{"product_id":"2940013769212","title":"A Star in the East: American Baptist Missions to the Karens of Burma","description":"When Dr. Judson, the great missionary, first went to Burma in 1813, that\u003cbr\u003ecountry was little known. Its entire area at the present time is only\u003cbr\u003eequal to that of the New England States together with New York,\u003cbr\u003ePennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland, certainly not a great extent of\u003cbr\u003eterritory as compared with the vast dominions of India and China which\u003cbr\u003eborder it, the one on the northwest and the other on the north. But in\u003cbr\u003eDr. Judson's day all that could have any possible interest to the average\u003cbr\u003ecitizen of the western world was a narrow strip of country extending\u003cbr\u003ealong the coast where a few European merchants had established themselves\u003cbr\u003eand were eking out a rather precarious existence.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThen, as now, Burma was richly endowed with natural resources, but her\u003cbr\u003epeople little understood the value of their splendid heritage. To use the\u003cbr\u003efigure of speech which they still frequently employ in referring to\u003cbr\u003ethemselves, they were like a frog sitting at the foot of a stalk of\u003cbr\u003esugar-cane and knowing nothing of its worth until a water buffalo or\u003cbr\u003ecarabao comes along and eats up the luscious growth. Rice grew profusely\u003cbr\u003eon the rich alluvial plains. The magnificent forests waved with trees\u003cbr\u003esupplying timber of great variety and value. Some of the most remarkable\u003cbr\u003eoil fields in the world were to be found there, and they were seemingly\u003cbr\u003eworked in a crude way long before the value of the oil was fully\u003cbr\u003eunderstood in America or in Europe. Burma was the home of the\u003cbr\u003epigeon-blood ruby, one of the rarest and most precious of gems. Elephants\u003cbr\u003ewith their splendid tusks of ivory roamed the jungles, and the peacock\u003cbr\u003ewith its gorgeous plumage frequented the upland glens. But the country\u003cbr\u003ewas cursed by its kings. Ignorant, deceitful, vain, superstitious,\u003cbr\u003eblood-thirsty, they lived surrounded by sycophants, knew nothing but\u003cbr\u003eflattery, and, as might be expected, practiced the utmost cruelties even\u003cbr\u003eupon their own people. When a new king ascended the throne, it was\u003cbr\u003ecustomary for him to put all of his relatives to death, lest any of them\u003cbr\u003eshould contest his place. One king who failed to build himself a new\u003cbr\u003ecapital in accordance with the custom of the realm, sought to make amends\u003cbr\u003eby having sixty persons buried alive under the walls of his palace. It is\u003cbr\u003esaid of a certain other king that when a subject of his had visited\u003cbr\u003eEngland and returned, the king asked him what he had seen in that strange\u003cbr\u003eland, and in particular how it compared with his own kingdom of Burma.\u003cbr\u003eWas England so fair and rich a country? \"No, your Majesty,\" came the\u003cbr\u003ereply, \"how could it be, for there the lordly teak does not grow.\" And\u003cbr\u003ethe king knew no better than to accept the estimate as true.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNeedless to say, the cruelty and vindictiveness which surrounded the\u003cbr\u003ethrone spread through all the lower ranks of government officialdom and\u003cbr\u003eindeed permeated the life of the entire people. Aside from the monks of\u003cbr\u003ethe Buddhist order--for Burma was, and still is, one of the chief\u003cbr\u003estrongholds of Buddhism,--the life or property of no one was safe. If any\u003cbr\u003eof the common people were suspected of acquiring more wealth than was\u003cbr\u003eneeded for bare sustenance, some charge would be trumped up against them,\u003cbr\u003eand their property be confiscated. Cruelty and oppression were everywhere\u003cbr\u003eknown. Justice and mercy were not so much as dreamed of. And if this was\u003cbr\u003ethe attitude of the Burmese even towards those of their own race, one may\u003cbr\u003erightly infer that it would be still more relentless towards those of\u003cbr\u003eother races living under their dominion.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAmong the most persecuted of these subject peoples were the Karens\u003cbr\u003e(accent on the last syllable). Naturally a timid and retiring race, they\u003cbr\u003ewere perhaps all the more heartily hated and despised by the Burmans on\u003cbr\u003ethat account. The writer has heard it related by some who remember those\u003cbr\u003eearly days, that the Karens were subjected to such terrible and heartless\u003cbr\u003eoppression that they were obliged to live for the most part in the\u003cbr\u003efarthest recesses of the tropical jungles or in the fastnesses of the\u003cbr\u003emountains. Even there they lived in such constant terror that oftentimes\u003cbr\u003ethey dared not build their wretched little huts, but dwelt in caves or\u003cbr\u003eunder overhanging rocks, and would not leave their abodes and return to\u003cbr\u003ethem by the same route lest a path should be formed and their whereabouts\u003cbr\u003eshould be discovered. They subsisted by cultivating the soil, which in\u003cbr\u003ethe mountain regions is so poor that two crops of rice cannot be grown\u003cbr\u003esuccessively on the same piece of land and fresh forests must be cut down\u003cbr\u003eevery year, entailing a vast amount of labor.","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47070249156848,"sku":"2940013769212","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013769212_p0.jpg?v=1763590024","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013769212","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}