Burmah and the Burmese

by Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie

“This book, which is called Deitton, in the treatise on the woods used in building, distinguishes various kinds. Such beams as are equally large at the top as at the bottom are called males; those which are thicker at the bottom than above are females; the neuters are those in which the middle is thickest; and when the greatest thickness is at the top, they are called giants; finally, when a piece of wood, on being cut, and falling to the ground, rebounds from its place, it is called monkey-wood. Whoever lives in a house made of male wood, will be happy in all places, and at all times, and in all circumstances; but if the wood of any person’s house be neuter, continual misery will be his lot; and if it be of the gigantic species, he will die. By dividing the two pieces of wood which form the stairs into ten compartments, and observing in which the knots occur, we may also learn a man’s fortune. If a knot be found in the first compartment, it is a sign that the master of the house will be honoured by princes; if in the second, that he will abound in rice, and all kinds of provisions; but if there be one in the fourth division, then a son, or a nephew, or a slave, or an ox of the master will die; a knot in the sixth division is a sign of riches in oxen and buffaloes; but one in the eighth portends the death of his wife; and finally, one in the tenth, is an augury of great possessions in gold and silver, and such other valuables.

“From the wood used in the construction of the houses, the Deitton passes to the holes in which the poles that support them are fixed; for if these be square, it is a sign of sickness; and divers other prognostics are drawn from the manner in which they are dug, and from the different substances that are met with in making them. Hence various rules are given for choosing a spot of ground for the foundation of houses.

“The next sources of superstition are the boats and carriages; for from the knots that are in them, good or bad success is assigned to the possessors; as also from the different objects they meet with on their progresses on different days of the week.

“All involuntary movements of the eyes, the head, or the forehead, are considered as indications of the lot of those in whom they are observed, as their happiness, or of the honours they will receive, or of a litigious disposition,” &c.

And again, a little after, our missionary continues:—

“In the time of war, or during a law suit, there is a curious way of finding out the success to be expected. Three figures are made of cooked rice, one representing a lion, another an ox, and a third an elephant. These are exposed to the crows, and the augury is taken according to which is eaten. If they fall on the figure of the lion, it is a sign of victory; if they eat that of the ox, things will be made up by accommodation; but if they eat the elephant, then bad success is to be looked for.

“When a dog carries any unclean thing to the top of a house, it is supposed that the master will become rich. If a hen lay her egg upon cotton, its master will become poor. If a person, who is going to conclude a law suit, meet on the road another carrying brooms or spades, the suit will be long, and in the end he will be deceived. If the wind should carry away any of the leaves of the betel, when, according to custom, it is being carried to the house of a newly-married woman, it is a sign that the marriage will be unhappy, and that separation will ensue.

“If in going to war, or to prosecute a law suit, a person meet with a fish, there will be no war, and the lawsuit will cease; if he see another catching a gnat, the mandarins will exact many presents, the client will be deceived, and the law suit a long one; if he meet any one carrying packages, then everything will succeed to his wishes; if he meet a serpent, the affair will be long; if a dog, or a female elephant, or a person playing on the instrument called zaun, a species of cymbal, all things will go well.”

The good father mentions some more instances of a similar kind, and thus concludes:[145]—“But we should never finish, were we to extract all the follies of this book, for they are so numerous, and at the same time so inconsistent with common comfort, that, as one of our oldest missionaries has observed, if a man were to be entirely guided by it, he would not have a house to live in, nor a road to walk on, nor clothes to cover him, nor even rice for his food; and yet the blind and ignorant Burmese place the greatest faith in it, and endeavour to regulate their actions according to its directions.” I have not space to speak of all the various superstitious weaknesses which rule this people, or I would tell of the cheiromancy of the Burmans, their amulets and their love-philtres; for these, however, I must refer the reader to Sangermano.

Burman astronomy is similar in most points to that of the Hindoos; but a short account of it, after Buchanan[146] and Sangermano,[147] will not be out of place here.