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B. R. Pearn, Corporation of Rangoon, American Baptist Mission Press, Rangoon, 1939
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CHAPTER FOUR
The most striking feature of Alaungpaya's Rangoon is the insignificance of its size. fn049-01 So small was it that it could all be comprised within an area between the Sule Pagoda and the River on the north and south respectively, with, as its eastern and western limits, approximately Judah Ezekiel Street and 30th Street. Its total area could not have been more than eighth of a square mile, and its circumference not more than a couple of mile. A befitted a port, the town was sited close to the River; and its southern boundary ran parallel to the river-bank for about three-quarters of a miles as the crow flies, though as the boundary was by no means a straight line the actual length was rather more. On the west, the town was only about a furlong in width; and the eastern face was about six hundred yards. The northern face was about eleven hundred yards long. Roughly, on the east the boundary lay on the line of modern Judah Ezekiel Street from the Strand to Dalhsie Street; on the west it ran between Maung Taulay Street and Mogul Street from the Strand to a short distance beyond Merchant Street; the northern face cut across the modern Fytche Square, Phayre Street, and Sparks Streets, in a direction north of east, from Merchant Street on the south-west to Dalhousie Street on the north-east.
Thus the whole of the town was restricted to a small area which is only a fragment of present-day Rangoon; and its centre lay well to the east of the Sule Pagoda, the centre of the modern city.
Round all four sides ran a stockade, built of solid teak piles, driven few feet into the ground and rising in places to a height of as such as twenty feet, though in other places it was only ten or twelve feet. It was strengthened by heavy placed transversely across the tops of the posts, and, according to some observers, by embankments of earth within. At every few feet loopholes for musketeers were cut, and behind the stockade were platforms for the musketeers to stand on. Without, the stockade was protected by a ditch "overgrown with arums, pontiderias, the pitsia stratiota, and other aquatic plants", fn049-02 which ran round three sides of the town, while the River protected the southern side; but the stockade was not precisely on the bank of the River; it stood at its nearest point twenty or thirty yards back. Though the stockade was essential for defence, it had the disadvantage of cutting off any view of the River, while it was complained also that it produced a confined and insalubrious atmosphere within the town.
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fn049-01 See Map IV. fn049-01b
fn049-02 Crawfurd: Journal of an Embassy to the Court of Ava, II. 51. fn049-02
Inside the stockade, which, as suburbs grew up, came to be known as "the Fort" (the strict meaning of the Burmese myo), the town consisted primarily of three streets running east to west, and two running south to north; l there were other minor streets also, including one immediately behind and parallel to the southern side of the sodckade. The southernmost of the major east-west streets, running slightly north of the present Strand Road, came to be known as the Kaladan, "the street of the foreigners", because most of the foreign merchants lived there. The next east-west road, running along or to the south of modern Merchant Street, was later known as "Pegu Place" by the English, no doubt because the Myowun of Hanthawaddy had his residence and court there; and the northernmost, lying somewhat to the north of Merchant Street k,was the Mingal Bazaar. The principal south-north road lay approximately along the line of Barr Street, and the other major parallel road lay on the line of Lewis Street.
In the case of the stockade were a number of gates; probably three on the south leading to the River and wharfs, two on the north, one on the west, and two on the east, together with a number of small sally-ports. fn050-01
Around the stockade was water or water-logged land, varied by higher plats of ground covered with low shrubs and brushwood. Rangoon, indeed, presented a very different appearance from today. The Sule Pagoda stood on a small laterite pinnacle, cut off from the town by a morass which covered a great deal of what is now Fytche Square and the area to the west thereof. This morass was linked with the River, the ditch outside the stockade connecting it with the main stream on both east and west. Thus in reality Rangoon stood on a small island, and this no doubt largely accounts for its confined area. Beyond the town, where all is now dry land, were numerous tanks, some of considerable size. West of the town there was a tidal creek near the present Latter Street; and to the east was the Botataung Creek, near modern Creek Street, linking the River with the Pazundaung Creek and so forming another island known as Queen's Island, of the present Pazundaung and Monkey Point area. This island is marked on some old maps as being very definitely cut off from the mainland Apart from tanks and creeks, the land was so low-lying that most of it was covered with water at high tide and during heavy rain; and this was the case within the town as well as outside it. East and west, towards the distant hamlets of Pazundaung and Kemmendine, the latter being the residence of some of the King's boatmen and the site of a guard-post, the land along the River was little better than a
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fn050-01 It is impossible to reconcile the numerous discrepancies in the account of different observers. Thus Symes describes the town as a square: Wilson as "an irregular parallelogram": Crawfurd as "an irregular square": Doveton as "something of an oval form." Some state that he town was a mile in length, others about nine hundred yards. Similarly there is no agreement about the number of gates in the stockade: Symes, Bachman, and Wilson state that there were two gates on the north, and one in each of the other three sides, but Crawfurd gives two on the north, two on the east, three on the north, three on the east, three on the south, and one on the west. Crawfurd, who appears to show greater precision that the rest, has been on the south, and one on the west. Crawfurd, who appears to show greater precision than the rest, has been followed here. It may be observed that no proper survey was made of the town; distances appear to have been merely paced out. fn050-01b
morass, and within the stockade houses had to be built on piles to escape the rising river at high tide and the water with which the place was inundated after every shower. Drains, however were cut alongside the streets to carry off the water, and planks were laid down along each road so that the foot-passenger might avoid the worst of the wet -- except that when two pedestrians met one had to step off into the mud. The drains were not very effective, for the spring tides came up into them and the channels were often full of small fish. In addition, one or two muddy creeks ran up into the town itself and the tide flowed up into them also. As late as 1782 the streets were not paved fn051-01 but in 1795 they were, it is stated, "tolerably well paved with brick," fn051-02 with a number of wooden bridges over the creeks, these amenities having been provided by a Portuguese who was Shahbandar or Collector of Customs. As wheeled traffic within the city was not permitted, the paving remained in tolerable repair. Nevertheless, it is evident that the town was extremely damp and unwholesome. "The dirtiness of the town and the water mixing with the filth, occasioned dreadful stenches", it was recorded. fn051-03 Dysentery, cholera, and small-pox were common. fn051-04 Yet the accounts of the general health of the town are contradictory. Despite the statements referred to, it was also said that "even during the rains which all over India make the most disagreeable and sticky time of the year, the air, in this place, is temperate, and has an elasticity unknown at the corresponding period in any other part; which gives vigour to the whole animal system, and enables it to support a great degree of fatigue. Perhaps the rapid motion of the tide may account, in some measure, for this unexpected healthiness of the climate". fn051-05 Again "the general salubrity of the air is best evinced by its effects; the inhabitants, male and female, are a hale, robust race; strangers in general preserve their health, or recover soon if they arrive sick". fn051-06 The contradiction perhaps arises from variations in epidemics from year to year. The lack of consistency between the various accounts of the town is also evidenced by the fact that some observes describe the streets as wide and others as narrow, some as dirty and some as clean. In fact they were narrow , only ten or twelve feet wide. fn051-07
Health was possibly assisted by the practice, indulged in by the European inhabitants if not by others, of bathing in a tank north of the Shwe Dagon; when one William Caldwell was brought to the town in a very low state of health after being cast away in the Guld of Martaban, a surgeon recommended that "he should remain here for three or four months to take advantage
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fn051-01 Hunter: Description of Pegu, p.5 But did Hunter really visit Burma, despite his professions? His account of the Shwe Dagon is borrowed almost verbatim from Hamilton, and could hardly have been written by anyone who spent in Rangoon the length of time which Hunter claims to have stayed. fn051-01b
fn051-02 Buchanan: Burma Journal (India Office, Home Miscellaneous Series, 687). fn051-02b
fn051-04 Sangermno: Description of the Bumese Empire, p. 134. fn051-04b
fn051-05 Hunter, op, cit. p. 7. fn051-05
fn051-06 Cox: Journal of a Residence in the Burmhan, Empire, p. 11. fn051-06
fn051-07 Bennett: Rangoon Fifty Years Ago. fn051-07b
of the Mineral Baths of Rangoon as the most likely remedy of restoring him to Health." fn052-01 This tank, whose waters were "limpid, but austere and acid to the taste", contained natural mineral water, which on rough analysis was found to consist of "a pure chalybeate, containing iron held in solution of the acid of sulphur or vitriolic acid, with a very small proportion of magnesia and muriatic salt". fn052-02 It was commonly known as "the Scotch tank" because, it is ambiguously stated, of "the sulphureous qualities of its water". fn052-03 Perhaps it is to be identified with the take which figures in the story of Queen Shinsawbu: "when the Queen heard that there was sickness among her subjects she made mixtures of herbs in a lake nearby (the Pagoda) and caused her subjects to take the medicine". fn052-04
For drinking - water the town was dependent on wells, the best of which were outside the stockade, for within it the wells tended to become impregnated with river water. The most potable waster was obtained from a well, north of the stockade, known to the Europeans as "Rebecca's Well" because "here at all times of the day, and often at night, would be found with their earthen water - pots the maidens of the town, for water and gossip. The well was famous then as now for its excellent water, and was almost the only well from which the people in the stockade had their drinking water." fn052-05
In general aspect the town must have been not unlike a modern Burmese village. The houses were nearly all built of bamboo - matting with thatched roofs. The space underneath the floor, between the piles on which the house was raised, became a depository for filth and a home for animals and fowls. One writer unkindy states that "the fowls, ducks, pigs, and pariah dogs ................ added to the inmates of the house, place it on a par with an Irish hovel". fn052-06 Another observer says that "the space beneath is invariably a receptacle for dirt and stagnant water, from which, during the heat of the day, pestilential vapours constantly ascend." fn052-07 "The City" wrote one abserve, fn052-08 "appeared to me very strange, and such wretched houses I thought I never saw, though they are built with wood. Dogs, rats, hogs, and all manner of vermin, are certainly very numerous, but not more so than they are in a native town in Bengal. Houses are raised two, three, four, or five feet from the ground, and all underneath is hollow, and filled with all manner of rubbish and filth of the house and family, which these animals feed upon and live among." The number of ownerless swine and dogs which wandered about the town and played the part of public scavengers was frequently commented on by travellers: "Heaps of meagre swine, the disgusting scavengers
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fn052-01 Imperial Record Department, Public Proceedings 25th Spetember, 1789. fn052-01b
fn052-02 Cox, op. cit., p.21. fn052-02b
fn052-03 Snodgrass, op. cit., p. 107. fn052-03b
fn052-04 Shwedagon Thamaing. fn052-04b
fn052-05 Bennett: Rangoon Fifty Years Ago. fn052-05b
fn052-06 Trant: Two Years in Ava, p. 26. fn052-06b
fn052-07 Snodgrass: Narrative of the Burmese War, p.14 fn052-07b
fn052-08 Felix Carey, quoted Felix Carey and the English Baptist Baptist Mission in Burma. fn052-08b
of the town, infest he streets by day; and at night they are reliveved by packs of hungry dogs". fn053-01
Timber houses were few, and brick houses even fewer, It was illegal for a Burmese subject to build a brick house, for it was feared that such buildings might become centres of resistance against the authorities; but no restriction was placed on the materials used by European residents for their buildings, provided that they obtained prior permission and paid a heavy tax; though in general the European preferred timber houses "not from any want of brick or lime, but because the wooden houses are more adapted to the dampness of the climate. Such few brick buildings as do exist, are used more as magazines than as dwelling-houses." fn053-02 It would appear, however, that the true reason for the preference for timber houses was the poor workmanship of the builders; "even these buildings erected so very badly, that they have more the appearance of prisons than habitations. Strong iron bars usurp the place of windows, and the only communication between the upper and lower storeys is by means of wooden steps placed outside." fn053-03 Symes, in 1795, noted that the two-storeyed Custom House, which lay more or less on the site of the present-day new Law Courts, was the only lay building in the town constructed of brick. Apart from the Custom House, the principal buildings were the residence of the Myowun, which lay approximately on modern Merchant Street between Lewis Street and Sparks Street, and the Yondaw, the public court, which lay opposite it on the south side of the Pegu Place. Both of these buildings were made of timber. fn053-04
Outside the stockade on the river bank were three wooden wharfs, with steps leading down to the water. The principal wharf, the King's Wharf, which was graced by a tiled roof, lay more or less where Barr Street Jetty now is. There is only one jetty, and that built of timber; it was part of the King's Wharf, and unlike the remaining two wharves enabled ships to load and unload without the use of sampans. Near the main wharf were two large wooden sheds which were used s an exchange by the merchants, who met there in the cool of the morning and evening to transact business. The Custom House within the stockade was also a place of public resort. Close by the King's Wharf stood a battery of guns, mounted behind a wooden breastwork, the guns being run out though ports like the ports in the side of a ship. fn053-05 A flagstaff stood near by. Higher up the River, beyond the limits of the town, the China Wharf developed; the name was derived from the Chinese who lived in the suburb there.
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fn053-01 Snodgrass: op. cit. p. 14 fn053-01b
fn053-02 Sangermano, op. cit., p. 131 fn053-02b
fn053-03 Trant: op. cit. p. 26. fn053-03b
fn053-04 Symes: Embassy to Ava, p. 160. fn053-04b
fn053-05 Statements of the strength of the battery veary: Cox gives sixteen four or six-pounders: Buchanan mention ten or twelve guns.
See Plate No. 2 -- Rangoon from the River, and No.5 -- Rangoon from the Anchorage; and compare No. 34 for the waterfront today. fn053-05b
There were three principal exits from the town other than those leading to the waterside. On the west a road crossed the ditch and ran aross the marshy land and the creeks towards Kemmendine, passing through the village of "Shotee rua, possessed by a kind of soldiers named Laynoza, who hold their lands by military tenure, are supposed never to run away in battle and are distinguished by having the lower prt of their bellies tattoed." fn054-01 Along this road the land towards the River was partially cultivated with paddy, with shrubs elsewhere any from the River was thick jungle. On the north of the town two roads ran towards the Shwe Dagon Pagoda. The westernmost road, an extension of the town road on the line of modern Barr Street, passed out through the Execution or Death Gate, so called because all dead bodies and condemned criminals were taken that way, the latter going towards the Execution Ground which lay north of Dalhousie Street between China Street and Edwards Street. The Death Gate lay on the site of the modern High Court, near Fytche Square. On the left of this westernmost road, shortly outside the town, was a wooden causeway crossing the swamp to the Sule Pagoda. fn054-02 The road then the bore westwards and linked up with the Pagoda Road which ran northward from the China Wharf to the Shwe Dagon, at first on the line of Edwards Street, later on the line of the present Pagoda Road. The easternmost road, which was an extension of the town road corresponding with modern Lewis Street, passed out through the Wungyi's gate and was known as the Wungyi's Road; the name was derived from the circumstance that the town road of which the Wungyi's Road was the extension ran past the Myowun's residence. This road ran from the gate in a direction slightly west of north and at about the point where the Sots Kirk now stands came on to the line of the modern Signal Pagoda Road and so to the Pagoda. These roads were both paved with bricks by a Muslim merchant who turned Buddhist. fn054-03 As in the sixteenth century they were lined with sedis ad zayats. Along these roads, "the stranger may indeed expect to meet with something new at every step. Monasteries for instance loaded with ornaments, delicately carved in wood, consisting of figures resembling angels, men, women, monkeys, horses, elephants, birds, and beasts of a hundred shapes, with a vast number of hideous and nondescript creatures, grouped together in a most abusrd and grotesque manner. As we proceed further among the numerous temples and shrines, we find them more and more crowded with 'all monstrous, all prodigious things'; at every turning some 'grim figure' presents itself." fn054-04 On the east minor road ran to Dunneedaw and Pazundaung. fn054-05 It was "circuitous, and for nearly half a mile carried over a wooden causeway, dangerous and insecure in the extreme, passable only by foot passengers or by equestrians at great risk."6
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fn054-01 Buchanan op. cit. Laynosa -- lenyoha or archer. fn054-01b
fn054-02 See Plate No. 3--A Pagoda near Rangoon, showing the Sule Pagoda and the wooden causeway. fn054-02b
fn054-03 See Plate No. 4-- The Principal Approach to te Great Pagoda, 1824, showing the brick paving. fn054-03b
fn054-04 Grierson: Twelve Select Views of the Seat of War. fn054-04b
fn054-05 Pazundaung -- generally derived from pusun (the cancer species of fish) + htaung (to trap).
Dunneedaw --- from dani (toddy palm, the leaves of which are used for thatching) + taw (forest). fn054-05b
fn054-06 Keighley: Report on the City of Rangoon. fn054-06b
The main road beyond the Pagoda ran on the line of the present Windermere Road, across the low-lying ground which is now covered by the Victoria where the Prome Road now runs, through Tadagale and Tadagyi. This road was no better than a rough cart-track. Apart from this, there were paths through the jungle are outside the town, but these hardly passable except by pedetrians.
The town quickly outgrew the narrow limits within which it was first designed, but its extended along the river-bank to the west, not to any extent northwards, and not much eastwards where the ground was even more swampy than on the west.1 West of the stockade there grew up, along the modern Strand between Maung Khine and Mogul Streets, a suburb known as Tatgatle,2 or Tackley as it was anglicised. Here a populous area appeared, inhabited mainly by workmen connected with the ships and by prostitutes. Merchants and ships' officers lived inside the stockade. It appears that houses were also erected between the stockade and the River, for there is a reference to "the large suburb lying between the stockade and the river, and the still larger one of Tacklay."3 Among the numerous tanks to the north of the stockade, where all is now covered with streets ad buildings, were "gardens and orchards abounding in mangoe, jack, coco, and other tropical fruit trees, whilst from amid their grateful shade were seen the many picturesque Chinese-looking buildings, termed kioums or monasteries"4. There were also a number of burial-grounds, such as the Armenian cemetery, out far from the north face of the stockade.5 As the ground rose towards the laterite ridge it became covered by jungle. There was much jungle also west of the Shwe Dagon, covering the present golf-course, the Government House area, and Ahlone, "the whole space between the western face of Shwe-da-gong and the left bank of the Rangoon river is covered by the densest forest."6 In these jungles wild animals abounded, elephant and tiger among others; the tigers would come up to the stockade around the town in hope of seizing pariah dogs and one case is even recorded where a tiger was found within the stockade.7 To the east of the Shwe Dagon lay the lakes known as the Kandawgyi and the Kandawgale, ad beyond these the swmps verging on the Pazundagung Creek.
Across the River lay the town of Maingthu, where now Dalla stands. It was a moderate-sized place, "one long street",8 and was the residence of
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1 See Plate No.10 -- Scene from the Upper Terrace of the Great Pagoda, showing the Monkey Point area.
2 "The small guard-post."
3 Crawfurd, op. cit. II. p.38
4 Doveton: Reminiscences of the Burmese War, p. 31.
5 See Appendix E: The Armenian Cemetery.
6 Havelock: Memoirs of the Three Campaigns. See Plate No. 7 -- The Great Pagoda and Scenery Adjoining; the view is taken from the neighbourhood of the present Voyle Road.
7 Gougher: Personal Narrative of Two Years' Imprisonment, p. 315
8 Symes op. cit. p. 215
the Governor of the province of Dalla, for Twante had now its importance and with the rise of Rangoon the provincial capital of Dalla had been attracted thereto. One part of Mingthu, the Meinma Shwe Ywa, was inhabited exclusively by prostitutes. As it was the capital of the province, Maingthu came to be called by the province's own name, and as early as 1795 was beginning to be known as Dalla1.
The town of Rangoon came within the jurisdiction of the Myowun of Hanthawaddy, commonly known to the European of the time as the Viceroy or Governor of Pegu or of Rangoon; after 1790 he was accustomed to divide his time between these two towns, and in his absence Rangoon was under the charge of the Yewun. The powers of the Myowun were extensive; he was, as one holder of the office told Symes, "vested with authority to adjust every matter that related to" the province; he had judicial as well as executive authority, and in criminal causes he and he alone had the power of life and death, though in civil suits an appeal lay to the Hlutdaw at the capital. In executive and in judicial matters alike he was assisted by the advice of a council formed of his principal subordinates, but he appears to have had the final voice, for it is said that no matter was settled contrary to his opinion. Once a year he was required to visit the Court to render an account of his stewardship.
The second officer in the province was the Yewun, "the minister of the water", the title being conferred on the deputy-governor of a maritime province without any necessary reference to maritime duties. The Yewun was primarily a judicial officer and cases other than those of major importance came before him. Cases of gravity came before the Myowun aided by his Council.
The third officer was the Sitke, and the title of Sitke is generously defined by the dictionary as "a lieutenant-general; a magistrate." Actually the Sitke appears to have been primarily a police officer, for he is defined else-where as a "Conservator of the Peace".2
There was also an Akaukwun or Collector of Customer, usually known to Europeans as the Shahbandar. There was an Akunwun, or Collector of Revenue, who received the taxes for the whole of the province, the Akaukwun having no jurisdiction outside the port. Other officials were the Nakhan, or "Public Informer",3 whom Cox described as a "reporter;"4 the Head Clerk; the Secretary; and the Aweyauk, or officer to whom the arrival of strangers had to be reported. These officers were accustomed to assemble daily for the despatch of business in the Yondaw or Royal Court, where all royal orders were read and local affairs were discussed. They were supported by a small
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1 Buchaman op. cit
2 Crawfurd, in Home Miscellaneous Series 674/10
3 ibid.
4 op. cit. p. 2.
force of troops, some four or five hundred in number, under the command of the Sitke; the troops were armed with condemned East India Company muskets bought up by speculators and sold in Burma.1
There were in addition a number of official interpreters, whose services the foreign merchants and sailors were required to employ in the transaction of their business; complaints were sometimes made of the dishonesty of these "licensed linguists" and after a time permission was given to employ interpreters without restriction.
The authority of the Myowun and his council extended over the whole province of Pegu or Hanthawaddy, not merely over the town of Rangoon; "all the causes and government business which arose, I reported to the royal court at Rangoon and settled in accordance with the instructions sent me", stated the Headman of Ma U township in the Census returns of 1802. Similarly the record of Kawliya township in the Census of 1783 states that fees were paid "to the revenue writers and Akunwun of Rangoon town ........ If there is a Myosa or Ywasa, one half of the revenue is paid to him, one half is taken for my own use. If there is no myosa or ywasa, one half is paid to the Viceroy at Rangoon ........ Criminal cases of theft, murder, and arson, are sent to the court at Rangoon town."2
These various officers who constituted the local government, far removed from the capital and enjoying a wide measure of authority, were almost completely uncontrolled, except when they quarrelled among themselves and conducted intrigues against one another which produced intervention from above. Not infrequently the Yewun would intrigue against he Myowun in the hope of displacing him, and each would form a faction among the subordinate officials and the towns folk, so producing conditions in which violent outbreaks seemed hardly to be avoided.
The officials were Burmese with the exception of the Akaukwun, who was almost invariably a foreigner, the office being the highest that a foreigner could aspire to, and occasionally the Akunwun who was at one time an Armenian. The reason for the emplyment of non-Burmans in the office of Akaukwun was that a foreigner was likely to have a better knowledge of trading conditions and shipping than could a Burman. Thus for many years the Akaukwun was a Portuguese, Joseph Xavier da Cruz, commonly known as Jaunsi, who first appeared in Burman in 1760 and was still employed by the Burmese Government as late as 1804. He was, it would seem, typical of the adventurers who frequented the Burmese ports; he had been gunner on an English merchant vessel, had murdered his captain, and come to Burma with his plunder. he settled down as a respectable citizen, became Akaukwun, married the widow of a Frenchman who had served in the royal guard, and was largely responsible for paving streets of the town and erecting the jetty at the King's Wharf. At another time one Baba Sheen, born in Burma
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1 Doveton, op. cit. p. 22.
2 Hanthawaddy Sittans.
of Armenian parents, held the office. Later it was held by an Englishman, Rogers, a native of Winsor, who had been an officer on an East Indiaman, had assaulted his superior, and had fled from Bengal to Burma to avoid the consequences of his crime, about the year 1780; being destitute and pressed by creditors, he became the slave of the Prince of Prome, the King's second son; he adopted Burmese dress and customs, and, prospering in trade, became Akaukwun. He had a rival in the person of Lanciego,1 a Spaniard who had command of a privteer during the wars of the Fench Rvolution, and had settled in Rangoon as a trader; then he married a daughter of the Akaukwun Jaunsi, and became Akaukwun himself in course of time. Thereafter the office alternated between Lancigego and Rogers according to the fortunes of their friends at the Court. Such were the foreigners who were employed at other ports also in the office of Akaukwun.
The officials received no regular salary, but lived on the fees which they were authorised to charge and on a share of the taxes. Fees were levied, for example, in connection whith the administration of justice, in general to the extent of ten per cent of the amount involved in the litigation; and in general of all imposts half went to the King's treasury and half to the officials, except when the King had appointed a favourite or relative as myosa of a district to enjoy half the revenues from it. But the officials augmented their incomes by impositions of dubious legality; and this is not surprising, for when the King wanted to extend his patronage he would double or treble or treble the number of offices; thus at times in Rangoon there were two Yewuns, two Sitkes, two Nahkans, two Head Clerks, tow Secretaries, and even two Akaukwuns.2 And since all the office-holders wanted fees, extortion became the rule. Many complaints were made of the extortions of officials; when suits were tried, the officials would exact fees from both sides, often to the extent of three or four times the value of the object of the litigation. Not infrequently subordinate officials would arrogate to themselves judicial authority and keep what were called in Rangoon "justice shops" where "justice" was sold to the highest bidder; "these numerous tribunals are an endless source of gratification to the litigious, of fees and presents to the judge and others employed on the occasion. It is true, in case of grievance, redress may be had from the viceroy, but the expense, and the fees attending such an appeal generally equal, if not exceed, the sum for which it is made." The peons attendant on each officer, moreover, made it their business to encourage unnecessary litigation, since they shared the fortunes of their master. These abuses, however, arose only under the rule of a weak Myowun; a strong Myowun would require all cases to be brought to the Yondaw.3 When, however, a Myowun was removed from office, the interim between his departure and the arrival of his successor was
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1 The form Lanciago is also found and is probably
2 Crawfurd, op. cit. p. 141; Home Miscellaneous Series, 674/1041; Saya Thein, Old Rangoon
3 Bengal Secret and Political Consultations, 5th July 1804, No.125.
utilised by the subordinate officers in encouraging appeals by litigants for revision of the late Myowun's judicial decisions, so that they obtained fees and presents for hearing cases anew.1
The officials further augments their incomes by engaging in private trade; in 1811 it was recorded that the Myowun had "recourse to extensive speculations is trade. Indeed, he makes no secret declaring that his chief ambition is to be accounted the first merchant in the country". One consequence of this practise was that illegal monopolies were established and it is curiously stated that "as a profitable branch of revenue he had in particular monopolized the supply of coffins in Rangoon at a considerably advanced price".2
Sometimes civil justice was administered by ordeal, a case of ordeal by water where the court was unable to arrive at a decision being recorded;3 and another case where a dispute was determined by the ordeal of burning candles, the owner of the candle which burnt out first being adjudged to have sworn falsely, is so mentioned.4
Taxation was both irregular and heavy. There were, it is true, some permanent taxes; thus there was a capitation tax fixed nominally at Rs. 12 per annum on each household of whatever rank or wealth; but the assessment was sometimes arbitrarily varied by the Myowun and was occasionally as much as Rs. 300 in the case of wealthy foreigners. There was also a tax on certain fruit tree at the rate of one-quarter of a rupee on each areca and palmyra tree, one-eighth of a rupee on each mango, jack and marian tree, and one-sixteenth on each betel vine. This tax was levied only on bearing trees. A tax was levied on fishing boats, varying from Rs. 15 to Rs. 25 according to size. Goods coming to market were taxed: e.g. each boat bringing ngapi to market had to pay, irrespective of the ngapi it contained, ten tickals to the revenue, two to the Myowun, two to the Myowun's clerks, two to his messengers, two for his personal expenses, three to the myothugyi, and one and a half to the myothugi's clerk. The pwe sas who, in the absence of coined money, adjudged the fineness of the bars of precious metal which were used as a medium of exchange, were taxed one tickal of pure silver on each pair of bellows which they used. There was also in Rangoon, though not, it seems, in other parts of the country, a tax of ten per cent on the wages of artisans and others connected with the commerce of the port, such as porters, boatmen, wharf-labourers, carpenters, and caulkers.
But there were also irregular exactions, such as the fee which one Myowun is asid to have required before he would permit any burial to take place; and any extraordinary expenditure which the government might incur, such as the building of a pagoda, or the levying of a foreign war, would be made the occasion
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1 ibid.
2 ibid., 26th December, 1811, No. 6.
3 Symes, op. 467
4 Cox, op. cit. p. 14.
for a special tax. "It is in Rangoon, perhaps, beyond every other city of the Empire, that these exactions are carried to the greatest height. For besides the continual imposts for the repairs of the walls, etc., this city is exposed to numerous other tax from its situation. Thus should an ambassador arrive from a foreign court, the inhabitants must furnish every thing necessary for his maintenance and that of his suite, and not only this, but must also defray all his expenses on his journey up the river to the capital. Again, whenever a white elephant is taken, to them it belongs to conduct it to Amarapura. The misery caused by these taxes is also increase by the unequal method of their distribution; for it is not the possessions but the number of persons in a family that its taken into consideration. Hence it will often happen that a rich merchant and a poor artizan will have to furnish the same sum; and a fine house, built of wood, and containing, besides the family of the master, a great number of slaves, will be rated no higher than a miserable cabin of cane or bamboo thatched with straw, and frequently not worth the money that is demanded This city, being situated at a great distance from the court, is more exposed to their rapacity; and being the principal sea-port of the kingdom, where numbers of foreigners flock with their merchandise, the inhabitants have more opportunity of gain, and thus furnish a richer harvest for the avarice of their rulers".1 It was said that when such extraordinary taxes were levied, a contribution of two or three times the amount actually needed was exacted, the surplus going into the pockets of the officials.2
Despite the heavy exaction of the officials, the taxpayer received little protections. Theft and robber were endemic, even in the Fort itself, and little was done to check it. The obligation to prevent crime rested not on the authorities but on the citizen. Thus an order was issued that every house-owner should be responsible for the arrest of any thief who entered his house: a sum of fifty rupees which a poor woman had received by selling her daughter into slavery and which she needed to pay a debt, was stolen from her house; when she reported the matter at the Yondaw she was called upon to produce the thief, and could release herself from this obligation only by bribery. Again a cat stole some fish, and, the fact becoming known, the owner of the fish was called upon to produce the cat and had to pay a fine in consequence of his inability to do so.3 The result was that he inhabitants endured theft in silence rather than seek redress. Crime continued to be common, and even the European merchants in their comparatively strongly-built houses within the stockade guarded their windows with iron bars and kept watchdogs; while in the suburbs dacoities sometimes took place on a large scale; a resident wrote, "Our ears are continually assailed with the intelligence of robber and murders. Last night a band of fifteen or twenty attacked a house very near the one we had just left, and, after stabbing the owner, robbed the house of every
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1 Sangermano, pl. 74
2 Home Miscellaneous Series, 674/1041.
3 Sangermano, p. 76 sqq.
thing they could find. The robbers were armed with large knives, spears, and guns, put all the people around in such fear, that none dared go to the assistance of the sufferers ........ The viceroy is very much enraged at hundred men, in search of the perpetrators".1 Although law and order were so feebly maintained, the town was divided into eight wards each under a headman whose duty it was "to maintain watch and ward within his division".2
There were strict municipal regulations for the prevention of fire, and these were highly necessary in view of the ease with which fire might completely destroy a town built almost exclusively of bamboo and timber. Thus every dry weather all thatch had to be removed from the roofs of houses, and might tolerated; pots of water had to be kept in each house to put out any conflagration, and at the end to pull off the thatch in the event of fie, with a split bamboo as well so as to beat out any flames. A special body of police was always ready to extinguish any fire that might break out; and heavy punishment was inflicted on those responsible for an outbreak. On one occasion an old man of seventy years who accidentally caused a fire, was fined Rs. 800, marched round the town with a fire-brand hung round his neck, and at each street corner received so many blows with a bamboo. Not only did a house-owner have to pay a fine if his own house were burnt, but under some circumstances he was liable to be punished if his neighbour's house were burnt; for when a building was completely consumed, the owners of the four building on either side were fined, the object being to induce the inhabitants of the town to assist each other when a fire broke out.
During the hot months of March, April and May, when in the daytime strong gusts of wind are liable to occur, all fires had to be put out by 10 a.m. and might not be relit till 4 p.m.; and to avoid danger at night fires had to be extinguished again by 8 p.m. Patrols went round the streets to enforce this regulation. But despite all these precautions fires sometimes occurred.
Other regulations forbade the killing and eating of meat; but these were not always strictly enforced. At all times it was illegal for Burmans to eat flesh, but at some periods venison, fowls, and fish were freely sold to foreigners in the markets. The use of beef was, however, strictly prohibited, and when the officers of a French ship were discovered to have bought a calf and killed it they were fined Rs. 800. The use of alcoholic liquors and of opium was also illegal on pain of death, ad drunkenness was liable to be punished by pouring molten lead down the throat of the offender. But there is evidence that the enforcement of these regulations was sporadic, and depended largely
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1 A. H. Judson: Narrative of the American Baptist Mission, p. 30
2 Crawfurd, op. cit. p. 51
on the whim of the Myowun and his officers. Non-Burmans appear often to have been able to secure wines and spirits by paying fees or excess import-dues, and in the case of non-Burmans drunkenness was on occasion punished only by beating, although one instance is recorded in which a European sea-caption was sentenced to death for providing sprits to a number of Burmans; the sentence was, however, remitted. At one period general permission was given to all men to drink spirits, and the demand became so great that an English envoy was compelled to send his his ship back to Calcutta to replenish its supplies, since he did not wish to give offence by refusing the numerous requests for fee drinks. One Myowun endeavoured to turn these circumstances to his own advantage; a ship arrived in the port with a cargo of rum which the captain expected to dispose of at Rs. 10 or more a gallon; the Myowun promptly issued an order prohibiting the use of spirits in the hope of thus compelling the captain to sell him the rum at about Rs. 2 a gallon; but the captain refused. On the other hand, the receipt of news at the capital that a Myowun was allowing his soldiers to drink spirits and smoke opium was enough to secure his suspension from office. Thus the enforcement of the law regarding the consumption of spirits varied from time to time. Similarly Europeans were on occasion permitted to break the law against gambling on payment of ten per cent of the stakes to the Myowun.1
In general the administration of criminal justice was harsh in the extreme. The punishments inflicted astonished European observe, accustomed as they were to the severity of the penal system of their own countries, by their ferocity; for impalement, mutilation, crucifixion, disembowelment, were by no means uncommonly witnessed at the Execution Ground, and the innocent members of a criminal's family often suffered along with the guilty. Some moderation was, however, imposed by the influence of the pongyis, who on occasion intervened to secure a reprieve from the Myowun; and one case is recorded where a Christian missionary was able to induce the Myowun to pardon a man condemned to crucifixion.2 It was stated that "the severity and frequent cruelty of the punishments ...... were necessary to keep the Burmans in awe under the present system of Government, which authorizing plunder and rapine in its own officers, may be easily conceived to set a pernicious example to others who, to subsist, are obliged to have resource to similar method."3
Despite the prevalence of crime, the authorities could enforce law and order when they felt inclined to do so; even the foreign sailors, not the most docile of men, behaved themselves in Rangoon, and when the mutinous crew of an
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1 For these municipal regulations, see Cordier: les Frnçais; Crawfurd, op. cit.; Bengal Secret and Political Consultations 5th September, 1804. No. 125; 29th May, 1810, No. 1; 26th December, 1811, No. 6. 21st February, 1812 No.30; 26th December, 1812, No.1
2 Felix Carey and the English Baptist Mission in Burma.
3 Bengal Secret and Political Consultations, 20th May, 1805, No.440.
English ship came to the port, they gave no trouble at all for the two months of their stay.1
As Rangoon was the major port of Burma, there were strict regulations relating to pilotage. Even in the days of Syriam there had been some system of pilots,2 and after the establishment of Rangoon as a port the system was elaborated. No ship might lawfully pass the mouth of the River without a pilot, whether entering or leaving; and if no pilot were immediately available, the ship entering had to anchor in seven fathoms of water by the bar while a boat was sent up to obtain one. Burmese records of the Census of 1802 give details of the system: "At the watchposts at Danu and Mibya, because they are at the entrance to the way where leave and enter ships and sampans from foreign lands and islands, they have to keep unceasing watch day and night with beacons, so that they may know of them. Whether ship or sampan if they would enter within the royal harbour they have to cast anchor in seven fathoms of water. The river pilot has to go by sampan into the Mibya watch post. When the sampan arrives the men of the watch post have to accompany it and inform the officers of the Myowun. The officers of the Myowun depute a pilot and he goes with the men of the watch post to meet the vessel and bring it up." The terms of the Census taken in conjunction with other evidence suggest that normally the river pilot was picked up at the River bar, where the old charts mark the anchorage ground in seven fathoms of water; the pilot apparently came out from Mibya, commonly called the Queen's Chokey, in a pilot-boat to board the vessel, and then took her up to the second guard-post. This was originally on the left bank of the River, near the present Battery Point; but the water off the shore there seems to have silted up, and the Great Chokey as sailors called it was replaced by the New Chokey on the opposite bank, near the pagoda of Danot or, as the Sittan calls it, Danu. This was frequently referred to as the King's Chokey. Here word was sent to the Yondaw which, having given permission for the ship to enter the port, deputed another pilot to bring her up to the Rangoon reach. Some distinction was thus drawn, it would seem, as today, between river-pilots and harbour-master.
The system, however, sometimes broke. On occasion no pilot available at Mibya. One case is recorded where a ship waited two days off the bar, hoisting signals and firing guns to attract attention; but receiving no reply sent a pinnace to go up the River as far as Rangoon if it did not find a pilot sooner. But then the wind changing, the caption "ventured to stand in; and steering by land-marks, and sending a boat ahead, crossed the bar without a pilot, at half flood, in four fathoms." But when the vessel came off the Mibya watch-post it was stopped by a guard-boat and required to anchor until a pilot could be procured from the town.3 Other also are recorded where, in the
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1 Hunter op. cit. p.25.
2 Symes op. cit. p. 31.
3 Symes op. cit. p. 140-1
absence of a pilot, the ship's captain took the vessel up the River himself.1 But in no case might a vessel proceed beyond the Danot watchpost without pilotage, and severe penalties might be imposed for a breach of this regulation.
There were other port regulations which were equally strictly enforced. The Burmese record continues: "On arrival at the royal wharf, after casting anchor the captain and the ship's officer (? mate) go up and are questioned in the custom house. Then they go to the Royal Court House with the interpreters and file a list showing the captain, ship's officers, and lascars, and the cannon, guns, powder, lead, shot, and all their goods for sales, and their clothes. They have to dismast the vessel and take out the ropes and sails. Guards are placed above and below the vessel to keep watch on it carefully. When they have placed the merchandise and clothes in the custom house the interpreters and appraisers and commissioners go up on board the vessel together with the officials and search it." Thus as soon as the ship was at anchor off the King's Wharf, the captain or other officer had to go ashore and, having been searched at the custom house, went to the Yondaw to declare the nationality of the ship, its port of departure, and its contents, a distinction being made between the goods for sale and the private property of the crew. If later any goods were found on board that had not been declared, they would be treated as contraband. The number of persons on board, particularly women, had to be reported, and when the ship was about to depart it was inspected and any women on board in excess of those reported were liable to be sized as slaves, while heavy fines would be imposed on the captain and the ship; for it was illegal for female subjects to leave the country. Further, as a measure of precaution, all guns, muskets, and ammunition must be landed, and, to render the ship the more helpless and incapable of departing against the will of the authorities, the mast, sails, and the rudder also, had to be unshipped. This equipment was only returned when the ship had completed its business and had received permission to sail. The contents of the ship, as declared, were then landed and deposited in the custom house, and after that the ship was inspected by the customs officials, who were often accompanied by the Myowun. The Myowun had to be treated to a repast, while his subordinated roamed all over the ship and helped themselves to any food they could lay their hands on. If the officials noticed any article that had not been declared, it would be confiscated, especially any silver goods, for though silver paid no duty it had to be declared if over Rs. 20 in value, the object being to ensure that no more silver was taken away from the port than was brought in, for the export of the precious metals was prohibited. Presents were given to the Myowun, such as a piece of porcelain, tea and sugar. Until all these preliminaries had been completed no business could be transacted. But some of the requirements, such as landing the sails and rudder, could generally be evaded by judicious bribery, while it was
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1 e.g., Bengal
Secret and Political Consultations, 20th June, 1805, No. 440.
Gouger: Narrative of
Two Years Imprisonment, p. 80.
customary to arrive waive the law regarding the landing of equipment in the case of East India Company's vessels engaged in official business.
The rate of import duty is said to have been a fixed charge of 10 per cent ad valorem, plus a fee of 2½ per cent for the officials; while the export duty was at the rate of 5 per cent, plus a fee of 1 per cent; but ship's stores paid only half the normal rate of duty. The duty might be levied in money or in kind at the option of the officials, but since the only money in Burma was foreign currency the officials generally preferred to take the duty in kind. This was inconvenient for the merchants, for often their goods were damaged. The usual method was to count nine pieces and set the next aside for the revenue; the nine pieces would then be stamped to show that duty had been paid. But if necessary an article might be divided so as to obtain the necessary tenth and, of course the percentage due to the officials. Thus pieces of cloth would be torn or a fragment would be cut off a length of rope; and in this way a heterogeneous mass of goods was collected and was taken annually by the Akaukwun to the King's capital.
The rate of duty seems, however, to have been more flexible than has generally been supposed, for in 1810 certain missionaries were charged 7 per cent on silver dollars imported, though it appears from other accounts that silver was duty-free, and 15 per cent on wine.1 Possibly the customs officials were taking advantage of the innocent, for the Sittan states plainly that "of the goods deposited within the royal customs house when the officials have taken full and careful account of them the tenth part is taken as duty and presented to the King." The only exceptions mentioned in the Sittan are precious tones, of which it is said that "if there are diamonds or emeralds or pearls of peculiar excellence, they are stamped with a seal and taken on duty for the King." As complaints were not infrequently made by merchants of unlawful exactions, it is possible that on this, as on other occasions, the importers of the silver