Anonymous Review of Burmese Interlude by C. V. Warren

Mr. Warren was an assistant in one of the big timber firms and was in Burma five years, including the bad period of the rebellion. Between 1928 and 1930 the price of paddy dropped from Rs. 150 to Rs. 70 a hundred baskets, there was widespread misery and bands of men who had been thrown out of employment took to the forests and swore oaths of rebellion. As in previous wars in Burma it was guerrilla fighting, and Mr. Warren tells pathetic stories of men armed only with dahs and spears being mown down by the machine-guns of the British troops, and believing to the last in the magic tattoo-marks which were supposed to make them proof against bullets. Like every European who is not tied to the big towns, Mr. Warren conceived a deep affection for the Burmese. Social relations have always been friendlier in Burma than in India, party because of the native geniality of the Burmese, partly because of the fewness of European women.

Published by The Listener, 12 January 1938. CW 416. This review is one of ten, all anonymous, printed on a single page. The records of The Listener show that Orwell was paid £1 for it.