SUPERIOR APPEARANCE AS TO THE CONDITION OF THE MUGHS. 161 
Phoongree have maintained a character for 
peculiar sanctity, a part of his remains is 
not unfrequently preserved from flames and 
retained as valuable relics. The influence of 
superstition has attached much value to 
such remains, and in addition to the worth 
they may be supposed to possess from the 
religious character of the departed priest, 
they are held by the more ignorant to be a 
common ingredient in those charms that are 
in use with the wizard. 
The Hughs hold the practice of burning 
the dead to be moi'e honourable than that of 
committing the body to the earth or the sea, 
probably from its being attended with great- 
er expense and publicity. Funerals are, 
however, conducted in either way, according 
to the means of the relations, or other cir- 
cumstances favouring the adoption of one 
particular practice. The spot on which a 
funeral pile had been raised is not unfre- 
quently marked by a cenotaph, a garden, a 
clump of trees, or such other monument of 
affection as the condition of the parties will 
enable them to place over the ashes of a de- 
parted relative. In some cases, the funeral 
rites are followed with donations of food and 
clothing to the priests, and a further evi- 
dence of piety is evinced in the adoption of 
some young man who shall express his readi- 
ness to embrace the profession of a Phoon- 
gree. 
Leaving Ladong our traveller proceeds 
to Woogah. The distances of the stages he 
has already traversed are thus stated. From 
KhyouJc Phyoo to Kyouprath 16 miles: from 
thence to Ladong, by computation 20 ; and 
then to Oogah 12 more. The villages in the 
Ladong district are described as “ remark- 
ably large’’ having a cheerful and comfort- 
able aspect; and the whole face of the 
country but for the costume and features of 
the inhabitants and particular construction of 
the houses bore a striking resemblance to 
Bengal. Lieut.Foley assumes that the general 
appearance of the Hugh would indicate a 
condition “ infinitely superior” to that of 
the poorer classes in several parts of India. 
His coarse though ample clothing, of home 
manufacture, and vigorous frame, attes^ 
that he is sufficiently provided against the 
climate, and nourished in his body, his 
wants being but few and readily supplied, 
there is no necessity for that “ unremitting 
labor,” by which the poor of other countries 
support themselves. The earnings of one 
day suffice for three, and to the more 
indolent the forest and the sea afford 
“ an inexhaustible supply.” hence Lieut.Foley 
deduces that characterestic apathy of the 
Hugh, that indifference to the future “ which 
is generated by a consciousness of present 
superabundance, and he remarks that 
“ until some artificial wants are produced by 
a taste for luxuries hitherto unknown,” 
that these people will continue to be less 
anxious than their more civilized ; but pro- 
bably “ less happy and less healthy” neigh- 
bours. He thinks, however, that the traces 
of such a change are already perceptible 
amongst those who are directly in contact 
with Europeans and natives of India. 
“ In the towns of Khyoulc Phyoo and Ram- 
hree, we may observe this indication of the 
growing taste for articles of foreign manufac- 
ture, in the small investments of cutlery, 
glass-ware, muslins, and broad-cloth exposed 
for sale in the shops along with the pro- 
duce of the country. The people have 
already become smarter in their dresses, 
and were a little more attention paid to their 
pattern of piece goods, I have no doubt but 
the sale of these would be far greater than it 
is at present. Long habituated to a state of 
being little remote from that enjoyed by the 
brutes of the forest, the present generation 
are prepared to value those little luxuries 
denied to them during the reign of Burmah, 
despotism, and will not be slow in securing 
the possession of them if placed within 
their reach. It is amusing, though melancho- 
ly, to hear these poor people relate the state 
of things in former days, in as far as regards 
the importation of foreign produce, and the 
prohibitions that debarred them the privi- 
lege of wearing the muslin turban or 
angah, even were they sufficiently wealthy to 
purchase the materials for one. As any 
exportation of the staple produce of the 
soil was seldom or ever permitted, few 
returns were made in the shape of Europe or 
Indian goods. They did, on some occasions, 
find their way into the country by the 
Godoohs that returned from Calcutta and 
Chittagong, laden with such articles of Eu- 
rope or Indian manufacture, as the owners 
-were enabled to obtain in exchange for the 
gold leaf, deer horns, bees’ wax, and earth 
oil, the produce of Ava and Arracan. The 
demands of the Burmah Kaeng*. And the 
numerous exactions, with the expenses of a 
long and dangerous voyage, were, however, 
thrown with such severe but necessary 
weight upon the original prices of the 
several commodities imported, that none but 
the rulers of the land would venture to 
evince a disposition to become possessed of 
them. 
Property has now become comparatively 
secure ; a stimulus has been given to indus- 
try by the freedom allowed to the exportation 
♦ Collectors of customs. The duty levied was 
usually as much as ten per cent, and not unfre- 
quently paid in kind. 
