Mandalay

“ Leaving the mercantile and moneyed classes, and coming to the rank and file, there are in Mandalay some thousands of natives from many different parts of India, speaking many languages, and engaging in a great variety of callings. Europeans often think of India as a country, but it is really a continent, and has as great, if not a far greater, variety of peoples and tribes than Europe presents. There is the Bengalee Baboo, probably a clerk, the Hindustanee doorkeeper or messenger, the Tamil overseer or coolie. Even in our Sepoy army in Mandalay one sees great variety. ”

“ A week's residence in Mandalay is not sufficient to justify any one except the globe-trotter—for whom two days and a night may be sufficient—in attempting a description of one of the most curious and wonderful of the modern cities of Asia. ”

“ Outside the walls of the city the suburbs, or unwalled town, stretch away southward in broad streets, which converge towards the Arracan pagoda; and in the distance the spires of pagodas mark the site of Amarapura.
It is impossible to estimate the population, but it must exceed one hundred thousand, to judge by the extent of ground covered by houses. Between the city and Mandalay hill numerous khyoungs have been erected by the queens and other members of the royal family, the teak pillars and roof timbers of which are magnificently carved and richly gilt. ”

“ We took four and a half days altogether to go up to Mandalay, but I did not join them till the steamer reached Prome, so I had only three days on board going up. The country, as far as we could see from the banks, consists of large rich plains, covered with grass and scrub jungle; very little cultivation, owing to the poverty of the people, but if capital was forthcoming the soil would grow anything. ”

“ The houses were raised from the ground on posts, some of bamboo, some of wood. Pigs roamed the streets and acted as scavengers. The description is strangely familiar to those who saw Mandalay in 1885. Later on, the town languished, probably on account of Burmese misrule, and in 1826 its population had dwindled to about 8000. It was a miserable place in a dismal swamp. After the First Burmese War, it began to revive. In 1841, King Tharrawaddy built a new stockaded city near the great Pagoda, and part of the town was transferred to the new site. ”

“ I’m going straight up to Mandalay, but I shall be down later, and meanwhile I’ll do my best to settle you in that chummery. I’ll send a line to FitzGerald of my service; he lives there; a rattling Irishman, with lots of brains in his handsome head, and a good sort; there’s also Roscoe, a clever oddity, and MacNab of the Irrawaddy Flotilla—a wonderful golfer. Most of the fellows in business in Rangoon are Scotch. Murray was in the same chummery ”

“ The most noticeable feature of the Mandalay Bazaar is the supremacy of the Burmese woman as shopkeeper. The vast block of the markets is newly built and looks fresh and spick and span, though without anything about its structure either beautiful or picturesque. It is like Smithfield and Covent Garden rolled into one, and given over entirely to petticoat government. I am told there are close upon 200,000 people in Mandalay, and those long avenues of the great bazaar looked fully able to {82} cope with their demands. There is the meat-market, with smiling ladies cutting up masses of flesh ”

“ About forty miles from Mandalay there is a little hill-station called Maymyo, at an elevation of 3,500 ft. It is now full of red-brick buildings, and is the headquarters of the Lieutenant-General commanding the Burma Division, and there is a railway up from Mandalay which runs on to Lashio. But in 1889 Maymyo was but a collection of huts and tents, and the road that led thither was not only execrable to travel on, but infested with robbers. However, it served as a sanatorium, and the sick folk from Mandalay had to brave the dangers of the road. ”

“ Most prominent of the royal ladies in Mandalay were two full sisters of King Thebaw, the Pakangyi and Meiktila Supaya. [128] Meiktila Supaya married a commoner, and died some [Pg 150] years ago, leaving two charming daughters, of whom one is the wife of a Government officer. The Amá-daw-gyi [129] brought up her nieces, and lived quietly in Mandalay till recent days. Only one of Mindôn Min’s wives of royal stock survived till our time. Wives of inferior rank were not of royal blood, but for the most part daughters of officials or chiefs. ”

“ Of smaller pieces many are magical and used as amulets.
11 The use of the word “life” in a personal sense is usual in Gnosticism; compare the Ζωὴ of Valentin and el-ḥayāt el-muallama, “the dark life,” of Mani in the Fihirst.
MANDALAY, formerly the capital of independent Burma, now the headquarters of the Mandalay division and district, as well as the chief town in Upper Burma, stands on the left bank of the Irrawaddy, in 21° 59′ N. and 96° 8′ E. Its height above mean sea-level is 315 ft. Mandalay was built in 1856-1857 by King Mindōn. ”

“ The population is very mixed. Besides Burmese there are Zerbadis (the offspring of a Mahommedan with a Burman wife) , Mahommedans, Hindus, Jews, Chinese, Shans and Manipuris (called Kathe) , Kachins and Palaungs. Trains run from Mandalay to Rangoon, Myit-kyina, and up the Mandalay-Kunlong railway. The steamers of the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company also ply in all directions. There are twenty bazaars, the chief of which, the Zegyo, was burnt in 1897, and again in 1906, but rebuilt.
The Mandalay District has an area of 2117 sq. ”

“ On his return to India he became military secretary to the Madras government. He was appointed to the command of the British Burma division in 1883, and two years later led the expeditionary force against Mandalay. He arrived at Rangoon 7 November 1885, and although the resistance of the Burmese at various points was serious, the operations were carried out with promptness and success. King Thebaw surrendered on 28 November and Mandalay was occupied on the following day. Prendergast received many congratulations, was created K.C.B., and was visited at Mandalay by the viceroy, Lord Dufferin. ”

“ The streets of Mandalay are wide, and laid out in rectangles, as in Rangoon, and, like all towns in Burma, the roads are heavily shaded by trees. Foreign types are common in Mandalay, but the Burmese life here is very pretty. Nowhere else are the people better [77] dressed, and the ladies rival the silk bazaar in the variety and beautiful colour of their clothing. ”

“ The description already given [124] of the position of women in Burma may help to render intelligible the sketch of our life in Mandalay in early days. For some months European ladies were not encouraged to come to Mandalay. Most of us were extremely busy, and lived an austere life in the Palace. For companionship we were dependent on one another and on our Burmese friends. The people of whom I saw most in rare intervals of relaxation were officials and their families and members of the royal house. Queens and Princesses were many. ”

“ Twenty years later Ava was destroyed by an earthquake, when the court moved to Monchobo, later to Amarapoora, again to Ava, and last (in 1857) to Mandalay. These cities are only a few miles from each other, and whenever the capital is changed the inhabitants of the old city are mostly taken along to start the new one. In 1855 the site where Mandalay stands was a series of rice-fields; now a city of [Pg 172]
[Pg 173] 100,000 inhabitants covers the ground, and is enclosed by substantial walls of brick and mud. ”

“ The Woon, or governor of the town or district of Bhamô, was most zealous in carrying out the royal orders, and was personally most friendly. He was a short, elderly Burman, with prominent eyes and good face, whose chief occupation seemed to be incessantly muttering prayers, as he slid through his fingers the beads of the black amber rosary which he invariably carried. His principal wife and his children had been left in Mandalay as hostages for his good behaviour, according to the usual Burmese policy ”

“ On the road to Mandalay...
But that's all shove be'ind me--long ago an' fur away,
An' there ain't no 'busses runnin' from the Bank to Mandalay;
An' I'm learnin' 'ere in London what the ten-year soldier tells:
'If you've 'eard the East a-callin', you won't never 'eed naught
else.'
No! you won't 'eed nothin' else
But them spicy garlic smells,
An' the sunshine an' the palm-trees an' the tinkly temple-bells;
On the road to Mandalay...
I am sick o' wastin' leather on these gritty pavin'-stones,
An' the blasted Henglish drizzle wakes the fever in my bones ”

“ The streets of Mandalay are broad and spacious, so that even a large crowd does not impede the traffic. [195] The people are generally very willing to listen, tolerant, respectful, and not inclined to cavil. We usually commence by singing a hymn. A number of children are on the scene at once, some of them quite naked up to seven or eight years of age. By the time we have finished the hymn, a crowd of men, women and children has collected, and most of them, having once come, stay till the close. ”

“ Although not a commercial centre of importance, all industries characteristic of the country are practised at Mandalay. A specially flourishing trade is the making of sacred images in marble and steatite. In the middle of the town is the Zegyo, one of the finest covered bazaars in the East, where silks and jewels and miscellaneous goods are displayed in lavish abundance. ”

“ Well, when I was close on eighteen I enlisted and put in seven years with the Colours, mostly in Bengal; then we come over here and lay in Mandalay and, after a bit, I—somehow got lost.”
“That is, you deserted,” sternly amended Shafto.
“Oh well, have it whatever way ye like, sorr. I was shootin’ in the jungles and was took terribly bad with fever and nearly died. The natives are good-natured, kind, soft people—none better ”

“ Lately, however, English salt is beginning to take its place, and on my last voyage up the Irawady, one flat from Mandalay carried nothing but salt. In order to proceed to Tsitkaw, it is transshipped at Bhamô into small boats, which carry only five thousand viss each, as the Tapeng is a rapid river, and rather shallow during the dry weather. On salt from Shienpagah, a duty is levied at Malé, Yuathét, and Bhamô, in addition to a boat tax, and when it proceeds up the Tapeng, an additional impost has to be paid at Tsitkaw, and a boat tax at Haylone and Tsitgna. ”

“ The reason is to be found in their custom of removing their capital on each change of dynasty, and since a.d. 1740 the capital of Burma has been moved no less than eight times! Mandalay itself is only fifty years old, so that it hardly appeared to them worth their while to build more substantial dwellings, which might so soon have to be deserted; and in this way they came to regard their homes as temporary, expending their energies and wealth in the building of temples and monasteries instead. ”

“ From Mengoon the steamer made its unaccustomed way under the right bank, passing sandbanks covered with numerous flocks of whimbrel, golden plover, and snake-birds. Although at the present time both royal and private steamers ply regularly between Mandalay and Bhamô, at the dry season frequent delays, caused by grounding on sandbanks, make the upward voyage of very uncertain duration. We as the pioneers had to feel our way most cautiously, the water being very low. ”

“ It was in the year 1886 that, the resolution having been taken to dethrone Thebau and annex Upper Burmah, Prendergast began his all but bloodless movement on Mandalay. The Burmans of today have never adventured a battle, yet after years of desultory bushwhacking the pacification of Upper Burmah has still to be fully accomplished. On the 10th of April 1852 an Anglo-Indian expedition commanded by General Godwin landed at Rangoon. During the next fifteen months it did a good deal of hard fighting, for the Burmans of that period made a stout resistance. ”

“ Can't you 'ear their paddles chunkin' from Rangoon to Mandalay?
On the road to Mandalay,
Where the flyin'-fishes play,
An' the dawn comes up like thunder outer China 'crost the Bay!
'Er petticoat was yaller an' 'er little cap was green,
An' 'er name was Supi-yaw-lat--jes' the same as Theebaw's Queen,
An' I seed her first a-smokin' of a whackin' white cheroot,
An' a-wastin' Christian kisses on an 'eathen idol's foot:
Bloomin' idol made o' mud--
Wot they called the Great Gawd Budd--
Plucky lot she cared for idols when I kissed 'er where she stud!
On the road to Mandalay... ”

“ He was "at home" in his pavilion to everybody; bands of music played all day long and day after day, in the kiosks, among the young palm trees and the rosebushes. Mandalay, high and low, made holiday in the mazy walks of his garden and in an improvised theatre, wherein an interminable pooey, or Burmese drama, was being enacted before ever-varying and constantly appreciative audiences. Dr. Williams opined that it would conduce to the success of my object that we should call upon the Minister at his garden-house and request him to use his good offices in my behalf. ”

“ When a white elephant dies he is buried with royal honors, and the whole nation goes into mourning. [7]
MOUNTAIN GORGE ON THE UPPER PART OF THE RIVER.
"So much for Mandalay and the King of Burmah. It is a pity you cannot go up to the city, and also to Bhamo, three hundred miles farther, where steamboats can run nearly all the year. Between Mandalay and Bhamo the scenery is more interesting than on the lower part of the Irrawaddy ”

“ Thus the duties to be discharged were multifarious, pertaining to diplomacy, engineering, natural science, and commerce. These accordingly were all represented among the members of the mission, which consisted of Captain Williams, as engineer; Dr. [Pg 9] Anderson, as medical officer and naturalist; with Captain Bowers and Messrs. Stewart and Burn as delegates from the commercial community of Rangoon. [4] A guard of fifty armed police, with their inspector and native doctor, formed an escort, while the command of the whole was entrusted to Major Sladen, Political Resident at Mandalay. ”