[Sidenote: 1. Map of India, distinguishing Burma.] In the last lecture we visited Madras, the southernmost and oldest province of the Indian Empire. In this lecture we will cross the Bay of Bengal from Madras to Burma, the easternmost and newest of the provinces, if we except a recent sub-division of an older unit. Politically, Burma is a part of India, for it is ruled by the Viceroy, and commercially it is coming every day into closer relation with the remainder of India. In most other respects, however, Burma is rather the first land of the Far East than the last of India, the Middle East. In race and language probably, in religion and social customs certainly, it is nearer to China than to India. Geographically, however, though placed in the Indo-Chinese peninsula beyond the Bay of Bengal, Burma is in relation with the Indian world, for it has a great navigable river which drains into the Indian Ocean, and not into the Pacific as do the rivers of Siam and Annam, the remaining countries of the southeastward promontory of Asia. [Sidenote: 2. The Shore, Madras.] [Sidenote: 3. In Madras Harbour.] We embark from Madras on the steamer which is to carry us to Rangoon. Formerly it was necessary to go out to the vessel through the surf in specially constructed boats, for all the Coromandel Coast is shoal, and there is not a single natural harbour. Often the surf is very rough. Now, however, a harbour has been made at Madras. Two piers have been built out into the sea at right angles to the shore. They may be seen in the distance in this view. At their extremities they bend inward towards one another, so as to enclose a quadrangular space within which the steamers lie. None the less there are times when the mighty waves sweep through the open mouth, rendering the harbour unsafe, so that the shipping must stand out to sea. There have been many terrible disasters in the cyclones which from time to time strike the east coast of India. When the Madras harbour was half completed the works were overwhelmed by a storm and the undertaking had to be recommenced.