198 MAN: PAST AND PRESENT. [CHAP. 



This observer quotes Bishop Bigandet, a forty years' resident 

 amongst the natives, to the effect that "in Burmah and Siam the 

 doctrines of Buddhism have produced a striking, and to the lover 

 of true civilization a most interesting result the almost complete 

 equality of the condition of the women with that of the men. 

 In these countries women are seen circulating freely in the streets ; 

 they preside at the comptoir, and hold an almost exclusive 

 possession of the bazaars. Their social position is more elevated, 

 in every respect, than in the regions where Buddhism is not the 

 predominating creed. They may be said to be men's companions, 

 and not their slaves." 



Burma is one of those regions where tattooing has acquired 

 the rank of a fine art. Indeed the intricate designs 

 and general pictorial effect produced by the Burmese 

 artists on the living body are rivalled only by those of Japan, 

 New Zealand, and some other Polynesian groups. Mr Hallett, 

 who states that " the Burmese, the Shans, and certain Burmanized 

 tribes are the only peoples in the south of Asia who are known 

 to tattoo their body," tells us that the elaborate operation is 

 performed only on the male sex, the whole person from waist to 

 knees, and amongst some Shan tribes from neck to foot, being 

 covered with heraldic figures of animals, with intervening 

 traceries, so that at a little distance the effect is that of a pair of 

 dark-blue breeches 1 . The pigments are lamp-black or vermilion, 

 and the pattern is usually first traced with a fine hair pencil and 

 then worked in by a series of punctures made by a long pointed 

 brass style 2 . 



East of Burma we enter the country of the Shans, one of the 

 most numerous and widespread peoples of Asia, who call them- 

 selves Tat (Thai] "Noble" or "Free," although 

 shan e peop'ies. slavery in various forms has from time immemorial 

 been a social institution amongst all the southern 

 groups. Here again tribal and national terminology is somewhat 



1 Cf. the Shans of Yunnan, who are nearly all " tatoues, depuis la ceinture 

 jusqu'au genou, de de.ssins bleus si serres qu'ils paraissent former une vraie 

 culotte " (Pr. Henri, op. cit. p. 83). 



2 Jbid. p. 112. 



