Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-01-20
Concerning The Burmese


liyered very interesting lecture at the
Second Baptist Church SUNDAY evening.
upon the manners and customs of the peO-
pie of Burmah.
He was introduced by DR.. Inman, who
stated that the lecturer has been a student
OF theological school at Chicago for the
past five and half years, where ho is OBJ
tanning an education with a view OF RS
turning to his native country to labor as
missionary, and that he is now occurring
for the purpose Of paying the expense con-
nected with his education.
Mr.. BOgeDau gave evidence of being
quite a wit, his lecture Astounding with hu-
morOus illustrations. lie was rather A
small man, about "A years of age, with
black, straight hair and with features like
an Indian. His words were well selected,
but spoken rather indistinctlv, some of
them being pronounced in a way which
very much amused the younger portion Of
the audience.
He said that DrJudsOn and his co-laborers
were the first missionaries to Burmah. and
they labored six years before there was
single conversion, Int that at the present
time there are some twenty thousand
Burmese WHO have embraced christianity.
tiClC fbAC III hDloNS III Dullltdil, lllc
work being done by buflalOS and elephants.
The soil is very rich and they have fruits
innumerable Of which the mango is the
most abundant. The population Of Bur
nah is 90,000,000. The climate salubriOus.
The laws are very severe and murderers
are executed by being split in halves with a
sword
In Burmah the houses are built on pests,
the posts being made of species Of wood
which, it is said, will last a thousand
years. In the country the houses are
raised some thirty feet from the ground,
this being done in order to protect the peo-
pie frem the attacks of wild animals. In
these houses ale a great iiiany lizards
which are harmless and are considered or
naments, as they make a kind of singing
noise which the Burmese consider very
fine music. If you are visiting and one of
these lizards crawls on you, you are eX-
pected to lit it carefully off by the tail and
put it back to its place OF tic wall.
Rice is the principal food. This is
placed in a long dish on the floor, and the
family all gather around it and eat out of
that one dish, and the last person through
eating has to wash that big dish, which is
sometimes a yard in diameter. The men
wear their hair Is long as it will grow, ire
qUently reaching to the ground. The hair
is usually very abundant, as il is the Gus
tom TO shave boys head until he is ten
or twelve years Of age. Young ladies wear
their hair about as low down as the ladies
| in this country wear their waterfalls. Both
| sexes wear earrings, AMI the mon pull out
| their beard with tweeZerS.
In travelling from place TO place, rich
men ride elephants; poor men go afOOt or
ON buiialoeS. \ string is put through the
nose of the buffalo and tied back On the
neck, and, as he moves with Looping mo-
ton, the rider keeps his seat by holding
this string with the left hand, and the buff
fdlO's tail in his right.
Through the Bunmah Empire such
thing as caste is unknown. Marriage feastS
are very large. The bridegroom goes to
the house Of the BRIDE escorted by a great
Company. who haze musical instruments.
He has one man Oh his right, another on
his left, and third follows behind him
with his arms around his neck, singing
songs. just before they reach the house
OF. the bride, the company turn
back and the bridegroom IS left 10 climb
the steps alone. At the top Of the ladder
stand two men with vessels OF sacred water
which they threw down upon the bride
groom rs he -ascendS. He goes into the
room; a wedding garment IS put on him,
lie and the bride eat ont Of the same dish,
and then are called married.
The Burmese never bury their dead, but
burn them on a funeral pile. With the
rich this is q grand ceremony. The body
is emb.lmed and is kept sometimes several
weeks. Poor people frequently fiji the cot
fins with gun powder and then place them
upon the funeral pile. When the fire
reaches the colin the body IS thrown into
the air.
The Burmese believe that the world il
fat and rests upon the back Of all elephant,
the elephant rests upon a mud turtle, ard
the mud turtle rests upon nothing. The
Priests explain earthquakes by saying that
the elephant gets tired and wants TO change
his position.
When person in Burnah makes visit
the people he calls upon SAY, Have you
eaten your rice" instead Of saying 'HOw
do You d0?-' When the visit IS over, he
rises mp and sayS: Il think / will 60" and
instead of saying good bye the people Of
the house say '-GC.'
In the course Of his lecture, Mr.. BOgenau
exhibited 4 large number OF articles in COM
mon Use in his native country, closing his
lecture by singing Rock Of Ages in his
own language.