Marriage amongst the Burmans is not a very close bond. It is a civil institution, and altogether non-religious, and divorce for trifling causes is common and easy. I know a well-to-do couple who had been married for some years, and lived happily; but at length a difference of opinion unfortunately arose between them, and a quarrel ensued about a mere trifle, affecting the expenditure of a sum not more than a shilling, and after the quarrel they calmly agreed to separate, on the ground of incompatibility of dispositions. Many a man has had several wives, one after another, and parted with them successively. In case of the dissolution of a marriage, the woman retains whatever property she possessed before marriage, together with what she may have gained by her own separate exertions, or inherited. Polygamy is sanctioned by usage, but is not very common, as it is costly; concubinage is by no means uncommon. The wealthy, such as ministers of state and men in high position, usually kept more than one wife. The king was the worst offender in this respect, for he set a very bad example. King Mindohn, the last king but one, had fifty-three recognised wives, of whom thirty-seven survived him, besides numerous concubines; and he had one hundred and ten children, of whom fifty survived him. He himself, however, in conversation with the English envoy, deplored this bad custom, as productive of much intrigue, revolution and bloodshed in the palace. There was sad confirmation of this after his death, in the two fearful massacres during the reign of King Theebaw, that cut off nearly all the surviving members of the royal family, besides many other innocent persons. One very peculiar and unseemly custom was for the reigning monarch to espouse, as his principal queen, one of the royal princesses, who was therefore his half-sister. It is undoubtedly a blessing for Burma that such a rule, so hopelessly corrupt and demoralising to the nation, so incompetent to keep order, and so determinedly Oriental, conservative and out of date, has become a thing of the past.