Vol. XX, No. 10 



WASHINGTON 



October, 1909 



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NOTES ON BURMA* 



By Thomas Barbour 



With Photographs by the Author 



FEW parts of the wide empire of 

 Britain offer such a tempting array 

 of features which are attractive 

 alike to the ordinary globe-trotter, to the 

 naturalist, the anthropologist, or the 

 hunter of big game as does Burma. The 

 facts and impressions which are recorded 

 here will more than justify this most in- 

 adequate sketch if they serve to bring 

 the province farther within the ken of 

 members of the National Geographic 

 Society. 



The globe-trotter coming from India 

 cannot fail to be enchanted by the people, 

 as cheery and cleanly as the peasant 

 Hindu is dirty, dull, and sullen. The 

 change in the very atmosphere is more 

 than evident when first one visits the 

 Schway Dagon. The naturalist finds in 

 the mingling of the Indian with the 

 Malayan fauna a bewildering number of 

 birds, reptiles, or insects which will en- 

 rich the cabinets of any museum and pro- 

 vide the thrills which only the finding of 

 a long- sought- for novelty can give. I 

 shall have something more to say of the 

 peoples of Burma, and the photographs 

 show some of the more important racial 

 types. Being rather more bored than 

 otherwise by the average tales of big- 



game hunting, I will merely say that tiger, 

 tsine, sambar, and other deer, as well as 

 most excellent snipe shooting, offer real 

 attraction for those whose interests lie in 

 this line of sport. 



Most of the rich province of Burma, 

 now an integral part of India as far as its 

 administration goes, lies to the east of the 

 Bay of Bengal. It extends over about 17 

 parallels of latitude and has an area of 

 some 236,738 square miles. The popula- 

 tion is about 11,000,000. Rich in miner- 

 als, it supplies the world with rubies from 

 the famous Mogok mines, where sap- 

 phires also occur. There are extensive 

 oil fields at Yenangyoung, on the Irra- 

 waddy below Mandalay. The soil is more 

 than lavish in its yield and the crops of 

 no land are more grateful to the eye than 

 those of Burma. 



The chief wealth of the land lies in the 

 enormous forests of teak, now ably ad- 

 ministered by the service which has made 

 for itself such an enviable reputation in 

 India. At the lumber yards near Rangoon 

 ah visitors are astonished at the sagacity 

 of the trained elephants which work pil- 

 ing the heavy teak logs or pushing them 

 into position for the saws. ; Away in the 

 upper sections of the province the ele- 



: Copyright, 1909, by Thomas Barbour 



