Burmese Days 缅甸岁月 Chapter 9

During the next fortnight a great deal happened., ,The feud ¹ between U Po Kyin and Dr Veraswami was now in full swing. The whole town was divided into two factions ², with every native soul from the magistrates ³ down to the bazaar ⁴ sweepers enrolled ⁵ on one side or the other, and all ready for perjury ⁶ when the time came. But of the two parties, the doctor's was much the smaller and less efficiently ⁷ libellous. The editor of the Burmese Patriot ⁸ had been put on trial for sedition ⁹ and libel, bail ¹⁰ being refused. His arrest had provoked a small riot in Rangoon, which was suppressed by the police with the death of only two rioters. In prison the editor went on hunger strike, but broke down after six hours., ,In Kyauktada, too, things had been happening. A dacoit named Nga Shwe O had escaped from the jail in mysterious circumstances. And there had been a whole crop of rumours ¹¹ about a projected native rising in the district. The rumours--they were very vague ones as yet--centred round a village named Thongwa, not far from the camp where Maxwell was girdling teak. A weiksa, or magician, was said to have appeared from nowhere and to be prophesying ¹² the doom ¹³ of the English power and distributing magic bullet-proof jackets. Mr Macgregor did not take the rumours very seriously, but he had asked for an extra force of Military Police. It was said that a company of Indian infantry ¹⁴ with a British officer in command would be sent to Kyauktada shortly. Westfield, of course, had hurried to Thongwa at the first threat, or rather hope, of trouble., , ,'Oh, well,' said Ellis, 'if they won't come up to the scratch you can always get hold of the ringleaders and give them a good bambooing on the Q.T. That's better than coddling them up in our damned nursing homes of prisons.', ,'H'm, probably. Can't do it though, nowadays. All these kid-glove laws--got to keep them, I suppose, if we're fools enough to make 'em.', ,The two tribes were long at feud with each other.这两个部族长期不和。,The gens also lives on in the "factions." 氏族此外还继续存在于“factions〔“帮”〕中 。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭 、私有制和国家的起源