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Dedicated to my Mother, who first dedicated me. FOREWORD By REAR-ADMIRAL SIR HARRY H. STILEMAN, K.B.E. I ACCEPT with pleasure the invitation of the author of Dense Jungle Green to write this Foreword, seeing I have a very close and intimate touch with the B.C.M.S. Mission in Burma, through the link of family ties, and personal acquaintance with every member of the mission staff, except my grand-daughter, born in the Hukawng valley last autumn. I have watched the growth and development of the mission with prayerful interest and attention ever since its inception, and rejoice in the remarkable results attained. The method of pure evangelism in contradistinction to excessive institutionalism is the plan upon which this Mission has worked: every missionary first and foremost an evangelist; and, coupled with that, an absolute reliance upon the Word of God to do the work that the Holy Spirit intends, of convicting and converting. The plain, statesmanlike setting forth in these pages of the results of this breakaway by B.C.M.S. from institutional work, and adherence to the principle laid down by the Apostle to the Gentiles of "preaching the Word of the Lord," brings conviction home that "this thing is of God," and has received the smile of His approval. It certainly calls forth our joyful praise. The author touches but lightly on the hardships of himself and all his eo-workers, in joumeyings often, in perils of waters, in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often; but there is a significant passage in chapter xviii bearing upon this subject, which runs as follows: "The missionary who takes too much into account the preservation of his own skin, will lose in the long run, for he will never establish the close contact with the people necessary if he is to be used of God." Certainly our missionaries have not spared themselves, but have given their very best to carry the Gospel Message to the people and tribes in their own mother-tongue. 7 8 FOREWORD The fruits of their labours were shown in I 936, when the bishop confirmed I I4 persons of twenty different races or tribes in seven different centres of the Mission. The formation of Burma into an integral part of the British Empire on April I st this year opens a completely new order of things; but we believe that He who sees the end from the beginning called the B.C.M.S. into being and established her in the country before the change took place, in order that she might fulfil the good pleasure of His will in preaching the Gospel of His grace with increasing power and effectiveness under the new regime. I commend this book, with its beautiful illustrations-the outlined history of twelve remarkable years of pioneer work -with a hearty commendation, and trust that the perusal of its pages may result, through prayer, in letting the Light of Life into the deep recesses of Dense Jungle Green. HARRY H. STILEMAN. May, I937· AUTHOR'S NOTE THis is more a book of origins than a chronological history of twelve years of work, and it is inevitable that the more recent and relatively important happenings should find scant space. While the reader is introduced mainly to a record of one Mission tucked away in the northern corner of Burma, it is hoped that the story may have a wider appeal in the year when Burma has achieved her political independence, and especially to those interested in modern Missions and to all who have at heart the welfare of this "green and pleasant land." Thanks are due to all in the fellowship of the B.C.M.S. Burma Mission, without whom this book could never have been written, as well as to the Rev. W. S. Hooton, M.A., and to Colonel S. H. Middleton West, M.C., F.R.C.S., for their patient labour in the preparation of this volume for publication. A. T. HouGHTON. Mohnyin, Upper Burma. 9 CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE FOREWORD 7 AUTHOR'S NOTES 9 PROLOGUE IS I. HOW IT CAME ABOUT I7 II. HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 25 m. THE PROGRESS OF THE PIONEERS 37 IV. EARLY DAYS 46 v. MOUNTAIN AND PLAIN 59 VI. PROBLEMS OF RACE AND LANGUAGE 72 VII. A COURAGEOUS COUPLE 79 VIII. WE TACKLE OTHER RACES 88 IX. THE TOWN OF THE OGRE g8 x. ADVANCING NORTHWARDS I08 XI. BY THE LAKESIDE ug :XII. INTERLUDE, AND A VENTURE IN REORGANISA- TION I28 :xm. GAINS AND LOSSES 136 XIV. A NOTORIOUS SLAVE CENTRE 148 :xv. THE SOURCE OF THE WORLD'S JADE 162 :XVI. A NEW VENTURE BY THE SEA 172 :XVII. "THE PLACE WHERE THE TIGER ROARED" 191 XVIII. HOW WE GET ABOUT 1gB :XIX. HOW WE LIVE. 2II :x:x. LIVING EPISTLES 220 XXI. OUR BIT • 233 :XXII. "WE HAVE LEFT UNDONE" 242 EPILOGUE 251 ROLL OF MISSIONARIES 252 BIBLIOGRAPHY , 255 JI ILLUSTRATIONS DENSE JUNGLE GREEN • To face Prologue PAGE MAP OF BURMA • 32 THE AVA BRIDGE AT SUNSET. 33 VIEW FROM THE A V A BRIDGE 33 THE RIVER CROSSING AT MOGAUNG 48 THE MOHNYIN RIVER IN THE DRY SEASON 48 EARLY JINGHPAW VISITORS 49 A DANCE AT A NAT FESTIVAL 64 BUDDHIST PONGYIS 65 RELEASED SLAVES FROM THE HUKAWNG VALLEY • 65 THE BEGINNINGS OF THE BURMESE CHURCH 80 THE APPROACH TO THE TOWN OF THE OGRE 8I THE MISSION STATION AT BILUMYO 8I BAPTISMS AT BILUMYO • 96 THE SHAN CHURCH WELCOMES VISITORS FROM MOHNYIN g6 THE ROAD TO THE NORTH AT KAMAING • 97 SCHOOLBOYS AT KAMAING 97 VISIT OF H.E. THE GOVERNOR TO THE DEAF SCHOOL, I932 I I2 SHE HEARD IN TIME AND IS NOW WITH CHRIST I I 3 "NIGHT OPS," MOHNYIN THEATRE • I28 THE HOSPITAL STAFF, I934 • I28 THE OPENING OF THE INDIGENOUS NURSES' HOME, I 934 I 29 FIRST PATIENTS AT MAINGKWAN I44 EARLY DAYS AT MAINGKWAN, I93I. THE WALAWBUM DUWA THE LEPER WOMAN THE JADE MINES, TAWMAW THE UYU RIVER, LONKIN MAP OF ARAKAN • 14 ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE MINBYA (B.C.M.S. COMPOUND ON RIGHT) 177 KHUMI VILLAGE OF THARAGU I 77 RIVER TRAVEL, ARAKAN 192 EVANGELISTS AND KHUMI CONVERTS, THARAGU 192 AWA KHUMIS, THARAGU 193 AYAING KHUMI DANCE, PALETWA I93 A CONTRAST IN TRANSPORT • 208 "DANIEL" ON THE ROAD 209 READY FOR THE RAPIDS, DALU 209 CONFERENCE OF MISSIONARIES, MOHNYIN, I934 224 MOHNYIN COMPOUND 225 SOMERSET HOUSE, MOHNYIN 225 GROUP OF JINGHPAW CHRISTIAN WOMEN. 240 THE CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOUR, MOHNYIN 240 THE REV. U SET PAW • 24I JINGHPAW CHRISTIAN BRIDAL PAIR 24I "HOW SHALL THEY HEAR WITHOUT A PREACHER?" 250 THE CATHEDRAL • Epilogue 251 By courtesy of The Metropolitan "Annihilating all that's made To a green thought in a green shade." Thoughts in a Garden (Andrew Marvell, I621-1678). PROLOGUE GREEN has always been my favourite colour, but I am not by any means the only traveller in th~ East who, crossing over from India, has noticed the unexpected greenery of the Emerald Land where dwell the people aptly described as the Irish of the East. It is the fresh greenness of the mountain and plain that attracts the eye from the first in this fascinating country of Burma, but it is a special shade of green that has given the title of this book, and the name came suddenly on a jungle walk, when the shade temperature had risen to 104 deg. on a sweltering day in May. As one looks over the side of a ship cutting its way through the sea one gazes down into the deep green of apparently unfathomable depths; and where the shadows fall, the green shades off into a mysterious blackness. So, in the green jungle of mountain and valley where thick forest prevails in the northern wedge of Upper Burma, one sees those same beautiful shades of green bordering off into blackness where the dark jungle grows thickest, and the light does not penetrate-Dense Jungle Green describes it. Or again, it is just those shades of green and black that appear in the jade dug from the mines of furthest Burma; but there, apart from the shining beauty of polished jade, one tends to think of its amazing hardness and the enormous labour involved in cutting and hewing before the finished product appears. Deep sea green, dense jungle green, jade green-call it what you will-but the impenetrable depth and beauty and the hardness of the jade all seem to sum up the work 15 PROLOGUE we have been trying to do during the last twelve years. Amidst all the fascinating beauty of the country and people there is a mysterious depth and hardness that baffies the eager messenger of Christ; but we still follow on in hitherto untrod paths, where the light has not yet shone and the dense jungle green of agelong custom and superstition shades off into the blackness of night and the realm of the Evil One. By the grace of God "the people that walked in darkness" shall yet see a "great light"-evell the Light of the World! CHAPTER I HOW IT CAME ABOUT EssENTIAL AUToBIOGRAPHY "Thou who art His, or e'er thou drawest breath, His shalt thou be in life, love, service, death. • • • • • • I give him Thee: he always was Thine own, But more than ever now, by this my gift." From The Heart of Motherhood. A MOTHER's dedication of her new-born babe to God began it. There was no precedent for missionary service abroad in either branch of the family, but the occasion was unique: April I Ith, r8g6, was the day before the beginning of the Three Years' Missionary Enterprise, ushering in the centenary of the birth of the Church Missionary Society, and what better gift could a mother make to God than her new-born son? Ever afterwards in the mother's mind, as she would sometimes recall in later years, was connected with the birth of this her third son, the text of the sermon heard the previous Sunday: "Alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." Two sons and two daughters had already been dedicated !o God by their parents, but this one was specially set apart tn his mother's prayers for service as a missionary abroad.

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