irtet an3 Suctorial S 
omjiBLmoE 
OHie 
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 of the soul which would otherwise 
continue forever. The Buddhist priest not only leads 
a life of celibacy, hut 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 EB 
who are thus unable to es- H 
cape from unending trans¬ 
migrations. The result is 
that the young people have Rg§|P 
it all their own way, and the 
parents as little as the priests Ipjjy ■ -« _ 
prevent their thoroughly en- l |l ||| 
joying themselves after their 
own ideas of admiring and Sm '1'Yv'h'- 
rally very happy, although 
sanctified by no priest, and 
only held together by the 
ties of mutual alfection or 
the obligations of civil law. 
Jealousy, however, is a mas¬ 
ter passion in Burmali, and 
if a damsel is too kind to 
one of her admirers, the 
chances are that the offend¬ 
ing lover is stabbed, speared, 
or shot. Indeed, a jealous 
rival, who suspects that the 
object of his affections is 
alone with another rival, will 
not unfrequently astonish the 
happy pair by running a 
spear through the floor of 
matting on which they may 
he reposing, and then there 
is a regular Burmese row, 
terminating very seriously 
sometimes. 
This courting time in Bur- 
mali is nothing more than a 
relic of the old Hindoo insti¬ 
tution known as the sway- 
arnvara, or choice of a hus¬ 
band by a maiden. This 
swayamvara was once prac¬ 
ticed by the old military 
caste in Hindustan, hut has 
long since passed away from 
the shores of India. No 
doubt it was one of the 
Kshatriya customs, which 
the Buddhists carried with 
them to Burmali when they 
were expelled from India by 
the wars and persecutions of 
the Brahmans some ten or 
twelve centuries ago. Thus 
the world moves on, and 
doubtless it will he discov¬ 
ered in due time that other 
old Kshatriya customs may 
still he found in Bunnah. 
Gambling away a wife, which 
is often mentioned in San¬ 
skrit tradition, and would he 
impossible in the India of the 
present day, has not unfre- 
quently occurred in Bur- 
mali. 
“I Wonder if 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 he 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 follies as fast as green gooseburys.” 
