by which this is effected is as follows:--
the man--the Burmahs are generally naked to the waist--is made to sit
down on the floor; another man stands behind him, and leaning over him,
takes a very exact aim with his sharp bent elbow at the precise spot
over his heart, and then strikes a blow which, from its being propelled
so very mechanically, descends with increased force.

The effect appears dreadful; the dark hue of the sufferer's face turns
to a deadly white; the perspiration bursts out from his forehead, and he
trembles in every limb. I never witnessed such apparent agony. These
blows repeated three or four times, will unman the most resolute, and
they will call for death as a favour.

There is one point which must not be overlooked by the Indian
government, and which, connected with what I have already mentioned,
makes the Burmese nation more formidable; it is, the great contempt they
have for the sepoys. And what is equally true, the fears which the
sepoys have of them. The Burmahs are only afraid of the white faces, as
I shall very soon establish. They despise the sepoys, although they are
so well armed. Now, that the sepoys are good troops, there can be no
doubt; they have proved it often; but, at the same time, they are not,
as some of the Indian officers have asserted in my presence, the best
troops in the world, and preferable to Europeans. That they are much
easier to control, and that they excel in discipline, I grant, because
they are never intoxicated; but they have, in the first place, very
little stamina, and are, generally speaking, a small and very
effeminately built race. Still they have fought well--very well; but
they never fought well against the Burmahs; and for this simple
reason,--that superstition is more powerful than courage, and subdues
it. The sepoys are very superstitious, and had the idea, which was
never eradicated, that the Burmahs were _charmed men_, and they never
went out against them willingly, even when they were headed by the
English troops. As for the Burmahs' contempt of them, it was notorious.
I have myself seen one of the Burmah prisoners at Rangoon lift up a
piece of timber that six of the sepoys could hardly have moved, and
throw it down, so as to make it roll at the feet of the sepoy guard who
watched him, making them all retreat several paces, and then laugh at
them in derision. But we had many more decisive proofs. The Burmahs
had stockaded themselves abo