January 15, 1886.] 



SCIENCE. 



63 



commercial alliance with Indo-China and China, 

 and thus acquire new markets of transcendent 

 promise. 



Burmah and the Burmese Shan states are 

 highly favored by their geographical position. 

 They lie in the course of the monsoons, and are 

 gifted for the most part with a plentiful rainfall. 



The Irrawaddy is a river which discharges about 

 420,000,000 metric tons of water during the year. 

 The river is about 900 miles in length, the last 240 

 being in British territory. As far south as Akouk- 

 toung its bed is rocky ; farther down it is sandy 

 and muddy. New sand-banks are continually 

 forming, and old ones being removed, which 

 renders it necessary for the steamers plying be- 

 tween Rangoon, Mandalay. and Bhamo. to have a 

 service of pilots upon the river. In the rainy 

 season, steamers and large boats enter the main 

 river from Rangoon by the Pan-Hlaing Creek ; 

 but during the dry season they have to descend 

 the Rangoon River for some distance, and proceed 

 by different routes into the Irrawaddy. 



The Khyeng-dwen is navigable for the largest 

 boats plying on the Irrawaddy, and for steamers 

 certainly as far north as Kendat, and most likely 

 as far as the rapids which occur a little above the 

 junction of the Ooroo River. A great deal of grain 

 is grown in the lower portion of Khyeng-dwen 

 valley, and likewise, in that of the Ooroo, near 

 the sources of which are the serpentine mines. 

 The lower portion of the river passes through a 

 broad, populous, and fertile champaign, and pre- 

 sents an almost continuous horizon of palmyra- 

 groves, always in Burmah a sign of population 

 and culture. From these there is a considerable 

 manufacture of palm sugar. The sugarcane is 

 generally used by the Burmese merely for munch- 

 ing ; but, according to Colonel Yule, a little sugar 

 is made from tiie cane in the neighborhood of Ava. 



Bhamo, on the course of the Irrawaddy, is 

 the entrepot of trade for north-western Yunnan, 

 and will certainly become under our rule a place 

 of great importance, as it is the terminus of the 

 shortest caravan routes into western China. For 

 some time it was proposed by many of our officials 

 to improve the caravan route by the construction 

 of a wheeled road, and even a railway ; but sub- 

 sequent explorations have shown that although 

 Bhamo, which is 430 feet above sea-level, is only 

 250 miles distant in a direct line from Talifu, yet 

 a railway would have to be 600 miles in length to 

 connect these places. The cost of a railway con- 

 nection by this route would be at least four times 

 as great as that proposed by Mr. Colquhoun and 

 myself, which, besides, has the great advantage of 

 terminating at a seaport instead of at a town 840 

 miles up a river, of opening up the whole of cen- 



tral Indo-China, and of passing through a much 

 more fertile and better populated region than 

 would be traversed by the other route. Bhamo 

 will no doubt, before long, be joined by rail, via 

 Mandalay. to our Rangoon and Tounghoo railway, 

 and subsequently to the Indian system at Dibru- 

 garh ; thus tapping the whole of the passes lead- 

 ing from the west of the Shan states, and com- 

 pleting one of the schemes long ago proposed by 

 my colleague and myself. 



The inhabitants of Burmah, owing to the excel- 

 lence of the climate, are robust and healthy look- 

 ing. They attain the average length of human 

 life, and children especially thrive in the country. 

 The registration returns show that in Burmah the 

 deaths of children under five years of age are in 

 the proportion of 27 to 85 of the total deaths at all 

 ages, whereas in England they are 40 per cent. 

 Concerning the characteristics and peculiarities of 

 the Burman, much need not be said. His virtues, 

 which are many, and his failings, which are not a 

 few, are much the same here as in every part of 

 his extensive country. He here, as elsewhere, dis- 

 plays much spasmodic energy and general lazi- 

 ness ; much love of feasts and shows : much dis- 

 regard of the sacredness of human life, and much 

 tenderness for the lives of inferior members of the 

 animal kingdom : much arrogance and incon- 

 siderateness when placed in high position ; and 

 last, though not least, much general truthfulness, 

 and, among unsophisticated villagers, the very 

 un-oriental trait of being quite unable to tell a spe- 

 cious falsehood, — a trait which is as honorable to 

 himself as it is agreeable to those who have the 

 government of his country. His occupations are 

 cultivation on a small scale and petty trading. 

 Actual poverty is almost unknown, but riches are 

 never accumulated. The Burman is strongly dis- 

 tinguished from the Indian races by his love of 

 sport and amusement, and his strong turn for the 

 ridiculous. The Burnian is in every way a marked 

 contrast to the Hindoo. Their women-folk mix 

 freely in all social gatherings on perfectly equal 

 terms, and form a very important factor in society. 



Proceeding to speak of British Burmah, Mr. 

 Hallett said that only one-half of the area of that 

 country is culturable, and only one-seventh of 

 that half is under cultivation. Taking the present 

 population at 4,000,000, there is room for 24,000.- 

 000 more without overcrowding the provinc e. 

 Even now about 1.000,000 tons of rice are exported 

 every year, after feeding the population, cattle, 

 and elephants. 



It is therefore certain, that, if all the reclaimable 

 waste lands were brought into tillage, Burmah 

 would be unrivalled as a granary. The population 

 of British Burmah has increased from 2,747.141 in 



