B I R M A N E M P I R E. 



525 



Birman 

 Empire 



< 



Minerals. 



Manufac- 

 tures. 



Statues. 





Ships. 





settlements in India for ship-building, and is on this 

 account one of the most valuable productions of the 

 country. 



The Birman empire abounds in minerals. There 

 are several mines of gold and silver in this country, 

 and the former metal is likewise found in the beds of 

 streams which descend from the mountains. Precious 

 stones are also met with in various parts of this coun- 

 try, as rubies, sapphires, amethysts, garnets, chryso- 

 lites, jaspers, loadstone, and marble equal in quality 

 to the finest of Italy. The inferior minerals, as iron, 

 lead, tin, antimony, arsenic, sulphur, are also found in 

 great abundance. The Birmans have likewise natu- 

 ral wells of petroteutn, similar to the coal tar for 

 which Europe is indebted to the ingenuity of Lord 

 Dundonald. Captain Cox mentions, that at one place 

 there are upwards of 500 pits or wells of this use- 

 ful production. The animals of this country cor- 

 respond in general with those of Hindostan, so that 

 they will nut require any particular description. 



The manufactures of the Birman empire consist 

 chiefly of cotton and silk goods, saltpetre, gunpow- 

 der, various kinds of pottery, marble statues of the 

 idols they adore. At a certain village, Colonel Symcs 

 saw thirty or forty large yards crowded with statu- 

 aries at work on images of various sizes, but all of the 

 same personage, namely Gadama, sitting cross leg- 

 ged on a pedestal. The quarries, from which they 

 obtain the materials, are only a few miles distant. The 

 marble is brought to the village in blocks ; and after 

 being cut, the images are sold to the natives. The 

 smallest exceeded the human stature, and the price 

 was said to be 100 tackals, or about 12 or 13 pounds 

 sterling ; but some diminutive images were so low as 

 two or three tackals. The workmen were civil and 

 communicative. Their tools were a chissel and a mal- 

 let, and they smooth the images with freestone and 

 water. Many of the idols were beautifully polish- 



ed, which is said to be done by rubbing the marble 

 with three different kinds of stone ; the first rough, 

 the second finer, and the third such as hones are made 

 of. The workmen afterwards use the palms of their 

 hands, an operation which gives the images a trans- 

 parent clearness far surpassing the brightest polish 

 that European marble ever exhibits. Of late years, 

 the Birmans have made rapid progress in the art of 

 shipbuilding. Formerly they used only small vessels 

 like boats ; but, in consequence of their communica- 

 tion with Europeans, they are now launching vessels 

 of considerable magnitude. When the British em- 

 bassy was at Raugoon, the principal port of the Bir- 

 mans, Colonel .Symes saw several ships on the stocks 

 from 600 to 1000 tons burden : three or four of the 

 vessels belonged to English adventurers. Ships may 

 be constructed in this country at one third less than 

 in the Ganges, and for nearly one half of what they 

 would cost at Bombay. The Birman shipwrights 

 appear to finish their work well ; they are of an ath- 

 letic form, and possess in an eminent degree that vi- 

 gour which distinguishes Europeans, and gives them 

 a vast superiority over the enervated natives of Hin- 

 dostan. It is said, however, that the ships of Pegu 

 are not so firmly made as those constructed in our 

 ports. The art of vitrification has long been known 

 in the East, but the inhabitants are unable to make so 

 2 



Birman 



Empire. 



hard and transparent a substance a9 that which is 

 brought from Europe. On the subject of this ma- 

 nufacture, Colonel Symes mentions the following cu- v 

 . rious and interesting fact : " The Birman monarch," Glass, 

 says he, " who is a great admirer of this manufacture, 

 was particularly desirous to introduce it into his own 

 dominions ; and supposing that every Englishman 

 must be versed in the knowledge of making whatever 

 comes from his own country, he sent a message to 

 request that I would furnish his artificers with such 

 instructions as might enable them to fabricate glasa 

 of a quality equal to what was made in England. 

 Unluckily none of us happened to be skilled in the 

 mystery of a glass-house ; all, therefore, that we 

 could do, was to explain the principles of the art, 

 which Dr Buchanan obligingly undertook ; and, in 

 order to facilitate them in the acquirement, and guide 

 them in the practice, I lent them the Encyclopcedia 

 Britannica, and pointed out the article where the 

 process is fully explained. Baba Sheen, the second 

 in authority at the port of Raugoon, and the Arme- 

 nian interpreter, translated it into the Birman tongue." 



The commerce of the Birman empire is very con- Commerce, 

 siderable. An extensive trade is carried on between 

 the capital and Tunan in China. The principal ex- 

 port from the Birman territory is cotton, of which it 

 is said there are two kinds, one of a brown colour, of 

 which nankeens are made, the other white like the 

 cotton of India. This commodity is transported up 

 the Irrawaddy in large boats, as far as a place called 

 Barnoo, where it is bartered with the Chinese mer- 

 chants, who convey it partly by land and partly by 

 water into China. Amber, ivory, precious stones, 

 betel nut, and the edible nuts, brought from the eas- 

 tern archipelago, are also articles of commerce. In 

 return the Birmans procure raw and wrought silks, 

 gold leaf, preserves, paper, and some hardware uten- 

 sils. There is also a considerable inland commerce 

 carried on between the different pails of the interior, 

 particularly in the necessaries of life. Several thou- 

 sand boats are employed in transporting rice and salt 

 from the southern provinces, to supply the capital and 

 the northern districts. On the coast the Birmans pos- 

 sess several excellent ports, particularly Negrais, Mer- 

 gui, and Raugoon. The imports into the latter place 

 from the British settlements in 1791-5, Colonel Symes 

 was informed, amounted to about ;135,000 Sterling. 

 They consisted chiefly of coarse piece goods, glass, 

 hardware, and broad cloth : the returns were made 

 almost wholly in timber. In order to encourage our 

 trade with this country, the king, upon our embassy 

 in 1795, granted several valuable privileges to our 

 merchants. The Birmans are so sensible of the ad- 

 vantages of commerce, and so desirous of extending 

 it, that of late years they have tolerated all descrip- 

 tions of people, Pagans, Jews, Mahometans, Chris- 

 tians, the disciples of Confucius, and the worshippers 

 of fire, and invited strangers of every nation to resort 

 to their ports ; and being free from the prejudices of 

 cast which shackle their Indian neighbours, they per- 

 mit foreigners to intermarry and settle among them. 

 The children of strangers of every description born 

 of a Birman woman become subjects of the state, and 

 are entitled to the same privdeges as if they had 

 sprung from a line of Birman ancestry. In their 



