The Burmese have many skilful weavers, smiths, sculptors, workers in gold and silver, joiners, etc. Among industrial establishments are rice-mills, saw-mills, a few works for iron goods, ship-building yards, cutch works, etc. Other industries include boat-building, weaving, pottery, lacquerwork and brasswork. The weaving of cotton and silk goods is carried on by the women everywhere. The pottery of the country is strong and durable, if not especially artistic; and the gold and silver work finds numerous purchasers outside the country. Wood-carving is extensively practised for the adornment of houses, boats, etc. The native vessels plying on the Irrawadi and other rivers are often of 100 to 150 tons burden, while thou sands of small craft are engaged in trade or fishing. Large numbers of good cigars are made by women, and•are partly used in the country, partly exported. The buildings among the Bur mese are very slight, as the government used to require them to be chiefly of wood or barn= boo, and prohibited the use of stone or brick except for pagodas, and other important struc tures.
. People.— The Burmese are divided into sev eral tribes, and belong to the common Indo Chinese stock. Among the tribes other than the Burmese proper are the Karcns, Kakhyens, Shins, etc. The Burmese proper are of a brown color, with lank, black hair, and vigorous, well-proportioned frames. No Burmese can have more than one wife; but he may have as many mistresses as he will. The latter live in the same house with the wife, and are her serv ants. The Burmese women enjoy a good deal of freedom; are not shut up as in some parts of the East, and can even engage in a lawsuit in their own name. The chief amusement of the Burmese is their theatre, where declamation, dancing and music are given by turns. The new year (which begins in April) is celebrated with what is known as the °water feast,* when young men and women throw water on each other and the passers-by. The Burmese usually write on palm leaves with an iron style or on black tablets with a pencil; the rich have libraries, with books, the leaves of some of which are thin pieces of ivory, with gilt edges. Their materia medica is chiefly confined to herbs, spices and mercury; with vaccination they have long been acquainted. The language is monosyllabic, like Chinese, and written with art alphabet (derived from India), the characters of which are more or less circular. Among the common people theprincipal part of the male dress consists of a double piece of cloth about five yards long, loosely wrapped about the body. Over this a frock is worn, with sleeves open in front, and reaching below the knees. The lower classes of women wear only a single garment, resembling a sheet, wrapped round the body and fastened under the arms. Men of rank wear a long robe of flowered velvet or satin, with open sleeves and collar, a mantle or scarf being thrown over this. On the head is worn a high velvet or silk cap, plain or embroidered; according to rank. The men wear earrings, often of large size. Women of the higher classes generally wear a shift which reaches only to the pit of the stomach, where it is drawn tight and fastened by strings. This is covered by a loose jacket, with tight sleeves. A piece of silk or cloth encircles the waist and descends to the feet. When a woman wishes to be par ticularly fine she stains her nails and palms a red color, and tinges her teeth and the edges of her eyelids with black. Both sexes wear the hair long; the men tying it in a knot on the crown of the head, the women on the back. Sandals are often worn, but neither boots; shoes nor stockings; every man, woman and child, however, carries an umbrella. The chewing of
betel and smoking of tobacco are universal. The Kakhyens or Singfo are a courageous people inhabiting the tipper basin of the Irra wadi above Bhamo. They practise a sort of nature worship, and are active as traders, though at present rather Lawless. Their villages are ruled by hereditary chiefs. Chinese from Yunnan have settled in considerable numbers as traders and agriculturists in the Kakhyen country; and in Lower Burma they are now a highly important element in the population as traders and otherwise. In the hilly districts, of Tenasserim and Pegu we find the Karens, a somewhat secluded people, less intelligent and more ignorant than the Burmese, and not so purely Mongolian in physical character. The Talaings or Mons of the Irrawadi delta re semble the Burmese, but speak a distinct lan guage. The Shins are a numerous people closely allied to the Siamese, and inhabiting eastern and northeastern Burma, together with portions of the neighboring countries.
The native government was an absolute mon archy, the King having unlimited power over life and property. The seat of government, after oscillating between Ava and Amarapura, was latterly fixed in Mandalay, a new town founded in 1857, and situated in a dusty plain a little over two miles from the left bank of the Irrawadi, and about 28 miles northwest from Amarapura. The King was assisted in govern ting by a council of state known as the Moot daw, to which belonged at once the functions of a legislature, a cabinet and a supreme court of justice. It was composed of officials of 14 grides, the president being the King himself, some other member of the royal family or the Prime Minister. The King had power to punish at his pleasure anyone, including even the great officers of state. The public revenue was de rived from taxes levied in a very irregular and capricious manner, and as the officials received no fixed salary corruption and oppression were extremely prevalent. The criminal laws were barbarously severe. Capital punishment was commonly inflicted by decapitation, but cruci fixion and disemboweling were also practised. Torture might be applied to principals or wit nesses; and trial by ordeal was not unknown. The standing army was small. Levies were made, in case of war, by way of conscription, and a specified number of houses was required to furnish a soldier or pay a fine. The religion of the country is that of Buddha, which is said to exist here in great purity. The tutelary vinities worshipped in . various Buddhist countries are unknown, and the vows of pov erty and chastity taken by the monks are said to be less frequently broken here than else where. The Burmese possess a complete sys tem of education so far as male children are concerned. All boys are required to reside in a religious house for three years and there they act as servants to the priests who instruct them in reading, writing and arithmetic, as well as the doctrines of their religion. Upward of 90 per cent of the population dwell in rural areas, and no tendency toward gravitation to the towns is observed. Notwithstanding the fact that the social position of women is so assured in Burma and that there is no suspicion of the existence of female infanticide, women number only 962 in 1,000 against 1,006 and 1,022 in Ben gal and Madras. But the explanation probably lies in the preponderance of the male element among the numerous immigrants into the prov ince. Marriage in Burma is a purely secular ceremony, and elementary education is far more widely dispersed than in India, one individual in five being able to read and write.