Burmah and the BurmeseMackenzie, Kenneth R. H. (Kenneth Robert Henderson)
History
Burmah and the Burmese
Mackenzie, Kenneth R. H. (Kenneth Robert Henderson)
Burma -- Civilization; Burma -- History
That there is much crime is undeniable; but they are not monsters of
iniquity, neither, on the other hand, are they angels of heaven. We must
ever, in our judgment of uncivilised or semi-civilised races, be careful
and lenient to a degree. They have not always the same advantages, and
they are kept back by their rulers, ever ignorant and bigoted. Example,
experience, and interest cause a nation to progress, not violence nor
fanaticism. Witness the Turkish nation, formerly wild and brutish, now to
be considered in every way as a civilised and generous nation. And this
was brought about by the force of example and the energy of the ruler.
We shall, in the history of Burmah, meet with a somewhat similar case in
Alompra.[49]
Let us now turn to the revenues accruing to the government, and first of
the earth-oil.
The petroleum wells, once already described, are of immense value to the
government as a source of revenue. The annual produce of the wells is,
according to Crawfurd,[50] twenty-two millions of viss, each of 3⁶⁵⁄₁₀₀
pounds avoirdupois. The wells altogether occupy a space of about six
square miles. Cox, who visited them early in 1797, says, that at the
place where he stayed to examine the wells, there were about one hundred
and eighty of them, and at the distance of four or five miles there were,
he was told, three hundred and forty more.[51] I cannot do better than
subjoin some few of Crawfurd’s excellent remarks, in connection with his
visit. He was put in possession of more correct data on which to found
his calculation than his intelligent predecessor Captain Cox, and his
observations are consequently of more authority.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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