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CHRISTIAN PROGRESS

IN
BURMA

By
ALEXANDER McLEISH

it
AJMER, INDIA

(Late Convener of the Survey Committee of the National
Christian Council of India, Burma and Ceylon)

WORLD DOMINION PRESS

I, TUDOR STREET, LONDON, E.G. 4

113, FULTON STREET, NEW YORK CITY

632-634, CONFEDERATION LIFE BUILDING, TORONTO, CANADA

1929

PRI1

WILSON'S PRINT:
676, TURI

LONDC

Printed in

PRINTED BY
ON'S PRINTING COMPANY, LTD.,
676, TURNMILL STREET,
LONDON, E.G. I.

Printed in Great Britain.

f

FOREWORD

WORLD DOMINION
A attempts to describe brie:
situation in various countries of
from the standpoint of the Kingdc
four countries have now been sui

The present Survey is to a ]
pilation of material obtained wl
Convener of the Survey Commit
Christian Council of India, B
Statistics were collected for th<
Council by the Rev. C. E. Olmstes
Methodist Episcopal Church, and
A Survey of Christian Missions in
by him in 1926. This has been uj
Survey.

The method followed by the
of the British and Foreign Bible
on " The Occupation of the Field '
Conference has been followed in tb
Christian Occupation of Burma T
W. Sherratt has read the preser
made a number of suggestions wh
incorporated in it.

Thanks are also due to the R<
of the Wesleyan Methodist Missi
carefully reading the manuscript an
of valuable corrections and addit

Grateful acknowledgement is *
Henderson and the Rev. J. Her
American Baptist Burma Mission, A

Ill

WORD

[NION SURVEY SERIES

.be briefly and clearly the
:ries of the world as viewed
j Kingdom of God. Twenty-
been surveyed.
; to a large extent a com-
ined when the Editor was
Committee of the National
idia, Burma and Ceylon,
for the Burma Christian
Olmstead, of the American
:h, and a pamphlet, entitled
ssions in Burma, was issued
been used in the following

the Rev. W. Sherratt,
Bible Society, in a paper
Field " for the Edinburgh
ed in the chapter on " The
urma To-day." The Rev.
present Survey and has
ions which have now been

the Rev. Sidney Gordon,
st Missionary Society, for
cript and making a number
d additions.

ent is due to Dr. A. H.

J. Herbert Cope, of the

ission, whose contributions

iv FOREWORD

have been incorporated ; to the Rev. A. T. Houghton,
B.A., of the Bible Churchmen's Missionary Society
of the Church of England, who at the request of the
Burma Christian Council, has contributed the chapter
on the Hukawng Valley and beyond ; to Dr. H. Fowler,
of Shanghai, for the production of the diagrams and
graphs, which set forth clearly some of the aspects of
the situation. To many others who by their help and
criticism have shown their interest in this Survey, and
to the Rev. W. C. B. Purser, of the Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel, who has read the proofs
and given some valuable suggestions, the Editor
desires to express his indebtedness.

The valuable contribution by the Rev. R. Kilgour,
D.D., of the British and Foreign Bible Society, on
" The Bible in Burma " will be found in Appendix vii.

The Survey is not an official publication of the
Council. It has been prepared for the World Dominion
Survey Series in order to throw light upon the problems
of the Indigenous Church and the need of the unevan-
gelized areas and peoples.

The call of Burma's many races and languages
is here presented in order that the Christian public
may realize the problems which confront the missionary
enterprise and the nature of the great unfinished task
in every part of that most interesting land. If it leads
to a more intelligent and prayerful interest in the
work of the Church in Burma, it will have achieved
its purpose.

ALEXANDER McLEISH,

Survey Editor.
April, 1929.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

FOREWORD iii

I. THE LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 7

II. THE WORK OF THE MISSIONARY SOCIETIES . . . . 20

III. THE WILD FRONTIERS OF THE NORTH

(1) The Problem of the Frontiers .. .. .. 34

(2) The Hukawng Valley and Beyond, by the Rev.

A. T. Houghton . . . . . . . . 36

IV. PEOPLES AND PROBLEMS OF THE SHAN STATES

(1) The Shans and their Neighbours . . . . 45

(2) The Shan States, by the Rev. A. H. Henderson 47
V. THE CHINS OF THE WESTERN FRONTIER

(1) Dawn Among the Chin Hills . . . . . . 53

(2) Awakening of the Northern Chins, by the Rev.

J. H. Cope . . . . . . . . . . 55

VI. CHRISTIAN OCCUPATION OF BURMA TO-DAY . . . . 59

APPENDIX

SUMMARY OF STATISTICS, 1926 83

I. RACES, LANGUAGES AND POPULATIONS BY RELIGIONS 84

II. AREAS, POPULATIONS, FOREIGN AND NATIVE WORKERS 85

III. MISSION AND CHURCH STATISTICS 89

IV. RECENT STATISTICS OF THE FOUR PRINCIPAL MISSIONS 90
V. LANGUAGES AND DIALECTS OF BURMA . . . . . . 95

VI. COMPARISON OF PROTESTANT AND ROMAN CATHOLIC

WORK 96

VII. THE BIBLE IN BURMA, by the Rev. R. Kilgour, D.D. 97

MAPS AND DIAGRAMS

I. MAP OF BURMA SHOWING MISSION STATIONS . . . . iii
II. MAP SHOWING RACE DISTRIBUTION . . . . . . 59

III. CHART SHOWING NUMBER OF VILLAGES IN WHICH PRO-

TESTANT CHRISTIANS LIVE 64

IV. DIAGRAM SHOWING PROPORTION OF CHRISTIAN POPU-

LATION OF BURMA . . 77

V. DIAGRAM SHOWING CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY OF BURMA 78
VI. DIAGRAM SHOWING INDIGENOUS AND FOREIGN WORKERS 79

VII. DIAGRAM SHOWING PERCENTAGE OF EVANGELISTIC,
EDUCATIONAL, MEDICAL, ETC., PROTESTANT INDI-
GENOUS WORKERS 80

CHRISTIAN PROGRESS IN

BURMA

CHAPTER I.

The Land and its People

The Silken East.

The land of Burma even more than India has
become associated in our minds with the colour and
glamour of the East. As Japan contrasts with China,
so Burma in our thoughts is contrasted with India.
The greater continents are teeming with races who
take life more seriously, while in these two smaller
countries live people who seem to pass through life
amidst laughter and flowers.

Rudyard Kipling has made us familiar with the
mystery and beauty of the road to Mandalay, and
every traveller in Burma gets the impression of a
light-hearted, laughter-loving people who greatly enjoy
life, whose women are free and happy, whose children
have an ideal existence and whose men folk do not
seem to have to work too hard.

On landing at Rangoon from India, it is difficult
to realize that one has left India behind. There seem
to be Indians everywhere. On the river, on the docks,
in the streets, in the hotels, everywhere, in fact, where
the visitor is likely to go, there are Indians. A walk
will probably take one into the Chinese quarter,
from that one may stumble on the Mohammedan
quarter, and only gradually will one begin to get in
touch with the Burmese people and the real Burma.
There are more foreigners than Burmans in Rangoon.
A visit to the great Shwe Dagon Pagoda will, however,
at once bring us into the Burmese atmosphere. Truly
it is a great temple with its broad nagged spaces and
its profusion of gilded buildings, its grotesque figures
and its glittering pillars ; everywhere are seen the

8 CHRISTIAN PROGRESS IN BURMA

shaven-headed, yellow-robed priests and the gaily-
clad crowds of worshippers carrying offerings of fruits
and flowers. It presents a gorgeous picture of Eastern
splendour, which is well called " The Silken East,"
and breathes the spirit of Southern Buddhism.

Rangoon is growing rapidly. Its population
increases by thousands every year. The new spirit
of nationalism and a growing materialism dominate
its outlook.

Everywhere in the Delta region and along the
river valleys an abundance of water produces luxuriant
growth. Away to the east stretch the great plains
and plateaux which reach into China. Yet, strange
enough, Burma has been influenced more by India
than by China. This, too, in spite of the fact that
India is cut off by wide ranges of hills which have
always prevented regular communication by land.
Tibet and Assam are equally difficult of access. Even
Burma's long coast line did not attract much commerce
till the time of the British occupation. Nevertheless,
it has received its religion and education from India,
and to-day it is administratively a Province of the
Indian Empire.*

Although thus situated between these two great
countries, Burma has retained its independence of
action. Neither the feet-binding custom of China
nor the caste system of India have taken root here.
Like India, ninety per cent, of the population live in
villages. There is no overcrowding in this favoured
land, for it is only one-tenth as densely populated
as Bengal (57 as against 608 to the square mile).
Although it is more than two and a half times as large
as Great Britain, it has only one-third of the population
of the latter. The greatest density of population is
found in the south round Rangoon, and in the centre
round Mandalay. The northern and western hills
and the eastern plains are sparsely populated.

* Modern research has shown that the influence of China has also
played a great part in Burmese history, especially in the early and
middle periods. There are forty Chinese works and 4,848 fussicules
in the Rangoon University Library.

THE LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 9

Forty per cent, of the population live in the fertile
Delta of the Irrawaddy, for the simple reason that
fish and rice abound and it is easy to procure a living.
The Delta, except for a few months in the year, is hot
and damp. On the coast often over two hundred inches
of rain fall annually, but this decreases on the inner
reaches of the Delta to one hundred inches. The Delta
climate thus appears like a continuous rainy season in
India. Around Mandalay and in the middle of the
Province there is a very definite dry zone : the climate
here is like the Indian hot weather. In the hilly
country to the west, north and east, the nights are
always cold, as in the Indian cold weather.

These climatic zones determine the characteristic
vegetation. In the Tenasserim swamps of the south-
east mangroves flourish, and the Delta luxuriates
in a tropical flora. In the dry zone, euphorbia, cactus
and stunted scrub are found, while in the hilly tracts
are far-extending forests of valuable trees, including
teak, for which Burma is famous, and many varieties
of wild fruit trees, among which is the " kilaw " tree,
the fruit of which is so largely required for the modern
treatment of leprosy. As in North India, some European
fruit trees grow well on the hills.

Travelling through Burma, one is struck by the
great extent of the forests. They stretch everywhere
beyond the riverine and delta regions, and the
cultivated areas have been reclaimed from the sur-
rounding forest lands. The great area still covered
by these forests is due to the sparsity of the
population and the wonderful fertility of the soil.
As one ascends the river beyond Mandalay, more
labour has to be expended in cultivation, but still
no really hard work has to be done ; as has been said :
" The cultivator tickles the ground and it laughs out
a rich harvest."

History.

The early history of Burma belongs mostly to the
region of mythology. Although the Burmese language
definitely belongs to the Tibetan group, it somewhat

10 CHRISTIAN PROGRESS IN BURMA

resembles Chinese in that it is monosyllabic and
partially tonal, and it has also been affected by Pali
from India. An old tradition has it that some of
the Kshattriya princes came to Burma by way of
Manipur (Assam State) and became kings of the Pyu
people. Mon Khmer races followed, and are now
represented by the Talaings.

For centuries Talaings and Burmans fought
with each other, until finally the two peoples came
to be united. The first king over the entire country
that we hear of was Anawrata, who reigned about
A.D. 1010. Kublai Khan, after conquering China, raided
Burma about 1283, when the last king of Pagan,
Narasihapadte, was subjugated. The Tartars were
bribed to leave Burma about 1301, and were ousted
from China by the Ming dynasty in 1368, which in
turn was overthrown by the Manchus in 1644. For
many years the Manchus lost control of South China,
and consequently of Burma, so that not until 1767 do
we hear of the Manchus attempting to subdue the
country. Their first attempt in 1768 met with complete
disaster, but, fearing a second invasion, the Burmese
emissaries patched up a peace and made an exchange
of presents. Other races, notably the Shans and the
Karens, poured down upon the country and occupied
areas here and there. All this meant interminable
fighting, and the population was kept from growing.

After a long struggle the last Talaing or Pegu
dynasty was overthrown by Alompra (Alaungpaya)
in 1753, when the Burmese dynasty was founded.
Alompra's fourth son, Bodawpra (Bodaw Paya),
transferred the capital from Ava to Amarapura in
1783. Wars between Siam and Burma which raged
about this time were concluded in a treatv in
1793.

This summary does little justice to the exceptionally
continuous historical tradition connected with Burma.
From the middle of the eleventh century A.D., when
the main body of inscriptions may be said to begin,
to the annexation of Upper Burma the historical
record is practically unbroken.

THE LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 11

A dispute with Great Britain arose in 1795 over
Arakan and Chittagong. Later, an attempt to invade
India by King Bagyidaw (grandson of King Bodawpra)
in 1824 was countered by the occupation of Rangoon
by the British. Assam, Arakan and Tenasserim were
added to the possessions of Great Britain by treaty
in 1825-26, and Rangoon was left to Burmese admin-
istration. Troubles at Rangoon, however, led to the
British annexation in 1853 of the old Pegu Province
of lower Burma. Ten years later a Province of
British Burma was formed with Mandalay as the
capital and the residence of the commissioner. The
king at this period was Mindon, who reigned for
twenty-six years, but his son, King Thibaw (1879),
behaved himself so badly that he was deposed in
November, 1885. Thus only in the year 1886 was the
whole of Upper Burma declared under British rule,
which was extended later over unadministered territory
to the borders of Tibet and China.

Peoples.

As the meeting place of many races Aryans,
Mongols, Dravidians and others Burma undoubtedly
is unique for so small a country. Apart from Europeans
there are over one million foreigners, three million
Karens, Shans, Chins, Kachins and others, and nine
million Burmans. The Burmese language is the lingua
franca of the country, although it is computed that
there are a hundred and twenty-eight indigenous
languages and dialects. The tendency is for the hill
peoples, on settling down in more cultivated tracts,
to adopt Buddhism and the Burmese language, which
language tends to grow at the expense of the others.
The Buddhist monastic schools have been a great
factor in hastening this process, and so Burma, by
such absorption, continues to become increasingly
Buddhist.*

* One of the remarkable facts regarding Burma is its high percentage
of " literacy." In Burma as a whole 31.7 per cent, of the people are
literate.

12 CHRISTIAN PROGRESS IN BURMA

The largest single group apart from the Burmans
is the Karen people. Little is known regarding their
origin and remarkable traditions ; there is a theory
that there was contact with the Nestorian missionaries
in China, and they themselves have a tradition that a
white brother would eventually come to them from
over the sea bringing to them a lost book. This may
account for the remarkable way in which they have
responded to the appeal of the Christian missionary
from the West and to the message of the Bible.

Another group of over a million is made up of
Shans, most of whom reside in the Northern and
Southern Shan States. They belong to the Tai race
of Yunnan and Siam and are mainly agriculturists.

Another large group is the Kachin people. In the
Northern Shan States there is a large Kachin village
population, and a still unestimated number in the
northern areas of Burma, especially in the Hukawng
Valley.*

The Chins again account for about three hundred
thousand, and are found in the hills and valleys of the
mountainous tracts in the west from Arakan
northwards.

To these may be added smaller groups such as the
Palaung ; the Wa who still practise head-hunting ;
the Padaung noted for the unwieldy brass neck bands
worn by their women ; the Bre who coil brass rods
round their legs and arms ; the La'hu, the Akha and
many more.f

The immigrant population consists of nearly a
million Indians and a small number of Chinese
(150,000). Europeans number 8,630, and there is double
this number of Anglo-Indians. One half of these
are Roman Catholics.

The people in the hills are still so isolated that
they remain in a more or less savage state. These
hill areas extend in the form of an immense horse-
shoe practically from the gulf of Bengal up the

* See Chapter III.

f Fifty-seven different indigenous races and tribes are recorded.

THE LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 13

western border, along the north and down the
eastern border. Certain unadministered or remote
districts are not even recorded in the Census of
1921. The omitted districts are : the Hill District
of Arakan ; a large tract in Upper Chindwin ; the
northern area of Putao, with the exception of the
Hkamti Long Shan States ; and the uncontrolled
portion of the Wa States. Only estimates of population
were made for the unadministered part of the Pakokku
Hill Tracts on the west, for the Somra Tract of Upper
Chindwin and for the East Mangliin Tract of the
Northern Shan States. West, north and east, therefore,
there are areas still outside effective Government
control. These hills are not easy to move about in,
and where valleys have been with difficulty cleared
the people tend to settle down oblivious of the outside
world, and many have never been out of sight of their
native villages. Dialects have developed and strangers
are not welcome.

These tribes are, however, being brought into
contact with civilization. Several expeditions have
gone among them recently and undertakings have been
entered into to bring to an end slave-holding, head-
hunting and human sacrifice. They no longer use
poisoned arrows, and they are beginning to have
doubts about the Tightness of many of their former
practices. They are learning also the use of money,
and as a result many traditional ways of primitive
life tend to disappear.

Burma is a Province of violent contrasts in climate,
country, cultures and peoples.

Religions.

Burma is known as the most picturesque home of
Buddhism. While sixty-one per cent, of the population
of Ceylon are Buddhists, Burma has a Buddhist
population of eight-five per cent. Other faiths in
Burma respectively do not exceed five per cent, of
the population. The proportions are as follows :
Buddhists (84.8) ; Animists (4.5) ; Moslems (3.8) ;
Hindus (3.7) ; Christians (2.0) ; Chinese (1.1) ; and

14 CHRISTIAN PROGRESS IN BURMA

minor religions (0.1).* Buddhism and Animism are
strongest in rural areas, while Hinduism, Islam and
Christianity are strongest in urban areas.

A description of Buddhism as it exists in text-
books gives but little idea of the actual beliefs of the
people. Buddhism started from the Hindu pantheistic
conception of the universe, and leads men to look to
self for deliverance. Human personality is a curse
to be got rid of, but as it is " I " which has to get
rid of " I," so " I " becomes the centre and goal.
Personality is doomed to extinction, morality exists
apart from God and a spirit of stoic agnosticism is all
the equipment with which men have to face life. Deeds,
however, remain and the Hindu doctrine of Karma
comes into evidence. Man is declared out of harmony
with life and suffering becomes the great problem.
The solution proposed is realty self-assertion : "Be
to your own selves your own refuge. By oneself the
evil is done, by oneself one is purified." This is to be
attained by suppressing all desires : " Those who
love nothing and hate nothing have no fetters." To
give up hope, to withdraw from the world, to seek
repose, becomes the first object of the wise man.
While it is pessimistic, yet it is full of pity, but its
ethics are too self-centred to lift the cloud of
uncertainty, depression and despair which falls upon
its devotees. There is no future and on the cessation
of all activity and desire release is attained from
the misery of existence into the passionless peace of
Nirvana : " Those who are free from all desire attain
Nirvana." There is no light, no personality, no hope,
and, while Buddhists will tell you that they look for
Amida Buddha who by love will inspire them, yet

* The actual figures (1921 Census) do not quite account for the whole
population and are estimated as follows :

Buddhist 11,172,984

Animist
Moslem . .
Hindu . .
Christian
Chinese . .
Minor religions

592,822
500,592
490,857
257,106
146,430
8,308

THE LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 15

they are helpless in face of the high ideals which
Buddha himself entertained. " If one man conquer
in battle a thousand times a thousand men, and if
another conquer himself, he is the greatest of
conquerors." But before that ideal they are helpless,
as all men are save those who find all they need in
the love of God, the grace of Christ, and the presence
and power of His Spirit. So when we are told that
" to cease from sin, to get virtue, to cleanse one's
own heart this is the religion of the Buddhas," we
have learnt nothing save that Buddhism has no
message to give to the man who seeks this ideal.

The tenets of Buddhism are almost nowhere held
in their purity in Ceylon, Burma or Siam. Very early
it was customary to look on southern Buddhism as
distinct from that of the north. Its ritual undoubtedly
is simpler than that of Lamaistic Buddhism and keeps
nearer to the original teaching of Buddha, in which
there is no place for God, but the actual practice of
the faith has become greatly mixed with local super-
stitions and animistic beliefs. The nat* worship of
Burma still survives alongside their Buddhist beliefs.
The Burman is a child of nature. He personifies the
forces of nature and finds it possible to combine
these primitive beliefs with Buddhism. He must still
keep on good terms with the hostile forces of nature.
He is, therefore, an Animist and a Buddhist at the
same time. Yet the Burmese people owe a great deal
to Buddhism. It has been mainly instrumental in
making a more or less united nation, and it has cared
for the education of the people. Every young man
must spend some time in a Buddhist brotherhood, and
the Buddhist day schools form an effective educational
system which has proved a great factor in the process

* The nats are spirits representing the essential facts of the universe
of which each person must take account, just as he does of gravity,
friction, inertia, and fire. Nats are found everywhere in village, forest
and field. At certain festivals wai-possessed women dance. The fear
of the nats is very real, but it can scarcely be said that there is a nat
worship with regular priests ; it is rather like the ancient fairy-lore of
Europe. The propitiation of these spirits forms a substratum of much
of the Buddhism of the villages.

B

16 CHRISTIAN PROGRESS IN BURMA

of civilizing the hill tribes on the west, north and
east of their country. The ethics of Buddhism,
however, fall far short in lifting its votaries even to
the height of its own ideals.

Burma is still the most criminal province of India.*
The impact of Western thought and institutions is
breaking down organized Buddhism to-day in many
directions. The Buddhist schools, which have done
so much good work in the past, fail now to satisfy
the aspirations of the people. The Buddhist monks
find it difficult to retain their power and prestige before
the tide of nationalism and political strife. The
prevalent political agitation is devoid of real public
spirit. It is more anti-British than pro-Burmese, if
by the latter we mean devotion to good and great
ideals for the community as a whole. " Buddhism, "f
says the Rev. W. C. B. Purser, " with all its high
standard of ethics for the individual, is deficient on
the side of corporate morality." There is no basis for
social service or great industry possible in the atmos-
phere of Buddhism. It certainly prohibits drunkenness
and that is one great gain. As a religion it is not
invulnerable. Brahmanism drove it out of India.
Mohammedanism has had its conquests amongst the
Buddhists. Thus to-day it has entrenched itself in
Tibet and the north behind closed doors, and in the
south it is coldly incurious to more progressive
religions.

* The report on the administration of criminal justice in Burma
for the year 1926 states : " It is regrettable to have to state that there
was no diminution in the volume of crime during the year under report
(1926). The total number of criminal cases brought before the courts
in 1924 was 123,720, and in 1925, 124,414, while in 1926 it reached
the stupendous figure of 134,109 cases. Since 1922 there has been a
constant tendency for the volume of crime in the Province to increase.
The number of criminal cases for ten thousand of the population has
increased from 90 in 1922 to 106 in 1926. During the year under report
(1926) one person out of every hundred in Burma was brought before
the criminal courts on a criminal charge. This is an extremely serious
state of affairs which cannot be viewed with equanimity." According
to Buddhism all life is sacred and a Buddhist would hesitate to destroy
a fly, yet the serious fact remains that over a thousand persons were
under trial in 1926 for murder and culpable homicide.

f International Review of Missions, October, 1928, p. 656.

THE LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 17

The Animist population of nearly six hundred
thousand mainly occupies the outlying regions of
Burma from Arakan on the north-west along the
frontiers of Manipur State, Assam, Tibet, and down
the east side along the frontiers of Yunnan, China,
to French Indo-China and Siam. They are mainly
savage tribes speaking innumerable dialects and having
the greatest variety of social and tribal customs.
Superstitions and not worship dominate their lives
and, while the practice of this most primitive of
religions varies in detail, Animism creates the atmos-
phere of fear in which the people pass their lives.
These Chins, Nagas, Kachins, Was and many others,
offer a great and mostly untouched field still for the
work of missions.

Hinduism is a foreign religion on the soil of Burma.
Tamils and Telugus who have immigrated from South
India make up a community of half a million and
follow more or less the faith of their fathers.
Brahmanism, however, does not flourish outside
India.

The Chinese who number a hundred and fifty
thousand are more of a racial group than a religious
one. They are largely atheistic and materialistic in
their outlook, but quite a number, possibly by reason
of marriage to Buddhist Burmese wives, follow the
main religious customs of the Province.

The Mohammedan community of half a million
consists of an Indo-Burman group of three indigenous
communities, numbering over one hundred thousand,
the remainder being those who have migrated from
India.

The Census and Christian Progress.

Christianity has made notable progress among
many of these races during the last hundred years.
A Government Census is compiled every ten years,
the last having been taken in 1921. A Missionary
Census was completed in 1926.

Before discussing at greater length the present
situation revealed by the latest figures, it will complete

18

CHRISTIAN PROGRESS IN BURMA

this review of the religions of Burma if the main facts
of the 1921 Census are mentioned here.

No figures can in any adequate way represent the
real impact of Christianity upon the religions and
peoples of Burma, but in a certain limited sense we
can obtain a view of the general situation, and that is
all that is attempted here.

The total Christian community (made up of both
Roman Catholic and Protestant Christians from
amongst the indigenous races, Indian races, Europeans
and Anglo-Indians) numbers 257,106. This community
is twice as numerous in urban areas as in rural areas.

It is interesting to see what this figure means.
First of all 71,941 are Roman Catholics, leaving
185,165 Protestants. The Baptist community is by
far the strongest, being 160,656 as compared with the
20,410 of the Anglican community. Outside these
two groups we have only 4,099 to account for as follows :
Presbyterian, 1,508 ; Methodist, 1,424 ; others, 1,167.
It throws still more light on the situation if we ask
from what races these Christians are drawn.

Taking the non-Christian races alone, we have
the following distribution of Protestants and Roman
Catholics :

Pro- Roman

testants. Catholics. Total.

Burma group and Talaings

Karen group

Shan, Chin and Kachin races

Tamils and Telugus

Other Indians

Others

9,046

141,719

12,332

5,645

1,642

170,384

6,335
36,506

1,822
14,216

2,555

61,434

15,381

178,225

14,154

19,861

f 2,741

\ 1,456

231,818

By Protestants and Roman Catholics the greatest
work has been done among the Karens. The Roman
Catholic work has been relatively more successful
among the Burmans than has been that of the Pro-
testant Missions. The latter, however, have been more
successful among the smaller indigenous races than
among the Burmans.

THE LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 19

Turning to the work among the Indian races, the
Roman Catholic work amongst the Tamils and Telugus
is three times as strong as that of the Protestant
Missions.

The Christians of Burma, both Protestant and
Roman Catholic, are mostly concentrated in the delta
district of the Irrawaddy and its neighbourhood.
This is a most significant fact. It is in the delta region,
in Upper Tenasserim, Pegu and the Irrawaddy divisions
that the Karens mostly live, and this accounts for the
large number of Christians. The Chin Hills district
shows only 788, the Shan States, 12,027,. and the
Salween area (including the Karenni States), 10,329.
The centre of Burma shows 9,675 and the north 5,870.
The coastal areas have 13,919.

The strength of the Christian community among
the smaller indigenous races is not shown to be very
great, amounting to 4,046 among the Kuki-Chin,
4,551 among the Kachin, 1,026 among the Shan
(Tai), 4,434 among the Lolo and 770 among the Mon
(Talaings).

CHAPTER II.

The Work of the Missionary Societies

American Baptist Burma Mission.

Imperishably associated with the work of Christian
Missions in Burma is the name of Adoniram Judson.

The East India Company were indirectly responsible
for Ihe early interest of America in Missions when it
prohibited English missionaries sailing direct to India
by British boats, thus necessitating their going by way
of America. Contact with these missionaries on their
way to India led Judson and some others to volunteer
for missionary service.

Judson's early efforts to find a field of work led
him into a series of adventures, the first of which was
his capture by a French privateer while on his way to
England. He eventually arrived in London, however,
and tried to arrange with the London Missionary
Society to send him and his friends out. This seems
to have failed.

His offer for missionary service, however, led his
own Church to form a missionary society the now
well-known American Board of Commissioners for
Foreign Missions which arranged to start a mission
in India. Thus Judson, along with his companions
and his young wife, finally arrived in Calcutta and
became associated with the famous Dr. Carey, of
Serampore.

This led to a change of conviction on the subject
of baptism, and he and his wife were immersed at
Serampore. Immediately after this the East India
Company again unwittingly proved the finger of
Providence, for it ordered Judson to leave the country
and, after wandering about the East Coast trying

THE WORK OF THE MISSIONARY SOCIETIES 21

to avoid being captured and sent home, he found
himself at Rangoon, where the English Baptists had
begun work. He associated himself with that work,
then in charge of Felix Carey, a son of Dr. Carey,
and was again instrumental in causing the formation
of a second American missionary society the American
Baptist Missionary Union (now known as the American
Baptist Foreign Mission Society). The American
Baptists had heard of his change of views and decided
to support him. At this time the English Baptists
retired from Rangoon and the work there passed into
the hands of the American Baptists.

Judson at once got vigorously to work, learning
the language, compiling a grammar and a dictionary,
translating the Gospels, writing tracts and running
a small printing press. By 1820 there were ten Burmese
converts, the first fruits of the thousands which to-day
make up the Church of Christ in Burma.

The great trouble of the early days was the
treatment meted out to converts. Workers and
converts were persecuted and arrested. It is interesting
to note that Judson wore a yellow gown in Rangoon
to indicate that he was a religious teacher, as were
the yellow-gowned Buddhist priests. In Ava, where
he went next, he wore a white gown, not desiring
to be mistaken for a Buddhist. On the outbreak of
war with England, Judson and his fellow missionaries
were imprisoned, and for twenty-one months they
endured great hardship. Owing to the devotion of
his wife and servant, Judson's life was saved.

A treaty was negotiated with the Burmese autho-
rities by the British, in which Judson helped as
interpreter. He had hoped that he might be able to
have a clause inserted promising religious toleration,
but the Burmese Government would not consent to
this.

After these experiences, as a result of which his
wife died, Judson lived the life of a hermit, retiring
from time to time to the jungle to fast and pray,
and to translate the Old Testament. He visited America
once only after thirty- three years' service. After his

22 CHRISTIAN PROGRESS IN BURMA

return to Burma he lived a few years and died in
1850.

It is interesting to notice some of Judson's opinions
regarding missionary work. He had no great belief
in the efficacy of missionary schools as evangelistic
agencies. He was opposed 40 concentrating workers
in one place, and he disapproved of missionaries
spending their time in ministering to their fellow
countrymen. It may be that there is more in these
opinions than is superficially apparent, and that his
conception of the primary demands of evangelization
in a land of villages with their own system of education
was not so far wrong.

The work among the Burmans in which Judson was
interested has grown steadily if slowly since his day.
The Baptist Mission has Burmese work in twelve
fields.* The Christian community is slowly increasing.
Efforts are steadily being made to keep the Churches
independent and self-supporting. " The Churches
that give are the ones that grow, but we have scarcely
touched the field " says one missionary. Schools
are carried on in many districts, but the Churches are
more ready to support evangelists than schools.

Judson himself confined his work to the Burmans,
but the Mission had begun work among the Karens
as early as 1828, when George D. Boardman baptized
Ko Tha Bya, the first convert. It was Mr. Boardman
with his colleagues Messrs. Wade and Mason who
reduced the Sgaw-Karen language to writing and
translated the Bible into it.

It is ninety-six years since George D. Boardman,
the pioneer of the Karens, died. To-day there is a
great self-supporting missionary Karen Church of
sixty thousand members. " Some are in the mountain
regions where poverty is oft-times their daily portion ;
some are in the plains where harvests are sure. Few
are rich, but from what they have, be it little or much,
God is honoured and the work of His Kingdom

* Rangoon, Pegu, Meiktila, Henzada, Sagaing, Tavoy, Bassein,
Thonze, Myingyan, Totmgoo, Mandalay and Pyinmana.

THE WORK OF THE MISSIONARY SOCIETIES 23

strengthened." " Many of them are truly Apostolic ;
without them frontier service would have perished
in its infancy." Altogether, there are eleven* Karen
fields and many Churches.

Work is being steadily developed among the
Buddhists and Animists of the Shan States. There
are four stations in the Southern Shan States. Work
among the Buddhist Shans is difficult. " At first the
people listened quite attentively, for the story was
new. Now it is old, and attention is hard to get and
hard to hold, and converts are hard to win. Their
religion is both Buddhist and Animist ; most of the
converts have been from the latter."

The Medical Mission at Namkham, the only station
in the Northern Shan States, has grown greatly in
recent years. There is a strong hospital staff, two
small churches with a hundred and thirty-seven
members and five schools.

The work among the Talaings centres round Moul-
mein, where there are six churches with their own
pastors.

Among the Kachins there are seventy centres of
work. Schools and evangelistic work are gradually
winning the people, of whom about six thousand are
under instruction. The district is a wide one, embracing
a large part of the districts of Myitkyina, Bhamo
and Namkham.

At Haka and Tidim in the Chin Hills there is work
among the Northern Chins, while the Southern Chins
are being reached from Thayetmyo and Sandoway.f

It will be seen from this brief review that the work
of this Mission is very varied and extensive. It has
entered into every kind of service for the peoples of
Burma, including work for the Chinese and Indian
populations. The Judson College at Rangoon is a
famous institution, and, in addition, there are thirty-
two high schools throughout Burma.

* Bassein, Rangoon, Totmgoo, Tavoy, Mergui, Moulmein, Maubin,
Tharrawaddy, Loikaw, Henzada. There are also two stations among
the Karens in Siam.

f This work is fully described in Chapter V., p. 53.

24 CHRISTIAN PROGRESS IN BURMA

In the whole Burma field* this Mission has 206
foreign and 3,199 indigenous workers. The Christian
community now numbers about a hundred and seventy
thousand, organized into 1,289 churches, over half
of which are self-supporting. Out of 874 schools, 660
are self-supporting. Four of the five hospitals in
Burma are carried on by the Baptists and twelve
out of the fifteen dispensaries. The work of the other
Missions appears very small when compared with this
great work.

Anglican Mission Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel.

Prior to the second Burmese war of 1853 the
Government chaplains had shown interest in mission
work. In 1854 educational work was begun in Moul-
mein. " Some of the civilians " says the Rev. W. C. B.
Purser " who were interested suggested the Chins
of Arakan as a suitable sphere for missionary effort,
and, had the suggestion been carried out, it is quite
possible that by now there might have been as large
a community of Chin Christians connected with the
English Church as there are Karens connected with
the Baptists."

Educational work, however, largely occupied the
attention of the Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel, and, under Dr. J. E. Marks, who arrived in
1860, it developed successfully. The first Burmese
convert was baptized in 1863. This work in Moulmein
was temporarily abandoned in 1872 owing to political
troubles.

In 1863 Dr. Marks started a school in Rangoon,
which eventually became the present St. John's
College.

Dr. Marks also started work in Henzada, Myan-
oung and Thayetmyo, which began with great promise
but, owing to lack of support at home, was left for
other Missions to carry on.

* Including two stations outside Burma whose work extends over the
border.

THE WORK OF THE MISSIONARY SOCIETIES 25

Finally, Dr. Marks started a school at Mandalay
which was attended by the king's sons. This work
in Upper Burma was again not well followed up by
the Mission, and not until the Winchester Brotherhood
took it over in 1905 was any substantial progress
made. The members of the Brotherhood, led by the
Rev. R. S. Fyffe (later Bishop of Rangoon), had an
uphill struggle to get the work started again.

Work among the Karens was begun at Toungoo
in 1875; in order to help many Christians of the
Baptist Mission, who, owing to a schism among them,
were drifting back to heathenism. A small Burmese
Mission had been started there two years previously.

Fifty years ago the diocese of Rangoon was formed
under its first bishop, J. H. Titcomb. He ardently
supported the educational work of the Mission. He
did much also to revive interest in evangelistic work
and consecrated the first Karen church at Toungoo.
Owing to the trouble with King Thibaw, the Mission
had temporarily to withdraw from Upper Burma, and
the work in Lower Burma was meanwhile much
strengthened. Work among the Paku tribe south-east
of Toungoo was begun in 1888. A number of Karen
clergy were ordained. Of the three main Karen tribes
the Pwo, the Sgaw and the Bre (or Bway), the work
has been among the latter two. The Sgaw language,
however, is the one used, and this makes the work
among the Bre more difficult. Schismatic movements
among the Karens added to the difficulties of the work,
notably a travesty of Christianity inaugurated by
Koh Pai San, and a schism under Thomas Pellako,
a priest whose license had been withdrawn.

The work in Upper Burma was reopened at
Mandalay in 1885 under the Rev. J. A. Colbeck,
but he died in 1888, and his place was difficult to
fill. " A man of exceptionally devout life, his whole
soul was devoted to his calling, and in every quarter
where he laboured he left the impress of his saintly
character."

The Winchester Mission, although it began in
1892, with one worker in Rangoon, later under the

26 CHRISTIAN PROGRESS IN BURMA

Rev. R. S. Fyffe became the Winchester Brother-
hood (1905) and was established at Mandalay. It
has successfully revived that work and increased the
Burmese and Tamil congregations, re-established the
Madaya and Myittha out-stations, and reorganized
the school. Work was also begun at Maymyo. In
1909 a community of women was founded.

The divinity school at Kemmendine was established
in 1883. In 1887 the Shwebo Mission was opened
as a medical station, and has made steady progress.

In 1903 Bishop Knight, the third bishop, was
consecrated and had to face the task of reviving the
Mission which had been reduced to a low ebb.
Eight missionaries only were left, four for Burmese
work and four for Karen work, together with sixteen
indigenous clergy. Bishop Knight accomplished much,
but for health reasons he had to hand over in
1909 to the head of the Winchester Brotherhood,
the Rev. R. S, Fyffe. The work now developed in
many directions, and was extended among Europeans
and Anglo-Indians. Special schools and orphanages
exist for the latter.

Work among the Burmans is carried on at Rangoon,
Kemmendine, Moulmein, Prome, Toungoo, Mandalay
and Shwebo. The educational work centres in St.
John's College and St. Mary's High School for Girls,
Rangoon. Evangelistic work in the cities is difficult.
" Compared with the country folk " says the Rev.
W, C. B. Purser " the Burmese townspeople are
unmannerly and irreligious, and they make little
response to the appeal of the Christian missionary.
The country folk usually listen and acknowledge
the truth of the message, even though they do not
intend to follow it ; the townspeople will not even
listen, except when they think they can show off their
own intellectual powers and vanquish the missionary."

" The work of the Church among the Karens has
been incomparably more successful than among the
Burmans. This is partly owing to the fact that Chris-
tianity has given the Karens a written language, and
raised them considerably in the scale of civilization.

THE WORK OF THE MISSIONARY SOCIETIES 27

But it is also due to the remarkable traditions of the
race."* The Karen Mission has been largely confined
to Toungoo and the hills in its neighbourhood, and
to the Delta district. At Toungoo there are both girls'
and boys' schools as well as a European school, a
catechists' training institute, a printing press and a
dispensary. In the hills the Church grows steadily.
There is also a growing work among the Talaing
Karens in the Delta.

In 1895 Mr. C. R. Torkington began a work among
the Chins, which is carried on from Prome and
Thayetmyo. Touring is only possible during four
months in the year, but there are many Christian
communities among the non-Burmanized Chins of
the hills. The Chins will either become Buddhist or
Christian ; it is not likely that they will remain long
as they are.

The Society carries on work among the Nicobarese
on the island of Car Nicobar and a catechist resides
there. Several hundred of the islanders are Christians.
So far no permanent missionary has been located
there, and the Moslems are striving to win the people.

James Colbeck was the first worker in Rangoon
among the Tamil immigrants, and afterwards carried
on this work at Moulmein till 1885. Mandalay,
Maymyo and Toungoo are also centres of Tamil work.

Work among the Chinese has had many ups and
downs, and for its development a missionary who
can speak Chinese is needed.

In 1914 the Rev. W. C. B. Purser opened an
institution for the blind in Kemmendine, called "The
St. Michael's Mission to the Blind." Here an education
especially suited to blind children is provided under
the leadership of a blind graduate the Rev. W. H.
Jackson.

The Society has 3,363 non-Christian pupils as
compared with the 1,654 Christians in its 105 schools.
It has thirty-seven foreign workers and 329 indigenous
workers. The Christian community numbers 20,474

* Christian Missions in Burma Rev. W. C. B. Purser p. 164.

28 CHRISTIAN PROGRESS IN BURMA

and Christians reside in 352 villages. Numbers,
however, are but an inadequate way of estimating
the devoted work of the Society.

Wesley an Methodist Missionary Society.

The work of this Mission was begun in 1887 soon
after the close of the third Burmese war.

Upper Burma, where for forty years the Mission
has worked, is a hard field, and among the Buddhists
there has been little progress " there still appears
no sign of any Christward movement in the near
future."

" Long centuries of Buddhist teaching have led
the Burman to ignore God ; he does not retain Him
in his thoughts, and consequently the Christian message
does not attract him."* They are unwilling to hear,
and resent the approach of any one of themselves
who has become Christian. The few who are attracted
fear to sacrifice the things of this world and the majority
remain indifferent. The wave of Nationalism which
has been recently passing over Burma has made the
work more difficult still, especially is this so in
Mandalay, a centre of the movement and a stronghold
of Buddhism.

The main avenue of mission activity has been
through its schools. The Boycott associated with the
Nationalist movement greatly retarded this work.
At Pyawbwe the school has not yet recovered, but
all other schools are now flourishing again.

The Wesleyan work among the tribes of the
Shan Hills is more promising, notably among the
Taungthus and the Palaungs. The response of the
Taungthus is hopeful if it could be adequately followed
up. The first convert has been baptized. Work has
only recently started among the Palaungs and here
also the first convert has been baptized.

The first home for lepers in Upper Burma was
founded in Mandalay nearly forty years ago. The

* Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society Report, 1926.

THE WORK OF THE MISSIONARY SOCIETIES 29

home is connected with the Mission to Lepers, and the
senior Wesleyan missionary, residing at Mandalay,
acts as honorary superintendent. It is well equipped
and cares for about two hundred and fifty lepers and
untainted children.

The stations of the Mission are at Mandalay,
Pakokku, Monywa, Kyaukse, Salin, Kalaw in the
Shan States and Mawlaik (Upper Chindwin).

There are now twenty-three foreign workers and
eighty-six indigenous workers. The Christian com-
munity numbers 1,241. There are four high schools
for boys and four boarding schools for girls, of which
one is a high school.

American Methodist Episcopal Church.

The Mission was begun by Bishop J. A. Thoburn,
D.D., in 1879, and the Burma Mission Conference
was organized twenty-five years ago by Bishop Warne.
The Mission works amongst the European and Anglo-
Indian communities, the Indians, both Tamil and
Telugu, the Burmese and the Chinese. The stations of
the Mission are in Rangoon and neighbourhood, and
in Pegu, Syriam, Thongwa, Thandaung, Mergui and
Twante.

The foreign staff is still small, being in all thirty-
five ; the Board of Administration has nine missionary
members, of whom three are usually on furlough. There
are, however, 140 indigenous workers. The Christian
community now numbers 2,659 gathered into ten
Churches. During the year 1927-28 about two hundred
were added to the Christian community, principally
from among the Indian cultivators.

Three of the five district superintendents are now
Asiatics, and full responsibility is being placed upon
them. " They will have a heavy task " says the
Rev. H. J. Harwood " Burma has been one of the
most indifferent and unresponsive fields for Christian
evangelism, and the walls of spiritual lethargy will
not collapse through any human agency. One of the
difficulties being met with is the fewness of those

30 CHRISTIAN PROGRESS IN BURMA

who offer for Christian service. Too few are forth-
coming to keep the work going forward satisfactorily,
much less to supply a growing need."

School work is being carried on vigorously. Already
there are two high schools, eight. Anglo-Vernacular
middle schools and thirteen primary schools. Work
among girls especially is being steadily pushed forward.

Bible Churchmen's Missionary Society.

This Society opened work in North Burma in 1924,
when the Rev. A. T. Houghton took up work at
Mohnyin, six hundred and thirty-six miles north of
Rangoon.

The whole of North Burma is practically a virgin
field, hence there is a great opportunit}^ for this Mission,
not only amongst the Kachins, but amongst the
Burmese-speaking Shan-Burmese and the Shans of the
district.

The origin of this work is interesting. Mr. Houghton
was brought into touch with the Kachins during a
term of military service in Burma, and felt clearly
called to the unevangelized Kachin districts. After
ordination in the Church of England, he, his wife
and sister (a trained nurse) settled at Mohnyin, on
the Mu Valley line, ninety miles south of Myitkyina,
in 1924, under the auspices of the Bible Churchmen's
Missionary Society. A dispensary was opened, and
already some 16,500 patients have been treated
and the country all round opened up by this means
to the reception of the message of the Gospel.
The work is, of course, still in its infancy, but the
first twelve Kachin converts have recently been received
into the visible Church by baptism, and it is hoped
that these are the beginnings of a great harvest.

During the winter months work is carried on from
Hkapra as a base among the Jinghpaw villages in the:
foothills east of the railway. There are now four
workers at Kamaing, engaged in evangelizing a large
Jinghpaw area on the borders of the Hukawng Valley,
and the first four converts from this district were

THE WORK OF THE MISSIONARY SOCIETIES 31

baptized last year. Lonkin in the Jade Mines area will
soon be opened as an extension from Kamaing. It is
situated on the river between Haungpa and Tawhmaw.
Two of the Jinghpaw converts are receiving preliminary
training this year to fit them as preachers.

Work among the Shan-Burmese began in 1926.
The Shan-Burmese are the product of an early mixture
of Shans and Burmese, who have developed their own
racial characteristics and speak Burmese, except
round the Indawgyi Lake, where Shan is mostly
spoken. There are now seven missionaries devoting
themselves to work among this people at Mohnyin
and Indaw. Indaw is the first railway station south
of the junction at Katha. Three missionaries are
stationed at Bilunyo from which centre work is carried
on among the Shans. The original number of three
workers has increased to twenty.

The work of other Missions may be briefly
mentioned.

The Lakher Pioneer Mission has its headquarters
in Assam, but reaches the Kumi and Pachypi tribes of
the hill district of Arakan and the Shandoo tribes
of the Chin Hills, but there is no resident European
worker in Burmese territory. Mr. R. A. Lorrain
resides at Sherkor in Assam.

The activities of the Salvation Army in Burma
are young. There is rescue work in Rangoon ; a
successful work is being carried on among young
Burmese prisoners ; there is also a soldiers' home at
Maymyo. Work has also been started at Mandalay.
There are about eighteen European officers.

The Seventh-Day Adventists reside in five districts:
three workers are at Henzada ; Meiktila has five ; at
Ahlone, Rangoon, there are seven ; at Taikgyi, Insein,
two ; and at Kamamaung, Salween district, four.

Among the Societies and Associations which work
in co-operation with the Missions are :

The British and Foreign Bible Society.

The American Bible Society (working with the
American Baptist Burma Mission).

32 CHRISTIAN PROGRESS IN BURMA

The Christian Literature Society.
The Young Men's Christian Association.
The Young Women's Christian Association.
These all have their headquarters in Rangoon, and
the nature of their activities is well known to all
interested in Missions. A few facts may, however, be
noted.

The work of the Christian Literature Society needs
development. With relatively so large a percentage
of literates in Burma, there has been a phenomenal
development of the vernacular press. Burmese news-
papers and illustrated magazines are to be seen
everywhere. This constitutes a great opportunity
for Missions, and with the help of the Rev. B. M.
Jones, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the local
branch of the Christian Literature Society has been
able to produce a considerable number of excellent
and attractive publications. A full-time secretary is,
however, required adequately to develop this important
field of service.

The work of the Bible Societies has recently been
signalized by the completion of a retranslation of the
Bible in the Burmese language under the direction
of the Rev. William Sherratt, of the British and Foreign
Bible Society.

In concluding this account of missionary work
in Burma, mention must be made of the Roman
Catholic Missions.

In the seventeenth century priests came with the
Portuguese traders, and so Roman Catholics were
far in advance of Protestants. The record of their
fortunes is a sad one. We hear of a Portuguese settle-
ment at Syriam, where there was a massacre of Roman
Catholics in 1612. This ended missionary work till
1692, when fourteen missionaries arrived at Pegu,
and were also massacred. In 1719 two more arrived
at Syriam, who revived the faith among the descendants
of the Portuguese. Three missionaries perished in
1745, but other missionaries arrived from time to
time. Four more were murdered about 1760 and some
died, till there was only one priest left. Churches

THE WORK OF THE MISSIONARY SOCIETIES 33

were built at Rangoon and Mandalay in 1856, but the
work in these places eventually was relinquished by
the Italians and handed over to the French Societe
des Missions Etrangeres.

The Christian Brothers began work at Moulmein
in 1856, and the Milan Society for Foreign Missions
at Toungoo in 1867. The great persecution which
continually overtook converts led the Roman Catholics
to give up direct evangelization among the Burmans,
and now most of their work is among the Tamils,
Karens, Chinese and Anglo-Indians. They have to-day
a well-organized work centering at Rangoon, where
they have built a magnificent cathedral. There are
three bishops and three hundred European missionaries,
and the number of Roman Catholics in Burma of all
races is 92,600, compared with the 60,282 in 1911.*

* Further information will be found in Appendix VI. regarding
the present position of Roman Catholic work in relation to that of
Protestant Missions.

CHAPTER III.

The Wild Frontiers of the North

I. THE PROBLEM OF THE FRONTIERS.

For some time past it has been known that human
sacrifices and slavery still existed in the Hukawng
Valley of North Burma, and in the unadministered
area known as " The Triangle," adjoining the Hukawng
Valley on the east. Sir Harcourt Butler, then
Governor of Burma, paid a visit to Maingkwan in
1925, and announced that these practices must stop
and that a British officer would visit the country
once a year to see that they were stopped. It was
made clear to the chiefs that human sacrifice among
the Nagas and slavery among the Kachins* (Jingh-
paws) must cease.

This visit was carried out in 1925-26 when J. T. O.
Barnard, C.I.E., of the Burma Frontier Service,
visited the valley and negotiated with the Naga and
Kachin chiefs. At that time 3,445 slaves were freed
at a cost of 196,163 rupees.

The unadministered tract referred to, called " The
Triangle," is a large wedge of country between the
Mali Hka and Nmai Hka, two upper branches of the
Irrawaddy. An expedition similar to that mentioned,
in charge of the same political officer J. T. O. Barnard,

* According to the 1921 Census there are about 150,000 Kachins in
Burma. Of these 63,949 live in the Northern Shan States and Katha
district of the Mandalay division. In this area there are 13,855 belonging
to the Atsi, Lashi and Maru who have often been mistaken for Kachins
and were enumerated as such in the 1911 Census. In the Bhamo and
Myitkyina districts there are 80,265 Kachins and 29,382 of the pseudo
Kachins above referred to. Two or three dialects are spoken by them,
altogether 145,618 speak their own language. These numbers do not
include those in unadministered areas.

THE WILD FRONTIERS OF THE NORTH 35

C.I.E. was successfully undertaken here in 1926-27.
As a result 3,989 slaves were freed, 270,255 rupees
being paid in compensation. The remaining slaves
were released later. Efforts are also being directed
to a permanent settlement of the blood feud existing
in the southern section of " The Triangle " between
two factions of the Lahpai clan, known as Kumtao
and Kumsa.

A concerted effort is at last being made to bring
administration to bear on these regions, not without
cost, as the recent murder of Captain E. M. West,
I.A. (26th March, 1927) shows. Government has
attempted little so far for the numerous wild tribes
of the frontiers, and administered territory is broken
up by large unadministered tracts. Roads, schools,
hospitals and other signs of British administration
are still few and far between.

These territories are poor and are only capable
of producing small revenues. The Chin Hills admin-
istration, for example, costs twenty lakhs (150,000)
and the revenue is only four lakhs (30,000). Hence
many such areas have been left alone as long as possible
and are known as unadministered territory. The
people have followed their old traditions and customs
and, as a rule, have not interfered with their
neighbours.

Political exigencies and humanitarian considera-
tions have in varying degrees led British administration
to " annex " new territory. The district of Putao,
for example, in the extreme north-east, was placed
under administration in 1914 because of complications
which arose between the chiefs and the Chinese.
Similarly the abolition of slavery in the Hukawng
Valley and " The Triangle," and along the Patkai
range, will inevitably bring these territories under
closer administration.

These wild tribes are a problem for Governments
and for Missions. They are fine races and both the
Chins and Kachins have proved their value in the
ranks of the Indian army. Government is very cautious
in granting Missions permission to enter during the

36 CHRISTIAN PROGRESS IN BURMA

present disturbed state of the country. Its programme,
however, has to be accepted and, as these tribes are
brought under administration and their needs realized,
there will be a call for Missions to enter ; all the more
so because they are poor and their country cannot be
" exploited."

Administration will be costly and trade is not
likely to develop rapidly. Latterly, overtures of
Missions to enter have met with the approval of
Government. Just as the tribes in the Naga Hills of
Assam are being opened up to mission work, so these
tribes will also be opened up. The three Missions
which work in closest proximity to these areas are
the American Baptist Mission at Myitkyina, the
Bible Churchmen's Missionary Society at Mohnyin
and the Wesleyan Methodist Mission at Mawlaik.
From the map it would appear that the mission stations
on the Assam side are nearer, but actually they are
cut off by a most difficult border hill country in which
there are no roads. The day may come when roads
will be driven through to North Burma, but at present
it is easier to approach these areas from Burma,
although here too several roads will have to be made,
especially one through the Hukawng Valley.

In other parts of the country mission work has
met with much success among these very people.
Among the Nagas there are ten thousand Christians
in the Assam Hills, and among the Kachins and Shans
there is a considerable Christian community (15,000
in the 1921 Burma Census). May we not hope that
from among those who have found the light through
Christ many may be found ready to go to their wilder
brethren as Ambassadors of the Cross ?

II. THE HUKAWNG VALLEY AND BEYOND.*

The Hukawng Valley and that portion of Upper
Burma which borders on it is regarded, even in
Rangoon, as " the back of beyond." This is

* This section (II.) has been contributed by the Rev. A. T. Houghton,
of the Bible Churchmen's Missionary Society.

THE WILD FRONTIERS OF THE NORTH 37

accounted for by the fact that the whole of the region
north of Mandalay is largely undeveloped ; there
are scarcely any good roads, and the single railway
line to Myitkyina provides a daily service of one
train up and one down, with an average speed of ten
miles an hour and a speed limit of twenty-five. North
of the Shwebo district, in many parts one can leave
the railway line and get into the densest jungle in
a few minutes. The difficulty of communications
is increased by range after range of hills, varying
from two thousand to five thousand feet in height,
covered with thick forest. But there are signs of a
new policy. The projected bridge across the Irrawaddy
at Sagaing, making through railway traffic possible,
together with the proposal to lay down heavier railway
lines so as to increase the present speed limit, will
all tend to open up this largely undeveloped portion
of the country.

The Hukawng Valley is situated roughly between
latitude 26 and 27 and longitude 96 and 97.
This comprises an area of about six thousand square
miles, but the actual Valley itself covers an area of
about fifteen hundred square miles. The usual method
of approach is by rail to Mogaung, six hundred and
eighty-eight miles north of Rangoon, thence by road
to Kamaing, twenty-five miles to the north-west.
This is an unmetalled road, usable for motor traffic
in the dry season but a regular morass with two feet
of mud in some parts in the rains. Kamaing is the
headquarters of the sub-division which borders on
the Hukawng Valley, but unadministered territory
does not begin for twenty-eight miles further north,
at Shadu Zup, where the last Government Rest House
is to be found. There is at present a rough cart road
in existence, but a proper alignment as far as Shadu
Zup has now been made, and work on the new road,
to be continued to Maingkwan, has been begun.

A glance at the map would naturally suggest the
Chindwin River as an alternative route, especially
during the rains, at which season the Hukawng Valley
is completely cut off from the outside world, owing

38 CHRISTIAN PROGRESS IN BURMA

to the swampy nature of the ground. But, though
the Chindwin River, developing into the Tanai Hka,
passes right through the Valley, dangerous rapids
below Dalu make navigation by boat impossible, and
Irrawaddy Flotilla boats only get as far as Homalin
on the Chindwin, just south of latitude 25.

The Valley is bounded on all sides by mountain
ranges of varying heights. On the east is the Kumon
Range which extends from Mogaung northwards to
Putao. Some of the peaks of this range attain a height
of over ten thousand feet, and, like many of the peaks
bounding the north side of the Valley, are covered
with snow during part of the winter. On the west
is the Patkai Range, and in these hills rising to six
or seven thousand feet are to be found many of the
Naga tribes. In the south the hills are less formidable
and here are to be found the famous Jade Mines,
mainly at Tawhmaw, which is only a little over two
thousand feet above sea level.

It is probable that much of the Hukawng Valley
is water-logged in the rains. Lesser rivers and streams
abound and the country is all low-lying. The climate
north of the Tanai Hka* in winter is said to be com-
parable to an Indian hill station, and here the country
is free from the thick damp morning mists which are
met with during the winter months in other parts of
the Valley and in many parts of Upper Burma. Rain
may be experienced at any time of the year, and then
blood-sucking leeches abound. The insect life is said
to be beyond description ! On the other hand, the heat
is not so great as in other parts of Upper Burma.

There are good connections between the villages,
but apart from the recognized paths thick jungle
varies with tall elephant grass and the traveller can
often only see a few yards ahead.

The population consists largely of Jinghpaws
(Kachins), but there are two Shan settlements in the
Hukawng Valley, at Maingkwan and Ningbyen, and
another in the Dalu Valley. The two first are the

*The name of the higher reaches of the Chindwin.

THE WILD FRONTIERS OF THE NORTH 39

remains of a once flourishing Shan kingdom, but the
Dalu Valley community is really a colony founded
by the Burmese kings as a buffer state against the
Nagas. All these Shans, while still retaining their
Buddhist faith in contra-distinction to the Animism
of the Kachins, speak the language of their conquerors
and in some cases have intermarried with them. It
is probable that the total population of the Valley
itself is not above fifteen thousand a far smaller
number than was originally estimated though this
does not, of course, include any of the Nagas or other
kindred tribes living actually outside the Valley.

No one can be blamed for the state of affairs which
prevailed, since it was only through the exploration
of survey parties that slavery was discovered, and not
until 1922 was the existence of human sacrifice among
the Nagas verified. The Government acted with
promptitude, and a complete inventory of slaves was
made by Mr. J. T. O. Barnard, who, as previously
stated, headed the expedition which systematically
released them all.

In order to induce released slaves to settle in the
Hukawng Valley and thus avoid the danger of
depopulating the country of its most industrious
inhabitants, all who agreed to take up land in the
Valley itself were made a present of their freedom.
Those who elected to migrate into administered
territory were only lent the price of their freedom,
which had to be paid back to Government in instal-
ments. Naturally this has meant some hardship. In
the majority of cases, only those who had relatives
or friends outside chose to leave the land of their
former slavery, and, because of this very natural
choice, they have been penalized. The Jinghpaw is
proverbially poor, and, though the ransom money
is in no case large, it is not easy for a released slave
to save up money when he already has the burden
of finding the means of subsistence in a new environ-
ment. The case of an old woman known to the writer
is in point. As a young woman she escaped from
her slave master into administered territorv, where

40 CHRISTIAN PROGRESS IN BURMA

she married and settled down in a village on the
Mogaung-Kamaing road. She had one son and one
daughter and then her husband died. This woman,
when her children 'had grown up, foolishly paid a
visit to some of her former associates, thinking she
would be safe after all that lapse of time. She was,
however, recognized by her former master, again
enslaved, and released only when the Government
expedition arrived. Naturally she elected to return
to her village, and consequently has had to repay her
redemption money, and this largely devolved on her
son, who had great difficulty in scraping the money
together out of his small earnings.

The administration has many difficulties to face,
one of the greatest being the age-long feuds, involving
murders from one generation to another, which have
to be unravelled. The " share " or hired assassin
plays a great part in these vendettas, and the curious
thing is that he is not regarded as a criminal, nor is
vengeance taken on him by the relatives of the one
he is hired to murder, but on the instigator of the
deed. All these feuds have now to be settled by arbi-
tration, and the annual visit of a Government official
should be sufficient to prevent further trouble.

While individual officials are not only in favour
of missionary work in the Hukawng Valley but regard
such work as the best and surest method of pacification,
the present policy of the Government is against allowing
missionaries to enter, no doubt through fear of possible
trouble which might necessitate a punitive expedition.
This policy, however, has been so far modified that
permission has been given to start medical work, and
it is hoped soon to open up work of an itinerating
character from Maingkwan.

The only missionaries who have visited the Hukawng
Valley are the Rev. Dr. O. Hanson and Mr. G. J. Geis
of the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society.
They explored this area in 1906 and visited some
thirty odd villages. The work of this Mission centres
round three stations, all near the borders of China,
Myitkyina (the terminus of the railway), Bhamo,

THE WILD FRONTIERS OF THE NORTH 41

the beginning of the trade route to Yunnan in China,
and Namkham, in the Northern Shan States. These
stations all lie either on the Irrawaddy or east of it.
The Kachin areas in the Mu Valley (between Naba and
Mogaung) and the whole of the Hukawng Valley and
surrounding region all west of the Irrawaddy have
been, until recently, practically unevangelized. This
untouched area comprises a territory about the size
of Great Britain, and consists of Shan and Shan-
Burmese settlements, besides the Kachins who are
usually found in the hills.

The Kachin population around Kamaing where
work has just been started consists largely of escaped
or, more recently, freed slaves, and these seem to
be unusually ready to listen to the glad tidings of
redemption through the Lord Jesus Christ. One
large village of nearly seventy houses was founded
about thirty years ago by an escaped slave from the
Hukawng, who is now the headman, and its population
consists entirely of ex-slaves who escaped during these
years. There are many other villages of the same kind
in the neighbourhood. Of the more recently released
slaves who have elected to settle in administered
territory, some have added themselves to these existing
villages, and others have settled in new villages nearer
Mogaung on the railway.

The writer paid a visit to about fifty of these
freed slaves near Mogaung in the spring of 1926,
just after their release. The headman of the village
near which they were settling had made a feast in
their honour, and many bullocks were offered to the
nats in sacrifice, and then partaken of in the feast.
There was a marked contrast between the released
slaves and the other Kachins who attended the feast.
The former, both men and women, still bore the
downtrodden air of serfdom, though from what one
could gather they had not been cruelly treated. It
was a great privilege to be able to tell them for the
first time of release from the wider slavery of sin
which embraces us all. It is probably true to say that
the ex-slave population is less honest, less shy and

42 CHRISTIAN PROGRESS IN BURMA

more forward in manners than other Kachins who
are remarkably honest.

All alike are bound down by fear of the spirit world
around them, and though they acknowledge a Creator,
Karai Kasang, they do not worship Him for they
say He is too far away, and they do not know what
food to offer Him.

After the Hukawng Valley, the next objective of
missionary work is the wild Nagas of the Patkai
Range. There are, of course, many Naga tribes
extending into Assam, and the American Baptist
Foreign Mission Society is working on the Assam
side among two or three of these tribes. On the
Hukawng Valley side the Wanga Nagas are friendly,
but the two tribes who have caused all the recent
trouble are the Wild Nagas and the Human-sacrificing
Nagas. The former capture the victims and sell them
to the latter for as much as Rs. 600 per head, but
do not themselves practise human sacrifice. It must
not be imagined that this repulsive practice has
been carried on on a scale equivalent, for instance,
to that which once obtained in Mexico. The Naga
is poor, and, if he makes a vow to offer this supreme
sacrifice, will often through his poverty be unable
to fulfil it in his own lifetime, and the vow will be
performed at some time or other by his descendants.
It is thus a comparatively rare practice in their
worship of the spirits whom they desire to propitiate.
Nor does the idea of human sacrifice, so repulsive to
ourselves, imply inordinate cruelty on their part.
There are instances where those who bought the
victim in preparation for sacrifice grew so fond of him
that the sacrifice never took place, and when the
awful deed does take place the victim is made drunk,
so that he may be relieved from the agony of suspense.

The Naga tribes with whom we are concerned are
nominally under the suzerainty of Kachin chiefs in
the Hukawng Valley, and I have been told by a Naga
that all the men and boys speak Kachin, though
amongst themselves they speak their Naga dialects,
which alone the women can understand. In morals

THE WILD FRONTIERS OF THE NORTH 43

they reach a higher standard than the Kachins,
polygamy is unknown, and adultery is often punished
with death. They are also free from the particular
disease which is rampant in the Kachin Hills. On the
other hand, the free hospitality of the Kachin is
unknown among the Nagas, who do not admit visitors
into their houses, and expect them to bring their own
food. Their villages are large, and as many as seventy
men, women and children may be crowded into one
house. Owing to the constant strife between the
different tribes, villages are perched on bleak mountain
peaks, six thousand feet high, difficult of access.
As among the Tibetans, washing is only practised at
birth, marriage and death, and dress, in spite of the
cold, is of the scantiest.

There seems to be every likelihood that, as the
result of the recent expedition to the Naga Hills,
human sacrifice will soon become a thing of the past.
After visits paid to a number of villages, a big gathering
was held at Shingbwiyang, in the Hukawng Valley,
three days' march from the Naga Hills it is significant
that no villages lie between ! and here no less than
eighty human skulls were handed over by Naga
chiefs, as a sign that henceforth they intended to
propitiate the spirits by other means. Inspired by
this example, some rather truculent chiefs who had
previously refused to give up human sacrifice marched
back forty miles to their villages, and, travelling night
and day, overtook the expedition further down the
Valley and handed over twenty more skulls. When
Kachins who stood round expressed disgust at their
loathsome custom, they answered that from henceforth
they wanted "to be good " like other people.

When Mr. Barnard passed through Naga territory
in the spring of 1926, an influential chief promised
to give up human sacrifices and tried to persuade
others to do the same. There may have been other
reasons as well, but shortly afterwards this chief
was murdered, and it was given out that his promise
to the Government official was the cause. Last year
the son of the murdered chief followed the expedition

44 CHRISTIAN PROGRESS IN BURMA

down to Kamaing. His name is Dang Sham, and he
is about fourteen years old. He is now a pupil at the
Government Kachin School, where the schoolmaster
is a Christian. As one looks into the future, one can
see in vision and turn it into prayer* that this boy may
go back to his own people, knowing in his own life the
saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, to tell them
how it is possible in Christ " to be good " and to glorify
the Creator in the mountain fastnesses of the Naga
Hills.

* This prayer has been so far fulfilled that Dang Sham has recently
professed faith and asked for baptism together with two of his Jingh-
paw schoolmates.

CHAPTER IV.

Peoples and Problems of the Shan States

I. THE SHANS AND THEIR NEIGHBOURS.

This interesting country consists of great ridged
plateaux connected with the Himalayan system and
extending across into China. Burma is accessible
from China on this side, and about one-quarter of
the population are Yunnanese. One-half are Shans
and Kachins. The remainder of the population
consists of Burmese races.

The Shan States forty-one in number have an
area* almost equal to that of England and Wales,
and a population of about one and a half million.
Twenty-five persons to the square mile compared
with the six hundred and eight of Bengal indicates
large, sparsely populated areas.

Shans are also found outside the Shan States,
chiefly along the basins of the Irrawaddy and its
tributary, the Chindwin. In the valley of the latter the
Burmans and the Shans live together, forming about
one-third of the population respectively. The Shans
fought long for supremacy in these valleys, the Burmans
only getting the ascendancy in 1757, although two
Shan States in the Upper Chindwin Thaungdut and
Kanti still survive. In the most northerly district,
Putao, the Shans are still dominant, but the figures
we have given do not include this area.

The six Northern and the thirty-five Southern
Shan States, federated since 1922 and now an integral
part of British India, formed part of the old Burmese
kingdom.

* Area 56,313 square miles.

46 CHRISTIAN PROGRESS IN BURMA

Three-quarters of the population of these States
profess Buddhism and one-quarter are Animists
consisting of indigenous tribes living in the hilly
tracts. Thus about two-thirds of the Animists of
Burma are found in these States. Most of the Christian
converts are from the Animists. The American Baptist
Burma Mission has four stations among the Southern
Shans Mongnai, Taunggyi, Kalaw and Kengtung,
and one station, Namkham, in the Northern Shan
States. The work among the Shans is uphill and
progress slow. The Church at Kengtung, for example,
has converts from Shans, Lahus, Tai-Lois, Was, Kachins
and Raws. There is, however, another station over
the border at Bana village (Mong Lem) in Yunnan
among the Tai (Shan) people. Last year 4,629 were
baptized and there are now one hundred and seventy
Christian villages with approximately 16,370 members.
Among the same people the American Presbyterian
Mission have advanced from Siam and have opened
a station at Kianghung in Yunnan. This work among
these Tai peoples of Siam, French Indo-China, Yunnan
and Burma is of great promise. Their number has been
estimated at about twenty million, and more than
half of them are for the present completely beyond
the sound of the Gospel. The China Inland Mission
works among them at several places in Yunnan.

The Buddhist monastic schools have helped to
secure a certain literacy not usual in such areas.
This amounts to 8.2 per cent, of the population,
which compares favourably with the 10.4 of Bengal
or the 4.5 of the Punjab. There are no large cities,
and between eighty and ninety per cent, of the people
are connected with agriculture. Altogether there
are nearly one million people speaking the Shan
language in Burma. The Tai language like the Chinese
is tonal. There are three alphabets in use in Burma
and Yunnan. The field is a large one and the need
great.

So far the aboriginal tribes have been found more
responsive than the Shans. They are not so proud,
not so reserved, not so phlegmatic. Their women and

PEOPLES AND PROBLEMS OF SHAN STATES 47

girls are as free as those in Western lands. This has
made the work among them easier than it would
otherwise have been, for the women and children
have been found more zealous than the men. These
tribes are not congregated in towns but live in the
hills and are scattered over wide areas. To reach these
peoples entails considerable travelling over exceedingly
difficult roads.

The last Census reported two thousand Christians
in the Northern Shan States and eleven thousand in
the Southern, but of these only 1,226 were returned
as Shan Christians.

II. THE SHAN STATES.*

The Shans dwell between Burma proper and the
Yunnan Province of China. On the Burma side this
line of division is sharp as a cloud mass in a blue
sky, but Chinawards it is hard to say where the misty
outline ceases to exist. Their history will explain
this fact, for the Shans as we now know them are
but the remnants of a mighty kingdom. They represent
one of the oldest nations now existing in the world,
older even than the Chinese. In the time of Abraham
they were a civilized nation. They used to be settled
in China, south of the Yang-tse-Kiang, and were
strong enough to hold their own against the rise of the
Northern Kingdom. Eventually, however, they were
overcome and driven southward in different waves
of emigration, themselves in turn dispossessing the
less powerful people into whose lands they came.
Thus was founded the Kingdom of Siam, the Siamese
being of this Shan or Tai race. This took place before
the Christian era, and some of the present Shan States
have existed continuously since that early date.
Where they thrust themselves into new lands and were
stopped in their progress, their borders are clear-cut

* This section (II.) has been contributed by the Rev. A. H. Hen-
derson, of the American Baptist Burma Mission.

D

48 CHRISTIAN PROGRESS IN BURMA

and sharp, but along the line of their flight remnants
were scattered as inclination or safety decided, so
that the race stretched far into Yunnan and even
to the island of Hainan.

At the present time the Shans still hold the place
of conquerors, and no one disputes their claim to all
the richest and best parts of the country. The physical
formation has made this division of land easy. All
the ranges of mountains run north and south, while
between them lie fertile plains through which run
streams of more or less importance, tributaries of the
Salween and Mekong. These plains are the lowland
rice fields, lush and rich as the ground softens under
the rain and swelling streams, in places as mere pockets
of golden grain among the hills, or again as miles of
beautiful billowy green, where the wind sweeps
unhindered over great stretches of growing rice plants.
All round the circling edges of the hills cluster the
Shan villages.

The Shans after thousands of years of seclusion
have become conservative to the point of fossilization.
Many of their industries show skill and ingenuity,
but progress along these lines has long ago ceased.
Now no one ever dreams of doing anything but copy,
and the conclusive and satisfactory answer to all such
questions as to why such and such a thing is done is :
" It is Shan custom." The last great national change
for that part of the Shan race with which we are
dealing was when they accepted Buddhism some
two thousand years ago, and ever since this false
philosophy has been lulling their consciences to sleep
with its shadowy promises of reward, while it saps
all earnest personal endeavour by presenting to the
human mind vistas of untold ages ahead through
the gates of re-incarnation.

The separating hills and mountains are the home
of the Hill people, now so long used to their highland
forests that to come down on to the plains, even
where there is room for them, means too often disease
and death from malaria. These facts have fastened
themselves on the lives of the people in the form of

PEOPLES AND PROBLEMS OF SHAN STATES 49

blighting superstition. They believe in some cases
that the spirits whom they worship do not like the
water, and consequently villages on the more level
plateaux are at times two or three miles from their
water supply, a fact that does not tend to cleanliness.

Bujt what a kaleidoscope these Hill people present !
Was, Muhsos, Kwis, Kaws, Tai-Lois, Ens, Lisus,
Padaungs, Palaungs, Black Karens, Striped Karens,
Red Karens, Brecs, Taungthus, Taungdos, Chins,
Kachins and many others less prominent. These,
with knife, fire and hoe, wrest from nature some
patch of hillside or mountain and, holding it for a
brief year, sow their crops of rice, peanuts, beans
or opium poppy, and then usually pass on to destroy
again more virgin forest. These people have to toil
for their rice perhaps three times as hard as the people
of the plains, and scattered in far-off villages, separated
by mountain peak and valley and reached often only
by rugged toilsome mountain paths, they are largely
shut out from the progress of the world. Their mental
outlook rather resembles that of a child. Often they
are willingly caked with dirt, a fact which some of
them excuse by saying that it makes them " feel the
sun less."

Among such diverse people, with but few exceptions,
the one prevailing characteristic is that they are
Animists. The Tai-Lois, Taungthus and some of the
Black and Striped Karens (so called from their clothes)
are now Buddhists, though they are far easier to win
than the ultra-conservative Shans. But how varied
are their morals, dress and customs ! The Taungthus
are hard-working, thrifty, self-respecting people, who
love the rolling uplands and are closely in touch with
their lowland neighbours, but have nevertheless the
drawbacks of their vices, which are chiefly drunkenness
and gambling. Then there are the wild Was, whose
gruesome belief that a human head must be offered
to the spirits every year in order that their rice fields
mav be made fertile leads to the formation of head-

w

hunting parties which lie in ambush to surprise the
unwary traveller. Between these two extreme types

50 CHRISTIAN PROGRESS IN BURMA

are to be found the Black and Striped Karens, who
are gentle, teachable folk if one can but rid them of
their fear of evil spirits and the desire for drink. The
Red Karens are found in Karenni, bordering on the
Shan States, and have proved exceedingly resistant
to the Gospel. They are wedded to their evil spirits,
their totem poles and their liquor.

Among the Kaws a very low standard of morality is
found. In their villages are erected public buildings
for licentious orgies among the unmarried, while a
Kaw gateway equals in pictured shame the uncovered
walls of Pompeii. Fear, too, among the Kaws leads
to the murder of twins, the parents being driven from
the village to live naked in the jungle for a month.
Many of the Hill tribes have fallen a prey to the opium
curse. Palaungs, Muhsos, Lisus, Tai-Lois and Kaws
raise opium for sale, and many use it. Among the Tai-
Lois, in some places even children of six and eight
years old are opium slaves, but the Government is
slowly restricting this evil. West of the Salween the
cultivation of the poppy is prohibited, while eastwards
a rising tax is meant to reduce the profits more and
more.

Marvellous has been the preparation by God's
Spirit for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Among the
Buddhist Shans we find in Buddhism a very high
moral code, backed by fearful threatenings of the
consequences of evil doing. It is an awful condition,
revealing the claims of righteousness and consequences
of guilt, unrelieved by any outside help or forgiveness..
How gracious then is the task of filling into the void
created by an impersonal god the loving warmth
of a living Father and Friend ; to lift away the dread
fear of inescapable consequences with the promise
of forgiveness, and to point to a source of daily
spiritual help for those who are trying and failing.

Christianity in a wonderful way meets the needs
of Buddhists. To stop here, however, would make
the statement far from complete.

Among the Buddhist Shans and large numbers of
the Hill people, there is eager expectation of a coming

PEOPLES AND PROBLEMS OF SHAN STATES 51

Saviour.* This belief of the Shans is founded on
statements contained in their Buddhist literature.
There is a coming Saviour, Aremetaya, and no figure
in all their religious horizon more quickly rouses their
interest. In one of their books regarding him is found
the verse of Isaiah concerning Jesus : " Every valley
shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall
be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight,
and the rough places plain," and they expect Aremetaya
literally to fulfil this prophecy when he comes. Often
as we preach of Jesus there comes the eager question :
" Is He Aremetaya ? " and the very name lends a
hidden force to the question and depth to the answer.
Areyah translated means "A holy one," while Myetta
is the word for " love."f The Holy and Loving One is
the coming Saviour, but Christianity teaches that He
has already once come, and taught us how to live
until He appears again.

Am I not right in saying that the preparation by
God's Spirit has been marvellous ? But even now we
are only on the threshold of His wonder-working.
In the Palaung houses there is a little room or shrine,
kept inviolate and clean and lit with a little lamp,
and when we ask the meaning of it all we are told that
it is kept ready for the coming Lord. Yet this belief
cannot be traced to any human agency, and it is even
more clearly manifest among the Muhsos and Kwis.
When missionaries came among them they found
buildings for religious worship in which, differing
from the custom of the country, there were no images
or objects of worship. The people would gather and,
in dim uncertain fashion, worship the great God
above. It seems almost parallel with the wonderful
traditions found among the Karens when Judson
first came to Burma. So in the early years of this

* In Burma proper among the Burmese Buddhists there does not
appear to be any expectation of a coming Saviour. EDITOR.

j- It would be unwise, however, to read into these words anything
like the significance which attaches to the Christian idea of holiness
and love. EDITOR.

52 CHRISTIAN PROGRESS IN BURMA

century the La'hus (as these tribes call themselves)
were found wearing cords round their wrists in token
of their bondage and need of a deliverer, and like the
Karens they turned to the Christian missionary as
God-sent, many coming to him in person that he
might cut the cords that bound them, and thousands
of them were baptized.

Let no man imagine that, because we have seemed
thus to find the very footsteps of Jesus leading us
onward, the path of the missionary is one of easy and
triumphant progress, for truth and grace still have
their age-long battle to fight with human nature.
Yet it stirs one's heart to the depths to have a Shan
congregation eager and attentive as we preach in the
five-day bazaars. Often men are nodding acquiescence
as we urge the different points, and far and wide the
message travels, for often there are men in our audience
who live eighty or a hundred miles away, the Shans
being great travellers. Yet it takes long to break down
the old conservatism that has become part of their
nature, though there are many indications that the
Shans, though slow moving, are not altogether
unprepared for the change.

Often as we visit the homes we meet hospitable
and kindly people, who are very willing to receive
us. Nevertheless, there is a wall of reserve, a polite
acceptance of all that is urged which makes any real
heart to heart conversation very rare.

That the Northern Shan States should have one
mission station only and the Southern four shows how
immense is the field yet untouched. The only English
Mission is that of the Wesleyan Methodists at the
hill-station of Kalaw.

CHAPTER V.

The Chins of the Western Frontier

I. DAWN AMONG THE CHIN HILLS.

A glance at the map will show the position of these
hills. It has a population of over a hundred and ten
thousand, but the Chin language is spoken by about
two hundred and ninety thousand, which shows that
these people cover a wider area than the actual political
district. They extend for a long distance south of the
Chin Hills district.*

The hilly tract where they live is about eight
thousand square miles in area, which is the same as that
of the neighbouring Manipur State in Assam. It is
remote from roads and difficult of access. No railway
exists west of the Chindwin River. Cut up by innu-
merable valleys its villages are remote even from
one another, and dialects have sprung up everywhere
making missionary work very difficult. Among the
Northern Chins, Government has recently introduced
a strong educational programme. A Chin dialect
and not the Burmese language has been adopted as
the vernacular to be taught in these schools. This
has been done with a view not only to the unifying
of the Chin dialects, but also of preserving the racial
identity of the Chin tribes. Left to themselves, it is
noticed that whenever the hillmen come into contact
with civilized Burma they learn Burmese and adopt
Buddhism. Buddhism thus tends to spread, so that
there are far more Buddhists to-day in Burma than
there were when mission work was begun.

* See map showing the distribution of the principal races, page 59.

54 CHRISTIAN PROGRESS IN BURMA

There are four hundred and seventy-nine villages in
the Chin Hills district, in forty-five of which Christians
are resident. The Christian community is not yet
large, consisting only of about one thousand Church
members and five hundred others. About one hundred
and fifty are baptized every year. Round Haka the
work has been difficult and most of the converts come
from Tidim and the north.

There are twelve organized Churches under pastor-
evangelists, in connection with the American Baptist
Burma Mission. Each Church has a treasurer and
several elders who conduct the whole business of the
Church. None of these are yet self-supporting but
they have an annual income of Rs. 2,000. The Mission
limits its grant to Rs. 1,000, and the older Churches
of Burma subscribe Rs. 700. A great effort is being
made by the Churches to support themselves, and
the missionary now acts in an advisory capacity only,
the general administrative and financial work being
managed by an Association. Many of the pastors are
ordained and the Church is practically autonomous.
There are twenty evangelists, most of whom are as
yet untrained. A Bible school has been established to
give them a training in their own language.

The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel
works among the Chins in the far south, and at present
has an ordained native clergyman stationed at Prome.
This work among the Chins was begun in 1895 at
Thayetmyo by Mr. C. R. Torkington. It has been
carried on steadily in the Prome and Thayetmyo
districts and there are several hundred baptized Chins,
mostly drawn from the non-Burmanized and more
distant villages. These latter are mostly poor cultivators
living on the edge of wild jungle. Those living on the
plains beside the Irrawaddy are now mostly Buddhist
and are almost impossible to reach. In the more hilly
country to the west of the river and also to the east
there are tracts where the future largely depends on
whether Christian or Buddhist influence reaches them
first. There is an urgent call greatly to extend the
work being done by both these Missions.

THE CHINS OF THE WESTERN FRONTIER 55

II. AWAKENING OF THE NORTHERN CHINS.*

The Chin belongs to the Tibetan-Burman group
of peoples who are supposed to have come down the
Chindwin Valley from the north. They were apparently
driven into the hills on the west by succeeding
migrations of Shans and Burmans, and for the last
two or three hundred years have been a hill people.
There are evidences that they once had a higher
civilization. This is seen from the fact that they are
completely clothed and do not appear ever to have
been head-hunters or cannibals. There is even a
tradition of a written language. They differ from
many hill tribes in that violent crime is rare, polygamy
not very common, women more respected, and warfare
carried on less brutally than in many hill districts.
After reaching the hills they quickly spread out in
little villages in the narrow valleys and many dialects
soon developed.

Owing to raids on the plains, about 1890 Govern-
ment took over the administration of the Chin Hills,
which is carried on through the tribal chiefs from
whose orders there is no appeal. These men are for
the most part ignorant and tyrannical. They are,
however, respected by their people and careful
supervision on the part of the administration prevents
too many offences. The Chins are all cultivators
with the exception of a few potters, blacksmiths,
and traders. The women for the most part still weave
and make the clothing of the family. Trade is increasing
and bazaars are springing up at the military posts.
Peddlers make their way from village to village.
Some of the Chins have settled on the plains where
they do not thrive. This is a pity as there is plenty
of land at the foot of the hills, while it is being worked
out in the hill valleys.

Mission work was begun at Haka in the Southern
sub-division of the Chin Hills in 1899. Agriculture
and medical methods were tried, but little success

* This section (II.) has been contributed by the Rev. J. Herbert
Cope, of the American Baptist Burma Mission.

56 CHRISTIAN PROGRESS IN BURMA

followed. After six years' work the first Christians
came from the Northern sub-division and this led to
the opening of the second station at Tidim, the district
headquarters. These two stations, with a missionary
family in each, represent all that is being done.

The dialects are being reduced to writing. Portions
of Scripture can be obtained in four dialects, and
hymn books in five. There are sixty-five books in
Chin, a little monthly magazine, and the Sabbath
school lessons are regularly issued in the vernacular.
Those who have learned to read and are somewhat
educated need books. They will quickly become
illiterate again if they are not provided with something
to read. After thirty years the New Testament has
not yet been issued.

The Chin is an animist and worships the nats as
gods, turning to them in time of illness or catastrophe.
There is no worship (individual or communal), except
in time of special trouble, when the diviner finds out
the particular nat to be worshipped and the priest
then performs the sacrifice, but ordinarily the priests
and diviners do not have much power.

A movement has been in existence for twenty
years among the Northern Chins, which has resulted
in destroying the old fear of the nats. The leader had
become strongly impressed by Christianity when on
a visit to the Lushai Hills, and came back desiring
that his whole village should become Christian. But
when they heard that it involved giving up drink
they refused, and he founded a new religion and called
his people " Chin Christians," as contrasted with the
Christians in the mission churches. They substituted
prayer for sacrifice in dealing with nats. The prayer
seems unintelligent roaring, mostly into beer-pots,
and by this they drive away the nats and pray for
health. They sing one hymn, learned by the founder
on his Lushai visit, which may once have been
" Nothing but the blood of Jesus," but now is
quite unintelligible. By reciting prayer formulas
which they learn they drive the nats out of the houses

THE CHINS OF THE WESTERN FRONTIER 57

of their members for a payment. The prophets of the
movement carry on a lucrative trade. They see visions
and dream dreams and have been quite delivered from
the fear of the nats. They say " We are Christians,"
and as such are a problem to the missionary.
But as most of the Christians have been followers of
this prophet, the movement is acting as a forerunner
of better things. He has declared that he is only
waiting until he and his followers become strong
enough to give up drink, when they will become real
Christians. They have recently refused to contribute
to the village sacrifices, and the case is now before
the District Commissioner. If he upholds their objec-
tion, as he is likely to do, this will be a severe blow
to the solidarity of animism. They are, however,
heavy drinkers. Sunday becomes a regular brawl ;
all the men are drunk and the women busy making
beer. There is absolutely nothing spiritual or moral
in the movement. It is merely a ritual by which they
hope to gain health.

The people of these hills are still for the most part
unevangelized in the sense that they have not had
a chance to make an intelligent decision. Most of the
time of the missionary has naturally been spent in
the north, and the southern tribes have been neglected.
Some of these tribes speak languages which even
Government interpreters cannot understand. In the
south-west also a large area has only recently been
brought under Government administration, and these
new tribes have not been visited. There is a vast
task ahead of us here.

The principal obstacles are drink, indifference and
fear of the nats. The latter fear is fast dying out in
face of education and the prophet movement which
now counts its followers by thousands. Great numbers
are simply indifferent. It is not their custom, they say.
These always try to get their children back to the
non-Christian life. But drink is the greatest obstacle.
There are many heavy drinkers and many are never
completely sober. They say that they cannot give it
up. The vast majority of others say that they cannot

58 CHRISTIAN PR

do without it. It is the (
is in the fields the baby i

To the west of the C
district of Assam, where
are Christians. There ^
them a few years ago,
Christian. These people
Chins.

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be a like revival among
been evangelized, and w
be a large and rapid

[AN PROGRESS IN BURMA

is the custom, and when the mother

5 baby is fed on beer all day.

f the Chin Hills is the Lushai Hills

where about one-third of the people

Fhere was a great revival amongst

s ago, when large numbers became

people have greatly influenced the

in the not distant future, there will
among the Chin tribes which have
and when this comes about there
d rapid increase in the Churches.

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CHAPTER VI.
Christian Occupation of Bi

Protestant Christian Occupation.

The Christian occupation of
greatly since 1910, the year of the E<
Conference. It was estimated th<
about 200 foreign missionaries,
wives and 60 unmarried women.
351 foreign missionaries, of who]
and 109 unmarried women. Men
increased from 90 to 140.

In 1910 indigenous workers we
under 2,500. To-day there are 3,'
over 1,000. The number of teache
1,500 to 2,000, the remainder ir
and 1,538 being evangelistic, n
workers. The total missionary
about 3,889, or 1,189 more than i
ago. This body of workers, if un
the entire population of 13,000,0
3,400), might be held to be sufficie
tion of the facts shows the actual
different.

The first fact to be noted is
of this staff is engaged on work
which has been the most successfu
are to-day 142,000 Protestant Ch
Karens as compared with 9,000
and Talaing group. Naturally, sue
one special group means greater de\

* For consistency of interpretation the 192
Chapter. Later figures will be found in Ap

f For the most part round figures are usec

ER VI.

n of Burma To-day*

tion.

on of Burma has grown

f the Edinburgh Missionary

ated then that there were

aries, of whom 50 were

omen. In 1926 there were

of whom 102 were wives

i. Men missionaries have

rkers were computed to be
3 are 3,538, an increase of
)f teachers has grown from
inder in each case 1,000
listic, medical and other
ionary force, therefore, is
3 than it was sixteen years
s, if uniformly spread over
13,000,000f^ (one to every
sufficient, but an examina-
actual situation to be very

)ted is that the great part
i work among the Karens,
uccessful in Burma. There
tant Christians among the
i 9,000 from the Burmese
ally, successful work among
iater devotion of missionary

on the 1926 figures are used in this
and in Appendix IV.

33 are used in these calculations.

60 CHRISTIAN PROGRESS IN BURMA

resources to its prosecution. Nearly half, therefore,
of the total missionary staff, about 150, and 2,000
of the indigenous workers are engaged in work among
the Karens, who number only a little over 1,000,000
of the population. Among the remaining 12,000,000
there are 200 missionaries and about 1,500 indigenous
workers, that is to say about 1,700 in all.

The Protestant community among the Shans,
Chins, Kachins, etc., is about 13,000. The work among
these peoples who number about 3,000,000 is becoming
increasingly fruitful, and accounts for nearly one-
third of these 1,700 workers, leaving not more than
150 missionaries and 1,000 indigenous workers for
work amongst the 9,000,000 Burmese-speaking people.
Another fact, however, vitally affecting work
among the Burmans is that in the four great centres
of Rangoon, Mandalay, Moulmein and Bassein, at
least 600 workers are engaged mainly in educational
work.

The total force in these four centres and their
immediate districts with a population of 1,605,966
is as follows :

Foreign. Indigenous.

Rangoon 104 . . 579

Moulmein 23 217

Mandalay 25 .. 94 ..

Bassein . . . . . . 7 . . 555

159 .. 1,445 .. 1,604

These figures cover work of all kinds in these areas,
and for the purposes of this calculation two-thirds
would be a liberal estimate for the Burmese work,
educational and other. That is to say, among 1,000,000
Burmans, 110 foreign and 800 indigenous workers
are engaged, of whom, as we have said, 600 are in
educational work. So we are left with 240 workers
for the rest of Burmese Buddhist Burma (8,000,000).

During the last fifteen years the concentration
in these four areas has very greatly increased, and
no corresponding increase has taken place in the rural
districts of the Burmese areas. It has to be admitted,

CHRISTIAN OCCUPATION OF BURMA TO-DAY 61

of course, that the colleges, schools and other insti-
tutions do not simply serve these cities, but also serve
the whole of Burma, at least so far as Rangoon is
concerned and, to a lesser extent, Mandalay.

Thus outside these centres and apart from the
work among the Karens and indigenous minor races,
on the most liberal estimate there are not more than
40 missionaries and 200 indigenous workers available
for work among the 8,000,000 Burmans.

It naturally follows that there are many unoccupied
areas. In the Burmese area of Upper Burma, the
districts of Ruby Mines, Katha, Upper Chindwin,
Lower Chindwin, Magwe, Yamethin, Minbu, and
Thayetmyo are practically unoccupied, with the
exception of Lower Chindwin, where there are three
missionaries (Monywa), and Minbu and Thayetmyo,
where there are five. In Lower Burma, -with the
exception of Sandoway which has four missionaries,
there are no workers in the whole Arakan Division
with nearly 1,000,000 people. In Myaungmya District
(370,551) there are no workers. There are two
women in Maubin District (330,106) ; no workers
in Pyapon (288,994) ; no workers in Thaton (471,100)
and one man in Mergui (135,465). These districts
comprise half the area of Burma proper.

Amongst the minor races (Shans, Chins, Kachins,
etc.), work can only be said to have been begun.
There are 12,500 Christians among nearly 2,000,000,
which result, when compared with the 9,000 among
9,000,000 Burmans, is full of promise.

Among the immigrant population of Tamils and
Telugus, there are 5,600 Christians out of the total
number of 878,000, and this work engages quite a
number of workers. Thus, while progress is maintained
steadily amongst the Karens, and the outlook is
increasingly hopeful amongst the indigenous minor
races, there is practically a deadlock with regard to
the Burmans, except on the educational side. The
hill tribes on the Assam border, with the exception of
certain sections of the Chins, have still to be reached.
The newly opened areas in the extreme north where

62 CHRISTIAN PROGRESS IN BURMA

slavery has recently been abolished ; the Nagas of the
Patkai Hills of the Northern frontier, amongst whom
human sacrifice is being suppressed ; the Was and
others on the Yunnan frontier ; the Shans in the
Northern Shan States ; the Taungthus and the
Palaungs and others too numerous to mention, have
also still to be reached.

The present distribution of workers can readily
be understood. Missionary advance follows the line
of greatest response on the part of the people. " To
him that hath shall be given." The Karens welcomed
the Message and so have been followed up. The Budd-
hists rejected it, and still, for the most part, are
indifferent and often antagonistic, and progress can
only be made with difficulty.

But twenty-six workers to each million, a great
proportion of whom are engaged in educational work,
is not only an inadequate evangelistic force, but is
hopelessly and ridiculously so. If the forces were
approximately four times as strong and so adjusted
as to face all the calls for evangelistic work, it would
only, humanly speaking, be at the irreducible minimum.
There are only about ninety ordained missionaries
out of the three hundred and fifty-one foreign workers
in the whole of Burma. The evangelistic problem
cannot, however, be solved by merely counting workers.

Many other deductions might be made from the
statistics to show how inadequate is the occupation
of Burma and to emphasize the urgent need of greatly
increasing the work, especially of the British Societies.
Over two hundred of the three hundred and fifty
missionaries belong to the American Baptist Burma
Mission. What the condition of the missionary enter-
prise would have been in Burma without their
invaluable co-operation, it is difficult to imagine.

Many interesting questions arise from a study of
the missionary occupation of the cities, towns and
villages. There are 79 cities and towns with a population
of over 1,000, and 35,005 villages with under 1,000.
Missionaries reside in 51 centres, 39 of which are among
the 79 towns and 12 only among the 35,005 villages.

CHRISTIAN OCCUPATION OF BURMA TO-DAY 63

Protestant Christians reside in all the 79 towns
and in 1,767 of the 35,005 villages. Only three cities
have populations of over 50,000, Burma being pre-
eminently a land of villages. Out of the 24 largest
towns, missionaries reside in 20. Two of the un-
occupied four were previously occupied, and two
have not been occupied. Of the 39 towns with popu-
lations between 5,000 and 10,000, 12 are occupied ;
and of the 16 between 1,000 and 5,000, six are occupied.
Protestant Christians, we have seen, live in 1,767
villages,* that is to say, in five per cent, of the villages.
It is becoming more and more doubtful whether
effective village work can be done from town centres.
In the case of the small towns which are unquestionably
centres of village life, it is feasible. Wherever the town
has a life of its own, however, village work cannot be
properly conducted from it as a centre, and those
attempting it can never realize by how far they are
failing to reach the village life.

The villages of Tenasserim, Pegu and Irrawaddy
in South Burma are best occupied. But in the other
divisions with the exception of Meiktila, where five
per cent, of the villages are occupied, occupation
by resident Christians ranges from three per cent,
to one-half per cent. The unoccupied village areas
are, therefore, very great. The following table and
diagram show the villages where Protestant Christians
reside.

Protestant proportion only.

Arakan

28

out of 1,442

Pegu

. -. 614

,, 2,273

Irrawaddy

. . 422

2,580

Tenasserim

. . 352

1,708

Magwe

33

2,489

Mandalay

85

2,352

Sagaing ..

89

2,219

Meiktila ..

61

1,228

Eastern States . .

83

,,18,714

* Roman Catholics reside in 566 villages, thus making 2,333 in all.

E

64

CHRISTIAN PROGRESS IN BURMA

Chart showing number of villages in Burma in which Protestant
Christians live, and their relation to total villages

TEN/18
6ERIM

IRK*.
WAOOr

HAND*

LAV

HKAN

EASTERN
STATES

TOTAL*

Total number

of
villages.

2273.

1708

2580

1223

2210

2362

1442

2489

18,714

35,005

Total number

of villages

with Church

Member*.

614

352

422

61

89

85

28

33

83

1,767

The MISSION of the CHURCH

Is to discover the 33,238 unevangelized villages

and therein to make Jesus Christ known.

Percentage

of villages

with

resident
Christians

to total
number of

villages.

" To discover where these unevangelized villages
are is the task of the Missions working in these areas ;
but efforts should be made to bring these situations
before the Churches in each area, and arouse in them
a new zeal and determination to bring Christ to those
who do not know Him yet."*

Before considering how this problem can be met
it is necessary to examine the general educational
situation. Educational work is carried on to a far

*A Survey of Christian Missions in Burma, edited by C. E. Olmstead,
1927, page 27.

CHRISTIAN OCCUPATION OF BURMA TO-DAY 65

greater extent in Lower Burma than in Upper Burma.
In the three divisions of Lower Burma there are five
times as many schools as in Upper Burma. It is
estimated that forty-two per cent, of the pupils are
Christians ; the rest are non-Christians.

The latest figures show the following situation :

Schools.

Scholars.

Primary.

Middle.

High.

Primary.

Middle &
High.

Protestant
Roman Catholic

861
217

84
15

27
9

24,917
10,210

15,622
5,158

1,078

99

36

35,127

20,780

Total

1,213

55,907

In the 1,213 schools it is estimated there are 2,400
teachers foreign and native that is one to every
23 scholars.

In 1921 five per cent, of the schools of Burma were
under Christian control with fifteen per cent, of the
total pupils.

All Christians do not study in Christian schools,
and an estimate gives 4,600 as the probable number
of Christians attending Government Anglo- Vernacular
schools.

The above table reveals a serious problem that
of primary school education in the villages. Many
of the 861 Protestant primary schools reported are
in the towns, so that in the 1,767 villages in which
Protestant Christians live there must be a very great
dearth of schools.

When it is remembered also that fifty-eight per
cent, of the pupils are non-Christian, it is evident
that a very large proportion of Christians must have
no educational facilities in spite of all the money
spent and efforts put forth. If we take the whole work

66 CHRISTIAN PROGRESS IN BURMA

of Protestants and Roman Catholics together, about
1,300 teachers are employed in the 135 secondary
schools, leaving 1,100 teachers for the 1,078 primary
schools, very many of which are in the cities and
towns. "If" says Mr. Olmstead "each of these
primary schools were in a village, 1,078 of the 2,333
villages in which Christians (Protestant and Roman
Catholic) live would be supplied with good educational
facilities and a Christian leader. Such schools would
become centres from which distinctive Christian
influences would go out into the lives of the people,
thus building up in a short time a vast constituency
whose ideas would have a definite Christian tendency."
It is evident that all mission schools are required
for the education of the Christian community, and in
such circumstances it is difficult to justify the education
of so large a number of non-Christians.

Work in the villages, therefore, has just begun.
Here conservatism and religious prejudice are
strongest, here opposition is freely met with, and hence
the importance of extending village work. To go to
cities because village work is more difficult is to take
the line of least resistance. The problem of the effective
reaching of the villages is not however a simple one.
"If we turned our programme about " to quote
the Burma Christian Council Report " organized
Christian schools in a hundred new villages a year
for ten years, sent our missionaries to supervise these
schools and build up their efficiency, and made special
efforts to get teachers trained for this work, think
what the influence would be within just a few years . . .
such progress ... as we cannot hope for under our
present system."

This proposal suggests that a great extension of
schools in the villages for general education is a desirable
thing. Is it wise, however, for missions to embark
on a programme of extensive village education ?
We are told by the Rev. W. C. B. Purser that the
Burmese leaders oppose any increase in the number
of village mission schools, and he suggests that this
being so quality of work in existing schools should

CHRISTIAN OCCUPATION OF BURMA TO-DAY 67

be aimed at rather than an increase in their number.
Even if it were judged wise to increase the quality
of these mixed schools, while considerably more than
half the villages in which Christians live have no
school of any kind, the problem of how to reach the
villages would still remain.

Admitting that it has become impossible for
missions to contemplate an increase in the number
of non-Christian schools, the question has still to be
answered as to whether it is the function of missions
to pursue a policy of better intensive general education.
Such schools would require to be so efficient as to
challenge the work of Government schools.

We have noted that over four thousand Christian
children already attend Government Anglo-Vernacular
schools. Many would advocate to-day the extension
of this practice. So long as mission schools are content
to work along the lines of a Government secular curri-
culum with a little religious teaching as an extra, and
this too of very varying degrees of efficiency, especially
in the villages, it cannot be said that real Christian
education is being achieved by mission schools. This
conception of a mission school is no longer satisfactory.
It is becoming recognized that a truly Christian
education can only be given in schools for Christian
children, where the object in all parts of the curriculum
is to draw out the full implications of the Christian
consciousness and to develop Christian character.
This cannot be done for the non-Christian pupil.
Ethically it would scarcely be an honest thing to
attempt, and psychologically it would not be wise.
It cannot be right to attack and undermine the
religious influences of the Buddhist home, and the
religious life of the community such as it is, through
schools for the children. In such an effort we are
doing justice neither to the non-Christian nor to the
Christian child. All modern educational theory supports
this, and this explains much of the non-success of
such schools so far, from the evangelistic point of
view.

68 CHRISTIAN PROGRESS IN BURMA

Burma, through its local Education Boards, which
are largely Buddhist, is demanding compulsory primary
education. These Boards wish to make Buddhist
education universal and compulsory for all, including
Christians and Mohammedans. At present the schools
in the villages are either Buddhist or Christian, and
even if each religious community were allowed to
control its own schools it would take many generations
to accomplish anything very considerable should
compulsory education became the law to-morrow.

The problem before missions is to give much more
effective Christian education to Christian children.
If we are told, then, that these local bodies oppose the
extension of Christian schools, we shall have to consider
the question of how to reach the villages apart from
the question of school work altogether.

Henceforth evangelistic work will require to be
the main method of reaching the villages, the school
becoming possible only when there are sufficient
Christian children to justify opening it.

The whole question of what constitutes true
Christian education will require to be studied from the
very foundation, realizing that a Government secular
curriculum with a dash of religious teaching is not
Christian education at all.

The steady extension of general education must
be depended on to prepare the people intelligently
to apprehend the Christian message and to read
and understand Christian literature.

An evangelistic programme for the villages calls
mainly for native workers. In this connection one
naturally thinks of the great possibilities latent in
the growing Karen Christian community. A large
number of paid mission workers among the other
races are Karen Christians, although for them work
among the proud Burmans is not easy.

We learn, however, that the Karens have developed
strong communal tendencies, and are jealous and
suspicious of their Burmese neighbours. " It is the
exclusive spirit," says the Rev. W. C. B. Purser,
" which has prevented them hitherto from playing

CHRISTIAN OCCUPATION OF BURMA TO-DAY 69

their part in the evangelization of the Burmese
people/'*

A great spiritual uplift is needed if the Karen
Christians are to rise to the call of the present moment.
Their Christian spirit must effectively challenge all
communal and sectional selfishness, which is the
besetting sin of Indian Christianity. The latter easily
becomes self-centred and evangelistic zeal is hard to
find. Not long ago Sadhu Sundar Singh told his fellow
Christians that when he thought of what the Korean,
the Chinese, or even the Japanese Christians were
doing to win their own countrymen he was ashamed
at their lack of evangelistic zeal.

The great service which Western missions can
render the Burmese Church to-day is not to give them
a mainly secular general education, or any other social
or economic uplift, but to make a spiritual contribution
which will infuse new life into the Christians
themselves. This will solve the great problem of
reaching the villages as nothing else possibly can.

Our reports tell us that there are many villages in
which Christians live where there is no systematic
Sunday school instruction. The Sunday schools are
attended by 34,841 children, many of them non-
Christian. Where are the other children of a Christian
community which numbers about 280,000 ? A few
districts record fifty per cent, of the community as
attending Sunday schools, which shows that the
situation elsewhere must be even worse than the
average attendance would indicate. A great problem
of Christian education exists, especially in Lower
Burma where the number of paid indigenous workers
is four times greater than elsewhere.

It is quite evident that there is little voluntary
service on the part of the Church members, and too
much reliance is placed on the paid workers for Sunday
school work. This is not a healthy sign. When the
Church organizes its Sunday school work independent
of paid day school teachers, it will then begin to live.

* International Review of Missions, October, 1928, p. 661.

70 CHRISTIAN PROGRESS IN BURMA

The question, however, of the advisability of
employing paid workers at all has not yet been
properly faced. That voluntary work is seriously
discouraged, and the self-propagating power of the
Christian Church incalculably crippled, appears to be
certain. The Rev. C. R. Purser, in his report for
1925-26, shows how crucial this matter has become :

" As the years pass by, I find myself driven more
and more to the conclusion that the policy we have
been following in regard to the evangelistic work
amongst the Burmese is fundamentally wrong. The
general desire seems to be to seek out suitable men
and then have them trained as catechists and later
to get them ordained. The Board of Missions is then
asked to find funds to supply them with salaries.
The motive behind it all is, of course, a good and
worthy one, that of throwing as many men as possible
into the work of evangelization. But this pious attempt
made by the foreign missionaries has in many cases
not been met by the same piety from those whom they
have thrown into the work. The keenness of the
evangelist is seen as he wanders from village to village,
humbling himself as becometh the disciples of the
Master, having no fixed itinerary, but staying or going
on as opportunity arises. When the missionary's work
has met with a certain amount of success and he has
won various disciples scattered over a large area, is
it necessary to appoint an agent paid by foreign money
to look after these new converts ? It all depends on
how we answer that question. Has it not been shown
over and over again that this kind of work is done
far more satisfactorily by honorary workers ? . . .
All missionaries desire the Native Church to be self-
supporting. Does it not therefore seem strange that
the people amongst whom we are working, though
ready to give most amazingly liberally to anything
connected with their own religion, yet when they
become Christians close all these channels of charity ?
I think it is because we have not fully appreciated
Burmese Buddhist philosophy. They look upon us as
' Thu-daw-gungs,' seeking merit, and give us the

CHRISTIAN OCCUPATION OF BURMA TO-DAY 71

opportunity of earning such merit by accepting of our
charity. And it comes somewhat of a shock to some
of them when they realize that they themselves are
being asked for alms. If a convert has the Spirit of
Jesus, his own prayers and Bible reading, with the
occasional visit of the itinerate missionary, will turn
him into a St. Andrew. He will seek out his brothers
and the Native Church will grow independent of paid
agents. For years to come they will require the inspi-
ration and guidance of the foreign missionary. But
the Native Church will only be a real and lasting one
in so far as it produces its own voluntary missionaries.
Any foreign money spent in this way seems to retard
rather than hasten the time of a self-supporting Church.
The desire for overseers will come from within. When
the desire is there, there will also be found the means
to fulfil the desire. Is it right at the present time to
throw upon them an expensive native priesthood which
they cannot yet support ? Education, training, medical
work, though intimately connected with evangelistic
work, are, at the present stage of development, matters
which hardly come within the scope of the problem of
self-support.

" A glance at the accounts will show how much
money has been spent in this district on evangelizing
agents and how much money the Society is called
upon to find in order to meet the amazing small
proportion raised by the Native Church. In this
area, the Burmese subscribe about one-fifth and the
Chin about one-third of the cost of their priest and
catechists. This does not take into account the money
paid for their travelling expenses and the reduced
fees allowed to the children (in some cases wholly
free) to attend our Rangoon and other schools/'*

Mr. Purser here touches upon a fundamental
point in the establishment of an Indigenous Church,
and more and more it must be recognized that no one
should ever be paid with foreign money to preach
the Gospel to his own fellow-countrymen. This has

* Quoted in National Christian Council Review, January, 1927.

72 CHRISTIAN PROGRESS IN BURMA

been one of the gravest mistakes made by missions,
the evil consequences of which are most far-reaching.

The country is so well supplied with civil hospitals
and dispensaries (183) that there are only a few mission
institutions. Protestant Missions have five hospitals
and eleven dispensaries, and the Roman Catholic
Missions have exactly the same number. They are
found in the four divisions of Pegu, Tenasserim,
Mandalay and the Eastern States.

What then are some of the conclusions to which
we are led ? The great problems of Burma are the
evangelization of the nine million Buddhists ; the
evangelization of great village areas ; the reaching
of the half a million Mohammedans for whom little,
if anything, is done ; the evangelization of the great
majority of the minor races, especially the Animist
hill tribes with a population of 592,822 ; the problem
of the half a million Tamils and Telugus who contribute
only eight per cent, to the Christian population, both
Protestant and Roman Catholic ; the winning of the
150,000 Chinese who have shown themselves peculiarly
opposed to Christianity. Faced with these untouched
classes and unoccupied areas, the small force of workers
is but a thin red line. The Christians are concentrated
in certain definite areas, as are also the workers, and
most of rural Burma is still outside Christian influence.
Most of the really difficult tasks remain to be grappled
with. The large number 'of educational workers,
especially in Rangoon and Mandalay, leave but few
for direct evangelistic work. In Upper Burma there
is only one-fifth of the number of evangelistic workers
found in Lower Burma. Christian village schools
exist in less than half of the villages where Christians
live. The great deficiency of Sunday schools shows
that there is little voluntary service among the
Christians, and that the paid workers themselves,
especially in Lower Burma, do not do what they
might. The number of workers in training is scarcely
sufficient to keep things going, and is totally inadequate
in face of the challenge before the Church.

The problem of Burma, as of so many other fields,

CHRISTIAN OCCUPATION OF BURMA TO-DAY 73

is to find a living Church which will be a sufficient
witness of the love of Christ to the peoples of their
own land.

In face of so many unreached districts a policy of
delimitation of fields between the various Societies
now at work may, in practice, easily become a
hindrance. While such a policy is designed to prevent
overlapping, it can only be justified where a Society
is definitely planning to enter the field allotted. If
evidence cannot be shown that such advance is being
contemplated, no obstacle should be placed in the
way of any other Society able to open new work.

There are some problems of Christian occupation
which require special emphasis. We have referred to
the impression which so many observers record of the
aspect of general happiness and contentment to be
seen in the villages of Burma. But this has its other
side.

" Buddhism " writes the Rev. Sidney Gordon
" associates suffering with demerit and, perhaps for
this reason, the villager does not readily reveal his
deeper feelings to strangers. To anyone, however,
who establishes a friendship with the villager, and is
taken into his confidence, a different picture is
presented. Neglect of bodily ailments, ignorance and
gross filth produce a catalogue of suffering and sores
which call for what help he can give even with a few
simple medicines. In the larger centres Government
has provided hospitals and dispensaries, but, apart
from cases of hurt likely to result in police proceedings,
the villager rarely avails himself of such institutions.
Travelling dispensaries could do much to meet his
needs, but so far Government has not approved of these.
We have seen that there are only twelve residential
centres in 35,005 villages, and it naturally follows
that missions have done little to meet the needs of
the villagers. There is a great untouched field here.
Despite nationalism, the village is still the social unit,
and here the vast majority of the Burmans live.
Without doubt this is the biggest problem before
missions in Burma."

74 CHRISTIAN PROGRESS IN BURMA

Another field which could be developed is also
chiefly connected with village work, that of Burmese
women. Compared with other Eastern countries,
they are peculiarly free and accessible. They are,
however, held fast by superstition and prejudice,
which can only be broken through by the Christian
spirit, and that largely by means of the work of women.
With only one hundred and nine women workers,
the majority of whom are in city institutions, there
exists here a very great untouched field for
women missionaries. Co-operation may be expected
from Burmese Christian women who have taken a
notable step quite recently. " They have formed
themselves into the Burma Women's Missionary
Society, have collected funds with which to stretch
out helping hands to established stations by supporting
workers there, and have just built themselves central
office buildings in Rangoon, to be the pulsing heart
of their growing activities. They have thus lined
themselves up with the various Home Mission Societies
which are working in various parts of Burma."*

The greatest problem of all is the relationship of
the Buddhist population to the message of the Gospel.
Regarding this the Rev. Wallace St. John writes :

" The thoroughly established Buddhism of one
hundred years ago, with its system of merit and
severe legal demands, has in a measure lost its hold
on the people. The people who, as a rule, would not
listen to anything except the exhortations of the
Buddhist monks are now ready to listen to the Christian
message. The friendliness shown by missionaries and
Christians of the country has won a general kindly
feeling, and a slight knowledge of Christ has taken
much of the bitterness out of the Buddhist opposition."

" The Buddhists, who are Burmans, Shans and
Talaings . . . have shown great reluctance to give up
their images and costly shrines and expensive
monasteries. The missionary battle has been waged
on all fronts. Buddhists are strongly fortified with

* A. H. Henderson, WORLD DOMINION, April, 1927.

CHRISTIAN OCCUPATION OF BURMA TO-DAY 75

their literature, their established customs and strong
prejudices, in addition to the material enrichment
their religion has had for many centuries. Buddhists
have also always had their monastic schools for boys.
They have taught the lads their religious liturgy and
have trained them into grooves of living laid down
by Gautama Buddha, which have emphasized great
self-denial though no real self-sacrifice. It would
be strange indeed if a religion such as this could be
thrown off easily. Its enormous body of Scriptures,
its regular instructions, its extreme reverence for its
well-versed monks, are all calculated to make a
permanent intellectual impression upon the people."

So far mission work among the Buddhists has too
exclusively reached the lower social orders and the
less educated. The educated classes and the students
whose minds are being awakened are not being
effectively touched. " A new evangelism " says
Wallace St. John " is needed to appeal to this class.""
To-day new interests are occupying the attention of
the educated classes, especially that of the new
nationalism.

" There has been a revival of Buddhism," says
A. H. Henderson* " largely due to this nationalistic,
spirit, which feels that Buddhism is part of the old
order, and should be bolstered up. A ' Buddhist
Mission Press ' has been started in imitation of the
' Baptist Mission Press/ " "A little while ago it was
the fashion to have Young Men's Buddhist Associations
as an offset to the Young Men's Christian Associations.
The same spirit finds expression in rules passed
prohibiting the visiting of pagodas by anyone
unwilling to remove his or her shoes. Tracts, too,
have been prepared and circulated to try and meet
the Christian arguments."

" Christian preachers and missionaries are almost
invariably accorded a welcome by the mass of the
people. ... In increasing numbers Buddhists are
accepting the great truth of an Eternal God, the

* WORLD DOMINION, April, 1927.

76 CHRISTIAN PROGRESS IN BURMA

Ruler of the Universe, from whom Gautama was
sent, probably never realizing that, on accepting
this truth, they are knocking out the key-stone of
the Buddhist arch. In two districts there has been
awakened a desire among the Burmans to hear of
Christ, and they have appealed to their Christian
Karen neighbours to preach to them the Gospel ;
again a great change from the past."

The Protestant Christian community among the
Buddhist Burmans has only grown from eight thousand
in 1910 to a little over nine thousand in 1926, and is
largely drawn from the very poorest of the people.
The whole problem of Buddhism must be adequately
faced. The Christian Faith is challenged, and a much
greater evangelistic effort is called for in order to win
the Burmans. The signs are propitious. They will
not always be satisfied with the hopeless outlook
and moral inertia of their ancestral faith. The day
of a great harvest is bound to come.

" A crisis is approaching " continues Dr.
Henderson " Buddhism is popularly supposed to
last for five thousand years ; but at the end of the
first 2,500 will come a momentous change. After
the expiration of this period, another Supernatural
personality (known as the Sakya Min) takes control.
Under his rule swift and condign punishment follows
each sin. Every lapse will be immediately and
unfailingly punished. This first period lacks only some
thirty years for its completion, and there is trembling
in the hearts of the Buddhists.

" This is spreading even among the common people,
and should be a tremendous asset in the preaching
of Christianity, for it must certainly help to bring about
a realization of their terrible danger as sinners. This,
in turn, must rouse interest in a Saviour who can
deliver from sin. Then, at the completion of the
2,500 years, if these terrible judgments do not take
place as they believe, their faith in the whole of
Buddhism is likely to be rudely shaken. Now, therefore,
is the time of all others for as widespread and clear a
presentation of Christ and His Gospel as possible."

77

Diagram showing proportion of Indigenous
Christians (1926) to the total population (1921)

Total Population 13,212,192

Indigenous Christians . . . . 274,105

This represents a proportion of 1 to 49 of the population.
The population, however, has increased since 1921, therefore the
diagram is approximate.

78

Chart Showing
Growth of Christian Community.

Black Column Protestant Christian Community.
Shaded ., Roman Catholic Christian Community.

79

CHART SHOWING
INDIGENOUS and FOREIGN WORKERS in BURMA

1910

1926

This estimate of teachers and evangelists for 1926 can only be
approximate, as the type of work of the last three hundred workers
added was not stated. They have been distributed in the same
proportion as that of the 3,251, first calculated by the Rev. C. E.
Olmstead (1927).

80

CHART SHOWING

PROTESTANT INDIGENOUS WORKERS
INDIGENOUS WORKERS IN TRAINING.

A : Protestant Indigenous Male Workers .

Female do

Hale Workers
in Training 1 .

Female Workers
in Training:.

12 9 3

~i
A B A' B'

A B A' B

A B A' B

A B A B

Evangelistic W

Educational W.

Other Workers

This diagram represents the distribution of the 3,251 workers
reported on in 1927 by the Rev. C. E. Olmstead. The 287 workers
reported since would increase the columns proportionately, if
added.

81

APPENDICES

APPENDIX PAGE

SUMMARY 83

I. RACES, LANGUAGES AND POPULATIONS BY RELIGIONS 84

II. AREAS, POPULATIONS, FOREIGN AND NATIVE WORKERS 85

III. MISSION AND CHURCH STATISTICS 89

IV. RECENT STATISTICS OF THE FOUR PRINCIPAL MISSIONS 90
V. LANGUAGES AND DIALECTS OF BURMA 95

VI. COMPARISON OF PROTESTANT AND ROMAN CATHOLIC

WORK 96

VII. THE BIBLE IN BURMA 97

82

List of Missionary Societies

1. A.B.B.M. American Baptist Foreign Mission Society (Ameri-

can Baptist Burma Mission).

2. B.C.M.S. Bible Churchmen's Missionary Society.

3. B.F.B.S. British and Foreign Bible Society.

4. C.L.S. Christian Literature Society for India and Africa.

5. M.E.Ch. Foreign Mission Board of the Methodist Episcopal

Church.

6. S.A. Salvation Army.

7. S.D.A. Seventh-Day Adventists.

8. S.P.G. Society for the Propagation of the Gospel.

9. W.M.M.S. Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society.

10. Y.M.C.A. Young Men's Christian Association.

11. Y.W.C.A. Young Women's Christian Association.

83

Summary of Statistics, 1926
Burma

Area . . . . . . . . . . 233,707 square miles.

Population 13,212,192.

Density 57 persons per square mile.

Protestant foreign workers . . . . . . . . . . 351

Protestant native workers . . . . . . . . . . 3,538

Protestant missionary residential stations . . . . 47

Protestant Christians (Census 1921) 170,384

Protestant Christians (Mission returns) . . . . . . 192,027

Protestant Mission schools . . . . . . . . . . 972

Pupils in schools . . . . . . . . . . . . 40,539

Hospitals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Dispensaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

84

APPENDIX I.

(Figures taken from 1921 Census.)

RACES AND LANGUAGES. (Certain population areas not included.)

Languages.

9,116,010

1,220,356

1,746,737

Races.

Burmese and Talaing
Karen
Shan, etc.

Indian

Chinese

European and others

2. MOSLEM POPULATION.
Zerbadis Moslems .
Arakan Moslems
Arakan Kamans
Indian Moslems

878,236

149,060

58,700

13,169,099

93,482

23,775

2,163

366,271

Shan . .
Chin . .
Kachin
Palaung Wa
Others

Indo-Burman
and others .

9,007,000
1,220,099
1,018,000
289,000
147,000
157,000
147,000
887,000
149,000

148,000
13,169,099

485,691

3. CHRISTIAN POPULATION (Protestant, Roman Catholic, etc.).

(a) From Indigenous Races.

From the Burma group 14,61 1 or 5.7 per cent, of total Christians.
Karen 178,225 69.3
Chin, Shan,
Kachin and
Talaing

groups

14,924
207,760

5.8

(b) From Indian Races.

From the Tamils .. 17,737 or 6.9 per cent, of total Christians.

Telugus .. 2,124 .8

,, other Indians .. 2,741 1.1 ,, ,, ,, ,,

others . . . . 1,456 .6

24,058

231,818

Total Christians from Indigenous and Indian Races

(c) From other Races.
Europeans .. .. 8,630 or 3.3 per cent, of total Christians.
Anglo-Indians . . 16,658 6.5

25,288

Total number of Europeans

GRAND TOTAL

25,288
257,106

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APPENDIX III.
Mission and Church Statistics

Figures for Protestant Missions, 1926

Christian Community.

Villages ii
which

Census

Divisions and Districts.*

Commum

Christian

number of

cants.

Others.

Total.

live.

b villages.

Arakan Division.

593

600

1,193

28

1,442

1. Akyab

870

2. Hill District ..

41

3. Kyaukpyu

354

4. Sandoway

593

600

1,193

28

177

Pegu Division.

26,634

21,239

47,873

614

2,273

5. Rangoon

9,785

7,341

17,126

10

6. Insein

8,394

4,512

12,906

302

375

7. Hanthawaddy

391

470

861

87

468

8. Tharrawaddy

2,884

1,538

4,422

50

549

9. Pegu

4,220

5,796

10,016

111

438

10. Prome

960

1,582

2,542

54

443

Irrawaddy Division.

39,571

28,400

67,971

422

2,580

11. Bassein

19,721

9,955

29,676

260

688

12. Henzada

6,053

3,018

9,071

105

621

13. Myaungmya

8,008

7,605

15,613

588

14. Maubin

3,954

4,600

8,554

50

311

15. Pyapon

1,835

3,222

5,057

7

372

Tenasserim Division.

19,787

22,232

42,019

352

1,708

16. Toungoo

11,519

13,300

24,819

236

560

17. Salween

204

511

715

1

89

18. Thaton

52

21

73

4

385

19. Amherst

4,682

3,800

8,482

70

348

20. Tavoy

2,280

1,050

3,330

41

179

21. Mergui

1,050

3,550

4,600

147

Magwe Division.

834

668

1,502

33

2,489

22. Thayetmyo

625

498

1,123

17

641

23. Pakokku

85

41

126

11

742

24. Minbu

24

11

35

5

339

25. Magwe

100

118

218

465

26. Pakokku Hills

1

302

Mandalay Division.

4,769

4,809

9,578

85

2,352

27. Mandalay and

Mandalay City

2,332

2,733

5,065

43

332

28. Bhamo

1,882

1,440

3,322

25

555

29. Myitkyina

455

510

965

17

771

30. Katha

100

126

226

685

31. Putao

9

Sagaing Division.

1,158

806

1,964

89

2,219

32. Shwebo

84

165

249

13

632

33. Sagaing

30

36

66

282

34. Lower Chindwin

122

84

206

22

361

35. Upper Chindwin

19

21

40

9

465

36. Chin Hills

903

500

1,403

45

479

Meiktila Division.

1,450

1,011

2,461

61

1,228

37. Kyaukse

36

37

73

4

277

38. Meiktila

466

514

980

6

400

39. Yamethin

807

420

1,227

32

356

40. Myingyan

141

40

181

19

195

Eastern States.

6,202

11,264

17,466

83

18,714

41. Northern Shan States )
42. Southern Shan States j"

6,202

11,264

17,466

83

f 6,610
U1.412

43. Karenni Hills . .

692

100,998

91,029

192,027

1,767

35,005

* For Areas and Populations, see previous table, p. 85.

NOTE. Since these schedules have been prepared there has been a rearrangement
of districts and divisions made by Government.

90

APPENDIX IV.

Recent Statistics of the Four Principal Missions*

1. AMERICAN BAPTIST BURMA MISSION.

2. SOCIETY FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL.

3. WESLEYAN METHODIST MISSIONARY SOCIETY.

4. AMERICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

1. AMERICAN BAPTIST BURMA MISSION.
Foreign workers.

Ordained men . . . . . . 53

Unordained men . . . . . . 24

Wives 66

Single women . . . . . . 63

Doctors and Nurses . . . . . . (10)

Total 206

Burmese workers.

Ordained men . . . . . . 335

Other men and women . . . . 900

Teachers (men) . . . . . . 1,053

,, (women) . . . . . . 899

Medical (men and women) . . 12

Total 3,199

GRAND TOTAL 3,405

Churches . . . . 1 ,289 (954 self -supporting) .

Church buildings . . 1,358

Church members . . 103,346

Baptisms (1927) .. 10,033

Sunday Schools . . 792

Scholars 37,286

* These figures are somewhat more recent than those given in
Appendix II. In the case of the A.B.B.M., two stations outside Burma
are included, which partly accounts for the difference. The other small
differences are due to additions to the staffs.

STATISTICS OF FOUR PRINCIPAL MISSIONS 91

Educational Work.

Theological Schools . . . . 4

Men . . . . . . . . 175

Women 25

Total 200

Colleges . . . . . . 1

Men . . . . . . . . 244

Women 71

Total 315

High Schools . . . . 32

Boys . . 4,737

Girls 2,275

Total 7,012

Secondary and Grammar

Schools 82

Boys and Girls . . . . 8,347

Primary Schools and
Kindergartens . . . . 754
Boys and Girls 28,532

Total number of Schools and Colleges 874, of which 660

are self-supporting.
Total number of Scholars, 44,570.
Native contributions, $255,033.

Medical work.

Hospitals . . . . . . . . 4

Dispensaries . . . . . . . . 12

Treatments . . . . . . . . 49,131

Fees $13,938

92 CHRISTIAN PROGRESS IN BURMA

2. SOCIETY FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL.

Foreign workers.

Ordained men . . . . 15

Unordained men . . . . 3

Wives . . . . . . . . 6

Single women . . . . . . 13

Doctors and Nurses . . . . (3)

Total 37

Burmese workers.

Men evangelistic . . . . 99

educational .. .. 132

Women educational . . 97

,, nurse . . . . 1

Total 329

GRAND TOTAL . . . . 361

Villages in which Christians live.. 352

Church members . . . . . . 9,049

Other Christians 11,425

20,474
Educational work.

Number of Schools . . 105
Secondary pupils.

Christian boys . . 327

,, girls . . 216

Total . . . . 542

Non-Christian boys. . 1,052
girls.. 887

Total .. " .. 1,939

GRAND TOTAL . . . . 2,481

STATISTICS OF FOUR PRINCIPAL MISSIONS 93

3. WESLEYAN METHODIST MISSIONARY SOCIETY.

Foreign workers.

Ordained and lay men . . 10

Wives 7

Single women . . . . . . 6

Total 23

Burmese workers.

Ordained men . . . . . . 3

Catechists . . . . . . 15

Teachers . . . . . . 44

Total 62

Women Biblewomen . . 5

Teachers . . . . 19

Total 24

86
GRAND TOTAL . . . , 109

Church members . . . . . . 784

Others . . . . . . . . 457

Total 1,241

Educational work.

4 High Schools with
50 Teachers.

239 Students in High School Classes.
1,002 Students in Primary and Middle

Classes.

2 Middle Schools with
13 Teachers.
245 Students.

Women's Mission Schools for Girls.

4 Boarding Schools with
456 Day Scholars and
93 Boarders.

94 CHRISTIAN PROGRESS IN BURMA

4. AMERICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL MISSION.

Foreign workers.

Ordained men . . . . . . 9

Unordained men . . . . 1

Wives 8

Single women . . . . . . 17

Total . . . . . . 35

Burmese workers.

Men ordained . . . . 14

unordained . . . . 65

Women Biblewomen . . 3

Teachers . . . . 58

Total 140

GRAND TOTAL . . . . 175

Christian community.

Communicants . . . . 1,254
Others . . 1,405

Total 2,659

Number of Churches . . . . 10

Educational work.

1 Boys' High School . . . . pupils, 1,012

1 Girls' . . . . . . ,, 351

5 Boys' Anglo-Vernacular . . . . 662

3 Girls' ,, ,, . . ,, 557

13 Primary boys and girls . . 540

23 3,122

Teachers in these Schools 131.

95

APPENDIX V.

Languages and Dialects of Burma

(A.) BURMA GROUP : Sixteen dialects are recorded, the largest of

which is of course Burmese, with 8,400,094 speakers. The

next largest is Yanbye (250,018).
(B.) LoLO-Mus'o GROUP : Eleven languages are known, the largest

is Akha (34,265) and the next Lahu (22,742).
(C.) KuKi-CniN GROUP : Forty dialects are known, the largest of

which returned are Khami (26,571), then Sokte (27,363),

but 130,000 are returned as " Chin " unspecified.
(ZX) NAGA GROUP : Three dialects are spoken, but the largest,

Tangkul, has only 236 speakers.
(E.) KACHIN GROUP : Three dialects are known, but most of the

145,618 Kachin speak the Kachin dialect proper.
(F.) SAK GROUP: Four dialects are known, of which Kadu (37,710)

is by far the largest, 18,594 speaking Kadu only.
(G.) MISHMI GROUP : No speakers.
(H.) MRO has 14,324 speakers.

(/.) TAI GROUP : There are eleven dialects, of which Shan (un-
specified) has 326,515 speakers and Shangali 474,878.

(/.) MALAY GROUP : Two dialects are spoken, of which Malay
proper has the most speakers (3,446).

(K.) MON GROUP : Here there is one language, namely Talaing,
with 189,263 speakers.

(L.) PALAUNG-WA GROUP : There are ten dialects here, of which
Palaung and Pale are the commonest, with 117,725
speakers. There are 13,648 speakers of Wa, and 12,853
of Yanglam.

(M.) KHAN GROUP : No speakers.

(N.) KAREN GROUP : There are seventeen dialects, of which the

commonest are Sgaw with 432,829 speakers and Pwo with

364,705.
(0.) MAN GROUP : Two dialects are known, the largest, Miao, has

only 394 speakers.
(R.) CHINESE GROUP : There are 55,616 speakers of Yunnanese

and 66,546 speakers of other Chinese languages.
(X.) INDIAN LANGUAGES : 880,406 speakers.
(Y.) EUROPEAN LANGUAGES : 24,441 speakers.
(Z.) OTHER LANGUAGES : 1,004 speakers.

G

96

APPENDIX VI.

Comparison of Protestant and Roman Catholic
Work. 1926 Figures

Protestant.

Roman Catholic.

Christian Community*

192,027

82,078

Foreign Workers

351

300

Native Workers

3,538

945

Stations and Out-stations . .

1,812

940

Schools : Primary

861 \

217]

Middle

84 I 972

15 \ 241

High (and Colleges)

27 J

9J

Pupils : Primary

24,917 1

10,210 1

Middle .. ..}
High .. ../

I 40,539
15,622 J

\ 15,368
5,158j

Hospitals

5

5

Dispensaries

11

11

Orphanages

2

65

Periodicals

8

2

* Excluding Europeans.

97

APPENDIX VII.

The Bible in Burma

REV. R. KILGOUR, D.D.

Editorial Superintendent of the British and Foreign Bible Society

BIBLE TRANSLATION

Though Bible work in Burma is rightly associated with the
name of Adoniram Judson, the translation and circulation of the
Scriptures began even before he reached the country. The first
portion of Scripture in any language of Burma was St. Matthew's
Gospel, translated by Felix Carey, who in company with J. Chater
had been sent in 1808 from his father, Dr. William Carey's Baptist
Missionary Settlement at Serampore, to begin pioneer work in
Burma. In 1811 they published a Burmese pamphlet containing
Scripture extracts drawn from a manuscript version prepared by an
Italian missionary at Ava. Then Carey translated St. Matthew's
Gospel, of which 2,000 copies were published at Serampore in 1815,
the first complete book of Holy Scripture in the Burmese language.

When Adoniram Judson reached the field in 1814, he began a
new version of the same Gospel, which was published at Rangoon
by the Mission in 1817. The next book issued was the Epistle to the
Ephesians in 1821. Then with the aid of his colleague, G. H. Hough,
he added by 1826, John, Hebrews, Epistles of John, and Acts,
completing the New Testament in 1832. This was published by the
American Baptist Missionary Union at Moulmein.

Then they started the Old Testament, beginning with the Psalter
in 1834, which was followed by Vol. II. of the Old Testament
(1 Samuel to Job) in the same year. Vol. I. (Genesis to Ruth) was
published in 1835, and Vol. III. (Psalms to Malachi) completed the
Bible in the following year. Judson 's version soon became a standard
work in Burma, and for almost a century it held the field alone.
Many editions, both of the complete Bible and of portions, have
been published.

As long as the Baptists were the only missionaries in the field,
Judson's version, which contained definitely Baptist terms, was
never questioned. But with the advent of missionaries of other
Churches difficulties sometimes arose, not only because of the
character of the translation, but also with regard to the supply of
books. The first attempts at revision were begun about 1900, when
a Committee, on which there were representatives of the S.P.G.
and the W.M.M.S., met in Rangoon. The first result of this work
was a revised version of St. Mark published in 1902. They continued
to issue further portions of the New Testament in the following
years.

G*

98 CHRISTIAN PROGRESS IN BURMA

Then in 1903 a most interesting new version was prepared by a
Burmese Christian named Tun Nyein, a Government translator.
This was an original translation prepared chiefly from the English
Revised Version. Six years later an edition of Tun Nyein 's version
with slight correction's made by a Revision Committee was published
by the B.F.B.S. One of the members of the original Committee,
Mr. T. Rickard, S.P.G., died in 1903, and another, the Rev. A. H.
Bestall, W.M.M.S., had left the country. The Revision Committee
was reformed in 1914 by the inclusion of Saya George and the Rev.
C. E. Garrad, both of the S.P.G., along with the Rev. W. Sherratt,
Agent of the B.F.B.S. In twelve years this Committee completed
a new translation of the whole Bible which was published in 1926.

Shan.

On both sides of the border between North-east Burma and
South-west China the Shan tribes speak a language which belongs
to the Tai group of the Siamese-Chinese family of Indo-Chinese
languages. The editions are printed in the Shan character, which
is rounded in form and is closely allied to the Burmese character.
Here again the American Baptist missionaries were the pioneers.
The first book of Scripture was the Gospel of St. Matthew translated
by the Rev. J. N. Gushing and published at Rangoon in 1871. Mr.
Gushing is really responsible for practically all the work that has
been achieved in this language. After issuing the Gospels in 1880,
he completed the New Testament in 1882 and ten years later he
finished his version of the whole Bible. -

Chin.

Linguistically there are two main divisions of Chin, Northern
and Southern. The Northern includes the Kamhow, Sokte, Siyin,
Thado-Kuki and Vaiphei dialects, but most of these are spoken
by the Chins in the Bengal area rather than by those in Burma.
The only version of Scripture in Northern Chin used on the Burmese
side is St. Matthew's Gospel in Kamhow, the principal dialect of
the Tiddim district. The version was made by the Rev. J. H. Cope
and was published in 1915.

In the Southern dialect of Chin, St. Mark's Gospel, translated
by the Rev. G. Whitehead, of the S.P.G., was published in 1921.

Karen.

The word " Karen " is the equivalent of the Burmese " Kayen "
(signifying " aboriginal " or " barbarian "), a term applied to all
tribes except the Shans occupying the highlands of Burma.
Translations have been made in three dialects : Sgaw, Pwo and
Bghai. American Baptist missionaries have prepared the versions
in these three dialects. One of their first missionaries to the Karens
was Jonathan Wade, who formed the alphabet, adopting Burmese
characters, to some of which, however, he gave fresh values, while

THE BIBLE IN BURMA 99

others he modified by diacritical marks. When he retired in 1833,
his colleague Francis Mason took up the work, and, with the help
1 of a Karen Christian named San Quala, completed a version of the
New Testament. After portions of this translation had circulated
in MS., the whole was printed at the Tavoy Mission Press in 1843.
After completing the New Testament, Mr. Mason proceeded to
translate the Old Testament, which he finished in 1853. In 1874
the Rev. E. B. Cross began a revision of Mr. Mason's work. This
was completed in 1896, and has frequently been reprinted. In 1921,
by the kind permission of the A.B.F.M.S., in order to meet the needs
of other Missions, the B.F.B.S. reproduced this Book, with the
alteration of the word for " baptize " and its cognates.

Pwo Karen. Soon after the Sgaw Karen New Testament was
finished, Pwo Karens themselves began to make versions in their
own dialect. These were revised by Dr. Mason and Mr. D. L. Brayton.
Matthew and Mark were published in 1852 and the New Testament
about 1860. The Bible, completed by 1895, was largely the work
of Mrs. A. T. Rose, Mr. D. L. Brayton and the Karen teachers,
Kong-Louk and Myatthah. This Pwo Karen Bible also was, by the
kind permission of the A.B.F.M.S., issued by the B.F.B.S. with
alterations.

Bghai Karen. In addition to his work in Sgaw and Pwo, Dr.
Mason also prepared versions in the third dialect known as Bghai
or Bway, publishing the Gospels and Acts in 1857 and afterwards
proceeding to the Epistles of James and John, Genesis and the
Psalter in the following years.

Roman Catholics have also made a version of a Gospel in Karen.
The Bible House Library possesses a copy of St. Matthew's Gospel
translated by G. Conti, published at Toungoo in 1888.

Talaing.

In addition to the principal Karen languages, Talaing or Pegu,
although chiefly spoken in Siam, is also used by about 175,000
people in Pegu and other coast-districts of Lower Burma. Here
too the American Baptists have all the credit of Bible translation.
An early version of the New Testament was made by Sarah Hall
Boardman, before her marriage in 1834 to Adoniram Judson. In
this task she received assistance from Ko Mam Bok, a Talaing
convert, who translated from A. Judson's Burmese New Testament.
In 1836 J. M. Haswell, of the A.B.M.U., reached Burma, and took
over the work ; and in the following year he supervised the
publication of a Gospel Harmony which was published in 1837.
By 1847 Mr. Haswell had completed the New Testament. Since
then the Psalter has been prepared, principally from a version made
in the middle of the nineteenth century by Ko Mam Bok.

Taungthu.

Taungthn, which is practically a dialect of Karen, is spoken
over a wide district of the Shan Borderland, stretching from Taunggyi

100 CHRISTIAN PROGRESS IN BURMA

to Thaton. A modified form of the Burmese character is used. The
earliest translation was St. Mark's Gospel published in 1912. The
version was prepared by the Rev. W. Sherratt, of the B.F.B.S.,
with the help of native assistants, one of whom, Maung Gyi, was
baptized during the progress of the work. Latterly Mr. Sherratt
had the assistance of another native called Tun Pe. The four Gospels
are now in circulation.

Mawken.

Away down in the Mergui Archipelago a tribe of sea-gipsies,
called Selunga, speak a language which is known as Mawken. The
Rev. W. G. White, Anglican chaplain at Moulmein, with the help
of Mawken assistants, translated St. Mark in 1913. This was published
by the B.F.B.S.

Nicobarese.

In the Nicobar Islands there are several dialects, but only two,
Nancowry and Car, possess portions of Scripture. Between 1768
and 1788 an attempt was made by the Moravian Brethren to
evangelize the inhabitants of the Nicobar Islands. After twenty
years of toil and hardship, during which no fewer than twenty-four
missionaries laid down their lives, the mission was abandoned. In
1878 F. A. de Roepstorff, Assistant Superintendent of the Andaman
and Nicobar Islands, while on furlough in Europe, visited Herrnhut,
and there discovered, among the Moravian archives, manuscript
vocabularies and a translation of almost the whole of St. Matthew's
Gospel in the Nancowry dialect, prepared by the Nicobar missionaries
a century earlier. These he deciphered, transcribed, and prepared
for publication. The results of his work were published after his
death by his widow, C. H. de Roepstorff, in 1884.

In several other Islands, known as the Car group of the Nicobar
Islands, the Rev. G. Whitehead, of the S.P.G., assisted by John
Richardson, a Nicobarese convert, translated the Gospels and
Acts, which were published from 1913 to 1926.

BIBLE DISTRIBUTION

The circulation of Scriptures in Burma has varied considerably
during the last twenty-five years. In the War period and thereafter,
the figures reached almost 120,000, but for the last four or five
years there have been many special difficulties and the reports
show somewhere between 70,000 and 80,000. In addition to the
languages definitely Burmese, a number of Books, which really
belong to the Bengal and Southern India area, are sold by the
Bible Society in Burma. These include Tamil and Telugu in con-
siderable numbers, as well as portions in different dialects of Naga.
It is interesting also to note that no fewer than 2,400 Bengal, 1,400
Oriya and 1,300 Urdu Books were circulated last year.

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