Judson, Adoniram, 1788-1850; Missionaries -- Burma -- Biography; Missionaries -- United States -- Biography
Having studied the _Geography_ and the _Physical Geography_ of Burmah,
we turn to its _Natural History_. The domestic animals are the ox,
buffalo, horse, and the goat. The horses are small, and are used for
riding, never as beasts of burden. The dog is not kept as a pet, or for
hunting, but, as in other Oriental countries, he roams about the cities
in a half-wild condition, devouring offal, and at last becomes the
victim of famine or disease. The jungles swarm with wild animals, the
monkey, elephant, rhinoceros, tiger, leopard, deer, and wild-cat. The
elephants are caught, tamed, and used for riding. The white elephant, or
albino, is especially prized. A specimen is always kept at court as the
insignia of royalty, one of the king’s titles being, “Lord of the White
Elephant.” The tiger sometimes steals out of the jungle into a Karen
village, and carries off a pig or a calf, or even a child. When once he
has tasted human blood, he is very dangerous. An American missionary, a
lady, relates that she came once to a native village which a tiger had
formed the habit of visiting every night. On each occasion he would
carry off some domestic animal. The villagers had taken no measures to
avert the danger. She urged them to try and kill the monster. She
described how speedily an American village would rid itself of such a
nuisance. And so they built an enormous trap or dead-fall. The trunk of
a tree was to fall and break the tiger’s back. A squealing pig was tied
up for bait. The following night some English officers arrived. They sat
up late talking over their adventures, when suddenly a terrific roar
pealed through the village. The officers rushed out and found an
enormous Bengal tiger pinned down in the trap. They speared him to
death, and his beautiful skin was given to the lady as a trophy.
Even in the towns the dove-cote has to be placed on the top of a high
pole, the base of which is sheathed with tin, in order to prevent the
wild-cats from climbing up and devouring the doves. One of the author’s
childish reminiscences is seeing in a cage a wild-cat that had been
caught alive in the belfry of the church at Maulmain.
Venomous and offensive reptiles and insects abound. While you are eating
your dinner the lizard may drop from the bamboo rafters upon the table.
As you step out of your door the gleaming forms of chameleons shoot up
the trunk of your roof-tree and hide themselves in the branches. The
scorpion, with its painful sting, and the centipede, with its poisonous
bite, may be found in your garden. The children must be warned not to
race through the bushes in your compound, lest they encounter the hated
cobra, whose slightest nip is sure and speedy death. The author
remembers his father taking the Burman spear, the only weapon which he
ever used, and going down into the poultry-yard to dispatch a cobra,
whose track had first been discovered in the dust beneath the house.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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