ENPages
BURMESE
PETITIONS, LETTERS, AND OTHER PAPERS
REPRODUCED BY PHOTOLITHOGRAPHY
EDITED BY JAMES E. BRIDGES, HON. M.A. OXON. INDIAN CIVIL SERVICE (RETIRED) LECTURER IN BURMESE IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON
Copies may be obtained from J. E. BRIDGES, 71 Westbourne Terrace, Hyde Park, London, W. Price 10s. 6d.
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PREFACE
The documents now reproduced are intended to provide students with specimens of the papers which they will have to deal with in the course of their work in Burma, and to accustom them to read the written character, which differs considerably from the printed form.
Documents of this kind are written by men of every class and vary therefore considerably, not only in their literary form, but also in their spelling. Some of them, especially those written in Upper Burma, are strictly grammatical and almost literary in their form; others are loose in their construction, phonetically spelt, and full of colloquialisms. The documents have been selected over as wide a range as the materials available would allow, and an endeavour has been made to graduate their difficulty. The papers which were much misspelt have been re-copied and the spelling of Stevenson's Dictionary has been followed, so that the student should not be disheartened at the start by a vain search for words which he would not find. Some of the papers have therefore been edited to this slight extent, but most of them are reproduced as they were originally written with all their vagaries of spelling and looseness of construction, so that the student may become accustomed to the form of the language as it is popularly written.
Some of the documents now published have been obtained from Government Offices, others from a large collection of commercial papers, for which I am indebted to Messrs. Steel Brothers, and others from a very interesting selection of letters written by Burmans to Burmans, kindly sent to me by Mr. N. G. Cholmeley, I.C.S
LONDON, June, 1907.
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CONTENTS
ELEMENTARY STANDARD
1. Application to carry arms. 2. Report of an attack by dacoits. 3. Application for appointment as a clerk. 4. " to hold a pwe. 5. " for leave. 6. " for music at a funeral. 7. " to carry arms. 8. " for music at a festival on birth of a child.
LOWER STANDARD
9. Complaint against a police sergeant. 10. Report of a murder. 11. Suit for food supplied. 12. Report of the destruction of crops by floods. 13. " " search for property. 14. Complaint in case of hurt. 15. " " grant of land for cultivation. 16. Application for remission of house-tax. 17. " " grant of land for cultivation. 18. Deposition of witness in an assault case. 19. Application for remission of fishery revenue. 20. " to deepen a creek and work it as a fishery. 21. Objections to the working of a fishery on account of destruction of crops. 22. Application of a ferry lessee for reduction of rent or increase of ferry tolls. 23. Objections to encroachments of a fishery lessee. 24. Suit to recover price of goods sold. 25. Order to a Myo-ok to appear as a witness in a Sessions case.
HIGHER STANDARD
26. Complaint in a case of assault. 27. Evidence of a witness. 28. Application for remission of land revenue. 29. " " " 30. Appeal in a dacoity case. 31. Application to rebuild house on former site. 32. Complaint in a case of cheating.