Burma: Census of India 1901 Vol. I - Khamkoo

material
1 4 2 REPORT ON THE CENSUS OF BURMA.
together with silk carders and spinners and makers of silk braid and thread, but the
great bulk of the 5,973 males and 18,316 females returned under the occupation
number concerned were undoubtedly engaged in weaving. Judged by a comparison
with the 1891 figures (so far as such comparison is possible) the silk-wearing
industry would seem to be making headway in Burma. Owing to the large proportion
of female weavers the percentage of actual workers in Order XII (71* 74)
js
more than ordinarily high.
219. Workers and dealers in gold, silver and precious stones and their dependn
, vrrT „ ents constitute nearly half of the total returned under
, „
Pre "
cioustton^
Order XIII. Taking dependents and their supporters
together there were 42,112 workers and 1 1
,806 dealers
in Burma on the date of the Census, while the total of the whole order was only
94,723. In 1891 the population concerned with precious metals and jewels
was spread over a far larger number of heads than in 1901, so that a detailed contrast
of occupations is of no particular value, but there is an increase from 36,453
to 56,400 in the sub-order concerned (No. 43) which is ample proof of the fact
that the demand for luxuries of the nature in question is not in any way diminishing
in the province. Mr. H. L. Tilly has written on the brass and copper wares
of Burma. Table XV tells us that 4,076 persons of both sexes were artizans in
brass and copper or were supported by brass and copper workers. As Mr. Tilly
observes, the Burmese do not use copper utensils for cooking and practically the
whole of the population returned under occupation No. 322 were brass workers.
Experts in tin, zinc, quicksilver and lead numbered in all 5,135 actual workers and
dependents. This total included the tin miners of Mergui no less than the kalai
walas of the industrial centres. Of non-precious metals iron claimed the largest
number of artizans. There were 9,580 males and 1 ,oi 7 females who returned themselves
as actually employed in working in iron and hardware on the 1st March
1901.
220. The only occupation that is deserving of special comment in Order
n , „ r„ „, , ,
XIV is that of the potter. The ordinary rough pot-
*
Order XIV.— Glass, earthen and . < • ,, 1,1 j ' t
stoneware. tery of the province is well known and as the greater
part of the indigenous cooking of Burma is done in
earthen receptacles, the potter is ubiquitous. The actual workers and dependents
connected with the production of pottery (occupation numbers 334, 335 and 336)
numbered in all 19,800. or 0*19 per cent, of th!e total population of the Province.
Considering the extensive use of earthenware the total would seem unduly small.
It must be borne in mind, however, that pot-making is often a subsidiary occupation
combined with agriculture, and further that a good many of the persons
returned as brick-makers were also potters. The earthenware of the province
has usually no pretensions to beauty of form. Here and there, however (as for
instance in Pyinmana, Myinmuand Kyaukmyaung), glazed pottery is made which
is not without artistic merit both in the matter of shape and of colour. Pot-making
is essentially a rural avocation. Less than 2 per cent, of the actual workers
in earthen and stoneware pursued their calling in the cities of Rangoon and Mandalay.
221. Timber is so important a produce of the country and wood so popular a
o j v -,7 ,
, j for building purposes that those who have
Order XV.—Wood, canes and , .. . ,
j 1:
leaves. dealings with wood are naturally numerous.
Nearly every large village has its saw-pit or two, the
saw-mills of Rangoon and Moulmein employ a host of workmen, while the timber
and bamboo rafts form a feature of all the principal waterways at most seasons
of the year. Wood and bamboos (sub-order 49) supported 159,276 souls or rather
over 1 '5 per cent, of the total population whose occupations have been returned.
Connected with the above occupations is that of mat making, which found employmentfor
16,001 male and 12,692 female actual workers on the 1st March 1901.
222. There is little requiring detailed comment in Order XVI, which gives
particulars regarding those who were concerned with
Order XVI.— Drugs, gums and drugs, gums and dyes. Cutch is the mosj important
of the products dealt with in this order. Catechu
"es'