El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-04-02

fixed It that 20 one outside their own
members could dig for petroleum or own
an oil well. The families were known
as Yoya, and their chiefs were called
understand that many of those fam
Twinsayo. II a family had no descend
ants il could sell only TO the other
members of the combined families. so
troduced the monopoly system by which
the oil was sold to him alone, the same
families producing it
Among the Miners.
that the corporation was decidedly
close
The Yenangyang had their own rules
as to the digging and sale of the oil.
These continued in force until a little
over half a century ago, when king
Mindon, Thibaw's great predecessor. in
lilies are still taking out oil as their
forefa theirs did. Some have been bought
out by the trust, but others still COM
pete, working the old way. Their oil
comes from wells which are seldom
more than $50 feet deep. They break
the rock by dropping a pointed lump of
iron. weighing about $50 pounds, upon
it again and again, and then carry
the debris out in buckets
When the oil strata is reached they
wait for the well to fill and then raise
the petroleum in buckets. which are
filled by men lowered in rope sings to
the bottom. There is much gas in
the wells, and the miners can stay be-
low but a few minutes In order to
make the most of their time. they
blindfold their eyes before descending.
tearing off the bandages when they
reach the bottom, thus keeping eyes
in focus for immediate work. They
use hats OF palm leaves to protect their
fro h -4n nd oor-fa n fnN
fall upon them from the sides Of the
shafts. Their product is sold TO the
trust, and at such rates that they can
make but little more than fair wages
The Burmese Oil company has to pay
royalty TO the government. but ii is
largely protected by the administration
and there is little chance for outside
competition. The best of its present oil
fields cover only about 100 square miles.
Burma's Oil Refineries.
During my stay at Syrian I have
gone through the refineries- The man
ayers claim that they are the largest
of the world, saying that they sur
pass any owned by the Standard Oil
company, which does it's business in
smaller institutions widely scattered
throughout the United States
The works here at SYRIAN cover 100
the banks of the Irawadi. about Is
miles from its mouth. The river is full
of silt and it has built up a great sand
bank just opposite the landing so that
ships cannot come close except at high
tide The silt is so great that the little
lake. inside the works, used as water
supply, has TO be dug out to a depth OF
six or eight feet every year. saw
hundreds OF coolies excavating this now
dry lake They were taking out dirt
which looked like cement, and carrying
1t away in baskets on their heads. The
deposits of the Irawadi are so rapidly
filling the bed of the river that jetties
similar to those we have at the mouth
or the Mississippi will probably be put
in.
L went through the works with the
superintendent, a Scotchman named
Bishop. had my camera with me, but
he objected to my photographing the
refineries, although he allowed me to
take snapshots of the laborers and the
scenes outside the plant.
L shall not attempt to describe the
processes, except to say that enormous
furnaces are kept hot with oil fires and
that the boilers above them have pipes
10 catch the vapor as the oil boils- Re
inning petroleum is much like distilling
whisky The crude oil is heat ed to
Vapor which flows off into the cold
pipes. As 1t strikes them this con-
denses and runs off as pure oil.
Wax Candles for Buddha.
IN the meantime, the residue is car
REQ from boiler to boiler. until all the
OH mas been won. a part of what is
le1t Is turned into wax. and in the end
tnere is a product which is made into
2 coke superior to that from COAL The
which
are mace here I'm great quantities TO
De used In the worship of Buddha. Any
one VINO can burn a candle before
SHRINE acquires merit, and the bigger
the candle the greater the merit. For
TINS reason, the candles are of all sizes,
from wax matches to great, round, ia
perlng cylinders six and a half feet
tan, and as thick as an elephants leg.
Such a candle brings about $40, or 80
rupees 1t viii burn 10 hours, and if
consumed at shrine will add much to
ones chances of reaching Nirvana.
Machinery and Labor.
The machinery of Syrian is up to