The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-07-17 00:00:00

LECTURE ON BURMATI & BHUDDISNE.

A lecture on " Burraah ; its people their customs,
and religion," was delivered in St. Thomas's school-
room, Beauty Bank, on Monday evening last, by the
Rev. J. Trew, missionary from Rangoon. The lee-
ture was delivered under the auspices of the Society
for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts,"
whose agent—the Rev. J. S. Boldero—was present.
There was a large number of persons--chiefly ladies'
—present.
The Rev. H. Sherrard presided, and after remark-
lug upon the large number present, said they had
come there that evening to hear from Rangoon. He.
had been glad to hear that the missionary spirit had
been spreading throughout the Church in England.
He ithought it was largely owing to that increased
spirit of prayer which was now. prevalent, that a
greater interest was being taken by the people in
missionary work. All the missionary societies in
this laid had had their funds largely increased dur-
ing the last two or three years. Most of those socie•
ties had made considerable progress during that time.
The total income of their Society for the propagation
of the Gospel last year was £136,000, which was an
increase of £40,000 upou what it had been a 'few
years past. Mr. Trew had come there to describe to
them what he had seen and heard in Burmah, which
was called further India, and whichilay to the north-
east of Hin(lostan. It was divided into two portions
—British Burmah and Indian Burtnah ; and it was
from Rangoon that Mr. Trew had come. his health
had given way, and he was obliged to return home.
He (the speaker) hoped that he would shortly be res-
tored to health. They were in danger of having a
war with the King of Burmah, for like most rulers
who .were half civilised he was very changeful and
capricious. He had been led to build a very hand-
some church for christian worship in Mandalay,.
although he was not himself a christian. Her Ma-
jesty had sent out a very handsome font to that
church. The King, however, was very jealous of the
encroachments of the church, and of strangers. He
hoped that if, unhappily, there should be a war, it
would ultimately be the mears of bringing the goL7-
poi to that nation. He did not know whether the
Rev. J. S. Bolder°, who was the agent of the society
for this district, had any remarks to make with re-
gard to the contributions. [The Chairman here
spoke to Mr. Boldero, and then announced that there
was a slight increase in the contributions at Stour-
bridge, over what was subscribed last year.]
The Rev. J. Trew said he was very much pleased
to see such a large number of his sisters there that
evening, but should have been still better pleased if
there had been an equally large number of his breth-
ren present. He supposed, however, that their
business engagements prevented most of them from
being present. He was going to tell them a long
story. He was going to take them to a far distant
country—the country of Burmah. He had with him
what he called his "curiosity shop" (here indicating
several Burmese images and other Indian curiosities)
and he did not think it was a waste of time to show
them those things, because they would bring that
country more vividly before them than anything he
could say. The lecturer then gave a description of
the extensive work that was being carried on by the
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in various
parts of the world. He spoke of the immense pos-
sessions held by this country, and said England was
a very small mother, with giants for her children.
After having described the various British colonies,
he said the time was when there. were 200 christian
bishops in Africa, but that had passed away, and now
they were beginning the work over again. Until late
years a great portion of that country was unknown
to us, but the map of Africa was now being rapidly
filled up. The great traveller, Livingstone, had
opened Africa not a little to the knowledge of this
nation. The great country of India was nearly as
large as the whole of Europe, and England has
240,000,000 of souls there under her dominion.
Burmah was, geographically, a part of India, but we
had added a portion of it to our empire. . Rangoon
lay at the mouth of thern Irrawaddy, which entered
the sea by what was called a delta. Rangoon was
about 25 miles up from the sea. Mandalay was the
capital of the kingdom. of Burmah. To give those
present some idea of the magnitude of the Irrawaddy,
he informed them that persons could go a thousand
miles by steamer up that river. Burmah was called
"Farther India," or 'lndia beyond the Gauges. In
this country the average rain-fall was 30 inches in
the year, but the rain-fall in Barmah was 200'inehes
of water. For, six months in the year it rained every
day. For the other six months they did not have a
spot Of rain. The eonsequence of that great rain-fall
was that the rivers rose to a great height, and the
houses had to be built on logs. The houses were
built of wood, and the roofs were either shingled or
tiled. The only means of locomotion during, the
rainy season, was that everybody "paddled his own
canoe." The canoes were abut 100 feet long. The
natives paddled them very rapidly, and were fond of
boat racing, and when their boats were upset or filled
with water, they jumped out and iremediately set the
boat to rights, or bailed out the water. Thirmith is
densely populated. When the rain came it brought
with it an enormous number of visitors. Insects of,
all kinds poured in upon them. They had the biggest
and fattest ram/altos in the world in Biutaah. The