BURMA AND ITS PEOPLE. 
Nov., 1891. 
9^9 
-i o -1 
occasional heavy showers of rain, and, notwithstanding all 
drawbacks, there was no lack of hearty enjoyment. The 
arrangements made were excellent, and the local organising 
secretary, Mr. Wickham King, seems to have left nothing 
unforeseen or unprovided for. 
BURMA AND ITS PEOPLE. 
BY A. W. WILLS. 
(Concluded from page 233.) 
Of Mandalay itself it is difficult to give any adequate idea 
in the short space of time remaining to me. Anything like 
a full description of its wonders would occupy hours instead 
of the few minutes which are left. 
A battlemented wall, some twenty feet high, encloses a 
space a mile and a quarter square, within which were 
gathered, m King Tlieebaw’s time, some 90,000 people, the 
palaces of the king and of his queens, ministers and officials, 
being in the centre. This mass of buildings and the gardens 
and artificial lakes of the palace grounds were further 
surrounded by a high palisade of huge teak logs, while the 
outer walls were defended by an enormously broad moat, the 
waters of which are now covered with pink and white lilies. 
When the city was captured in 1886 its only scavengers 
were herds of black pigs, which exercised their functions even 
within the precincts of the royal palaces; and, for sanitary 
and military reasons alike, it was found necessary to clear out 
the entire native population assembled within the walls. 
This sounds like a high-handed and somewhat unmerciful 
proceeding ; but it was an absolute necessity and inflicted, 
moreover, no real hardship. There were no vested rights of 
tied houses, or otherwise, to be considered ; every house¬ 
holder received fair compensation ; there was unlimited room 
among the tamarind and pipul trees outside, and the city was 
simply and easily transferred to a new quarter. It must be 
remembered that a Burman builds a new house in three or 
four days. After consulting an astrologer as to the choice of 
a lucky day, he begins the work, taking care that one or two 
of his bamboo posts are left higher than the rest, and that 
no window opens immediately behind these, so that any evil 
spirit that happens to be passing may alight outside, and not 
be tempted to enter the dwelling ; and these important 
details being settled, the rest of the house is run up in a few 
