Omaha daily bee., 1883-07-24
BATHING IN BUIsMAH.
The Costumes and Habits of bur.
mcse Women In the Bath-A Sng-
gcstion for Dress Reformers.

A correspondent writing from Burmah
says that the steamer every night at &,
for travelling after dark upon the river is
full of danger. Once it halted near a vii
lage so close to the bank that for the first
time | had an opportunity of seeing how
Burmese battle. When the sun was set
ting a troop of girls, women, and chill
drcn, all smoking enormous thick che
roots that are covered by n kind of green
leaf, descended through the sand and
stood by the river. A merry group
they were-chattering, laughing, slap
ping each other in fun, and running and
shouting. As they stood there by the
waters edge, with the golden light of the
declining sun shining upon them, they
displayed many a comfy figure and shape.
ly limb.
The Burmese people go about bare
headed, and when they find the sun un-
comfortable they carry n glazed umbrella,
such as you sometimes see the Chinese
carrying. Their hair is uniformly u CLOS
sy black, brushed straight back from the
brow, knotted up behind, and MS often MS
not entertained with orange blossoms,
roses or scarlet oleander flowers. Fit
ting tight over their breasts they wear n
bodice of bright colored silk, which de-
scends Just far enough to leave at the
waist Il small strip of olive skin exposed.
They are not very dressy about the lower
part of the body. In fact, they dress
only one leg. A piece of colored cloth,
called a ''temain," | think, is folded
about their limbs in such a dexterous
way that only one limb is ROBBED. | con.
fess that | rather like the custom, which
is so universal that no thought of indeli-
cacy ever arises. In such attire Diana
may have skipped through the woods
when she encountered the Inflated
Acteon. The Burmese account for this
singular costume in IA legend which |
dare not repeat Let it be sufficient to
say that it arose from a royal ordinance
issued by one of the Queens of Ava
many hundred years ago.
The group of Burmese women stood by
the waters edge for a short time, when
presently they were joined by u number
of men and boys, who came tnmbling
down the sand bank with roars of laugh
ter that might have been heard on the
other side of the river. They all waded
in together for a short distance and began
to undress; but mark you how they did
it. Let us take one young woman as an
example. She wades until the water is
Just above her knees. In a second she
sits down, and, 10 and behold, in that
brief second she has stripped herself by
one of the most dextrous twitches it is
possible to conceive. She holds her
dress aloft with both hands, folds it in a
neat, circular little bundle, and then
plants it firmly on her head.
l ought to say that when she was
standing on the bank she unwound hel
jetty t~resses, which now fell over hel
tawny back like a covering. In a crouch
ing way she goes deeper into the stream,
and when the water is above her waist
she strikes out and swims. She is evi
IDENTIFY as familiar with the water as the
mermaid. Bless you, how she gambols
And all the time how she keeps thai
bundle on her head is a mystery to me,
She swims around the steamer, she
laughs up at us, she glides quietly up be.
hind some Burmese youth and splashe'
him with water, and then she darts of
to avoid the return shower.
When she tires she returns to shallow
water, sits down again, emove the bun.
die from her head and begins to dress.
shudder. | think now there must be AZ
exposure; but nothing of the kind. She
dresses herself in such a way hat wher
she rises like a flash her raiment has
fallen all about her. From first to last
nothing had occurred that might make
even the white faced nun blush who is
watching her. The men dressed and un
dressed in a similar way. When they
had all bathed each man, woman and
child lighted a cheroot, scrambled up the
bank and slowly disappeared toward theil
VILLAGE among the palms.