The military character of the Burmese is well summed up by Snodgrass in the following terms:[77]—“When engaged in offensive warfare, which in their native quarrels has generally been the case, the Burmese is arrogant, bold, and daring; possessed of strength and activity superior to all his neighbours, and capable of enduring great fatigue, his movements are rapid, and his perseverance in overcoming obstacles almost irresistible: possessed, too, of superior science and ability in their peculiar system of fighting, he had seldom met his equal in the field, or even experienced serious resistance in the numerous conquests which of late years had been added to the empire, until the increasing arrogance and aggressions of his government brought him at last in contact with an enemy of a very different description from any he had yet contended with, and presented his military character in a different light, divested of the glare which victory and success had long shed around it.” Arrogant and daring, indeed, when the Burman name alone was sufficient to cause the wild tribes of the frontier to lay down their arms, and humbly beg for peace on any terms.
Before closing this chapter, it were well to give some account of that celebrated appendage to Burman state, the white elephant. I shall here take occasion to introduce a description of them by an old traveller, the first Englishmen indeed who ever visited Burmah. It is given in Hakluyt’s collection of “Nauigations, Traffiques, and Discoueries.”[78]
“And among the rest he hath foure white elephants, which are very strange and rare, for there is none other king that hath them but he; if any other king hath one, hee will send vnto him for it. When any of these white elephants is brought vnto the king, all the merchants in the city are commanded to see them, and to giue him a present of halfe a ducat, which doth come to a great summe, for that there are many merchants in the city. After that you have given your present, you may come and see them at your pleasure, although they stand in the king’s house. This king, in his title, is called, the king of the white elephants.[79] If any other king haue one, and will not send it him, he will make warre with him for it, for he had rather lose a great part of his kingdome than not to conquere him. They do very great seruice vnto these white elephants; euery one of them standeth in a house gilded with golde, and they doe feede in vessels of siluer and gilt. One of them, when he doth go to the riuer to be washed, as euery day they do, goeth under a canopy of clothe, of golde or of silke, carried ouer him by sixe or eight men, and eight or ten men goe before him, playing on drummes, shawmes, or other instruments: and when he is washed and commeth out of the riuer, there is a gentleman which doth wash his feet in a siluer basin, which is his office giuen him by the king. There is no such account made of any blacke elephant, be he neuer so great. And surely there be woonderfull faire and great, and some be nine cubites in height.”[80]
Since the institution of the Burmese monarchy, its kings have ever been most desirous of having one of these white elephants in their possession, as they conceived it added additional strength to their arms, and good fortune to their administration. At the accession of Men-ta-ra-gyee there was no such animal in the royal stables, and he directed all his efforts to the satisfying of a natural desire to have one. His endeavours were crowned with success, for, in 1805, a female was caught at Lain, in the forests of Pegu. Sangermano gives the following account of its treatment and transportation to Amarapura.[81]
“Immediately upon its being captured, it was bound with cords covered with scarlet,[82] and the most considerable of the mandarins were deputed to attend it. A house, such as is occupied by the greatest ministers, was built for its reception; and numerous servants were appointed to watch over its cleanliness, to carry to it every day the freshest herbs, which had first been washed with water, and to provide it with everything else that could contribute to its comfort. As the place where it was taken was infested with mosquitoes, a beautiful net of silk was made to protect it from them;[83] and to preserve it from all harm, mandarins and guards watched by it both day and night. No sooner was the news spread abroad that a white elephant had been taken, than immense multitudes of every age, sex, and condition flocked to behold it, not only from the neighbouring parts, but even from the most remote provinces.... At length the king gave orders for its transportation to Amarapura, and immediately two boats of teak wood were fastened together, and upon them was erected a superb pavilion, with a roof similar to that which covers the royal palaces. It was made perfectly impervious to the sun or rain, and draperies of silk embroidered in gold adorned it on every side. This splendid pavilion was towed up the river by three large and beautiful gilded vessels full of rowers.... The king and royal family frequently sent messengers, to bring tidings of its health, and make it rich presents in their name.... To honour its arrival in the city, a most splendid festival was ordered, which continued for three days, and was celebrated with music, dancing, and fireworks. The most costly presents continued daily to be brought to it by all the mandarins of the kingdom, and one is said to have offered a vase of gold weighing 480 ounces. But it is well known that these presents and the eagerness shown in bestowing them, were owing more to the avaricious policy of the king than to the veneration of his subjects towards the elephant, for all these golden utensils and ornaments found their way at last into the royal treasury.”
A fit conclusion to so tremendous a piece of superstition and absurdity! Crawfurd, however, denies that the veneration paid to it was so great as reported; there is at any rate no question that the fortunate discoverer is well rewarded. The one now in the possession of the king of Ava was discovered by four villagers, who, in addition to rank, offices, title, and estates, each received the sum of two thousand five hundred ticals,—about £312 sterling.[84]
“At the death of the elephant,” continues Sangermano,[85] “as at that of an emperor, it is publicly forbidden, under heavy penalties, to assert that he is dead; it must only be said that he is departed, or has disappeared. As the one of which we have spoken was a female, its funeral was conducted in the form practised on the demise of a principal queen. The body was accordingly placed upon a funeral pile of sassafras, sandal, and other aromatic woods, then covered over with similar materials; and the pyre was set on fire with the aid of four immense gilt bellows placed at its angles. After three days, the principal mandarins came to gather the ashes and remnants of the bones, which they enshrined in a gilt and well-closed urn, and buried in the royal cemetery. Over the tomb was subsequently raised a superb mausoleum of a pyramidal shape, built of brick, but richly painted and gilt. Had the elephant been a male, it would have been interred with the ceremonial used for the sovereign.”
The loss of the elephant was, however, soon supplied; for another was caught in 1806 near a place called Nibban, in Pegu, and the day that Sangermano quitted Rangoon for Europe, the first of October, it was expected at that place. It was the same one that Crawfurd saw in October, 1826.