FOUR YEARS IN UPPER BURMA. [Illustration: SACRED BUILDINGS OF THE BUDDHISTS.] FOUR YEARS IN UPPER BURMA. BY W. R. WINSTON. “Spread it then, And let it circulate through ev’ry vein Of all your empire; that where Britain’s power Is felt, mankind may feel her mercy too.” _The Tusk._ London: C. H. KELLY, 2, CASTLE STREET, CITY ROAD, E.C.; AND 66, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C. 1892. Printed by Hazell, Watson, & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury. PREFACE. I had certainly no intention of writing a book when I commenced to put together the information contained in these pages. All I purposed to do was to prepare a short report of work done. But I found that the interesting material at hand was too abundant to be compressed within the limits I had originally intended. The need for a better knowledge, on the part of our English people generally, of the distant dependencies of the British Empire is undeniable, if they are to discharge at all intelligently the duty of governing the many races, which the circumstances of an ever-widening empire, and the extension of the parliamentary franchise, have placed in their hands. The story is told of a member of Parliament who did not know Burma from Bermuda; and as I have myself found the very same confusion of the two places, in three separate instances, by gentlemen that might have been thought fairly well educated, to say nothing of a respectable alderman who asked whether Burma was an island, and frankly admitted he was very ignorant about it, I can quite believe the story to be true. Not only is there a need for more knowledge of the countries and races we govern, there is also a demand for it. The events of recent years, especially those resulting from the annexation of King Theebaw’s country, have drawn Burma into much closer touch with England; and many people, by no means ignorant of Burma before, now feel a much deeper interest than formerly in all that pertains to that interesting country, whose destinies are henceforth so intimately bound up with our own. I have endeavoured to draw as faithful and accurate a picture as possible of the country and people, and I have tried to show, from the standpoint of a sympathetic but impartial witness, what the annexation of an Oriental country like Burma really means, what are its immediate results, and what are the many strong points and the few weak points in our rule.