letters from Burma - 4

Heinda Mine

Tenasserim

Southern Burma

February 1, 1935

Dear Rosalind,

We are just back from spending a week at Tavoy. We had a wonderful time, going to the club, visiting with friends - especially the Gemmells and G Mack, whom your father goes hunting with quite often.

How interesting that your school has asked you to choose a topic to study in depth this
term on a historic or political topic, and you have chosen Burma. Are you going to write about the whole of Burma, or just this area we live in?

You will have to ask me specific questions about what you want to know. I will start out with just a rough outline of where we live, compared to the rest of Burma.

The tin mine where your father is General Manager is as you know called Heinda - and it is a very rich mine, with other minerals as well as tin. There are perhaps five tin mines in the area, but ours is the most productive. We have 2087 acres.

The stream on our property, the Packchan, flows into the Banchaung and Kamoethway
Rivers which then form the Tenasserim River. The plant is built on a hillside to utilize gravity. Our tin deposit has an unusual, tightly cemented series of coarse to fine conglomerate layers. Each ore layer is about eight feet thick and grades from very coarse at the base to sand and clay at the top.

The nearest big town that we visit whenever we can, as it is the seaport, so our main
connection to the rest of the country, is called Tavoy. We are in the Tenasserim Division, (sort of like a county) which covers most of this isthmus on the most southerly part of Burma. We are very near to Siam. Our area is mountainous and there are jungles all over the area, so there are few people living here. There are a few townships - and we visit those occasionally. We employ dozens of men in the mine - some of them Chinese, some Japanese, some Burmese.

I will enclose a map
of the area, with letters and numbers for the main places.

1 = Maungmagan beach

2 = Tavoy

3 = Three Pagodas
pass (near where we live)

4 = Palaw

5 = Mergui

6 = Tenessarim

7 = Kalama pass

8 = Mot pass

9 = Le-Nya

10 = Bok Pyin

11 = Kaw Thaung
(border town)

a = Myintmo Lakhat
mountain

b = The Great
Tenasserim river

c = The Little
Tenasserim river

d = Le Nya river

Burma has three main seasons, the hot season, from March to May, the rainy season, from June to October and the cold season from November to February. In Lower Burma the extremes of heat and cold are not so marked as elsewhere, and there is a total lack of hot winds as we get continual sea breezes. The constant current of air, although not always perceivable, provides constant ventilation, so bad things are carried away and Aracan fevers are almost unknown.

Although hot days can be unbearable hot, the coolness of the nights almost throughout
the year, helps as it gives a break from the constant perspiration during the heat of the day, which in the dry season, is exhausting.

The native people, the Burmese and Karens are easily led, have no caste, and readily
settle down on an estate, where for the most part, they are kindly treated and get regular work and fair pay.

They will will eat or drink anything, from a dead and half-putrid elephant to a snail. They are very fond of fish, and preserve it in various ways; a favourite dish of theirs is nga-pee, a horrid concoction of rotten fish pounded with chillies, garlic, and other condiments.

At Tavoy in the coastal region, fisheries are the mainstay of the economy. Sea-fish
and prawns are sufficient enough not only for local consumption but also for the international market. Lobsters with the local name "Pagae" are dressed and packed for export. Jelly-fish are also exported. Most local people make their living by trading in
regional goods. Some have rubber, oil palm, cashew and mango plantations and they also cultivate rice.

As Buddhists, they are forbidden to take life, and most Burmans would not tread upon a worm, but there are always local shikaries, who kill game and bring it in for sale, and no one will refuse to purchase and partake of it, as the sin lies on him who deprived it of life.

As you probably know, regarding politics, The Burmese Act is going ahead this year,
although it won't be put into proper use for a few years, which will separate us from India and eventually give Burma her independence from England. Anyway, I'll get your father to give you more details about that if you want them.

Love,

Mummy and Daddy