The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-02-26
SOCIAL LIFE IN BURMAH.
An Entertaining Talk Concerning the Char
acter and Habits of the Burmese.

The First Baptist Church had a large audience
last evening, called together to hear the lecture
of Sau Ahbrah, on the 'Social Life of the Bur
mese." In the space about the organ there was
displayed a variety of Burmese fabrics and uten-
sis, which were made use of in the lecture,
which was in all respects a thoroughly novel and
enjoyable affair. Sau Ahbrah, who is about
thirty-ive years old, is a 1.-the, bright Oriental,
somewhat under medium height. He has been
educated in this country, speaks English flu
emily, and has a large amount
of humor and the address of an actor. with
out bamboo, " he said, 'life in Burmah would in
deed be a burden" and with this he vent on to
explain the innumerable uses to which bamboo
is put in his country. mot only are our houses
made of bamboo. but all sorts of utensils. We
drink out of bamboo cups, wash in bamboo
basins, and if we had soup it would be taken
from bamboo bowls. Our furniture, the little
we have, is bamboo, and our clothing is some of
it of bamboo, too. The houses are built up on
poles raised ten feet or more from the ground,
and a ladder of bamboo leads to the first and
only floor. Here is found one room, and at one
glance you can see all there is in it, for
I1tI0 dfS no ClOStUS. NeIUller are buOrb
chairs, or tables. or sofas, or anything.
There are no beds. A strip of mating is laid
upon the floor, a basket is put under the head as
a pillow, a piece of cotton cloth is pulled on by
the ledger over feet and head, and he goes to
sleep. 1t is necessary to cover ones head on &C
count of the abundance of insect life, not to
speak of centipedes and venomous serpents. In
this one room-be it large or small-the Bur
mese family spend their days and nights, and
here they buy, and sell, and lie, and cheat, and
steal, too"
The charm of the lecture was that Sau Ahbrah
acted, and in his picturesque and vivacious way
not only told but showed what Burmese daily
life is. He sat upon the floor to show how they
dispensed with chairs and stools, and rested the
body upon one arm as is only seen in the East
or in pictures of the Orient. He said there were
not the amusements in his sounAy that there
were in this. There were no lectures to go to in
the evening, no concerts, no operas, no theaters.
The father or the mother may sing, sometimes,
but the Burmese have little musical ability, or,
at least, no musical culture. He illustrated by
showing a Burmese father putting the baby to
sleep, which was exceedingly comical. 1.-The
father doesn't sing like you sing in
America-in musical notes. When a
AAeh PAASo hNA hO OBChC lis AhCoos
the noise comes, and that's all we want. There
are no sharps and no flats, and whether there are
or not nobody knows and nobody cares"
He showed a large idol, the god Gandama, and
rang several fan-shaped pieces of finely toned
bell-metal, the ceremony of calling the gods at
tention to the prayers about to be offered up to
him, and the petition at death to be allowed to
enter Nirvana. In that country the petition
give us this day our daily bread" requires some
thing more than a literal translation. They
know not what bread is, rice being the food
staple-rice at every meal. No knives OF forks
are used in eating; everybody. eats
domestic practice the last person through eating
has to wash the dishes; no great task, as there
are, for the most part. but three dishes, a plate,
bowl and spoon, all made out of bamboo. After
eating comes the betel nut, the nut being chewed
with its leaves, or sometimes with tobacco or
opium. In Burmah everybody-men, women
and hildren-smoke tobacco. The cigars are
from ten to eighteen inches in length, and in.
stead of being five cents each, are about twenty
five cents q hundred for the longest of them.
An instrument, shaped somewhat like a
~cleaver, is made to do duty in a great
variety of employments in Burmah. The
farmer uses it in cultivating his fields,
it is employed in clearing paths in the jungles
and in building houses, it is frequently the only
means of defense from wild beasts, it is used by
the housewife in preparing food, and the execu-
toner employs the same instrument to decapi-
tate a criminal. And it isn't a very handy look
ing affair, either. The lecturer described the
marriage customs of his people. I'm my coun-
try we never make love at all. 1t is not love
that impels marriage-simply the law OF nature
and the obligation of life. TIL question is
never popped in Burlnah, for the husband
never sees his wife before marriage. He
becomes aware of the fact that there is
a young woman in the village whose
circumstances may make her desirable. He
tells his father or his mother that he wants her.
My son, what can the girl dog Everything,
the young man will answer, confidently. She
can cook, weave, sew, spinY and to all these the
answer will be yes Away goes the father to
talk with the father of the lady. They approach
the subject with great caution; first talking about
the weather, the rheumatism and the rice crop.
What can the proposed bridegroom dol Can he
pillow, can he build, has he money! Yes, yes, yes.
Then the matter is settled, without any love
about it, and, after a betrothal, the bridegroom,
when it suits his convenience, as
sembles his friends, and in procession
they proceed to the house of the bride. They
laugh, they sing, they dance, they joke upon the
way, and sometimes they fight. The bride es-
capes kissing, for no kissing is done in Burmah,
but under the brides window the lover sings a
song. And the songs are just as in this country,
so soft and so thin that you can stick your finger
through any of them."
The Burmese language, the lecturer said, was
simple and could be learned in two years. Its
verbs are all regular; there is no conjugation.
no declension, no articles. You learn one verb
and you will learn all the verbs-no such trouble
as with your terrible verb ito be-" The lecture
concluded with a laughable description of the lee
turer's dining out in Boston. when he was new
in the ways of this country.
MENVTON