a£i*iei 'anil Pictorial Same iaompaalan. 
over. How the lady receives each lover, especially in 
the presence of other lovers, is more than we can de¬ 
scribe. She herself requires considerable attention, 
and the old people never interfere. Indeed, why 
should the old folk interfere ? The young folk can 
take care of themselves, and are only doing what 
they themselves did in the days when they were 
young. 
These evening gatherings are generally very inno¬ 
cent, and the marriages which follow them are gene¬ 
rally very happy, although 
| sanctified by no priest, and 
only held together by the 
. ’ ivt&S ties mu tual affection or 
the obligations of civil law. 
8 3 j Jealousy, however, is a mas- 
. i ter passion in Burmah, and 
; j if a damsel is too kind to 
one of her admirers, the 
-jj 1 chances are that the offend- 
wg|WjWMSB| ing lover is stabbed, speared, 
'! or shot. Indeed, a jealous 
rival, who suspects that the 
v object of his affections is 
* J *. J alone with another rival, wall 
^4’ i- no t unfrequently astonish the 
j^; 1 . ■ happy pair by running a 
r ‘- 'j&mM spear through the floor of 
§| } matting on which they may 
be reposing, and then there 
the world moves on, and 
doubtless it will be discov- 
ered in due time that other 
old Kshatriya customs may 
still be found in Burmah. 
■ Gambling away a wife, which 
is often mentioned in Sau- 
„ skrit tradition, and would be 
'q ./i ■ ' impossible in the India of the 
present day, has not unfre¬ 
quently occurred in Bur¬ 
mah. 
young people in question; say about eleven o’clock. 
When the hour of courting approaches, the young 
lady trims her little lamp, so that it gleams through 
the window, and takes her seat upon. a mat on the 
floor. Meantime the young gentlemen have been put¬ 
ting on their best bright silk putzoes, a nondescript 
garment something between a pair of trousers and a 
The Buddhist priest not only leads petticoat, have donned their clean white jackets, have 
their heads in the 
The Burmese are Buddhists, and Buddhism has 
nothing to do with marriage. In other words, mar¬ 
riage is contrary to the principles of the Buddhist re¬ 
ligion. The true Buddhist is supposed to endeavor to 
escape from the universe of being; from a succession 
of transmigration 
continue forever, 
a life of celibacy, but will not sanctify the marriage 
tie by his presence at a wedding. He has too much 
pity for those who marry or ____________ 
are given in marriage, and 
who are thus unable to es- Ef-s,|: B 
cape from unending trans¬ 
migrations. The result is 
that the young people have 
it all their own way, and the ; J*.V 
parents as little as the priests gplM; j 
prevent their thoroughly en- _ .. 
joying themselves after their 
own ideas of admiring and p&Y?\'|v - , , ;"' L 
being admired, loving and j 
being loved. Consequently, , IB 
Burmese courtships are §§§|fj8 
about the pleasantest things 
in their way which are to be i£, ^ ~ 
found in all the semi-civilized ■ f ■ 1 
world, from Mandalay to . 
May Fair. They have noth- \IV ^:J 
ing to do with capture, pur- ip^|| j 
chase, or dowry : with Welsh i|l|| « T 
bundling or Scotch whistling. ' JR| 
They are always nice, gene- V?* uL&; A 
rally strictly proper, although > / ■' C ' Vf 
not unfrequently accompa- 
nied by very serious quarrels, 
when different gentlemen 5 r i! , "r \ 
aspire to the same fair hand. Wf. ' 
A Burmese damsel is de- 1 '(! 3 ' 
mure, laughter-loving, and Hit 
self-reliant. Her manner is fags®*-! ’■ 
all a fair chance. Every BREL SHHHHH 
evening she receives a visit 
from all these young gentle- £ * •fV’&H 
men; and such is the way- |p|S - 
wardness of human nature I mm I 
that the same swam will ] 'IhHPI 
often pay similar visits on ? ./^ \ 
the same evening to other ! 
young ladies of the same vil- I 
lage or township. Thus 
courtship is always going V. g 
been an acknowledged in- bsskssSBb 
stitution from time imme¬ 
morial. 
Here some explanation is necessary. The Burmese 
evening is divided into three watches—namely, chil¬ 
dren’s bed-time, old folk bed-time, and young folk 
bed-time. Children’s bed-time is sunset, or shortly 
afterward. Courting time begins soon after children’s 
bed-time, and continues long after old folk bed-time, 
which is about nine o’clock. Young folk bed-time 
depends a great deal upon the will and pleasure of the 
“I Wonder ip I could Dance?” 
in the height of Burmese fashion. They enter, they 
seat themselves on the mats round the fair one, and 
then the “ chaffing ” begins. If a gallant has been 
unsuccessful in a boat-race, or has tumbled into the 
water, or has paid too much attention to another dam¬ 
sel, or has been deserted by another damsel, or has 
made himself ridiculous in any other way, the chances 
are that his feelings will be hurt before the evening is 
He was an applicant for the position of writing 
teacher in one of the public schools. They gave him 
a copy-book, and asked him for a specimen of what 
he could do. He took up the pen, and, in a hand¬ 
writing that looked like a flash of lightning that had 
mistaken the direct road, wrote as follows: “Sorrer 
doesn’t kill folkes as fast as green gooseburys.” 
