And from within let each of them, in turn,
One taper finger carefully expose.

If he, who claims the lovely Dwaymenau,
By this can single her from all the rest,

I will admit his title to her hand.

[A screen is dropped. The Princesses in turn put forth a finger.

PRINCE.

O all ye Powers, vouchsafe your gracious aid,
Grant me some sign my choice to guide aright.

[AS DWAYMENAU puts forth her finger, a bee settles
on it.

I hail the omen (takes the finger). Ah! the thrill I feel,
As this dear hand I touch once more, confirms
My happy choice. Now, King, my prize I claim.

KING.

Well hast thou earned it, true and gallant Prince.

[Leads forward DWAYMENAU from behind the screen.

Embrace your blushing wife, and happy be

The reign of Thoodanoo and Dwaymenau.

CHAPTER II.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION, AND HABITS AND CUSTOMS OF THE BURMESE.

Physical characteristics of the Burmese race. -Male costume.-Tattooing.Its absence considered a mark of effeminacy.-Female dress and ornaments.-Ear-tubes.-Universality of smoking.-Singular custom.-Bur. mese altogether a different people from the inhabitants of Hindostan. — Absence of caste prejudices.—Their pleasing manners.—Happiness of the people.-Absence of pauperism.-Affection of parents for their children. -Fondness for amusement and excitement.-As a rule not laborious.Marriage customs.-Perfect freedom of marriageable girls.-Marriage purely a civil rite.-Hla-pet.—Curious custom pursued by a bridegroom's bachelor friends.-Privileges of the female sex.-Code of divorce.Polygamy.-Sensitiveness to raillery.—Tendency to suicide.—Suicide of a bridegroom.-Attempted suicide of a girl.-Food.-Description of a Burmese banquet. -Their treatment of disease.-The devil dance.— Disease caused by witchcraft.-Funerals.-Boat races.-Peculiarity of the boats.-Mode of rowing.-Description of the goal.—“Palmam qui meruit ferit.”—Vaunting songs, and grotesque attitudes of the winners.— Subscription purses.-Game of football.- Boxing and wrestling.— Admirable temper of the combatants.-Description of the Ta-soung-doing festival.-Weaving the sacred cloth.-Relays of workers.-Working and courting.—Floating lights.—Water festival on New Year's Day.—Meaning of the observance.-Mythological legend.

THE physical characteristics of the Burmese are those which distinguish the Mongolian race generally. The shape of the skull is globular, and seen from the front has a peculiar pyramidal, or lozenge form, owing to a great lateral extension of the zygomatic arches, coupled with a narrow forehead,

* Cunningham's "Ladak," p. 297.

causing great breadth of face below the eyes, narrowing upwards and downwards. The face is broad and flat with high cheek-bones. Mouth moderate in size, with fine vertical teeth, and showing no symptom of prognathism in the jaws. Lips often fleshy and somewhat intumescent, and chin short. Eyes, black, wide apart, and generally oblique, which latter appearance is caused, not by the shape or position of the orbits, but by the structure of the lids, and is produced by the tension of the skin over the projecting cheek-bones, under the outer angles of the eyes, and by the flatness of the space between the eyes. The nose is broad, with little or no bridge, generally short, with broad nostrils, and flattened towards the forehead. Hair black, long, straight, and abundant. No beard or whiskers, and moustache small and slight. Facial angle about 77°. Colour of skin, bright pale brown, or isabelline hue, approaching to yellow.

They are a fine, robust, athletic race, but not tall, the men averaging about five feet four inches in height. Their bodies are well proportioned; but somewhat long in the trunk, and arms relatively to the legs. Head well set on, shoulders square, chest wide and deep, and legs showing great muscular development. As a race, they are very healthy; and idiotcy and deformity of body are of unusually

*Pritchard's "Natural History of Man," vol. i., p. 214.

rare occurrence.

Their demeanour is marked by elasticity of step, and the composure of their countenance denotes great confidence in themselves.

They wear their hair tied in a knot on the top of the head, and wound round or intertwined with it is a piece of muslin or gay silk handkerchief; a jacket of cotton or broadcloth, according to the season, hangs loosely from their shoulders over the hips; and a potso of bright silk or cotton wound round the waist, extending to the ankles, and with one end often thrown jauntily over the shoulder, in the fashion of a Highlander's kilt, forms their dress.

From the waist to the knees nearly every male amongst the Burmese is tattooed with a black or blue pigment in figures of lions, tigers, elephants, nats, birds, and beloos, enclosed in a groundwork of fine tracery and flowing lines. This operation commences as early as the age of six years, and is done gradually until completed, often extending over several years. The operation, performed by needles and an instrument shaped like a mathematical steel pen, is a very painful one, and during the process the patient is drugged with opium to render his feelings less acute. Portions of the arms and upper part of the body are also often tattooed in vermilion with cabalistic and mystic characters, as charms against an enemy, evil spirits, and disease. These squares are

subdivided into several small ones, with figures in each, so arranged by arithmetical progression, that whether added up horizontally, transversely, or perpendicularly, the sum-total is always the same. The following are examples :

Herodotus (v. 6) mentions the Thracians as being tattooed (Coruxai) which was considered an emblem of rank, and the want of it showing meanness of descent. With the Burmese it is not a sign of rank, as mostly all are more or less tattooed, and its absence is considered as a mark of effeminacy.*

The Burmese women are much fairer in complexion than the men, and their features more delicate. They have good figures, with small

William of Malmesbury mentions tattooing as being one of the English vices at the time of the Norman conquest; but, according to Cæsar, their bodies were merely stained with woad, the pigment not being inserted under the skin, as in the case of the Burmese.