Four years in Upper Burma

by W. R. Winston

When we have fully recognised the mighty power of the Holy Spirit, to whose gracious influences we are indebted for all Gospel success, and when we have said all we have to say about different methods and men, the student of missions will still feel that he has not fully accounted for the marked diversity in the successes; he must also take account of the social and economic conditions of the different races, when the Gospel addresses them, and the hold their own religions generally have upon their minds. For the Gospel is like every other force in the universe, whether moral or physical, in this, that it always proceeds with most energy along the track of the least resistance; and he will find, if he carefully studies the matter, that the difficulties arising from social disabilities, and from a low state of civilisation, are not the greatest possible hindrances to the Gospel.

In the approaching revival of missionary activity and enthusiasm these questions are sure to receive more careful attention; and when these problems come to be considered, Burma with its different races will contribute not a few interesting facts and experiences.

The success of the Gospel amongst the Karens causes one to look wistfully at some others of the frontier mountain races of Burma. The religious views of all these primitive tribes are of much the same type, and their religious observances, what few they have, are similar. Their religion consists in the worship of nats or demons. They believe all nature is filled with nats; every stone, and tree, and pool, and breath of air has its spirit inhabiting it; and these nats are malevolent in their nature. Their religious observances consist not so much in worshipping them, as in propitiating them by means of offerings. They practise no regular system of worship, but consult the nats occasionally, whenever things do not go well with them, or whenever there seems special reason to fly to the supernatural for guidance. Thus they have not much to cling to in the way of a religion, and their life and surroundings are so barbarous as to appear, even to themselves, obviously capable of improvement.

In the north of Burma, on the mountains in the neighbourhood of Bhamo, are found the Kachins, a warlike hill people who have, since the annexation of Upper Burma, given the British some trouble by their raiding propensities. Amongst them the bones of sacrificed animals and other articles are placed outside the villages, to prevent the nats from entering in search of victims. It is believed that by this means their attention is called off. Some of the Kachins have taken to coming down from the hills and settling in Bhamo for work as labourers; and a successful work is being carried on by the American Baptist Mission there.

Since the annexation a good deal has been done in the way of exploring the country, and bringing to light interesting facts with regard to these barbarous tribes on our frontiers. Lieutenant R. M. Rainey, Commandant of the Chin Frontier Levy, has published some interesting notes of his observations amongst the Chin tribes bordering on the Yaw country in the Pakokku district. The following facts are largely culled from his notes, many of them having been corroborated by what the writer and a missionary companion witnessed, in a recent visit to the tribe of the Chinbôk Chins, living nearest to the district described.

The Chins of that region consist of various tribes all more or less distinct in language, and to some extent in customs, the Weloung Chins, the Boungshès, the Chinbôks, the Yindus, and the Chinbôns. No less than eight different dialects are spoken by these tribes, the Chinbôk language itself subdividing into three.

There is no attempt at any system of laws or government amongst them, beyond the fact that they have something of a village system, and there are certain customs which all observe. Quarrels are wiped out with blood. Their religion, in common with that of all the other mountain tribes of the frontiers, consists in propitiating and consulting the nats. For this an animal must be slaughtered—a buffalo, a bullock, a goat, a pig, a dog, or a fowl. The slaughtered animal is always afterwards eaten. In consulting the nats they observe the direction in which the blood of the sacrificed animal flows; this and similar omens are observed and acted upon. When raiding, or on a journey, or passing through a notoriously unhealthy jungle, sacrifices are frequently made, the animals being taken with them on purpose. Dogs are preferred for this object, as they follow, and require no carrying or leading. If the omens prove unfavourable they fear to carry out their purpose. Raids are frequently abandoned in this way at the last moment, and after they have travelled long distances.

If, when the omens prove unfavourable, the parties are nevertheless desirous of accomplishing their purpose, as for instance in the case of an intended marriage, the nats are periodically consulted until they are favourable. This must always happen in time if they are only consulted frequently enough.

The Chins are very much given to drunkenness, and are inclined to make of any and every incident a special occasion for getting drunk. A visitor, a birth, a marriage, a death, a case of sickness, are all possible and likely occasions for a carousal. In this worship of Bacchus they differ essentially from their Buddhist neighbours; but they may fairly claim to resemble in that respect many individuals of a distant race, and a race laying claim to a far higher civilisation. They have a novel mode of drinking the rice beer they manufacture for these occasions. The liquor is stored in jars standing two feet in height, and half full of fermenting grain. A hollow bamboo, the thickness of one’s little finger, is thrust into the jar and pressed well down into the grain. The company sit round and take sucks in turn.

Of medicine and surgery they know nothing. When they fall sick they make no attempt at medicine, but merely consult the nats to ascertain the result, and propitiate them to avert the calamity.