BHILS, BURMESE, AND BATTAKS. 



37 



ries it has been the medium of recording their very interesting 

 literature. Its alphabet is said to be of Indian origin, and was 

 ushered in with the religion of Buddha. Burmese are not behind- 

 hand in the matter of some manufactures, though they are by no 

 means up to the better races of India in these particulars. Upon 

 crudely constructed looms, their women make a cloth of a very 

 good quality, such as is 

 worn by the child and its 

 mother shown in Fig. 3. 

 Gorgeous silk cloths, made 

 from Chinese silk,are woven 

 in other localities, and pat- 

 terns of flowers are fre- 

 quently embroidered (see 

 Fig. 3). They also use nu- 

 merous fabrics which they 

 obtain through the medium 

 of trade with the British, 

 who have already conquered 

 a considerable part of the 

 Empire of Burma. As is 

 the case with so many other 

 peoples of the East, the 

 women are fond of person- 

 al adornment. They wear 

 from five to six bracelets 

 around their wrists, a mul- 

 tiplicity of necklaces, and 

 very frequently circular, 

 worked ear ornaments of silver or gold on the lobes of the ears. 

 In Fig. 3 the woman is smoking a large cigar. An authority at 

 my hand says the Burmese are passionately fond of the drama, 

 " which appears under the various forms of masquerades, puppet 

 shows, ballet opera, and farces, as well as in the more dignified 

 character of the regular tragedy. The moral character of the 

 plays is often of the lowest kind, the utmost license both of 

 speech and action being allowed on the stage. The scenery is of 

 a very simple and purely suggestive kind, a single branch of a 

 tree standing for a forest, and frequently the filling up of the 

 dialogue is largely left to the ingenuity of the actors, little more 

 than hints of the plot being contained in many of the librettos. 

 The popular interest in the dramatic exhibitions is intense, and, 

 as in Siam, the same piece often drags its slow length along for 

 days together." Some of the young Burmese women have very 

 intelligent features, and are far from being unprepossessing. The 

 young girl shown in Fig. 4 is of this class, and it is seen that she 



Fig. 



4. A Young Burmese Beauty. 

 From a photograph. 



