GAZETTEER OF UPPER BURMA AND THE SHAN STATES. IN FIVE VOLUMES. COMPILED FROM OFFICIAL PAPERS BY J. GEORGE SCOTT, BARRISTER-AT-LAW, C.I.E., M.R.A.S., F.R.G.S., ASSISTED BY J. P. HARDIMAN, I.C.S. PART I. VO L. II RANGOON: PRINTED BY THE SUPERINTENDENT, GOVERNMENT PRINTING, BURMA. 1900. [PART I, VOLS. I & II,--PRICE: Rs. 12-0-0=18s.] ILLUSTRATIONS. PART I: VOLUME I. PLATE. PAGE. I. The Salween at Ta Hsang Lè--Frontispiece. II. King Thibaw and Supayalat (Photo. Messrs. Watt and Skeen) 86 III. Sawbwa of Lot Lông Tawrig Peng and wives 117 IV. The Salween at Mong Hawm ferry 187 V. The Myowun of Mandalay in Court dress (Photo. Signor Beato and Company) 196 VI. Shan Sawbwa in Court dress (Photo. Signo-Eeato and Company) 236 VII. A Wa bridge, side view 310 VIII. A Wa bridge, end view 311 IX. A Shan trader (Photo. Messrs. Watts and Skeen) 320 X. Kachins (Photo. Messrs. Watts and Skeen) 331 XI. Siyin Chiefs (Chin Gazetteer) 441 XlI. Wa headmen in Pit Ken 475 XIII. Akha women 500 XIV. Karen-ni women (Photo, Captain W. N. Campbell) 529 XV. Rumai or Palaung woman (Photo. Signor Beato and Company) 569 XVI. Mêng or Miaotzu men and women 597 Shoulder bags or wallets 625 PART I: VOLUME II. Map of Upper Burma and Shan States--Frontispiece. XVII. Trans-Salween Sawbwa and wife in full dress 17 Charms of invulnerability 80 XVIII. Tingpan Yao 85 XIX. Siyin mode of coiffure (Chin Gazetteer) 104 XX. Yimbao Karen men (Photo. Captain W. N. Campbell) 134 XXI. Karen Military policemall and recruit (Photo. Captain W. N, Campbell) 172 Plan of Mandalay Palace and buildings 176 XXII. Yimbao Karen women (Photo. Captain W. N. Campbell) 197 XXIII. Chin women'g pipes (Chin Gazetteer) 232 XXIV. Kachin women (Photo. Signor Beato and Company) 276 XXV. Sawku Karen girl (Photo. Captain W. N. Campbell) 300 XXVI. Shan women of Nam Hkam in Shah-Chinese dress (Photo. Signor Beato and Company) 307 XXVII. Chinbôk women (Photo. Signor Beato and Company) 324 XXVIII. Wa in full dress (Fig. 1). Group of Wa girls (.Fig. 2) 337 XXIX. Akha men 362 Instruments used in spinning and weaving 368 (2) PLATE. PAGE. Cotton garments made in Shan States 370 XXX. Kachins (Photo. Signor Beato and Company) 390 Representative pottery of Lower Burma 400 Papun pottery ib. Fancy pottery of Pyinmana 401 Toys of Shwebo ib. XXXI. Mêng or Miaotzu men 413 XXXII. Kun Lông ferry in 1891 452 XXXIII. A Wa dance 469 XXXIV. A Yenangyaung oil well (Photo. Messrs. Watts and Skeen) 514 XXXV. A Kachin house (Photo. Messrs. Watts and Skeen) 528 XXXVI. Hui Hui or Panthes 540 XXXVII. A Shah Sawbwa in open durbar 552 TABLE OF CONTENTS. PART I: VOLUME II. Page· CHAPTER X.--Religion and its semblances 1 CHAPTER Xl.--Palace customs and Burma under Native rule, Archæology 85 CHAPTER XII.--Geology and economic mineralogy 197 CHAPTERXIII.--Forest and other vegetation 307 CHAPTER XIV.--Agriculture and industrial arts 337 CHAPTER XV.--Revenue administration, past and present; population and trade 413 CHAPTER XVI.--Government and Administration under the Burmese Kings 469 GLOSSARY i-viii ERRATA. VOLUME II. Page 4, line 13, for 'headmen' read 'bedesmen.' ,, 9, ,, 7, ,, 'diffured' ,, 'differed.' ,, 20, ,, 4, ,, 'grate' ,, 'great.' ,, 21, ,, 20, ,, ' freed' ,, 'forced.' ,, 26, ,, 17, ,, 'viking' ,, 'vikingr.' ,, 28, ,, 27, ,, 'angles' ,, 'angels.' ,, 28, ,, 27, the quotation marks should come after 'fiends' not after 'oft.' ,, 29, ,, 4, for 'worships' read 'worship.' ,, 36, ,, 20, ,, 'Ronnald' ,, 'Remuald.' ,, 38, ,, 18, read 'is' present. ,, 61, line 10, ,, 'sevice' read 'service.' ,, 92, ,, 14, ,, 'marriage' ,, 'homage.' ,, 96, ,, 9, from bottom, dele second men. ,, 135 ,, 5, for ZxG,f read ZvG,f. ,, 136, ,, 22, ,, 'Mawra' read 'Nawra.' ,, 142, ,, 25, ,, 'parwas' ,, 'parwar.' ,, 149, ,, 21, ,, 'mahdamada' ,, 'mahamadda.' ,, 169, ,, 3, ,, 'further' ,, 'farther.' ,, 176, ,, 25, ,, 'fittully' ,, 'fitfully.' ,, 178, ,, 8 from bottom, for 'kamboya' read 'kamboja.' ,, 178, ,, 5, ,, ,, 'kata' ,, 'kala.' ,, 218, ,, 21, for 'information' read 'formation.' ,, 298, ,, 7 from bottom, for 'there' read 'these.' ,, 432, ,, 3, for 'with' read 'within.' ,, 439, ,, 27, ,, 'streched' ,, 'stretched.' ,, 441, ,, 9, from bottom, for 'seal' read 'still.' ,, 452, ,, 2, for 'extenon' read 'extension.' ,, 492, ,, 3, ,, 'where' ,, 'were.' ,, 513, ,, 9, ,, 'invidual' ,, 'individual.' ,, 516, ,, 22, ,, 'strengthining' ,, 'strengthening.' THE UPPER BURMA GAZETTEER. CHAPTER X. RELIGION AND ITS SEMBLANCES. THE nominal religion of nine-tenths of the population of Upper Burma is Buddhism. It is the fashion now-a-days to say that Buddhism is not a religion at all, but a system of philosophy, or a code of morality. As a religion it has been discussed in the British Burma Gazetteer, to which the present compilation is a supplement, and nothing need therefore be added here. The whole of the population of Upper Burma and all that of the Shan States, except the hill tribes, is returned as Buddhist. The Chins, Kachins, and other hill men are labelled nat worshippers. Since, however, a system of philosophy hardly satisfies the hopes and fears of human nature, it is not surprising to find that animistic religion prevails side by side with Buddhism and not only has a great hold on the people, but was formally recognized by the Burmese Court. Before treating of this, however, the indisputable influence of the monks and their attitude after the annexation, merits some notice, since it exhibits Buddhism in its attitude towards the administration of the country. The bulk of what follows is adapted from papers by Mr. Taw Sein Ko. The Buddhist monks had very considerable influence under the Burmese Government. The highest rank was given to them for the first few days after they passed the Patamabyan examination, held annually in June at the foot of Mandalay Hill. Valuable rewards usually accompanied this temporary rank and, when they died at any age beyond the ordinary, the grandest of obsequies were given to their remains at the cost of the State. It was an axiom that no monk could utter a falsehood, and his word therefore was universally respected and accepted as true. He had access to the King and the Ministers at all times, and those of the higher grades received specially stamped leaves to enable them to correspond with the Court. They could and did exercise their influence in various ways. Sometimes a person ordered out for execution obtained his life and a pardon on their intercession; they were occasionally the only check on the tyranny 2 THE UPPER BURMA GAZETTEER. [CHAP. X. and extortion of powerful officials; they obtained remission of taxes for the people in times of scarcity and disaster, or temporary relief when there Was a local failure of crops; very often it was only through the monks that men imprisoned, for offences which no one remembered, for a term which never had been fixed, could obtain release. Thus under the Burmese Government the pôngyi, who theoretically had nothing to do with politics, or things of this world, was really a political power, the only permanent power in a system where office was liable to be as transient and evanescent as the hues of the rainbow or the tints of the dying dolphin. He could, as Mr. Taw Sein Ko says, report on the conduct of officials, criticise their methods of government, have them removed or transferred, if necessary, and offer suggestions for the amelioration of the condition of the people; and his representation always received attention at the hands of the Government; sometimes the acts of Government were modified through his representations. In 1220 B. E. (1859) King Mindôn confiscated all private lands in the Mandalay district and gave them to the soldiery. The pôngyis represented to him the hardship which this was to the people and the order of confiscation was cancelled. Again in 1234 B. E. (1873) the si-sa lands held in the Meiktila and other districts by the troopers of the Shwepyi Yanaung regiment were resumed by Government. The order for this resumption was abrogated at the instance of the monks of the district. The taking of life near all monasteries is forbidden. The pôngyis in various places succeeded in getting the destruction of life forbidden in wider areas, the boundaries of which were strictly defined. Saving the life of a human being was a still more obvious duty for a monk, and there are several instances given in which the King granted a reprieve on the intercession of a Sawbaw. The Pagan King was probably the solitary instance in all Burmese history of a deposed King surviving his overthrow and living for many years after it, not in the sanctuary of a monastery but actually in the capital of his supplanter, and the fact that he was allowed to live was due to King Mindôn's firm belief that he was the head of religion even more than ruler of the State. Thus the pôngyi was a power in the Government of the country, a power constituted and fostered so as to place a salutary check on the tyranny and oppression of officials on the one hand, and to reconcile the people to the existing form of government on the other. It was in tacit recognition of such services that the pôngyi received from the State a monthly subsistence allowance, usually in the form of rice, but sometimes in money, which was, of course, handed over to the happiya, or lay manciple of the kyauug. In addition to this the CHAP. X.] RELIGION AND ITS SEMBLANCES. 3 monk's relatives were exempted from taxation, and he had also the privilege of being amenable to the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts only, in all matters, even in those in which laymen were parties in the case.