Burmese Sketches - Khamkoo

^ .^ BURMESE SKETCHES,
bones and sinews. About lo muskels. 20 das ^ and 12 spears
were collected. Our band consisted of 30 men of whom 10
were mounted on ponies.
The first village, where we tried our apprenticeship, was S.,
situated a few miles to the south of Salin, the head-quarter
town of the district of the same name. It was about legyetti
(about 6 p.m.) when we arrived there. The sun had just set
then. We fired a volley near the village enclosure. Immedi-
ately, there was a death-like silence. We simply marched in
and did what we liked. We got hold of some rich traders
and roasted them over a slow lire to make them disgorge their
wealth. There was a miserly fellow in that village. We had
great difficulty in dealing with him. We had to put burning
circlets of cloth round his neck, hammer him on the back
and thigh with the butt end of our muskets, and twist his
hands backwards before we could make him give up his keys.
While we were committing these acts, not a single man,
w^oman. or child stirred. We were unmolested ; and we left
the village. By that expedition we made about Rs. 1,000 in
cash, Rs. 2,000 in clothes, gold, and silver ornaments. The
booty was satisfactorily divided. There was not a murmur
among the men.
After this, we dared not return to our abode on a small
island in the river.
In the course of years, cur gang grew in number and we
committed more dacoities marked with cruelty, barbarity, and
outrage on women^s modesty. But I need not dwell at length
on such concomitants, which are inseparable from dacoities
committed by all Burmans.
I will now describe another dacoity, which was quite a novel
one. The month was October ; the Royal Revenue had just
been gathered in. We plotted to dacoit T— where the thugyi
was reputed to be very rich. About 20 men were selected from
the gang. I was to play the role of a Wun on an inspection
tour, and was dressed in a grand cheikpaso and a piece of white
book-muslin was tied round my head. I entered the village
riding, followed by a retinue of dacoits carrying the parapher-
nalia of my rank, such as goblets, betel boxes, das^ spears,
muskets, canes etc. The thugyi met me and my men at the
gate of the village. He went down on his knees and asked
me on what mission I had come. I said I was Wun of the
district, just come from Mandalay, and that I had been ordered
by the King to remit the Royal Revenue as soon as possible.