A Burmese wonderland; a tale of travel in Lower and ... - Khamkoo

A BURMESE WONDERLAND. 183
As
soldiers, the Burmese have plenty of initiative
and readily develop powers of command. They have a
proper pride of race, an intense love for their country,
and are not given to aping foreign ways and dress.
A Prussian discipline which ignores individuality is as
intolerable to them as it is to us. As soldiers they are
keen on work, and excel at anything mechanical such
as Bombing, Lewis Gunning, and Signalling. They
made a great reputation in Mesopotamia for skilful
motor driving. They are not so good at marching
and shooting which are dull work and require more
application. By nature they are generous and debonair,
incorrigible spendthrifts, reckless gamblers, and bad
losers both in gambling and games. The Burmese
character is a strange mixture of virtues and vices.
Their virtues make them very lovable.
Their faults are
those of impulsive, but rather interesting, children,
and are easily forgiven. Few orientals have such good
friends and such violent enemies. Few are discussed
as often, and few are as difficult to understand. They
reveal themselves to people they like, but make no
efEort whatever to hide their very worst side from
people they feel are unsympathetic. This, I suppose,
is why such totally divergent opinions are held about
them.
It is obvious that a people so wayward and highspirited
require special handling, but well repay the
trouble of cultivating. That has been our experience
in the Army. As the imperative necessity of routine