6 WILD SPORTS OF BURMA AND ASSAM 



settle down on an estate, where they were kindly treated and 

 got regular work and fair pay. Tea should therefore be one 

 of the future industries of the country. 



HABITS AND CUSTOMS OF THE BURMESE 



It is almost impossible to understand a Burman he is a 

 man of contradictions. 



In physical characteristics the Burmese much resemble the 

 Mongolian race, from which they are doubtless descended. 

 They have the same broad faces and high cheek-bones ; the 

 eyes are oblique, caused by the structure of the lids ; there is 

 seldom any bridge to the nose, the nostrils are rather broad ; 

 but since our occupation of the country the people have 

 improved for the better in good looks, for the Burmese women 

 readily accept as husbands all foreigners, so there has been a 

 great mixture of blood, which has shown itself mostly in 

 features. In Arrakan especially, years ago the Mongolian 

 type has been modified by a mixture with the Caucasian and 

 the Aryan, and I have seen young girls with remarkably good 

 features and showing but very faint traces of the Mongolian 

 race. But even the unmixed Burmese women, when young, 

 have a pleasing expression, and greatly ingratiate themselves 

 with those with whom they come in contact. 



The men, though short, are a fine, robust, athletic race; 

 their frames are well-proportioned, with long bodies and 

 shortish legs, but good length of arms. The head is well set 

 on, shoulders square, chest deep and wide, and legs showing 

 good muscular development. 



They wear their hair tied in a knot on the top of the head, 

 and wind round it a piece of muslin or gay silk handkerchief; 

 a jacket hangs loosely from their shoulders over the hips, a 

 putso of bright silk is wound round the waist, extending to the 

 ankles, and with one end often thrown jauntily over the 

 shoulder. From the waist down to a little below the knees 

 nearly every Burman is tattooed, in various figures of animals, 

 birds, devils, etc., all enclosed in a groundwork of tracery and 

 flowing lines. This operation commences at an early age 



