be mentioned boxing matches, pony, bullock, and boat races, cock-fighting, ‘splitting the cocoanut,’ chess, dominoes, and various sorts of juggling, snake-charming, etc. The Burman is excessively fond of pageants and frolics. In theatrical representations, as a rule, the hero and heroine are prince and princess, the countryman is a jester or clown, and the King's officer are courtiers or executioners. The King is consistently idealized, while his deputies are travestied. The ballet is very gay and animated, the dancers dressing in superb costumes. The entertainment often lasts several days or nights in succession, and it may consist of dialogues, music, interludes of dancing and posturing.

Other races besides the Burmans proper dwell within the limits of Burma; the Shans inhabit the eastern highlands, where they have semi-independent States, and the Kachins the northern. The Karens, in many respects an interesting people, are the most important hill race of the country, and best exemplify the mode of life of the aboriginal tribes, who have been kept out of the plain-lands by the more powerful Burmans. Those living in the mountains between Burma and Siam get their living by making forest clearings, on which they raise one crop, removing to another site every season. Those settled in the lowlands are more civilized, and speak and dress like Burmans. Noted for their hospitality, truthfulness, chastity, and spirit of equality, they are nevertheless given to drunkenness and to superstition. They are shorter and stouter than the Burmans, and of much fairer complexion. They employ elephants, and are good hunters, and do not marry until reaching mature life.

The language of the Burmese belongs to the same group as the speech of the Annamese, Siamese, and others speaking monosyllabic tongues. The alphabet seems to be a rounded form of Pali. The forms of speech tend to preserve relative ideas in the same categories as the terms expressing the ideas. The root remains unaltered; thus, instead of our ‘herb,’ ‘shrub,’ ‘tree,’ the Burman speaks of grain-plants, creeper-plants, timber-plants. Written Burmese literature goes back for over 800 years, and it is everywhere colored by Hindu influences.

The Burmese are the practical Buddhists of the world, their religion being of the Southern (Ceylonese) or purer variety, which most closely approximates the original form taught by Gautama. Even the Siamese are lax in comparison to the Burmese. Burma, isolated geographically between the mountains and the ocean, has remained, since the Fifth