These are but broad, sweeping assertions, like those exactly contradictory remarks of Symes, quoted at the close of the last chapter; and such broad assertions must ever be received cum grano salis. A middle path between these two must be taken. The condition of the country is probably no worse, and no better, than in the neighbouring empire of China, where the same iniquitous system of bribery prevails amongst the magistracy, and where the actual amount of crime is not great in proportion to the population and extent of the country. The envoy of a government is not likely in the quick progress of his passage through the country, to be able to examine into the condition of the people impartially, and, as they are prepared to make the best or the worst show they can to the foreign ambassador, so, too, will the foreign ambassador take the best or the worst view of their character.
That there is much crime is undeniable; but they are not monsters of iniquity, neither, on the other hand, are they angels of heaven. We must ever, in our judgment of uncivilised or semi-civilised races, be careful and lenient to a degree. They have not always the same advantages, and they are kept back by their rulers, ever ignorant and bigoted. Example, experience, and interest cause a nation to progress, not violence nor fanaticism. Witness the Turkish nation, formerly wild and brutish, now to be considered in every way as a civilised and generous nation. And this was brought about by the force of example and the energy of the ruler. We shall, in the history of Burmah, meet with a somewhat similar case in Alompra.[49]
Let us now turn to the revenues accruing to the government, and first of the earth-oil.
The petroleum wells, once already described, are of immense value to the government as a source of revenue. The annual produce of the wells is, according to Crawfurd,[50] twenty-two millions of viss, each of 3⁶⁵⁄₁₀₀ pounds avoirdupois. The wells altogether occupy a space of about six square miles. Cox, who visited them early in 1797, says, that at the place where he stayed to examine the wells, there were about one hundred and eighty of them, and at the distance of four or five miles there were, he was told, three hundred and forty more.[51] I cannot do better than subjoin some few of Crawfurd’s excellent remarks, in connection with his visit. He was put in possession of more correct data on which to found his calculation than his intelligent predecessor Captain Cox, and his observations are consequently of more authority.
“The country here,” he says,[52] “is a series of sand-hills and ravines—the latter, torrents after a fall of rain, as we now experienced, and the former either covered with a very thin soil, or altogether bare. The trees, which were rather more numerous than we looked for, did not rise beyond twenty feet in height. The surface gave no indication that we could detect of the existence of the petroleum. On the spot which we reached, there were eight or ten wells, and we examined one of the best. The shaft was of a square form, and its dimensions about four feet to a side. It was formed by sinking a frame of wood, composed of beams of the Mimosa catechu, which affords a durable timber. Our conductor, the son of the Myosugi[53] of the village, informed us that the wells were commonly from one hundred and forty to one hundred and sixty cubits deep, and that their greatest depth in any case was two hundred. He informed us that the one we were examining was the private property of his father—that it was considered very productive, and that its exact depth was one hundred and forty cubits. We measured it with a good lead-line, and ascertained its depth to be two hundred and ten feet, thus corresponding exactly with the report of our conductor—a matter which we did not look for, considering the extraordinary carelessness of the Burmans in all matters of this description. A pot of this oil was taken up, and a good thermometer being immediately plunged into it, indicated a temperature of ninety degrees. That of the air, when we left the ship an hour before, was eighty-two degrees. To make the experiment perfectly accurate, we ought to have brought a second thermometer along with us; but this was neglected. We looked into one or two of the wells, and could discern the bottom. The liquid seemed as if boiling; but whether from the emission of gaseous fluids, or simply from the escape of the oil itself from the ground, we had no means of determining. The formation where the wells are sunk consisted of sand, loose sandstone, and blue clay. When a well is dug to a considerable extent, the labourers informed us that brown earth was occasionally found.... The petroleum itself, when first taken out of the well, is of a thin watery consistence, but thickens by keeping, and in the cold weather it coagulates. Its colour at all times is a dirty green, not much unlike that of stagnant water. It has a pungent aromatic odour, offensive to most people.... The contents of the pot are deposited for a time in a cistern. Two persons are employed in raising the oil, making the whole number of persons engaged on each well only four. The oil is carried to the village or port in carts drawn by a pair of bullocks, each cart conveying from ten to fourteen pots, of ten viss each, or from 265 to 371 pounds avoirdupois of the commodity.... The price, according to the demand, varies from four ticals of flowered silver to six ticals per 1,000 viss; which is from fivepence to sevenpence halfpenny per cwt.... Sesamum oil will cost at the same place not less than three hundred ticals for an equal weight; but it lasts longer, gives a better light, and is more agreeable than the petroleum, which in burning emits an immense quantity of black smoke, which soils every object near it.”
The oil is much used, notwithstanding this last inconvenience, by the Burmans in their lamps; and besides this there is another important service which it renders them,—that of preserving their timber from destruction by insects, who detest it. How great must be such a blessing in a land where the detestable white ant commits its dreadful ravages!
It is chiefly consumed in the country itself, where two-thirds of it is used for burning, thirty viss per annum being considered a moderate consumption for a family of about five or six persons. Mr. Crawfurd, during his short stay, collected some interesting statistical information on the subject of these mines, which I abridge from his work.[54]
The number of boats waiting for cargoes of oil was correctly taken, and found to amount to one hundred and eighty-three, of various sizes, some carrying only 1,000 viss, and others 1,400. The average burthen of the vessels employed in this trade is about 4,000 viss. They complete their cargoes in fifteen days; they are, therefore, renewed twenty-four times in the year; the exportation of oil, according to this estimate, will, therefore, be 17,568,000 viss. Deducting a third from this, used for other purposes than burning, and we have, at the annual consumption of thirty viss for a family of five and a half individuals, a population of 2,147,200.
The actual daily produce of the wells is rather uncertain. It was stated to vary from thirty to five hundred, the average giving about 235 viss; the number of wells was sometimes given as low as fifty, and sometimes as high as four hundred.[55] The average made about 200, and, considering the extent of ground covered by the wells, about sixteen square miles, Mr. Crawfurd does not think this an exaggeration. This estimate would reduce the amount of the population somewhat, causing it to consist only of 2,066,721 persons.
On Mr. Crawfurd’s return in December, he again visited the wells. His investigations did not materially affect his previous calculations, which, on the whole, we can but consider as the most satisfactory that, under circumstances, have yet been attainable. I close this rather extended account of the petroleum wells, by an extract from Crawfurd’s work, which I fancy is the best finale that can be imagined, viz., the duty levied on it by the Government:[56]—