BY
SIR HERBERT THIRKELL WHITE, K.C.I.E.
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
LONDON
EDWARD ARNOLD
1913
(All rights reserved)
TO
MY WIFE
WHO SHARED
MY LIFE IN BURMA
FOR MORE THAN THIRTY-TWO YEARS
[PREFACE]
This is not a guide-book, or a history, or a study of manners and customs. It is a plain story of official life for more than thirty years. It does not compete with any of the books already written about Burma, except, perhaps, the monumental work of General Fytche. While pursuing as a rule a track of chronological order, I have not hesitated to wander into by-paths of dissertation and description. I could not write without attempting to give fragmentary impressions of the people and their character. As far as possible I have limited my narrative to events within my own knowledge; my judgments are based on my own observation.