Tounghoo Women by Ellen B. Mason

The Shans seem to me to be a more interesting race than the Burmese. They are the merchant princes of Burmah, and come down in great numbers from Monay, Labong and Zimmay, to all the sea-ports of Burmah. Every year they come pouring down the mountains all over the land, bringing precious stones, chinese cloths, their own nice lackered boxes, silver-hafted knives, sugar, stricklac, and they supply a great part of Burmah with their spades and dahs. Cows, too, in great numbers, and their ponies are sought for all over Burmah.

Now I do not imagine that these traders would very readily receive Christianity because they mingle so much with the Burmese, and their minds are so full of schemes for getting rich. But the great mass of quiet agriculturalists and herdsmen, if they could be reached in their own homes, might be more willing to listen and believe, and possibly the women might be still more so.