schemes, and which has already been found valuable in keeping cholera at arm's-length from the protected places, is on the whole welcome, though the superior claims of dirty tank water, which, being softer, is more serviceable in cookery, are still a common article of belief. In other respects, sanitary reform is still, as elsewhere in India, thoroughly uncongenial; and the utmost to be hoped for the present is that, with the help of discretion on the one side and good-nature on the other, the people may be coaxed out of providing nutriment for diseases which are dangers to all the world as well as to themselves. Forest conservation will always be another difficulty, particularly among the wilder tribes, who live in and by the forest; but they are a docile race, and readily respond when consideration is shown to them. Behind all these more or less tangible sources of irritation, there no doubt lurks in many minds the universal sentiment for the past, which is particularly vivid amongst Eastern races, softening its asperities, and dressing out its picturesque qualities in rich colours. It would be scarcely natural not to contrast the days when the hill-castles poured forth trains of caparisoned elephants and gaily-hued retainers, with the spectacle of the little plastered police-posts, tenanted by three or four blue-coated constables, which now take their place; or to force an interest in the prosaic doings of town-councils without a regretful glance backwards to the armed princes who sat in state before their palaces to give ear to the poorest of their people. Prosperity is, however, an excellent solvent for more vital grievances than these; and there is reason to hope that the country is generally tending towards a higher level of comfort than it has yet attained. Its material condition depends largely on the value of the agricultural produce which it can export, and for many years back the extension of roads and railways has enabled it to pay for its imports by a steadily diminishing tale of its produce, thus leaving to the inhabitants an increasing margin for wants and even for luxuries. All branches of revenue show a steady upward tendency; and though the landrevenue assessments move with the discretion of the assessing officials as well as with the progress of the country, and do not therefore supply an infallible test, the excise and stamps fluctuate more or less automatically, and an increase in them may fairly be taken as indicating some power of indulging in superfluities, for there are as many who find their pleasure in the contests of the courts as in the consumption of stimulants. On the whole the general outlook is promising: the devotion and ability of the officials are questioned by none; a few decades of their work has accomplished more than all the previous centuries; and the points open to criticism are, perhaps, such as are inseparable from any attempt to put new wine into old bottles. BURMA PAST AND PRESENT BY MRS. ERNEST HART By the conquest of Upper and Lower Burma, a country four times as large as England was added to the British Empire. Burma is a land of great natural wealth. The forests abound in teak; rubber, mahogany, cutch, and other valuable products might also be cultivated. The plains give heavy crops of rice, and the famous mines yield rubies and other precious stones. Petroleum, amber, nitre, wood-oil, coal, and, it is believed, gold, are among the natural products of Burma, while the soil is so rich that it is averred that almost any tropical or sub-tropical plants can be profitably cultivated. It is, however, not only from the commercial point of view that Burma is so great an acquisition to the British Crown, for it is also a land of unique interest from the historical, archæological, ethnological, artistic, and ethical points of view. THE GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION OF BURMA A glance at the map will show that Burma occupies a remarkable geographical position. Bounded on three sides by India, China, and Siam, it has an unbroken coast-line extending for several hundred miles along the north-east of the Bay of Bengal. This coast is indented by the estuaries of the Irrawaddy, the Salwen, and Sitang Rivers, which form natural harbours of great commercial value. On the north the country is protected and bounded by a prolongation of the vast Himalayan range, in the snows of which the Irrawaddy takes its rise, and flows thence for a thousand miles through the entire length of Burma. This noble river is said to be the largest body of melted snow in the world. As a waterway traversing the heart of the country from end to end, its value cannot be overestimated. After the rains of the early summer the Irrawaddy overflows its banks, flooding the country for miles, and giving rise, on its return to its banks, to the malaria which has won for the climate of Burma so bad a name. THE FIRST BURMESE WAR AND THE CONQUEST OF ARAKAN The gradual extension eastwards of the borders of our Indian Empire brought us at the beginning of this century into direct and often difficult and strained relations with the neighbouring kingdom of Burma. When subsequently France, by the conquest of Tonquin, began to push westwards towards Yunnan and Burma, it was felt by the Indian Government that the possession of Burma-which would give a settled and well-governed State on the borders of Bengal, instead of a turbulent, aggressive, and intriguing neighbour, which would probably open up to Great Britain the rich trade of Burma, and would give possession of harbours such as the whole coast-line of India did not furnish-was an object greatly to be desired. It took, however, over sixty years and three wars to achieve the complete conquest and subjugation of the ancient kingdom of Ava. War between Burma and Great Britain broke out first in the year 1824, and was the direct consequence of raids and counter-raids across the borders of Arakan and Chittagong. The Burmese king of that time was a monarch of unparalleled ferocity and arrogance, and as he had treated the envoys of the Indian Government with marked discourtesy, it was thought well to teach him a lesson. War was formally declared. British troops were landed at Rangoon, only to find that city deserted. A campaign followed, in which the invading forces suffered severely from sickness and privation. On the Burmese General Bandula being killed by a stray cannon shot, the Burmese lost heart, and allowed the British to pass up the Irrawaddy almost to the walls of Ava. Some resistance was made at Pagahn, where the Burmese forces were completely routed. To save his capital and the ancient kingdom of Ava, the King reluctantly signed the Treaty of Yandabo, by which Assam, Arakan, and Tenasserim were ceded to the British Government. By this treaty the coasts of Arakan and Tenasserim, including the harbour of Akyab and the natural harbour at the mouth of the Salwen, where Maulmain was founded, became a valuable and important extension of the Indian Empire. BURMESE MISGOVERNMENT AND ARROGANCE The Burmese king learnt nothing, however, from losses and defeats, but continued to pursue as heretofore the same course of cruelty and tyranny at home, and of arrogance and insult in his relations with the British Government. The conduct of King Tharawaddy was so outrageous that in 1840 the British Resident was withdrawn from Ava, and from that time till 1852 there were no official relations between the Indian and Burmese Governments. Pagan Men succeeded his father in 1846, and followed closely in his footsteps. "He began his reign by making a holocaust, to the number of about a hundred persons, of |