of all t

g to oth

ns an En

. Pina

but despite their limited number they form a very friendly and independent little community. Among them are to be found th

ntertainments, at which one would invariably meet the same half-dozen guests are apt to become a trifle monotonous, the ladies, deprived of

ations, and whereas in Rangoon, or Mandalay, housekeeping duties are reduced to a minimum, in Remyo, the la

, they are terr

ts and household are quite unaccustomed to being "kept"; and thirdly, it is practically impossibl

spite of all these possibilities she can only play at housekeeping; the Cook and Head Boy are the real managers of the establishment, and they regard the well meant efforts of t

ve bazaar, so the poor housekeeper is often at her

"Well cook, what have w

laconically

oubtfully, "yes, perhaps that wil

is, not k

"missis told you always to kill it the

and after an unsuccessful attempt to understand him, his mistress is forced to pass from the subject, w

again the p

hing else?" demands

e is noth

ake a very nice little side di

ed chicken," sugge

es in despair, "we ca

d missis l

chicken will be nice. She asks about the savoury, but seeing the word "chicken" again hoverin

duly enters in her book, fondly hoping that he isn't charging her more than

earches, but he was never in the least disconcerted, and at once entered into a long, unintelligible, and quite irrefutable explanation as to

e the character, for they allow no one else to cheat him (unless they get the lion's share of the s

fence, whatever it may be, from a bad dinner, to a broken plate or an undelivered message. It is only the master, who, by a wealth of strong language, and judicio

aged to sweep the floor, another to dust the furniture, one to fetch the water, a second to pour it into the bath, one t

has enjoyed an opportunity of relieving his feelings. But it is inconvenient for a mistress; such a delay is caused in carrying out an order. For example, if a jug of water be spilled, a first servant picks up the ju

em through the various ranks of his underlings until they reach the servant whose duty it is to carry t

nite duties, the remainder seemed to be chiefly engaged in getting in one another's way and quarrelling. But I suppos

ng inducement be offered, and the Burmese much prefer not to work, if they can live without doing so. Burmans are usually excellent servants, but they are slow to learn to speak English

and to interpret, we felt particularly helpless. Messages brought at such a time had to go undelivered, and many a struggle have I

had perforce to be entrusted to the tender mercies of the cook, no one else being capable of understanding his intricate oven. And the cook

about cooking, but we had cookery books, and did what we could, supplying the place of the innumerable

st the whole of my stay, but nobody ate them save myself from brava

w to be almost entirely ignorant upon such subjects) glibly confiding recipes for all sorts of things, on one of these occasions. I taxed her with the matter later, but she explained

r, and the ladies usually pay it a daily visit, in order,

asking for various articles, each demand being greeted by a shake of the head. She then asks the shopkeeper what he does happen to sell, at which he appears doubtful, but sug

lucky if it arrives within twelve months after being ordered, and without an expendit

s an impossibility, letters for money will arrive; a request for a rupee for carriage, another request for five annas for something else, for half a rupee that has been overlooked in the first account, and so on

onstruction, when it is suddenly discovered that by some strange oversight the original was overlooked, never sent off at all, and is still reposin

eace and friendliness, but there is between them one

though the uninitiated would probably not recognise the fact, and the amount of time

nd these operations) till life is a burden both to themselves and to their servants. Possibly, I did not remain long enough, but the results I saw were not satisfactory; it required a great stretch of imagination to mark any resemblance between a large bare compound cover

as did some of our wiser neighbours) we might have been fairly successful. But visions of rose gardens, artistica

such trifles. Directly we had formed our plans we set to work, scorning the advice of more experienced people, and disregarding all considerations of prepared beds, manure

At length, after much useless discussion, we decided each to go our own way, sow our seed where we chose, and leave it to Nature to settle the difficulty. This was so far satisfa

earch after signs of life in our seeds. We divided the day into watches, that someone might always be at hand to defend the precious seed from the mara

ve the ground. How tenderly we cherished these first fruits of our toil; how carefully we shaded them from the sun, wate

easantly proud, and treated our friends with contemptuous pity, while we visited and measured the plants almost every half-hour, to see if they had grown in the interval. Bu

day with waste paper baskets, topees, and cunningly erected tents of straw, and we risked our lives a hundred times, by running out in the hot sun to replace these, when the wind blew them away. We talked b

re to one another; and being now sadder and wiser folk, threw away the withered

s a tiny bed round the foot of a tree at the bottom of the compound veritably blazed with the colour afforded by four flourishing nasturtiums;

n, our head boy, was rather more successful, our radishes,

d really promising, and as we sat on the veranda in the evenings contemplating this cheerful

and upon hurrying to the spot I found it too true; our precocious peas were already in flower, and nothing could be done to discourage them. After a few days the petals fell away, and miniature pea po

but, unfortunately, only one survived, which put forth three new shoots, and appeared for a time quite healthy, bu

re regard to the demands of the climate, was a suc

or between breakfast and tea time the sun is so terribly hot, as to render out-door exerci

nely are some days, to their Anglo-Indian sisters. Their husbands away, or busy much of the day, deprived of their children's society, with few books, few amusements, and practically no duties, life

, I remember one day, when there was no work to be done, my brother and sister, (who had but lately left Rangoon with its constant whirl of gaie

portunities for exercise and amusement, a

e to which I have referred. Each form of exercise enjoys about three days popularity at a time. At one time tennis will be the rage, and every one repairs to the Club court, tho' so short are the evenings before

ly drive on to the green every time, but at Remyo we were not good players. If by some lucky chance one drove perfectly straight, there was nothing worse to fear than a tree, or a deep nullah, filled with reeds and hoof marks, a nullah where might be spent a harassing quarter of an hour, slashing at a half hidden b

lost balls, broken clubs, and lost tempers. I have seen three clubs broken by one man in

d not find it. They could never be induced to make any distinction between the clubs, and looked hurt when we curtly refused to drive with our putters. Their notion of marking balls, too, is very primitive; Po Mya only found one during my stay, which it turn

aid turf, discussing solemnly the drainage, and general advantages and disadvantages of the position; or,

possible, and showering unlimited contempt upon all others. Every day we were dragged off to inspect a new spot, and all appeared to me so equally lacking in points

ose whose views had been disregarded, derived the satisfaction (always to be had i

direction, and exquisite views from the hills, whence can be seen for miles nothing but undulating waves of jungle, every colour from deepest reds and browns to the bright pink of t

n, or study 'neath the shade of the palm and banana groves. The pagodas are all very similar in shape, and near to each is a tazoung full of i

g. These paths lead to tiny collections of bamboo huts, surrounded by high fences to keep out dacoits and other marauders, where the unambitious native leads a peaceful, contente

to my limbs. Nothing would induce me again to mount a pony (I had h

e bullock carts. It was impossible to ride in the furrows, as they were not sufficiently wide to allow the pedals to work round, so I was obliged to perform a sort of plank riding trick along the top of the rut. Occasionally, my eminence would break off abruptly, and unless the bicy

o leave me to ride alone. He would trot along on his pony, either just beside, or worse still just behind me, when I felt I might fall at any moment, and that he could not help riding over me. He would chatter away gaily, while

ng since we left England, we hailed the new idea with delight. The men refused to accompany us (the English civilian in the Eas

irely by clumps of feathery bamboos, a most exquisite spot. We climbed a neighbouring

set alight below, and the smoke, drifting across the valley towards us most effectually obscured our view

ly a hermit, shut himself promptly into the inner recesses of his dwelling, and continued to read in a loud voice until we had taken our dep

ry hot and tired, having lost our way once or twice, we failed to co

at was our astonishment to see a band of Goorkhas, under command of one of the subalterns, of the detachment stationed at Remyo, defending our house against an unseen enemy who lurked in the neighbouring jungle, and kept up an incessant firing. My mind first flew to

ond of the two subalterns of the detachment. It was difficult to believe that this usually shy and retiring young ma

for the wounded, and watched with be

er, conversed amicably together, evidently settled their differences, summ

usement of the officers who form th

her disconcerting at first, but I grew accustomed to it in time, as one grows accustomed to anything, and wou

see these men, in most desperate earnestness, crouching in ambush, dodging behind trees, and crawling along under cover to escape the fire of their foes. The

resume to analyse; two railway men (who seem superfluous as there is as yet no railway), a P.W.D. (Public Works Department) man, wh

ustoms of all the beasts of the jungle, and after examining a "kill" would give a whole history of the figh

xaggeration; nor could he give an unvarnished reply to a plain question, so that in

ull of information. He was one of those men who can give information on every conceivable subject, for if he knows

helping me to mend it. His process occupied the whole of an afternoon, and the front veranda and drawing-room; beyond this, it was too intricate to describe, except to say that it required all the available toot

ffair, with a chimney that went through a hole in the wall, and it smoked "somethink hawful." Our friend tried his plan and a dozen others, each more wonderful and complicated than the last, and each necessitating fresh holes in

ngineer excelled himself, wa

d to us rose cuttings, which we must plant in carefully prepared boxes of soil, follow the instructions which he would give us concerning their welfare, and we should soon ha

the letter accompanying them, I discovered they were the promised rose cuttings. I felt some doubts about them

and sheltering them from the sun by day, and from the cold dews by night, but all to no avail. Dead sticks they were, and dead sticks they remain

undle of rose cuttings, and substituted these twigs in their place. For my part I believe no such thing, and when I consider what pa

emyo inhabitants may be, in one particular they all

nd golf links, to abuse the privileges of honorary membership of the club, to unjustly

eans the advent of one who will possess the latest fashions from Rangoon (possibly from England), who will throw into the shade their gala costumes of the fashion o

ved and comfortably housed, they are not admitted into the inner life of the station until

ey, and departed again leaving deeply rooted indignation behind them. Of the first, a woman, it suffices to say that she amply justified the

man) was of a different nature, and it is perhaps difficul

o kill. The evening before the shoot, a visitor on his way from a remote station, arrived in Remyo, and obtained permission to accompany the sportsmen. As he was reputed to be a very bad shot this was readily given, and th

aws of hospitality are above all, so the perpetrator of the crime was allowed to escape with his life and the tiger skin, but since that day

haps a little too candidly; but lest any who read this book be

f. The Anglo-Burmans, while retaining the best qualities of the English nation, seem to lose entirely that cold and suspicious reserve towards strangers, of which we are often so justly accused. They appear to

mention it, but as I spent six months among them, without encountering a single unkind look, word, or deed, I can