The New International Encyclopædia/Burma
BUR′MA (corrupted from Mrumurā, Myomma, Barma, Bamu, probably connected with the introduction of Brahmanism). The largest and easternmost province of British India. It is included within the parallels of 10° and 28° N., and the meridians 92° and 101° E., and extends from the southern border of Tibet far down into the Malay peninsula, with a total length of 1250 miles. The eastern boundary of Burma follows a meridian approximately throughout the whole extent from north to south. The east and west extent, however, varies extremely, the country beginning at the south as a strip of territory 30 or 40 miles wide, and broadening toward the west, at about latitude 16° or 17° N., to a width of 200 miles. Above latitude 20° it again broadens slightly toward both east and west, reaching its greatest width of about 550 miles in latitude 21° N. North of latitude 24° the breadth rapidly decreases to about 125 miles on the northern border. Burma has an area, exclusive of dependent native States, of 168,550 square miles, and is divided for administrative purposes into Upper and Lower Burma. Lower Burma occupies the narrow strip of coast south of about latitude 22°, and Upper Burma occupies the remainder of the country extending inland as far south as latitude 18° 30′. Lower Burma comprises the former Kingdom of Arakan (q.v.) in the north and Tenasserim (q.v.) in the south (both acquired by the British at the close of the first Burmese War in 1826), and between these two the territory of the old Kingdom of Pegu (q.v.), acquired by the British at the close of the second Burmese War in 1852. Upper Burma corresponds to the Kingdom of Burma as it existed at the time of the British conquest in 1885. Burma is bounded on the north by Assam and Tibet; on the east by China, French Indo-China, and Siam; on the south by the Bay of Bengal; and on the west by the Bay of Bengal, Bengal, and Assam. It extends from the lower waters of the Bay of Bengal on the south to the eastern end of the Himalayan Mountains on the north. It is traversed by a series of mountain ranges lying nearly north and south, while in the intervening valleys flow the waters of the two great rivers, the Irrawaddy and the Salwin, with many large branches, and also several smaller rivers reaching the coast. Thus the surface consists of many mountain ranges alternating closely with valleys, most of which are narrow, the valley of the Irrawaddy being by far the broadest and most important economically.
The mountains on the northern boundary, separating Burma from Tibet, reach a height of 15,000 feet. The ranges which traverse the country in general diminish in height southward. ranging from 8000 to 10,000 feet in the north to 6000 to 8000 feet in the latitude of Mandalay, and to 4000 to 6000 feet between the parallels of 18° and 20°. The Irrawaddy and Salwin rivers rise in Tibet and are large streams at their entrance into Burma. The upper part of the valley of the Irrawaddy is narrow, as are the valleys of its upper tributaries. Indeed, above Bhamo, at the mouth of the Taping, the main river flows in a mountain gorge, and immediately below this point, in cutting through a mountain range, it flows in a narrow cañon. A few miles above Mandalay it enters a broad plain, through which it passes; a hundred miles below Mandalay it is joined by the Chindwin, its largest branch. Its delta is very extensive, being nearly 200 miles in length, with an area of 18,000 square miles. These delta lands are extremely fertile, are densely populated, and are highly cultivated. The mean discharge of the river at its mouth is estimated at 480,000 cubic feet per second, or about the same as that of the Ganges. It is subject to great floods in the rainy season, the flow at this time being often eighteen times as great as at low water. It is navigable for large river steamers as far as Mandalay, and for smaller craft some distance above Bhamo.
The Salwin is second only to the Irrawaddy in volume. This river throughout its course in Burma flows in a narrow valley, hemmed in by mountains, and affording little level land for cultivation. It is navigable for only a short distance, owing to frequent rapids. The Sittang heads south of Mandalay, and flows in a broad valley between the Irrawaddy and the Salwin. There are hundreds of minor streams in this well-watered country, but as they partake of the nature of mountain torrents, or are fed by them, they are useless for navigation, at least during the dry season. After the rainy season has begun the larger rivers are crowded with the native boats, for the waterways are the highways of the country. Even before the rain sets in the great rivers begin to swell, owing to the melting of the Himalayan snows. Toward the beginning of July the rivers and their tributaries usually rise ten to twenty feet, submerging their banks and flooding the low lands. In many places, where in dry weather a cart-track is found, there is, during the wet season, a creek navigable by heavily laden boats. The whole aspect of the country and the mode of life are thus changed with the alternations from dry to wet seasons. The villages of the delta are accessible by water, and it is at this season that the heavy traffic of the country is carried on. At Mandalay, where the Irrawaddy is about 2 miles wide, the water rises 30 feet, and in the Salwin there is a rise of 50 feet. These high-water levels are maintained with some fluctuations till September.
Climate. The climate of Burma ranges from that of the eastern Himalayas on the north to that of the tropical oceanic regions on the south, most of the country being in the torrid zone. The monsoons have a powerful effect upon the climate: in winter they blow from the north and northeast off the land, and produce the dry season, and in summer they blow from the south and southwest off the sea, causing a heavy rainfall on the coast, and, moving up the river valleys, they carry a heavy precipitation far inland. The rainfall on the coast ranges from 120 to 160 inches, and is much greater than this in some special localities. In the interior it is distributed irregularly, being affected by the local topography, but it is almost everywhere ample in amount, and in many places excessive, ranging from 40 to 160 inches. The temperature changes with the latitude and altitude and proximity to the sea, and with the direction of the monsoons. The coast temperatures are very constant, ranging from 80° to 90°. In the interior the contrast is greater, the temperature ranging from 50° or 60° in winter to 80° or 90° in summer, while at considerable altitudes, in the north, the country is subject to frosts in the cold season. The great fertility of the soil in Burma is further increased in the lowlands by the fertilizing overflows of the rivers.
Flora. All the land not under cultivation is clothed with dense tropical forests, containing many fine dye and cabinet woods; and in the northern part of the country there is a great deal of teak, one of the most important exports. This wood has a peculiar odor, due to the presence of an oil which repels insects and protects it from decay. The oil-tree, yielding gallons of oil every season, is found at the headwaters of the Salwin. Ironwood, which grows in among the bamboo, is abundant and widely utilized. Below the upper forests are the sandstone and laterite, on which the forests are open and stunted. Other trees are the palm, cocoanut, betel, and palmyra. Breaking the ever-green monotony of the riverside is the nipa-palm, with immense fronds somewhat like the cocoanut. The bamboo is universal and exceedingly useful. Planted in front of the houses are cocoanut and betel palms, giant bamboo, tamarind, mango, and jack, useful for their fruit and shade. The screw pine, castor-oil plant, crotons, begonias, caladiums, balsams, arc cultivated in many places. Other fruits are limes, citrons, jujube, guava, cashew, custard-apple, orange, mangosteen, and durian, the latter being highly prized. The plantain and lianana are the leading fruits of Burma; pineapples and many garden vegetables also abound.
Fauna. Elephants, rhinoceroses, tigers, leopards, four species of deer, buffaloes, oxen, and goats, bears, tapirs, boars, wildcats, monkeys, gibbons, and crocodiles furnish game for the hunter. The Asiatic elephant attains a larger size here than elsewhere.
Burma is, in fact, the land of elephants; they are not only still plentiful in the wild state, but are used to a large extent as draught-animals. The ox, horse, and buffalo also serve the purposes of labor, and especially among these the buffalo, which is a valuable draught-animal in the muddy regions. Peacocks (the national emblem), silver pheasants, and jungle-fowl of various sorts abound, as do also many other birds that are hunted for sport and food. Rats are almost a plague in the north provinces.
Mineral Resources. Burma is believed to be very rich in mineral resources, though little beyond a rough survey has been made, and most of the gold and silver used is imported from China, India, and Europe. Some of the rivers contain gold in the sand, which is washed out by the natives. Silver, copper, lead, iron, antimony, bismuth, and tin are also mined, but not, as yet, in large quantities. Nitrates, salt, limestone, and amber, serpentine, coal in abundance, and petroleum are found. The chief mineral wealth thus far developed has come from the mines of jade, amber, ruby, and sapphires, which are discovered in the sand and gravel of Upper Burma. Mining is still in its rudimentary stages, but in recent years modern machinery has been introduced, and the amount of metal obtained from the ore, and the size of the slabs of the more valuable kinds of stone, are much larger than formerly. The finest variety of white marble found near Mandalay is much used in the Buddhist sculptures, and in the decoration of temples.
Agriculture and Other Industries. Like most Indian provinces, Burma is chiefly agricultural. The prevailing system of tenure is the ráyatwárí, i.e. the farmer leasing his land directly from the State, and being assessed a tax in proportion to the area cultivated. The main agricultural product is rice, grown almost exclusively in the lowlands. About one-tenth of the area of the province can be utilized for the cultivation of rice. The extension of rice-culture has been very rapid, and Burma is now looked upon as a chief source for the world's supply. Out of a total area of over 9,500,000 acres under cultivation in Upper and Lower Burma in 1899-1900, over 8,000,000 acres were in rice, and the remainder in grains, oil-seeds, cotton, tobacco, sugarcane, tea, and indigo. The methods of cultivation are primitive, and elephants are not infrequently used in farming. The native religion prohibits meat-eating, consequently there is no raising of cattle for beef. Burma has few large manufacturing establishments. The weaving of silk in Lower Burma and of cotton in Upper Burma is almost universal. Pottery is also produced extensively in both parts of the country. A number of industries are carried on on a small scale, often as adjuncts to agriculture. There are many skillful workers in gold, iron, and wood, and the native products have high artistic value.
Commerce and Transportation. The commerce of Burma has developed along with agriculture, and as the largest product is rice, it is also the chief article of export, usually constituting about 80 per cent. of the total exports. The foreign trade is wholly controlled by foreigners, mostly English and Chinese, while the internal trade is in the hands of the natives. Usury prevails to a great extent, the rate of interest ranging from 1 to 6 per cent. per month. The sea trade of the province (excluding Government imports and exports) steadily increased from $75,000,000 in 1891-92 to $101,200,000 in 1899-1900. In 1899-1900 the excess of exports over imports was Rs.6,00,00,000 ($19,440,000). Besides rice, the exports include teak, about 9 per cent.; catechu; raw hides, 2.4 per cent.; raw cotton; india-rubber, about 2 per cent. The imports embrace cotton, wool, and silk goods, raw silk, metals and metal products, and fish. The foreign trade is with Great Britain and its colonies, and to some extent with America. The inland trade, at the end of the century, was a little over Rs.3,00,00,000 ($9,720,000), of which about 60 per cent. was with Western China, and the rest with the Shan States and Siam. Rangoon is the chief commercial centre of the province, and receives about 80 per cent. of the total trade. The merchant marine numbers over 6200 vessels, with a total tonnage of over 4,000,000.
Under British rule new systems of roads and bridges have been introduced, three navigable canals dug, the Irrawaddy embanked and furnished with a large fleet of steamers, the chief cities fortified in modern style, and hospitals, court-houses, and churches built in many places. The chief railways extend from Rangoon to Mandalay and Myitzyina, with a branch from Meiktila to Myingyan, and one from Rangoon to Thayetmyo. From Mandalay the road extends into the region of the jade and amber mines. Another road is projected from Mandalay to Kun-lon, which is the Mandalay-Salwin line. It is on this line, between Mandalay and Kun-lon, that the famous Gokteik viaduct has been built over the gorge through which flows Chunzzoune Creek. Here, 500 feet above the water, rises a remarkable natural bridge of limestone, and upon the top of this freak of nature rests the 320 feet of steel trestle-work that forms the Gokteik viaduct—2260 feet long and about as high as the towers of the new Brooklyn bridge. All the material and skilled labor in connection with that structure came from the United States. In 1896 this Burma Railway Company, with a capital of $10,000,000, had 1000 miles open to traffic, the Government guaranteeing interest at 2½ per cent., and a participation in the surplus profits. The roadbed passes through jungles not long since occupied by elephants and tigers.
Government. Burma, before it came under the rule of Great Britain, was a despotic monarchy, though the King, or ‘Lord of the White Elephant,’ was assisted by a high council of four Ministers of State, who gave orders to the governors of provinces. The Hindu Code of Manu, translated into Burmese, served as a body of laws; decrees were often issued by the King; but custom played the most important part in the legal system. The insignia of royalty were the white elephant and white umbrella. There was no hereditary nobility, but rank was conferred by office, and its various degrees were indicated by the different shades of garment, furniture, or utensils, and especially by the color of umbrellas. The lower grades of office, however, were, and still are, hereditary. This is especially true of the headmen, who levy the taxes from the people. The extortion of officials frequently drove the villagers to assassination; the common term for ‘the people’ was ‘the poor,’ and the popular category of the five enemies were Fire, Water, Robbers, Rulers, and Ill-wishers. The governors and deputies who acted as judges heard cases in an open shed in a public place, but every cause was presented in the first instance at the official's house, to which none could come empty-handed. The village elders constituted the ultimate tribunal of government, and they were consulted by the officers on all matters affecting the people. Burma is now under the Viceroy of India, and is governed by a Lieutenant-Governor, assisted by a Legislative Council at Rangoon. In each of the eight divisions is a commissioner, who is the chief judicial and executive officer. Each division is again subdivided into districts, townships, and village communities, in which Burman magistrates preside. The headmen of the village still retain local police and revenue powers, and each village has its judicial commissioner and recorder. The police force is made up of natives jind Indians, under the command of European officers. There are 37 districts, about 500 magistrates under salary, and 125 native honorary magistrates. The chief revenue sources are the tax on land, amounting to about 40 per cent. of the total; the poll-tax (4 rupees per head); customs: forests; opium and salt monopolies; and the income tax. In 1899-1900 the revenues and expenditures of Burma were Rs.7,04,36,240 ($24,650,000) and Rs.4,57,33,116 ($16,006,600), respectively.
The principal towns of Burma are Mandalay, Rangoon, and Maulmain.
Population. In 1901 the inhabitants of Burma, mostly native, numbered 9,221,161, the increase being over 18 per cent. since 1891. The original Burman tribes are believed to have descended southward from Tibet. The tribe of Bama, or Burma, settled on the northern Irrawaddy, where they came into contact with the Peguan or Mun race, probably of Annamitic origin. The Burmans are Mongoloid, with a suggestion of the Aryan, with flat faces and broad skulls, black hair, rich brown skin, and brilliant black eyes. They are usually well-formed, medium-statured, thick-set, the men being fond of athletics. They wear a simple dress, consisting of paso and tamein, the former for men, 10 yards long and a half-yard wide, which is hitched round the loins and disposed in various ways over the body, making a dress without buttons or strings, but with pockets and infinite capacities. The woman's garment, only 4½ feet long, is of cotton, silk or calico. The white cotton coat is common to both sexes. The old costume seems now to be giving way to a new tartan-like dress or garment, about 9 or 10 feet long. On their heads they usually wear a knot of their own hair or bright-figured silk kerchiefs. They are very fond of personal decorations, and the native jewelers are expert at gold and silver work. The smoking of tobacco and the chewing of betel-nut are almost universal. The houses, usually set on piles, on account of river floods, are made of bamboo, laid on timber framework, and covered with the leaves of the palm, or by other suitable vegetable leaf and fibre. The Burmese are fairly industrious, but the women excel the men in variety of domestic employments. They are temperate and hearty, but not fond of continued labor. The number of festivals is very great, and they are enthusiastically kept and enjoyed by the people at large. Among the amusements may be mentioned boxing matches, pony, bullock, and boat races, cock-fighting, ‘splitting the cocoanut,’ chess, dominoes, and various sorts of juggling, snake-charming, etc. The Burman is excessively fond of pageants and frolics. In theatrical representations, as a rule, the hero and heroine are prince and princess, the countryman is a jester or clown, and the King's officer are courtiers or executioners. The King is consistently idealized, while his deputies are travestied. The ballet is very gay and animated, the dancers dressing in superb costumes. The entertainment often lasts several days or nights in succession, and it may consist of dialogues, music, interludes of dancing and posturing.
Other races besides the Burmans proper dwell within the limits of Burma; the Shans inhabit the eastern highlands, where they have semi-independent States, and the Kachins the northern. The Karens, in many respects an interesting people, are the most important hill race of the country, and best exemplify the mode of life of the aboriginal tribes, who have been kept out of the plain-lands by the more powerful Burmans. Those living in the mountains between Burma and Siam get their living by making forest clearings, on which they raise one crop, removing to another site every season. Those settled in the lowlands are more civilized, and speak and dress like Burmans. Noted for their hospitality, truthfulness, chastity, and spirit of equality, they are nevertheless given to drunkenness and to superstition. They are shorter and stouter than the Burmans, and of much fairer complexion. They employ elephants, and are good hunters, and do not marry until reaching mature life.
The language of the Burmese belongs to the same group as the speech of the Annamese, Siamese, and others speaking monosyllabic tongues. The alphabet seems to be a rounded form of Pali. The forms of speech tend to preserve relative ideas in the same categories as the terms expressing the ideas. The root remains unaltered; thus, instead of our ‘herb,’ ‘shrub,’ ‘tree,’ the Burman speaks of grain-plants, creeper-plants, timber-plants. Written Burmese literature goes back for over 800 years, and it is everywhere colored by Hindu influences.
Religion. The Burmese are the practical Buddhists of the world, their religion being of the Southern (Ceylonese) or purer variety, which most closely approximates the original form taught by Gautama. Even the Siamese are lax in comparison to the Burmese. Burma, isolated geographically between the mountains and the ocean, has remained, since the Fifth Century, thoroughly imbued with Buddhism. It has been their great teacher and civilizer, stimulating the growth of a folk-lore and a national literature. It has prevented caste, and has covered the settled part of the country with temples, shrines, and monasteries, the latter being well organized. Theoretically, every boy in the country, while at the temple school, becomes a monk, though he is not bound by vows to remain. Tolerant and free from fanaticism, as well as from blood feuds, the Burmans show the blessings of the gentle teachings of the purer Buddhism. In sacred edifices the country is very rich: the tope, dagoba, or shrine is a solid mass of brickwork, shaped like a bell and crowned by an umbrella-like open ironwork. The temples contain many images of the Enlightened One, or Gautama, the Buddha of history; and the people never tire of plastering these images over with gold-leaf. The temples bristle on the sides and top with pointed projections which are usually gilded. The most famous temple in the country is in Pagan, a city founded A.D. 100. It flourished about A.D. 1000, and later fell into decay, its ruins covering nearly eight square miles. A tremendous expense was incurred in temple-building. At every shrine great bells are hung by metal clasps of rich design. At Mingum, near Mandalay, the bell, cast in 1790, weighs 88 tons. It is 17 feet in diameter, and the metal is 18 inches thick. The monastery buildings have roofs of several diminishing stages, elaborately adorned, but the special feature of Burman architecture is the pointed arch, used not only for doors and windows, but also in the vaulted coverings of passages. The ancient temples of Pagan consisted almost entirely of brick corridors, one within the other, with vaulted tent roofs, of masonry springing from the outer or lower wall to the inner or higher. Among the non-Buddhist tribes, spirit, nature, or demon worship prevails in more or less degrading form.
The early history of Burma is mythical and obscure. As is the case with many other peoples, the legendary accounts, preserved in old chronicles of the country, seem to point to an early immigration of the dominant race. It is supposed that the ancestors of the modern Burmese came from the Indian Highlands, on the northwest, at a period from 2000 to 2500 years ago; entered the valley of the Irrawaddy, the great river highway along which the whole history of Burma has been enacted; conquered the Mongoloid peoples then inhabiting the country, and gradually built up a new State. Tagoung, on the Upper Irrawaddy, the ruins of which still remain, is reputed to have been founded about B.C. 800. In the Eleventh Century A.D. Pagan, in Central Burmah, was the seat of power; its kings consolidated the country, and conquered the land of Pegu on the south. The power of Pagan declined through the decadence of its rulers, and received a fatal blow from the assault of the Mongols, in the time of Kublai Khan. The Fourteenth Century saw the rise of the power of the rulers of Ava, the new centre of the kingdom, and the beginning of the long rivalry between Ava, the northern kingdom, and Pegu, in the south. The chronicles of the Kings of Ava claim for them descent from early Buddhist rulers in India, even going back to Gautama himself. The power of Ava reached its zenith in the Fifteenth Century, when the history of the country becomes clearer through the accounts of Portuguese and other European traders, who entered the country and described its conditions. The supremacy passed temporarily from the Burmans to a line of kings from the Shan tribes on the Siamese border; but in 1580 the southern Kingdom of Pegu became dominant over all Burma. The Peguan supremacy continued until 1752, but during the last century of this period there was a steady decline of the Burmese power. The French and English, meanwhile, secured a foothold in the Irrawaddy delta. In 1752 Alaunghpra, or Alompra, the energetic warrior-chief of a village of Ava, headed a rising, overthrew the dominion of Pegu, and reorganized the Burmese Empire. He founded Rangoon (1755), the commercial centre of Burma. Troubles began in his reign with the English East India Company, which had established a factory in Burmese territory. Alompra died in 1760, during an invasion of Siam. The dynasty which he founded degenerated rapidly through intermarriage among its members. With one exception, Mindohn Min (1852-78), the successsors of Alompra were bloodthirsty and tyrannical.
In 1795, in consequence of the violation of British territory by a Burmese force in pursuit of certain rebels, troubles arose, which were, however, quieted for a time. Difficulties over trading privileges followed, and frontier disputes occurred, culminating, in 1824, in a collision between armed forces of the East India Government and of Burma, on the Assam frontier. War was declared, and British forces at once invaded Burma. The common error of British campaigns, that of despising an unknown foe, led to failures at the beginning, but ultimately the Burmese were pressed so hard that a treaty was made at Yandabo, February 24, 1826, by which Burma renounced its claim on Assam and ceded to the British Government Arakan and the coast of Tenasserim, including Martaban, east of the Salwin River. Their defeat was a great blow to the national pride of the Burmese. King Tharawaddy, who obtained the throne in 1837 by the deposition of his brother, declared the treaty of Yandabo void, and treated English envoys with studied contempt until, in 1840, relations between the British and Burmese Governments ceased altogether. The extreme development in Tharawaddy and his son, Pagan Men, of the homicidal mania, which was the curse of the line of Alompra, led to a revolt which, in 1853, seated the brother of Pagan Men, Mindohn Min, on the throne. At the same time the intolerable treatment of English citizens had brought on the second war between Great Britain and Burma. In the spring of 1852 a British force captured Martaban and Rangoon, and the Peguans took the part of the British against the Burmese. In January, 1853, Pegu was proclaimed a part of the British Empire, which thus obtained control of the Burmese coast and of the mouths of Burma's three navigable rivers. Mindohn Min proved to be a wise and just ruler. Diplomatic relations were resumed in 1867 between Burma and Great Britain, and a commercial treaty was made. Two years before, a superstition had caused the abandonment of the capital, Amaurapoora, for the new city Mandalay. Mindohn Min died in 1878, and the principal Queen, having no sons, married one of her daughters, Supayah Lat, to Theebaw, one of the youngest of the late King's sons. The other princes were seized and executed. Theebaw, arrogant, cruel, and weak, was a tool of his sanguinary Queen, who put all her rivals to death. The disorder resulting from the tyranny of their rule affected British trade, and led to new troubles with Great Britain; while an effort was made to establish a favorable connection with France. Trouble between the Burmese Government and the Bombay-Burma Company, which held a concession in the teak forests, presented an excuse for British intervention, which seemed necessary to prevent French influence from becoming paramount. The British invaded Burma, and on November 28, 1885, occupied Mandalay. The King and Queen were made captive and taken to Madras; all of Burma passed into British control, and in 1886 the annexation of Upper Burma to the dominions of the Queen-Empress Victoria was formally proclaimed. For several years there was much lawlessness, chiefly in the form of brigandage by the dacoits, or robbers, but by 1895 the country was practically pacified, and entered upon a new era under British rule. It is incorporated as a province of the Indian Empire under a Lieutenant-Governor. An agreement was concluded with France on January 15, 1896, making the Mekong River the boundary between the Shan States of Burma and French Indo-China. This boundary agreement gave France some territory east of the Upper Mekong, which formerly belonged to Burma. The development of railroads in Burma has now begun, and will open the resources of the country. The connection of Shanghai with India by way of the Upper Yangtse Valley and Upper Burma is claimed by some students of the Far Eastern situation to be essential to the maintenance of Great Britain's position in the East. See Far Eastern Question.
Bibliography. Spearman, The British-Burma Gazetteer, compiled by authority (Rangoon, 1880); Schmitz, “Birma, die östlichste Provinz des indischen Kaiserreichs,” in Mitteilungen der geographischen Gesellschaft (Vienna, 1898); Mason, Burma: its People and Productions, notes on the fauna, flora, and minerals, etc., rewritten and enlarged by Theobald (Hertford, 1882-83); Bird, Wanderings in Burmah (London, 1897); Ferrar, Burmah (London, 1898); Hart, Picturesque Burma—Past and Present (London, 1897); Yoe, The Burman, his Life and Notions (2d ed., London, 1890); Smeaton, The Loyal Karen of Burma (London, 1886); Phayre, History of Burma (London, 1883); Harmer, The Story of Burma (London, 1901); Yule, Narrative of the Mission in 1855 (London, 1858); Geary, Burmah After the Conquest (London, 1886). The writings of Archibald Colquhoun deal with the railway and frontier problems affecting Burma. An account of missionary activity in Burma will be found in Wayland, Life of Adoniram Judson (Boston and London, 1853).
