CHAPTER VIICharacteristics of the Races of Burma
Thecosmopolitan character of the population of Rangoon has been given, and it is only necessary to add that all towns near the sea and on the railways have the same intermingling of foreign and native peoples. But there is a much greater preponderance of those races which are at home in Burma. As you go inland, of all the immigrants the most ubiquitous is the Chinese.
The Burmese are easily the chief people of Burma over any other race, native or immigrant, in any part of Burma. Indeed, they rank high among all peoples of Asia. I am aware that when I exalt the Burman, I invite the criticism of the champion of other races. It is a common observation that missionaries especially come to champion the worth and virtues of the peoples among whom they labor, and perhaps estimate them above their value, as compared with other races. This trait is worth something to the world in that it brings to the front one class of optimists of the value of men as they are, or of what they shall be. When any man loses faith in any race, he can no longer be of signal service to that race.
In rating the Burmese people highly, I am notaware of being prejudiced in their favor by reason of exclusive association. Our mission work has brought us into contact with nearly all the races in Burma. As a result of our experience, the Burman must be given a place second to none. Personally, I believe he has more to be said in his favor than any other Asiatic race of which I have any knowledge.
I know it will be said that he is lazy and unreliable. The former accusation is well-nigh universal. To undertake even to qualify this charge of indolence is a large task; but still I am ready to say something for the Burman’s industry. It is admitted that several of the races of India are ploddingly industrious. The Burman’s industry is less continuous, but I think not less genuine. He has more festivals and idle days, but he certainly works rapidly, and for long hours, when he works.
This is especially true of the cultivator. He is in the field a little after daylight, and with only a short time of rest at midday he works on till dark. In harvesting time he does the same. One evening when darkness had fallen I was going up a tidal creek in a boat making my way to the village of Naunguyi, when my attention was attracted by sounds on the bank, and looking up I could see outlined against the sky two Burmans loading a cart with rice sheaves. It would have been too dark to see them if we had all been on a level. These men had been working since daylight. During the threshing time the work is often kept going on the threshing floors till midnight. NowI am persuaded that men naturally indolent do not work in this way. In clerkships, and as subordinate officials, they do not compare unfavorably with other Asiatic races; while the Burmese women are notably industrious, whether in the village, or in the bazar in the cities.
Eight or ten years ago we heard much of the hard-working, money-loving Madrassi supplanting the Burmese land-owner and cultivator of Lower Burma. But with a somewhat close observation I am convinced he is not succeeding in this much faster than the Burman finds it to his own advantage to allow the black man from across the Bay of Bengal to succeed him. The same thing is true if it comes to larger trading. In such lines as the Burman cares to enter, he gives a good account of himself. If there is one man who will beat him in trade, that man is the Chinaman. There are certain kinds of employment the Burman dislikes, and he avoids them; but in his chosen lines he is not discounted by comparison.
The Burmese are racially very proud. There is a good deal of dignity in this pride, as well as of less worthy elements. Among themselves the Burmese have no caste system, except that of the pagoda slave, hence all kinds of work are honorable. But when the Indian, with his caste system, comes in and classifies life into the infinitesimal distinctions of respectability, and the reverse in all kinds of work whereby all domestic service is put under this caste system, the proud Burman refuses to be a servant! Who can blame him? He is astanding protest against a system that is wholly wrong. In Upper Burma, where he is not so much in competition with the caste man, he takes fairly well to all manner of work.
Even when he competes with the coolie labor of other races he maintains himself. This was strikingly illustrated in cutting the new road up Thandaung three years ago. The officers tried Karen labor till it failed, though the work was in their own hills. Then the Madrassis were brought in, and they gave way after repeated trials. Then, as a last resort, the Burmese coolies came and completed what the other races had failed to accomplish.
It is certainly true that the Burmese race is much respected by most Europeans. I do not think any other Asiatic race is equally respected by foreigners resident in Burma.
The manners of the Burmese are pleasant. The Burman is a friendly man, and approachable. There is none of the exclusive, non-communicative characteristics about him. He will share his house and his food with you always. His religion, while having something of bigotry in it, as almost all religions have, is not offensive to men of other faiths. The toleration by Buddhism of other faiths, perhaps more apparent than real, yet is sufficient to attract much favorable comment in Burma.
One fact much to the Burman’s credit, in comparison with the other races of Asia, is his ability to read; that is, a very large majority of the men read, at least to some extent, and a good manywomen. Lately in America we have heard the school system of the Chinese much lauded. And since Minister Wu, at Washington, has so distinguished himself and his race by his striking addresses, many people have jumped at the conclusion that an ignorant Chinaman is the exception. But I am told by those who ought to know, that in China only about one man in a hundred, and one woman in ten thousand, can read. The Japanese alone of Asiatic races are more literary than the Burmese.
The Burman is peculiarly proud of his knowledge of the Buddhist doctrines. He calls them the “law.” In consequence of the system of doctrine he upholds, he is unwilling to be taught religion by a man whom he has hitherto believed incompetent to teach. It is this, I believe, which makes him unwilling, as a rule, to be taught Christianity by a Karen. All his racial and religious pride comes up as he faces the suggestion of the Karen teaching him, whom he would always regard in a peculiar way as a “son of the jungle.” He knows the Karen formerly had no social standing and no written language, while his vague demonology was wholly wanting as a system of religious teaching. No, he is not ready to receive Christianity from the Karen.
For hundreds of years the Burmese have been the dominant people in the land of Burma, and the Shans, Chins, and Karens were conquered and dominated by them. They have had some able rulers, and at times have had a strong enoughgovernment to wage war with distant people; even with China herself they were often at war.
A Burmese Family
A Burmese Family
The Burmese have a distinctly developed racial type. They, like all peoples in Burma, China, and Siam, are of the Mongolian type of men. Their complexion is much lighter than most Indian peoples, and they naturally look upon the black man from across the Bay of Bengal as the “Kalla,” dark of color and an inferior. While they have distinct racial features, they evidently are a blending of the Chinese and the Malay. This has been noticed particularly by comparison between the Burmese and the Filipinos. Visitors to Manila, who are acquainted with the Burmese, say the resemblance to the Filipino is very striking. We know the Filipino has a Chinese and Malay infusion of blood.
The more than six millions of Burmese people are the chief people of this land, whether studied from a governmental, racial, or missionary point of view. To the American interested in missions it is of special importance to remember these people. In America there is just now much interest in carrying the gospel to eight or ten millions of people in the Philippine Islands. This interest is largely because they are under the American flag. Let not the millions of Burmese Buddhists be forgotten while hastening to new fields.
The Shans take second rank among the races of Burma, though much more attention has been given to the Karens by the missionaries. The Shans in appearance are the most like the Chinese of any of the inhabitants of Burma. They areracially closely related to them. Their language, appearance, and dress bear out the resemblance.
The Shans are found widely distributed in Burma; but they live chiefly in the hills in the northeast of the province. Like the Chins, Kachins, and several tribes of the Karens, they seem to prefer residence in the hills. In this they all contrast with the Burmese, who always prefer a home on the plains, and they are never for a long time or in large numbers resident in the hills in any part of Burma. The plains are the richest part of the country, and as the conquering Burmese came down from the north they naturally occupied the fertile portions of the country, and have remained there, the weaker peoples taking to the hills and finding their permanent home in places relatively difficult of access and easy of defense.
The Shans are a strong race, and a little taller than either the Burmese or the Karens. They are raisers of cattle and ponies, and are great traders, bringing the products of the distant hills to the railway centers.
In religion the Shans are Buddhists. They have a written language, and the Bible has been translated into their tongue by the Baptist missionaries.
In matters of moral purity the Shans must be rated very low. By those best informed, it is said that their girls are nearly all corrupted before they are grown. A missionary resident among them for years, told me that the principal chief had in his reception room a picture portraying all the vices known to the human race, placed on the wallin plain view of every one who came to see him. Here men, women, and children, when calling on the chief, looked upon this horrible picture, and discussed it as a commonplace affair.
The missionary, who was the chief physician, told him he would not come to his house again if he did not take that picture down from his walls. The chief expressed surprise, and readily agreed to take the picture away, and explained that he did not know it was wrong to have it there. “Did not know it was wrong!” Can any one regard this absence of the moral sense among an entire people, and not believe in the need of Christian missions? The hundreds of thousands of Shans must be included in the plans for the evangelization of Burma.
The Karens are a distinct people, but of a number of different tribes or divisions. During Burmese domination they were very much oppressed. For the most part they lived in villages apart from the Burmese. Many of them lived far back in the hills, probably for better security, and certainly for freedom from interference on the part of the Burmese. Owing to this exclusive village life for long ages they have become very clannish. The Karen, while admitting that the Burman is the superior man, still preserves his racial pride. His village is very dear to him. Unlike the Burman, who moves annually or monthly, if it suits him, and seems about as much at home in one place as another, the Karen does not easily become dislodged from the village where he was born. Lately there has been some migration from the hills to the richerplains, but still the community life seems to be pretty well preserved.
This village life has its advantages and disadvantages. The cultivation of rice is made in a community. While each man has the field which he clears, it is so ordered that no one in the village is left entirely destitute. The land has been held as a village, and is therefore not easily alienated. The area belonging to a given village is great, especially in the hills, but the amount cultivated is very little.
The style of cultivation, if indeed it should be dignified by that name, is unique, and will never be adopted by a people of advanced methods of agriculture. The hills are heavily wooded, and when a suitable area is selected for the next year’s cultivation, the whole village proceeds to cut it down with the most complete destruction. After the forest is felled during the dry season it becomes very dry, and just before the rain fire is touched to it, and the flames with a terrific rush cover the entire clearing in a few moments, and consume nearly every stick of wood. The few logs which remain are collected and burned, and with the beginning of the rain the rice is planted on the steep hillsides, the earth being enriched by a heavy coat of fresh ashes. The ground is not plowed, but the grain is dropped into small cuttings made by the thrust of a small spade-like iron on the end of a long handle. The sprouts that spring from the roots in the ground are cut away as the rice grows. The harvesting is with the sickle, andwhen threshed is carried to the village, frequently a long distance away, on the backs of men and heads of women, the latter carrying the larger loads, as is usual in the East. This is most laborious and tedious. As there are only mountain paths, and as the Karen, even when well to do, does not care for road improvements, he climbs up and down as his fathers have done before him for hundreds of years.
As the soil is never cultivated, they depend on the fresh ashes to force their crop. This requires a fresh clearing every year, while a new jungle growth springs up on the last year’s field. They do not wish to cut the jungle oftener than once in ten years. It will be seen how wasteful is this strange method of cultivation. How wonderful the forest growth that will maintain itself over all these hills under such destructive treatment!
The Christian Karens are a living miracle of the century of Christian missions. They need much teaching yet; but when one sees these people so uplifted from the state they were once in, be what he may, he must believe in Christian missions. The Baptists, under God, deserve nearly all the credit for the conversion of this people.
The Karen, as a man, is a study. He is affectionate, especially toward his missionary. Yet he will often be guilty of conduct quite at variance with that sentiment. Yet of this conduct he will repent again soon; but it is a repentance usually without tears or apparent sense of regret. He will take offense easily, and a little later reappear witha smile on his face, as forgetful of his recent temper as a child. But he is not a child. He enjoys a joke, even at his own expense. He is also a very obstinate man, even when his obstinacy is against all his own interests.
But if you would see the Karen at his best, go to his village and see his children in school, a school which the missionary founded, but which the village now supports. Remember the missionary gave this people their written language. Attend the evening prayers when the village pastor leads their devotions in their simple chapel. Hear them sing! There is probably no more inspiring singing in the world. You will want to hear them again. Go to church on Sunday, and hear a sermon by a trained preacher, whose great-grandfather worshiped “gnats” or demons, who he supposed inhabited the surrounding hills and had his life in their malevolent control. How great is the distance from the demon-worshiper to the intelligent and devout Christian! The missionary was the human agent, and God the author of this transformation through the preaching of the gospel. Yet some people would say they do not believe in missions!
The Chins and Kachins inhabit the hills of North and Northeast Burma. They are kindred peoples. There are possibly two hundred thousand of them. Like other isolated people, they have everything to learn from civilization and the Christian religion. The Government officer and the missionary have undertaken the problem of these people.
The Chins have given much trouble to the Government within the last few years. They lived formerly by raiding the peaceful people of the plains. When the English Government annexed Upper Burma, it punished them for this. Soon the whole hill country rose against the Government. A band of soldiers was dispatched into the hills to subdue them. After some sharp fighting they sued for peace, promising good behavior. Sir Alexander MacKenzie, the efficient chief commissioner, was then the head of the province of Burma. He instructed Mr. Cary, the political officer of the Chin Hills, to bring several Chin chiefs to Rangoon to see the city and the emblems of authority and power of the Government. His idea was that if these savage mountainmen saw the power of the Government they would be induced to keep the peace. He treated them kindly, but told them they must respect their neighbor’s property and obey the Government. But this wholesome exhortation of the chief provincial officer of the great Indian Empire was wholly lost on these daring, but ignorant, men of the hills. Their whole life ran riot over all obligations recognized by civilized men. Almost immediately they began again to rob and kill. This time they were more severely punished. Their villages were burned and they were defeated in any attempt to give battle, though the punitive force, almost all of native soldiery, under the energetic and capable political officer, Mr. Cary, was very small. They were fined fifteen hundred guns. Of course, they protested they didnot have three hundred. But under pressure they surrendered the required number.
Here was a revelation! Every antiquated gun of Europe, of fifty or one hundred years ago, had been brought by unscrupulous traders and sold to these wild tribes! The sales had not been made recently, it is true; but nevertheless the only firearms these wild men had they had secured probably of British traders of earlier years, who disposed of them along the coast and they had been carried inland, where years afterward they were used in armed robberies of peaceful subjects of this empire and against British authority. Some so-called civilized men sacrifice much of civilization for a little gain in trade.
After the country was substantially disarmed, a large number of these chiefs were brought to Rangoon by Mr. Cary to attend a more imposing display of the greatness of the Government. On this occasion the viceroy summoned them and their official head, Mr. Cary.
The viceroy is appointed for five years, and usually once in his term he visits Burma. Lord Landsdowne was the viceroy, and held adurbar, an official reception, attended by all officials and the general public. At this durbar he recognized the eminent service of Mr. Cary, and decorated him before the great assembly. His excellency also called forward these Chin chiefs, and gave each a beautifully ornamented large knife, as a token of his good will. He probably could not have given any present so highly valued. Mosthalf-civilized men live with their knives in their hands.
At this time a touching incident occurred which ought to be perpetually remembered to the credit of a brave and unselfish officer. Mr. Cary was the honored guest at the quarters of the chief secretary of government. The Chin chiefs were camped at the Royal Lakes, living in their usual uncivilized manner. They probably were eating more than they ever had eaten before in their lives. At any rate, cholera broke out among them. On receiving report of their distress, Mr. Cary left his comfortable quarters and the society of his superior officers, and went into the camp of these chiefs and nursed the sick and dying. Some of them died in his arms. The cholera is the worst epidemic of the East, and most to be dreaded. Yet this brave man risked his life to nurse these wild men, who had been, until very recently, trying their hardest to kill him. It is such heroism as this on the part of British officers that makes the British rule great throughout the world. They stop at no sacrifice of their own lives to put turbulent countries in order, and then are no less heroic in times of peace in serving their high trust of poor and dependent people.
I rode all day with Mr. Cary and his fifty wild chiefs on their homeward journey. I was greatly interested in the story of the pacification of all that Chin and Lushai country, of which he had the management. I was surprised that Mr. Cary attributed his practical ability in all his arduouslabors to the drill he received on an American farm and as a cowboy in the Northwest for four years before going to Burma. Though an Englishman, he had spent these years in America.
The Karens, Chins, and Kachins are being rapidly converted to the Buddhist religion. Christianity and Buddhism are in an unconscious race to win them to one or the other of these faiths. The first to reach them will win them to its system of religious teaching.