Morning journal and courier., 1884-04-09

A stay of Eve days in Moulmein served as
preface to 8 visit to Rangoon, by all odds
the metropolis and coming city of British
Burmah. Moulmein used to be the head
quarters of she British possessions here, but
Of late years that port has steadily declined
in favor of this. This has been largely due
to the forming of shoals in the Salween riv-
er, upon which Moulmein is situated where
by ocean commerce ID threatened. The prin-
cipal industry is numbering. Every boat
bound for Calcutta carries hundreds Of tons
of lumber to that city, from which point it
is distributed throughout India. There are
great many sawmills along the river bank
managed by European capital, except In one
instance, where elephants are employed in
performing the more arduous parts of the
work. The intelligence of these elephants is
fully worthy of any arenic performance that
ever delighted the heart of an irrepressible
American small boy. They will pile huge
logs with the greatest mathematical precision,
thus doing the work of at least thirty men.
The white or Albino elephants are exempt
from work, being deemed too sacred for
manual service. One is kept In the palace of
the King of Independent Burmah at Manda>
lay, as illustrative of one of the imperial til
tles-"Lord of the White Elephant"
number of weeks ago Mr.. Gaylord Bar
NUNS agent, was in these parts and secured
two Albino elephants, with which he started
for America. But one died on the voyage
O6bWScA A6E6 AuO N1uRApOEO anu the OInGr at
Singapore The poor beasts were unable to
secure the sleep that they needed. Mr.. Gay
lord accordingly returned to Moulmein and
contented himself with taking away Bur-
mese theatrical troupe of twelve men and
two women and Burmese dwarf. Among
the attractions which he failed to secure was
wonderful hairy man of Mandalay and a
Burmese woman at Moulmein who has two
wives. The Burmese wedding service is a
sort OF mutual agreement announced to the
community and SO there were no legal OBJ
stacles in the way of effecting this remarka-
BILE union. The pseudo husband is simply
woman with masculine habits and traits of
character. A plurality of wives is an insti-
tuition here.
At Moulmein, despite all the watchfuIness
exercised, two of our crew succeeded in
escaping to the shore and deserting. In this
they were prompted by the arduousness of
stoker labor in the tropics, but more es~
pecially by an innate laziness characteristic
of the genus In0iaman. The police were
given the case and tracked the truants into
the jungle, where they defsd their pursuers
and things were in that state when we
were obliged to leave port. Had the poor
wretches been captured they would have
been compelled to pay the expenses of ths
police expedition after them, which would
have been the greater part of a months
wages in the case of each man.
Among the other animals which infest
Burmah are tigers, oobras, rhinoceroses,
scorpions, chsmeleons, centipedes and white
ants, with no one of which I court an en-
counter. There is only one kind of wood
tough enough to be proof against the attacks
of the tiny white ants. The dogs are semi
wild creatures that roam about, living prin-
cipaIly upon offal and finally succumbing to
disease or famine.
went ashore at Moulmein in pursuance of
an invitation from Rev. E. w. Kelly, from
st. John, Nova Scotia. to inspect the mission |
schools there, which are really the chief |
''sight" of Moulmein to my mind, aside from |
the natives and their institutions. The Bur- |
mese find to be quite a superior Asiatic |
people. In cleanliness. architecture, imita- |
tiveness and friendliness to the foreigner
they are hardly second to the Japanese, and
are immeasurably superior to their immediate
neighbors. Still it is impossible to forget
for o moment that they are heathens. AS I
passed along the streets the people were eat
ing their midday repast of rice, etc., from
broad banana leaves, using their fingers for
chop sticks. Men and women alike are in
veterate smokers, partly perhaps from the
fact that Moulmsin is a great point for the
manufacture and expectation of cigars.
Nearly all the women were sedately putting
away at cheroots, and yet they were more
attractive than many of the non-smokipg
women f other of the Oriental countries. In
fact, the Burmese women are in such demand
on account of their personal charms that they
become the wives of all classes, from the pure
bloodsd Englishman down to the blacklist In
dian coolie. EMILE.