BURMA 



IIKIS 



BURNE-JONES 



and south, contributing much to the fertility 

 of the soil by the silt which they spread. Chief 

 of these rivers is the Irrawaddy, which flows 

 nearly through the center and drains three- 

 fourths of the country. The delta plain at its 

 mouth, of great extent and very fertile, is per- 

 haps the most valuable part of the whole 

 country. The eastern districts are drained by 

 a second great river, the Salwin. 



Climate. Burma lies approximately in the 

 same latitude as Mexico and Central America, 

 and thus is almost entirely within the tropics, 

 but the differences in elevation cause decided 

 variations in climate. To the north, in the 

 region of great mountains, are districts where 

 frost is not uncommon, and in the central parts 

 of the country there are conditions typical of 

 temperate regions hot summers and cool win- 

 ters. Near the coast and throughout the long, 

 narrow projection that runs southward, there 

 is a tropical sameness of climate, with heavy 

 rainfall, which averages 160 inches a year. 



Wild Life. Few lands have more luxuriant 

 plants and more of the great animals which 

 civilization is so surely driving out in many 

 places. For in Burma there are still great 

 tracts of unexplored land which are clothed 

 with tropical forests. Here grow teakwood, one 

 of the most valuable products of the country; 

 ironwood, palms of all sorts and the ever- 

 useful bamboo. In and about these jungles 

 range the greatest of game animals, the tiger, 

 the leopard, rhinoceros, deer, crocodile, and 

 most important of all, the elephant. No other 

 part of Asia produces elephants of such great 

 size, and it -is from Burma that most of the 

 trained elephants of India are secured. These 

 animals are of the greatest importance to the 

 Burmese, who make of them beasts of burden, 

 training them especially to drag and stack the 

 great logs of teakwood. 



Minerals. The Burmese have never paid 

 much attention to their mineral resources, 

 which are believed to be great. The gold 

 which is found in the sand and gravel of the 

 river bottoms they wash out, and in the same 

 labor-saving way, they have made valuable dis- 

 coveries of rubies, jade and sapphires. The 

 oil wells are a source of wealth to the country, 

 producing over 230,000,000 gallons each year. 



Agriculture. Two-thirds of the people of 

 Burma make their living from the soil, which 

 is in places extraordinarily fertile. In the pro- 

 duction of rice, which forms the staple food of 

 its people, Burma leads the world, for five- 

 sixths of its cultivated land is given over to 



rice growing. Each year, except when poor 

 crops cause a famine and much of the product 

 is needed at home, Burma exports about $50,- 

 000,000 worth of rice. See RICE. 



History and Government. The Burmese 

 claim a long history in the land which they 

 now inhabit, but the early centuries are 

 shrouded in obscurity. From the eleventh 

 century, when its known history began, to the 

 sixteenth, one little kingdom after another 

 made itself powerful and sought to bring the 

 whole territory under its sway. From 1580 to 

 1750, Pegu, in the south, was supreme, and it 

 was during this period that the Europeans 

 turned their attention to the rich and fertile 

 land. In 1824 an English force entered Burma, 

 but not until 1853 was England able to declare 

 even a part of the country British territory. 

 Another invasion in 1885 resulted in the cap- 

 ture of the king, or "Lord of the White Ele- 

 phant," as he was called, and the annexation 

 of Burma to British India. Within ten years 

 the risings throughout the country were put 

 down, and from that time Burma has slowly 

 but steadily progressed. 



Burma is governed as a province of British 

 India, having a lieutenant-governor and a leg- 

 islative council. For purposes of local gov- 

 ernment it is divided into eight districts, each 

 in charge of a commissioner. E.D.F. 



No important books on Burma are published in 

 America. Among the best English books is 

 Harmer's Story of Burma; it can be purchased 

 from booksellers in large cities. 



BURNE-JONES, SIR EDWARD (1833-1898), 

 the greatest of the Pre-Raphaelite painters (see 

 PRE-RAPHAELITES). He was studying at Ox- 

 ford, for the Church, but, coming under the 

 influence of Rossetti, he and his friend William 

 Morris decided to devote their lives to art. 

 At first his pictures, which show clearly the 

 influence of hi* master Rossetti but are better 

 in drawing, were not well received, but while 

 he was still a comparatively young man he 

 came to be looked upon as one of the most 

 gifted painters England had ever produced. 

 Whether his subjects were from the Bible, as 

 in his Christ Crucified Upon the Tree of Life; 

 from medieval legends, as in Cophetua and the 

 Beggar Maid and the Beguiling of Merlin; or 

 from mythology, as in Wine of Circe, Pan and 

 Psyche, or the Pygmalion series, he introduced 

 into his pictures a romantic atmosphere and a 

 poetic feeling which makes an intense appeal 

 to many. Those who care for Burne-Jones's 

 paintings at all are likely to care for them very 



