The Burmans clothe themselves in very bright colours, and in good taste as regards the harmony of the colours. A good deal of what they wear, both silk and cotton cloth, is locally manufactured. The weavers and dyers have some exquisite shades of pink, of red, of primrose, of navy blue, and other colours. They spend more on dress than the natives of India, and less on jewellery. Many of the people wear silk. The women dress their fine, luxuriant jet-black hair very tastefully. It is combed up from all sides very neatly, and made into a coil on the crown of the head. They wear no headdress but a bunch or wreath of flowers. That the Burmans cannot be considered an uncivilised race is clear from the perfect familiarity of their ladies with the mystery of the chignon, and with the manufacture and use of cosmetics for the improvement of the complexion, to say nothing of scents and artificial flowers, also locally made. The Burmans have some taste, too, in music. They have a fair ear, pick up English tunes without difficulty, and sing them sweetly. Their musical instruments are primitive, and not very elaborate. They have a kind of pipe or clarionet, also a kind of trumpet; but they are greatest in drums. A performer on the drums will have around him in a circle something like a dozen, of different sizes, and varying in pitch, so that he can almost play a tune on them. For private instrumental solos they have a kind of dulcimer, made of strips of bamboo, which is wonderfully musical and rich in tone, especially considering the material it is made from. It seems strange that the Karens should so excel their neighbours, the other races of Burma, in the capacity for music, especially when we consider that civilisation came to the Karens so late. The relative aptitude for music amongst the different races of the earth, from all one can learn, seems to hinge on something other than the mere extent of the civilisation attained. What does it depend upon? The Burman artists paint a good many pictures, judging by the great numbers offered for sale and hawked round. The pictures are mostly palace scenes, with kings and queens seated stiffly in state, receiving company, with courtiers standing round, and soldiers posted here and there. Latterly, Thomas Atkins, of the British Infantry, has been the approved type of the soldiery; perhaps with a view to a better sale for the pictures. The artists are adventurous, and willing to attempt anything, and they do not spare the colours, but the pictures are very stiff and the perspective is bad.