OUR FIRST HOME IN MANDALAY 189 A DEPOSITORY FOR IMAGES OF BUDDHA 197 GROUP OF BURMESE LADIES 201 SCHOOL-CHAPEL AT PAKOKKU 205 SCHOOL-CHAPEL AT MANDALAY 209 “THERE ARE NO ZENANAS AMONG THE BURMANS” 217 GIRLS OF THE CHIN TRIBE 247 THE HOME FOR LEPERS, MANDALAY 259 [Illustration: PROVINCE OF BURMA EAST INDIES] FOUR YEARS IN UPPER BURMA. CHAPTER I. _INTRODUCTORY._ The annexation of Upper Burma on January 1st, 1886, opened up to England a large and valuable addition to her foreign possessions, whilst it perceptibly widened the ever-increasing area of her responsibilities, both political and moral. Including the Shan States tributary to the kingdom of Burma, the annexation added to Lower or, as it was then called, British Burma, a territory as large as France, thus making all Burma a compact province of our Indian Empire, as large as France and Great Britain together, and bringing British India right up to the frontiers of China. The resources of Burma are very considerable. Its mineral wealth includes gold and silver, iron and tin; its mines of rubies and sapphires are noted all over the world; its coal and earth-oil are likely to prove of great value; jade, a green stone much prized in China and Japan for the manufacture of bracelets and trinkets, is found in large quantities in Upper Burma, and amber is met with in the northern parts of the country. As the country and its productions become opened up, these treasures are sure to receive the attention they deserve. The soil of Burma is generally very fertile, and with its diversified elevation and climate of mountain, plain and tableland, almost every variety of tropical productions can be grown, as well as many belonging to the temperate zone. Lower Burma, especially the great delta of the Irrawaddy, affords unrivalled scope and suitable climate for the growth of rice, the staple food of so large a part of the human race. The area under cultivation for rice in Lower Burma is 4,339,000 acres, and for other crops 474,000 acres, and besides all local consumption, there is the enormous total annual export of rice by sea of 1,145,000 tons.