The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1879-09-17

King Theebau's Latest Piece Of Insane
~ tM Deviltry.


[l.angoon Correspondence Of the London News1
His own palace being regular sink of in
EQUITY and horror, Theebau is doing his best
to make the whole royal city little better.
Having hit upon the idea of a lottery to raise
money, he is now flooding the place with lot
terry offices, each of which has different
venture running, and draws off weekly.
The consequence is that the town is in a
state of perpetual excitement; the minds of
the people are unsettled; those who have
money spend all they have on tickets; those
who have none prowl about in search of
some one to plumber. Trade was bad enough
before. The present pernicious state of
things is likely to put an end to it altogether.
The king, it appeRs, was told of the stop
page of business. What other business, he
asked, can show a return of 10000 rupees for
an outlay of two rupees? The consequences
arc likely to be most dismal, and the popular
vengeance will probably wreak itself on the
king. At any rate, let us hope so. Guilt
vators are selling off their farming stock, and
having try after try at the State lotteries.
There are neither sellers nor buyers to be
seen in the bazaar; ever one hovers about
the lottery offices and longs for the drawing.
To fill up the totals the faster, groups of 10
to 20 people are allowed to club together to
buy single ticket. What row there
would be among its members if such a con-
federacy were to win! There are at present
IL offices, each under the superintendent of
a minister of high rank. The rivalry be-
tween these worthless as to who shall get most
money, and so earn the royal favor, intensi-
fies the mischief They fall upon all man
ner of lodges to entice the people away from
all other offices to their own Letpay, i. e..
picked tea, Tor rather the picked leaves of
the Elodendrum Persicum,) cheroots. betel,
toddy, bands, theatrical performances, all
manner of inducements are held out to in
duce hesitating spectators to leave all other
places, and cleave but to the one Office
One manager has hit upon the device of re-
turning one pice-about farthing for each
ticket taken, and scores heavily in the mean
time. Probably that elderly person, the
Hpoung-Woon Myo- Woon, lord high ad-
miral and town magistrate, in one, keeps
the best arranged establishment. 1t was GER
tainly he who first began to try and allure the
people. He secured the old Custom House
for his place of business, a wide expanse round
about it being secured by a strong fence. He
fixed up to start with some dozen or more
punkahs to cool the brains and soothe the
feelings of excited clients. Porous pots full
of deliciously cold water, with tin drinking
mugs attached, were arranged on stands all
round about. The antisoporiic letpay, the
gigantic, but soothing tsag leik (green che
root,) the good betal were heaped on tables
everywhere, and vanished with surprising
rapidity. At first the Hpoung- Woon used to
openly allow that he supplied all these COM
forts at the expense of the people, making
use of surplus funds for the purpose. Since
then, however, he has given that up, and now
perpetual pwais Burmese dramas and bands
are added to amuse the crowd. These bands
are dreadful infliction to foreigner. If
you started half dozen lunatics to play the
bagpipes, and at the same time presented all
the children in the neighborhood with penny
whistles and kettle-drums you might have a
fair substitute. But nothing delights Bur-
man more than to sit and listen to this dis
cordant row. and he falls asleep and wakes
up again with an ever fresh delight. The best
point about the HpoungWoon is that he
always invites the people in a kindly way to
come and try their luck. One or two of his
colleagues have hired bullies, Turanian lambs,
who go about threatening false accusations if
any but their master is patroniZed, while one
man especially-an individual with the awful
name of Zayjodan- Mvo- Woon 90 Than Oh
sends his subordinates to the Chinese gam
bling-house keepers and forces them to sub
scribe periodically for so tickets at two rupees
each for the privilege OF gambling. He is
said to get about 4OO rupees month IN this
fashion. Fired by his example, the Yaw
Shway-deik and Tine-dah Atwinwons also
make use of their court influences to draw
subscribers. Brokers and Burmese traders
who have business with the palace are put
down for a hundred tickets or so on pain of
losing their contracts. Oobonays, fasting
days or feast days, when, according to the
old law, all offices and courts in the kingdom
were closed, and even the kings audiences
were suspended, are now disregarded- Draw
ings are held without scruple on these old
fashioned sacred days, and one of the Woon-
donks is advanced and unprejudiced enough
to have selected Dama-yone, place of wor-
ship and prayer, for his lottery Office. All
the old lines are upset, and the minds of the
people are in a state of perpetual, unhealthy
excitement. 1t must come to an end soon,
and it will probably be an exceedingly uproar-
ious one. The Burmese make bloodthirsty
rebels.
n:.,cyary ,F Narfl,