The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-04-17

visited tnem curing my last stay IN Bang
kok. They were chained to stone posts
and were watched by keepers, who
ehewed the petel and spat on the ground
| as they made the elephants perform for
/ me.
| These beasts were of an ashy gray color
and they looked dirty rather than white.
| am told that their color comes from a
disease somewhat like leprosy, and that
this sometimes causes the animal affected
to go crazy. Indeed a white elephant is
usually a rogue elephant, or one which
should always be watched and never al
lowed TO go loose.
The elephants now in the stables at
Bangkok are from the northern part of
| Siam. All those of the country belong to
| the king, but the man who can send in
a white elephant is still rewarded, and
the advent of new one causes general
rejoicing, for 1t is looked upon as a sign
of good luck and prosperity.
The Gateway to South Asia
| I write this letter in what is the most
up-to-date booming city of the far east.
Rangoon is the capital of Burma. 1t Is
growing faster than Calcutta.
1t already stands third among the great
ports of the Indian empire, crowding the
heels of Bombay. and there are many
who prophesy that it will eventually be
the biggest city of southern Asia. Lying
here at the mouth of the 1rawadi, 1t
forms the only gate to one of the richest
valleys of the world, and in time, by
railroads already projected, it will be the
gateway to western China as we'll The
city has now a population of 100000. 1t
runs for miles up and down the river
and extends back into the fiat alluvial
Irawadi delta. 1t is backed by some of
the biggest rice lands of the world, and
1t exports more rice than any other
port on earth. The amount to be shipped
this year Is valued at s65, 600, 0OO and the
river is now filled with great steamers
loading for Japan. China, Australia, In
dia, Europe and North and South
America. Among them are river boats
and barges which have brought rice in
from the country, and there are great
fleets at the mills loading and unloading
their cargoes. Rice is the money crop of
the country, and it makes the Burmese
comparatively rich.
Burma in a Birds Eye
But before 1 go farther, let me give
you bird's-eye view of this country.
You all know its location. Better perhaps
than the Bostonian, who, when asked
where 1t was. replied:
Burma Burma! OF course T know
where 1t is. 1 have a cousin out there,
but he calls it Bermuda
The Burma from where / am writing Is
away off here on the opposite side of the
world. 1t lies near the eastern shores
of the Bay of Bengal. several hundred
miles south of the Himalaya mountains,
and just across the way from the PENN
sula of Hindustan. On the north 1t runs
close to Tibet; and on the east 1t
skirts the Chinese province of Yunnan
and French Indo-China, with the Siamese
states on the south. The country is as
long as from Canada to the Mexican gulf,
4bor Vcr n
land. 1t is bigger than France, Germany
or the Spanish peninsula and it has a
population of ten millions, of whom eight
millions are the proudest. best dressed
and most lovable people of Asia.
On the Irawadi
l came into Burma up the Irawadi
river. The capital, Rangoon. from where
I write, lies about twenty miles from
the mouth of one of the streams form
ing the delta. The Irawadi is one of
the greatest of the worlds great rivers
1t rises somewhere in Tibet and flows
a thousand miles through this country
before 1t reaches the sea. 1t carries
down so much silt that the blue waters
of the Bay of Bengal are made yellow by
| It In coming here we travelled for
hours through what looked like pea soup
before we caught sight of land, and In
| the river itself the water was as brown
| as oatmeal Cruel and almost as thick.
| 1t left a rich sediment in the bath tub
of the steamer and gave the atmosphere
yellowish tint under the tropical SUM-
The deposit is so great that the shore
creeps on into the sea several inches
year. Immense sand bars are created
and pilots have to direct the steamers
this way and that. The dredges are
always kept working and the government
is now contemplating building a series
of jetties like those we have at New
Orleans. These will confine the waters
to a narrower channel and the force of
the river will scour the course clean.
Coming up to Rangoon the stream is
often several miles wide and the shores
at the mouth so far apart that as we
Rugged the north bank we could hardly
see the land on the south. We passed
SYRIAN, where the Burma Oil company
has it's enormous refineries, and then
steamed up toward the city, which, with
its lumber yards, rice mills and shipping,
looked more like one of the great ports
of Europe than Asia. Long before the
town came in sight we could see the tall
spire of the Golden Pagoda, and as we
steamed closer, another shaft of gold
came into view. 1t was that of the
Soule Pagoda, a Burmese monument
which rises high out of the business
blocks In the very heart of the city. Our
ship came right up to the wharyes and
we stepped out into one of the queerest
crowds to be found in all Asia
Cosm politan Rangoon
This city Is more cosmopolitan than
Calcutta, Cairo or Constantinople. 1t Is
East Indian rather than Burmese, and 1t
has people of every nation and of almost
every tribe of the Asiatic continent. II
has $4,000 Chinese, a large number of Ma
lays 5000 Europeans, and more than 100,-
600 Indians from all parts of Hindustan.
The people are of all colors, black white,
yellow and brown. and they wear all sorts
of costumes The East Indian coolies
are naked, except for a cloth around the
waist and a red or white turban. Their
black skins shine like jet under the trop-
ical SUM- Many of the Chinese are rich,
and they are clad In silks or fine cottons,
while the Burmese strut about In silk
skirts of the most delicate colors, their
heads covered with gorgeous silk tur-
bans They wear jackets of silk or fine
cotton, and move about like human but
terhies here and there through the crowd.
In addition there are tall-hatted, long
coated Parsees from Bombay, worshipers
of fire. who are devoted to banking and
trading, and lean, skinny black Chetties,
money lenders from Madras. who wear
only a sheet of cotton wrapped around
their bare persons. There are Indian
bows in caps of gold thread. cotton jack
cts and waist cloths; Hindoo women with
rings In their noses. and Burmese girls
clad in cotton or silk, with plugs In their
ears The costumes are so many cannot
describe them.
On the Streets
The traffic about the wharves and
through the city is carried on by strange
animals and in strange vehicles The
passenger cab is the gharry. a yellow or
black box hauled by an Indian pony and