In writing of races, social life, and government, I have, of course, written of that which is seen through a missionary’s eyes. It so happens that I have had a great deal to do with people of various nationalities, in relations not directly of a missionary character. This has given me many opportunities to observe as a man, regardless of my calling. In all respects I have tried to be fair and accurate. I have always cherished a fellow-feeling with men whose labors brought them to Asia, and my sympathies have been with all such in honorable callings. It has been my purpose to reflect the conditions of life with which they are surrounded. There has been much excluded that I would gladly have recorded, if the limit of this book had allowed the additional facts. Some incompleteness of statement has been unavoidable, as I could not verify the details at the time and place of writing. Ten years is a short time to study great questions in the East, and to form conclusions on the greatest of them; but I trust that enough of well-digested facts has been told in this book to give the student of missions and mission lands an inside view of the questions discussed. For such defects as are due to the limitations of the author’s ability to gather or to present facts in a satisfactory manner, I must trust to the generous sentiments of the reader. JULIUS SMITH. _TABLE OF CONTENTS_ PAGE I. FROM AMERICA TO BURMA, 13 II. FIRST YEAR IN BURMA, 34 III. A YEAR OF CHANGES, 57 IV. THE PHYSICAL FEATURES OF BURMA, 70 V. THE CITY OF RANGOON, 87 VI. EUROPEANS, ANGLO-INDIANS, EURASIANS, 109 VII. CHARACTERISTICS OF RACES OF BURMA, 122 VIII. BUDDHISM, 139 IX. BUDDHISM; HOW MAINTAINED, 153 X. BUDDHISM AND CHRISTIANITY CONTRASTED, 169 XI. RIPENED FRUIT OF NON-CHRISTIAN FAITHS, 180 XII. OUTLINE OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS, BURMA, 201 XIII. METHODIST EPISCOPAL MISSION, BURMA, 216 XIV. PREACHING IN FOUR ASIATIC LANGUAGES, 236 XV. A UNIQUE ENTERPRISE, 263 XVI. THE PRESENT SITUATION IN MISSIONS, 293 XVII. BENEFITS OF BRITISH RULE IN SOUTHERN ASIA, 308 [Illustration] _LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS_ PAGE 1. JULIUS SMITH, _Frontispiece_.