THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IN BURMA
A P6NGYI BYAN
A MONK'S FUNERAL CAR : THE COFFIN IS SUPPORTED ON A BAMBOO STRUCTURE
REPRESENTING A TIGER DEVOURING A DEER
CHRISTIAN MISSIONS
IN BURMA
BY
W. C. B. PURSER, M.A.
Missiottary at Kemendine, Rangoon
PREFACE BY
THE RIGHT REV. A. M. KNIGHT, D.D.
Sometime Bishop of Rangoon
ILLUSTRATED
PUBLISHED BY THE
for thf ^propagation of the opfl in ,f orngn |fort*
15 TUFTON STREET, WESTMINSTER
1911
PREFACE
STRANGE as it may seem, this book stands alone
among the many which have been written on
Burma.
Others, and those not a few, have been written
in recent years from the point of view of the
traveller, of the experienced Government official,
and of the Englishman who has fallen in love
with this sunny land and its lighthearted people.
But this is the first book, as distinguished from
leaflets or articles, written on Burma by an
English Churchman from his own true stand-
point, viz. that of a missionary, in whose mind
stands first and foremost the truth that for all
mankind the Son of God took flesh, and whose
first and foremost interest lies in the presentation
of that truth to them.
The first Burmese war was in 1825. Nearly
ninety years have gone by since it gave our
nation possession of a large portion of the land,
and placed on our Church a special responsibility
for the evangelization of its peoples. Yet in all
YI PREFACE
that time the Church has lacked a work like this,
and the cause is not far to seek. For it was not
till the nation had fought its second Burmese
war (1852) that the Church awoke to the call
and sent in 1859 its first missionary. While
from that time the staff has been so inadequate
in numbers, so ill supported, and so scantily re-
inforced, that although there have been men of
power and devotion in the work, the disproportion
of their number to the overpowering needs and
opportunities, is the chief reason why we have
waited so long for a comprehensive view of the
. work of the Church among the races of Burma.
However, at last, we have this much -needed
book, itself a sign of improvement. For Mr.
Purser is one of a band of missionaries who
went out between the years 1903 and 1907, and
filled longstanding gaps and raised from twelve
to fifteen the number of our ordained English
missionaries in that land of some ten million
inhabitants.
We have in it a summary view of the country, its
history and races ; of the work of other Christians
whose zeal and devotion ought greatly to shame
and stimulate ourselves ; and of the work which
the tiny regiment of our Church's army is doing
there in obedience to the Master.
The writer has, as I well know, lived in close
touch with the Burman, has kept a watchful and
PREFACE vii
open eye, and honestly striven to weigh and
judge with sympathy and fairness. His work,
the fruit of a well-earned furlough, will do much,
I trust, to remove the ignorance which besets
our Church people, and which in its power to
check the progress of the Gospel, yields place
only to indifference.
But I hope this " Churchman's Handbook of
Burma," as I venture to call it, will do still more
and will move to something more effective than
mere interest move to sacrifice and service.
I hope it will show to clergy the glory of
ministering to our English people in Burma,
who, while being themselves placed in positions
of peculiar difficulty and temptation, yet can-
not escape the responsibility of representing or
mis-representing by their lives the Faith of the
Church of Christ.
We hope also that it may lead to more
generous support of the Society for the Propa-
gation of the Gospel in gifts of service and of
money. Through that Society the Church does
her work among the natives, and if this book
shows how small that work is compared with
what it ought to be and might be, the blame
must not be put on the Society. I know well
the warmth and devotion of those who labour
in the S.P.G. House. The fault does not lie
there.
viii PREFACE
The diocese has indeed benefited by the in-
creased interest of the Church at home, and the
result of the advance is felt throughout the whole
body of our people there.
In 1903 the numbers of our S.P.G. mission-
aries were clergy, 1 2 ; women, 5 ; laymen, 2.
To-day they are 15, 17, and 5 respectively.
But those who are familiar with the main out-
lines of the work will indulge in no complacency.
For we still lag far behind the Romans and
Nonconformists, and are in danger of losing
many opportunities which are not likely to recur.
Let me mention some of the more striking in-
cidents which show how the lack of reinforce-
ments, and especially the lack of missionary
clergy, appears in its results in Burma.
On Christmas Day, 1904, three thousand
Karens appealed to me for Christian instruction.
" We have given up our spirit- worship and our
Buddhism," they said. " We have built houses
for Christian instruction and worship." But six
Christmas Days have passed, and we have not
yet given them the missionary they need.
"We want some one to care for us," said an
Andamanese Christian to me in December, 1907,
"to teach us to read and write, to be Christians
. . . ." Knowing how few our missionaries are,
and how many other larger fields are unoccupied,
I could only remind him of what the Govern-
PREFACE ix
ment does for him and his people for their
bodily wants. But he still continued to ask for
" someone to care for us ".
An English official retiring after twenty-one
years' service, said to me, " Bishop, I should like to
see your missionaries at work in the jungle (i.e.
country as opposed to town). I have not found
them there." I explained that at that time there
were only eight in the whole of the diocese, a
territory nearly twice the size of Great Britain
and Ireland. He ceased to wonder that he had
not come across many.
But the significance of these detailed examples,
to which I could add others, gains force when
the great movements are remembered which
are in progress in Burma as in so many other
quarters. They are all parts of the one great
change the increased connexion of East and
West, the introduction of western life into the
East.
Our missionary literature has in the past spoken
of this as " the opening of doors to the Gospel ".
We now begin to see that the doors are closing,
or in other words that the same force which has
opened them to Christianity, opens them also to
many adversaries.
i. British rule has come, and the missionary
and his converts can dwell in safety. There is
the open door. But observe another result.
X PREFACE
The Animist tribes are always ready to accept
higher religious teaching, Buddhist, Moham-
medan, or Christian. The question is, which will
reach them first. The Pax Britannica has removed
the hostility between the Burman Buddhist and
the Animist tribes such as Shans, Karens, Chins,
etc. And this cessation of old feuds has opened
the door of Buddhism to the Animist, who now
can mix with the Burman more freely than
before, adopt Burmese customs and Burmese
religion. This change is rapidly taking place.
Christian missionaries are few, and though it is
among the Animists that the Gospel has won its
most numerous converts, yet Buddhism, as the
census of 1901 showed, has won far more. "You
are too late to catch the Chins who are now
by thousands living in the plains among the
Burmans," said a young Deputy Commissioner
to me, " you must go to those who remain in the
hills away from the Buddhists." He was right
but we have only one missionary priest at work
there.
As in Africa for Islam, so in Burma for
Buddhism, the spread of western influence has
opened a wide door, and the Church is chal-
lenged to be the first to enter in.
2. I take one other example of change adverse
to the spread of Christianity.
- Our western civilisation brings in trade, Gov-
PREFACE xi
ernment employment, western knowledge, and
western literature attacking and undervaluing
Christianity.
All this has a double effect- First it engrosses
the attention of the native who meets it. He
wants expensive houses, motor-cars, and the like.
He is bitten with the love of money. He is
seized with ambition to acquire western know-
ledge, and office under our Government with
its stipend and honour. The change which
he undergoes is analogous to the change from
country to town life. He will listen to Christian
teaching readily in the country. He will not
in the town. His attention is distracted. The
" world " in full force has come on him with its
pleasures and cares for which Christianity is
the only sufficient protection. If you meet him
while in his country life, you are in time. If
not, you are too late.
The second effect is exercised on him with
regard to his own belief. If contact with Chris-
tianity challenges him to refurbish the better
elements of his faith, till we hear of a reformed
and revived Hinduism, Mohammedanism, and
Buddhism, and to assimilate them to Christian
teaching, the contact with western life apart
from Christianity loosens the hold which his old
faith had on him, and while supplying nothing
in its place, leads to religious indifference.
xii PREFACE
This, I believe, is a true view of the change,
and in it again we see that the same movement
which seemed to open the door, introduces
powerful adversaries. So the call on the Church
grows louder, and the penalty for slackness in
doing the Master's will is seen more plainly.
No wonder that those who know, speak of the
next decade as likely to be decisive. Be this as
it may, no one can study our work in Burma
without feeling the strength of the call to sacrifice.
Only by sacrifice can we show the truth. Thus
Christ showed it, and thus must His Body show
it.
Missionary literature is growing, and will, I
trust, assist the clergy to lead their people in
missionary knowledge and obedience. Our
teaching in regard to these is still far from being
as clear and insistent as it ought to be. Anyone
who notes the great advance made during recent
decades in instruction in obedience to the Euchar-
istic command, " Do this in remembrance of
me," and compares it with the instruction on
that other command, " Make disciples of all the
nations," must acknowledge thankfully the im-
provement in the former, and regretfully the
great defect in the latter. How often is the
consideration of the second command left to a
special occasion, and to a special preacher. That
it may be granted more generally its rightful
PREFACE xiii
place in our Church teaching, is one object of
such books as this.
We have much to give, and much to gain
from non-Christian races. We have the Gospel
to give, and we shall receive it again from them
richer in the unveiling of truths and powers which
will remain hidden from us until we have passed
it on to them.
The Missionary Church no less than the in-
dividual, will, we may be sure, experience
and illustrate the truth of our Lord's words,
" It is more blessed to give than to receive ".
This is not indeed the fundamental motive of our
work, which is to be found in the love of Christ
Who died for all ; but the thought of the greater
blessing promised to those who receive the truth,
and are generous in scattering it, may well
stimulate our missionary efforts, and move us in
this regard to display more truly the mind of
Christ.
ARTHUR M. KNIGHT (Bishop),
Warden of St. Augustint't College,
Canterbury.
9 May, 1911.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAOE
I. Burma and the Burmese i
II. The Hill-tribes and Islanders . . .22
III. History 42
IV. Buddhism 55
V. Animism ....... 75
VI. Roman Catholic Missions . . . .86
VII. Baptist Missions in Burma . . . -95
VIII. Anglican Missions . . . . .107
IX. Work amongst English . . . . -138
X. Work amongst Eurasians . . . .149
XL The Burmese Mission . . . . .156
XII. The Karen Mission . . . . .164
XIII. Work amongst Chins and Nicobarese . . 179
XIV. Work amongst immigrants . . . .190
XV. The Winchester Brotherhood . . .196
XVI. Work in the jungle ..... 207
XVII. The Buddhist revival 216
XVIII. Burma for Christ .$* 225
APPENDICES
I. Laymen Missionaries . . . . .231
II. Home organisation . . . . 237
III. See of Rangoon . . . . . . 238
IV. Bibliography 240
INDEX 243
XIV
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
A Pongyi Byan Frontispiece
PACING PAGE
Map of Burma . i
Women pounding rice ...... 6
A Burmese orchestra 10
Burmese boat (loung) . . . *' .18
Burmese bullock cart 18
Andamanese fishing ... , ft . . . . .28
Nicobarese houses . .(''' .28
Mawken . -''. ^ , t .'> . . . . -36
Shwe" Zig6n Pagoda, Pagan . . . . .46
Magayan Pagoda, Pagan 50
The Monastery of the Thathana-Baing . . -54
Rangoon Cathedral ....... 60
A Pyathat 68
Monk and pupil 68
Kutho Daw 70
Catafalque and pall over a monk's coffin . . -70
Nat Shrines ........ 74
Sul6 Pagoda 80
Pictures of Nats in a Shrine . . . . .86
A Shan racing canoe ...... 86
Image of the Buddha 90
Mawken boat 90
Shans making offerings ...... 96
A Burmese catechist and family . . . .104
The Right Rev. R. S. Fyffe 108
The Rev. J. E. Marks . . . . . .108
The staff and pupils of St. John's College . . .no
xvi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PACING PAGE
Staff and boarders of St. Mary's School . . .118
Bishop Knight and Karen Clergy . . . .128
Making Lacquer-ware at Pagan . . . .148
Ruby mine at Mog6k ...... 148
The Diocesan High School for Girls, Rangoon . .152
St. Mary's Normal School, Kemendine . . .152
A Jungle Mission School . . . . . .160
St. Michael's Church, Kemendine . . . .160
St. Luke's Girls' School, Toungoo . . . .168
Chapel of the Good Shepherd 1 74
Typical Karen village . . . . . -174
Font at Car Nicobar 180
Font at Christ Church, Mandalay . . . .180
Chinese Christians at Maulmein , . . .192
The Winchester Brotherhood house . . . .196
Football Team, Christ Church, Mandalay . . . 200
Title page of Burmese Christian manual . . PAGE 242
Mission Stations, supported by the S P G are underlined other Anglican Stations
BURMA AND THE BURMESE.
THE first question which the bewildered traveller asks
on landing at Rangoon is, " Where are the Burmese ? "
He sees the wharf crowded with the dark-skinned
coolies from India ; he sees Bengali tally clerks,
Chinese carpenters, Punjabi police, and Mohammedan
merchants ; the river is alive with sampans l propelled
by Chittagonians ; the ramshackle gharri * in which he
is conducted to his hotel is driven by a native of India
of uncertain race ; the servants in the hotel are Tamils
from South India ; the railways, electric trams, and
even the hospitals and post offices are staffed by any-
one but Burmans ; and the traveller at last forms the
opinion that Rangoon is a very cosmopolitan place.
The opinion is a correct one, for in Rangoon, out
of a total population of about 300,003, only one half
are Burmese. The central streets of Rangoon are al-
most exclusively occupied by foreigners. There is a
Chinese quarter, where Chinese carpenters, bootmakers,
and market gardeners live, which possesses several
1 Native boats somewhat like Venetian gondolas rowed by a man
standing in the stern.
'Cab.
(1250/0 i a6H i) I
2 MISSIONS IN BURMA
magnificent Joss houses : there is a Mogul quarter,
where the Mohammedan merchants from North-west
India live together around their mosques. Then there
are the immigrants from South India, who, according
to their rank and station, live either in palatial rococo
dwellings scattered all over the city, or else herd to-
gether in teeming tenements and bastis 1 in various
localities. These people have their own temples and
shrines, so that Joss house and mosque, temple and
pagoda, together with the Christian churches, con-
stantly testify to the cosmopolitan character of the
population of Rangoon. Rangoon is to the Far East
what Constantinople is to the near East a meeting-
place of numberless races and religions.
And it is not only Rangoon and the large towns
of Burma, where the immigrant population is congre-
gated, that are cosmopolitan ; apart from its foreign
population, Burma is inhabited by about fifty-seven
indigenous tribes, speaking forty different languages.
Some of these tribes are large like the Shans, whilst
others are small ; but so great are the variations of
custom and language, that Burma is of peculiar interest
to the ethnologist and philologist Dr. Grierson has
said that there is no part of the world in which so
much remains to be learnt about the languages as in
Further India.
This book does not profess to give a detailed ac-
count of the land and people of Burma : there are
numberless books which deal with the subject, and the
reader who wishes to pursue it, will find them referred
1 Village or quarter of a town.
BURMA AND THE BURMESE 3
to in the bibliography. Any book, however, about
Burma must say something about the land and its
peoples.
The Land. Burma is the largest and at the same
time the most sparsely populated province of the
Indian Empire. It is bounded on the north-west by
Bengal, Assam, and Manipur ; in the north the limits
of the province are still unexplored and undetermined ;
on the north-east and east it touches China, French
Indo-China, and Siam ; and in the south the Siamese
Malay States. Its extreme length is about 1200
miles, and breadth about 600 miles. Its area is about
four times that of England and Wales, while its popu-
lation is about one third.
The River Irrawaddy practically bisects the country
from north to south ; parallel to it on either side are
the Yoma Mountains (Yoma is Burmese for back-
bone) ; on the east these mountains form the Shan
Plateau which stretches right away to the borders of
Siam ; on the west the spurs of the Yomas run down
to the sea and account for the singularly indentated
and rocky coast of Arakan.
In the extreme north and north-west are the moun-
tainous tracts inhabited by the Kachins and Chins,
who are more or less a law to themselves. South and
east of these, as far as the Tropic of Cancer, there is
a tract of land inhabited by a mixed race of indi-
genous tribes and a considerable sprinkling of im-
migrant Chinese. South of the Tropic, as far as the
frontier of Lower Burma, in the neighbourhood of
Thayetmyo, and bounded on the east and west by the
4 MISSIONS IN BURMA
Yomas, is what is known as the dry zone. Here the
rainfall is small and precarious (15 to 30 inches ann-
ually) and the vegetation is not so luxurious as it is
in the other parts of the country.
South of the dry zone, i.e. roughly speaking, from
Prome to the sea, stretches the region of the Irra-
waddy delta ; it is a vast alluvial plain, once covered by
the sea, and now intersected by a network of creeks
which connect the various mouths of the Irrawaddy
with one another.
Arakan in the north, and Tenasserim in the south,
are the two chief coastal strips. The former has al-
ready been referred to as lying between the Western
Yomas and the sea ; its chief town is Akyab.
Tenasserim is the strip of territory stretching down
the west coast of the Malay Peninsula ; it includes
the Mergui Archipelago, and its chief town is Maulmein.
The sea-board has a copious rainfall of 100 to 200
inches annually.
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of
Bengal are administered from Burma, and are included
in the diocese of Rangoon.
In consequence of the difference in the rainfall,
climate, and productivity of soil, the agricultural con-
ditions vary greatly in different parts of the country.
There are practically only two seasons, the monsoon
or rainy season, which lasts from about the middle of
May to the middle of September, when in Lower Burma
the air is so charged with moisture that a pair of boots
will become thickly covered with mildew in a single
night ; and the dry season, which extends throughout
BURMA AND THE BURMESE 5
the rest of the year, when there is practically no rain-
fall at all. What is euphemistically known as the
" cold season " lasts for about a fortnight on either
side of Christmas. It is so called because the nights
are usually cool, and the days are not quite so hot
as they are during the other parts of the year.
The rain is brought by the south-west monsoon, a
moisture-laden wind which blows in from the Bay of
Bengal. The precipitation of the moisture is assisted
by the forest-clad hill ranges which run north and
south throughout the whole country ; no less than 75
per cent of the total area of Burma is still under forest.
The chief product of Burma is rice. About
2,500,000 tons of this commodity are exported annu-
ally, and 70 per cent of the population are engaged
in its cultivation. The river fronts of Rangoon,
Bassein, and Maulmein are lined with mills where it
is husked and prepared for export, and as soon as the
harvest begins in November, there is a continuous
procession of native boats, ranging from the smallest
sampan to the large "tonkin," a Chinese-made barge,
or the " loung," a handsome Viking-like boat built
at Pokokko, bringing down the " paddy," as the un-
husked rice is called, to the mills. The seaports are
also crowded with steamers of all nationalities waiting
to convey it all over the world.
Next to rice in importance comes teak timber. All
the teak in Burma belongs to the Government, and no
one is allowed to cut down a tree without a licence ;
the revenue from this source alone amounts to about
500,000 annually.
6 MISSIONS IN BURMA
There are also extensive petroleum wells in the dry
zone at Y6 nan gyaung ( F/ nan, literally smelly water,
the Burmese word for petroleum). The crude petro-
leum is pumped down to Rangoon through a pipe
275 miles long. It passes under the river at Rangoon
to Syriam, and the tanks of the refineries are among
the first things which the traveller notices on the left
bank of the river as he approaches Rangoon. Cotton
and tobacco are also grown, though not for export,
and there are ruby mines at Mogok on the north-east
hills.
The Irrawaddy. The most cursory description of
Burma must contain some reference to this mighty
river. Its source is undiscovered, and consequently its
exact length is unknown ; but it is navigable for river
steamers all the year round as far as Bhamo, which is
900 miles from the sea.
The river is tidal as far as Myanaung, where the
delta begins. It enters the sea by nine different mouths,
and the river steamer which goes from Rangoon to
Bassein traverses them all. Rangoon is really on the
Hlaing River, and not on the Irrawaddy at all, but as
this river is connected with the Irrawaddy by the Pan-
lang and other creeks, the Rangoon River is reckoned
as one of the nine mouths of the delta.
The delta is a labyrinth of creeks and canals, and in
many parts of this district the only way of getting from
one place to another is by boat. Launches of the
Irrawaddy Flotilla Company ply between most of the
large towns, and the officials are provided with Govern-
ment steamers for the superintendence of their districts.
WOMHN rofNDINIi KICK
BURMA AND THE BURMESE 7
When steamers are not procurable, or when the creeks
are too small for them to ply, one is always able to
get about by sampan. The only railway in the delta,
which traverses the district from Rangoon to Bassein,
is very frequently inundated during the rainy season,
and it only succeeds in reaching its destination at all
by making a wide detour. Railways will never be
used to any large extent in this district.
Perhaps the best way of seeing this part of the
country in a short time is to take the I.F.C. launch
from Rangoon to Bassein. Some of the creeks which
the steamer traverses are so narrow, and the bends are
so sharp, that there is barely room for it to pass, but
the magnificent coco-nut and areca palms especially
when illuminated by the searchlight at night the
picturesque monasteries, the amphibious habits of the
people, the children paddling themselves to school in
dug-out canoes, cannot fail to interest those seeing
them for the first time.
The People. It has already been said that apart
from the immigrant Indians and Chinese, Burma is
inhabited by about fifty-seven indigenous races and
tribes. Which of these peoples were the aborigines of
the country it is impossible to say with certainty, but
the Selung, or Mawken as they call themselves, the
sea gipsies of the Malay Archipelago, have the best
claim, as they are the only indigenous people who do not
belong to the Indo-Chinese family. All the other races
of Burma, with the possible exception of the Talaings,
have earlier or later invaded the country from the north.
They are classified under the following heads
8 MISSIONS IN BURMA
(1) Tibeto - Burmans, including Burmese, Chins,
Kachins, etc.
(2) Siamese-Chinese, including the Tai or Shans,
Karens, etc.
(3) Mon-Hkmer, including Talaings (M6n) Hkmer
(Cambodians), Wa, etc.
The total population of the province in 1901 was
I o,49O,624. 1 About 7,500,000 of these are people who
ordinarily speak Burmese and may be roughly de-
scribed as Burmans, so that after the immigrants of
India and China have been deducted, only about
3,000,000 people are left to be divided amongst the
other fifty odd races ; but even this does not suffi-
ciently denote the ascendancy of the Burmans until
it is understood that Burmese is the lingua franca of
the whole province ; only the most remote tribes, and
the women and children of the nearer ones, do not
understand Burmese.
The Burmese, Shan, and Talaing languages alone
possessed written characters before the advent of
Christian missions. The parent alphabet is Talaing,
probably derived from the Vengi characters used in
South India during the fourth and fifth centuries A.D.
During the past century Karen (Sgaw and Pwo),
Chin, Kachin, and other languages have been reduced
to writing, and parts of the Bible have been translated
into them by Christian missionaries. Still it must be
remembered that a great number of these tribes are
wholly illiterate, and that up to the present their
languages have been unwritten.
1 According to provisional statistics of 1911 it is now 12,057,295.
BURMA AND THE BURMESE 9
The Burmese. The Burmese character is a difficult
thing to analyse, and the most diverse opinions are
expressed with regard to it. One will point to the
fact that the Burmese have completely absorbed the
Talaing nation, which a century and a half ago was
the ruling nation of Burma, but which is now prac-
tically extinct, and from this fact will argue that
Burma is a second Japan with a great future before it.
Another, noticing that half the inhabitants of Rangoon
are foreigners Chinese, Tamils, and Bengalis will
insist that the Burmese are doomed, and that they are
being driven out of their own country.
But whatever we think of the Burmese as a nation,
there can be no doubt about their charm as individuals.
In physical appearance they are not unlike the Japan-
ese, and this is especially true of the women, who are
perhaps the most fascinating of all natives of the East.
They dress in silk, and both men and women alike
have an unerring instinct with regard to the artistic
blending of the colours of their clothes. There is
never, even amongst the uneducated jungle folk, that
harsh clashing of colours which many natives of India
display in their dress, and which is not unknown
amongst our own people in England.
They are fond of fun, and in addition to the in-
digenous variety of football a game played with a
basket ball, the object of the players being to pass it
from one to the other without touching it with the
hands, or allowing it to fall on the ground English
football (Association) and hockey are played excel-
lently well. A few years ago the football team of
to MISSIONS IN BURMA
St. John's College, Rangoon, played a drawn game
with the Royal Irish, who were that year the champions
of the whole of India. The Burmese generally play
Association Football with bare feet!
The people are as light-hearted as children, and
they have the defects as well as the qualities of
children, for they give way to ungovernable fits of
temper, and are then capable of acts of inhuman
cruelty. This trait in the character of the people
accounts for the fact stated in the Government
Annual Report on the Prome Administration for 1 894
that Burma is the most criminal nation in the East-
ern Empire.
Their love of fun has earned for the Burmese the
epithet of the Irish of the East. The open-air theatre
(J)we) is quite an institution amongst them. Perform-
ances are given in the open on moonlight nights, when
the whole of Burma is flooded with intoxicating
brilliance, and as often as not the entertainment takes
place within the precincts of the monastery. It begins
about 9 p.m. and goes on till daybreak. The jokes are
frequently lewd, and the silence of the night is broken
at intervals by roars of laughter. A good deal oi
drinking and gambling goes on at the outskirt of the
crowd, and there are frequent cases of assault with
knives (dahs\ so that in many places these entertain-
ments are prohibited by Government.
The Burman works hard during the paddy season,
but when it is over he is frequently idle for months
and soon gets through his money in gambling and
pleasure, so that when the cultivating season comes
BURMA AND THE BURMESE it
round again he not infrequently has to borrow money
to buy seed.
The chief tenet of Buddhism is " all is vanity," and
yet paradoxical as it may seem, it is the Burmese love
of pleasure which makes him outwardly appear to be
so good a Buddhist. The average Burman is far too
much a child of nature to understand or appreciate
Buddhist metaphysics ; what he can understand is the
periodic festivals which Buddhism offers him. At
these festivals he feeds the monks and goes to the
pagoda, not so much to say his prayers as to join in
the round of festivities.
One of the greatest occasions of rejoicing is the cre-
mation of a monk (P&ngyi byari). Enormous sums
of money are spent over these functions. The corpse
is generally embalmed with honey and covered with
gold leaf; the coffin is placed on a gorgeous catafalque
of fantastic design, and the culmination of the ceremony
is the setting fire to the whole erection by rockets
shot from a distance of about 100 yards, when cata-
falque and gold leaf are all destroyed.
But it is right to add that it is not only upon re-
ligious festivities that the Burmese lavish their money ;
many of them impoverish themselves to earn the most
coveted of all titles, that of kyoung-taga (i.e. builder of
a monastery). As age draws on the devout Burman
impelled by the conviction that after death he will
be re-born as an animal, a human being, or a spirit,
according to the amount of merit or demerit which he
has acquired during his present existence seeks to
make his future secure by spending his money on acts
t2 MISSIONS IN BURMA
of merit. He will build a monastery, or a pagoda, or
perhaps dig a well ; utilitarian scruples trouble him
but little. There may be already more than sufficient
pagodas to meet the requirements of the neighbour-
hood ; his object is not to bestow a benefit upon
others, but to acquire merit for himself.
Birth and adolescence. After the birth of a child the
mother is " roasted " before a slow fire for about seven
days to prevent the dreaded mi yat (" stopping of the
fire "), the name given to all the complications which
may arise after childbirth. Hot bricks are applied to
the mother's body and she is painted with turmeric.
The treatment is so drastic that Burmese women very
early show signs of age.
A Burman never remembers the year in which he
was born or the date of the month, but he always
remembers the day of the week. The reason for this
is that there are certain letters assigned to each day of
the week : and the child may only be called by a name
beginning with the letters assigned to the day on
which he was born : thus if a child's name begins with
a vowel he knows that he must have been born on a
Sunday. At the pagoda there are usually seven stations,
one for each day of the week, and when a Burman goes
to pray or make an offering, he does it at the station
assigned to the day of the week on which he was born.
As each day has its own particular planet the seven
stations round the pagoda are designated by the sign
of the corresponding planets. There are no surnames
amongst the Burmese, and there is nothing in a
Burman's name which indicates his family ; so when
BURMA AND THE BURMESE 13
one of them receives Christian baptism his old name
is usually coupled with a new Biblical name.
Burmese boys are all tattooed, with the exception
of those who live in the large towns and have grown
up under European influence. The absence of tattoo
marks, up till quite recently, was thought to indicate
the coward who ran away when the professional
tattooer came on his rounds. The tattoo pattern
usually covers the whole body from the waist to the
knee, and gives the boy when naked the appearance
of wearing breeches. The operation sometimes takes
several days, and the patient is drugged with opium
whilst it is going on, to help him to bear the pain.
Every Burmese boy knows how to read and write ;
he has learnt to do so at the monastic school, and
with this modicum of secular knowledge, he has also
learnt to say his prayers in Pali, the sacred language
of Buddhism. The education of girls has been
hitherto neglected, but there has recently been a change
for the better in this respect as a result of Christian
missionary activity. The number of illiterates amongst
men in Burma is less in proportion to the population
than the number in Italy.
Every Burmese boy, when he is about 14 years of
age, enters the Buddhist monastic order as a novice ;
perhaps he may only remain in the order for a day, but
until he has entered the order by having his head shaven
and putting on the yellow robe, he is not really a
Buddhist, and, according to the Burmese, hardly a
human being at all. The boys wear their hair long
until they enter the monastery, and when it is cut off
i 4 MISSIONS IN BURMA
it is given to a sister or a girl friend, who interweaves
it with her own : all the Burmese women wear false
hair, and are not ashamed of doing so.
The monastic is the only religious life, according to
Buddhism. There is no holy matrimony, for marriage
is essentially unholy ; there are in consequence a great
number of monks in the country, but their number is
steadily decreasing. In 1891 there were 91,000 in-
mates of the monasteries of Burma, and as the popu-
lation in that year was only 7,605,560 we conclude
that one person in about eighty belonged to the mon-
astic order. Ten years later the number of monks
had fallen to 75,000.
Marriage in Burma is simply concubinage, which
may terminate at the desire of either party. There is
no religious ceremony, but as on the occasion of a
funeral, the monks may be invited, and a general feast
given.
Betel-nut chewing is a universal practice. Betel is
not really a nut at all, but a leaf: the nut used is
areca. A piece of this is pinched off with a cutter and
wrapped up in a betel leaf ; the whole is then smeared
with lime paste and the quid thus prepared is popped
into the mouth. So inveterate is the practice that on
a journey, and in the fields, the men carry a little box
in the fold of their skirts, and distance is occasionally
measured by the number of betel-nut quids that have
been chewed on the journey.
Everybody smokes in Burma, and it is not un-
common to see a mother take her cheroot a foot long
and half an inch in diameter out of her own mouth
BURMA AND THE BURMESE 15
and put it into that of her baby to quiet its crying.
The common practice is to smoke the home-made cigar,
but the cigarette habit has increased of late years.
The educational department has tried to check the
habit amongst schoolboys, and all well-wishers of the
Burmese must hope that its efforts will meet with
success.
Dress. Both the men and women wear skirts (pasd).
The men hitch theirs up in front, and the women at
the side, without the aid of buttons or pins. The
hitch in front is used by the men as a pocket, and it is
here that they carry their betel boxes. When travel-
ling, men and women wear twoflasos at once, a cotton
one on top and a silk one below, and, when nearing the
town, the cotton one is slipped off and put on again
underneath the silk one.
Food. The Burmese only have two real meals : one
in the morning at about 9 a.m., and another in the
evening at about 6 p.m. ; but almost the whole of the
interim is filled up with tea drinking, betel chewing,
and smoking. Both morning and evening meals con-
sist of curry and rice, and they are never considered
to be complete unless accompanied by an evil-smelling
concoction of putrid fish called nga pi. The food is
eaten with the hands, which are moistened before the
meal in order to make the rice adhere more readily.
The people squat on the floor round a circular table
a foot high, and do not talk during the meal ; they
drink after eating, but only water. The Burmese are
fond of meat and especially of pork : no festival is
considered complete unless a curry of pork is provided.
1 6 MISSIONS IN BURMA
So invariable is this practice that a Burman will fre-
quently reply to a question about the number of
people present at a certain festival by stating the
number of pounds of pork that was consumed.
It is characteristic of the inconsequential Burman
that while as a Buddhist he zealously tries to observe
the commandment " Thou shalt take no life," he eats,
for an Eastern, a great deal of meat, and he will em-
ploy any amount of sophistry to palliate the breaches
of the commandment which are committed, to meet
the requirements of the market. The fisherman and
hunter are looked upon as outcasts, yet most of the
members of these professions are zealous Buddhists.
The fisherman will explain that he does not kill the
fish ; all that he does is to pull the fish out of the water,
when it dies of itself!
A Buddhist may not kill a tiger, a snake, or a mad
dog. He will see an animal die a slow lingering
death, and will not release it from misery lest he
break the commandment, " Thou shalt take no life ".
The Burmese are generally kind to animals, except
when they give way to fits of passion ; then there is
nothing too cruel for them to do.
The Burman who drinks is rightly regarded as a
bad character, for no native ever seems to be able to
take such things in moderation. One of the five obli-
gatory commandments of Buddhism is "Thou shalt
drink no intoxicants," and a habitual drunkard would
certainly be described as bane sa (literally opium eater),
which is the general expression of contempt. A Bur-
man who intends to commit a violent crime usually
BURMA AND THE BURMESE i?
makes himself drunk (ye hst tike te, literally he takes
courage medicine}. Unfortunately drunkenness is on
the increase, especially in the large towns.
Opium is not smoked, but chewed, in Burma. The im-
mediate effect of it when eaten is apparently the exact
opposite of its effect when smoked : instead of being a
soporific, it is a stimulant. An exhausted sampan
man, immediately after eating a pill of opium, will be
able to row his boat against the current with redoubled
energy. After a time, however, the drug emaciates
the body and degrades the mind of the consumer.
Opium is a Government monopoly in Burma, and
only licensed consumers are allowed to buy it. The
price of opium is its weight in rupees. A great deal
of smuggling is carried on despite the vigilance of the
excise officials.
The cocaine habit is also on the increase, and women
are said to be especially addicted to it. They take it
in the form of a powder by rubbing it on the lips.
Medicine and disease. A Burman who has failed
at everything else usually falls back on the medical
profession as a means of livelihood. Every Burman
is acquainted with the fact that there are exactly
ninety-six diseases, and all that the would-be doctor
has to do, is to learn the various methods of treatment
by drugs, diet, massage, charms, and mantras. Drugs
are given in enormous doses, and the doctor usually
prescribes a diet at the same time as he administers
the medicine : the patient is told to avoid food of
bitter, sweet, or some other flavour, which sounds to
the European quite arbitrary. Massage is a universal
1 8 MISSIONS IN BURMA
remedy, and whilst every Burman knows something
about it, the professional masseurs are wonderfully ex-
pert. It is a common sight on a steamer where all
the passengers lie on deck or in a train, to see a per-
son walking up and down the prostrate body of his
friend massaging him with his feet and relieving him of
the cramp (nyaung de) from which the Burmese suffer
greatly. Unfortunately this treatment is resorted to in
quite unsuitable cases sometimes with fatal results.
Charms consisting of pieces of string tied round
the wrist or neck, over which mantras, spells, have
been chanted, are believed to be more efficacious than
medicine and are universally resorted to.
Consumption is becoming more common owing to
the growing practice of using mosquito curtains : the
curtains used are almost opaque, and exclude not only
the light but the air. Two or more people lie under
one of these curtains and the air must have been
breathed over and over again before the morning.
A curious phenomenon of Burmese sickness is a sort
of convulsion or spasm (tet de) which is generally fol-
lowed by fatal results. Dyspepsia in many forms is
rife, and is probably due to the practice of chewing
betel. The people like English pills except the cath-
artics, which they are very suspicious of, but until
recently they have been afraid of the Government
hospitals. One reason for this is that all the police
cases of assault are taken to these hospitals, so they
are regarded as a sort of annex to the jail and police
court, which it is hardly respectable for the quiet law-
abiding citizen to frequent. Another reason is that
\ I
BURMESE BOAT (LOL'NG) IN FULL SAIL
Hl'KMKSK HIM. LOCK CAKI
BURMA AND THE BURMESE 19
the Burman has a great horror of the surgeon's knife, and
in most cases will die rather than face it. This suspicion
is gradually dying away, however, owing to the kind-
ness which is shown by the doctors and nurses in the
hospitals, and the wonderful cures that take place there.
Art. That the Burman is artistic by nature is
shown by the excellent taste with which he chooses
the colour of his clothes. The arts in which he excels
are teak and ivory carving, silver repouss work, and
painting on silk. The designs are characteristic and
recur again and again. The commonest figures used
are those of Nats (i.e. angels and demons) and gro-
tesque animals. The wood, silver and ivory work is
executed in bold relief. The lacquer work, which is
carried on chiefly at Pagan, is done in the following
manner : the framework of the articles is made of thin
strips of bamboo plaited together ; this framework is
varnished and the pattern is then applied in one or
more colours with an iron style. In the best kind of
work the opposite edges of a box may be pressed to-
gether without the bamboo breaking or the lacquer
cracking. The fumes of the lacquer are almost as in-
jurious to the workers as those of lead glaze in pottery.
Language. The Burmese language has many of
the characteristics of Chinese, but the writing is not
idiographic. It is monosyllabic and tonal ; each word
may be pronounced with three different tones and the
tone alters the meaning of the word completely ; no
European devoid of a musical ear can ever hope to
speak the language accurately. The difficulty is
further increased by the fact that the language of
20 MISSIONS IN BURMA
the monastery, of the court, and of the market, are
quite distinct, e.g. if a monk dies, the correct ex-
pression is pyan daw mu byi (literally he has returned) ;
if a king dies it is Nat ywa san daw mu byi (he is en-
joying the delights of the Nat world) ; if an ordinary
person dies it is simply hson byi (he is finished).
Honorific particles are frequently interspersed in con-
versation with a superior, e.g. if a Burman has
occasion to ask an Englishman where he is going,
he will probably use an expression which may be
rendered : " My lord, where is your royal self kindly
proceeding ? " The Burmese are very clever at invent-
ing expressions to describe new objects : a bicycle is a
" wheel engine " ; a railway train is " fire carriage ".
(Elijah's " chariot of fire" was rendered into Burmese
by the same expression so that some of our more
ignorant converts believe that the Prophet went up
into heaven in a railway train !)
Death, Death itself is turned into a joke by the
Burmese. A band plays outside the house all night,
and those who watch the body spend their time in
gambling. The band, and perhaps a troupe of profes-
sional dancers, lead the funeral procession and at the
cemetery refreshments and cheroots are served out to
the company. The body is usually buried ; but in the
case of the well-to-do and of the monks, it is cremated.
In defiance of Buddhism, which teaches that there is
no soul, the common Burmese euphemism for death is
leip bya twet (literally : the butterfly departs}. It is in-
teresting to note that on ancient Greek urns representa-
tions of the soul as a butterfly are common.
BURMA AND THE BURMESE 21
At a funeral alms are given to the assembled monks
and then the chief mourner pours water slowly upon
the ground, calling the attention of Mathdndaye, the
earth goddess, to the good act (koung hmu} that has
been performed, and praying that the deceased and all
present may participate in the merit involved in it.
It remains to add that the Burman is now passing
through a state of transition owing to his contact with
European civilization. He is giving up many of his
time-honoured customs, and the change is not always
for the better. The village system, which permitted
the head man (thu gyf] to settle by canon law (Dhamma
that} matrimonial cases and cases affecting division and
inheritance of property, has partially broken down, and
such cases are now frequently brought into the Law
Courts. The Burman is consequently becoming more
and more litigious, and the young men of the upper
class who have been educated in England almost in-
variably choose the bar as their profession.
Flesh is more frequently eaten than in the olden
times, and more and more villages are petitioning
Government for permission to open new slaughter-
houses. As the old customs pass away the moral
sanctions which they involved lose their hold upon the
people, and there is a noticeable deterioration amongst
the upper classes in the traditional respect shown by
the Burmans to their teachers and elders.
It is easy to take too gloomy a view of this state of
transition ; but while one should be on one's guard
against pessimism, to ignore the change altogether is
to close one's eyes to most significant facts.
II.
THE HILL TRIBES AND ISLANDERS.
IT has already been pointed out that the interior of
Burma is inhabited by about fifty-seven different tribes,
speaking forty different languages. These tribes
mostly live in the mountains, and are engaged chiefly
in what is known as toung ya cultivation. This is
the most wasteful and laborious form of agriculture in
existence. A patch of forest is cleared, the large trees
are cut down, and the whole lot is set on fire ; this patch
of land is then sown, but it can only be cultivated for
one year ; before the next season comes round the
jungle has sprung up again and a new patch has to
be cleared.
In addition to these hill folk, there live in the islands
of the Mergui Archipelago, and in the Andaman and
Nicobar Islands, various tribes of aborigines which
we must also consider. The habits, the language, and
the physical appearance of these various tribes are
widely dissimilar. But whilst they differ in almost
every other particular, they are united by their religion ;
they are all possessed with a common reverence and
fear of the spirits ; they are all Animists.
I. Of these tribes the first group (Tibeto Burman)
(22)
THE HILL TRIBES AND ISLANDERS 23
comprises those which are most closely allied to the
Burmese, and the chief of them are the Kachins,
Mu'hso, and Chins.
Kachins. These people inhabit the mountains in
the north of Burma on the frontier of Assam. They
are a warlike people, and now that they have been
prevented from invading their neighbours' territory
by the British Government, they gratify their warlike
instinct by quarrelling amongst themselves. Part of
their territory is still not directly under British rule,
and the Government prohibits Europeans from travel-
ling through these parts lest they should be killed and
the expense of a punitive expedition should have to be
incurred.
The Kachin language has been reduced to writing
by Mr. Hanson of the American Baptist Mission.
Mr. Hanson has also prepared a Kachin-English
dictionary, and Kachin reading-books for schools,
which have been published at the expense of the
Government.
La'hu or Mu'hso. The extreme east of the Shan
States on the borders of China and Assam is the ter-
ritory inhabited by these people ; they seem to have
been driven from China, and were originally Buddhists,
but have reverted to Animism. During the past ten
years mission work has been carried on amongst them
by the Presbyterians of Siam, and the American
Baptists of Burma, and belonging to the latter mission
alone there are over 9000 converts. The La'hu lan-
guage has been reduced to writing and the Roman
alphabet has been used.
24 MISSIONS IN BURMA
Chins. There are numerous tribes of Chins inhabit-
ing the Western Yomas and the level country in their
immediate vicinity. They are classified as Northern,
Central, and Southern Chins. The dialects spoken
by the various clans differ so widely from one another
that Burmese has to be resorted to when people of
different clans wish to carry on a conversation.
The Chins have a legend, resembling the Biblical
story of the Tower of Babel, which they appeal to as
an explanation of the way in which their race has
become scattered. In the early days the elders of the
tribe met together and expressed their disapproval
of the way in which the moon did its work. They
formulated a plan by which the whole of it, and not
only a portion, should appear every night and give
adequate light, and they all set to work to build a
tower so that they could climb up to the moon. As
the tower advanced in height, colonies of people were
stationed at various levels to pass up provisions and
materials for those working on the top, and the colonies
at the various levels developed differences in dialect
and customs. At last, when the Nat in the moon got
angry and overthrew the tower, the various colonies
were scattered from north to south, and up and down
the country, and developed into different tribes.
Of all the hill tribes the Chins are most closely
allied to the Burmese. A Chin, unlike a Shan or a
Karen, when he learns the Burmese language speaks
it without any accent ; and so it may be assumed that
the Chins with their religion and customs of to-day
give us a picture of what the Burmese were before the
THE HILL TRIBES AND ISLANDERS 25
introduction of Buddhism. There are about 200,000
Chins in Burma.
One of the best-known customs of the Chins is that
they tattoo the faces of their women. The origin of
the practice is said to be that in the old times the
Burmese used to run away with the Chin women ; in
order to put an end to this their faces were disfigured
so as to render them repulsive to the Burmans.
The Southern Chins are Animists and worship the
spirits of nature and of their dead ancestors, but they
also have a belief in an eternal creator whom they call
Mother Hli : they do not worship her, for as she is
wholly good she will do them no harm, and conse-
quently needs no propitiation.
2. The Shans, Toungthus, and Karens, are the chief
tribes belonging to the Siamese-Chinese sub-family of
Burmese tribes. Of these the Shans are the most
numerous of all the hill peoples of Burma, and much
has been written about them. Their religion is a very
degraded form of Buddhism, but it has so strong a
hold of them that the Christian missionary finds them
even less receptive than the Burmese to his mes-
sage.
There are about 800,000 of them in Burma, and
their territory is divided up into thirty-eight states,
each of which is ruled over by a chief, generally called
a Sawbwa, who regulates the internal affairs of his
state under the English Commissioner. Shan has for
many centuries been a written language, the alphabet
used being a modification of the Burmese. A Shan-
English dictionary and a translation of the Bible have
26 MISSIONS IN BURMA
been made by the late Dr. Gushing of the American
Baptist Mission.
The Toungthus are closely allied to the Shans, and
inhabit the western slopes of the Shan Plateau.
Karens. The origin of these people is buried in
mystery. Some of their customs are strangely like
those of the ancient Jews (e.g. the sin of adultery is
punished by death). Some of their words are as-
tonishingly like Hebrew (Ywa = God, resembles Jah,
Jehovah) ; and the inference seems to be that before
their migration into Burma the Karens came into con-
tact with Jewish colonies, probably in China. Their
language closely resembles Chinese, and China must
have been their original home. They are now settled
for the most part in the Pegu Yomas to the east of the
Irrawaddy, and on the Arakan Yomas to the north of
Bassein ; but since the British occupation removed their
terror of the Burmese, they have been coming down
into the plains in increasing numbers, and their plod-
ding industrious habits have enabled them to convert
miles of virgin forest into fertile paddy fields. In the
delta of the Irrawaddy thousands of Karens have settled,
and their villages can usually be recognized by the
signs of prosperity which they display.
If the Burmese are called the Irish of the East, the
Karens might be called the Scotch : they are industri-
ous, taciturn, and religious. The thousands of Chris-
tians among them belonging to the American Baptists
observe Sunday with a Sabbatarian zeal hardly to be
found even in the country parts of Scotland.
The Karens are much lighter in complexion than
THE HILL TRIBES AND ISLANDERS 27
the Burmese, and are more heavily built. The
national costume of the men consists of short black
trousers and a tunic ; the women wear a similar tunic
over a petticoat, and they wear as a head-dress a
curiously arranged turban. This costume has been
almost completely discarded by the Karens who dwell
in the plains, in favour of the Burmese dress.
There are three main divisions of the people : the
Sgaw (or Burmese Karen), the Pwo (or Talaing Karen),
and Bwe. The Sgaw language has no final conson-
ants, and owing to this, and the broad open vowels,
the people have excellent singing voices. The Chris-
tians sing hymns and anthems in parts, and the quality
of the tone often reminds one of a Yorkshire choir.
When the Duke of Connaught visited Burma he ex-
pressed himself much pleased with the singing of the
Karen Christians belonging to the Church mission at
Toungoo. The language of the Bwes somewhat re-
sembles Sgaw ; the Karen Christians mostly belong to
these two tribes. The Pwo Karen language is quite
different, and like Burmese it has numerous final con-
sonants. The Karens speaking this language live for
the most part in the delta.
These two languages were unwritten before the
advent of Christian missions. Alphabets have since
been constructed for them by adaptation of the Burmese
characters ; and the Bible and Prayer Book, and
numerous other Christian books have been translated
into them. There are apparently only two presses which
possess founts of Karen type : the American Baptist
Press in Rangoon, and the Anglican Press at Toungoo.
28 MISSIONS IN BURMA
Next to the Shans the Karens are the most numerous
of the tribes of Burma ; they number in all over
700,000. They offer one of the most conspicuous
examples in the world of the beneficial effect of
Christian missions. Before they were brought into
touch with Christianity mainly by the devotion of
Judson and his contemporaries a century ago the
Karens were degraded, illiterate savages, dwelling in
almost inaccessible mountains, perpetually at war
amongst themselves, and yet so terrified at a Burman
that they fled at his approach. They were drunken
and superstitious, and when they were not preoccupied
with the cultivation of their little patch of toung ya,
they were planning or carrying out raids on their
neighbours' villages for the purpose of stealing their
children. Now over 100,000 of them are Christians ;
almost all the Christians can read and write one, two,
or three languages ; instead of being afraid of the
Burmese they have migrated into the plains in large
numbers, and are competing successfully with them in
the Government, mercantile, educational, and medical
services.
3. Of the tribes belonging to the third sub-family
(Mon-Hkmer), only the Talaings (M6n) and the Wa
are of special interest. The Talaings are chiefly in-
teresting as presenting a remarkable instance of how
one race may become merged in another and lose its
own identity. In ancient times the Mon-speaking
people were numerous not only in Burma but in India.
The K61s and other hill tribes in India still speak
Munda languages which have something in common
ANDAMANESE FISHING WITH BOW AND ARROW FROM A CATAMARAN,
I.E. A CANOE WITH AN OUTRIGGER
NICOBARKSK IHH'SKS
THE HILL'TRIBES AND ISLANDERS 29
* '
with M6n. Thej word Talaing, therefore notwith-
standing Dr. Forchammer's opinion to the contrary
seems to be the same as Telingana, the name of the
country in South India where some of the Munda-
speaking Dravidians dwelt ; so the Talaings of Burma,
instead of coming overland from Tibet and China,
may have come by sea from South India ; at any rate
it was by them that literature and the Buddhist religion
were introduced into Burma from India. As late as
a century and a half ago the Talaings were masters
of the whole of Burma ; now people and language
are well-nigh extinct. There are valuable historical
records preserved in this language at the Bernard Free
Library in Rangoon, which may provide a key to
the closed book of the early history of Burma.
Strange to say, the greatest authority on the Talaing
language is a Western scholar who has never been in
Burma, Pater W. Schmidt of Vienna.
The Wa on the Siamese frontier are scalp hunters.
They hunt for scalps, not in the spirit of the Red
Indian brave, as a sign of prowess in war ; their motive
is a religious one. A man's spirit is believed by them
to dwell in the top of his head, so the scalp is taken
and hung over the wall of the village in order that the
man's spirit may protect the inhabitants from the at-
tacks of other spirits.
THE ISLANDERS.
Andamanese. The Andaman Islands in the Bay of
Bengal are famous because at Port Blair, the capital,
is the penal settlement for the whole of India. The
3 o MISSIONS IN BURMA
jails are a microcosm of India, and amongst the male
and female prisoners are to be found representatives
of almost every race inhabiting India. The aborigines
of the Islands are absolutely different from any of the
dwellers on the mainland, and are of pure descent.
They are negrito pigmies, with black curly hair ;
their average height is about 4 feet 9 inches, and men
and women are stark naked, except that the latter
wear a girdle from which is suspended a bundle of
leaves.
The mountains of the interior are inhabited by
a tribe called Jarawas ; they have no villages and
nothing that can be described as a house ; they are
nomadic in their habits and so determined to remain
in seclusion and isolation that they shoot strangers at
sight. They use poisoned arrows, and woe to the
convict who has escaped to the hills from the penal
settlement. The Jarawds from time to time come
down to the plains and murder the convicts working
on the plantations. An expedition intended to
punish the offenders after one of these raids in 1902,
ended disastrously the leader, Mr. Vaux, being
killed.
The Andamanese are as a race rapidly becoming
extinct. There are now only about 2000 of them,
and it has been predicted that in less than a century
they will have ceased to exist. Mission work was
begun amongst them, and there are one or two
faithful converts, but no attempt is made now to
evangelize them in their own language, and the
amelioration of their condition is left to the " Home "
THE HILL TRIBES AND ISLANDERS 31
and hospital which the Government has built for them.
The home is on the fringe of the settlement, and there
the natives sell bows and arrows and other "curios"
of their own manufacture and get rice, tobacco, sugar,
and other amenities of civilization in exchange.
Nicobarese. The Nicobar Islands are south of the
Andamans, and the inhabitants are quite distinct from
the Andamanese. In stature they are not unlike the
Karens, their limbs being strong and heavily made ;
a characteristic feature of the adults, however, is the
deformed mouth and prominent teeth the result of
excessive betel-chewing.
The language, at any rate in one of its varieties,
has affinities with the Munda languages of India and
the Mon (Talaing) of Burma.
The bulk of the population is concentrated in Car
Nicobar, the most northerly island of the group, and
the chief settlement is Mus; there are 4000 people
on Car Nicobar. The chief product of the islands is
coco-nuts, which form the staple food of the people.
The Nicobarese barter these for rice, tobacco, etc.,
with the Chinese and Malay traders who come from
the mainland. The Government steamer from Port
Blair visits the island about four times a year.
The inhabitants make magnificent dug-out canoes
in which they are able to paddle from island to island ;
as many as forty men can sit in one of them to paddle.
Their religion is Animism, and they make grotesque
images of animals and human beings which they hang
up in their houses not for worship, but as scare-devils
to drive away the demons of sickness and death.
32 MISSIONS IN BURMA
From time to time there are cases of ritual murder :
disease and misfortune are supposed to be the result
of the machinations of some person possessed of the
" evil eye " ; he is sometimes " smelt out " by a pro-
fessional witch doctor, as amongst the Zulus, but
more often by a self-constituted tribunal of villagers,
and then the suspected person is quietly murdered in
his sleep. This state of things is, of course, not per-
mitted by the British Government, and the agent has
to report all cases of ritual murder to the Chief Com-
missioner of the Andamans. The present writer saw
Nicobarese convicts in the prison at Port Blair who
had been found guilty of such murder and were serving
a period of hard labour.
The houses resemble gigantic beehives of the old-
fashioned straw kind, and are built with consummate
skill. They are elevated on posts about ten feet from
the ground, and the entrance is through a hole in the
floor. The people are all but naked, but the men
wear a fillet round the head, the ends of which project
like horns ; they also wear a belt with a cord hang-
ing down behind like a tail. The early explorers see-
ing these ornaments from a distance thought that the
Nicobarese had real tails, and called them the " tailed
people ".
Many of the people have picked up a few words of
English which they are fond of using, and they appear
on the deck of the Government steamer in motley
costumes, gifts of the European visitors, as are also
the absurd names by which they call themselves such
as " Friend of England," " Sweet William," and the
THE HILL TRIBES AND ISLANDERS 33
like. It is an interesting fact that a century ago the
natives of Car Nicobar spoke the Portuguese of the
Indian Eurasians. 1
The Nicobarese have the savage's love for shining
metal, and at their great feasts, when hundreds of pigs
are slaughtered, each family displays its wealth of
silver spoons, forks, and soup ladles on a post outside
the house ; sometimes a household will possess hun-
dreds of these things, and they are never used for any
purpose except ornament, and to proclaim the wealth
of their owner : they are destroyed at his death.
There is a quaint custom, which is also found among
backward tribes in many other parts of the world, of
isolating the parents before the birth of a child in
maternity houses outside the village ; in these houses
the parents must remain some months after the child
is born. Near these houses is the House of Pollution,
where those on the point of death are carried to pass
their last hours.
The Mawken? These people are a small and in-
teresting race inhabiting the islands of the Mergui
Archipelago, off the west coast of the southern ex-
tremity of Burma. The race is said to number between
two and three thousand all told. Most of the Mawken
live entirely in boats ; cooking, eating, and sleeping,
marrying and giving in marriage, in their unique little
craft. They are to be found here to-day and fifty
miles off to-morrow. Some of them have small huts,
like magnified dog-kennels, on various islands ; but
1 Hamilton, " Asiatic Researches," Vol. II.
J This description of the Mawken is by the Rev. W. G. White.
3
34 MISSIONS IN BURMA
even these people spend the greater part of their time
travelling about in their boats, seeking food, or try-
ing to earn a few rupees. They are veritable " Sea
Gipsies ".
The word Mawken comes from two of their words
and means " drowned in the sea ". It is said that,
generations ago, the ancestors of the Mawken had a
large kingdom upon Kissering Island, and that they
were turned out by the Burmese, upon which they took
to boat life. At first the sides of their boats were not
made high enough, and in monsoon weather the waves
easily swamped them. Numbers of Mawken were
" drowned in the sea " hence their name. Learning
by experience, they added another 9 inches or so to
the sides of the boats. This addition is called " Maw,"
and it is shown by a rib, which marks the former
height of the gun whale. This is the "drowning"
part of the boat. The origin of the Mawken has not
been satisfactorily arrived at ; but there is reason to
suppose that they were driven forth from the mainland
centuries ago.
Although the body of the language if we judge
from a vocabulary of about two thousand words, which
is being daily added to is distinctly Mawken, yet
there are many words which have affinity with Malay.
Within recent years some borrowing from Malay,
Siamese, Burmese, and even Hindustani and English,
has been taking place, for the Mawken language may
be said to have ceased its growth from within. In
connexion with the giving of Christian instruction, it
has been found possible to obtain a word for " Holy "
THE HILL TRIBES AND ISLANDERS 35
by coalescing two Mawken words meaning pure and
separate. The language affinities with Malay are sup-
ported by a tradition which exists amongst the Malays
that, " Long ago a Malay married one of the strange
bush people, the Saki who are still to be found in the
forest or jungle, and that he and his wife were driven
forth into the islands ".
In 1846 an American Baptist missionary, Mr.
Brayton, worked amongst the Mawken ; but after six
years the work was given up. About sixteen con-
verts were made. The language had been committed
to writing by the Rev. Mr. Stevens, his predecessor,
and a small primer was published. The script used
was an adaptation of the Pwo Karen characters with
some of the Roman alphabet.
The Mawken religion can be classified under the
general term "Spirit worship". Mr. W. J. S. Cara-
piet, who wrote a brochure on this race in connexion
with the Ethnological Survey of India, gives a strange
story of " Creation ". This was obtained through a
Malay interpreter. Other Mawken who have been
questioned about Creation profess absolute ignorance.
It is possible that here and there a legend is held, or
invented. Generally the Mawken believe that there
is one God, the good spirit, who made everything.
As he is good, there is no need to worry about him.
The religious ceremonies consist of prayers and offer-
ings to the katoi y or evil spirits. Certain men, gener-
ally old men, from time to time, announce themselves
as " possessed ". They then become devil-masters, and
can invoke the devils to hurt, or to heal. When
36 MISSIONS IN BURMA
possession occurs there is a great bodily quaking.
The office cannot be communicated from man to man,
nor is it hereditary.
The invocations used by these people are exclama-
tory and the sentences are short. This needs to be
borne in mind in drawing up forms of service, and
especially prayers, if they are to be made " natural to
the racial modes of prayer". This has been taken
into account in a Baptismal Service, which has been
drawn up.
The Mawken erect rudely carved stakes, to secure
immunity from bad luck, which is supposed to be
warded off by this propitiation of the kdtoi ! They do
not worship the stakes.
It is thought that a devil-master can work a spell
over one he dislikes by doctoring the man's footprints.
This belief is strongly held amongst them. When
invoking the aid of the kdtoi in case of sickness, a
small, carved, wooden box-tray is brought, which
contains charms. A light is placed upon the edge, or
close to it, roasted paddy is cast over the body, and a
palm (or other) fan is vigorously worked. The evil
spirit which causes the illness is sucked out and spat
to the winds.
There is no religious marriage ceremony. When
a man has seen a woman he likes, he sends two male
friends to the boat to chew betel-nut, or something
else. The relatives know what this means (they have
been expecting it, of course). If they are agreeable,
the chewing takes place. The friends return and tell
the would-be husband. He proceeds to the boat and
THE HILL TRIBES AND ISLANDERS 37
takes up his abode with the family, until the birth of
the first child, or any time subsequently when he can
secure, or make, a boat of his own. Then he goes
off. It is common to find three generations inhabiting
one boat. With them live thin and unsightly looking
dogs, as well as creeping things innumerable of the
cockroach family, but lacking wings. Should the
match not be deemed advisable, no chewing takes
place. In some instances the people land and hold
a marriage feast. The Mawken are monogamous.
They regard the possession of two wives as %tndn AS
(not good). Their morals are good.
There are three sets of Mawken the Doong (in-
habiting the Northern islands), the Jaet (Middle islands),
and L'be (Southern islands). Each speaks a different
dialect. Most of the language is common to all three.
The different sets meet in the time of the north-east
monsoon, when the sea is calm, and diving for pearls,
green-snail, etc. can be accomplished in comparative
safety.
Now that diving is better done by others, the
Mawken have lost a large part of their income from
this work. Recently they have taken to selling fire-
wood, and to bringing in bark for tanning, and
boulders.
Unfortunately, the Government has not placed these
people on the protected list with regard to opium.
Opium is a new drug to them. They dread its power.
It makes them lazy and they need to be very active
to get a living at all ; often, in the Rains, they are
nearly starving and eat offal and refuse.
38 MISSIONS IN BURMA
The Mawken have a dread of the departed. They
have special islands for the burial of their dead. In
days gone by, they used to place the corpse, with its
property, upon a low platform, covered with a palm-
leaf roof. The Malays came and robbed the bodies ;
so the Mawken have taken to burying their dead.
As a race, the Mawken are timid, unsettled, and
dirty in habits. But those who are taken away to
Maulmein, to learn to write their language, and to be
instructed in Christianity, soon show themselves to be
some of "Nature's gentlemen". Their politeness is
remarkable. They are conspicuously honest and in-
genuous. And they are grateful. There is reason to
think that a useful future lies before them if they are
carefully dealt with and " not taught English and made
Europeans". The first man brought up was an opium
eater and very unhealthy. When told of its harm and
of slavery to drugs being displeasing to God, he
decided to give it up gradually. This he did, and he
is now a total abstainer. Although desirous of bap-
tism, this has not yet been administered.
After the first service for Mawken which was held
by the writer in the " Church of the Epiphany," Mer-
gui, on Sunday, October 30, 1910, another Mawken
volunteered to proceed to Maulmein.
The various hill tribes and islanders of Burma form
an interesting study by themselves quite apart from
that of the Burmese people proper. The Burmese on
the one hand are civilized and literate, and have a
high form of religion in Buddhism ; on the other hand
THE HILL TRIBES AND ISLANDERS 39
the hill and island dwellers are largely uncivilized and
illiterate, and their religion is a degraded form of
superstition. These degraded people, however, make
a special claim upon the missionary.
The Burman is proud of his race, his literature, and
his religion ; the extent to which he is obsessed by
this spirit of national pride may be gathered from the
wording of the reply of King Thibaw to the British
ultimatum in 1885: "Those heretics, the English
Kala {foreign) barbarians, having most harshly made
demands calculated to bring about an injury and
destruction of our religion, the violation of our national
traditions and customs, and the degradation of our
race, are making a show and preparation as if about
to wage war with our State. ... If these heretic
Kalas should come . . . His Majesty . . . will him-
self march forth with the generals, captains, and
lieutenants with large forces of infantry, artillery,
elephanterie, and cavalry, by land and by water, and
with the might of his army will efface these heretic
Kalas, and conquer and annex their country."
While the Burman often looks on the missionary as
a barbarian and heretic, the hill folk look on him as
a saviour and deliverer. They are degraded, and they
are conscious of their degradation, and far from being
proud of their race and of their customs, are ready to
repudiate both if they can improve their condition.
Many of the Karens and Chins have become Burman-
ized ; they have given up the national dress, language,
and religion, and have for all intents and purposes
become Burmese. Generally speaking, when they be-
40 MISSIONS IN BURMA
come Burmanized they also profess the Buddhist re-
ligion, for Burman and Buddhist are to their minds
convertible terms.
In Burma, as in many other parts of the world, a
great change is coming over these backward tribes
who have hitherto inhabited remote mountains and
islands, and have remained untouched by modern pro-
gress. Year by year they are coming into closer
contact with civilization, and if they do not become
Christians they will become Buddhists. They realize
that the Burmese are more civilized than themselves,
and they know that Buddhism is a nobler form of
religion than Animism, and the tendency among them
is to assume the language, dress, and religion of the
Burmese. When they do this there is often a moral
and intellectual advance, but a Chin or a Karen who
has become a Buddhist is generally a more convinced
Buddhist than a Burman who has been one all his life,
and, humanly speaking, his conversion to Christianity
is an impossibility. If these tribes are to be won for
Christ it must be within the next twenty-five years.
At the end of that time all that are not Christians will
have become Buddhists. If they become Christian
the Buddhist dwellers of the plains will be encircled
by a chain of Christians, whereas, if they become
Buddhist, Burma will present a solid phalanx against
Christianity.
The recent success of the Baptists amongst the Laos
shows how great the possibilities are amongst the hill
tribes : within the last five years 9000 have been
baptized from this tribe alone. Work amongst the
THE HILL TRIBES AND ISLANDERS 41
Chins, Kachins, and Toungthus would produce similar
results were it taken up with zeal.
Among such backward peoples as these hill and
mountain dwellers of Burma, Christian Missions have
won their most notable victories. By the outsider
this success is measured by the number of converts,
but to the missionary it is measured by the character of
their lives. In the simple piety of their lives these
hill Christians demonstrate the power which Christ
has over them.
If each race and nation as it enters the Church will
contribute something towards the fulness of its religious
experience, we may believe that the contribution which
these hill people will make will be the spirit of reverence
and simplicity. They will remind us of the words of
our Lord : " Unless ye become as a little child ye
cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven ".
III.
HISTORY.
ANCIENT PERIOD TO A.D. 1010.
SUVANNA BHUMI, land of gold, is the name by which
Burma is known in the old historical records. The
word has been supposed by some to indicate that
Burma is the Golden Chersonese 1 referred to by
Ptolemy. In A.D. 166 an envoy from Rome seems
to have passed through the country to the Chinese
court. This is the earliest known external reference
to Burma, and throws little light on the early history
of the country. The Burmese, like most Eastern
people, have no idea of history, and the native records,
especially the pagoda histories, are an inextricable
mixture of fact and legend, and for historical purposes
are practically valueless. Nor does archaeology as-
sist the historian of Burma, for the climatic conditions
are such that buildings and inscriptions soon perish.
1 Josephus speaks of Ophir as the Golden Chersonese. The title
applies more properly to the whole of Indo-China rather than to Burma
alone, and the wonderful civilization of the Cambodians (Khmers)
which brought into being the splendid buildings of Angkor Wat, still
existing 200 miles from the mouth of the Mekong, testifies to the ex-
istence of a powerful Buddhist, and later Brahmanic Empire from the
sixth to the eleventh century A.D.
(42)
HISTORY 43
The original inhabitants of Burma were undoubtedly
Negritos, the prototypes of the race of pigmies who
still live in the Andaman Islands. Specimens of the
neolithic instruments used by these peoples, made of
Lydian stone, and socketed so as to be fixed on long
handles as hoes and spades, have been discovered in
various parts of Burma. 1
The present inhabitants of Burma are immigrants
from the north who displaced the Negrito aborigines.
These immigrants came into the country in three suc-
cessive waves : first those of the M6n-Hkmer stock, the
modern representatives of which, the Talaings, are now
to be found in the south along the sea coast ; secondly
the Shans and Karens belonging to the Siamese-Chinese
stock ; these were pressed up into the mountains by the
third and last migration of Tibeto-Burmans.
The history of Burma is the story of the conflicts
which took place between the chief tribes of these
three migrations, the Talaings, Shans, and Burmese,
for the possession of the country, until the advent of
a power from the west which superseded them all.
During this early period a capital was established
at Tagaung, in the ruby mines district of Upper Burma,
the ruins of which remain to this day. Later on a
new dynasty rose into power, and its most famous
member, Duttabaung the King Arthur of Burmese
legend established his capital at Tharekettara near
Prome. This dynasty was superseded about the
dawn of the Christian era, after being reduced to im-
potence by civil war, by the tribes which were ulti-
1 " Rangoon Diocesan Quarterly," Vol. IX, p: 28.
44 MISSIONS IN BURMA
mately welded together to form the Burmese nation,
and a new capital was established at Pagan. Mean-
while, according to the Burmese legend, Buddhism
had been introduced by two monks, Thawna and
Uttara, who had come from the Indian court of King
Asoka about 250 B.C. Whatever truth there may be
in this tradition, there seems no doubt that Burma
received its Buddhism from India and not from China,
by sea and not by land. " It was from some port in
the vicinity of the Krishna and Godaveri that Java and
Cambodia were colonized by Buddhists, and we know
from the classical authorities that it was hence that
communication was kept up between India and the
Golden Chersonese at Thaton and Martaban." l
Prome itself was a seaport during the early part 01
this period and there were numerous immigrants from
India living there who were Buddhists : near Thatdn
there was a large colony of Indians who may have
sailed from the neighbourhood of Amaravati where
magnificent Buddhist remains have been discovered
which can now be seen in the British Museum. The
Talaings, or M6ns, seem to have been akin to the
Telugus and Munda races of India, and such kinship
would account for the facility with which the Talaings
assimilated the civilization and religion of the Indian
immigrants. The Talaing alphabet, which is the
parent of the Burmese and of all other Indo-Chinese
alphabets, was derived from these Indian immigrants.
Not only is the Talaing alphabet of Indian origin, but
its architecture also came from India. The earliest
1 J. Fergusson, " Cave Temples of India," p. 95.
HISTORY 45
Buddhist buildings at Pagan were modelled on those of
That6n, and the style of architecture is obviously Dra-
vidian. The Buddhist temples of Pagan bear remark-
able resemblances to the Hindu temples of Southern
India, and the terraced roofs, now so characteristic of
Burmese monastic buildings, are reproductions in wood
of the stone buildings of India. Again some of the
Buddhist images discovered at That6n bear obvious In-
dian traces upon them and confirm the impression that
Burmese Buddhism came from South India. 1 It was
already corrupt and contained many of the Tantric
accretions so characteristic of the present-day Tibetan
form of Buddhism.
About A.D. 450 Buddhagosha, the translator of the
Singhalese Buddhist Commentaries into Pali, is said to
have visited Thaton. There is some uncertainty about
this, however, as it is not mentioned in the Ceylon
chronicles, nor is any reference made to it in the
Kalyani inscriptions of the fifteenth century A.D. at
Pegu, which are the most authentic authorities we
possess on the history of Buddhism in Burma. All
that can be said for certain is that during this period
Thatdn was the recognized centre of the Buddhist re-
ligion and culture.
In A.D. 639 Thinga Yaza of Pagan introduced the
common era now in use. The year begins when the
sun enters Aries, the first sign of the Zodiac, about
the month of March." The occasion is still commemo-
'Cf. R. C. Temple, " Ramannadesa," p. 31.
3 The year A.D. minus 639 gives the Burmese date, e.g. 1911 - 639
- 1272 is the present year according to the Burmese era.
46 MISSIONS IN BURMA
rated at the New Year's festival or water feast (Thin-
gyan) ; the children celebrate the occasion by throwing
water at all passers-by. " The origin of the custom is
no doubt the rain-making, described by Prof. J. G.
Frazer in ' The Golden Bough/ but the Burmese
explain it by a legend. The Thi-gya-min (king of
the spirits) had a bet with a rival and the loser lost his
head. This could not be allowed to be defiled by
touching the ground, so it was caught by a daughter
of the Nat Dewas (fairies). Seven of them take it in
turn to hold the head, and when the head passes from
one goddess to another the New Year begins. The
head is burning hot and has to be cooled by the pour-
ing on of water. This is recalled by the splashing of
one's neighbour with water at the New Year time." l
At the end of this period, viz. circ. A.D. 1000, we
find Buddhism established in Lower Burma in a de-
based form, offerings of wine and meat being made
to the images of Gaudama. The Talaing kingdom in
the South, with its capital at Thaton, was the chief
centre of Buddhist culture and civilization, while the
Burmese nation was still in the embryo stage of de-
velopment. Its chief centre was Pagan, and its people
were then uncivilized and their language had not yet
been reduced to writing.
MEDIAEVAL PERIOD, 1010-1752.
At the dawn of this period the Burmese nation came
into existence. During what we have called the
ancient period the Burmese people apparently con-
1 " Shway Yoe," p. 354.
SHWH XKiON 1'AOOHA I'AHAN
HISTORY 47
sisted of three separate tribes, akin to the Arakanese
whom they still regard as their elder brothers and
the Chins whom they regard as their younger
brothers ; the genius of one man, Anawrahta, welded
these tribes into one, and made of them the Burmese
nation.
One of Anawrahta's claims to greatness is that
he early recognized the civilizing power of Buddhism.
The traditional religion of his own people was the
same as that of the Chins with whom they are akin,
i.e. Animism, the worship of spirits.
Anawrahta apparently sought at first to obtain the
Buddhist Law from Thaton by peaceful means, but as
King Manhua proved recalcitrant, warlike measures
were resorted to. Thaton was captured and destroyed,
and the king and people, together with the books of
the Law, were carried off to Pagan. King Anawrahta
then began building the wonderful pagodas and
temples which still remain at Pagan as witnesses of
the zeal for the Buddhist religion of himself and his
successors. The dynasty founded by Anawrahta
lasted two centuries ; the last king belonging to it is
known as Tayok-pyi-min (i.e. the king who ran away
from the Chinese). Kublai Khan had overrun Yunnan
in 1254, and twenty years later, when he had become
emperor, on the Burmese king refusing to pay tribute,
he sent an army which sacked Pagan. Marco Polo
tells the story of this campaign ; he, himself, apparently
visited Pagan. He speaks of Burma as Amien or
Mien (whence Mianma, the name by which the Burmese
call their own country).
48 MISSIONS IN BURMA
After the fall of Pagan a period of confusion fol-
lowed ; a succession of Shan kings with their capital
at Ava held sway in the north whilst the Talaings
established themselves at Pegu. Up to this time the
literary language of both Talaings and Burmese was
Pali ; a new impetus to learning resulted from the
liberality with which the rulers of Pegu and Ava now
supported monastic institutions, and the vernaculars
began to be cultivated.
In 1473 Dhammaceti, King of Pegu, fearing lest
the Buddhist monks of Burma should not have the
right succession, sent twenty-two priests and twenty-
two probationers to Ceylon to be reordained. On
their return all the Buddhist monks in the Taking
country were compelled by the king to receive re-
ordination at their hands. The king left a record of
his zeal and piety on ten stone tablets. The Pali
version occupies three and the Talaing translation
seven of these tablets. They are known as the
Kalyani inscriptions and are still extant near Pegu.
Meanwhile a new kingdom arose with its capital at
Toungoo ; Tabin-shwe-ti became king in 1 530, and he
and his famous general Branginoco (Buyin-naung)
subdued both the Talaing kingdom in the south and
the rival Burmese kingdom in the north.
In the days of the Toungoo dynasty the Portuguese,
and, later, other European countries, entered into com-
mercial relations with Burma. After Pegu had been
taken it became the capital of the kings of the Toungoo
dynasty, and on the death of Tabin-shwe-ti, Branginoco
succeeded to the throne of the united Talaing and
HISTORY 49
Burmese kingdoms. The capital was transferred to
Ava by the next king, Maha-dhamma-yaza, who was
the grandson of Branginoco.
During this king's reign perhaps the most romantic
episode in Burmese history took place. A Portuguese
adventurer, Philip de Brito, had established himself as
governor of Syriam. Although he had originally been
only a ship's boy, he had made his position so secure
that the Portuguese viceroy at Goa bestowed upon him
his niece in marriage, and eventually in 1603 the
Talaings accepted him as their king. He built a church
at Syriam, and then, in Portuguese fashion he pro-
ceeded to outrage the feelings of the people by de-
stroying their pagodas and forcing them to become
Christians.
All went well for about ten years and De Brito's
authority extended as far as Toungoo; but he ne-
glected to keep an adequate Portuguese garrison at
Syriam, and when the Burmese King of Ava had
hemmed him in, a Talaing opened the gates of the
city by night. De Brito was impaled on a high stake
in front of his own house, and lingered in agony for
three days till death released him ; whilst his wife
and most of the Portuguese inhabitants were taken as
slaves to Ava. Their descendants are still to be found
in considerable numbers in Upper Burma. They have
adopted the Burmese dress and language and consti-
tute the bulk of the Roman Catholic native population
in that part of the country. " They have been pre-
served in the Christian Faith by the pastoral care of
Catholic missionaries who, to the credit of the Burmese
4
50 MISSIONS IN BURMA
Government, have been allowed throughout all dis-
turbances to reside unmolested among them." :
The rest of the period up till 1752 is the story of the
gradual strengthening of the British commercial posi-
tion in the country. Early in the eighteenth century
the British East India Company established agencies
and factories at Syriam, Prome, and Ava ; later on
Negrais became the main British factory with subordi-
nate factories at Bassein and Syriam. The Takings
had momentarily got the upper hand and had sacked
Ava, and for a few years Burma was united under a
Talaing king while the Burmese were held in subjec-
tion.
MODERN PERIOD FROM 1752.
The Burmese were delivered from their temporary
subjection to the Talaings by Alaung-paya (Alompra)
an obscure hunter born in the neighbourhood of
Shwebo. Between the years 1752-1780 he overran
the whole of the country held by the Talaings. In
1755 he founded a new city which he called by antici-
pation Yan Gon (the war is finished), which is the
modern Rangoon ; but he still retained Shwebo as his
capital. The British apparently got mixed up with
the Talaing revolt, and their factories at Syriam and
Negrais were destroyed. From the time of Alompra
the Talaings as a nation ceased to exist and most of
those who remain have forgotten their own language.
Several towns in Lower Burma like Pyapon (rice
shop), and Kyaiklat (big pagoda) still bear Talaing
1 Phayre, " History of Burma," p. 162.
HISTORY 51
names, and bear witness to the extent of the old Talaing
kingdom in Lower Burma. As has been already
stated the Talaings gave to the Burmese their alphabet
and their religion ; but so rigorous were Alompra's
dealings with them that after his time the long strife
for mastery came to an end, and the Talaings who
were not exterminated became denationalized, and
assumed the Burmese language. Their descendants
at the present day describe themselves as Talaing
Burmans. Alompra's dynasty lasted until 1885, when
the country was finally annexed by Great Britain.
During the reign of Alompra's immediate successors
there was constant war with China or Siam, in which
the Burmese generally got the best of it. Several of
Alompra's sons succeeded him, the most famous of
them being Bodaw-paya. He built a new capital at
Amarapura and commenced the Mingon Pagoda which,
though unfinished, is still the largest brick building in
the world.
A typical story is told by the Burmans of the build-
ing of this pagoda : the king had imprisoned his court
jester because he had said : " When the Talaing king
built his pagoda the Nats came and helped him, but
they have not helped in building the Mingdn Pagoda."
" What do you mean by saying that the Talaing king
was more powerful than I am ? " asked the indignant
king. " My lord," replied the jester, " I did not say
so ; the reason why the Nats have not helped to build
your pagoda is because they know that you are so
powerful that you do not require their aid."
In 1783 Bodaw Paya conquered Arakan and brought
52 MISSIONS IN BURMA
the great brazen image Maha-myat-muni over the
Toungoup Pass to the river and thence by boat to his
capital. It is still enshrined in the temple which he
built, south of the modern city of Mandalay, and which
is known as the Arakan Pagoda.
First Burmese war. The conquest of Arakan
brought the Burmese frontier up to Bengal, and the
friction which followed with the East India Company
was the immediate cause of the first Burmese war.
The British were at that time much impressed by the
success of the Burmese army, and sent several envoys
to the Burmese Court in order to try to avoid hostilities.
The most famous of these envoys was Colonel Symes,
who has left an interesting account of his Mission.
War was declared in 1825. Engagements took
place at the Shwe Dag6n Pagoda, and at Kemendine ;
and during the next year at Donubyu and Prome.
During the hostilities several English residents were
imprisoned by the Burmese and treated with great
cruelty. Among them was Dr. Judson, the pioneer
American Baptist missionary, and the story of his
sufferings and of his release on the arrival of Sir
Archibald Campbell, the British Commander-in-Chief,
is most interesting. Peace was made by the treaty of
Yandabu in 1826 by which the Burmese ceded Assam,
Arakan, and the coast of Tenasserim to Great Britain.
Second Burmese war, 1852. Studied insults to
British residents and officials had made it impossible for
the Viceroy of India, Lord Dalhousie, to do otherwise
than issue an ultimatum. As a result of the war which
followed, Lower Burma was annexed by Great Britain.
HISTORY 53
In 1853 Mindon Min came to the throne of Burma.
Early in his reign Lord Dalhousie sent Phayre as an
envoy to the court at Amarapura ; Yule was his sec-
retary and his account of the mission is as interesting
as the earlier one of Symes. In 1857 Mindon Min,
after consultation with the astrologers, determined to
found a new capital. The result of his deliberations
was the building of Mandalay, which is therefore not
an ancient city as is sometimes thought, but a modern
city only about fifty years old.
Minddn Min was one of the most enlightened
monarchs that ever ruled Burma. He was a devout
Buddhist, and the Kutho Daw at Mandalay a series
of tablets of stone engraven with the Buddhist Law
is a monument of his piety. As is told elsewhere,
he built a Christian church for Dr. Marks ; but even
this king, at the foundation of Mandalay, caused a
pregnant woman to be buried alive in order that
her spirit might become the guardian of the new
capital.
Minddn Min died in 1878 and was succeeded by
his son Thibaw. This prince was entirely under the
domination of his chief queen Supaya-lat (called by
the English soldiers during the war Queen Soup plate !)
The queen was quite unscrupulous, and one of the
first things she persuaded her husband to do, was to
have seventy or eighty members of the royal family
murdered. Some escaped, and the Rev. James Col-
beck, the S.P.G. missionary at Mandalay, succeeded, at
great personal risk, in getting them safely conducted
to Rangoon.
54 MISSIONS IN BURMA
The strained relations with the British Government
were brought to a head by Burmese negotiations with
France, and issued in the third Burmese war. There
was practically no fighting. Thibaw was captured,
and sent as an exile to Ratnagiri, near Bombay, where
he still lives, and Upper Burma was annexed by pro-
clamation on January i, 1886.
Many of the Burmese soldiers, however, had escaped
with their arms, and these formed themselves into
bands of armed robbers known as dacoits, who not only
carried on a guerilla warfare with the British troops
but also committed great atrocities and levied black-
mail upon their fellow-countrymen.
A time of anarchy ensued, and the ultimate pacifi-
cation of the country was only brought about when
some Karen Christians belonging to the American
Baptist Mission had been armed. Mr. Smeaton, a
member of the I.C.S., says in his " Loyal Karens of
Burma " : " Until in sheer despair the Karens rose to
defend their own hearths and homes, the Burmese
rebels and robbers had it all their own way. Troops
could not penetrate the dense jungles, and the Burmese
police were cowardly where they were not disloyal.
The Karens are splendid forest-trackers and ruthless
pursuers : when they rose vengeance was swift. They
tracked the raiders to their hiding-places, attacked
and routed them, hunted the fugitives from jungle
to jungle and cleared the frontier."
In 1897 Burma became a Lieutenant Governorship
under Sir Frederic Fryer.
IV.
BUDDHISM.
A VISITOR to Burma naturally forms the opinion that
Buddhism is the religion of the Burmese ; outward
and visible signs of that religion meet him at every
turn ; the magnificent Shwe Dagon Pagoda dominates
Rangoon, and is the first thing which he sees from the
deck of the boat as it steams up the river. As he goes
about the country the traveller cannot enter a single
village without seeing some token of the Buddhist
Faith ; monasteries and pagodas are to be seen every-
where ; countless images of the Buddha, seated in
meditation, standing in exhortation or reclining in
death, meet him wherever he goes. Some of these
images are colossal, like the reclining Shwe-tha-yaung
near Pegu (181 feet long, and 46 feet high at the
shoulder) .
According to the census report of 1891, there were
91 ,000 inmates of the Buddhist monasteries of Burma,
and as the population in that year was only 7,500,000,
this means that one person in every eighty was a monk
or novice. The monastic population is not so large
now, but there are still enough monks in Burma to
create the impression that there is hardly room for
(55)
56 MISSIONS IN BURMA
any other religion than Buddhism. Moreover the
traveller will have doubtless heard before his arrival,
that in no other country in the world is the Buddhist
Faith to be found in so pure a form as in Burma ; it
will come, therefore, as a shock to him to hear what
Sir G. Scott, the greatest authority on the subject,
has to say about the religion of the Burmese : " The
vast body of the people are Animists pure and simple.
... It is not uncommon to find spirit shrines almost
in the monastic compound, and altars to the viewless
spirits of the air are often actually in the shadow of
the pagoda. It is the heritage of an immemorial past,
it is the core of the popular faith. Buddhism is merely
a sounding brass, a tinkling cymbal, an electro plating,
a bloom, a varnish, enamel, lacquer, a veneer, some-
times only a pargeting which flakes off and shows
the structure below." l
And yet, despite all this, Buddhism has done great
things for Burma in the past ; and that it is still a
power in the land, and perhaps a growing power, will
be shown later on. Burma owes its literature and
civilization to Buddhism, and a study of the religion
is essential to the adequate understanding of its
people.
How far is the Buddhism prevalent in Burma to-day
the same as that which was taught by Gaudama in
India 2500 years ago? We shall be able to answer
this question if we inquire first, what primitive Bud-
dhism was, as expounded in the sacred books ; secondly,
how that primitive Buddhism was affected by subse-
J " Handbook," p. 381.
BUDDHISM 57
quent history ; and thirdly, what the actual practices
of the Burmese Buddhists are to-day.
i. The Buddhism of the Books. 1 Gaudama, the
founder of Buddhism, was born in Nepal about the
year 557 B.C. Countless legends have gathered round
his person and are collected together in the two earliest
accounts we have of his life ; one is the introduction
to the " Jataka Book " of the Southern Buddhists; the
other is the " Lalita Vistara " of the Northern Bud-
dhists. The latter is a Sanskrit poem which forms the
basis of Sir Edwin Arnold's " Light of Asia".
The Burmese life of Gaudama is called " Mala-
linkaya " ; this book forms the basis of Bigandet's
" Life or Legend of Gaudama ". So wild are some of
these legends that scholars like Senart have dismissed
the whole story of Gaudama as a sun-myth and rele-
gated it all to the realms of legend. But it is possible
in some measure to separate the legendary from the
true and to gather together the main facts of the life
of Gaudama.
He belonged to the second division of the Aryan
1 The Tri Pitaka (= three baskets) is the name by which the sacred
books of Buddhism are known ; it consists of three main parts : (i)
Vinaya, dealing with questions of discipline ; (2) Sutta, sermons of
Buddha ; (3) Abhidhamma, Buddhist psychology. The Jataka Book,
telling of the 550 previous births of Gaudama, is a part of the Sutta
pitaka ; it consists of fairy tales, and is the most popular of all the
books amongst the Burmese. Gaudama himself wrote nothing, but
his instructions were given in such a manner that they could easily be
committed to memory. They were reduced to writing just before the
beginning of the Christian era in Pali, a language akin to Sanskrit.
The original recension was lost, and the present text is a translation
from the Singhalese, made by Buddhagosha in the sixth century A.D.
58 MISSIONS IN BURMA
Society, the Kshatriya or fighting caste, which had done
all the work of conquering India from the Dravidians.
This caste was tyrannized over by the Brahmans, and
subsequent events show how intolerable this tyranny
had become to Gaudama and his contemporaries.
He married ; but at the age of 29, soon after the
birth of his son, a series of incidents so impressed
themselves on his mind that he resolved to renounce
the world. These incidents are described in Buddhist
writings as the four signs. It is related how in his
travels Gaudama saw successively an old man, a sick
man, a dead man, and a Yahan (recluse) ; and these
four signs convinced him that the life of the recluse
was the only satisfactory life.
He tried various methods of asceticism, but finding
them all of no avail gave them up. He still persevered,
however, in his quest for the truth, and at last under
the sacred fig-tree at Bodhi Gaya, he suddenly became
illuminated with complete knowledge, and became
Buddha, the enlightened one. No external power had
assisted him in gaining this enlightenment ; he had
asked for no divine help ; it was his own virtue and
knowledge which had developed and raised him higher
than the gods and spirits.
His first intention was only to be a Pacceka Buddha ,
a Buddha for himself, desirous only of his own salva-
tion ; but in response to the request of the god Brahma,
he determined to preach the discovery he had made to
all the world and so become " the Universal Buddha ".
The discovery which he had made, he enunciated in
the Four Great Truths :
BUDDHISM 59
1. Life is suffering.
2. Life is produced by desire.
3. Cessation of desire ends life and suffering.
4. Cessation of desire is produced by following
the eight-fold path.
" The general result of his teaching may be formulated
thus : that most people are foolishly optimistic and
that the great awakening is to become a pessimist.
One must believe not only that pain is inseparable
from existence but that the pleasures of life are only
a part of its pain. When anyone has got so far along
the path of knowledge he traverses the next stage and
gets rid of desire, which is the root of life this is a
Vedic utterance till by casting off desire, ignorance,
doubt, and heresy, as add some of the texts, one has
removed far away all unkindness and vexation of soul,
feeling goodwill to all." l
The Buddha now proceeded to Benares where many
Brahmans were converted by his teaching. He spent
the dry weather in itinerant preaching, whilst the rainy
season ( Vasso, Burmese Wa) 2 he spent in retirement in
a monastery.
The Buddha, to his eternal credit, received converts
from all castes, and all became equal in the community
of the "yellow robe": still it must be remembered
that the metaphysical doctrines which he taught
1 Hopkins, " Religions of India," p. 306.
3 This season, Wa, has become a sort of Buddhist Lent, and
seniority is reckoned amongst the monks by the number of Lents which
they have observed since they last assumed the yellow robe. If a
monk becomes a layman (lu twet) and then resumes the robe, his pre-
vious Lents are all lost.
60 MISSIONS IN BURMA
could only be understood by the wise, so that from the
beginning there was an inner and an outer circle of
monks : the inner circle, consisting of those who under-
stood the subtleties of the doctrine, and the outer
comprising all such as observed the commandments
obligatory upon monks.
" If any man speaks of a democratic element in
Buddhism, he must bear in mind that the conception
of any reformation of national life, any notion in any
way based on the foundation of an ideal earthly king-
dom, of a religious Utopia, was quite foreign to the
fraternity. There was nothing resembling a social
upheaval in India. ... I am not aware of any instance
in which a Candala the pariah of that age is men-
tioned in the sacred writings as a member of the Order,
though undoubtedly some of the laity followers were
of humble rank, and worldly rank did not count in the
Order. ' To the wise belongeth the law,' it is said,
'not to the foolish.' Very unlike the word of that
Man who suffered little children to come unto Him,
' for of such is the Kingdom of God '. For children,
and those who are like children, the arms of Buddha
are not open." l The Order did not at first include
women, but later, at the request of his foster-mother,
the Buddha, with some reluctance, instituted an order
of nuns.
It is sometimes thought that Buddhism teaches
vegetarianism ; this mistaken opinion is a deduction
from the first, and most rigorously observed of all the
JQldenberg, " Buddha," p. 158.
BUDDHISM 6 1
Buddhist commandments, "Thou shalt take no life".
But almost all Buddhists, certainly those of Burma,
eat meat, and they have the best reason for their
practice, for the Buddha himself certainly ate meat, as
his death was due to dysentery brought about by eating
pork. He died amidst his sorrowing disciples and
passed into Nirvana at the age of 80 in the year 477
B.C.
The quintessence of Buddha's teaching is contained
in the formula : " All is sorrow ; all is transient ; there
is no soul ". This formula is recited daily with
numberless repetitions by the faithful. The first
article enunciates that all existence is sorrowful and
evil ; sorrow can only be ended when existence is
ended. One's acts, during life on earth, may have
been so excellent as to produce rebirth in heaven ;
but even existence in heaven must end in death, and
the weary round of existence will only be finally ended
when Nirvana has been reached and life has become
extinct, as when a lamp has gone out after the wick is
finished, and the oil is dry. "Pure Buddhism, with
marble-like coldness, speaks only of heaven that it
may express its pity and contempt for it." 1
The second article teaches that all is transitory,
there is no eternal ; Buddhism is, therefore, antitheistic.
Existence is explained as being due to desire, but
desire cannot be predicated of the concrete universe.
How then did the universe come into existence ? If
it were created who created it ? These questions Bud-
1 Paul Dahlke, " Buddhist Essays," p. 324.
62 MISSIONS IN BURMA
dhism refuses not only to answer, but even to consider :
the inquirer is told that discussion of the matter is
unprofitable, and that he must regard the origin and
existence of the universe as one of the four incompre-
hensibles (Acinteyyo). The origin of life and the
way of salvation are in like manner explained with-
out any reference to God ; Buddhism becomes, there-
fore, in practice, atheistic. There can be no prayer, for
there is no one to pray to ; no forgiveness of sins, for
there is no one to forgive. " I cannot save," said the
Buddha ; "do as I do, and then you will become what
I am ".
Inasmuch as Buddhism eliminates God from its
consideration, it is open to question whether it is
a religion at all ; it has, therefore, been designated by
some not a religion but a philosophy. Prof. Old-
enberg discusses the question with characteristic in-
sight. " The Indian mind was wanting in that simplicity
which can believe, without knowing, as well as in that
bold clearness which seeks to know, without believing ;
and, therefore, the Indian had to frame a doctrine, a
religion, and a philosophy combined ; and therefore,
perhaps, if it must be said, neither the one nor the
other, Buddhism. " l
The third article teaches that there is no Ego, no
soul ; man is not an eternal spirit but simply " a co-
operation of a group of forces, creating an apparent
unit, which has been taken as something in itself, and
has been called a soul." 2 To the Buddhist there is
1 Oldenberg, " Buddha," p. 6.
2 Hackmann, " Buddhism as a Religion," p. 12.
BUDDHISM 63
no more connexion between the individual who exists
one moment and the same individual who exists the
next moment than there is between the consecutive
pictures of a cinematograph ; they follow so rapidly
one upon another that they give the impression that
they are the same, but they are in reality entirely
different pictures. The events of my life follow so
rapidly one upon another that they seem to me to be
continuous and give me the impression of a permanent
existence ; but this is not so. The only thing which
passes over and links the " I " of one moment with
the " I " of the next is Karma, the resultant of all my
acts, good and evil. It is this Karma which, when I
die, produces a new existence. It is not " I " that am
reborn, for there is no " I " ; but the sum of all my
doings is carried over, so to speak, to a new account ;
my Karma survives after my successive deaths until I
am reborn for the last time and enter Nirvana.
All the shades in hell, all the animals on earth, all the
spirits in heaven, are but the varying shapes of exist-
ence resulting from earlier good or bad lives. " It
(Buddhism) swept away from its field of vision the
whole of the great soul theory which had hitherto so
completely filled and dominated the minds of the
superstitious and the thoughtful alike. For the first
time in the history of the world it proclaimed a salva-
tion which each man could attain for himself, and by
himself, in the world, during this life, without the least
reference to God or gods, either great or small." l
There are a few characteristics of this primitive
1 Rhys Davids, " Hibbert Lectures on Buddhism," p. 29.
64 MISSIONS IN BURMA
Buddhism of the books which it is important to keep
in mind :
First, it was imageless. In all the monuments of
the period there is no image of the Buddha; he is
represented only by a symbol, sometimes by a foot-
print, sometimes by the sacred tree, sometimes by a
wheel or a pagoda. 1
Secondly, the condition of the monks was simple ;
there was as yet none of the elaborate organization of
later times. The Buddha and the Law were the only
" Treasures " during the lifetime of Gaudama ; after his
death the order of monks was added to make three. 2
Thirdly, the believers were few and there were very
few monuments.
"There were Buddhists, of course, in India before
Asoka's time, but it seems doubtful if they were suffici-
ently powerful to dig caves or erect monuments ; none
at least have yet been discovered." 3
2. The Buddhism of History. The political condi-
tions of India changed greatly during the centuries
that immediately followed the death of Gaudama.
After the incursion of Alexander the Great the numer-
ous petty states of North India were all united in a
native dynasty under a gifted upstart of low caste
named Chandragupta. He entered into relationship
with Seleucus Nicator, Alexander's successor, and
thus the way was paved for the entrance of Greek art
and Greek thought into India. Chandragupta was not
1 Burgess, " Buddhist Art in India," p. 67.
2 Cf. Oldenberg's " Buddha," p. 338.
8 Fergusson, " History of Indian and Eastern Architecture, p. 144."
BUDDHISM 65
a Buddhist, but his grandson King Asoka became one
(270-233 B.C.). He did for Buddhism what Constan-
tine did later for Christianity : he embraced it himself
and made it a state religion. During his reign Bud-
dhist missionaries penetrated to Kashmir in the north,
Ceylon in the south, and to Burma in the east.
With the external development of the Faith there
also took place an internal change, and its primitive
simplicity became overlaid by the indigenous super-
stitions of the people who professed it. The religious
imagination, naturally so strong in the peoples of
India, conjured up a whole series of previous Buddhas
who became quite as real to them as the historic Gau-
dama ; and the stupas or pagodas which were first in-
tended only to mark the site of some event in the life
of the Buddha, became objects of pilgrimage and wor-
ship.
The decay of primitive Buddhism was further
hastened by the conquest of India by the Mongolian
tribes. These people came into the country from the
north-west during the second century B.C. and estab-
lished an Indo-Scythian Empire, the most-noted ruler
of which was Kanishka.
During this king's reign (arc. 100 B.C.) the cleav-
age which now divides the Buddhist world took place.
On the one hand was the Faith enlarged, developed,
and transformed by the superstitions imported into
it by the Mongolian invaders. This was called the
Maha-Yana or the Great Vehicle. The Scythians
did not understand any of the languages current in
India, and naturally chose Sanskrit, the language
5
66 MISSIONS IN BURMA
of the learned, as the one to be used for their sacred
books. It is this form of the religion, with its
Scriptures written in Sanskrit, which is now prevalent
in Tibet, China, Mongolia, and Japan, and is generally
known as Northern Buddhism. On the other hand,
the Hina-yana or Small Vehicle, adhering more closely
to the primitive Faith, with its sacred writings in the
Pali language, is the form of Buddhism now prevalent
in Ceylon, Burma, and Siam, and is known as Southern
Buddhism.
About the beginning of the Christian era there arose
in north-west India what is known as the Gandhara
School of Sculpture, which brought about the trans-
lation of Greek art into terms of Buddhism, and the
Greek Apollo served as a pattern for Buddha. It has
already been pointed out that in the early monuments
(Barahat, Gaya, and Saftchi) Buddha is only represented
emblematically by the Bodhi tree, a wheel (Svastika\
or some other symbol ; now he himself is imaged as a
god, and like the celestial deities of later Greek art,
is crowned with a nimbus.
From this time onwards till the fourth century
A.D., when the Chinese pilgrim, Fa Hien, visited
India, Buddhism was the dominant religion ; but it
had become dominant through causes which ulti-
mately brought about its extinction in the land of its
origin. As soon as royal patronage was withdrawn
it began to wane. The monks were no longer the
devout and popular mendicants of early days, but, by
their arrogance and wealth, aroused the hatred of the
Brahmans which had only been slumbering. The
BUDDHISM 67
superstitions which had fastened on Buddhism like
parasites choked the spiritual life out of it. "The
religion was become indeed as much a skeleton as
was the Brahmanism of the sixth century B.C. As
the Brahmanic belief had decomposed into spiritless
rites, so Buddhism, changed into dialectic and idolatry
(for in lieu of a god the later church worshipped Buddha)
had lost its hold upon the people. . . . Where Bud-
dhism has succeeded is not where the man-gods, ob-
jects of love and fear, have entered, but where without
rivalry from more sympathetic beliefs, it has itself
evolved a system of superstition and idolatry ; where
all that was scorned by the Master is regarded as
holiest, and all that he insisted upon as vital is dis-
regarded." 1
The Mohammedan conquests in the eleventh and
twelfth centuries helped to put an end to Buddhism
in India.
3. The Buddhism of Bunna. Just at the time when
Buddhism was finally driven out of India it received
a new lease of life in Burma, by being adopted as the
state religion by Anawrahta ; and it has been continu-
ously the religion of the country ever since. What
has been the cause of its success ?
There can be little doubt that the primary cause
has been the educational work of the monks. The
census of 1891 showed that there was an average of
two monasteries for every village in Burma, and practi-
cally all Burmese boys, from the age of 8, receive
their elementary education from the monks in these
1 Hopkins, " Religions of India," pp. 342, 343.
68 MISSIONS IN BURMA
monasteries. The education is free, and the boys, who
live too far away from the village to go backwards
and forwards, stay in the monastery as boarders.
The curriculum in the monastic school is not very
exacting, nor are the educational methods used up-to-
date. The boys shout out their lessons at the top of
their voices, and the daily session sounds to the Euro-
pean passer-by like a breaking-up day in an English
school. But every boy when he leaves the monastery
knows how to read and write, and has become ac-
quainted, at the most impressionable time of his life,
with the beliefs and practices of the Buddhist Faith.
But besides receiving his early instruction in the
monastery every Burmese boy at about the age of 1 4
becomes a novice in the Buddhist Order. Only by
doing so does he become a human being ; up to that
time, he is considered to have been nothing more than
an animal. His hair, which has hitherto been al-
allowed to grow long, is cut off in one piece and is
probably given to his mother or sister, for all ladies
in Burma wear false hair. His head is shorn and he
is conducted with great ceremony to receive the yellow
robe and begging bowl from the hands of the superior
monks.
He may remain a novice for a day or a month,
or for the whole of one Wa ; but after that time has
expired, he usually returns to his ordinary vocation,
although a few remain on as professed monks. The
novice is called Shin. When he is 20 years old, if he
wishes to be formally initiated into the Order, he may
be " ordained," and he then receives the title of Upasin ;
a
P J
BUDDHISM 69
only after he has been an upasin for ten years does
he receive the honorific title of Pdngyi (Great glory),
though that title is loosely used by Europeans to de-
note all the wearers of the yellow robe in Burma.
The Pdngyi is generally the head of a monastery with
several upasins under him. The higher ranks of the
order are the Gaing-6k, i.e. head of all the monasteries
of a town or of a district ; the Sadaw, a kind of vicar-
general ; and the Thathana-baing (he who owns the re-
ligion), superior-general of the whole Order in Burma.
There is an order of nuns in Burma (me-thila-yiri),
but they are in no sense the counterpart of the monks,
and are not formally ordained or professed ; they have
no separate convents of their own, and are not in any
way reverenced ; the general opinion about women
being, that as they cannot become human beings by
putting on the yellow robe, they must strive to
acquire such merit, that when they die they may be
reborn as men ; then they can become monks and so
ultimately attain Nirvana.
Early every day after the morning devotions the
monks leave the monastery in single file, the senior
leading and the rest following in order of superiority.
Each has his own begging-bowl strapped round his
neck and only halts when one of the faithful puts a
spoonful of cooked rice into the bowl. The monk
keeps his eyes on the ground in front of him and does
not say " thank-you " (there is no such expression in
Burmese), for he has not received a favour, but con-
ferred one by taking the rice ; he has enabled the
person who gave him the rice to perform an act of
70 MISSIONS IN BURMA
merit, the benefit of which he will reap in a future ex-
istence. The monks occasionally punish a village by
refusing to beg in it.
When they return to the monastery, if they are
strict, the monks will eat the rice, which they have
collected, at their own meal, which must be finished
before mid-day ; occasionally the rice goes to feed
the crows and dogs which is in itself an act of
merit and the monks partake of a meal which has
been cooked for them by a servant in their absence.
One of the rules of the Buddhist Order is that they
may not, eat after midday.
The instruction of the schoolboys fills up the day.
In the evening, after chanting their devotions, they all
place their hands together and prostrate themselves
before the image of Buddha, and also before the
superior of the monastery, and the daily routine is thus
brought to an impressive close.
But it is not only by the monks that Buddhism is
kept before the minds of the Burmese people ; the
pagodas and images also act as perpetual reminders
of their religion and give the faithful opportunities for
performing works of merit. The pagodas are solid
monuments and not temples, and they usually enshrine
some sacred relic. Of the four most famous pagodas
in Burma the Shw Dag6n at Rangoon is the best
known and most sacred. This pagoda is supposed to
enshrine eight hairs of the Buddha Gaudama, as well
as the bowl, the robe, and staff of Kawkathan, Gawna-
gong, and Kathapa respectively (the three Buddha s
immediately preceding Gaudama).
tSea
" .
i
BUDDHISM 71
Most of the sacred pagodas in Burma are covered
with gold leaf; but the top part of the Shwe Dagon
is covered, not with gold leaf, but with gold plate.
These gold plates were affixed in 1903 at a cost of
between seven and eight lacs of rupees about
50,000. It is surmounted, like all Burmese pagodas,
by the sacred Hti (umbrella) which is covered with
gold and gems. The height of the pagoda is about
the same as the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral, 368
feet.
The Shw6 Hmaw Daw at Pegu, the Shw6 San Daw
at Prome, and the Maha Myat Muni at Mandalay, are
only less sacred than the Shw6 Dagdn. The last
mentioned is, in reality, not a pagoda at all, but a
bronze-gilt image in a large temple ; and it is signifi-
cant of the present state of Buddhism in Burma that
whilst the Kutho Daw, where all the Buddhist Scrip-
tures are set up on stone, at Mandalay, is almost always
completely deserted, the image of the Maha Myat
Muni is never devoid of worshippers. This image is
supposed by the Burmese to have been breathed upon
by the Buddha himself so that it might become an
object of worship to men and angels. The modern
images which are most reverenced now, are those
which have had " life put into them " (thet thiviri] by
the prayers of the monks.
The great pagodas have become places of pilgrimage,
and the Burman visits them with the same hope of
salvation as the Moslem who goes to Mecca, and the
Hindu who goes to the Ganges.
The building of a pagoda is regarded as a work of
72 MISSIONS IN BURMA
great merit ; but as the repair of an old one is not con-
sidered meritorious, many pagodas are in a state of ruin.
The images of the Buddha are regarded by the simple-
minded as being endued with miraculous powers.
Tales are circulated of hair growing on one, or of sweat
exuding from another ; whilst if an image is accident-
ally dug up in a field, or is brought down the river by
the current and landed at some village, the whole
neighbourhood is en fete to do it honour.
There are four holy days in the month, on the four
quarters of the moon, when the pious Buddhists go to
a monastery or pagoda and perform their devotions.
On these days many of the laity observe the com-
mandment which is obligatory only on the monks,
and fast after midday. Each of the great pagodas
has its own festival, and there are others at the begin-
ning and end of Lent and at the New Year which
have already been referred to.
There are numerous sects among the Burmese
Buddhists, but they may be roughly included under
three heads, two orthodox and one heterodox. The
two orthodox sects are the Maha-gandi and the Sula-
gandi. The vast majority of the people belong to the
Maha-gandi. The Sula-gandi is a small body of laymen
and monks who stand for a more strict adhesion to the
tenets of the Faith. They denounce the wearing of silk
robes, the working of which involves the taking of the
life of the silk worms and the consequent breaking of
the first Buddhist commandment : they denounce, too,
the use of sandals and of umbrellas which the monks
of the other sect practise ; and apart from these prac-
BUDDHISM 73
tical matters, the two sects are divided on doctrinal
grounds ; the Maha-gandi are fatalists and are conse-
quently called the Kan sect : the Sula-gandi believe in
free will and are known as the Dwaya sect.
The heterodox may be broadly included under the
term Paramat (excellent). Orthodox Buddhists rev-
erence the three treasures, Paya, the Buddha ; Taya,
the Law ; and Thinga, the clergy : the Paramats re-
ject the third of these altogether, and instead of the
historical Buddha substitute a pantheistic conception
of their own, which they call Shw6 Nyan Daw (the
Holy Mind).
Most of these Paramats still go to the pagodas and
sacred images, but they say that they only worship
Buddha as a manifestation of the Universal Holy
Mind. Moung Po, one of the protagonists of this
school, was executed for heresy by order of King
Minddn : he was buried in the ground with his head
projecting, and this was hacked to pieces by an iron
plough, pulled by bullocks, which was drawn over it.
But the quarrels of the sectaries sink into insignifi-
cance when we remember " that the Buddhism of the
people is of the lips only and that in their hearts the
bulk of them are still swayed by the ingrained ten-
dencies of their Shamanistic forefathers, in a word they
are ' animists pure and simple '. The Burman has added
to his animism so much of Buddhism as suits him,
and with infantile inconsequence draws solace from
each of them in tura I know of no better definition
of the religion of the great bulk of the people of the
Province than that of Mr. Eales in the 1891 census
74 MISSIONS IN BURMA
report: 'a thin veneer 'of philosophy laid on the struc-
ture of Shamanistic belief. The facts are here exactly
expressed. Animism supplies the solid constituents
which hold the faith together, Buddhism the super-
ficial polish. Far be it from me to underrate the value
of that philosophic veneer. It has done all that a
polish can do to smooth and beautify and brighten,
but to the end of time it will never be more than a
polish. In the hour of great heart searching it is
profitless. It is then that the Burman falls back on
his primeval belief. Let but the veneer be scratched
and the Burman stands forth an animist confessed." 1
1 "Census Report," 1901, p. 35.
V.
ANIMISM.
ANIMISM is, in practice, devil worship. Though it is
too degraded a cult to be dignified by the name of
religion, it is the only substitute for religion which
many of the backward races of the world possess.
It is the attempt of simple minds to explain the
mysteries of existence, and to propitiate the hidden
powers.
The Bantu tribes of Africa, the Battaks of the East
Indian Islands, and the tribes inhabiting the mountains
of India and Burma, alike believe in the existence and
influence of a countless host of spirits. There is first
of all the man's own spirit or soul : of this he stands
in dread, for it may leave him when he sleeps or is
sick, and may never come back again ; or it may be
enticed away from him by his enemies. The animist,
therefore, makes offering to his own spirit, and be-
seeches it not to leave him. He also stands in awe
of the spirits of his ancestors who are believed to exist
still in the world ; and elaborate funeral rites are per-
formed to induce the spirit of the departed to leave
the village and to take up his abode in the grave ; and
in order to prevent the spirit from returning to injure
(75)
76 MISSIONS IN BURMA
the living, certain ceremonies must be scrupulously
performed.
But, in addition to the spirits of human beings and
of animals, there are countless others : the mountains,
the rivers, the crops, are all animate, all have their
respective spirits ; to the animist there is no such thing
as an inanimate object. If the rice crop fails, it is
because its spirit or essence (called by the Karens
Kala) has departed, or been seduced from it.
There are doubtless good spirits as well as bad, and
there is almost always amongst these people a vague
belief in the existence of a supreme spirit. But the
animist does not trouble himself about these for he
thinks that they will do him no harm ; his whole con-
cern is to appease the evil spirits, who, as he believes,
are always lurking about ready to do him some injury.
He believes that he is in hourly peril from their attacks,
which are made upon him not because he has broken
a moral law but because he has neglected one of the
ceremonies which tie the spirits down and keep them
in check. As often as not, the attacks of these spirits
are the result of mere spite.
To the animist the whole world is haunted. The
terror which a little English child experiences when
it goes into a dark room alone at night, pursues the
animist not only at night time but during the day also,
not only when he is a child but throughout his whole
life. " He is like a man driven in frenzied pursuit
round and round. Ghosts of the most diverse kinds
lurk in house and village. In the field they endanger
the produce of labour ; in the forest they terrify the
ANIMISM 77
woodcutter ; in the bush they hunt the wanderer.
From them come diseases, madness, death of cattle,
famine. Malicious demons surround women during
pregnancy, and at confinement ; they lie in wait for
the child from the day of its birth ; they swarm round
the houses at night ; they spy through the chinks of
the walls for their helpless victims. The dead friend
or brother becomes an enemy, and his coffin and grave
are the abode of terror. It is fear that occasions the
worship of the departed. Fear is the moving power
of animistic religion in Asia as in Africa." J
Another characteristic of animism is that it is un-
moral. The only idea of sin which the people who
profess it possess, is the neglect of some tradition or
ceremony which will anger the spirits. Tribal custom
takes the place of a moral code, and anything which
is not at variance with the tribal custom may be
practised with impunity. " Custom " not only con-
dones, but commands practices which all enlightened
people regard as immoral. The Custom of the Wa
and of the Nicobarese condones murder ; in the one
case to enable the people to possess themselves of
the powerful charm which they consider the human
scalp to be; and in the other to permit them to
eliminate an undesirable person from the tribe. Cus-
tom condones drunkenness and impurity, for drink-
ing is an indispensable part of a spirit festival ; and as
these festivals take place at night, unbridled licence
is inevitable.
Again in almost every tribe there is an obscene
1 Warncck, " Living Forces of the Gospel ".
78 MISSIONS IN BURMA
ceremony of some form or other by which the youths
of both sexes, on reaching the age of puberty, are
initiated into the tribe.
Animism is not only unmoral ; it is materialistic.
It is not a desire for spiritual blessings in the present,
or for eternal life in the future, that prompts its
religious observances ; it is solely for deliverance from
physical dangers in the present life that animists pray.
They believe in a life after death, but the life is not
blissful ; it is a colourless unending existence devoid
of pleasure or pain, and apparently unconditioned by
the deeds done during life. Death is regarded as the
final judgment, and after death all that remains to be
done is to confine the spirit of the departed to its
legitimate abode, the grave. The dead are regarded
as living a quasi-subterranean life in the grave, and
the object of all funeral rites is to lead the soul safely
to its abode, and so fix it there, as to prevent it from
returning to the realm of the living to cause trouble
and disaster.
The customs of animistic peoples centre for the most
part round three objects : the house, the field, and the
grave. Every house has its own guardian spirit who
presides over the birth, sickness, adolescence, marriage,
and other domestic events of its inhabitants. The
house Nat is recognized by all Burmans ; and there is
invariably a coco-nut hung up in every Burmese house,
and a red rag set up over it, in honour of the house
Nat (Min Magari). In the time of sickness the
coco-nut is taken down and examined ; if it does not
answer the required conditions, a new one is put up in
ANIMISM 79
its place. The posts of houses and monasteries have
cloths put over them in honour of this spirit
There is frequently a little altar bedecked with
flowers in the house, and rice is daily offered to the
spirit in a little bowl before the altar by one of the
family. The Chins, before beginning a meal, often
invoke the spirits of the clan, and throw them a ball
of rice to eat. In time of sickness a spirit medium is
consulted. The medium works himself up into a
frenzied state, and by various incantations and cere-
monies, seeks to expel the demon who has caused the
sickness of his patient.
The spirits of the field and forest receive the special
devotion of the cultivator and hunter. The harvest is
a matter of supreme importance to an agricultural
people, and so amongst animists, the spring season is
the time when the chief sacrifices take place. At this
season the Wa seek for the scalps of their victims,
whose slaughter is virtually a human sacrifice to the
spirits of the field. The Chins make sacrifices of pigs,
fowls, and rice-beer after they have planted their fields.
The crops are supposed to contain a spiritual essence,
the departure of which would mean the complete
failure of the harvest ; and it is this spirit or essence
which has to be propitiated by offerings.
No Burmese hunter would ever think of starting out
on an expedition without raising a bottle of spirits in
one hand and reverently calling upon Ahpo ! Ahpo !
(grandfather, i.e. the old man of the woods) to accept
his offering and to bless his undertaking. Fishermen
and boatmen also have a reverence for this same spirit.
8o MISSIONS IN BURMA
A Burmese fishery is simply a dam across a creek,
with a wickerwork door which is raised when the tide
comes in and closed as it goes out. Near the dam
there is always a flag tied to a bamboo in honour of
Ahpo, and every one who walks across the dam must
show his reverence to the spirit by taking off his shoes,
just as he would at a Buddhist pagoda.
In olden times human sacrifices were offered to
appease the spirits, and although there is no trace of
the practice now in Burma except amongst the Wa, it
is not many years ago since it was resorted to by
the Burmese. In 1775 when Alaungpaya founded
Rangoon, he sacrificed a Taking prince in order that his
spirit might become the guardian of his new capital.
The Sule" Pagoda, the second most sacred shrine in
Rangoon, commemorates the sacrifice.
When Mindon, the best king Burma ever had,
founded Mandalay in 1857, he sacrificed a pregnant
woman in order that her spirit might guard the
city.
The grave is the centre round which all the customs
in propitiation of the spirits of departed ancestors are
gathered. All animistic peoples have elaborate funeral
rites.
The Chins begin preparing rice spirit before the
breath has passed out of the body of the dying man.
Chickens or even buffaloes are then killed to propitiate
the spirit of the deceased, and to provide a feast for
the living. One of the chickens is tied to the big toe
of the man and money is placed in his hand to help
him in the spirit world. The body is cremated and
ANIMISM Si
then the mourners set off with the remains to the
Ayddoung (Hill of Bones).
Whenever they come to a stream a piece of thread
is stretched across, to act as a bridge for the spirit of
the dead man to cross by. The belief 'that spirits
cannot cross water is almost universal. A stick has
previously been prepared exactly as high as the man
who has died ; on the top is carved a king crow (the
totem of the Chins) or an elephant ; and by his in-
cantation the spirit medium has already caused the
spirit of the deceased to take up its abode in this stick.
When the procession comes to the grave, the stick is
set up to prevent the dead man's spirit from returning
to the village. The approaches to the Wa villages are
made zig-zag so as to cause the spirit to lose his way
should he try to come back.
Many animistic tribes have a " day of the dead,"
which is the great feast of the year. On this day the
bodies of all those who have died since the last festival
are exhumed, and the bones are cremated and then
ceremoniously reinterred in the tribal cemetery. The
following account of the Nicobarese festival at the ex-
humation of the dead is taken from the diary of Mr.
V. Solomon the S.P.G. catechist on Car Nicobar.
On the day previous to the exhumation " the people
busy themselves covering the houses and huts with
green coco-palm leaves to prevent pollution by the
disinterred bones of the next day's proceedings. They
then take their supper and dance all night. The
women and children and others stand at a distance
from the graveyard, and one or two of the adults,
6
82 MISSIONS IN BURMA
belonging to each of the houses which are taking part
in the commemoration, open the respective graves,
remove the bones and throw them into an adjoining
bush called ' place of pollution '. The natives have a
horror of this spot which nothing will induce them to
visit at night. But they replace in the graves the
skulls of respected people or heads of families, and
after refilling the holes with earth place over them
the new headstones. Before the skulls are replaced,
however, they are sprinkled with the blood of fowls
and young pigs." The men who break open the graves
bathe in the sea afterwards, and then spend the night
in "the house of pollution". The jaw-bones of the
pigs that have been killed during the festival are then
strung together and exhibited in a public place. 1
The Burmese describe all spirits by the generic term
" Nat ". Nat worship involves the sacrifice of animals
and the drinking of intoxicants, and to show his
reverence for the Nats, the Burman has to break two of
the fundamental commandments of Buddhism. This
paradox does not daunt the inconsequential Burmese,
and to anyone who asks them in the name of Buddhism
to renounce Nat worship, they would reply that to do
this is impossible. Their most epigrammatic proverbs
show how deeply Nat worship is ingrained among the
people. " Nothing can be done without the Nats," is
the belief of all Burmans.
A recent school of apologists has tried to excuse
the spirit worship of the people by insisting that the
Nats are to the Burmese what fairies are to Europeans.
1 Kloss, " Andamans and Nicobars," p. 292.
ANIMISM 83
"But religious ideas are associated with Nats which
are not associated with fairies. The Nats were the
gods of the Burmese before their mythology was
broken up by Buddhism, and under that name their
memory still lingers in the land." *
The paradox referred to becomes more astonishing
when we realize that it is in those places which have
been, and are still, the sacred places of Buddhism
Thaton, Pagan, Mandalay, and Rangoon, that the
most famous Nat shrines are to be found.
The Burman has, in one respect, advanced farther
than the hill tribes in the animistic faith. Whilst the
simpler folk are content with the worship of two
classes of spirits, the spirits of nature, and the spirits
of the departed, the Burmese have added to this
simple cult a pantheon of thirty-seven Nats, consisting
of a sort of aristocracy of spirits. The chief of these
is Thagya Min, the king of the Nat country, who has
a festival all to himself at the end of the Buddhist
Lent. The Burmese New Year Festival (the Water
Feast) is also associated with him.
Sir Richard Temple believes that this " aristocracy
of spirits " was introduced into Burma with Buddhism,
and is really a relic of Brahmanic demonology ; but a
considerable modification has taken place during the
progress of localization in Burma. The progress has
been described by Sir George Scott, who writes :
"These spirits suggest the Vedic gods, but the
pantheon is much more like that of the Greeks, or
the Scandinavians, but with all the difference that is
1 Fytche, " Burma Past and Present," p. 155.
84 MISSIONS IN BURMA
implied in the working out of the same original idea
by a poet, a Viking, and a farmer ". l
It cannot be insisted upon too forcibly that animism,
and not Buddhism, is the real religion of the Burmese
people. Buddhism, to its great credit, has given a
morality and a civilization to the Burmese, but it
appeals to the mind not to the heart, to the reason
not to the instinct, and for his religion the Burman
falls back upon the superstitions of his pre-Buddhist
ancestors.
Sir George Scott asserts that " none of the tribes
have any conception of a supreme Deity. It is not
merely that they have no name for such a Being . . .
but that they seem to have formed no idea of such
an existence". 2 With all respect to the judgment of
the author of these words, I cannot but believe that
in this matter he has allowed his prejudice against
missions shown in his grudging admissions of the
benefits they have conferred, and his somewhat flippant
remarks about certain Christian doctrines to preju-
dice him. Those who know the Chins and the
Karens intimately are convinced of their belief in some
sort of supreme eternal Being ; nor are the Burmese
themselves devoid of traces of this faith. Buddhism
teaches the Burmese to deny that of which their own
instinct assures them the existence of God. Most
of the conversions to Christianity from amongst the
Burmese have been the result of a belief in an " eternal
mind " which every simple Burman holds until he has
become sophisticated by Buddhist atheism. When he
1 " Handbook," p. 384. 2 " Handbook," p. 408.
ANIMISM 85
is in trouble he cries out, " Paya ! Lord !" It cannot
be Lord Gaudama, for Gaudama has entered Nirvana
and ceased to be ; it must be an eternal Lord, who is
capable of helping those in trouble, whom the Burman
invokes.
And so whilst animism is a difficulty to the mis-
sionary because of the immoral practices which it
sanctions, its doctrine of spiritual beings, and its
shadowy belief in a supreme and eternal Spirit, gives
him something to build upon, and has in fact led many,
not only of the hill peoples, but of the Burmese them-
selves, to accept Christianity.
VI.
ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.
THE Roman Catholics were the first Christian mis-
sionaries in Burma. After the discovery of the route
round the Cape to India by Vasco da Gama in 1497
Pope Alexander VI by a bull gave the whole of the
East to Portugal to balance his gift of the West to
Spain.
The result of this bequest of the Pope was, that
wherever the Portuguese sailed for the purpose of
trade, they took with them priests who baptized the
natives wholesale. Thus thousands of the inhabitants
of Ceylon were induced to profess the Christian re-
ligion, and were driven to church at the point of the
bayonet. It was, perhaps, a natural reaction from
this policy which caused the British East India Com-
pany to prohibit any missionary work from being
done in its territories. Some of the Roman priests,
like Francis Xavier, were animated by a wonderful
devotion ; but others had very little grace or tact to
palliate the extraordinary methods which they adopted
in order to Christianize the people.
Allusion has already been made (in chap. Ill) to the
Portuguese settlement at Syriam, and to the murder of
(86)
PICTURES OF "NATS" OR SPIRITS IN A SHRINE
A SHAN RACING CANOK ON THK MOAT AT MANDAI.AV
The rowers stand and Kf as P the paddle with the foot
ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS 87
the Viceroy De Brito and his companions in the year
1612. The Syriam captives were carried to Ava, where
the abler men were made to instruct the Burmese in
gunnery, and continued to form the king's artillery till
the annexation ; the others, who were placed in vil-
lages chiefly between the rivers Mu and Chindwin,
were exempted from tribute but held liable for military
service. Among the followers of De Brito were also
a good number of negroes and pure-blooded natives
from the Malabar coast.
For about three-quarters of a century after this date
hardly any missionary work was attempted ; but in
1692 the first missionary priests of the Society of
Foreign Missions at Paris arrived at Pegu. The next
year they were arrested by order of the king, exposed
naked to the bites of mosquitoes, and finally sewn up
in sacks and thrown into the Pegu River.
In the year 1719 Pope Clement XI sent a solemn
embassy to China consisting of the Patriarch of Alex-
andria, Monsignor Mezzabarba, and several zealous
ecclesiastics. They had a gracious audience of the
Emperor at Peking on the last day of the following
year ; but their affairs having subsequently taken a
less favourable turn, the Patriarch returned to Europe,
after having distributed his clergy in different countries.
Two were appointed to the kingdom of Ava, Pegu,
and Martaban the Rev. Joseph Vittoni, a secular
priest, and Father Calchi, a member of the Barnabite
congregation and a man of very superior parts and
attainments. On their arrival at Syriam, which was
then the principal port of Pegu, they found two Portu-
88 MISSIONS IN BURMA
guese clergy, who acted as chaplains to the few de-
scendants of their countrymen still remaining there ;
but they were wholly ignorant of any language be-
yond their own. After much opposition from several
quarters, which they vanquished by a personal con-
ference with the sovereign, they were authorized to
erect churches and to preach the Christian religion. 1
Father Calchi erected a church at Ava, but worn
out at the age of 42, this saintly man died in 1728.
About two months after Calchi's death, more mission-
aries arrived, Father Gallizia being the first bishop,
and Father Nerini the most prominent missionary.
But in 1745, after Syriam had been captured and
plundered, the Bishop and two missionaries were mur-
dered when travelling under a safe conduct granted
by the Emperor.
In 1 749 Father Nerini, who had escaped by flight,
returned from Pondicherry and built the big church
at Syriam, an Armenian being the chief contributor.
In 1761 Monsignor Marcia Percoto reached Rangoon
after a voyage of two years. Nerini had been made
bishop and had worked hard at grammars and diction-
aries of Burmese and Peguan, and at building churches,
and had sent priests to different posts. Disaster, how-
ever, soon came on the Church. Two were killed at the
sack of Martaban ; Father Angelo, a skilled doctor,
was killed at the sack of Syriam by the Burmese in
1756 when the Peguans were defeated; and at the
same time Nerini was murdered.
Two new priests arrived in 1760, and Percoto the
1 " Bigandet's History," p, 221,
ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS 89
year after that, but ere long the first two died and
Percoto, not yet Bishop, was alone. Some more priests
arrived in 1767, and Percoto died at Ava in 1776.
Sangermano arrived in Burma in 1783 and returned
to Italy in 1808. Becoming President of the Order
of Barnabites at Arpinum, his native city, he employed
himself in preparing a book on Burma for publication,
but was prevented by his death in 1819. He had
completed the church of St. John in Rangoon, which
had been begun some years before, and the wife of the
Burmese viceroy used often to come to the church to
hold discussions with him on religion. Sangermano's
book was published with a preface by Wiseman after-
wards cardinal in 1853 under the title, "A Descrip-
tion of the Burmese Empire ".
At the beginning of the nineteenth century there
were two Roman Catholic churches in Rangoon and
3000 Christians ; but on the outbreak of the first
Burmese war in 1824 the two churches were destroyed
by the Burmese, and all Europeans were imprisoned
in chains, except Father Jose D'Amato, the last of the
Barnabite fathers. He was at once a zealous priest,
an ardent naturalist, and a Burmese and Pali scholar ;
he died at Monhla in 1832.
The Roman Catholic priests in Mandalay received
help from King Mindon, in 1857, to build a church
and mission house ; but owing to the comparative
failure of the Italian priests, and also to the political
changes in Italy in 1856, the mission work in Burma
was handed over to the French Societ6 des Missions
Ltrangeres.
go MISSIONS IN BURMA
In this year Paul Ambrose Bigandet, who had
already had fourteen years' experience as a missionary
at Mergui and Penang, was consecrated Bishop, as
coadjutor to the Bishop of Malaysia, and sent with
three priests to take charge of Burma. He already
knew Burmese, and he became one of the greatest
authorities on the language and religion of Burma.
His book, " The life or legend of Gaudama Buddha,"
is still authoritative, and in acknowledgment of the
brilliancy of this work, the French Government be-
stowed upon him the Cross of the Legion of Honour.
The Christian Brothers took up work at Maulmein
in 1859, at Rangoon in 1861, and at Bassein in 1862.
In 1867 the Milan society for foreign missions took
charge of Toungoo and East Burma. In 1872 A.
Bourdon was consecrated Bishop for Mandalay and
Upper Burma.
In 1892 Bishop Cardot was appointed coadjutor to
Bigandet, who died full of years and honour in 1894.
He had come to Burma when the fortunes of the
Roman Church were at the lowest ebb. On his arrival
in Rangoon the only available church was a bamboo
matting structure, which was blown down by the wind ;
the chapels and mission houses all over the country,
except at Maulmein, had been desecrated and plun-
dered by the Burmese soldiers and the mission priests
had been withdrawn.
Bishop Bigandet reconstructed the whole mission,
and when he died, there were three Roman Bishops
in Burma. "Zealous apostle, writer of distinction,
skilful diplomatist, an authority on education, Bishop
> X V
"$ T3 JZ
ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS 91
Bigandet added to his other qualities a sanctity which
evinced itself in the greatness of his faith, the con-
stancy of his hope, and the ardour of his charity.
The number of people to whom his words carried solace
in misfortune, and his purse relief in want, is known
to his Maker alone. Accustomed all his life, even to
an advanced age, to rise at four in the morning, he
was able to find time, after a scrupulous discharge of
every duty of his state, to devote himself to study and
composition. His spirit of poverty and his asceticism
were as admirable as his other qualities." 1
Under the old Burmese monarchy, although there
was liberty for all foreigners in Burma to worship ac-
cording to their own customs, it was generally under-
stood that no Burman would be allowed to change
his religion, or to be anything else than a Buddhist.
When Judson paid a special visit to the palace to ask
for protection for his Burmese converts, the Emperor
definitely stated that he could not alter the law, but
that its application in any particular case was at the
option of the local magistrate. This permissive pro-
scription of Burmese Christians, prevented the Roman
Catholics from carrying on more vigorous missionary
work. A certain Mr. R. told Judson at Ava, in the
year 1820, the following story :
" About fifteen years ago the Roman Catholic priests
converted to their faith a Burman teacher of talent and
distinction. . . . After his return from Rome, whither
they had sent him to complete his Christian education,
''The Catholic Missions of South Burma" (published by Burns
& Gates).
92 MISSIONS IN BURMA
he was accused by his nephew, a clerk in the high
court of the Empire, of having renounced the estab-
lished religion. The Emperor, who, it must be remem-
bered, was far from approving the religion of Buddha,
ordered that he should be compelled to recant.
" The nephew seized his uncle, cast him into prison
and fetters, caused him to be beaten and tortured con-
tinually, and at length had recourse to the torture of
the iron mall. With this instrument he was gradually
beaten, from the ends of his feet up to his breast, until
his body was little else but one livid wound. Mr. R.
was one of those that stood by and gave money to the
executioners to induce them to strike gently. At
every blow the sufferer pronounced the name of
Christ and declared afterwards that he felt little or no
pain.
" When he was at the point of death under the hands
of his tormentors, some persons, who pitied his case,
went to the Emperor with a statement that he was a
madman, and knew not what he was about ; on which the
Emperor gave orders for his release. The Portuguese
took him away, concealed him until he was able to
move, then sent him privately in a boat to Rangoon
and thence by ship to Bengal, where he finished his
days. Since then the Roman priests, of whom there
are four only in the country, have done nothing in the
way of proselytizing, but confined their labours to their
own flocks, which are composed of the descendants
of foreigners." l This Mr. R. was formerly collector
of Rangoon, but at the time of Judson's visit to him
1 Wayland, "Judson's Life," i. 206.
ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS 93
in Ava he was out of favour with the court, and was
living in retirement
The Roman Catholics have now virtually abandoned
direct evangelistic work amongst the Burmese ; the
great bulk of their adherents in Burma being Tamils,
Pwo-Karens, and Eurasians. Of late their work
amongst the Chinese has met with considerable suc-
cess.
The new cathedral in Rangoon is perhaps the finest
Christian building in the Indian Empire. The archi-
tect was a Dutch priest who, though a confirmed
invalid, superintended the laying of every brick during
the ten years that the building was under construc-
tion, by wheeling himself about the place in a chair,
and having himself hoisted to the top of the roof by
a crane.
The Roman priests have won the admiration of the
European residents by the devotion of their lives.
Few return to Europe after coming out to the East,
and the missionary priests live right among the natives.
The educational and social work of the Roman
Catholics is beyond praise. St. Paul's School, Ran-
goon, is one of the largest and best-equipped boys'
schools in the East, and is staffed by the " Teaching
Brothers," who are trained lay teachers and give their
labour free. It is the wonderful organization ot the
Roman Church, as shown by this brotherhood of
teachers, that enables it to compete successfully with
other Christian Bodies in India, with the result that
many Anglican and Non-conformist children are being
educated in Roman Catholic schools.
94 MISSIONS IN BURMA
The social work done by the nuns in the leper
asylums, and the Little Sisters of the Poor at the
Home for the Aged, wins for the Roman Catholics
the approbation and active assistance of the British
Government.
Roman Catholic Christians are called by the Bur-
mese " Bi-ingi " which means " French " : sometimes
also " Sa-ni " = " red writing," probably with reference
to the rubrics in the Roman Catholic service books.
There are three bishops and 212 European mis-
sionaries (priests, monks, and nuns) belonging to the
Roman Catholic mission in Burma. In 1905 there
were 48,400 Roman Catholic Christians in Lower
Burma alone.
VII.
BAPTIST MISSIONS IN BURMA.
DURING the early years of the nineteenth century
interest in Missions had been stimulated in America
by the passage through the country of English mis-
sionaries on their way to India ; for the British East
India Company did not permit missionaries to sail direct
to India on English boats. In 1810 Adoniram Judson
was just finishing his training for the ministry of the
Congregational Church at Andora, Mass. With three
others, he had determined to offer himself for mission-
ary work to the General Association of the Church,
and as a result of this offer, the American Board of
Commissioners for Foreign Missions was founded.
The American Board determined at first to work in
conjunction with the London Missionary Society, and
Judson was sent to England to propose an arrange-
ment to this effect ; but he was captured by a French
privateer and was detained six weeks in Bayonne. On
his release, he went to London, and met the officials of
the L.M.S. ; but the negotiations seem to have fallen
through, and on his return to America, Judson was
ordained to the ministry of the Congregational Church,
and after his marriage, was sent out by his own Church,
with his companions, to India.
(95)
96 MISSIONS IN BURMA
Judson was bound for Calcutta, and his first home
was to be at Serampore, where the English Baptist
Carey the sanctified cobbler was carrying on his
wonderful work. Judson felt that he must be pre-
pared to argue with the Baptists on the subject of
infant baptism. But during the voyage and the first
few weeks at Calcutta, he came to the conclusion that
the Baptists were right and the Congregationalists
wrong on this subject, and so he and his wife were
baptized, by immersion, at Serampore.
His next experience was transportation. The East
India Company had come to the conclusion that, as
missionary work would excite the natives to revolt,
no missionaries should be allowed in their territories ;
and so Judson was ordered to leave. He fled to the
Isle of France, returned to Madras, and then, fearing
recapture by the Company, he took the first ship which
sailed from the port and found himself, on 13 July,
1813, apparently by an accident, at Rangoon, where
one of the Careys had already begun missionary work.
When the Baptists in America heard of Judson's
change of views, they determined to support him, and
founded the society which is now known as the
American Baptist Missionary Union. Carey soon re-
tired from missionary work altogether, and thus the
work begun at Rangoon by English missionaries passed
into the hands of the American Baptists.
Judson at once set about learning the language.
He compiled a grammar and dictionary both of which
are still in use, though the latter has been greatly en-
larged and began the translation of St. Matthew's
BAPTIST MISSIONS IN BURMA 97
gospel. He secured a press and a fount of Burmese
type from Serampore, and began printing tracts and
other missionary literature. His wife was equally
eager to learn the language and became more fluent
even than her husband in Burmese conversation. By
1 820 there were ten Burmese baptized converts.
Judson found that his efforts to convert the people
were hindered by the anxiety which they felt at their
fate should the knowledge of their embracing Christi-
anity come to the ears of the Burmese Government-
He, therefore, determined to visit the Emperor at Ava,
the capital, and petition him to allow freedom of re-
ligion to all the people of Burma.
It has frequently been asserted that Buddhism, as
contrasted with Christianity, has never been a persecut-
ing religion. This assertion is quite untrue with regard
to Burma. It has already been shown how Minddn Min
stamped out the Paramat heresy. No one can read the
accounts of the missionary pioneers in Burma without
realizing that one of their greatest anxieties was about
the treatment which their converts would receive at
the hands of the Government.
In one of his letters Judson, after mentioning that
his house was watched by police for the purpose of
arresting Burmese converts, says : "In order to test
the real extent and efficiency of the king's order pro-
hibiting the distribution of books at Ava, I opened
a box of tracts in the front part of the house where
I was a guest for a few days. The people took them
greedily, but in less than an hour my assistant Ko En
was arrested and placed in confinement, It cost me
7
9 8 MISSIONS IN BURMA
a great deal to get him set free ; and when he was
released it was on condition that he would give away
no more tracts." 1
Judson proceeded to Ava at the beginning of 1821.
It was probably on this occasion that he wore a white
surplice-like garment to designate his vocation as a
religious teacher. At Rangoon he had worn at one
time a yellow robe in imitation of the Buddhist
monks. 2 He interviewed the king and succeeded in
getting him to read the first few lines of a tract. But
the king dashed it to the ground with disdain and
Judson had to leave the capital with the object of his
mission unattained.
After some months Judson was joined at Rangoon
by a medical missionary named Price, who attracted so
much attention by his successful operations for cata-
ract, that he was ordered up to Ava by the king.
Judson set out with him at the end of 1822. They
were received with much favour at Court, and Judson
determined to bring his wife up from Rangoon and to
carry on missionary work at the capital.
Everything seemed to be turning out favourably
when the whole aspect of affairs was changed by the
outbreak of hostilities with England and the first
Burmese war. As they were approaching the capital
Judson and his wife passed the war boats of Bandoola
on their way to the front, and soon after their arrival
at the capital Judson and Price were seized, with all
the other Europeans, and thrown into prison.
During their imprisonment of twenty-one months
1 Wayland, " Life of Judson," n. 240. 9 Jbid. 11. 319.
BAPTIST MISSIONS IN BURMA 99
the missionaries endured unspeakable hardships. They
would have died of starvation had not Mrs. Judson
sent them food day by day to the prison. During the
hot weather they were transferred from the prison at
Ava to Aung Pinle, on the other side of the Irrawaddy,
and the prisoners had to walk bareheaded and bare-
footed over scorching sand-banks in the middle of the
day. One of the Europeans, a Greek, overcome by the
heat, died on the way. Judson's life was saved by the
devotion of a native servant. " Mr. Gouger's Bengalee
servant came up to them and, seeing the distress of
Mr. Judson, took off his head-dress which was made
of cloth, tore it in two, gave half to his master and
half to Mr. Judson, which he instantly wrapped round
his wounded feet, as they were not allowed to rest even
for a moment. The servant then offered his shoulder
to Mr. Judson, who was almost carried by him the re-
mainder of the way." 1
It was generally understood at the time that they
were being transferred to the new prison to be put to
death, and the fact that they were not actually killed
is due to the perseverance of Mrs. Judson in appealing
to one of the officials who, in pity, refrained from carry-
ing out the orders which he had received.
Whilst Judson was in prison, a daughter was born
to him, and with her child Mrs. Judson made the
journey to the new prison. No wonder she collapsed
on her arrival at Aung Pinle, but she adds in her
diary : " By making presents to the jailers, I ob-
tained leave for Mr. Judson to come out of prison
1 Wayland, " Life of Judson," i. 286.
ioo MISSIONS IN BURMA
and take the emaciated creature (her child) around the
village to beg a little nourishment from those mothers
who had young children." l
Judson acted as interpreter whilst the negotiations
which terminated in the treaty of Yandabo were pro-
ceeding, and he and his wife and child were received
with enthusiasm at the British Camp by Sir Archibald
Campbell and his staff. " Mr. Judson returned in the
evening with an invitation from Sir Archibald to come
immediately to his quarters, where I was the next
morning introduced and received the greatest kind-
ness by the General, who had a tent pitched for
us near his own, took us to his own table, and treated
us with the kindness of a father. . . . Our final release
from Ava and the recovery of all the property that
had been taken was owing entirely to his efforts." 2
As a consequence of the hardships they had under-
gone, mother and child both died soon afterwards at
Amherst in the territory which had been ceded to
Great Britain where the mission had been moved
after the cessation of hostilities.
Mr. Crawford, the commissioner, persuaded Judson
to accompany him on his mission to Ava to complete
the treaty. The only thing which could induce Jud-
son to follow, was the commissioner's promise that he
would try to introduce into the treaty a clause per-
mitting religious toleration in Burma. The clause
was rejected by the Burmese Government, on the
ground that the negotiations were on commercial and
not on religious matters. 8
iWayland, " Life of Judson," i, 289. 2 Ibid. i. 297. 3 Ibid. i. 332.
BAPTIST MISSIONS IN BURMA 101
It is interesting to note that during the first part of
his captivity, the precious MS. of the New Testament
in Burmese was preserved by Judson in his pillow.
When the prisoners were removed to Aung Pinl& the
jailor threw the pillow away and it was picked up by
a disciple, who searched the prison the next day. In
this manner the document was almost miraculously
preserved.
After the death of his wife Judson practically lived
the life of a hermit. The money given to him by the
Government for his services as interpreter during Mr.
Crawford's embassy he handed over to the Society as
a matter of course ; and he also made a gift to the
Society of all his own private funds. He built a her-
mitage on the verge of the jungle where he lived by
himself for weeks together, eating little more than
rice, and spending his whole time in devotion and in
the translation of the Old Testament. At another time
he spent forty days fasting in the middle of the jungle.
About this time, however, evangelistic work received
an encouraging impetus by the advent of the Karens.
Judson had already got into touch with them, but he
did not learn their language. The real pioneers of
the work amongst the Karens were Mr. Boardman
who baptized Ko Tha Byu, the first convert in 1828,
and worked in Tavoy and Messrs. Wade and Mason,
who reduced the Sgaw Karen language to writing, and
translated the Bible into it. Ko Tha Byu, who had
originally been a slave, became the apostle of the
Karens.
Judson subsequently married the widow of Mr.
102 MISSIONS IN BURMA
Boardman, but she lived only a few years afterwards
and was buried at St. Helena on the way back to
America. Judson only returned home once during
the course of his missionary life, and not till after he
had been in the East for thirty-three years.
He married a third time whilst he was in America,
and it is high praise to say that his third wife was not
inferior to her predecessors. The most devoted and
successful workers that the American Baptist Mission
has possessed, have been the wives of its missionaries,
and of them perhaps the three Mrs. Judsons have been
the noblest and best.
Judson survived his return to Burma only a few
years. He was attacked by the fever from which he
had suffered during the whole of his missionary career,
and was ordered away for a sea voyage. He died on
April 12, 1850, only a few days after losing sight of
the coast of Burma, and was buried at sea.
Judson held opinions about missionary work which
would not commend themselves to many people. He
was very doubtful of the efficacy of missionary schools.
He did not believe in the desirability of concentrating
several workers in one place, and he disapproved en-
tirely of missionaries spending their time in ministering
to their fellow-countrymen. He was not devoid of
certain eccentricities of manner, and his biographer
speaks of him as not being naturally of an even
temper. But to say all this is merely to admit that,
being human, he was not perfect. There can be no
question that he was one of the most devoted, self-
sacrificing, and successful missionaries of modern times.
BAPTIST MISSIONS IN BURMA 103
In 1852, soon after Judson's death, there were sixty-
two missionaries and female assistants, 267 Burmese,
and 7750 Karen Christians belonging to the American
Baptist Mission. Since Judson's time the increase in
the number of converts has been mainly amongst the
Karens. In the Bassein district the Karen Christians
were for years persecuted by the Burmese Government
and many of them died from exposure in the hills,
whence they had fled for safety. The Christian
Karens have done wonders in the way of supporting
their own ministers, and in Bassein itself, the Ko-
Tha-Byu memorial school, a sawmill, and a printing-
press, are all self-supporting.
Mr. Abbott, and the other American missionaries,
had been prohibited from entering Bassein under pain
of death, and so the head-quarters of the mission until
the end of the second Burmese war were transferred
to Sandaway in British territory.
After the war Bassein formed part of the territory
annexed by Great Britain, and the head-quarters of
the mission were again transferred to that place in
1853-
The Pwo Karen Mission in Bassein was started in
1849, but the Roman Catholics have got a strong
hold over these people, and their converts outnumber
the Baptists. The Baptists, however, have a Pwo
Karen High School at Bassein and another at Maubin.
The other important Karen stations are at Maul-
mein, Henzada, Tharrawaddy, Shwegyin, and Toun-
goo.
The Karen Mission at Toungoo was founded in 1853
104 MISSIONS IN BURMA
by Dr. Mason and Dr. Cross, with the assistance of
native evangelists from Bassein.
Reference has already been made to the work which
the American Baptists are doing amongst the Chins,
Kachins, Shans, Talaings, and Muhsos. The following
are the statistics of this mission for the year 1910:
Burmese 3182, Karen 54,799, Kachin 371, Chin 1011,
Shan 338, Taking 308, Muhsos 9343, Tamils 465,
others 579 Total, 70,396.
In 1909 there were 191 American missionaries in-
cluding wives, 2201 native workers, 28,196 scholars,
and the contributions of the natives amounted to
103,024 dollars.
There are three institutions belonging to the Ameri-
can Baptist Mission which demand special mention.
The first is the Theological Seminary at Insein where
Karens, Burmese, Chins, and others, are trained to
become evangelists. It was established in 1845. The
course occupies a period of four years and there are
on an average 150 students in residence. The Karen
churches contribute liberally towards the current ex-
penses of the institution and have also provided a
substantial endowment.
The second is the Baptist Press at Rangoon, which
prints literature in the various languages of the peoples
amongst whom the mission is working.
The third is the Baptist College at Rangoon which
is now affiliated to the Calcutta University up to the
B.A. standard. It is the only missionary institution
in Burma preparing for examinations higher than
matriculation. New buildings were opened in 1909
BAPTIST MISSIONS IN BURMA 105
in memory of Dr. Gushing, a former principal, the
translator of the Shan Bible and the author of the
dictionary of the same language.
The American Baptist Mission is preparing to com-
memorate in November, 1913, the centenary of the
landing of Judson in Burma and the commencement
of its work.
SOME OTHER MISSIONS.
In Lower Burma the Methodist Episcopal Church
of America has been at work since 1878, but for many
years its efforts were restricted to the Europeans of
Rangoon. Of late there has been some development,
especially in the educational work of the Mission, and
large schools have been opened at Rangoon and
Syriam.
In Upper Burma the English Wesleyan Methodists
have been at work since the last Burmese war in 1885.
After the annexation of Upper Burma, Wesleyan mis-
sionaries were sent over from Ceylon to survey the
field, and it was decided to open a new mission in
Burma.
The mission now consists of a catechists' training
institution, a leper home, and a boys' high school,
besides several smaller schools and churches at out-
stations. There are ten missionaries on the staff.
The leper home is perhaps the best piece of work
done by the Wesleyans in Upper Burma, and was the
first of its kind in Burma. The buildings were erected
as a result of private subscriptions, the Prince of Wales,
afterwards King Edward VII, being one of the sub-
io6 MISSIONS IN BURMA
scribers. When the buildings had been put up, the
task of persuading the lepers to go and reside there
was left to the Rev. A. H. Bestall, and he had the
unique experience of accompanying the first group of
lepers to the first leper asylum established in Burma.
The first buildings were mat houses, but they have
since been supplanted by brick houses accommodating
250 lepers. One of the wards is occupied by young
boys and is used also as a school. There are also
hospital assistants' quarters and a church. The majority
of those who enter the institution ultimately become
Christians. As the disease is not hereditary, but spread
by contact, the untainted children of lepers who apply
for admission are placed in a separate orphanage.
The Young Men's Christian Association is doing
good work in Rangoon and possesses magnificent prem-
ises. Its activities, however, are mainly directed to
the European shop assistants, many of whom board
in the central building. There is a vernacular depart-
ment, but, up to the present, the Burmese have not
shown themselves very responsive to the efforts made
to influence them.
The British and Foreign Bible Society fulfils the
role of handmaid to all the non-Roman missions of
Burma. Its usefulness has been increased of late
by its removal to more commodious premises in the
centre of Rangoon. A new version of the Burmese
New Testament, made by a Burmese Christian, has
recently been printed, and parts of the Bible are being
published in some of the other vernaculars of Burma
by the Society.
VIII.
ANGLICAN MISSIONS.
ALTHOUGH the Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel has been the only missionary society connected
with the Church of England to take up work in Burma,
the first clergy of our Church to visit the Province were
not missionaries at all, but the Government chaplains
who came with Sir Archibald Campbell's army in the
year 1825.
After the war, head-quarters of the newly acquired
territory were established at Akyab and Maulmein,
and there must have been chaplains for the civil and
military population of both these places from the time
that they began to be administered by the East India
Company. These chaplains would be under the juris-
diction of the Bishop of Calcutta who, until 1835, not
only had the supervision of the whole of India, but
also included the Cape of Good Hope and Australia
in his diocese.
The Church was at every turn impeded by the
almost incredible scruples of the Company about mis-
sionary work. When Bishop Middleton was conse-
crated first Bishop of Calcutta in 1814, such was the
jealousy and alarm, that the ceremony had to be per-
(107)
io8 MISSIONS IN BURMA
formed in private, and the sermon preached on the
occasion was suppressed.
It would not have been surprising, therefore, had the
chaplains confined their ministrations to the English
population of their stations and left missionary work
alone ; yet it was to the evangelistic zeal of these
Government chaplains that missionary work in Burma
owed its inception.
The second Burmese war ended in January, 1853,
with the annexation of Lower Burma. Just at this
time interest in missionary work had been stimu-
lated in England by the travels of Livingstone, and in
Burma the general interest was further increased by
the success of the Baptists amongst the Karens. The
chaplain at Maulmein at this time started a " Burma
Mission Fund," which through the zeal of his successor,
the Rev. C. S. P. Parish, reached a total of about 750
during the four ensuing years.
The interest in missions among the English residents
of Burma attracted the attention of the S.P.G. to the
country. Some of the civilians who were interested,
suggested the Chins of Aracan 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 con-
nected with the English Church as there are Karens
connected with the Baptists.
Educational work, however, had been already begun
in Maulmein, and this needed strengthening before
missionaries could be sent up country. Mr. Parish
had asked for a "trained schoolmaster" to be sent out
*-
f
ANGLICAN MISSIONS 109
from England, and in the meantime Mr. Cockey, an
Eurasian student from Bishop's College, Calcutta, gave
great assistance. Mr. Cockey was the first S.P.G.
missionary in Burma. He began work as a layman
in 1854, and was ordained in 1859; but in 1861 he
was transferred to Cawnpore, where his brother had
been killed in the Mutiny four years earlier.
The Rev. A. Shears of St. John's College, Cambridge,
was sent out by the Society in 1859 to superintend
the missionary work, and the opposite end of the town
to that in which the Roman Catholic and Baptist
Missions were situated became the centre of the new
work. Before very long there were over 100 pupils
of various races paying school fees, and receiving in-
struction in the Christian faith. Mr. J. E. Marks, a
"trained schoolmaster," arrived in 1860. He almost
died on the voyage from England, but his life was
spared to carry on that educational work of forty years
in Burma, which has made his name a household word
throughout the whole Province. Perhaps no English-
man has ever exercised so powerful an influence over
the Burmese boys, or won the affection of so many of
them, as Dr. Marks.
In three years the school trebled its numbers, and
when Bishop Cotton of Calcutta visited it in 1861, he
stated that he had never seen in India a more promis-
ing school, or one containing better elements of success.
A grandson and a son of the old king of Delhi, then
a prisoner in Rangoon, were amongst the pupils.
Meanwhile Mrs. Shears had begun a school for girls.
A part of the Prayer Book had been translated into
no MISSIONS IN BURMA
Burmese by her husband, Mr. Cockey, and Mr. Marks,
and everything seemed progressing favourably, when
Mr. Cockey was transferred to India, and Mr. and Mrs.
Shears were invalided home. In England Mr. Shears
baptized our first Burmese convert, Moung Shway
Zahn, in 1863. Other missionaries of whom the best
known was Mr. J. Fairclough were sent out to Maul-
mein by the Society, but in 1872 the work in that
town was temporarily abandoned.
In 1863 Mr. Marks was ordained deacon at Calcutta
and transferred to Rangoon at that time the capital
of British Burma, and a city with a population of
80,000. There he received the support of the Chief
Commissioner, Colonel Phayre, and within five days
collected a sum of Rs. 7000. With this money, and
with the assistance of the old pupils and teachers whom
he had brought from Maulmein, Mr. Marks started a
school in " the Cottage," and although at this time
dwindling attendance had caused the Government to
close their own school, by the end of 1864 there were
220 boys in "the Cottage".
The school prospered despite the temporary absence
through illness of its founder. It was afterwards
transferred to " Woodlands " under the name of St.
John's College, and in 1869 the thirteen acres of land
in which it now stands were purchased from the
Government and the present teak buildings were
begun.
Before long, i.e. by 1870, Mr. Marks had outposts
of mission-work at Henzadah, Myan-oung, and
Thayet-myo, three important stations from which
ANGLICAN MISSIONS in
be it said with shame the S.P.G. has since withdrawn,
in spite of the fair promise of these early days, and
has lost its crown to other Christian bodies, through
lack of zeal and support at home.
Soon, too, an opening was found for work in Upper
Burma.
Mr. Marks must tell the story in his own words :
" In 1 863 I met in Rangoon the Thonzay Mintha
(prince), one of the sons of the king, who had fled from
the capital. I gave him several Christian books in
Burmese, and spoke to him about their contents. He
became reconciled to the king, and on his return to
Mandalay asked me to come and see him at the
capital. In 1 867 I received several letters from Major
Sladen, the British Political Agent at the court of the
King of Burma, telling me of conversations which his
majesty had had with him on the subject of Christi-
anity, and his (Major Sladen's) belief that a Mission
of our Church in Mandalay would not only not be
opposed, but would (under God) effect much good.
" One of these letters I forwarded to the Bishop, who
directed me to proceed to Mandalay with the twofold
purpose of ministering to the English residents and
endeavouring to pave the way for a Church Mission.
I met in Rangoon Mr. J. S. Manook, an Armenian
Burman, who is the king's Kulla Woon, or Minister
for Foreigners. I told him our wish to have an S.P.G.
Mission in Mandalay, and he promised to lay the
matter before the king.
" Shortly afterwards I received from him the letter
in which he said his majesty the King of Burma was
ii2 MISSIONS IN BURMA
pleased at our proposal to establish in Mandalay a
Christian Church and school for the benefit of his
people, that he would give every possible assistance,
and entrust the children of the officials to us for educa-
tion. I showed this letter to the Chief Commissioner,
Colonel Fytche, and I sent it to the Bishop. Both
agreed that it was an opening of which the Society
ought to avail itself, and that I should proceed to
Mandalay, and there ascertain what could be done.
" Colonel Fytche furnished me with a letter to the
king. It was, however, advised that I should not
enter Mandalay until I had heard of the return to
that city of Major Sladen, who had been appointed to
lead an exploring expedition to reopen the old trade
route through Burma to Western China. Accordingly
I left on August 28, 1868, accompanied by six of my
best first-class boys from Rangoon, and reached the
capital city of Mandalay, on October 8, where we were
most hospitably received by Major Sladen, who had
but recently returned from his expedition. On the
following day the Kulla Woon came to tell me that
the king had been very impatient about my coming
was very glad to hear of my arrival, and would appoint
an early day for an audience.
" On Saturday I went out to see the city. It is large
and well laid out, the streets wide and at right angles,
but the houses mean and irregular. There are in
Mandalay more than 20,000 yellow-robed Buddhist
priests.
' ' On Sunday we had English service at the Resi-
dency, and on Monday, October 1 1, 1 went to the palace
(which seems to occupy about one-eighth of the city,
and is itself fortified by a stockade all round) with
Major Sladen and the Kulla Woon. On reaching the
steps we all had to take off our shoes, and then walk
a considerable distance, to the apartment in the garden
where the king was receiving. We entered the room,
in which were very many of the Burmese high officials
and ministers seated on the floor. We, too, seated, or
rather squatted, ourselves down. In a few minutes
the king came in, attended by a little boy, one of his
sons.
" The king is a tall, stout, thoroughly Burmese-look-
ing man, about fifty-five years of age. He had on
only one garment, the putso, or beautiful silk cloth
covering from his waist to his feet. He reclined on a
velvet carpet, near which the little prince placed the
golden betel-box and water-cup, and then reverentially
retired. As the king entered every Burmese bowed
his head to the ground and kept it there. His majesty,
according to his usual custom, took up a pair of
binocular glasses, and had a good stare at us. He
then asked if I was the English hpoongyee, when did
I arrive, how old was 1, etc. He then asked me what
requests I had to make to him, assuring me that all
were granted before I spoke.
" I said that I had four requests to make : (i) Per-
mission to labour as a missionary in Mandalay ; (2)
To build a church for Christian worship according to
the use of the Church of England ; (3) To get a piece
of land fora cemetery; (4) To build with his majesty's
help, a Christian school for Burmese boys. With
ii4 MISSIONS IN BURMA
regard to the first, the king said very courteously that
he welcomed me to the royal city and that he had im-
patiently awaited my arrival. I was to choose, with
Major Sladen's advice, a piece of land for a cemetery.
That with regard to the church and school, his majesty
would build them entirely at his own cost. I told him
that the Bishop of Calcutta had most liberally offered
.100 towards the church. The king replied, 'It is
unnecessary, I will do all myself. He directed me
to prepare the plans, adding that the school was to be
built for 3000 boys.
"The king said that it was his wish to place some of
his own sons under our care, and he sent for nine of
the young princes, fine, intelligent looking lads from
about ten years of age, and formally handed them over
to me. He handed me a hundred gold pieces (worth
,50) to buy books, etc., for the school. The king
talked about his high regard for Major Sladen, whose
word he could implicitly trust ; of his desire to do all
the good in his power, and especially to be friendly
with the English. . . . The interview having lasted
otfer two hours, his majesty concluded by inviting my
boys and self to breakfast in the palace on the follow-
ing day. He kindly accepted the present of beautifully-
bound books which the Calcutta Committee had been
good enough to forward to me for him.
" Tuesday, l^th. Major Sladen being too poorly
to accompany us, my five boys (Moung Gyee, Moung
Hpo Too, Moung Bah Ohn, Moung Tsan Hlah Oung,
and Moung Hpo Ming) went with me to the palace
at nine o'clock. We travelled in covered bullock-
ANGLICAN MISSIONS 115
carts, as it is considered very wrong for a hpoongyee
to ride on horseback. We found the king in the
Hman Nan Dor (or glass palace), attended by several
of his queens and daughters.
" My boys prostrated themselves, as did the other
Burmans, whilst I squatted down in a cramped position,
being obliged to keep my feet out of sight. The king
was seated on the highest of a flight of six steps. He
began by asking if I was comfortably housed and cared
for. He reiterated his promises of yesterday and ex-
pressed his hope that all would not be in vain. He
made me tell him about each boy, and he addressed
some kind words to them. I presented him with a
telescope, and the boys gave a lot of English toys to
the young princes. In return the king gave two putsoes
(silk cloths), valued at 3, to each boy. I also pre-
sented to the queen, through his majesty, a box of
beautiful needle and crochet work made and presented
by the Burmese girls in Miss Cook's school. The king
pulled out two or three pieces of work, but did not
seem to know much about them. He tossed them to
the ladies behind him, who evidently valued them
highly.
" The king began to talk to the boys about re-
ligion. He told them that they should not lightly
forsake their ancestors' creed. I interposed, when
he laughingly said, ' Oh, Pone-dor-gyee ' (' high
hpoongyee,' the name he always gives me), ' I and
you will talk about these matters alone by ourselves'.
I replied that I should be delighted to converse with
his majesty on those subjects, which were of the
n6 MISSIONS IN BURMA
highest moment to all mankind. The king said he
only wanted to guard the boys against being rash and
foolish, or changing their religion to please men ; that
he was perfectly tolerant ; that he had never invited a
Mussulman, Hindu, or Christian to become a Buddhist,
but that he wished all to worship according to their
own way.
"We were then conducted to another apartment,
where a sumptuous breakfast was served to us in
English style. My boys and I sat down to table,
the Burman attendants wondering to see our lads
freely using knives and forks instead of the orthodox
fingers in eating. Suddenly my boys all slipped off
their chairs on to the ground, and when I looked up
to see the cause I found that one of the elder princes,
a lad of about seventeen, had entered, having been
deputed by his father to see that all was right.
" I went again to the palace by appointment, with
my boys, yesterday morning, to take the plans for the
school and teachers' residence. He approved of the
plan with one exception, viz. that the school must not
have a triple roof, such being only for princes and
hpoongyees. My house is to be so honoured. The
king's Minister for Public Works was called into the
presence and ordered at once to commence the work,
and to use all expedition in its completion. The king
gave me 100 towards school furniture. I told him
that I would procure a plan in Rangoon for the church.
He repeated that it would trouble him very much if
no English hpoongyee came to Mandalay. I assured
him that his liberality would not be so despised, but
ANGLICAN MISSIONS 117
that I really would return myself and open the
school.
" After some further general conversation the king
spoke to the boys, and especially to one Aracanese boy
whom I adopted in 1863. He repeated what he had
said before about not forgetting the religion of his
ancestors. I said that the boy's ancestors had not
heard the good news which I taught him. The king
took no notice of what I said, but continued to the
boy, ' Always remember the Yittanah thon bah (the
three objects of devotion), the Payah (deity), Tayah
(law), and Thingah (clergy)'. I said, 'Christianity
teaches us to worship the everlasting God, to obey
His laws, and to receive instruction from the clergy '.
" The king seemed annoyed for a time, and then re-
peated in his usual good-humoured manner, ' I cannot
talk with you about religion in public, we will talk
about it privately on your return'. He added, 'Do
not think me an enemy to your religion. If I had
been, I should not have called you to my royal city.
If, when you have taught people, they enter into your
belief, they have my full permission ' ; and then, speak-
ing very earnestly, ' if my own sons, under your
instruction, wish to become Christians, I will let them
do so. I will not be angry with them.' '
In 1869 the school was formally opened, and the
king's sons attended daily with all the pomp and
ceremony prescribed by royal etiquette in Burma.
The same year saw the foundation-stone of " Our
Lord Jesus Christ Church," as it was called, laid at
Mandalay, by the British Political Resident, Major
n8 MISSIONS IN BURMA
Sladen. The king bore the entire cost of the erection.
Queen Victoria gave a font, and in 1873 the church
was consecrated by the Bishop of Calcutta.
Thus with every promise of a good harvest did we
begin in Upper Burma, where thirty years later, owing
again to lack of Christian zeal at home, work was found
almost at a standstill.
In Lower Burma work amongst girls was begun in
Rangoon at St. Mary's school which was founded in
1865 by Miss Cook. The Rev. C. Warren went to
Thayet-myo, and the Rev. C. H. Chard was yet
another reinforcement, while the Rev. J. Trew relieved
Mr. Marks at Mandalay. Thus set free, Mr. Marks
resumed work in Rangoon, and in 1 870 the first stone
of St. John's College was laid by General Fytche.
It was at this time that the work of the Anglican
Church amongst the Karens began in a somewhat
unsatisfactory way, as the result of a schism amongst
the converts of the American Baptist missionaries
which occurred about the year 1863. In 1870 Mrs.
Mason (wife of the founder of the American Mission),
who was the leader of the schismatics, offered to hand
over to the Church of England all her converts, about
6000 in number, with all their schools and other
mission property.
Judging by the report of the inquiry held by the
American Baptists into Mrs. Mason's case, one can
only come to the conclusion that she was suffering
from a form of religious mania. She professed to see
visions frequently, and in the embroidery of the clothes
worn by the Karens, she declared that she could read
ANGLICAN MISSIONS 119
the main facts of the New Testament revelation of
Christianity.
Under these circumstances it is not surprising that
the Rev. J. Trew, whom the Bishop of Calcutta ap-
pointed to investigate the circumstances of Mrs.
Mason's offer, after making a tour in the Karen
hills and making inquiries into the cause of the schism,
recommended that they should be left alone to settle
their own disputes. At the same time, however, he re-
commended that a Mission to the Burmese in Toungoo
should be started, and, accordingly, in 1873 tne R CV -
C. Warren was sent to Toungoo to carry out this
suggestion. A few converts were made, and a small
Burmese Mission has existed at Toungoo ever since,
though it was quickly overshadowed by the import-
ance of the Karen Mission.
At length in 1875, when it was found that many of
the Karen schismatics were drifting back into heathen-
ism and others going over to the Roman Church, it
was felt that their reconciliation with the American
missionaries was past hoping for, and it was determined
that work amongst the Karen should be undertaken
by the Church of England.
Mr. Warren was only spared to take the initial steps,
for on June 3, 1875, ne died from over-exertion and
anxiety. In addition to his work as a missionary, he
was burdened with the duties of English chaplain, an
arrangement which, since the abandoning of Toungoo
as a military station, has again come into force.
Later in the year the Rev. T. W. Windley arrived,
and retained the headship of the Toungoo Mission
120 MISSIONS IN BURMA
until 1882, when illness compelled him to return to
England. Under his supervision, assisted by the Rev.
W. E. Jones and native clergymen, the scattered frag-
ments of the Christians were consolidated and the
Mission was firmly established.
By the year 1877 the work of the Church had de-
veloped so largely that it became necessary to separate
it from Calcutta, and the new diocese of Rangoon was
formed, Jonathan Holt Titcomb, an honorary canon of
Winchester, being consecrated as its first bishop.
Of the funds raised for the founding of the new
See, the diocese of Winchester contributed ;i 0,000;
the S.P.G., S.P.C.K., and Colonial Bishoprics Fund
10,000, and the Indian Government added the pay
of a senior chaplaincy. The connexion between Ran-
goon and Winchester has been memorialized in the
heraldic arms of the former, on the left side of which
stands a " palm tree," intersected by a shield bearing
" the sword of St. Paul and the keys of St. Peter".
Bishop Titcomb's attention was first called to Maul-
mein. Since the annexation of Lower Burma it had
lost its metropolitan dignity, for the head-quarters of
the Province had been transferred to Rangoon. Maul-
mein had hitherto been served by a government
chaplain without any cost to the inhabitants, but under
the new regime, there were not enough chaplains to
permit of one being allotted to it ; the Bishop, therefore,
had the delicate duty to perform of persuading the
people to subscribe for their own chaplain to be pro-
vided by the Additional Clergy Society. It was only
by the exercise of considerable tact on the part of the
ANGLICAN MISSIONS 121
Bishop that the difficulty was overcome, and he him-
self visited Maulmein to conduct the services from
time to time in order to pacify the people.
It was the educational work of the mission which
most delighted the new bishop and encouraged him
with regard to the work of the Church in Burma. He
writes thus of St. John's College :
" This group of buildings stands in large and beauti-
ful grounds, where the boys have ample scope for
their favourite sports of football and cricket, in which
they are admirably led by Mr. G. Scott, the headmaster,
acting under the principal or warden." (We must
note in passing that the headmaster referred to above,
whom Mr. Marks had brought out from England to
help him in his work, is the present Sir George Scott,
late Commissioner of the Shan States, who, as Shway
Yoe, wrote the most attractive and authoritative work
extant on Burma " The Burman : his Life and
Notions ". He introduced football into the country,
and the boys of St. John's College and other schools
have since become excellent exponents of the game.)
The Bishop goes on to say: "The delight with
which I first walked into its spacious hall and class-
rooms, and beheld this mass of youths under Christian
instruction, may be well imagined, especially in view
of the fact that it had to compete with our magnificent
Rangoon High School, which, though built and con-
ducted by Government at an enormous cost, upon the
avowed principle of non-religious instruction, has been
nevertheless fairly beaten in numbers by this missionary
institution. Work here is commenced daily by the
132 MISSIONS IN BURMA
reading of the Bible in English and Burmese, by the
singing of hymns and by prayers in both languages.
" In addition to the day scholars, there are about
110 boarders, and about twenty Eurasian orphans
who are also boarded and clothed. ... In the College
chapel ... I recognize a spot of many signal
blessings, for seventy-five converts have been baptized
within it. Nothing more encouraged me, indeed, on
my first entrance into the episcopate than to take part
in the services of this sanctuary, and to be permitted
to preach to the boys the heathen being arranged on
one side, and the Christians on the other. Here, too,
I have been permitted to baptize some of the boys, as
from time to time they have come forward renouncing
Buddhism and openly declaring for Christ. On such
occasions the convert transfers his seat from the
heathen to the Christian side of the chapel ; after
which we feel richer toward God in communion with
a new brother. It would surely be impossible for the
most prejudiced observer to deny that a college thus
conducted is of a distinctly missionary character."
The Bishop was not so satisfied with the evangelistic
as with the educational work of the mission, but he
speaks with enthusiasm of the zeal of the Rev. J. A.
Colbeck, one of the most devoted and saintly mission-
aries that has ever worked for any society. Colbeck
began his work in 1874; was ordained priest at
Calcutta in 1877 and took up the work at Kemendine,
a suburb of Rangoon, where St. Michael's School, a
branch of St. John's College, had been established by
Mr. Marks. Here he lived in a native house in a single
ANGLICAN MISSIONS 123
upper room, which served him as study, bedroom,
and dining-room ; the lower storey of the house was
used as a chapel. " I shall not easily forget the first
visit I paid to Mr. Colbeck's house in Kemendine,"
writes the Bishop, " when climbing up to his dwelling-
room by a rough ladder, and afterwards attending
service in his little chapel, I witnessed the simplicity
and earnestness of his loving labour for the Lord."
Bishop Titcomb visited the Karen Mission at
Toungoo towards the end of 1878. There was, of
course, no railway through Toungoo to Mandalay at
that time, and Toungoo was usually reached by native
boat up the Sittang, the 300 miles' journey taking a
fortnight to accomplish. Mr. Windley's residence was
on the opposite side of the Sittang from Toungoo, in a
low and swampy situation, and the advantage which
this gave him of residing amongst his people was greatly
discounted by the inroad that it made upon his health.
In that place the Bishop consecrated the new church
of St. Paul, which has remained, to this day, the only
consecrated building in the Karen Mission.
On the following Sunday the first four Karen clergy
were ordained deacons, the Bishop repeating the words
of ordination in their own language. The Anglo-
Vernacular School was at that time under Mr. J.
Kristna, an old pupil of Mr. Marks. The greater part
of the Prayer Book had by this time been translated into
Karen, and was printed at Rangoon at the expense
of the S.P.C.K. It was reprinted after revision and
addition, at the Church Press in Toungoo, the present
edition being made by a committee of four in 1905.
184 MISSIONS IN BURMA
When the Bishop returned to Rangoon his attention
was immediately called to the condition of things in
Mandalay. King Mind6n had ceased to give Mr.
Marks his patronage when he found that he obtained
no political advantage from it, and had sent Mr. Marks
notice "that it would not be safe for him to stay
longer in Mandalay".
The Viceroy of India, Lord Northbrook, seeing
that Mr. Marks' life was in danger, begged the Bishop
of Calcutta to recall him at once for fear of complica-
tions between the two Governments. But Bishop
Milman wrote to Mr. Marks : " I replied that it was
not our custom to recall missionaries from their posts
at the first appearance of danger ; that you had full
permission to retire if you thought necessary to do so,
but that while you judge it needful for your work to
remain in Mandalay I should support you in so
doing : but pray let me advise caution." Mr. Marks
held on till January, 1875, when he was relieved by
the Rev. J. Fairclough. His words on leaving were
unconsciously prophetic : " I will not come here again
till Mandalay is a British town ". Mr. Fairclough was
succeeded by Mr. Chard, and in 1878 James Colbeck
was removed from Kemendine to Mandalay.
Just at this time the old king died and Thibaw suc-
ceeded to the throne, the new reign being inaugurated
by the massacre of seventy of the members of the
royal family. Colbeck saved the Nyoung Yan Prince
and his family by first hiding them in the Mission
premises and then conducting them to the British
Embassy disguised as servants. Soon afterwards the
ANGLICAN MISSIONS 125
British Embassy was withdrawn and the Mission broken
up. Mr. Colbeck was transferred to Maulmein, the
Mission house in Mandalay was occupied by Buddhist
monks, and the church was converted into a state
lottery office.
In the meanwhile progress had been made in Ran-
goon. The Guild of St. John the Evangelist had been
formed for the purpose of binding together the old
boys of St. John's College scattered throughout the
country, and in December, 1878, Mr. Marks had seen
the opening of the new school of St. Michael's at
Kemendine, which was a branch of St. John's College.
The next year (1879) Archbishop Tait conferred the
Lambeth degree of D.D. on Mr. Marks in recognition
of the services which he had rendered to the cause of
Christian education in Burma.
Maulmein had benefited wonderfully at the expense
of Mandalay. Between 1879 and 1885, whilst he was
in charge of the station, Colbeck consolidated and re-
organized the Mission. Within two years of his arrival
forty converts from Buddhism had been gathered in
and a large school had been established, and soon
afterwards the Mission Church of St. Augustine was
built.
An injury to his spine caused by a fall sustained
during a tour in the Karen Hills followed by family
bereavement, made it necessary for Bishop Titcomb
to return to England in 1879. His short episcopate
had seen the temporary withdrawal of the Mission
from Upper Burma, and its consolidation in British
Burma ; a medical Mission had been started at
126 MISSIONS IN BURMA
Toungoo; and new stations had been opened at
Thayetmyo and Prome ; he had also laid the founda-
tions of a native ministry in the Tamil and Karen
Missions.
John Miller Strachan, M.D., was the second Bishop
of Rangoon. Formerly a Wesleyan preacher, he was
educated first at St. Augustine's, Canterbury, and then
in the medical school at Edinburgh, where he was a
gold medallist. After twenty-two years' mission work
in Tinnevelly and Madras he was consecrated in 1882
as Bishop of Rangoon. His episcopate lasted twenty
years and he died four years after his retirement on
May 3, 1906.
During Bishop Strachan's episcopate the growth
of the Mission may be considered under three heads :
1. The consolidation of the Karen Mission.
2. The reopening of Upper Burma by its annexa-
tion after the third Burmese war.
3. The development of the Burmese work in Lower
Burma.
I. In January, 1884, Bishop Strachan attended the
annual Karen Conference in the village of Wathoco
and wrote the following account of it : " The native
clergyman of the village is also the head man. A
large conference hall, capable of holding about 600
people, had been erected of bamboos with a roof of
leaves. At Wathoco seven buffaloes, besides pigs,
kids, and fowls, were slaughtered, and the women had
been busy for days before, beating the rice so as to
have it in readiness ; for at these conferences, which
are held yearly, the visitors are the guests of the
ANGLICAN MISSIONS 127
village, and are feasted right liberally. Reports
and statistics are laid before the conference, and
questions affecting the general interest of the native
Church are discussed.
" The missionaries have wisely left everything almost
entirely in the hands of the natives ; but I doubt not
that it will gradually develop into a Church Council,
and that it will be found capable of being made very
useful in the organization of the native Church. I had
provided myself with a good supply of medicines," con-
tinued the doctor-Bishop, "and I opened my dispen-
sary, and soon had a large number of patients. Before
the conference closed a deputation from the Moway
Karens was introduced, who represented over 300
heathen and were desirous to place themselves under
Christian instruction. They said they were willing to
build their church and schoolroom, and to support
their teacher."
The conference closed with the confirmation of
ninety-seven people. The Christians, besides build-
ing their own churches and schools, had subscribed
Rs. 943 during the year. The four native clergy were
paid Rs. 20 per month, half of which was contributed
by the native Church.
Mr. Jones succeeded Mr. Windley as missionary in
charge at Toungoo, but he also returned to England
on furlough in 1885. Meanwhile, however, the staff
had been greatly strengthened by the arrival of the
Revs. A. Salmon and J. Hackney, who, with the
addition of the Rev. J. Kristna, a Tamil priest, con-
tinued the excellent work begun by Mr. Windley.
iz8 MISSIONS IN BURMA
In the year 1888 the work amongst the Paku tribe,
which occupies the hills to the south-east of Toungoo,
was endangered by a strange travesty of Christianity
which was started in 1866 by a wealthy Karen timber
merchant, named Koh Pai San. " He conceived the
idea of combining some of the more popular of the
ancient religious customs of the Karens with the teach-
ings of Buddha and Christ, as far as he knew them.
He soon became remarkably popular, and crowds of
Karens flocked to the place he had built in imitation
of a phongyee-kyoung (monastery) and enrolled them-
selves as his disciples. The initiatory rite consists of
taking a morsel of rice from the hands of Koh Pai San,
and paying him Rs. 30 in the case of a man, Rs. 20
for a woman, and Rs. 15 for a child. The new dis-
ciples undertook to eschew strong drink, and to
keep the Christian Sabbath, when they have services
in imitation of the Christians. These latter, however,
are very peculiar, and seem to resemble more a Bur-
mese pwe (theatrical performance) than an act of
worship, and are principally carried on by the young
people, the old ones looking on in great amusement.
They have hymns in praise of Koh Pai San, but the
tunes are Burmese." Fortunately this movement,
although still dangerous, has hitherto done no per-
manent harm to the work of the Church.
With the exception of a village opposite Toungoo,
and a few hamlets on the plain, the work in both the
North and South districts, into which the Mission is
now divided, is entirely on the mountains, and largely
pastoral, though heathen are still numerous in the
ANGLICAN MISSIONS 129
outlying parts. The difficulties of the work are ac-
centuated by the smallness of the villages, and their
distance from one another, and by the scanty resources
of the Mission and the weakness of the staff. The
latter difficulty prevents the formation of mission
stations in the villages themselves, without which a
thorough supervision of the work of the native agents
is impossible. It is hoped that one such station may
be opened shortly.
Since 1 892 death has removed two English and four
Karen clergy. These are the Rev. Tarrie (1892) ; the
Rev. P. R. L. Fisher (1897), the "Physician Fisher"
of the Karens ; the Rev. Martway (i 897), an ex-Baptist
minister; the Rev. A. Salmon, the master-builder of
the Mission, who died in the Southern Hospital, Liver-
pool, on May 5, 1899, a few days after landing in Eng-
land ; the Rev. John Ter Der (1900), and the Rev.
Shway Nyo (1904).
Within the same period eleven Karen clergy have
been ordained, and at the present time two more are
being prepared for ordination.
The three main Karen tribes are the Pwos, the
Sgaws, and the Bways, each of which is again sub-
divided into innumerable smaller tribes, each speaking
its own distinct dialect. Of these three main tribes
the Pwos occupy the delta and are untouched by the
Toungoo Mission. The Sgaws inhabit the highlands
east of the Sittang Valley to Toungoo and west to
Pyinmana. The Bways dwell in the highlands be-
tween the Sittang and the Salween. Bway Karen has
never yet been satisfactorily reduced to writing, and
9
1 3 o MISSIONS IN BURMA
both the American Baptists and the English Church
have always worked solely through the medium of
Sgaw Karen, which adds considerably to the difficulty
of the work.
From 1896 to 1899 great anxiety was felt owing to
a schismatical spirit among a small number of the
Paku Karens, and in 1898 it was found necessary
to withdraw the licence of Thomas Pellako, a native
priest. His licence was restored to him in 1900, but
it was found necessary to withdraw it a second time
in 1906. His teaching, which affected a large body
of the Paku Christians and was a source of grave
anxiety to the Mission, is known as Kleeboism. He
regarded the Karen transliteration of Christ, " Kree,"
as a mistake for " Klee," a Karen word which bears
the meaning of " Bow," basing his theory upon the
sign of the rainbow and the statements that our Lord
will come again in the clouds of heaven. He con-
sidered the native crossbow as a sacred symbol, and
seemed to be substituting the ceremony of shooting
with the bow for the Holy Eucharist
The schism was further developed by Pellako's
assuming the function of a bishop and " ordaining "
elders. He afterwards went on to rebellion against
the State, encouraged his followers to refuse payment
of taxes, and finally assumed the title of " King of the
Karens". This led to his arrest in November, 1910,
and he will no doubt be now kept out of mischief.
2. The mission in Upper Burma was reopened three
years after the beginning of Bishop Strachan's epis-
copate. Colbeck returned to Mandalay in December,
ANGLICAN MISSIONS 131
1885, J ust before the annexation of Upper Burma by
the British. There was great interest in Christianity
at this time, for the Burmese began to think that as
they were now British subjects it would pay them to
profess the British religion. Within six months the
Burmese converts numbered seventy-five, and in the
school 1 50 boys were under Christian instruction.
The " Paramat " followers of Moung Po who had
been tortured and put to death by King Mind6n (see
chap. IV.) came in large numbers to receive instruc-
tion in the Christian Faith, and on Christmas Eve,
1887, twenty men and eleven women were baptized
before a crowded congregation.
Colbeck's death in 1888 was an irreparable loss to
the mission. He had spent fifteen years of unbroken
service in Burma, never once going home on furlough.
His unceasing labour and rigorous fasting had under-
mined his health and he succumbed to an attack of fever.
"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 mission at Mandalay has had a chequered
career since that time. The church at Madaya was
closed for some years, and little progress was made at
the out-station of Myittha. By the side of Colbeck in
the Mandalay cemetery sleeps J. Tsan Baw, an old
pupil of Dr. Marks, and the first and only Burman or-
dained to the office of priest in the Church of England.
He died in 1 894 of cholera, probably contracted whilst
administering Holy Communion to two sufferers.
A new mission station was opened at Shwebo during
132 MISSIONS IN BURMA
this period. In 1888 the work which Colbeck had
begun was taken up by the Rev. F. W. Sutton, a
qualified doctor. In 1889 twelve adults were baptized
in the moat of the ancient city, and the next day
Bishop Strachan confirmed thirty-three converts. In
that year, however, Dr. Sutton had to return to England
owing to the illness of his wife, and the Rev. H. M.
Stockings was transferred from Toungoo to take charge
of the work.
Almost all the mission buildings at Shwebo were
burnt to the ground in 1899, but good progress has
been made, and there is now a stone church the only
one in Burma a brick mission house, a boys' school,
and a girls' school, in which weaving and other technical
subjects are taught.
3. In Lower Burma St. John's College continued to
progress, but in 1895 Dr. Marks was compelled to
resign owing to ill-health. In the thirty-five years
that Dr. Marks had laboured in Burma 15,000 children
had come under his influence in the various S.P.G.
Schools, and though the great majority of them did
not become Christians, all, it is believed, were influenced
for good. Amongst those who had been baptized
three had become ordained missionaries to their
countrymen in Burma.
Mr. J. T. Best, M.A., a gold medallist of Harrow,
and scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge, became
Principal of St. John's College in 1897. Under him
the school has had great educational successes, and
the Government has acknowledged this by appointing
the Principal to the executive of the educational syn-
ANGLICAN MISSIONS 133
dicate of the Province. In 1898 a normal school was
added, for the purpose of training native Christian
teachers for the various schools of the diocese.
At Kemendine a divinity school for the training of
catechists was established in 1883, and the Rev. J.
Fairclough took charge of the mission. Mi*. Fair-
clough, however, died in 1 897, and the Rev. J. Shwe
Hline, an old pupil of Dr. Marks, died in 1899. At
Pazundoung, the eastern suburb of Rangoon, the Rev.
T. Rickard began his work amongst the " Paramat "
Burmese. In 1890 Mr. Rickard baptized twenty-six
Burmese in one day at Nyoungbin. St Barnabas'
School was opened in 1900, and the Bishop himself
attended day after day at the mission dispensary to
give medical assistance.
In 1 899 Bishop Strachan lost the wife who had been
his helpmeet for thirty-nine years. His own strength
was failing and the support given to his work at home
was slight. Moreover, at the age of 70, he was unable to
travel about his diocese and perform those duties which
are a severe tax on much younger men.
His name, with that of his wife, will always be
associated with the Bishop's Home for girls at Ran-
goon, an orphanage which is the sister institution to
the diocesan orphanage for boys at St. John's College.
Both are intended for the free education of poor and
destitute Eurasian children ; to the former institution
Bishop Strachan bequeathed Rs. 10,000, and his
interest in the education of Eurasian girls, and his
generosity is further illustrated by the bequest of Rs.
20,000 to the diocesan High School for girls.
134 MISSIONS IN BURMA
In 1903 Arthur Mesac Knight, Dean of Caius
College, Cambridge, was consecrated as third Bishop
of Rangoon in succession to Bishop Strachan. Owing
to a series of adverse circumstances the Church in
Burma had reached a very low ebb during the few
years immediately preceding the arrival of Bishop
Knight. There had been no diocesan conference for
ten years ; the diocesan magazine had temporarily
ceased to exist ; the eleven S.P.G. missionaries who
were in the diocese in 1892 had been reduced to
eight, and of these only four were familiar with the
Burmese language.
The new bishop restarted the diocesan magazine
and called together a diocesan conference which met
at the season of Epiphany, 1904. At the conference
the Bishop reported that the number of the clergy of
the diocese was forty-one, consisting of ten Govern-
ment chaplains, six chaplains belonging to the A.C.S.,
nine S.P.G. missionaries, and sixteen native clergy.
During the six years of his episcopate, he set about
the rehabilitation of his diocese with such whole-
hearted zeal as to command the respect of many who,
up till then, displayed little interest in the fortunes of
the Church. Nor were his efforts confined to Burma
itself. Dr. H. J. C. Knight, the Principal of the
Clergy Training School at Cambridge, communicated
the Bishop's zeal to the ordination candidates whom
he was preparing, and to other Cambridge men, the
result being that a steady stream of clergy came from
England during Bishop Knight's episcopate to recruit
the Mission.
ANGLICAN MISSIONS 135
The Bishop was tireless in his visitation of the
diocese, and wherever he went he communicated his
zeal and enthusiasm to clergy and laity alike. At
the second diocesan conference held in January, 1907,
Bishop Knight enumerated the various causes for
thankfulness in view of the development that had
taken place in the Mission during the four years that
had elapsed since his appointment. The Riverine
chaplaincy had been filled for the first time for four-
teen years ; there was a new port chaplain to minister
to the sailors, and there was an increase of three S.P.G.
missionaries. The number of lay-workers had also
increased ; as against two laymen and nine women in
1 904, there were five men and twelve women in 1 907.
The Winchester Brotherhood had been established on
a firm foundation, and five new churches had been
begun.
Despite the sickness which harassed him continu-
ously during the latter part of his episcopate, Bishop
Knight continued to work indefatigably for the dio-
cese. Whe i on sick leave in England he frequently
pleaded the cause of Rangoon, and since his resigna-
tion he has continued to do the same.
The Rev. R. S. Fyffe, whom he had been instru-
mental in bringing out to Burma, was called upon at
the end of 1909 to give up his work as head of the
Winchester Brotherhood at Mandalay and succeed to
the bishopric. At the diocesan conference in January,
1911, Bishop Fyffe in his first charge made the follow-
ing statement with regard to the position of the Church
in the diocese.
136 MISSIONS IN BURMA
The total number of clergy was forty-nine in addition
to the Bishop ; of these thirteen were natives. The
Karen work is to be fostered by the help of a sum of
1000 which had been allocated to Burma from the
Pan-Anglican thank-offering for that purpose. A
teaching brotherhood of laymen had been started on
the lines laid down by Bishop Knight, and two mis-
sionaries were already at work in Burma in connexion
with it. The number of women workers had increased
from twelve to nineteen. Two new European schools
had been started, one for boys at Maulmein, and one
for girls at Toungoo, and six new churches had been
dedicated. In the year 1910 Bishop Fyffe confirmed
400 candidates, and in that year the contributions
from Europeans in the diocese to missionary work
amounted to Rs. 5400. He said :
" We have lost the loved and inspiring presence of
our former leader Bishop Knight. Though he took
every care to discover whether the weakness of which
he was conscious in England was likely to prevent him
from making a long stay in the East, he received no
warning that this would be so, and, therefore, at a sacri-
fice which he must feel to the end of his days, he came
to give his splendid gifts of mind and heart to the
Church in this land.
" Many of you who have been much longer in the
diocese than I have, can weigh better than I what the
Church here owes to him. But how many of us here
to-day are here because the call to us came through
him ? How many of those little churches now dotted
about the country bearing their own silent witness to
ANGLICAN MISSIONS 137
Christ, and bringing the joy and relief of orderly wor-
ship to many a one of our brethren hungry and thirsty
after righteousness, owe their existence to his initiation
and encouragement ? How much of the increased in-
terest in the work of the Church here both at home and
among the residents in Burma is due to his unfailing
tact and zeal ?
" It has pleased God to take him from the active
headship of this diocese. As he took every precaution
against a break-down of health before he came, so,
before finally giving up, he strove to obtain even one
medical opinion in favour of his return. None was to
be had ; he saw, therefore, that God must be leading
him elsewhere, and it seemed a singular act of Provi-
dence that St Augustine's College, Canterbury, should
have needed a leader at this very time. We must be-
lieve that God called him from the leadership of our
diocese to the service of the whole mission-field. We
must thank God for his five years' labour here, his re-
covery of health, and the fact that we have him with all
his knowledge of our needs working for us at home as
actively as he did here."
IX.
WORK AMONGST ENGLISH.
THE total European population of India according to
the census of 1901 was 169,677. Of this number
about 70,000 were British soldiers and the remainder
civilians connected with the Government and mercan-
tile services. The chief branches of the Government
services are the Indian Civil (I.C.S.), Medical (I. M.S.),
Educational and Public Works (P.W.D.). The mer-
cantile service includes all those who are engaged in
the various branches of engineering and commerce.
In Burma the number of Europeans and Eurasians
together is 18,334, and of these probably 10,000 are
Europeans. Of the total number 8875 were returned
as belonging to the Church of England. All the four
countries of the United Kingdom are represented.
The Irish are most numerous in the Army ; the Scotch
in the engineering and mercantile profession, and the
English and Welsh in the Government, so that there
is a common saying in India : " The Irish conquered
India for the English and the Scotch run it ! "
The English residents in India regard themselves
as exiles. The climate makes it desirable for every
Englishman to return to England for twelve months
(138)
WORK AMONGST ENGLISH 139
after each period of five years' service. English ladies
are unable to remain even for five years. Whether it
be from lack of occupation or exercise, or for some
more inscrutable reason, the climate seems to make
greater inroads on the health of English women than
on that of the men. Especially does this seem to be
the case with regard to married women.
English children are sent home permanently to
England at the age of 6 or 7. Households are
broken up and whilst the mother superintends the
education of her children in England the father has to
remain at his post in India.
No Anglo-Indian speaks of the building in which
he lives as home, nor has he more affection for his
dwelling-place than he has for his hat or umbrella ;
it is simply a shelter against sun and rain. Home
to him means " England ".
This is the great drawback of Anglo-Indian life. It
is not without its compensations, and there is luxury
of a kind. A person who travels third class in England
and has never ridden a horse in his life will probably
travel first class in India and keep his own carriage.
In most places there is plenty of pleasure and society.
The gymkhana or club will be the nightly rendezvous
of all the Europeans in the station. But the fact re-
mains that there is no home life. In Rangoon one of
the events of the week is the report of the gun which
announces the arrival of the English mail. The letters
posted in England on Friday arrive in Burma the
following Tuesday fortnight, and, to the Anglo-Indian,
mail day is to the week what the gymkhana is to the
i4o MISSIONS IN BURMA
day, a solace and a refuge from exotic surroundings
which makes exile just tolerable.
There is a general impression in England that Anglo-
Indian society is worldly and selfish, and that in it, scant
sympathy is shown to the native. But he who con-
demns the English residents of India and Burma whole-
sale knows little about them. Indolence certainly
cannot be described as an Anglo-Indian vice : the
strenuous life is the rule. From the lowest to the
highest the daily round of monotonous and protracted
labour is scrupulously and industriously accomplished,
and the hardest worked man in India is the viceroy.
The thorough and conscientious manner in which the
members of the I.C.S. do their work is beyond all
praise.
The position of the Englishman in India is one of
great difficulty and of great responsibility. Some of
the difficulties have already been pointed out but
there are many others which are created by his en-
vironment Those caused by the climate have been
greatly modified by the advance of scientific know-
ledge ; malaria, enteric, and other tropical diseases are
much better understood now than they were a few
years ago and they do not constitute the menace to
health and life which they used to do ; the electric
fan and the motor-car have made the tropical heat
more bearable. But the dangers which menace the
character and spirit remain unmitigated by the develop-
ment of science and the advance of knowledge, and
these are the difficulties which the Church is specially
called upon to consider and to deal with.
WORK AMONGST ENGLISH 141
The European is affected in two opposite ways at
the same time by his contact with the native ; on the
one hand he is repelled by that which he does not
understand and with which he cannot sympathize ;
on the other he is attracted through his lower nature
by the comparatively low moral code which prevails
around him and displays a fatal facility for assimilat-
ing some of its characteristics. The manner in which
the European is repelled by the native has been fre-
quently pointed out The active, practical, bustling
European cannot understand the quiet, contemplative,
slow-moving Asiatic, and he either wears himself out
by trying to hustle him or else loses heart and gives
up the native as irredeemable. Would that all would
remember the warning of Kipling :
It is not good for the Christian's health
To hustle the Aryan brown,
For the Christian riles and the Aryan smiles,
And he weareth the Christian down.
And the end of the fight is a tombstone white
With the name of the late deceased,
And the epitaph drear " A fool lies here
Who tried to hustle the East ".
On the other hand, the fact that Europeans assimi-
late some of the worst characteristics of the natives
cannot be denied by those who know anything of
Burma. Several articles in " Truth " during the
Autumn of 1910 pointed out how the low ideals about
marriage amongst the Burmese had influenced the
English population and accounted for the concubinage
with native women which is so common amongst the
European residents of Burma.
142 MISSIONS IN BURMA
The position of the European in the East, therefore,
is a position of peculiar difficulty, but it is also one of
great responsibility. An Englishman in India is a
lord. He is addressed by the natives as " my lord " or
" your honour " ; everything he does is done in great
publicity, and for weal or for woe has a far-reaching
effect. Then it must be remembered that European
and Christian are to the native convertible terms, in
the same way as Burman and Buddhist are, and in the
same way as Hindu is applied both to the people and
the religion of India. When a Buddhist sees an
Englishman the worse for drink he at once assumes
that Christianity condones drunkenness ; indeed, one
of the most frequent arguments used by the Burmese
in controversy with our Christian teachers is that
Buddhism is superior to Christianity because it cate-
gorically prohibits the use of intoxicants and Christ-
ianity does not
What then is the Church doing to help the English
residents in Burma in their position of special difficulty
and peculiar responsibility ? The Government has al-
ways acknowledged its responsibility for the spiritual
welfare of all those engaged in its service. The charter
granted to the East India Company in 1698 required
them " constantly to maintain in every garrison and
superior factory one minister (to be approved by the
Bishop of London) and to provide there also one decent
and convenient place for divine service only ". So
that even when the Company prohibited missionary
work in India, it still sent out men like Henry Martyn
as chaplains to minister to the English population.
WORK AMONGST ENGLISH 143
In Burma the Government pays the stipends of
eleven chaplains. One of these, however, is always
out of Burma at Dagshai, a hill station in the Punjab,
which for ecclesiastical purposes is reckoned as belong-
ing to the diocese. In Burma itself the most northerly
town in which a chaplain is stationed is Bahmo, and
the most southerly Port Blair in the Andaman Islands.
The work of a government chaplain is of immense
importance ; of greater importance perhaps even than
that of the missionary. It is his privilege and re-
sponsibility to help the English residents to live such
lives as will commend the religion of Christ to the
natives. The natives place implicit trust in the Euro-
pean. They believe him to be absolutely just and
totally unsusceptible to bribery ; and rarely is their
trust misplaced. But church-going is not the strong
point of the Anglo-Indian, nor is he much given to
display any of the outward signs of religion. The
native is on the look-out for such signs. There is a
well-known story which illustrates this. A native
servant who was desirous of knowing what god the
English worshipped once set himself to watch his
master as he was preparing to go to bed in the even-
ing. The master happened to be a religious man and
always carried his Bible about with him whilst on tour.
The native saw his master light a candle and stick it
in an empty whisky bottle ; then he got his Bible, and
after reading a few chapters knelt down to pray. The
native went away quite satisfied and told all his friends
that his master's god was the whisky bottle, for he had
seen him kneel down and worship it !
144 MISSIONS IN BURMA
But although the average Anglo-Indian is not a
church-goer, there have always been in India a certain
number of devout Christians who have added to their
devotion to duty a steadfast faith, which has shown
forth the Christian religion at its best.
Bishop Titcomb in 1878 referred to Judge Macleod
at Maulmein who used to put on his university hood
and surplice and take duty both in the church and
cemetery whenever there was no officiating clergyman ;
and only a short time ago we mourned the loss of Mr.
J. N. O. Thurston, an acting commissioner, who not
only took the services in the absence of a chaplain but
prepared native and English candidates for baptism
and confirmation.
The English sailors who visit Rangoon are min-
istered to by the Missions to Seamen. The late
chaplain did much to mitigate the dangers both to
body and soul which menace the European sailor in an
Eastern port. A motor launch was provided by which
the men could be brought safely ashore to the Mayo
Marine Institute, of which the chaplain was then secre-
tary. As, however, the crews of the boats visiting
Rangoon are mostly native, the Missions to Seamen
found it impossible to continue to provide a chaplain
for this post, and for two years the station was un-
occupied. Happily in 1910 a layman was sent out to
resume the work.
There is one Government chaplaincy in the diocese
of Rangoon of which special mention should be made,
viz. Port Blair in the Andaman Islands. After a
chequered history, the Andamans were finally occupied
WORK AMONGST ENGLISH 145
by the Indian Government on the conclusion of the
Mutiny, with the two-fold object of pacifying the
natives who had frequently committed outrages on the
crews of ships wrecked on their coasts, and of provid-
ing a penal settlement for such mutineers and others
whose offences had not merited the death sentence.
This penal settlement is now wonderfully organized,
as may be gathered from the following extracts of
addresses by Sir Richard Temple, late Chief Commis-
sioner of the Andamans.
" The convict comes to the Andamans a creature
who, by his life or his acts, has shown himself to be so
unfitted for human society that he has been cast out
of it for life or for a long term of years. Received
thus, he is first subjected for six months to a most
severe discipline, hard, rigid, and uncompromising.
" From the stern cellular jail he is next transferred
to one of the associated jails, and to the comparative
blessing of hard labour. He works and feeds with
others in gangs, and there is a certain variety in the
tasks demanded, but he still sleeps in his separate
cell. Here he stays for a year and a half, and then
for the next three years he is a slave, as the word is
ordinarily understood, locked up with other slaves in
barracks at night, but working in the open at any
kind of work that the needs of the settlement may
require of him, according to his capacity an unpaid
unrewarded labourer, but well-fed, housed, clothed,
and cared for, and always under watch and guard.
During the next five years he is eligible for the petty
posts of supervision and gets a little allowance to buy
10
146 MISSIONS IN BURMA
a few small luxuries or to place in the savings bank.
Having served ten probationary years he may take a
ticket-of-leave and become a self-supporter.
" He can now send for his wife and children and live
in the village, but may not leave the settlement. After
ten or fifteen years of this life he may return to his
country. If he prefers it he may marry one of the
female convicts who has served her time and become
eligible to live outside the jail."
The children of such marriages are extraordinarily
wicked and need special care. They are physically
healthy, and it is the rule at Port Blair, probably alone
in the East, to rear the whole of a young family ;
primary education, again probably alone in the East,
is here compulsory.
" But far be it from concealing the fact that there
is a seamy side to life in Port Blair. It could not be
otherwise; and it would be easy enough to paint a
lurid picture of its inhabitants easy enough to preach
a scathing condemnation of the envy, hatred, and
malice, the uncharitableness, the evil-speaking, lying,
and slandering, the murder and the cruel death ; of
the amazing immorality, the callous depravity, the
downright unabashed wickedness, that are constantly
forced upon the view. But such is not to the purpose.
" Human faults are easily seen and easily denounced,
for such things lie on the surface. The difficult thing
always is to perceive aright the good that there is in
bad men, and bring that out, and that is the object
that the Government is aiming at in the system just
explained."
WORK AMONGST ENGLISH 147
On arriving in the harbour of Port Blair the visitor
is rowed ashore by a crew of murderers. The man
who cooks your dinner and the servant who waits at
table are probably both murderers. It comes as a
shock to learn this for the first time, but it is wonder-
ful how quickly one gets reconciled to one's surround-
ings and how soundly one sleeps in one's bed despite
the fact that so many criminals are at large in the im-
mediate neighbourhood. The chaplain is not allowed
to work amongst the convicts, but such of them as are
Christians are allowed to come to church under certain
necessary conditions. The mission work in the
Nicobar Islands is also under the superintendence
of the chaplain of Port Blair and he visits the islands
on the government steamer several times a year.
Enough has been said perhaps to show the interest
and importance of the work amongst the English
residents of Burma. Some will consider it to be of
such importance that they will blame the missionaries
for wasting their time in trying to convert the natives
when their own fellow-countrymen stand so much in
need of their pastoral care.
But it ought to be remembered that missionaries
do not neglect their fellow-countrymen. Almost every
missionary in Burma in addition to his own special
work has charge of an English congregation. He
has to duplicate his chief services, for the Burmese
cannot understand English and the English cannot
understand Burmese. It means double work to the
missionary, but he is glad to do it rather than allow
his own fellow-countrymen to be neglected.
148 MISSIONS IN BURMA
To take one example : Kemendine is an S.P.G.
station where the missionaries have to supervise work
carried on in the Burmese, Karen, and Chin languages.
The church was built by the munificence of a
Burmese Christian gentleman. Services in English
are provided for those who care to avail themselves of
them when the Burmese services are finished, and so
the English residents of Kemendine are enabled to
worship God according to the customs of their own
Church through the generosity of a native Christian.
It ought further to be remembered that work
amongst the natives has its reflex influence upon
the English. It is misleading to say that the mis-
sionary neglects his fellow-countrymen in order to
minister to the natives. By raising up a Christian
community amongst the natives the missionary is
doing for the soul of the European what the sanitary
officials do for his body when they destroy the
mosquitoes and remove the danger of malaria. The
missionary destroys the immorality which prevails
amongst natives by teaching them the Christian code
and helping them to live the Christian life. Who
can tell what the life of the European may be when
India is Christian? Environment has a wonderful
power and we all respond to it more or less. The
object of the missionary is to raise up a Christian
community amongst the natives which will provide
a healthy spiritual environment for the Europeans and
enable them to live the Christian life.
X.
WORK AMONGST EURASIANS.
EURASIANS may for practical purposes be reckoned as
Europeans. It is true that they all have a certain
amount of native blood in their veins, and on one side
they may have exclusively native relations, but they
almost invariably cling to the European side of their
parentage and make every effort to free themselves
from native influences. Their vernacular is English
although Eurasian-English has a quaint idiom of
its own. Their dress and habits of life are European,
and although they have most of them never been to
Europe, they speak of England, with unconscious
irony, as " Home". They are all Christians, and as a
race are far more devout than the European residents in
India. They repudiate the title Eurasian, and style
themselves the domiciled community. Their objection
to the title Eurasian is admitted by the Government,
and in the 191 1 census they are to be officially described
as Anglo-Indians.
Many Europeans regard them with ill-disguised
contempt, and use opprobrious terms in referring to
them; but in many cases the lives of the Eurasians
will put to shame those of the very Europeans who
iSo MISSIONS IN BURMA
despise them. They are said to inherit the vices of
both nations and the virtues of neither, and are gener-
ally thought to be devoid of character ; but the unpre-
judiced will admit that the defects of the Eurasians are
the result, not so much of heredity, as of environment.
They are shut off from European society, and have to
seek for amusement and friendship amongst the natives.
What wonder that they frequently succumb to the
temptation to live according to the low moral code of
the natives ?
To add to his difficulties, the Eurasian has to fill
just those posts in which he is most exposed to bribery
and corruption. The subordinates in the judicial,
police, and other services, are perpetually subjected
to temptation of this sort, and as it is strength of
character in which he is most deficient, the Eurasian
is exposed at his weakest point and unfortunately from
time to time gives way. Where Eurasians have been
taken away from this environment and given a sound
religious education on English public school lines, it
has been found that they have developed the char-
acteristics, religious and moral, of a healthy-minded
European, and have risen to high positions in the
Government and mercantile services.
The Eurasian community of India is a small one ;
there are 87,030 Eurasians as against a total popula-
tion of 169,677 Europeans in the whole of India; in
Burma the Eurasians probably number about 8000.
They occupy an important position midway between
the English and the natives and are almost invariably
literate in at least two languages. Very few English
WORK AMONGST EURASIANS 151
people ever learn any Indian language thoroughly,
but the Eurasians speak an Indian vernacular, with
English, from their cradles, and are educated through-
out the whole of their lives through the medium of
both languages. The difficulties of the Eurasians, and
the importance of the position which they fill, con-
stitute a grave challenge to the Church, whose duty is
to help them to overcome their difficulties and tempta-
tions and to enable them to use the position in which
they are placed so as to elevate the natives and not to
degrade themselves.
The key to the Eurasian problem is education.
The Roman Catholics have long ago perceived this
and have, all over India, a series of schools which for
equipment and situation are unrivalled. The Church
of England comes next to the Roman Catholics in its
educational work amongst Eurasians ; but the Romans
are as much ahead of the Church in this matter as the
Church is ahead of the Nonconformists.
The industrial education of Eurasians is only in the
experimental stage in India ; the Presbyterians have
taken it up, and the St. Andrew's Homes at Kalim-
pong point out a new line along which the Church
may work out the redemption of the lower class
Eurasians. It is a melancholy fact that as a result of
neglecting the education of the Eurasian members of
our Church, numbers of them are being lost to us.
Our girls are sent to Roman Catholic convents
because in many places there are no Church schools
for them to attend ; and although in some cases the
fault lies with the parents, the Church must still be
i$2 MISSIONS IN BURMA
blamed for allowing such a condition of things to be
possible.
At the annual meeting of the Indian Church Aid
held in London in July, 1910, it was pointed out that
although in Calcutta 61 per cent of Europeans, and
41 per cent of the Eurasians belong to the Church of
England, only 17 per cent of their children are being
educated in our schools. As a consequence of this,
whereas in the ten years, 1891-1901, the Eurasian
adherents of our Church in Calcutta had only increased
from 4194 to 5681, those of the Church of Rome had
increased from 3952 to 7110. Fortunately this state
of things has recently attracted attention in England,
owing in great measure to the exertions of a Scotch
Presbyterian, Sir Robert Laidlaw. At his own ex-
pense he instituted an inquiry into the state of Eurasian
education in India as a preliminary to the Edinburgh
Conference, and himself brought the subject before the
Conference. 1 He has started an interdenominational
fund for the benefit of the non-Roman European
schools in India with a donation of 5 0,000 ; and
20,000 from the Pan -Anglican thank-offering is
also being devoted to the development of the educa-
tion of Eurasian Church people.
In Burma until two years ago it was quite the
common thing for Eurasians to be educated with na-
tives at what are known as Anglo-Vernacular schools,
i.e. schools in which the medium of instruction is partly
English and partly Burmese. There is now, however,
a separate and distinct code for a new class of schools,
1 " Ed. Miss. Conf. Report," Vol. VI, p. 301.
THE DIOCESAN HIGH SCHOOL FOR GIRLS, RANGOON
ST. MARY S NORMAL SCHOOL FOR Bl'KMKSK GIRLS, KF.MKNDINK
WORK AMONGST EURASIANS 153
known as European schools, from which natives are
virtually excluded. There are still a few Eurasians
being educated in Anglo- Vernacular schools, but the
effect of the new code will be to put an end to this
state of things, and in a few years' time all Eurasian
boys will be gathered into the European schools.
There can be little doubt that the finest European
schools in Burma are those belonging to the Church
of England : the diocesan boys' school at Rangoon
and the girls' schools at Rangoon and Maymyo are
unsurpassed for efficiency of staff and soundness of
education. The diocesan boys' school was founded in
1 864 just before St. John's College, and there are now
about 300 pupils, of whom fifty are boarders. The
prefect system is adopted, and there is a cadet corps
of over 100 members. The girls' school is slightly
smaller but hardly less efficient. The girls' school at
Maymyo is under the management of the Sisters of
the Church.
There are also Church schools under the European
code at St. Philip's, E. Rangoon, Maulmein (one for
boys and one for girls), and at Toungoo. A Teaching
Brotherhood x a society of lay missionaries who are
also qualified teachers is being organized for the
more efficient and economical staffing of these schools.
Although there is a girls' school in the hills at Maymyo
there is at present none for boys. This is one of the
needs of the diocese and when it is adequately met
the Eurasian education of Church people in Burma
will be set on a sound footing. The orphanages for
1 See Appendix.
iS4 MISSIONS IN BURMA
Eurasian children have already been referred to. The
boys' orphanage is at St John's College, and the
girls' at the Bishop Strachan Home. There is also
a smaller orphanage at Maulmein.
The spiritual care of the Eurasians of the province
is in the hands of the Burma Additional Clergy
Society. The Government only holds itself respon-
sible for its own officials, and except when these
officials are sufficiently numerous to require the
ministrations of a chaplain, the Government does not
provide one ; but where the number of officials is small,
the Government is always ready to grant assistance in
proportion to the number of those requiring it. The
smaller stations for which a small grant is made
are those where the chaplains of the B.A.C.S. are
stationed, the portion of their stipend which the
Government supplies being supplemented by local
contributions. Most of these chaplains have three or
more stations under their care, and only get round to
them all once a month. The most scattered district
in Lower Burma is that of the railway chaplain, and
in Upper Burma that of the Riverine chaplain. In
both cases the title indicates the character of the
work.
The Girls' Friendly Society is working at several
centres in the diocese. In Rangoon its members are
chiefly Eurasian shop-girls, and there is a home in the
hills at Maymyo where members may go for a cheap
and health-giving holiday.
The Ladies' Missionary Association is another so-
ciety, its object being to interest the Eurasian and
WORK AMONGST EURASIANS 155
European residents of Burma in the missionary work
that is going on in their midst. The Association
holds quarterly meetings at which one of the mission-
aries of the diocese describes the work that is being
done at his own particular station. It is astonishing
how little the European inhabitants of Burma know
about the Missions of the Church in the province.
The Church has not yet given the Eurasians their
proper place in the ministry. The Roman Catholic
Church includes many of the domiciled community
amongst its priests and monks, but as has recently
been pointed out, there is not one ordained Eurasian
working under the C.M.S. in India, 1 and there is not
one ordained Eurasian in Burma, although there are
Burmese, Karen, and Tamil clergy. Yet there can be no
doubt that when the ministry of the Church includes
Eurasians of piety, scholarship, and character in its
numbers, it will be able to get into closer touch with
the natives of India than it has ever succeeded in doing
in the past.
114 The East and The West," January, 1911, p. 89.
XI.
THE BURMESE MISSION.
THE work of the Church amongst Burmese is carried
on from head-quarters situated in Rangoon, Maulmein,
Prome, Toungoo, Mandalay, and Shwebo. At Manda-
lay the work is organized differently from what it is
at the other stations, and is in the hands of the Win-
chester Brotherhood, a short account of whose work
will be found in chapter XV. At the other stations
the work is generally of the following character.
There is invariably a school at the head-quarters
where the missionary resides, and in addition to this,
there are out-stations scattered over a large tract of
country which he has to supervise. The operations
of the missionaries are threefold : educational, so that
the children of Christian parents may be properly
brought up and Buddhist children brought under
Christian influence ; pastoral, so that the natives who
are already Christian may be adequately ministered
to ; evangelistic, so that the non-Christians may be
brought to the knowledge of the Truth.
The educational work of the Church is at its highest
in Rangoon, where St. John's College for boys, and
St. Mary's High School for girls, rank among the best
(156)
THE BURMESE MISSION 157
schools in the province. The history of these schools
is given in chapter VIII.
St John's College has been, all through its history,
the pioneer of English public school methods in
Burmese education. It introduced school football into
Burma ; it had its own company of cadets, which in
their day received the high commendation of Lord
Roberts, General Sir George Chesney, and others;
and there was a fire brigade which on more than one
occasion did good service at those terrible conflagra-
tions which from time to time devastate Rangoon.
St. John's does not now stand in these matters as it
did in times past, facile princeps ; in fact it has been
found desirable to give up the cadets and the fire
brigade ; but it has the distinction of having been the
pioneer in these matters, and when it sees its ideas
being adopted and imitated by rival institutions, it can
console itself on its loss of uniqueness by the reflection
that it is at any rate receiving the sincerest form of
flattery.
At St. John's College is the diocesan boys' orphan-
age, where Eurasian boys receive a free education.
This institution has from its inception received most
generous support from the local English merchants,
one firm alone contributing 1000 Rs. worth of rice
annually.
The old boys of the College are scattered all over
Burma and many of them are in high positions in the
Government and mercantile services. They are ani-
mated by great devotion to Dr. Marks, the founder of
St. John's, and by love for the College. It is more
158 MISSIONS IN BURMA
unusual in the East to find esprit de corps amongst
the pupils of an educational institution than it is in the
West, but that such a spirit exists among the old boys
of St. John's College no one who knows anything
about them can doubt. They have instituted a Marks'
Memorial Fund quite independently of the European
missionaries, and to it Buddhists, Mohammedans, and
others, contribute together with the Christian boys.
Its object is to provide a pension for their beloved
founder, who will this summer enter upon his eightieth
year. When it was decided to build a memorial
chapel as a record of Dr. Marks' forty years work in
Burma, all the members of the school staff, and others
who were present at the meeting at which the project
was inaugurated, subscribed a month's salary on the
spot!
St. John's is not now the largest school in Rangoon
as.it once was, but it can still claim pre-eminence for
the "tone" which pervades it. Its educational record
has been wonderful, and the normal school for the
training of teachers, which was attached to it in 1 898,
has made it even more useful to the other mission
stations of the province than it was before.
What St. John's College has done for Burmese boys,
St. Mary's has done for the girls. The buildings in
Canal Street had long been overcrowded, so in 1909
the normal school was transferred to Kemendine.
The new buildings are of brick, and are well adapted
to their purpose.
The orphans of Burmese Christian parents are
given a free education in this school. The children
THE BURMESE MISSION 159
receive a certain amount of technical education, and
at the Art Handicraft Exhibition in 1910 one of the
pupils was awarded a gold medal for lace work.
The chapel of St. John's College is the parish church
of the Burmese Christians of Rangoon. These consist
partly of the Burmese wives of Eurasian churchmen,
and partly of families entirely Burmese. Direct evan-
gelistic work amongst the Burmese residents of
Rangoon is very unfruitful. The Burmese are not at
their best in the large towns. They readily succumb
to the temptations which always abound in those
centres of population where people of different nation-
alities congregate, and specially where owing to the
nearness of the sea irresponsible ne'er-do-wells find a
temporary abode, and are able to live a life of vice secure
from the authorities because of the facilities for escape.
Rangoon is regarded as a modern Babylon by the
quiet country folk of Burma, and the Buddhist monas-
teries are not infrequently illuminated by pictures of
the city which leave no doubt as to the conviction of
the artist that the infernal regions are the ultimate
destination of most of its inhabitants.
Compared with the country folk, the Burmese towns-
people 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.
Besides these two large schools, there are two other
160 MISSIONS IN BURMA
Burmese missions connected with the Church of Eng-
land in Rangoon : one is at Pazundoung, the eastern
suburb, and the other is at Kemendine, the western
suburb. At Pazundoung St. Barnabas' School has
held its own for many years, and is still doing good
work ; but owing to the fact that there is no resident
European missionary in charge of it, it has not yet
developed to the full extent of its possibilities.
At Kemendine the work of St. Michael's Mission
has been developed on three different lines : there is
a school of about 300 boys, and a catechists' training
institution at head-quarters, and in the district con-
nected with the mission, evangelistic work is carried
on amongst Burmese, Karens, and Chins.
The school is largely a day school, but there are
about thirty boarders who, for lack of proper buildings,
reside in the house of the missionary who is in charge
of them. The lower story of the house is used as a
classroom and dining-room for the boarders, and in the
evening the boys occupy the greater part of the upper
story, sleeping on the floor, under the tables and chairs
in the missionary's study and verandah.
These boys are all the sons of Christian parents, and
in many cases their grandparents are also Christian.
It was found that in the district the children of Chris-
tian parents were often sent to the Buddhist monastic
schools and lapsed from the Faith, simply because
there was no Christian school for them to attend.
The boarding department at St. Michael's, Kemendine,
has sprung up to save these boys from lapsing, and
to give them a sound Christian education.
A TYPICAL MISSION SCHOOL IN THE JUNGLE
ST. MICHAKI. S CHfKCH, KFMFNOINK
The brick chancel was almost entirely the gift of a Burmese Christian. The temporary
wooden nave is the old school buildiiiR.
THE BURMESE MISSION 161
The catechists' training institution or divinity school
has had a long career of usefulness ; there are usually
about twelve students in residence and amongst them
there are almost always to be found Karens and Chins
as well as Burmese. The Karens are sent down from
Toungoo where they have already received instruc-
tion through the medium of their own vernacular and
undergo at Kemendine an additional three years'
course of instruction through the medium of Burmese.
Many of the old Karen students of this institution have
been ordained. A conference of catechists and Church
elders is held annually at Kemendine, at Michaelmas,
when questions of Church polity are discussed and
religious instruction is given.
The church at Kemendine was originally a wooden
shed which was used as a school. The wooden shed
still remains as the temporary nave of the new building,
but the chancel is of brick and is the gift of a Burmese
Christian. It is the parish church of the Burmese
Christians of this quarter of Rangoon, and there are
also services in English for the Europeans who live in
the neighbourhood. The pastoral work is in the hands
of the European missionary who is in charge of the
training of the catechists, and he is assisted by a Bur-
mese deacon.
The memory of the Rev. Thomas Rickard, a de-
voted and successful missionary, is preserved by a
memorial window in the church, and by a Rickard
scholarship at the Divinity School. Before his death
in 1903 Mr. Rickard had been privileged to ad-
minister baptism to over 1280 converts, The dis-
n
1 62 MISSIONS IN BURMA
trict connected with this mission is as large as an Eng-
lish county, and the 500 Christians and the six schools
under a Burmese deacon and thirteen catechists and
teachers are all supervised from head-quarters.
The most important outstation in connexion with
this mission is at Kyaiklat, a flourishing town about
fifty miles west of Rangoon. Here the Burmese
Christians have built themselves a church and school
largely out of funds provided by the leading native
Christians. They have formed a branch among them-
selves of the Co-operative Credit Society, and have
started a Christian colony adjoining the paddy land
which they have acquired. In this manner they are
slowly acquiring what is to the Burmese a new and
strange virtue, thrift.
The Burmese Christians are doing something in the
way of self-help. Every family has its own church
box tied up under the roof of the house. It is usually
an old condensed milk tin with a new lid fitted on the
top in which is a slit. The Burmese as Buddhists are
familiar with the idea of making a daily religious
offering because of their custom of putting a handful
of cooked rice into the monk's bowl when he passes
the house on his morning round. The Christians re-
tain the spirit of this practice by putting one pice into
the money box every day. Those who cannot afford
to do this put a handful of rice aside every day when
they are cooking the morning meal, and when it has
accumulated sufficiently to be sold, the proceeds are
put into the church box. These boxes are offered in
church at the Holy Communion three times a year.
THE BURMESE MISSION 163
Kemendine is the largest centre of mission work
amongst Burmese belonging to our Church, but the
organization of the other head-quarter stations is almost
identical, and the work which is being done at
Kemendine may be regarded as typical of that carried
on at Maulmein, Shwebo, Toungoo, and Mandalay.
XII.
THE KAREN MISSION.
-THE work of the Church among the Karens has
been incomparably more successful than that among
the Burmese. This is partly owing to the fact that
Christianity has given the Karens a written language,
and raised them considerably in the scale of civilization.
But it is also due to the remarkable traditions of the
race, to the effect that white men should come and
bring them back their sacred books, and the knowledge
of God lost centuries ago by the remissness of their
ancestors. Hence the American Baptist missionaries
met with a wonderful response to their efforts. For
some time our Mission left the Karens entirely to the
A.B.M.S., and it was only in 1875, when, after five
years' hesitation, a large body of Karen Christians who,
with their leader Mrs. Mason, had separated from the
Baptist community, were received into the Church,
-4hat our Mission commenced.- Mrs. Mason transferred
her property to the S.P.G., and in 1878 four of the
Karen ministers were ordained, and another in 1879.
There are now belonging to our mission ten native
clergy and seventy catechists and teachers, and thou-
sands of converts, who have advanced considerably
in the important matter of self support.
(164)
THE KAREN MISSION 165
This work, although so successful, has its own
particular difficulties. The Karens have all along
displayed a disposition to follow the lead of anyone
possessed of unusual powers, and whilst it is this very
characteristic which has brought them under the sway
of the Christian teachers, it has also from time to time
got them into trouble by inducing them to acknow-
ledge the leadership of charlatans who have ex-
ploited the simplicity of the people for their own
ends.
- Christianity has transformed the Karens beyond all
recognition. It has not only given them a literature
and education, it has changed a multitude of mutually
hostile tribes into a united and compact people. The
Karens are now a nation with national hopes and
aspirations, and with, at any rate, the nucleus of an
organization that will in time bind together the widely
scattered members of the race.
And so strong is the religious instinct of these
people, and so fully are they conscious that it is
religion which has united them and made of them
one nation, that they have identified their religious
and national aspirations, and look forward to a sort of
theocracy, when there shall arise a king or chief who
^will also be the head of their religion.
It is this idea which the Karen leaders like Ko Pai
San and our own excommunicated priest Thomas
Pellako have exploited, to the great detriment of the
people. In several towns of Lower Burma the
followers of Ko Pai San have built huge fantastic
edifices which are to be at the same time palace and
1 66 MISSIONS IN BURMA
temple to the future Karen king when he comes. So
great has been the sum of money spent on these futile
buildings that thousands of the poor Karens have
mortgaged their fields and impoverished themselves
in providing the means for their erection. The
Karens, therefore, need very careful and very wise
leadership on the part of the Christian missionaries if
their first advance is to be maintained.
The work of the Church of England has, up till quite
recently, been almost exclusively confined to Toungoo
and the neighbourhood. A new development has,
however, of late years, taken place in the neighbour-
hood of Rangoon which needs some notice.
The work done from Toungoo may be considered
under two heads : (i) that done in the town of Toungoo
itself; (2) that on the hills in the district.
I. Work in Toungoo. 1 The Anglo-Vernacular
school at St. Luke's has 284 names on the roll, of
whom about sixty are Karens, the remainder being
Burmans, natives of India, Chinese, and Eurasians.
It is now a second grade school, in other words it
teaches up to the seventh standard. The staff under
a Eurasian headmaster, comprises four Karens, one
Burman, two natives of India, and a special Burmese
teacher, all of whom except the last are Christians.
For the religious teaching the Christians are taken by
themselves in three classes, their course of instruction
including both Bible and Prayer Book. The heathen
are taught the Bible only ; and the teachers try so to
1 Most of this chapter is a reprint from the " Historical Sketch of
Burma".
THE KAREN MISSION 167
present the facts of the Bible to them as to lead to
their ultimate conversion.
The Girls' Vernacular school at St. Luke's has
forty names on the roll, all of whom are Karen
Christian boarders. This is in charge of a lady mis-
sionary, and the staff comprises one Burmese and
three Karen female teachers, all of whom are Christians.
A grant of Rs. 1500 (100) has been made for the
building of a larger school on a new compound. It
has always been more difficult to get the girls than
the boys down to school in Toungoo, in proportion
as they are more useful on the hills. The girls are
the water carriers and rice pounders of the villages,
and their parents are usually very loath to part with
them. When there are more lady missionaries it will be
possible for one of them to tour on the hills, and a con-
siderable increase in the number of girls should result.
A European school has recently been started and
a second lady missionary has taken charge of it.
The situation of the buildings of St. Luke's Mission
is most unfortunate. The native bazaar is immediately
behind, and the railway and an old canal immediately
in front, so that mosquitoes and the germs of all sorts
of disease abound.
There have been several outbreaks of plague and
smallpox, and but for the heroic conduct of the lady
missionaries many lives would have been lost. During
one of the recent outbreaks the lady principal of the
girls' school isolated herself in the little hospital with
the smallpox patients and remained with them alone
until they recovered.
i68 MISSIONS IN BURMA
The Catechists' Training Institution has now been
engaged in the training of Karen catechists for more
than twenty years. From May to November the
students are in residence at Toungoo, and for three
years they pursue a course which comprises general
Bible Introduction, Prayer Book, and Church History.
From December to March they accompany the English
clergy on their tours or engage in practical work under
the superintendence of a Karen priest, and in April
they return to their own homes. The S.P.C.K. pro-
vides small stipends for some of these students suffi-
cient to provide their food, clothing, and books during
the period of study. During 1906 the number ot
students in attendance was sixteen.
At the Government Normal school at Toungoo,
three or four Karens, both boys and girls, are entered
annually for a two years' course of training as school
teachers, and there are now twelve qualified teachers
in various Karen village schools. These are all com-
petent to teach up to the fourth standard only, but
one of them is now about to enter upon the Secondary
Grade course, after which a central Vernacular School
will be established on the hills, which will teach up
to the seventh standard.
In the early days of the Mission a small hand-
printing press, with paper and type was given by
S.P.C.K. to the Mission. The need of developing this
branch of the work was increasingly felt as the years
went by, and early in 1906 a second cylinder press was
purchased. In the autumn of 1906 a lay evangelist
whose trade is printing joined the Mission, and took
THE KAREN MISSION 169
charge of the printing department. There are at
present six printers, all Karens, and a technical class
in connexion with the Anglo- Vernacular School has
been formed, which will ensure a constant supply of
material from which to recruit the numbers.
Three papers are now issued regularly from this
press. One, a quarterly, in English, "Work amongst
Mountain Men," gives a record of the progress of the
Mission and is circulated amongst those interested
in it, both in England and Burma. Its issue com-
menced in January, 1902, and it now has a circulation
of about 500.
The second is a monthly Karen publication bearing
the name of " Sunrise ". Such a publication was in
existence for some years under the title of the " Pole
Star," but when Mr. Salmon's death occurred, it was
found impossible to carry it on. The present paper
started in January, 1904, and consisted at first of
only eight octavo pages. In October of the same
year it was enlarged to sixteen pages, and a further
enlargement took place in January, 1907, to thirty-
two pages. Some idea of its usefulness to the Ka-
rens can be gathered from a list of contents for that
month. This is as follows : Editorial Notes, General
News, Translation of Aladdin and his Wonderful Lamp
(Part I), Translation of Little Red Riding Hood, How
Christianity first came to England, Village Sanitation
(Part I), and Instalments of Commentaries on Thes-
salonians, St. Matthew and Isaiah, Confirmation Lec-
tures, and the Hebrew Prophets.
In addition to these papers the Mission prints its
i;o MISSIONS IN BURMA
own prayer and hymn-books, and from time to time
other small books are published, such as Sunday School
Lesson Notes, Companion to Holy Communion, and
Christmas Carols. The third paper is the " Rangoon
Diocesan Magazine," published monthly in English.
It is widely circulated throughout the diocese.
There are two boarding establishments, one at St.
Luke's and the other on the compound where the
priest in charge of the Southern Mission lives. This
is known as St. Peter's. From the time that the Paku
and Bway Missions were, in recognition of tribal dif-
ferences, divided, all the Paku children have boarded
at St. Peter's, and all the Bway children at St. Luke's.
In 1 906, however, owing to the fact that there was, for
the time being, no lady resident on St. Peter's com-
pound, all the girls were transferred to St. Luke's, and
when the new girls' school is built this arrangement
will probably still remain in force. The maintenance
of the boarding department is one of the heaviest
charges on the Mission, inasmuch as the Karens them-
selves do not contribute anything towards this branch
of the work.
St. Paul's Church, which was consecrated in 1878,
is situated in the Institute Village, a Karen settlement
on the opposite bank of the Sittang from Toungoo,
and is attached to the Southern or Paku Mission. It
is a nice wooden church on brick foundations, but it
is now badly in need of repair. At the Northern
or Bway Mission of St. Luke's matters are still worse,
for there no church has ever existed, and services
have to be held in the school assembly hall, one end
THE KAREN MISSION 171
of which has been turned into the sanctuary and is
screened off during school hours.
2. Work on the hills. The European missionaries
can travel on the hills practically for four months only
in the year. During the rains the many streams are
so swollen as to be impassable to a European, and the
steep mountain tracks are so slippery that anyone not
barefooted could scarcely keep his footing. In the
hot weather, too, though travelling in the mountains
themselves is possible, yet the ten or twelve-mile
march along an unshaded road in the plains which is
generally necessary at the beginning and end of a
journey, practically makes travelling at this time im-
possible. Consequently, from the middle of March
to the middle of November the work on the hills can
only be supervised through the medium of the Karen
clergy and catechists. Even during the travelling
season a visit of one or at the most two days to each
village is all that is possible, and a heavy responsibility,
therefore, rests upon the Karen clergy. Each of the
Karen priests is in charge of a district which contains
ten or more villages, and is assisted by one or more
deacons. If there are two deacons, each is given half
of the parish in which to work, and the priest super-
intends the work of both.
Each village as a general rule has its own catechist,
who is also the village schoolmaster, and half of these
village schools in the Bway Mission are under Govern-
ment inspection and are earning results grants. The
Pakus have always been more backward in educational
matters, and they have as yet got no schools under
if2 MISSIONS IN BURMA
Government, except an infant school opened in 1906
in the Institute Village. School is generally held in
the village church, which is usually made of bamboo,
though a number of villages, generally those in which
the clergy live, have now built wooden churches.
Daily matins and evensong, with the addition of
Litany and Sunday School and (if a priest be present)
Holy Communion on Sunday, is supposed to be the
rule in all the villages, though they are frequently
content on weekdays with a single service. Under
normal conditions each village feeds its own catechist
and clergy, and contributes something in money to-
wards his support An attempt is now being made to
teach the Karens to support their native clergy en-
tirely, each village contributing a fixed sum monthly,
in proportion to the number of its inhabitants.
In 1906 an Apostolic Guild was formed in the Bway
Mission, consisting of members and associates, both
of whom promise to pray daily for missionary work
and to contribute not less than one anna per month
for work amongst the heathen, the members promising
in addition to go as teachers to any heathen village in
Burma to which they may be sent. It is hoped that
this will lead to a considerable increase in missionary
zeal amongst the Karens, while providing funds for the
entire support of two or three teachers in heathen
villages.
An important feature of this Mission is the medical
work. At St. Luke's there is a small hospital which
proves of great use in segregating cases of infectious
disease amongst the boarders, and was of untold value
THE KAREN MISSION 173
during an outbreak of plague and cholera in 1906.
But the great need for medical work is seen on the
hills, in many villages scarcely a single inhabitant
being entirely free from disease. Consumption,
ophthalmia, and sores on the body, caused by dirt, are
terribly rife, and there is, of course, a constant demand
for quinine.
The great event of the year on the hills is the
annual conference. Each branch of the Mission holds
its own conference, the Pakus in January, and the
Bways in February. During the three days that the
conference lasts, from 500 to 1000 visitors are enter-
tained by the village in which it is held. Booths are
erected for their accommodation, and a large confer-
ence hall is put up. Services are held morning and
evening, and sermons preached. During the day
resolutions concerned with religious and moral ques-
tions are discussed and passed, speeches are made,
reports of the year's work from all the villages are
read, as are also brief biographies of those who have
died during the year. This is the time, too, when the
greater part of the native offerings in money are
presented.
In 1904, a Teachers' Conference was instituted.
This is held each year at Toungoo in May, and lasts
for a fortnight. Special sermons are preached, lec-
tures on the Bible and Prayer Book are given, and
various matters of special importance to catechists and
clergy are discussed. It has been found to do much
towards deepening the spirituality and sense of re-
sponsibility in the native workers.
174 MISSIONS IN BURMA
With the exception of some Red Karen villages,
which are situated in the plains only a few miles dis-
tant from Toungoo, all work amongst the heathen is
on the outskirts of the Mission. All the Karens to
the east within a radius of about forty miles from
Toungoo are now Christians, but outside that radius
and to the west, heathen Karens are still plentiful.
In the west the Karens are largely Burmanized, and a
veneer of Buddhism has to be got rid of before the
preaching of Christianity can be commenced. This
makes progress amongst them slow, and the Baptists
have abandoned this work for the present, whilst the
Romans seem never to have visited the west. The
English Church, therefore, has this district entirely to
itself at present.
The Southern Mission has been working in the west
for some years, and has made a few converts in six
villages. The Northern Mission commenced work in
the west so lately as 1904, and at the close of 1906,
although no converts had yet been made, teachers had
been established in two villages, and a third teacher
visits from time to time four or five other villages.
There is every prospect of the work meeting with
success. The Shokees, too, a sub-division of the Bway
tribe, seem likely to add strength to the Northern
Mission. One of their villages is almost wholly
Christian, and in all human probability five or six more
villages will be added to the list in the course of a
very few years.
Work from Rangoon. In 1905, Bishop Knight re-
ceived a deputation of Talaing Karens purporting to
THK CHAPEL OF THE GOOD SHKPHKKD, NEAR MANDALAY, BURMA,
BUILT IN THE STYLE OF A BUDDHIST THEIN
TYPICAL KAREN VILLAGE IN THE HILLS. THE BUILDING IN THE FRONT
THK LEFT IS THE CHURCH
THE KAREN MISSION 175
represent about 5000 people who asked for teachers
to be sent to them to instruct them in the Christian
Faith. The motives that prompted the inquirers were
doubtless mixed. Some of them were blindly follow-
ing their leaders without much knowledge of what was
going on. Some of them had mystical, not to say
superstitious, ideas of the efficacy of the sign of the
cross in baptism ; whilst some again were attracted
to the Church of England because of its connexion
with the State.
These mixed, and, in some cases, unworthy motives
were not overlooked at the time, but after careful inquiry
Bishop Knight was sufficiently satisfied of the bona
fides of some of the converts to institute an inquiry.
The Bishop, with Mr. Whitehead and Mr. Hackney,
visited the various centres and came to the conclusion
that a special English missionary ought to be set apart
to take charge of and foster the movement. Despite
the earnest appeal of the Bishop, no new missionary
could be induced to come out from England for the
purpose.
The movement amongst these Karens seems to have
sunk into abeyance for a time, but in 1909 it once
more became active. A catechist from Kemendine had
come into contact with one of the most influential
" Paramat " leaders of the Karens, who, after receiving
instruction, was baptized, and later induced many of his
followers to become inquirers.
Bishop Fyffe arranged a conference with 150 of
these inquirers near Hmawbi, a town thirty miles
north of Rangoon, in the autumn of 1910. The
176 MISSIONS IN BURMA
Bishop, the Rev. T. Ellis, and the two native Burmese
clergy gave instruction on the Christian Faith. After
the instruction had been given eighty of those present
made a formal renunciation of their old superstitions
and asked to be prepared for baptism. They pro-
fessed a willingness to send some of their young men
to Kemendine to be instructed in the Faith with a view
to becoming catechists.
On Michaelmas Eve, 1910, eighty-five Talaing
Karens were admitted to the catechumenate ; twenty-
nine were baptized, and seven lapsed Christians were
restored. There are now 6000 of these people resident
in the Yandoon, Wakema, Pantanau, and Shw61oung
districts, anxious to receive Christian instruction.
The native Christians themselves are doing all they
can to help these new inquirers. The Burmese Chris-
tians of Rangoon defrayed the expenses of the Michael-
mas festival. One Tamil Christian, an old boy of St.
John's College, gave thirteen bags of rice. At the con-
ference at Hmawbi, a Christian lady of Rangoon, the
widow of a Chinese convert, provided for the feeding
and housing of all present and paid for the erection of
the pandal (a bamboo shed) in which the meetings
took place.
It will be obvious to anyone who will consider these
facts that the Church of England in Burma is face to
face with an immense opportunity. The Karens all
over the country are passing through a period of
transition. The missionary often has to lament apathy
on the part of those whom he wishes to win for the
Church. There are thousands of Karens however,
THE KAREN MISSION 177
who, instead of being apathetic, have done all in their
power to get hold of teachers belonging to our Church
to instruct them.
This state of anxious inquiry does not last long.
Experience has shown that when a number of people
are stirred up into a state of spiritual unrest and are
not wisely and sympathetically treated, they either
sink back into an apathy deeper than that from which
they were awakened, or else they follow the lead of
some unscrupulous charlatan, and devise for themselves
some superstitious cult to satisfy their religious yearn-
ings. In either case, humanly speaking, they are lost
to the Church of Christ.
The Karens are to-day in the same state as the low
caste peoples of Southern India. They are willing and
anxious to receive Christian instruction. They realize
what a blessing Christianity has been to those of their
people who have embraced it. They know it can do
for them far more than Buddhism or any other faith
can do. Is the Church going to respond to the call
and grasp the opportunity, or is it going to remain
apathetic and indifferent and see the opportunity lost
beyond recall?
Is it too much to hope that the appeal which the back-
ward peoples of Burma and India are now making to
the Church of the Empire will receive a warm response ?
Is it possible that not even these pathetic cries to
come over and help can touch the consciences and
imaginations of the clergy of the home country? Is
the Church of England always going to remain luke-
warm with regard to the question of foreign missions ?
19
1 78 MISSIONS IN BURMA
Let us take to heart the warning given to the Church
of Laodicea : " I know thy works that thou art neither
cold nor hot : I would thou wert cold or hot. So
because thou art lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold,
I will spew thee out of my mouth: because thou
sayest, I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need
of nothing."
XIII.
WORK AMONGST CHINS AND
NICOBARESE.
CHURCH work amongst the Chins was begun by a lay-
man, Mr. C. R. Torkington. Educated at Cheltenham,
and Pembroke College, Cambridge, Torkington had
enlisted in the army whilst in South Africa, and was
transferred with hisi regiment, the Hampshires, to
Burma. At Mandalay, he bought his discharge and
joined the S.P.G. in 1895. He was posted to Tha-
yet-myo and whilst itinerating in the district came into
contact with the Chins.
During the next three years twenty-six Chins were
baptized in various scattered villages and, although he
was lame through the loss of a foot in an accident, Tor-
kington was untiring in his devotion to these people
until his death in 1 898.
A year later the Rev. G. Whitehead was sent to
Prome to continue this work. The Chin language has
been reduced by him to writing and a short catechism
and a few prayers have been translated into it There
are now about 120 baptized Chins belonging to our
Church,and there are two small vernacular schools at the
villages where the greater number of our people live.
(i79)
180 MISSIONS IN BURMA
The Chins amongst whom the Anglican Church is
working, are mostly settled in the Prome and Tha-
yet-myo districts. Some of them live in the plains
near the Irrawaddy, but these are for the most part
Burmanized, i.e. they have dropped their own customs
and in some cases their own language, and have adopted
the manners and customs of the Burmese and the Bud-
dhist religion.
Converts to Christianity are usually made not from
these Burmanized Chins of the plains but from those
who, on account of the remoteness of their villages,
have been able to preserve their identity and to resist
the influence of Buddhism.
The Chins who inhabit these remote villages are,
however, very poor. They very rarely use money at
all, as their fields supply them with just enough for all
their requirements but with no surplus for commerce
with their neighbours.
They are law abiding but ignorant, and their lack
of sophistication makes them an easy prey to the un-
scrupulous exaction of petty Government officials.
Their chief means of livelihood is toung ya cultivation
which involves the cutting down of large tracts of
jungle. Within this tract there may have been a
small sapling of cutch, or of some other trees protected
by Government If the forest official hears of this,
he will threaten legal proceedings against the villagers
unless they silence him with a bribe ; and so to these
poor hill folk the Government, instead of being a pro-
tector, seems to be only a tyrant
Living on the outskirts of civilization, the people
WORK' AMONGST CHINS AND NICOBARESE 181
are also a prey to the wild beasts that infest the jungle.
The paddy fields are trampled down by wild elephants,
and the people themselves are, from time to time,
destroyed by tigers and other wild animals.
At a little Chin village named Th& Byu, thirty miles
north-west of Prome, all the inhabitants were Christians.
They had built their own church and were making great
progress in every way. But in 1907 the whole of
their paddy crop was destroyed by elephants, and the
following year a tiger got into the village at night and
carried off one of our most promising Christians as he
lay asleep in his house between his wife and child.
Only a few bones were found, and, although the tiger
was trapped by the villagers the next day and killed,
the village had to be broken up and the promising
little Christian colony was scattered.
In order to bring the scattered Christians together
and to make them realize their solidarity as a com-
munity there is an annual conference at one of the
central villages at the time of year when the cultivators
are least busy.
The people bring with them their scanty savings to
offer at the corporate communion, and then they spend
the two or three days of the conference in receiving
instruction, discussing matters of church polity, and
in preaching to the heathen people of the village
where they are gathered.
It is an impressive sight to see some of the women
with their faces blue with tattoo marks, the sign of
their former degradation, kneeling reverently to par-
take of the Blessed Sacrament,
i8 2 MISSIONS IN BURMA
Most of the Christians connected with our mission
live on the west side of the Irrawaddy. Last year the
missionary in charge made an extensive tour on the
east side of the river and met with a very favourable
reception. Mr. Whitehead writes thus of his experi-
ences :
" In these parts the visit of itinerating missionary or
catechist has been a rare occurrence and in some
villages unknown ; whilst still further to the north-east
lie a number of Chin villages on the hills which have
never been visited by any preacher of the gospel, and
the people have had little to do with the Burmese and
less to do with Buddhism. In this new field that I
struck, I had a good hearing in almost every village,
though one must to some extent discount this as
being partly due to curiosity ; a preacher of the gospel,
and more especially a white preacher, being a rarity ;
whilst others might hope for assistance in some way
or other.
" In all these villages the faith of the people is a
mixture of Buddhism and Animism. There is gener-
ally a strange inconsequence about their professions.
In one village an old man the father of the thu-gyi
(headman), being half drunk at the time, welcomed
me right gladly ; and, after listening for some time to
my preaching, with tears and lamentations, cried out,
' The news has come too late ; why did you not come
earlier? We are all Buddhists now.' That night he
was going to a Buddhist festival which was being
held in a village a few miles away. Fully to under-
stand the irony of the circumstances, it must be re-
WORK AMONGST CHINS AND NICOBARESE 183
membered that Buddhism absolutely prohibits the
taking of alcoholic liquors ; and that this Buddhist
festival of the admission of a youth to the noviciate of
the monks included, as is nearly always the case, the
disreputable theatrical performances which in all cases
Buddhism condemns."
During the next twenty-five years all the Chins of
Lower Burma will have become either Buddhist or
Christian. All depends upon the devotion and zeal of
the Church now as to how far they become Christian.
Nicobarese. Early missionary efforts amongst these
people all met with failure. The Jesuits settled on
Car Nicobar in 1711 but they obtained no converts
and succumbed to the climate. In 1766 fourteen
Moravians settled in Nankauri with a view to extend-
ing the influence of the Danish East Indian Company ;
but, though they laboured for twelve years, and the
ruins of the buildings that they erected are still to be
seen, they almost all died without making any con-
verts. Another equally unsuccessful attempt was
made by the Moravians in 1779, and a second Roman
Catholic Mission also proved unsuccessful.
Yet another missionary attempt made by the Mor-
avians at Car Nicobar in 1851 proved a complete
failure.
The earlier missions were foredoomed to failure
because of the climatic conditions, and the isolation in
which the missionaries lived. The climate has now
improved, or rather Europeans now know how to
protect themselves better from it, and the isolation is
not so great, for the Government steamer pays the
184 MISSIONS IN BURMA
islands regular visits. But whilst the two main causes
of the previous failure of missionary work have been
removed, the difficulties are still great enough to
justify a considerable amount of caution.
The S.P.G. is now the only missionary society at
work in the Andamans and Nicobars, and the work
in the Nicobars has hitherto been left to a resident
Indian catechist under the supervision of the English
chaplain stationed at Port Blair in the Andamans.
The chaplain visits the catechist on the station steamer
about three times a year, sometimes staying with him
for a few days whilst the steamer continues its voyage
to the other islands.
The head-quarters of the mission are on the island
of Car Nicobar, which is by far the most populous of
the group. It is also the most northerly and, although
deficient in anchorage for steamers, being the nearest
of the islands to the Government station at Port Blair,
it is the most easily accessible of them all.
In addition to the Catechist's house there is a
wooden Church and a rest house for the chaplain
when he visits the station. These buildings are all
in one compound in the village of Mus which is the
largest in the island. The work done by the first
catechist, Mr. V. Solomon, has been well described in
the following obituary notice written by Mr. W. W.
D'Oyly, Deputy Superintendent, Andaman and Nico-
bar Commission.
"The death on November 22, 1909, in Rangoon,
of Mr. V. Solomon, Tamil Catechist in charge of the
S.P.G. orphanage at the Nicobar Islands, on his way
WORK AMONGST CHINS AND NICOBARESE 185
to Madras on leave, is a great loss that will be felt by
all the inhabitants of Car Nicobar, where Mr. Solomon
resided ; by the natives, both Christian and heathen ;
by the foreign traders ; and by the Government.
" Mr. Solomon's services in the cause of Christianity
and civilization have been invaluable. He was sent
at the beginning of the year 1 896 to start an orphan-
age at Car Nicobar, the most important island of the
group, containing 3500 natives out of a total popula-
tion of 6000, and was at the same time appointed
Government Agent for the islands and observer of
a Meteorological Observatory then erected at Car
Nicobar.
" Mr. Solomon had previously for many years been
in charge of an orphanage for Andamanese at Port
Blair, to which Nicobarese boys were also admitted.
It was found that this institution would better serve
its purpose at the Nicobars, owing to the dwindling
population of the Andamanese, their natural incapa-
city to receive intellectual instruction, and the diffi-
culty of preventing the boys under instruction from
coming and going as they pleased ; while the Nico-
barese boys, who come of an intelligent race, capable
of useful instruction, were away from their homes.
" The Chief Commissioner at that time, Sir Richard
Temple, had reported to Government that the educa-
tion imparted, and the influence over the Nicobarese
boys and their parents, exercised by Mr. Solomon, had
worked for their benefit in a marked degree ; that Mr.
Solomon was a man of probity and intelligence, quite
capable of the work it was proposed to give him at
186 MISSIONS IN BURMA
the Nicobar Islands, and to be likely to possess such
influence for good over the inhabitants as would be
of material benefit to them and to the British Govern-
ment. This report has been thoroughly justified, and
the good that has ensued is marvellous.
" All the inhabitants of Car Nicobar had got to regard
' Sol ' as they nicknamed him, as their father, and
were ready to do anything for him ; they went to him
for advice in all matters, and referred all disputes to
him. His example has induced many of the islanders
to embrace Christianity, or if not actually to become
Christians, to give up the barbarous and superstitious
customs of their own religion, which is a degraded
kind of animism.
" Mr. Solomon has made a thorough study of the
Nicobarese language, customs, and habits, and his re-
ports thereon were considered so valuable ethnologi-
cally as to be sent to the Royal Society for publication.
"The number of Nicobarese converted by him to
Christianity amounts to 128, of which twenty-eight
are children in the school, nineteen boys and nine
girls. Besides the 128 Christians, many more of the
islanders have been led to abandon their savage
customs, to cultivate vegetables and fruit for their
own consumption, to drink tea instead of tari, to sew
and to do carpentry. Their former customs of in-
fanticide, devil murders, felling coco-nut trees on the
death of the owner, dragging about the bodies of
deceased persons, burying them with live animals and
so on, have altogether been given up in the principal
village of Mus, where the mission station is.
WORK AMONGST CHINS AND NICOBARESE 187
"Cattle, goats, and fowls have been imported by
foreign traders, after introduction by Mr. Solomon
himself, and good roads have been made. Mr.
Solomon has reduced the native language to writing,
and has translated into it (in Roman character) the
Liturgy, the Catechism, the Gospel according to St.
Matthew (now published by the British and Foreign
Bible Society), and a school vocabulary.
" Before his arrival in the island, traders were not
allowed to remain on shore after their ships had left,
owing to the murders that occurred, but now they
live there in safety all the year round and have
several fine shops and houses."
Quite recently a new experiment has been tried
which may be fraught with important results to the
Church in the future. Three Nicobarese boys, who
had shown great promise in their own school, have
been brought over to Burma and placed in the school
of the Winchester Brotherhood at Mandalay. It was
hoped that after instruction they would return to their
own island as catechists or teachers. Unfortunately,
one of them has died and another had to be sent back.
But the third has made great progress and will soon
be returning as a teacher to the Nicobars.
The comparative isolation, which the Nicobarese
have enjoyed for so long, has now broken down.
Communication with the mainland is maintained more
frequently than before by Malay and Chinese junks.
In exchange for their coco-nuts of which 15,000,000
are gathered annually the natives are able to obtain
Chinese tobacco, silver articles (a nickel silver soup
1 88 MISSIONS IN BURMA
ladle costs 1000 coco-nuts), cloth, and other amenities
of civilization. But more important than the increased
communication with the mainland is the fact that the
traders are now beginning to settle down on the
islands. These traders are almost invariably Moham-
medans and they have recently built a mosque on Car
Nicobar.
There are two dangers threatening the Nicobarese
owing to the new state of things. One is the menace
of civilization, for backward peoples like these islanders
have all over the world displayed a fatal facility for
assimilating all that is evil from the West and dis-
carding all that is good ; the other is the menace of
Islam which, again, has everywhere displayed an
attractive power to the backward people by offering
a certain amount of culture whilst it appeals to their
low ideals concerning women.
This state of things is a challenge to the Church to
exert far greater efforts on behalf of these people than
it has done heretofore. There is an opportunity now
which will soon pass away. The work, which has
already been successfully begun, needs following up
and supervising by an English missionary. The con-
ditions seem to be very analogous to those of the
Melanesian Mission. Car Nicobar might be the head-
quarters whence the other islands might be visited by
a mission steamer. History does not permit us to be
optimistic with regard to the results of Evangelistic
work in the case of the adults ; but a medical mission-
ary could win their confidence and love by attending
to them when they were sick, and would, in time,
WORK AMONGST CHINS AND NICOBARESE 189
win them from their superstitions. The educational
work amongst the children could be prosecuted with
greater vigour. There are difficulties, but prima facie
they do not seem so great as those which missionaries
have overcome in the islands of the South Seas.
XIV.
WORK AMONGST TAMIL AND CHINESE
IMMIGRANTS.
Tamils. The Tamils are the most numerous of the
various immigrant peoples living in Burma. They
come over from South India in large numbers. They
are employed as domestic servants, coachmen, money-
lenders, coolies, labourers, etc., and as they are thrifty,
most of them save up enough money to enable them
to return to their own country and spend their old age
in comparative opulence.
Most of these Tamil immigrants are Hindus, and
they have their own temples in all the large cities of
Burma. But a certain proportion of them are Chris-
tians, for there are districts in South India containing
groups of Christian villages. The work of the Church
in Burma has hitherto been to tend such of these Tamils
as are already Christian and very little attempt has
been made to evangelize those who are Hindus. In
those places where Christian Tamils are sufficiently
numerous they have their own catechist to tend them,
and if there are no Tamil services the people generally
attend those that are held in English.
When the Burmese work had been given up at
(190)
WORK AMONGST IMMIGRANTS 191
Maulmein because of lack of results in 1872, the Tamil
catechist, David John, still ministered to his fellow-
countrymen in that town. In 1875 there were about
130 Christians, but after that date, through lack of
supervision, the numbers dwindled until 1879. In
that year James Colbeck took over the work of the
mission and remained in charge until 1885.
When Colbeck first came to Burma, he was put in
charge of the Tamil Christians at Rangoon. Their
services were then held in the pro-Cathedral, but they
subscribed amongst themselves the sum of Rs. 1000
and a beginning was made of building their own mission
church of St. Gabriel. There were then 130 converts.
Bishop Titcomb often visited the mission and
preached to the converts through the catechist Abishe-
kanathan who acted as interpreter. On these occasions
the congregation generally numbered eighty, and there
used to be about thirty communicants.
Bishop Titcomb early realized that Burma could
only be converted to Christianity by a native
ministry, and he did all in his power to develop it.
Every Saturday he himself conducted a meeting of
candidates preparing for priests' and deacons' orders
which he called his " Theological Training Class ".
On Trinity Sunday, 1878, to the great delight of
the Tamil Christians, Samuel Abishekanathan was or-
dained deacon, this being the first ordination of the
kind in Burma.
In 1891, Rs. 7000 was bequeathed to the mission by
a converted Brahman, but owing to some informality
the mission is not likely to benefit by the bequest.
192 MISSIONS IN BURMA
The appointment of Bishop Strachan gave an im-
petus to the Tamil work in Burma : for he spoke the
language fluently although he never became quite
familiar with Burmese. Many of the Tamil Christians
in Burma had migrated from that part of South India
in which he had already done many years of medical
missionary work.
Bishop Strachan opened a dispensary at Pazundoung
in East Rangoon which he attended day by day.
Tamils as well as Burmese visited it and the Bishop
examined and prescribed for the various patients.
In July 1903, the Rev. T. Ellis, who was in charge
of the mission, reported that in connexion with St.
Gabriel's, the total number of Tamil and Telugu Chris-
tians was 1088, of whom 632 were communicants.
There were 220 pupils in the school, of whom fifty-five
were Christians.
Of late years the educational side of the mission
has been chiefly developed, and St. Gabriel's School is
now perhaps the best Anglo- Vernacular Tamil School
in Burma. Branches have been opened at Kemendine,
Seikgyi, and at two other places, and the total number
of pupils at the schools connected with St. Gabriel's is
over 400. In addition to the European missionary in
charge there is one Tamil clergyman, five catechists,
one Bible woman, and several qualified school teachers
on the staff.
Work amongst Tamils is also carried on at
Toungoo, Bassein, and Maulmein. At the last place
the native Christians have recently petitioned the
Bishop to accept their catechist as a candidate for
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WORK AMONGST IMMIGRANTS 193
holy orders. He has done excellent service for many
years.
Chinese. A few years before Bishop Titcomb began
his episcopate, a Burmese Christian lady had, at her
own cost, paid for the services of a Chinese catechist,
by whose labours many had been brought to an earnest
state of inquiry. They used to attend the 1 1 o'clock
service at St. John's College, and Dr. Marks' Burmese
sermons were interpreted to them by the Chinese cate-
chist. Bishop Titcomb says, " I must not omit to
mention that Dr. Marks, with the most indefatigable
zeal, was in the habit of collecting these Chinamen for
weekday instruction, teaching them very carefully the
doctrines of the Christian Faith through the clauses of
the Apostles' Creed ; the repetition of this creed by
their united and loud, yet harsh voices, being singularly
striking ".
These Chinese catechumens had destroyed all their
household gods of their own accord and agreed
amongst themselves to support a Chinese clergyman
if the Bishop could obtain one.
After further instruction, thirty-six were baptized by
the Bishop at the pro-Cathedral in 1878, the new chief
commissioner, C. U. Aitcheson, Esq., being present on
the occasion. Six more Chinamen were baptized later
and Chinese Bibles and Prayer Books were obtained
for them from Canton : but the work dwindled through
the persecution of the heathen Chinese societies, and
because no Chinese clergyman was forthcoming for
their supervision.
Some progress was made amongst the Chinese
'3
i 9 4 MISSIONS IN BURMA
during Mr. Rickard's time at Kemendine. But the
converts were terrorized by what the Burmese call
B6n, the secret societies or clubs to which all the
Chinese belong.
The Christian Chinese were for the most part drawn
from the class of petty traders and paddy brokers
whose business made it necessary for them to travel
up and down the country. One Sunday there might
be a good congregation, whilst the next there would
be none at all, owing to the fact that the various
members of the church were scattered all over the
country in the pursuit of their business.
The work is further complicated by the fact that
many of the Chinese resident in Burma have left their
wives behind in their native land, and intend sooner
or later to return to them. Whilst they are in Burma,
however, they not infrequently contract temporary
unions with Burmese women. The Burmese admire
the light complexion of the Chinese and their com-
parative wealth, and the average Burmese woman re-
gards it not as a disgrace, but as an honour, to be united
even only temporarily with a Chinaman.
These difficulties have hitherto impeded the Church's
work amongst the Chinese immigrants of Burma and
rendered it comparatively unfruitful. Congregations
at Rangoon, Kemendine, and Prome have been dis-
sipated, and there is nothing to show as the result of
our work but a few isolated Chinese converts who
have remained faithful.
At Maulmein alone does the work amongst Chinese
seem to be successful. The missionary in charge has
WORK AMONGST IMMIGRANTS 195
succeeded in obtaining the services of a Chinese cate-
chist who tends the converts and supervises a school
which has been opened for their children.
At first sight it would seem that mission work
amongst Chinese should be more successful in Burma
than it is in China. Burma is part of the British
Empire, and when a Chinese comes to reside in it, he
necessarily relinquishes many of those prejudices which
cause him, in his own land, to look with contempt
upon Christianity and everything connected with the
Western Barbarians.
There are, however, special difficulties in the way
of their evangelization, and there can be no hope of
permanent success until the work is supervised by a
European missionary acquainted with the Chinese
language
The success of the Roman Catholics is due to this
cause, and until we have for the Chinese immigrants
as we already have for the Tamils a missionary who
will devote himself exclusively to them and will learn
their language, the efforts of the Church, even if
successful for a time, will fail in the future as they
have in the past.
XV.
THE WINCHESTER BROTHERHOOD.
WINCHESTER Diocese has many connexions with
Burma: it raised 1 0,000 for the endowment of the
see of Rangoon. The first Bishop had been an
honorary canon of Winchester ; and it endowed and
still supports the Brotherhood which is called by its
name.
The Winchester Mission, which afterwards became
the Brotherhood, was the suggestion of Bishop
Strachan, and its object was to carry on evangelistic,
educational, and literary work amongst the Burmese.
Bishop Harold Browne of Winchester approved the
suggestion, but it was not till 1892 that the first
Winchester missionary, the Rev. A. H. Ellis, was
sent out.
The work was begun in Pazundoung, the eastern
suburb of Rangoon, and a site for a permanent mission
house was acquired. Mr. Ellis resigned, however,
after two years, and it was not until 1898 that the
second Winchester missionary, Mr. A. E. Bamber, a
layman, was sent out.
Mr. Bamber received valuable assistance from the
Rev. B. Mahon, the chaplain of St. John's College,
(196)
THE WINCHESTER BROTHERHOOD 197
but the work languished. The buildings were in the
neighbourhood of the Chinese and Burmese cemeteries,
and it was found that the superstitious Burmese were,
in consequence, deterred from making use of them.
The buildings were therefore sold, and, on the arrival
of Bishop Knight, it was decided that the work in
Rangoon should be maintained by the ordinary
missionary agencies, and that the Winchester Mission
should be removed to an entirely new locality, and be
developed on the lines of the Brotherhoods at Cal-
cutta and Delhi.
At that time the mission work at Mandalay was at
a low ebb. After the death of James Colbeck the
staff of the mission was for some time inadequate.
Many of those who had turned to Christianity after
the annexation of Upper Burma, fell away. The
Rev. G. Whitehead and the Rev. John Tsan Baw
the only Burman who has, up to the present, been
ordained Priest made a gallant attempt to sift out
unsatisfactory adherents and to confirm the faith-
ful. But the death of Tsan Baw, and the removal of
Mr. Whitehead, further hindered the work. It would
have collapsed altogether had it not been for the
efforts of Mr. Fisher who was transferred from the
Karen mission at Toungoo in 1902, and remained in
charge of the mission for more than two years.
Bishop Knight decided therefore, that it was the
mission work at Mandalay that stood in most need of,
and offered the best sphere for, the work of a brother-
hood. The Rev. R. S. Fyffe, vicar of St. Agnes,
Bristol, volunteered for the work, and after travelling
198 MISSIONS IN BURMA
over North India and visiting the Cambridge, Dublin,
and Oxford University Brotherhoods, he arrived in
Burma in 1904, and soon afterwards took over the
charge of Mandalay from Mr. Fisher.
Despite all the vicissitudes through which the
mission had passed, there was still a solid foundation
upon which the new work could be built. On
Christmas Day, 1905, there were forty Burmese and
fifty Tamil communicants. There was an average
attendance of eighty in the school, but of the eight
teachers, only two were qualified and capable of
earning Government grants. There were twenty-five
Christian pupils in the school, and of these ten were
boarders.
There were two out-stations connected with the
mission ; the one was Madaya, a large village fourteen
miles north of Mandalay ; it was reached by boat
along the old native canal. When the head of the
Brotherhood visited it for the first time, the church
a memorial to James Colbeck was empty, neglected,
and dirty, and the compound had become a public
farmyard for the neighbourhood.
The other out-station was Myittha, a town situated
on the railway two hours' journey south of Mandalay.
This town is important from a strategic point of view,
because it is the centre of a considerable trade with
the Shans, who come down with their merchandise
from the neighbouring hills. When Mr. Fyffe first
visited this station he found that the old mission
buildings had been destroyed by fire, and as no
attempt had been made to renew them, the site on
THE WINCHESTER BROTHERHOOD 199
which they had been built had lapsed to Govern-
ment.
Such was the state of things when the Brotherhood
was established at Mandalay. For almost a year Mr.
Fyffe was alone, but at the end of that time he was
joined by a layman, Mr. Ernest Hart, who came out
to take charge of the school. A few weeks after Mr.
Hart's arrival the head of the mission was gladdened
by the arrival of the Rev. H. A. Jerwood.
The year 1906 seemed full of promise, but unfortu-
nately, as it would seem to us, disaster soon overtook
the Brotherhood. Mr. Fyffe thus tells the story of
that year :
" The opening of the year found the plague beginning
to get a firm footing in the city. It had gradually
made its way up country from Rangoon, and now, in
the cold weather, it fastened on Mandalay. We believe
it is due to this that the numbers in our school have
not increased as we hoped they would. Some of the
inhabitants have fled ; others are afraid to send their
children for fear of infection.
" Trade is very bad, and probably some, who could
only find the fees with difficulty before, are now un-
able to do so. Moreover there has been a vague fear
abroad that the English rulers have purposely intro-
duced the plague with a view to keeping down the
Burmans. When the houses and wells are disinfected,
the gangs of men employed in this work are often
mobbed, because the people are afraid that the disin-
fectants used are intended only for their destruction,
and that the wells are being deliberately poisoned.
200 MISSIONS IN BURMA
Thus a distrust of the English has grown up, and the
plague, instead of inclining people to the Christian
faith has, if anything, made them more shy of us.
"They gather in groups to recite the law or listen
to a hpongyi reading it, they build little sand pagodas
in front of their houses or offer candles and flowers to
the image of the Buddha ; occasionally the whole city,
at a given time at night, has been lit up with bonfires
in every compound, and has broken out into a great
din made by the beating of gongs and tin pots and
similar kinds of music. Crowds from the Chinese or
Hindu quarters have passed along in weird torchlight
processions, in order by these means to scare away
the plague devil. At the same time so does care-
less fatalism alternate with panic they fail to take
the simplest sanitary precautions ; and I had an in-
stance the other day of a man finding a dead rat in
his house, and bringing it out in his hands, though
expressly warned of the folly of so doing. Within
two days he and his wife were dead of plague.
"We have cause to be very thankful that our Chris-
tian community has suffered as little as it has from this
scourge, and still more that there has been no panic
among us. One or two Christian children have died,
and a few of the non-Christian day scholars in our
school, but otherwise we have not suffered. We are
especially thankful that there have been no cases in the
compound, though all the other boarding-schools have
had cases at one time or another.
" The plague has brought us trouble, but no trouble
to compare with the disappointment for the work, and
O 2
THE WINCHESTER BROTHERHOOD 201
the personal sorrow caused by the tragically sudden
death of our friend and brother in the work, the Rev.
H. A. Jerwood. If ever one man seemed better fitted
than another to stand the inclemencies of a tropical
climate, he was the man. His physique was splendid,
and he had gone through all the hardships of the South
African Campaign, apparently without taking any
harm. Nor does the short story of his life leave any
doubt as to his devotion.
" Alike at the call of his country and his Church he
was ready to give up all the happy family circle ; the
interests of the life of a clergyman at home life itself.
All too soon for our short-sighted views of what is best,
his devotion was made perfect and accepted. He was
just beginning to get a hold on the language. My
diary tells me that he read the Absolution in Church in
Burmese for the first time on the Sunday before he was
taken ill a fitting last word to the congregation for
which he gave his life ! The next evening we were to
have gone up the canal together to Madaya his first ex-
pedition into the country here. He felt unwell, however,
and did not go. A week later he was called to his rest.
" Even till the morning he was taken from us, we did
not know how serious a matter it was with him, and
he died of an almost unknown disease. Apparently
it was not in any way the result of the climate. The
physical cause remains a mystery. It is enough for us
that ' He was not, for God took Him'. The Bishop
happened to be spending a few days with us, and it was
he who offered the last prayer at the bedside, and read
the last office beside the grave.
202 MISSIONS IN BURMA
" Many of the European community in Mandalay
as well as the members of the Burmese and Tamil
congregations gathered to pay the last honours, and
we laid his body in the little English cemetery, now
disused, which is situated near our compound, and
where that truly great missionary, James Colbeck, is
laid together with his brother, and the one Burmese
priest of our mission here, Tsan Baw.
"We know there is a sense in which we are not
poorer but richer for such an experience as this. We
know that our communion with those who go before is
not broken, and that their influence remains. We
know it is true that ' except a corn of wheat fall into the
earth and die, it abideth alone '. It is only ' if it die '
that ' it bringeth forth much fruit '. Still we are hu-
man, and our hearts are wrung at the loss of friends
how much more those of the parents and relations
at home!
"We sang the Easter hymns at his grave, but it
was reserved for his father to give the last brave note
of defiance to the enemy that has removed him from
our sight for a while by a message none of us are
likely to forget : ' I hope to send another son '. It is
this spirit that turns the sorrow into joy, and helps
us to forget how happy fellowship has been broken,
our plans frustrated, and the work we had meant to
do with his help left undone."
Despite these disasters, distinct advance was made.
The two out-stations of Madaya and Myittha were re-
occupied, and at the latter place the Holy Communion
was celebrated for the first time for seven years. In
THE WINCHESTER BROTHERHOOD 203
the autumn of the year the Rev. C. E. Garrad, M.A.,
formerly fellow of Clare College, and Vice Principal
of the Clergy Training School, Cambridge, joined the
Brotherhood, and the Rev. F. R. Edmonds also came
out as Riverine Chaplain, taking up his abode at
Mandalay. As he afterwards joined the Brotherhood,
there was now a staff of three English clergy in the
mission.
Meanwhile the work amongst Tamils had prospered
not only at Mandalay, but at Maymyo, which is the
head-quarters of the Government of Burma during the
hot weather. At this place the European community,
from the Lieutenant-Governor downwards, subscribed
so liberally towards the mission work as to make it
self-supporting, and a Tamil Christian whose wife was
a certificated teacher, was chosen as the catechist.
The new catechist was the son of a clergyman in the
Madras Diocese. At the school which his wife started
there were, from the first about sixty pupils, and when
the number had increased to 100, a second certificated
teacher had to be brought from Madras.
The Rev. J. S. Beloe joined the Brotherhood in
1907, and in this year a new mission house of brick
was built which made it possible for the missionaries
to live under comparatively healthy conditions.
The year 1909 was an eventful one in the history
of the mission because of the starting of a community
of women to assist in the work. The head of this new
community was a trained hospital nurse, and so was
able to win at once the confidence of the Burmese
women and children amongst whom the work of this
204 MISSIONS IN BURMA
community of ladies lies. There are now three ladies
belonging to the community. A small school for girls
has been started, and much visiting done among the
women.
At the end of 1909 the head of the Brotherhood,
the Rev. R. S. Fyffe, was called upon to succeed Dr.
Knight as Bishop of the Diocese, and he was conse-
crated at Calcutta on January 1 6, 1 91 o, as fourth Bishop
of Rangoon.
The Rev. C. E. Garrad succeeded to the headship
of the Brotherhood, and when he took over charge
the total numbers of adherents were, Burmese 259 and
Tamils 346 ; there were thirty-one boarders at the
school ; and there were three Burmese and two Tamil
catechists.
The latest development of the Brotherhood is a pro-
ject for founding a children's hospital and convalescent
home in Mandalay. In a circular which was issued
by the heads of the two communities it was stated
that the mortality amongst infants in Mandalay was
appalling. In round figures there were 5000 births
in Mandalay in 1909, and there were 2000 deaths
amongst infants under one year of age, which means
that of every hundred children born forty die before
they reach the age of twelve months.
" We have already the nucleus of a Burmese Or-
phanage and a Vernacular School. For purposes of
economy in time and workers, it is proposed to have
the Hospital and the Orphanage near to each other,
if a suitable place can be found for them both.
" In this our scheme we earnestly appeal for your
THE WINCHESTER BROTHERHOOD 205
sympathy and support for generous donations. We
believe that something of this sort is badly needed
for the sake of the children's health, and we think that
it will also be a means of making more widely known
the Gospel of the Saviour, whose example we are fol-
lowing in healing the sick and caring for little children.
" It is a large undertaking, but we think that we shall
not appeal in vain, as experience has shown again and
again that Christian help and interest are never lack-
ing where the cause of children is concerned, and we
feel sure that our Buddhist friends also will give liberal
help."
A brotherhood in Burma appeals strongly to the
religious instincts of the people. The Burmese dis-
play the utmost reverence for the celibate life, as
exhibited by the monks of the Buddhist order, and
believe that married life is necessarily unholy and
impure. They are consequently prejudiced against re-
ceiving religious instruction from a married missionary,
because he does not fulfil their ideal of the religious
teacher.
No matter how great the comfort and the luxury in
which the missionary lived, providing he were only a
celibate, he would be regarded by the Burmese as an
ascetic. The Buddhist monks lead a comfortable, not
to say luxurious, existence. The offerings of food and
furniture made to them are the best that can be got
Their asceticism consists solely and exclusively in their
celibacy. The vast majority of the monks are neither
learned nor devout, and their one claim to the rever-
ence of the laity is that they are unmarried.
206 MISSIONS IN BURMA
It is right, therefore, that the Christian " Religious "
life should have its exponents in Burma, and the suc-
cess of the Winchester Brotherhood is evidence of the
manner and degree in which it has made its impression
on the people.
XVI.
WORK IN THE JUNGLE.
THE "jungle " does not necessarily mean virgin forest
infested with tigers and wild elephants. In India the
term is used to designate the country, as distinguished
from the town, and whilst it sometimes answers to the
idea which the word'jungle connotes to the European,
it not infrequently means nothing more wild or remote
than a series of peaceful villages surrounded by paddy
fields.
Most Government officials, as well as missionaries,
have a tract of jungle connected with their head-
quarters which it is their duty to supervise and visit
periodically. In order to encourage the officials to
undergo the hardships of travelling in their jungle
districts they are offered the inducement of a travel-
ling allowance generally described by the initials
T. A. amounting to ten shillings or more a day, over
and above their ordinary stipend. Travelling is usu-
ally undertaken during the cold weather.
Needless to say, the missionary requires and receives
no pecuniary inducement to make him go on tour,
although he has none of those comforts which make
travelling to the Government official, even in the most
(207)
208 MISSIONS IN BURMA
remote districts, comparatively easy. The Government
provides its officers with steam launches for the rivers
and elephants for the jungle ; but the missionary has
to be content with a native boat for the one, and with
shanks' pony for the other. But despite the hardships in-
evitable to travel in the jungle, most missionaries would
probably agree with the present writer that the pleas-
antest part of their many duties is this jungle work.
It will be necessary in this chapter for the writer to
speak of his own experiences if he is to make the
subject at all interesting. Most of the places in the
district connected with Kemendine may be reached
by boat. The steam launches of the Irrawady Flotilla
Co. take one to all the chief towns of the Delta
rapidly and cheaply. The deck fare to Kyaiklat, a five
hours' journey by steamer, is only one rupee (is. 4d.).
Sometimes when there is competition between two
lines of steamers, the fare is reduced to twopence for this
journey. When one can proceed no further by launch,
owing to the shallowness of the creek, the journey is
completed in a native sampan.
The Burmese are very fond of travelling and the
deck of the steamer is usually crowded with pas-
sengers. No seats are provided and each person brings
a mat which he spreads on the floor ; upon this he
reclines during the whole of the journey. The Burmese
are great conversationists and are specially fond of
discussing religious topics. The journey passes rapidly
and pleasantly in such conversation, and the alternate
chewing of betel and smoking of cheroots stimulate
rather than interrupt it.
WORK IN THE JUNGLE 209
A sampan journey is not so pleasant or expedi-
tious. The passenger lies in the well of the boat
beneath the bamboo awning. The " boy," who in-
variably accompanies the missionary in these expedi-
tions, sits amongst his cooking pots in the bow, and
the sampan-wallah occupies the stern. If the journey
is taken during the daytime, the missionary will find
that the awning is not thick enough to keep out the
sun, and will probably have to squat in his cramped
position with his hat on and his umbrella up. If the
" boy " lights a fire to make tea or cook a meal, the
missionary's discomfort is completed by the smoke
using the covered space where he is squatting as a
chimney.
At low tide it is impossible to land without wading
knee-deep in mud. At high tide one is probably de-
posited on a shaky plank, which does service as a pier
for the village or for the house where one is landing.
The delta is notorious for its mosquitoes and even
the buffaloes and bullocks have to be kept under a
net at night, to prevent them from being goaded to
madness. Sometimes, however, where a net is not
available a fire of green wood is lit in the cowshed
and the smoke from it drives the mosquitoes away.
A sampa i is a versatile craft. It is generally
rowed, but when there is a favourable wind a sail
may be used. When the creek is too narrow for oars
and sail, it may be poled along like a punt. In
shallow creeks my sampan man has often got into the
water himself and dragged the sampan after him.
Many of the sampan men are Indian Mohammedans,
2io MISSIONS IN BURMA
and on Fridays, which they always keep sacred by
fasting, they will neither eat nor drink anything,
although they may have to row for hour after hour
through the heat of the day. I remember one evening
sitting on a stump eating my supper with the water
all round me, and out of the twilight the boatman of a
sampan which had just tied up to the same stump
called out to me : "Whose son is Jesus Christ? How
can God have a son ? " This incident brought home
to me the reason why the Mohammedan faith is
spreading so rapidly. It is because all Mohammedans,
even the simple illiterate boatmen, are missionaries.
At most of the villages where there is a congrega-
tion of native Christians, there is a school and a
church under the charge of a catechist. The cate-
chist's wife is usually the teacher and she generally
holds a government certificate. The catechist's pos-
ition is a difficult one. He is regarded by the
Buddhists of the village as a heretic, and is occasion-
ally subjected to persecution which, though not of a
dangerous character, is none the less vexatious. He
is ridiculed as he walks through the village, and
stones and bottles are occasionally thrown at his
house at night time.
Almost all the catechists are "characters". Their
religion is a very real thing to them even if they
develop it in some perverse manner. One of our
most influential catechists, a Karen, is essentially a
mystic. He was converted to Christianity by a dream,
in which he believed that our Lord actually came to
him and called upon him to forsake his superstitions
WORK IN THE JUNGLE an
and follow Him. He believes that in the power of
Jesus Christ he has frequently put to flight evil spirits
who have assailed him.
Another catechist, who has to travel through dense
jungle infested with wild beasts in the performance
of his duties, believes in the efficacy of the Catechism,
when recited at the top of the voice, to keep up his
spirits and to frighten away the tigers. He begins
with " What is your name ? " and goes on straight to
the end and repeats it again and again until he arrives
at his destination.
The catechists are not particularly learned, although
some of them, who were formerly Buddhist monks, are
conversant with the Pali scriptures and can readily
confute their opponents. Most of our best catechists
are ex-monks, and they have invariably been led to
Christianity by the conviction that Buddhism cannot
satisfy man's craving for God. The unsophisticated
Burman believes in his heart of hearts that there is a
God, and although, as he becomes sophisticated with
Buddhist atheism, the belief recedes into the back-
ground, it is always there, and most Burmans will
admit that it is so when under sympathetic question-
ing their candour gets the better of their sophistry.
Native Christians are not very different from English
Christians; some are good, some are bad, but the
majority are indifferent. Man for man they give far
more, in proportion to their means, than the average
English churchman gives for the support of his re-
ligion. They are more ready also ' to give a reason for
the hope that is in them ' than is the ordinary Christian
212 MISSIONS IN BURMA
at home. My Burmese boatman used to carry his
prayer book under the seat, whilst he was taking me
on my round, and although he had been rowing all
night, he would invariably attend at Holy Communion
the next morning before going to bed.
At Kyaiklat an old Christian lady is famous for
miles round for the boldness she displays in preaching
the Christian religion even to Buddhist monks : yet
she is so gentle and devout that no one takes offence at
what she does. Although she is over 70 years of
age and almost blind, she tramps behind me on my
periodical visits to the village where her relatives live
which is five miles away. This journey is over blaz-
ing paddy fields and on the way one has to wade waist
deep in water and mud through three creeks. When
we arrive at our destination I have to rest, to recover
from the fatigue of the journey, but she at once begins
to preach to her relatives.
Her husband is equally devout. At Easter and
Christmas he always makes a point of climbing, at
imminent peril of his life, on to the roof of the
church, about thirty feet from the ground, and fixing
to the spire a flag of his own construction on which a
conspicuous red cross has been worked. He is not
ashamed of the Cross of Christ.
The Church services for the native Christians are not
very different from the ordinary services in England
except that on Sunday the Holy Communion is the
chief service. This office is sung to an adaptation of
Merbeck, and the banns of marriage are published and
the chief sermon of the day preached at this service.
WORK IN THE JUNGLE 213
The hymns used are translations from English ones,
and are sung to the ordinary tunes ; but it is difficult
to prevent the Burmese from slightly modifying the
music, especially if it contains semitones, so as to make
it correspond with their own ideas. The churches do
not contain benches and the people sit down on the
floor, having reverently removed their sandals before
coming into the building.
The great festivals are well observed by the Bur-
mese Christians as a time of spiritual refreshment and
of social intercourse and rejoicing. On these occasions
they gather together at the nearest church where there
is a priest and bring their missionary boxes with
them.
These boxes are presented at the Holy Communion
together with the offertory, and they are opened later
on in the day, and the contents counted, amidst great
excitement, by the elders of the congregation. After
Holy Communion the whole congregation, together
with the missionary, sit down to breakfast. Little
round tables, a foot high, are laden with rice, curry,
and dried fish, and about half a dozen people squat on
the floor round each of the tables. At Kyaiklat the
catechists, the native deacon, and myself occupy one
of these tables. The old Christian, of whom I have
spoken before as climbing to the roof of the church
to fix the flag, always displays the greatest interest in
the state of my appetite. He pinches all the dry fish
on the table to find out the softest, and then trium-
phantly puts it on my plate. All the expense of these
festivities is defrayed by the Christians themselves,
2i 4 MISSIONS IN BURMA
who contribute in money or kind according to their
several abilities.
Perhaps the greatest difficulty that we have to con-
tend with in our work amongst the Burmese Christians
is the marriage question. If it is difficult for the
Englishman to act up to our Lord's teaching with
regard to marriage, how much more must it be for the
Burman? He has hitherto only thought of such a
union as a more or less temporary arrangement, and
one that may be entered upon at any moment " un-
advisedly, lightly, and wantonly " at the mere dictate of
passion. It is very difficult to eradicate this idea from
the minds of the Burmese even when they have be-
come Christians ; and the missionary has a hard
struggle to plant in their hearts and consciences the
Christian ideal of marriage.
Itinerating work is not only for the strengthening
of the faithful, but for the conversion of the unbeliev-
ing. On entering a Burmese village I usually look
out for a house where there are a few people gathered
together and unoccupied. One does not stand on
ceremony, as the people are most hospitable and
always ready to welcome the stranger. A mat is
spread for me to sit on by the lady of the house, and
a betel-nut box and a few cheroots are placed before
me. If it is hot, drinking water will also be provided.
I usually begin by preaching about the existence and
fatherhood of God, then I explain the Christian moral
law and show how we need the grace and strength of
God to enable us to act up to it.
After my discourse is finished the conversation
WORK IN THE JUNGLE 215
becomes general. The people are never reticent
about discussing theological matters and the men are
quite ready to take up the argument. They invariably
tackle the Christian missionary on the subject of the
taking of life. " Thou shalt not kill " means to the
Burman that he must take no life at all, and the
difference between killing a mosquito and murdering
a man is only one of degree. This commandment
they regard as the greatest of all, and in the eyes of
most Burmese people it constitutes the superiority of
Buddhism to all other religions. They back up their
arguments with tags of Pali which all Burmese retain
in their memories in greater or less measure from
their sojourn in the monastery. The Pali sentence is
usually repeated two words at a time, and the Burmese
translation is interspersed throughout.
The people are almost always interested in the
missionary's preaching, even when they display no
desire to accept and follow it They have a strong
aversion to the name of our Lord, for it epitomizes all
that they have been told by the Buddhist monks and
teachers to be heresy. They are also staunch ob-
servers of "Custom," and it will take years of patient
teaching before they are emancipated sufficiently to
enable them to follow the dictates of their reason and
their conscience when these come into opposition with
the traditions of the elders.
XVII.
THE BUDDHIST REVIVAL.
As in other parts of the East, the spirit of nationalism
has been at work in Burma especially since the Russo-
Japanese war. But in Burma the new spirit has mani-
fested itself not in political, but in religious unrest.
The Burmese are not agitators, like the Bengalis, and
although their leaders desire them to take a more
active part in the administration of their own affairs
than heretofore, there has been no suspicion of sedition.
The Burmese are perfectly content under British rule
and they know that they have never before been
governed so peacefully and impartially during the
whole course of their history ; and if they are not
actively grateful, they are at any rate passively loyal
to the government.
The national aspirations of the Burmese have taken
the shape of a revival of Buddhism, a revival which
is partly intellectual and partly religious. The intel-
lectual part of the revival has been directed from
without by Europeans. The religious part of it is
indigenous.
During the past few years several Europeans have
become Buddhist monks. Some of these are ex-
(216)
THE BUDDHIST REVIVAL 217
sailors, who have left their ships, and have found in the
Buddhist cloister a happy deliverance from the strenu-
ous life. Others have entered the Buddhist Order out
of sheer ennui ; and one such, who had been resident at
Kyauktan for many years, confessed as much to one
of our missionaries, just before he died, a few months
ago.
These people do not profess to know anything
about Buddhism or Christianity or even about the
Burmese amongst whom they live. They cannot
even speak the language of the people on whose alms
they subsist. But all the same, they are regarded by
the Burmese as providing a living proof of the
superiority of Buddhism over Christianity.
Two or three, however, of these European Buddhist
monks are men of ability, and for good or for evil they
have engineered the intellectual side of the Buddhist
revival in Burma. One of these European monks,
an Irishman, is notorious not only in Burma but in
Ceylon and Siam. He regards it as his mission in
life not to preach Buddhism but to vilify Christianity.
He has epitomized some of Mr. Blatchford's anti-
Christian literature and had it translated into Burmese.
The character of his publications may be judged by
an article bearing his signature published in a Rangoon
newspaper in 1907. l He writes : " Christianity is the
only drunken religion at least, Christians are the
only drunken religionists. . . . And yet this, the least
philosophical, the most vulgar and the meanest re-
ligion that ever civilization knew a leprous mixture
1 " United Burma," 23 June, 1907.
218 MISSIONS IN BURMA
of India's royal line goes to India to vanquish it !
The missionary, fanatical fool, or lazy knave, armed
with the Bible and the gin bottle," etc.
Perhaps, it will be argued, the most dignified thing to
do with regard to such scurrilous stuff is to disregard
it, but it is circulated so widely amongst credulous and
simple-minded Burmese that the missionary cannot
ignore it unless he wishes the case for Christianity to
go by default. Fair-minded men of all persuasions
have condemned these vicious libels on Christianity,
and it is satisfactory to note that the Government,
which is quite unbiased in religious matters, has at last
stepped in, and in November of 1910 the Buddhist
monk referred to was bound over to keep the peace.
The other leading European Buddhist monk in
Burma Ananda Maitreya is a man of quite different
character. He is a scholarly Agnostic who has sought
for a historic religious system which is compatible with
Agnosticism and has found it in Buddhism. He has
made it his business to present Buddhism at its best
through the medium of English translations of the Pali
texts so as to attract European scholars.
Buddhist apologetics, however, seem to be deficient
in vitality. An illustrated quarterly magazine called
" Buddhism," which started off with a great flourish of
trumpets and was going to preach Buddhism in all
the free libraries of the West, languished from its very
inception, and after about two years of existence be-
came defunct.
Ananda Maitreya set off in 1907 for England with
a party of monks on an expedition, subsidized by a
THE BUDDHIST REVIVAL 219
Burmese lady, whose avowed object was to set up a
Buddhist Sangha, community, in the West. This
expedition, which attracted considerable attention in
the London newspapers at the time, though it did not
succeed in its immediate object, brought about the
formation of a Buddhist society for the study of Pali
literature and started a magazine called the " Buddhist
Review ".
The Buddhist revival in Burma has failed, in so far
as its objective has been the propagation of the faith
amongst Christians. But it had a second and less
pretentious objective in the desire to instruct those
Burmese who have been educated in English schools,
in the elements of the Buddhist faith ; and in this
it has been successful.
The Burma Society in England may be regarded as
a by-product of this movement. It was formed in
London in April, 1906, with the following objects :
(a) To form all Burmans in England, and all inter-
ested in Burma, into one united body.
(ff) To provide a common meeting place in London
for members of the society.
(<:) To assist with information and advice all Bur-
mans who may be in England or about to come to
England.
(d) To maintain a magazine to be called the " Journal
of the Burma Society ".
(e) To further the interests of Burma generally.
The Burma Society and its Journal we must all
regard with the deepest interest and sympathy. Its
motives are unimpeachable and we must all hope that
220 MISSIONS IN BURMA
they may be maintained and achieve some practical
and permanent result.
The Burma Research Society, inaugurated in Ran-
goon by Sir Herbert Thirkel White in 1910, is another
aspect of the Buddhist revival in Burma which all can
sympathize with ; as its object is not to propagate
the Buddhist faith, but to collect information about
Buddhism and other subjects connected with Burma.
There are other aspects of the Buddhist revival at
which Christians can rejoice. The Young Men's
Christian Association has been imitated by a society
called the Young Men's Buddhist Society. And if
this society succeeds in its object of enlightening and
purifying the lives of the youths of Burma, the
Christian Association will have cause to rejoice in
this example of the sincerest form of flattery.
In imitation of Christian missions, schools for girls
have now been started by Buddhists, and secondary
education is receiving more attention than in the past.
And so one can say with regard to the intellectual
aspect of the Buddhist revival that, though it does not
go very deep, and only touches that small minority
of the Burmese people who understand the English
language, there is a great deal in it with which
Christians find themselves in sympathy.
The effect of this intellectual movement is insigni-
ficant compared with the religious and social aspect
of the Buddhist revival which is going on concurrently
with it. This religious revival is not manipulated
from without by Europeans. It is indigenous ; it is
not limited to the English speaking minority, but per-
THE BUDDHIST REVIVAL 221
vades the whole Burmese society and is felt in the
humblest homes.
The leader of this movement is the Ledi Sadaw. 1
It is no exaggeration to say that he is the most
powerful man in Burma, more powerful than the
Lieutenant Governor himself. Wherever he goes,
crowds of people attend upon him and he is received
with more than royal honours. The writer was once
at Maubin when the Ledi Sadaw visited the town.
The street, from the landing stage to the monastery
where he was to preach, a distance of a mile and a
half, was spread with carpets, and in some places
women prostrated themselves on the ground, and
spread out their hair for the Sadaw to walk upon.
It is characteristic of the Burmese that the chief
article of the Sadaw's preaching is " Thou shalt eat no
beef!" "Is not the bullock your best friend?" says
the Sadaw, " does he not pull your ploughs and draw
your carts? To eat him then is as great a sin as
eating your brother."
One of the results of this preaching is that pious
Burmese will frequently save up their money and go
to the Mohammedan slaughter-house and buy one of
the bullocks that have been brought there to be
killed ; and this animal they will liberate and preserve
either for labour or, if it is too old for that, for idleness.
This sounds childish to Europeans, but to the Bur-
mese it is serious, and appeals strongly to their
imaginations. Happily the Ledi Sadaw does not
limit himself to this teaching. Having won the at-
1 Sadaw = Abbot.
222 MISSIONS IN BURMA
tention of the people by appealing to their sentimental
prejudice against taking life, he goes on to press upon
them the more prosaic duties of sobriety and honesty,
and his preaching falls on attentive ears.
It is generally admitted that in those parts of the
country where he has preached most regularly, there
has been a diminution of crime, and the European
officials are trying to co-operate with him in putting
down gambling and drunkenness. A district judge
once told me of another way in which he hoped to
use the influence of the Ledi Sadaw. In Burma a
criminal is tried, not before a jury, but before assessors.
When the judge has summarized the evidence, he asks
the assessors their opinion. But if the case is one of
murder, even when the prisoner confesses, the Burmese
assessors will not give a clear verdict lest, in causing
the prisoner to be hanged, they should be involved in
the sin of taking life. The judge referred to told me
that he hoped, with the influence of the Ledi Sadaw, to
make the assessors do their duty and not hamper the
judge.
The Ledi Sadaw is mainly responsible for a revolu-
tion that is taking place amongst the Buddhist monks
of Burma in the matter of preaching. Formerly the
monks, when called upon to preach, contented them-
selves with reciting in Pali long passages from the
Buddhist Scriptures. Generally the monks themselves
did not understand the meaning of these passages,
and, needless to say, the people were entirely ignorant
of their significance. I have been told that the more
unintelligible these readings are, the more learned is the
THE BUDDHIST REVIVAL |(j 223
monk supposed to be, and the more potent is the
power for good of the passage he utters.
The Ledi Sadaw has changed this and has begun
to preach in the vernacular. This is one of the reasons
for his popularity. His preaching is intelligible to
the common people and they are delighted to listen
to it
Other monks have followed his example in this
respect, and some of them visit the convicts in prison
and try to awaken in them a sense of shame for their
past criminal acts and a desire to live law-abiding
lives after they receive their discharge from prison.
There is a great deal in this at which Christians
must rejoice. The preaching in a language understood
by the people and the visiting of those in prison are
in accordance with the Christian principles which are
taught by the missionaries.
The widespread influence of this religious revival
is proved by the popularity of the preaching of the
Ledi Sadaw, and by the number of the new monastic
buildings that are being erected, especially in the
Delta.
The enthusiasm with which the Gaudama relics
were welcomed, on their arrival in Rangoon from
India, is further evidence of the same fact. The
story of the discovery of these relics at Peshawar in
1909 by the Government archaeologist, and the pres-
entation of them to the Burmese for preservation
at Mandalay, is widely known, as an account of the
transactions was published at the time in the news-
papers.
224 MISSIONS IN BURMA
These relics have now reached their destination,
and a new shrine is to be built at Mandalay for their
preservation. The enthusiasm which the reception
of these relics has kindled cannot fail to add an
impetus to the revival of Buddhism in Burma.
XVIII.
BURMA FOR CHRIST.
" WHY don't you let the Burmans alone ? They are
quite content with their own religion. Buddhism is
as noble as Christianity. Preaching another faith only
disturbs the people and turns the more thoughtful into
Agnostics. And the Burmans don't want Christianity."
How many times have these or similar words been
used by civil servants, merchants, and others in ex-
postulation with the missionary ?
It is very difficult to make any impression on those
who use these arguments. They have formed their
opinion and they constantly reinforce it by a perverse
misinterpretation of the facts of missionary work. All
its failures are remembered, and its successes are either
wilfully overlooked or carelessly forgotten.
At the bottom of this perversity of judgment is the
opinion, widely held, that the variations of religion are
only climatic ; that all religions are essentially the
same and that they have taken upon them such
superficial variations as best suit the local conditions.
" Christianity and Buddhism are in all essentials the
same," say the upholders of this theory. "What can
Christianity give to the Burmese that they have not
got already ? "
(225) 15
226 MISSIONS IN BURMA
The confusion of thought that can make such a
question possible is due to the failure to understand
the difference between ethics and religion. " The
moral law of Buddhism and Christianity is practically
identical," say these critics ; " therefore the religions
must be the same." And yet it is hardly possible to
imagine two systems of thought so completely con-
tradictory as Christianity and Buddhism. Buddhism
stands for (i) Atheism, (2) Transmigration, (3) Pes-
simism, (4) the Salvation of Self. Christianity teaches
the direct opposite of these four principles and stands
for Theism, Future Judgment, Optimism, and the
Service of others.
I. Atheism. If there is a God, says the Buddhist,
he must be less noble than the Buddha, for Buddha
has become perfected by entering Nirvana and ceasing
to exist. Till God enters Nirvana and also ceases
to exist, he must be in a state of imperfection and
consequently an object not of reverence, but of
pity.
In the Buddhist Kosmos there is no fixed point.
Anicca, all is transitory, is the first article of its creed.
There is no room for God. Consequently there is no
Eternal to lean upon and trust in, and there is no one
to pray to, and look to for help and forgiveness.
There are many Europeans who also believe that there
is no God and that prayer is useless. Our present
purpose is not to prove that Atheism is wrong, but to
insist that it is not Christianity. On the subject of
the existence of God Christianity and Buddhism take
diametrically opposite views.
BURMA FOR CHRIST 227
The Christian missionary, therefore, who is asked
what he has to give to the Burman which Buddhism
does not offer must answer first of all " God ". He does
not come so much to preach a new and higher moral
code, as to bring a power and an inspiration which
will help the Burman to live up to the ethical standard
which he is already acquainted with.
2. Transmigration. Most forms of this doctrine
stand for principles which are common to many
religions. It usually stands for the existence of the
soul as distinct from the body ; for a future existence
after this life is over, and for the principle that human
action will be inevitably rewarded or punished in a
future state.
At first sight the doctrine of transmigration appears
to be based upon the principle of justice ; for if a
man's position in this life is due to his acts in a pre-
vious existence, the inequalities in life would seem not
to be arbitrary and inconsequential, but the irrevocable
consequences of a fixed unerring law. But it is
admitted that though Pythagoras and Gaudama re-
membered their previous existences, the ordinary
person does not. So that it is difficult to see how
justice comes in, when the sins that are being expiated
belong to an existence which is not remembered.
The justice of the Buddhist doctrine is still more
difficult to comprehend, because one of its tenets is
that there is no ego. It is not " I " that am reborn,
according to Buddhism, but some other body is
brought into existence by my karma. The Christian
doctrine is simpler and more inspiring. Perhaps the
228 MISSIONS IN BURMA
comparison of the two theories may be best given in
the words of Browning l :
There's a fancy some lean to and others hate
That, when this life is ended, begins
New work for the soul in another state,
Where it strives and gets weary, loses and wins :
Where the strong and the weak, this world's congeries,
Repeat in large what they practised in small,
Through life after life in unlimited series ;
Only the scale's to be changed, that's all.
Yet I hardly know. When a soul has seen
By the means of Evil that Good is best,
And, through earth and its noise, what in heaven's serene,
When our faith in the same has stood the test
Why, the child grown man, you burn the rod,
The uses of labour are surely done ;
There remaineth a rest for the people of God :
And I have had troubles enough, for one.
3. Pessimism. No one can deny that Buddhism is
pessimism reduced to a logical system. There are
doubtless optimistic Buddhists as there are pessimistic
Christians, but they are such, not because of their
faith, but in spite of it. The Buddhist creed is Anicca,
Dukha, Anatta, "Transitory and sorrowful are all
things, and there is no soul ". The Christian creed
is " I believe in the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection
of the body, and the life everlasting ". The strenuous
life and the love of beauty are incompatible with
Buddhism. " Be ye in the world, but not of the world "
it does not understand. The world is irredeemably
evil to the Buddhist, and the monastery is the only
place for the faithful. To all who would tread the
lu Old Pictures in Florence," vv. 21, aa.
BURMA FOR CHRIST 229
noble eight-fold path that leads to Nirvana, Buddhism
says :
Look not thou on beauty's charming,
Sit thou still, when Kings are arming,
Taste not, when the wine cup glistens
Speak not, when the people listens :
Stop thine ear against the singer,
From the red gold keep thy finger,
Vacant heart and hand and eye,
Easy live and quiet die.
4. Salvation of Self. The sole object of Buddhism
is the salvation of one's self. Good acts are to be
done not for the purpose of helping others, but with
the object of increasing one's own merit and of
hurrying oneself through the period that intervenes
till one reaches Nirvana. Christianity stands for that
altruism which finds its supreme expression in the
words of St Paul, " I could wish that I myself were
anathema from Christ for my brethren's sake". 1
Buddhism is a system of selfishness. The Buddhist
expects to receive no help from any higher Being, and
he feels, therefore, that there is no obligation upon him
to help others. It is necessary that he should con-
centrate all his attention upon his own salvation.
The issue between Buddhism and Christianity is
therefore clear. On all essential points the two re-
ligions are diametrically opposed, and no one who is
a Christian, and values his Christianity, can hesitate
as to whether or no he ought to put the Christian
case before Buddhists. There is no question of
destroying Buddhist morality. "To lighten a dark
1 Romans, ix. 3.
230 MISSIONS IN BURMA
room it does not need to sweep out the dark." The
hope of the missionary is, that Christianity will give to
the Burman the power to perform the moral code with
which he is already acquainted, and will provide him
with that stiffening, in which his character is at pres-
ent deficient Missionary work amongst the Burmese
calls aloud for re-enforcement to develop its educa-
tional and evangelistic activities. Progress is im-
possible unless the Church at home wakes up to a
greater sense of responsibility in the matter, and is
prepared to show more self-denial than it has in the
past.
And yet more insistent than that of the Burmese
Buddhist, is the cry of the backward people of the
hills to the Christian Church. They cannot remain
as they are. They have just enough enlightenment to
make them realize the state of degradation in which
they are living, and any system which offers an advance
upon their present state will be accepted by them.
Are they to become Buddhist or Christian ? The
answer to this question depends upon the activity
and zeal of the Church during the next twenty-five
years.
Surely if one of the privileges of Christianity is to
preach the gospel to the poor, these degraded, super-
stitious, poverty-stricken tribes in the hills have a
special claim upon us. The fact that their languages
are not yet reduced to writing constitutes a challenge
to all who believe that the oracles of God have been
committed unto them for the enlightenment of all men.
APPENDICES.
I. LAYMEN MISSIONARIES.
[The following is a copy of a proposal and appeal written by
the Right Rev. Arthur M. Knight, formerly Bishop of
Rangoon.~\
There is a double need which, I believe, it is possible, at
least in some considerable degree, to meet : (a) The Church
needs the full service of devoted laymen in her ordinary
schools in the first place, but also in some other works, such
as medical mission, industrial schools, Church offices for
central societies, in printing works, etc. ; (6) and on the
other hand the Church needs a path other than that of Holy
Orders to which she can point laymen who desire to devote
their life to religious works entirely, and who either do not
feel the vocation to Holy Orders, or who are otherwise not
fitted for ordination.
How can this two-fold need be met ?
i. The first fundamental condition, I believe > is that we call
for self-sacrifice. The call for lives of special self-denial has
been made to clergy and to women, and the response has
certainly been sufficient to make us hopeful as to the results
of a similar call to laymen. For our missionary brotherhoods
of clergy, and the bodies of self-denying women at home and
abroad in our sisterhoods, in orders of deaconesses, and in
bands of women missionaries, have come into being in answer
to the call for such self-sacrifice. But with laymen, it has
232 MISSIONS IN BURMA
been different. We have, as it were, almost insulted their
Christianity by not expecting them to be capable of such
self-denial as is involved in poverty, celibacy (at least for a
period of years), and humble service. Let us abandon the
policy of seeking to attract them by paying the largest stipend
we can and even then paying too little to retain them if
they are really capable and let us try the way of Christ, the
call to take up a cross.
Sacrifice in three directions must be asked Poverty^
Celibacy ', and Humility.
Poverty. There must be provision of healthy board and
lodging and of necessary personal expenses. If, as will be
often the case in school work, school funds provide a stipend,
this will go, not to the missionary, but to the common fund
from which their expenses are paid, their schools and other
works promoted, and some provision made against a rainy
day (see below).
All considerations of gain must be removed. We shall
never win for Christ's service the right men if even the
slightest monetary attraction be found in our appeal. The
Cross has still those who will answer to its call, if it be shown
them.
Such "poverty "as is here indicated will be no greater
than is gladly practised by many of our clerical brother-
hoods.
Celibacy. There are many reasons for demanding this
exceptional self-denial. In many climates where the Church
must work, domestic life is impossible for a European. In
all countries the pressure of expense is heavily felt. If the
whole mind is to be given to the work ; if the teacher is to
live in close contact with his pupils ; if especially in the
East he is to manifest an intelligible self-denial for the sake
of religion ; if he is to be ready to go anywhere where the
APPENDICES 233
holy war calls him ; if he is to be free from impedimenta, he
should be unmarried.
In almost all departments of Church work we need some
married workers. But the supply of such is far greater than
the need. From the first step we need to press for un-
married workers.
Humility is the term I prefer to denote the third element
of the self-sacrifice we must ask for.
The Church needs men of high talents, great "social
advantages " and high " prospects " here at home for her
work abroad. But they are needed to follow the example
of the Master, Who humbled Himself and gave His great-
ness to the world and for the world.
Such men, if they are to do His work in the ministry of lay-
men, must be clothed with humility such as opens the eye to
see the glory of the lay ministry and their own unworthiness.
But there will be room for others, men of poorer position
in social ranks. Probably such men will form the larger
proportion of any volunteers whom this appeal may call out.
But they must be rich in humility. First, they must have
the humility of men who do not affect to be what they are
not, who are not ashamed of " lowly " parentage and of their
old life. Moreover, they must be ready to go where the
bishop sends them, and sometimes this may involve taking
a lower place. They must not be so foolishly proud as to
imagine that because they may have been longer at the work
they are, therefore, the best qualified for the highest posts.
Above all they must be humble enough to rest content with
the noble ministry of laymen, not eager to push themselves
forward for Holy Orders, but so conscious of unfitness that
until the Church, the Body of Christ, calls them through its
bishops, they will shrink from any form of putting themselves
forward.
234 MISSIONS IN BURMA
Here I would add as an essential, the spirit of brotherhood.
The Church which has the task of proclaiming the father-
hood of God, and the consequent brotherhood of men, has
suffered many things at the hands of the workers who could
not succeed in working together in harmony. If the world
is to believe our teaching of God's Fatherhood, our lives
must show the brotherhood of Christians.
To foster and maintain such a spirit, some regulations
will no doubt be thought necessary, and they can vary with
the dioceses, but the fewer they are the better.
I do not advocate life-long vows. It will work well, I be-
lieve, if undertakings for periods of five years are entered
upon. We hope for many who will give a life-long ministry,
but we need not press for this. Let it come of a ready will.
Training and testing will be necessary in most cases,
especially where we have an offer of service from a man who,
though quite capable of learning some work which the
Church needs (e.g. printing or teaching), has been practising
a work which is not required (e.g. painting). But we must
begin in all probability with one or two whose previous
history and occupation justifies us in sending them out at
once.
But we must now deal with the return which we must
make in brotherly response to such high self-denial as we
venture to ask for in Christ 's Name. This return must be
shown in (i) a genuine appreciation of the self-sacrifice, and
(2) of the dignity and value of such lay ministry as we con-
template, and (3) in a substantial fund which will guarantee
sustenance for those lay brothers who, after honourable
service, are crippled by the work and are unable to support
themselves.
This response will necessitate a deep sense of brotherhood
in Christ between the clergy and their brethren the laymen
APPENDICES 235
missionaries, and further, in almost all ranks of the Church
a truer estimation must be felt and manifested than that
which is at present current, of the dignity and value of the
ministry of laymen.
The Church at home, while asking much in the Master's
Name, must be ready to give the like. We shall ask laymen
to show self-denying brotherhood, and we must play the
brother's part ourselves.
The layman who has worked abroad, and for good reasons
(these will be almost always reasons of health) is unable to
continue, finds himself on his return in a very different
position from that in which his ordained brother similarly
returning home is placed. The clergyman can in almost all
cases find honourable work which will provide his " bread
and cheese' 1 the layman not so. A Pension Fund, or
Reserve Fund, strictly limited for those who are thus, and
thus only, forced to abandon their work abroad, and unable
to support themselves at home, will be essential. In supply-
ing the bulk of this Fund, and in meeting the cost of training,
the Church will give the most clear and practical proof that,
to such laymen as we have in mind, we intend to play the
brother's part.
In these and other ways, the Church, the Body of the now
Unseen Head, must and can fulfil the Master's promise and
prophecy that those who give up for His sake home and
parents, ease and perhaps health, will find a new home and
a new brotherhood which will more than repay.
One elementary schoolmaster has already sailed, after
signing a list of conditions and principles which exemplify
all that has been so far laid down. These conditions may
possibly need modification, but they put into a very definite
form the scheme which is here contemplated. They are as
follow :
236 MISSIONS IN BURMA
1. Mr. A. is to receive money for passage and outfit.
2. The school where he works is to pay the usual stipend
attached to the post which he fills.
3. Mr. A. will receive board and lodging, and ^40 per
annum for personal expenses.
4. Any balance which may remain over from the stipend,
after such expenses have been met, will be handed
to the bishop. The bishop will devote part of this
balance to a " Reserve " or " Pension " Fund, and
part to the Church's educational work, primarily
that in which Mr. A. and others, whom we expect
will join him, are engaged.
5. Mr. A.'s sphere of work is to be determined by the
bishop.
6. If Mr. A. marry or leave the band of laymen mission-
aries, of whom he is the first, he forfeits all claims.
If he marry or leave (except on medical certificate)
within five years, he must repay passage and outfit
allowance.
7. Mr. A. is not to expect, nor propose, ordination. The
initiative in this matter is to rest absolutely and en-
tirely with the bishop.
8. Mr. A. is to go out in the hope that he will be the first
of a new order of laymen missionaries. Further
details are to be settled by the bishop of the diocese
and the S.P.G.
These conditions, it may be added, are almost identical
with those under which the women missionaries of the S.P.G.,
who are a numerous body, now work.
Thus a beginning has been made. God grant that it
prove but the beginning of a fruitful venture for Christ.
ARTHUR M. KNIGHT (Bishop),
Warden of St. Augustine's College,
Eastertide, 1910. Canterbury.
APPENDICES 237
II. HOME ORGANIZATION.
The Rangoon Diocesan Association^ was formed in 1892
by Miss Hodgkinson, of Car Colston, sister of Mr. Hodgkin-
son, who had shortly before died at his post of Judicial
Commissioner of the Province of Upper Burma.
Its object is to bind together all who are interested in the
work of the Church in the diocese of Rangoon, to secure
further interest, and gifts of money to work for the diocese,
and to elicit more prayer on its behalf.
Its scope covers all three divisions of the work, that of
the Government chaplains; that of the Additional Clergy
Society, Chaplains labouring amongst the English and
Eurasians ; and that of the S.P.G. Mission to the natives
Burmese, Karens, Chinese, Nicobarese, etc.
At the beginning of 1896, the Association was amalga-
mated with the Winch ester Diocesan Association for Rangoon.
This Association, formed originally to collect funds for the
formation of the diocese in 1877, had continued year by
year to help the work in Burma.
In May, 1900, the Rev. P. H. Cooke became Secretary
of the Association.
In October, 1904, the Rangoon Diocesan Association was
affiliated to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel.
The actual negotiations for affiliation extended over a year.
The arrangement has proved very satisfactory, and the As-
sociation is now really a "special fund" of S.P.G., with
very great freedom of self-government.
Full particulars in regard to the work of the Association,
and copies of the Quarterly Paper published by it, can be
obtained from the Secretary, Rev. P. H. Cooke, Church
House, Westminster.
1 Reprinted from the " Rangoon Quarterly Paper ".
238 MISSIONS IN BURMA
III. SEE OF RANGOON.
Bishop, The Right Reverend Rollestone Sterrit Fyffe,
M.A.
Bishop's Commissaries in England. The Right Rev.
A. M. Knight, D.D., Warden, St. Augustine's College,
Canterbury ; The Rev. G. Cecil White, M.A., Nursling
Rectory, Southampton.
SCHOOLS.
Schools for Europeans in the Diocese of Rangoon.
The Diocesan High Schools, Rangoon.
President of the Board of Governors. The Lord Bishop.
1. A school for Boys of European parentage. Founded
1864. Situated next to the cathedral. There are nearly
300 boys, of whom about 50 are boarders.
2. For Girls. Teaches up to and inclusive of the Ninth
Standard, there are now nearly 200 pupils, of whom 27 are
boarders. A spacious building, on a very healthy site, has
recently been erected adjoining Herbertswood, 6 Signal
Pagoda Road.
St. MichaeFs High School for Girls, Maymyo.
Situated in a high and healthy part of Maymyo ; recently
enlarged, now numbers over 100 pupils ; under the manage-
ment of The Sisters of the Church.
St. Matthew's High School for Girls, Maulmein.
In connexion with this School there is a Technical De-
partment open to girls, as boarders, and to students of both
sexes, as day scholars.
St. John the Baptist's School, Toungoo.
Primary and Middle Departments.
APPENDICES 239
Anglo- Vernacular Schools.
St. John's.
The school was founded in 1864 by the Rev. J. E. Marks,
D.D., and now consists of five separate buildings in a com-
pound of 13 acres. There are over 500 boys in the school,
of whom 140 are boarders. The school teaches up to the
Seventh Standard, presenting boys for the Anglo- Vernacular
High School Final, the equivalent of the Calcutta University
Matriculation. The S.P.G. Normal School for training school-
masters, and the Diocesan Orphanage for European and
Eurasian boys, are attached to St. John's College.
St. Marys High and Normal Schools, S.P.G.
Established 1866.
This school, until last year, was carried on as a High and
Normal School under one roof. Now the High School only
is carried on in Canal Street, whilst new and spacious prem-
ises have been erected in Kemendine for the Normal
Students, and a small practising school. Girls are trained as
teachers both of standard and technical work.
ORPHANAGES.
Diocesan Orphanage for Boys.
St. Matthew's Orphanage, Maulmein.
The Bishop Strachan Home for Girls.
Orphan boarders are received at most of the schools of the
diocese.
240 MISSIONS IN BURMA
IV. BIBLIOGRAPHY.
GENERAL.
SCOTT, Sir J. G. " Burma : a Handbook of Practical In-
formation." De la More Press (Alexander Moring,
Ltd.). 1911. IGS. 6d. net.
("Shway Yoe"), "The Burman: His Life and
Notions." Macmillan. los. 6d. net. New edition.
1910.
The most comprehensive, authoritative, and interest-
ing books on the subject.
FERRARS, Max and Bertha. " Burma." London : Sampson
Low. 1901. 303. net.
The best picture book about Burma.
SANGERMANO. " The Burmese Empire." Rangoon : British
Burma Press. 2 Rs. 8 anno.
Written over 100 years ago, but still authoritative.
KARENS.
SMEATON, D. M. "The Loyal Karens of Burma." 1887.
(Out of print.) Kegan Paul.
SHANS.
SCOTT, Sir J. G. Gazetteer of Upper Burma and the Shan
States. 5 vols. 363. Quaritch.
MILNE, Mrs. Leslie. "The Shans at Home." With two
chapters on Shan history and literature by the Rev.
W. Cochrane. 153. net. John Murray.
ANDAMANS AND NICOBARS.
KLOSS, C. R. " In the Andamans and Nicobars." 2 is. net.
John Murray.
APPENDICES 241
HISTORY.
PHAYRE, Sir A. P. "History of Burma." 1883. (Out of
Print.)
STUART, J. " Burma through the Centuries." 2s. 6d. net.
Kegan Paul. 1909.
TORCHHAMMER, Dr. E. Jardine Prize Essay.
BUDDHISM.
RHYS DAVIDS, Dr. T. W. " Buddhism." S.P.C.K. 2s. 6d.
OLDENBERG, H. " Buddha, his Life, his Doctrine, his
Order." Translated from German by W. Hoey.
London. 1888. (Out of print.)
Prof. Oldenberg is the greatest living authority on
Buddhism.
HACKMANN, H. "Buddhism as a Religion." 6s. net.
Probsthain and Co. 1910.
Contains a chapter on Burmese Buddhism.
COPLESTON, R. S. " Buddhism Primitive and Present.'
i os. 6d. Longmans. 1908.
BIGANDET, Right Rev. P. " Life or Legend of Gaudama."
1880. (Out of print.)
The Classic on the subject of Burmese Buddhism.
BURGESS,]. " Buddhist Art in India." 125. 6d. Bernard
Quaritch. 1901.
A mine of information on the development of
Buddhism.
WARREN, H. C. " Buddhism in Translation." Harvard
Oriental Series. 1900.
MISSIONS.
WAVLAND, P". " Life of Judson." 1853.
Contains the early history of the American Baptist
Mission.
16
24 2 MISSIONS IN BURMA
WINSTON, W. R. "Four Years in Upper Burma." (Out
of print.) 1892. The founding of the Wesleyan
Mission.
COLBECK. " Letters from Mandalay." (Out of print.)
TITCOMB, Right Rev. J. H. " Personal Recollections of
British Burma." (Out of print.) 1880.
"Two Hundred Years of the S.P.G.," by C. F. Pascoe,
75. 6d. net. S.P.G.
" Historical Sketch Burma." id. S.P.G.
MAGAZINES.
" Rangoon Diocesan Magazine." Church Press Toungoo.
" Mountain Men." Church Press Toungoo.
" Rangoon Quarterly Paper." London : Rangoon Associa-
tion.
TITLE PAGE OF A SIMPLE CHRISTIAN MANUAL FOR BUDDHISTS
ARRANGED IN A SERIES OF QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.
INDEX.
ABORIGINES, 22, 43 ; (Anda-
manese), 30.
Almsgiving, 162, 176, 181, 211.
Alompra, 50, 51.
Alphabet, 8 ; Roman, 23 ; Shan,
25 ; Karer, 27 ; Talaing, 44.
Amaravati, Buddhist remains at,
44-
Anawrahta, 47, 67.
Andaman Islands, 4. 43.
Andamanese. 29.
Anglican Missions, 167 ; number
of workers, 136.
Anglo-Indian life, 139-41.
Animism, 22, 74, 75 ; of Southern
Chins, 25 ; as the religion of
Burma. 56.
Arakan, 3, 4, 51.
Arakanese, 47.
Archaeology, 42, 223.
Architecture, 44, 45.
Areca palms, 7; areca nut. 14.
Art, 19.
Asoka. King, 44 64, 65.
BAP i IST MISSION, American, 40,
95, 118; statistics of, 104.
Bastein, 5. 6, 103.
Begging-bowl, 68, 69.
Betel-nut chewing. 14, 31, 36.
Bible : Karen, 27, 101 ; Shan, 105 ;
Chinese, 193 : Society, British
and 1'oreign, 106, 187.
Higandet, Paul Ambrose, 57, 90,
91.
Burial, 20, 38 ; funeral rites, 75,
78, 80.
Burma Society, 219.
Burmese, the, 9.
CANOES, 31.
Carving, teak and ivory, 19.
Caste, 59 ; outcasts, 16.
Catechists, 171, 175, 184, 203, 210 ;
training institutions for, 105,
133, 168.
Celibacy, 14, 205.
Chandragupta, 64.
Charms, r7, 18, 36, 77.
Chersonese, the Golden, 42 .
Childbirth, 12, 33.
Chinese, i, 3, 26; traders, 31;
work amongst, 193.
Chins, 3, 8, 23, 24, 25, 39, 41, 47,
148.
Climate, 45, 138.
Cocaine, 17.
Coco-nuts, 7, 31, 187.
Colbeck, Rev. J. A., 122, 124, 130,
191, 198 ; death and character
of, 131.
Cotton, 6.
Creation, Chin belief, 25 ; Mawken
legend of, 35 ; Burmese belief,
61.
Cremation, n, 20, 80, 81.
Criminality, 10; penal settlement,
29, MS-
Gushing, Dr., 26, 105.
Custom, 33, 77, 78, 215.
BuddhaL, r osha, 45.
Buddhism, 25, 40, 44, 55, 211 ; j DEATH, 20, 33, 78.
chief u-net, n; not a religion, Delta of Irawaddy, 4, 6, 27, 209.
62 ; as idolatry, 67 ; various i Devil-masters, 35, 36.
sects, 72 ; as atheism, 226 ; as , Dhammaceti, 48.
opposed to Christianity, 226. | Dialects : Chin, 24; Mawken, 37.
(343)
244
INDEX
Disease, 17, 18, 173.
Dravidians, 29, 45, 58.
Dress: Burmese, 9, 15; Karen,
27; Andamanese, 30; Nico-
barese, 32.
Drugs, 17.
Drunkenness, 10, 16, 28, 77.
Duttabaung, 43.
EAST!NDIA CoMPANY,
Education: national code, 13;
curriculum in monastery, 67 ; in
mission schools,i56.i58-6o, 161.
Eurasians, work amongst, 149 ;
education of, 151.
FESTIVALS, n, 72, 213; New
Year, 46, 83.
Food, 15.
Football, 9, 121.
Forchammer, Dr., 29.
Frazer, Prof. J. G., 46.
Fyffe, Rollestone Sterrit, 135, 197,
204.
GAMBLING, 10, 20.
Games, 9.
Oaudama, life of, 57-61 ; sacred
hairs, 70 ; relics, 223.
Girls' Friendly Society, 154.
Government, 5, 17, 23, 37, 54, 138,
168, 180, 206, 218 ; chaplains,
107, 108, 134, 143, 154.
Grecian element, 64, 66.
Grierson, Dr., 2.
HAIR, 13, 14, 68.
Hanson, Mr., 23.
Hebrew, 26.
Hill tribes, 22, 171.
Hindus, 190.
History, 29, 42.
Hli, Mother, 25.
Hospitals, 18, 172, 204.
ILLITERACY, 13.
Images, 45, 55, 64, 70, 72.
Irawaddy River, 3 ; description, 6.
TARAWA'S, 30.
Jataka books, 57.
Jerwood, Rev. H. A., 199, 201.
Jews, 26.
| John's, St., College, 10, 133, 157;
founding of, no, n8; descrip-
tion of, 121.
i Judson, Adoniram, 28, 91, 95 ;
death and opinions of, 102.
Judson, Mrs., 97, 99.
Jungle work, 207.
KACHINS, 3, 8, 23, 41.
Kalyani inscriptions, 48.
Kanishka, 65.
Karens, 8, 24, 25, 26, 39, 43;
Sgaw and Pwo, 8, 27 ; mission
work amongst, 123, 164 ; con-
ference, 126.
Karma, 63, 227.
Kato'i (evil spirits), 35, 36.
Kemendine, 122, 125, 133, 148,
160, 208.
Knight, Arthur Mesac, 134; tri-
bute to, 136.
K61s, 28.
Kyaiklat, 162, 208, 213.
LACQUER work, 19.
La'hu, 23.
Language: Burmese, 19; Chin,
24; Nicobarese, 31; Mawken,
34-
Ledi Sadaw, 69, 221.
Legends: Chin, 24; Burmese, 44.
Lepers, work amongst, 105, 106.
Library, Bernard Free, 29.
Litigation, 21.
MALAY ARCHIPELAGO, 7 ; traders,
3i-
Mandalay, founding of, 53 ; 83, 89,
112, 197, 224.
Marks, Dr. J. E. (work of), 109-17 ;
124, 125, 132, 157.
Marriage, 14, 36, 214.
Massage, 17.
Maulmein, 4, 5, 38, 108, 120, 125,
194.
Mawken, 33.
Medicine, 17.
Mergui Archipelago, 4, 33, 3 8 . 9-
Merit, n, 21, 69, 70.
INDEX
245
Methodist missions, American and
English, 105.
Minddn Min, 53, 80, 89, 97, 113.
Missions to seamen, 144.
Mogdk, 6.
Mohammedans, i, 188, 209.
Monasteries, 10, n, 14, 45, 55, 68,
69.
M6n Hkmer, 8, 28, 43.
Monks; 64, 66; cremation of, n;
number of, 14 ; educational work
of, 67 ; routine of, 69.
Monsoon, 5.
Mu'hso, 23.
Munda languages, 28, 29, 31.
Mus, 31.
NATS, 19 ; moon nat, 24 ; nat
dewas, 46, 78, 82, 83.
Neolithic instruments, 43.
Nga pi (putrid fish), 15.
Nicobarese, 31.
Nicobar Islands, 4, 31.
Nirvana, 61, 69.
PADDY, 5.
Pagan, 19, 45, 46, 83.
Pagodas, 12, 42, 47, 51, 52, 55, 65,
70, 72.
Pali, 13, 45, 48, 57, 66, 215.
Paramats, 73, 97, 131.
Petroleum, 6.
Police, i.
Pdngyi, 69.
Population: of Burma, 8; Mon-
astic, 50; European, 138;
Eurasian, 150.
Port Blair, 29, 32, 144.
Portuguese, 86, 92.
Prayer, 36, 62, 226.
Preaching, 222.
Presbyterians, 23, 151.
Printing, 27, 97, 104, 168.
Prome, 44, 179.
QUARTERLY issues, 169.
RAILWAYS, 7.
Rainfall, 4.
Rangoon, 6, 83,89, 96,110,120,159;
population, i ; founding of, 50.
Re-birth, 61, 69.
Repouss6 %vork, 19.
Rice, 5, 15, 31.
Roman Catholic Missions, 86, 103 ;
cathedral, 93 ; number of
workers, 94.
SAKI, 35.
Sampan, i, 5 ; journey, 209.
Schism, Kleebo, 130.
Schmidt, Pater W., 29.
Schools : Burmese monastic, 13,
68 ; Roman Catholic, 93 ; Bap-
tist, 103 ; Methodist, 105 ;
Church of England, no, 117,
118, 122. 125, 132, 133, 162, 166;
Eurasian, 151-3.
Scott, Sir George, 83, 84, 121.
Selung, 7 See Mawken.
Services, 122, 147, 148, 161, 173,
212.
Shans, 8, 24, 25, 43 ; Shan plateau,
3 ; Shan States, 23.
Shwebo, 132, 163.
Siamese-Chinese, 8, 25, 43.
Smoking, 14, 15, 208.
Solomon, V. (catechist), tribute to,
184.
Soul, Burmese idea concerning the,
20.
Spirit worship, 35, 76, 79.
Strachan, John Miller, 126, 133,192.
Suvanna Bhumi, 42.
Syriam, 87, 88.
TAI, 8.
Talaings, 7, 8, 9, 28, 29, 44, 46,
'74-0-
Tamils, 190-203.
Tattooing, n, 25.
Teak, 5.
Tenasserim, 4.
Tharekettara. 43.
That6n, 45, 46, 83.
Thayetmyo, 3, 180.
Theatre, 10.
Thibaw, King, 39, 53, 54.
Thinga Yaza, 45.
Tibeto-Burmans, 8, 22, 43.
Titcomb, Jonathan Holt, 120, 123,
125.
246 INDEX
Tobacco, 6, 31. WA, 8, 28, 29, 79, 81 ; Buddhist
Toungoo, 48, 119, 123, 127, 129,; Lent, 68 .
166. War : First and Second Burmese,
Toungthus, 25. 26, 41. 52; Third, 54.
Toung ya, cultivation, 27, 28, 180. Wesleyan Mission work, 105.
Tower of Babel, 24. i Winchester Brotherhood, 135, 196.
Translations, 96, 101, 105, 106, i Witch doctors, 32.
109, 123, 187.
Transmigration, 227.
Women, position of Burmese, 69.
Women's work, 136, 167, 203.
Travelling, 7, 208.
YOMA MOUNTAINS, 3; Western, 24.
VENGI, 8. Young Men's Christian Associa-
Vaux, Mr., 30. tion, 106.
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