Their mode of kissing is again like that of the Polynesians. Instead of touching the lips, they apply the mouth and nose to the cheek, and draw in the breath, and instead of saying, “Give me a kiss,” they say, “Give me a smell.” Children are carried astride the hips as in some other parts of India.
When a young man has made his choice of a wife, he first sends some old persons to the father to propose the marriage. If the family and the girl are agreed to the match, the bridegroom immediately goes to the house of the father-in-law, and resides there for three years. At the expiration of that period, he may, if he choose, take his wife and reside somewhere else. The first night of the marriage is one of considerable hazard, for a large number of persons will collect together and throw stones and logs on to the roof of the house. Sangermano, on whose authority I mention the custom, could obtain no reason for it.[164]
A strange practice attends the birth of a Burmese infant. “No sooner is the infant come to light, than an immense fire is lighted in the apartment, so large that a person can hardly approach it without experiencing considerable hurt. Yet the woman is stretched out before it; and obliged to support its action on her naked skin, which is often blistered from its effects as badly as if the fire had been actually made for this purpose. This treatment is persevered in for ten or fifteen days without intermission, at the end of which time, as it will be easily supposed, the poor woman is quite scorched or blackened.”[165]
In their treatment of the sick, they are very absurd and unskilful, but at the same time, some of their remedies are good. Space will not permit me to speak of this subject, and I must refer to the copious accounts of Malcom, Sangermano, Crawfurd, and others.
At the death of any one, the following ceremonies are observed.[166] The body is immediately washed and laid in a white cloth, and visits of condolence are paid by the connections and friends. While the family give themselves up to lamentation, these friends perform the office of preparing the coffin, assembling the musicians, getting betel and lapech, the pickled tea, which is given to every one on the occasion. Then a great store of fruit, cotton cloths, and money is prepared for distribution among the priests and the poor. This is effected by means of a burial club, which, strangely enough, is one of the institutions of this singular country. The body is then kept a day or two, after which the procession is formed in the following manner. First, the alms destined for the priests and poor are carried along; next, come the baskets of betel and lapech, borne by female priests dressed in white. These are followed by a procession of priests, walking two and two. When there is music, it usually comes next. Then the bier is carried along, borne by friends of the deceased. Immediately behind the bier comes the wives, children, and nearest relations, all dressed in white. The procession is closed by a concourse of people more or less connected with the departed person. Arrived at the place where the body is burnt, the senior priest delivers a sermon, consisting of reflections on the five secular commandments and the ten good works. At the conclusion of the sermon, the coffin is delivered to the burners of the dead, who set fire to it, while others distribute the alms to the priests and people. The burning, however, does not always take place. Persons that have been drowned, or have died of infectious diseases, are immediately interred.
On the third day after the burning, the relations go to the place and collect the ashes, which are placed in an urn and buried, and a cenotaph is erected over the remains. All this time a festival is kept up at the house of the deceased. Readers are engaged, who read out poetry and history. Much feasting and drinking goes on, and this is all done to keep off the thoughts of their loss from the minds of the relations. On the ninth day the concluding feast to the priests is given, and all is over.
The arts of the Burmese are very simple, as may be expected.[167] Their progress in them has been very small, chiefly on account “of the great simplicity of their dress and houses.” Every one builds his own house, and the females of the family can manufacture all the apparel that is required by the family. The silkworm is kept in Ava, and the products of the looms of that province, though susceptible of improvement, yet deserve high commendation for the strength of the material and brilliancy of the colours. Carving in wood, an art at which a semi-civilised nation generally soon arrives, has been brought to some degree of perfection; but painting, the kindred art, is here, as among all Oriental nations, in a very languishing condition. Lately, at a meeting of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, a very interesting picture by a Burmese artist was exhibited. Dr. A. Thomas, who presented it to the society, thus describes it:—“On one side of the picture is represented the royal palace and the royal monastery; the priests in their sacerdotal garb, the white elephant, &c. &c. are all shown. On the other side is a grand procession showing that a lad is about to enter into the order of priesthood.” In painting flowers the Burmese are not so bad, but, like the Chinese, they have very imperfect notions of drawing and perspective.
The betel boxes and drinking-cups are exceedingly curious. They are formed of very fine basket-work of bamboo, covered with varnish, which is brought from China in very great quantities. An interesting account of their manufacture is given by Colonel Burney in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal; but the exact volume has escaped me. Working in gold, as among their kindred in America, the Incas and the Mexicans, has been perfected in no slight degree. In casting bells, too, no Oriental nations can compete with them.
“Such are the principal arts,” concludes Sangermano,[168] “of the Burmese; and if they are in a low state, this must be attributed more to the destructive despotism of their government than to the want of genius or inclination of the people, for they have in reality a great talent in this way. It is the emperor, with his mandarins, who is the obstacle in the way of the industry of his subjects; for no sooner has any artist distinguished himself for his skill, than he is constrained to work for the emperor or his ministers, and this without any profit, farther than an uncertain patronage.”
Can there be the least doubt in the mind of any unprejudiced person, that the British ought to annex the whole of Burmah, and so rescue the flocks that are bleeding under the ruffian claws of the official tigers? Remember Prome under British justice in the last war; and though, in every way, the Indian government is de facto a mild despotism, yet is not that better than the present state of things? Besides, it is our interest. If we do not get this country, some other nation will, and we want no European neighbours in the East.