( 86 ) 



tinued to rise, until the King proclaimed caoutchouc a royal mono- 

 poly. 



160. I here had the good fortune to form the acquaintance of the 



late Reverend Dr. Mason and his wife, 



iiis M w3^ n ° f ReV ' Dr " MaS ° n and who had come u l 3 to Bhamo > in ho P es 



of establishing a Kakhyen Mission, and 



gradually instructing the wild mountaineers in the Christian 

 faith. Dr. Mason was busy studying the language as best he 

 could, picking up a word here and there as opportunity offered ; 

 and I believe before he returned to Rangoon, his collection of 

 words had sufficiently accumulated, to admit of his publishing a 

 text-book on the subject. Mrs. Mason, ever ready to assist her 

 husband in his good works, expressed a desire to go among these 

 wild people by herself ; for she felt the poor old gentleman — now 

 over seventy years of age, — was too feeble and delicate to accompany 

 her. I was glad to find, however, neither the Assistant Resident, 

 nor the Governor, would for a moment listen to such an unreason- 

 able request, which would unquestionably have led to most undesira- 

 ble complications, if not to her death : the good lady's wanderings 

 were therefore confined to the suburbs, and a short trip up the Taping 

 river. Dr. Mason evidently had not received much encouragement 

 from the Burmese Government ; there was first a difficulty about a 

 grant of land, and then other obstacles were thrown in his way, 

 that might easily have been overcome had the King been disposed 

 to support the scheme. 



161. Later on I made the acquaintance of a Roman Catholic 



Priest, who had also come to Bhamo to 

 at Bhlm^ BomanCatholicPriest work among the Kakhyens. After a 



very limited experience, even of the 

 more civilized highlanders, — who come down from the hills occa- 

 sionally to barter goods, — he told me it would simply be working 

 against his own interest to thrust himself too suddenly on these 

 people in their mountain homes, and that he intended gradually 

 to pave the way to a good understanding, by throwing himself 

 among those of the tribe who visited the plains, and then 

 step by step, teaching them, through free intercourse, to appreciate 

 the object and unselfishness of his cause. Apparently this gentle- 

 man had come up here by permission of His Majesty, for no 

 difficulty was experienced in finding a site for him to build on, or 

 workmen to run up his little bamboo cottage. Under other circum- 

 stances I should have felt disposed to attribute a political reason, 

 to the King's aversion to the establishment of a Protestant mission 

 at Bhamo, but his recognizing the introduction of a Roman Catho- 



