THE
MODERN TRAVELLER.
rOLVME THE ELEVENTH.
BURMAH, SIAM, &c.
THE
MODERN TRAVELLER.
A
DESCRIPTION,
GEOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL. AND TOPOGRAPHICAL,
OF THE
VARIOUS COUNTRIES OF THE GLOBE.
IN THIRTY VOLUMES.
BY JOSIAH CONDER.
VOLUME THE ELEVENTH.
LONDON:
JAMES DUNCAN, 37, PATERNOSTER. ROW.
MDCCCXXX.
LONDON :
Printed by W. CLOWES,
Stamford-street.
CONTENTS.
BIRMAH.
PACK
BOUNDARIES 1
GENERAL VIEW OF INDO-CHINA 1
ORIGIN OF THE BIRMANS 14
HISTORY OF THE BIRMAN EMPIRE 22
POPULATION AND NATIONAL CHARACTER 56
LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE 65
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 75
HISTORY OF BUDDHISM 91
ECCLESIASTICAL SYSTEM Ill
RANGOON 117
FROM RANGOON TO PROME 142
PEGU 161
MARTABAN 176
FROM PROME TO AMARAPURA 184
PAH-GAHN 197
AVA 205
AMARAPURA 208
ASSAM 245
ARRACAN 251
REFLECTIONS ON THE LATE WAR 259
/
iv CONTENTS.
SIAM.
PACK
BOUNDARIES 265
HISTORY OF SIAM ...-266
BANKOK '. 275
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 291
YUTHIA 299
CHANTIBOND 304
ANAM.
BOUNDARIES 313
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 325
VOYAGE UP THE DON-NAI RIVER 333
SAIGON 336
TURON 339
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 340
HUE 362
DIRECTIONS FOR PLACING THE PLATES.
MAP of IffDo-CniNA to face the Title.
BIRMAN COSTUME 214
IMPERIAL COURT at AXARAPURA 221
COCHIN CHINESE SHIPPING 359
;THE
MODERN TRAVELLER,
ETC. ETC.
BIRMAH.
[An empire lying between the parallels of 8 and 27 N-, and be-
tween long. 91 30 and 102 E. ; bounded, on the N., by the
Brahmapootra and Tibet; on the E. by China, Laos, Siam,
and the Gulf of Siam ; on the S. by the Gulf of Martaban and
Malacca ; on the W. by the Bay oi Bengal and British India.*]
WE have at present no geographical name, in general
use, for the vast region of Asia which lies between
British India and the Chinese territory, comprehend,
ing the Birman empire, the kingdoms of Siam and
Anam (or Cochin China), and the peninsula of Ma-
lacca. The appellation of Ultra Gangetic India is far
from being appropriate, since the Ganges forms no
part of its western boundary. It has sometimes been
denominated the Ultra Gangetic Peninsula, in con-
tradistinction from what is improperly called the
Peninsula of India ; but, although it terminates In
a sort of double peninsula, it will be seen, from a
* These were the boundaries of Birmah at the commencement
of the present war; and we have therefore deemed it proper to
adhere to them, although it appears probable that the empire will
in future be circumscribed on every side within much narrower
limit*.
"AR.T.J. B
2 B1RMAH.
glance at the map, that the Malay country, the Golden
Chersonesus of the ancients, is alone entitled to the
appellation improperly extended to this immense por-
tion of the Asiatic continent. An objection lies
against all compound words ; yet, as the adjective
Indo-Chinese has already come into extensive use,*
the most unexceptionable generic appellation would
seem to be INDO- CHINA, understanding by that
term the country lying between the Indian and the
Chinese. seas. } The whole of the western part, having
recently been comprised in the Binnan empire, may
conveniently be designated by that of Birmah.
This vast region has till of late been scarcely known
to Europeans, except along its shores ; and the inte-
rior is still for the most part a terra incognita. The
whole, however, appears to be formed by four or five
ranges of mountains, proceeding from Tibet, which,
running southward in parallel directions, divide it
longitudinally into the magnificent valleys watered by
four great rivers : the Irrawaddy, or river of Ava ;
the Thaluayn, or Martaban river; the Mei-nam, or
river of Siam ; and the Mei-kong, or Cambodia river.
Besides these, there are several considerable streams
of shorter course, and valleys of a subordinate rank,
* Dr. Leyden has sanctioned this word in his Dissertations on
the Language and Literature of the Indo-Chinese nations ; and a
small periodical publication commenced at Malacca in 1817* bears
the title of " The Indo-Chinese Gleaner."
t M. Malte Brun was disposed at one time to adopt this word ;
but in the edition of his Geography now in progress, he proposes
to substitute for it the uncouth compound Chin-India; assigning
as his reason, that the country is not an Indo China a China
resembling India, but rather a Chinese India an India with Chi-
nese features. This distinction is far from being accurate if ap-
plied to the eastern part of the country, which is altogether of a
Chinese character ; and we regret that he has not adhered to what
we deem in every f espect the preferable appellation. ,
BIRMAH. 3
which will claim description, but do not form distin-
guishing features of the country. Of the five chains
which are believed to exist, that which separates the
Birman empire from Bengal and the plains of Chitta-
gong, becomes gradually ower in the kingdom of
Arracan, and is lost in small hills before it reaches
Cape Negrais. It is known to the Birmans under
the name of Anou-pec-tou-miou, or the great western
hilly country. Its distance from the coast varies from
ten to a hundred miles. Of that which separates the
valley of Ava from the basin of the Thaluayn, little
is known. The principal range, surpassing all the
others in height as well as length, appears to be that
which separates Ava and Pegu from the great valley
of the Mei-nam, and stretching along the whole penin-
sula of Malacca, terminates in Cape Romania, the
southernmost point of Asia. The valley of Siam is se-
parated from the river of Cambodia by a fourth range,
which is said to unite with the mountains of China in
lat. 22, and almost reaches the sea near the river of
Chantibond.* From Cape Liant, the coast takes a
S.E. direction to Cambodia Point, which is formed
of low land. The fifth and last chain, one of the
most considerable in Asia, proceeds from Yun-nan in
China, and taking a south-easterly direction, forms
the western boundary of Tonking and Cochin China.
The first of these rivers, the Irrawaddy (Erawady,
Era Wuddey, A-rah-wah-tee),-|- divides the territory
* " Chantibond is a mountainous country, forming the eastern
boundary of the kingdom of Siam, dividing it from Cambodia, and
situated at the head of the Gulf of Siam. The passage thence to
Cambodia is of short distance, a ridge of mountains dividing the
two countries." FINLAYSON'S Siam, p. 255.
t Malte Brun supposes the Irrawaddy to be the Ken-poo of
Thibet ; the Tsan-poo, which D'Anville considered as identical
with the river of Ava, being the Brahmapootra. It is believed to
< BIRMAH.
of t?*. HJncans into two unequal parts. To the east-
ward, the) possess a tract of ten days' journey, about
150 miles, to the banks of the Thaluayn,* which
forms the proper boundary towards Siam. Very little
of the tract of country between these two mighty
rivers is either cultivated or inhabited. A ridge of
high mountains divides them, and the country is for
the most part barren and jungly. The Irrawaddy is
to Ava, what the Ganges is to Bengal, the high road
of population and commerce; and both the ancient
be the Nan-kiang, or Great Fish river of the Chinese. The name
of the river is Hindoo, being, in fact, that of Indra's elephant
(written by Mr. Ward oira-vtlta). M. Langles, in his erudite work,
Monumens des Indes, speaking of Indra and his elephant, says,
that Iravatti means aqueous. Whether the river be named from
the elephant, or the elephant takes its name from the watery ele-
ment, appears, therefore, doubtful. There is a Hindoo tradition
respecting a fabled lake called Anaudat, on the eastern bank of
which, it is said, is the image of a lion's head, on the southern that
of an elephant's, on the western that of a horse's, and on the north-
ern that of a cow's ; and from these four heads are poured forth
four rivers. The meaning of the fable is supposed to be, that the
banks of these four rivers, the sources of which were unknown,
abounded respectively with lions, elephants, horses, and cows
See Asiat. Res., vol. vi. p. 233. Every one knows, that the Ganges
is represented as flowing from the cow's mouth, the name given to
a large stone in the bed of the river at Gangoutri. It is possible,
that a similar legend may connect the Irrawaddy with the mouth
of the elephant. However this may be, the cow is not held more
sacred in Hindostan, than the elephant is in Birmah.
* This river, of which scarcely any thing appears to be known,
is supposed to be the Lu-kiang-of Yun-nan. It is the Pegu river
of Buchanan, the Caypumo of older travellers ; it is sometimes
distinguished as the Martaban river ; but its true name appears to
be Thaluayn or Ta-lain, sometimes written Sanluayn, Sa-lwen,
Thaulayn. It has been confounded with the Sitang, Sittong, or
Zeet-taung river, which is, we suspect, the one to which the name
of Pegu (or Bagoo) was first applied by the Portuguese. By some
geographers, the Thaluayn is represented as falling into the Sitang ;
and it is not improbable, that there may be at least some commu-
nication between them. "
BlilMAH. 5
and the modern capitals are seated on its banks. It
is navigable by the native boats as high as Quantong,
on the frontiers of Yun-nan ; and it presents one of
the readiest means of opening a commercial inter-
course with the south-west dominions of China. West-
ward of the Irrawaddy, and along the right bank of
its western branch, the Kiayn-duem, as high as lat. 24,
the Birmans possessed, prior to the conquest of Arracan,
a tract varying in breadth from ten to thirty miles,
and^ confined by a ridge of mountains inhabited by
a barbarous race called Kains, or Kiayns, who are for
the most part independent of the Birmans. Further
northward, the country is said to be mountainous or
desert ; so that, with the exception of the fertile plains
of Manchewban, or Monchaboo, lying between the
Kiayn-duem and the eastern or principal branch of
the Irrawaddy, and extending from lat. 22 to 24,
(which district is said to be the granary of Ava,)
there does not appear to be any part of their own
extensive territory northward of Prome, from which
the Birmans derive much advantage, except within
an average distance of fifteen miles from either bank
of the river. Below Prome, the frontier of Pegu, the
country is in general more level and susceptible of
cultivation, and, on the banks of the river, is as rich
a soil as any in the world. That of the upper pro-
vinces is said to be a sandy loam on a bed of free-
stone or ferruginous rock : in the lower provinces,
there is a larger proportion of argillaceous earth and
vegetable matter.* To the south-east of Prome lies the
ancient kingdom of Tonghoo, or Taungu, said to be fer-
These particulars are derived chiefly from a tract drawn up by
Col. Francklin See Asiatic Journal, vol. xx. p. 4.
6 BIRMAH
tile, but thinly inhabited.* To the south and west of
Tonghoo, the country in general to the sea, including
the delta of the Irrawaddy and the low lands watered
by the Martaban river, in fact, the whole of what
may be termed Pegu Proper, has received from the
Birmans the name of Henzawuddy.-j-
The periodical inundation of the valleys and mari-
time plains by the rising of the rivers, is a circum-
stance common to all this region, although they observe
different periods, which indicates that their sources
must be at unequal distances. The Mei-nam, or Siam
river, has the highest and most regular inundations,
on which account, it has been supposed to have its
sources in the most distant mountains of central
Tibet.J The more probable explanation is, that it
* Beyond Tonghoo, CoL Francklin says, to the eastward and
southward, is the ancient kingdom of Sittong, now dependent on
Henzawuddy. This we apprehend to be the very nucleus of Pegu.
t Henza is the Birman name of a species of wild fowl called in
India the Brahminy goose, which is said to be the standard of the
Blnuans, as the eagle was of the Romans.
$ This river is supposed by Malte Brun (we incline to think,
erroneously) to be the Nu-kiang. It is the Yuthia of our older
maps. Yuthia or Yoodra is the name of the ancient Siamese
capital, mote properly See-y-thaa. Vincent Leblanc, of Marseilles,
who travelled in the seventeenth century, describes " the fair and
large river Mecan," on which the town of Siam stands, as springing
from a famous lake, 200 miles about, called the lake of Chiamay,
whence, he says, " many great and famous rivers arise, as Ava,
Caypumo, Menan, Cosmin, and others. They overflow like the
Nilus. This lake is bounded eastward by vast forests and impass-
able marshes and fens." He has mistaken the name of the Siam
river, the Mei-nam, and given it that of the Cambodia river, the
Mei-kong. Although this Traveller has hitherto been regarded as
a very doubtful authority, it is remarkable that several accounts
agree in stating that these two rivers communicate by a navigable
branch called the Anan-myeet; and it is by no means improbable,
therefore, that in the rainy season, the intervening country should
BIRMAH. T
receives a larger body of water from its numerous
tributary streams. . . It is highly remarkable, that this
inundation, like that occasioned by the expansion of
the Paraguay, is greatest in the centre of the king-
dom, and much less in the neighbourhood of the sea ;
a fact which strongly favours the idea of its commu-
nicating at the rainy seastfn with other waters. The
kingdom of Siam may be considered as a wide valley,
the central basin of this vast region, terminating in a
broad and deep gulf ; and there are many reasons for
thinking that the basin of the Mei-nam is, of all the
valleys, the least elevated above the sea level. The
whole southern part, called by the Birmans Dwara-
wuddy, appears to be intersected by streams, and
the soil is adapted to the cultivation of rice. The
northern part is little known. It has been supposed
to be separated from Laos by mountains, but of this we
have no clear evidence ; and we are strongly inclined
to believe, that that unknown country includes, to-
gether with immense forests, a low and swampy
tract, extending from the Mei-nam to the Mei-kong,
and partially inundated by the waters of both rivers.
The vague and apparently jarring accounts of different
travellers, may, on this hypothesis, be partly recon-
ciled. One of these tells us,* that in Laos, there is
be inundated, and become an immense lake, like those of Xarays
and Ybyra, formed by the expansion of the Parana, the Uruguay,
and Paraguay. (See MOD. TRAV., Brazil, vol. L p. 85.) From the
lake of Ybyra three mighty rivers might be said to issue, although
their sources are far distant ; and it may, perhaps, be found, that
that of Chiamay communicates, not only with the Mei-nam and the
Mei-kong, but even with the Thaluayn, which is what is meant by
the Caypumo river. In confirmation of this opinion, it may be
added, that Koempfer represents the Mei-nam as sending branches
through the kingdoms of Cambodia and Pegu.
* M. de la Bissachere.
8 BIRMAH.
110 sort of river, yet, that rice is the only produce ;
and its rice is represented by other travellers * as the
best of all these countries : leguminous crops are also
cultivated in great quantities. And Lac-tho (or
Lac-tchoo), which, according to M. la Bissachere,
lies to the north of Laos, but which M. Malte Brun
supposes to be the same country, is also described to
be without rivers, yet having a moist soil, abounding
in bamboos, and laid out in rice fields, but containing
no towns. If it has no river, it must have lakes and
canals ; probably a series of lakes ; and accordingly, a
Portuguese traveller went from China to Laos by
descending a river and crossing a lake.-j- Again, the
received opinion is, that Laos is watered by the upper
part of the river of Cambodia, which one old traveller
represents as issuing from an immense lake, and an-
other makes it to be a branch of the Mei-nam. : If
these two rivers communicate any where by a navi-
gable branch, as appears certain^ it is not improbable
that, higher up, they may unite their waters in some
" periodical Caspian." The country to the north-east
of Siam is stated to consist of vast forests and
impassable marshes and fens. Here, probably, are
the forests of Laos, which are said to abound with
elephants in so great numbers, that the country
derives its name from that circumstance. Many buf-
faloes are also reared there. The Siamese were once
in the habit of repairing to Laos in caravans of waggons
drawn by buffaloes, making a journey of two months.
Such journeys could not have been made across high
Marini and Wusthof, as cited by Malte Brun.
t Jarric. See Malte Brun, vol. iii. p. 364, from whom we have
gathered most of these facts, though we have not adopted his
conclusions.
$ See note at page 6. f Malte Brun, vol. iii. p 365.
BIRMAH. 9
mountains. Taking all these circumstances into con-
sideration, we infer that, to the south of Yun-nan, there
Js an immense tract of low level country, abounding
with lakes, swamps, and morasses,* like the Hou-
quang, or lake-country of China, or that of the Sete La-
ffoas (Seven Lakes) of Paraguay ; that here the waters
of the Siam and Cambodia rivers, at certain seasons at
least, unite, though one or both of these streams may
have a more distant source ; -j- while, to the east of
the kingdom of Siam, a range of mountains, apparently
bending to the S.W., intervenes between the vast
plains of Dwarawaddy and the rocky channel of the
Mei-kong. Further information, however, can alone
verify these conjectures. J
Indo-China, then, consists of three grand divisions,
Birmah, Siam, and Annam, besides the peninsula of
Malacca, and the various independent principalities of
* Districts lying near the base of great ranges of mountains,
Mr. Marsden remarks, especially within the tropical latitudes, are
always found to be unhealthy. The Yun-nan mountains are of
great height, " while the great Nu-kiang, said to be navigable be-
tween that province and Ava, must flow chiefly through a plain
and comparatively low country." MARSDEN'S Marco Polo,
note 858.
t Marini places the sources of the Mei-kong in the Chinese pro-
vince of Yun-nan. The Dutch envoy, Wusthof, ascended it in a
boat to the north of Cambodia, and met with great cataracts.
This renders it probable that its banks are rocky, and that it de-
scends from a higher level than the Mei-nam.
t The strange perplexity in which we have found ourselves in-
volved in attempting to clear up this point, is in great measure
occasioned by the almost ad libitum application of the word Laos
to different regions. " Laou or Laos," Sir Stamford Raffles says,
" is the country north of Siam Proper." (FINLAYSON'S Siam,
p. 223, note. If so, it includes Siammay and Yunshan. Yet,
Malte Brun (on the alleged authority of Wusthof) brings it down
almost as far south as Tsiompa, between Cambodia and Cochin
China!
B 2
10 BIRMAH.
the mountain frontiers. The Malays form a distinct
race, who are supposed to have proceeded originally
from the Indian archipelago, and their language is a
mixture of Coptic, Sanscrit, and Arabic. All the
other Indo-Chinese nations resemble more or less the
Mongolian and Chinese races in their figure, square
countenance, yellow complexion, strong hair, and
oblique eyes ; and are evidently of the same original
stock. Their languages, too, exhibit the same cha-
racteristic simplicity, poverty, and deficiency with the
monosyllabic languages of Tibet and China. The
three-fold division of the country corresponds to the
three distinct languages which are found prevailing :
the Birman, which is spoken in Ava and Arracan ;
the Siamese, which extends over Laos ; and the
Annamese, which is used in Tonking, Cochin China,
and Cambodia. Pegu, however, is said to have an
original dialect called the Mon, of which too little is
known to determine its relation to either of the three
classes. These languages are more or less mixed with
Chinese and Hindoostanee, according as the nations
are situated near India or China. The sacred lan-
guage of Birmah is the Pali, which is believed to be
the same that is vernacular in Magadha or Southern
Bahar. The Birman dialect has also borrowed the
Sanscrit alphabet ; the character in common use,
however, is a round Nagari, consisting of curves fol-
lowing the analogies of the square Pali, and written
from left to right like the languages of Europe.
Their legal code is one of the commentaries on the
Institutes of Menu.* In these and other respects,
* It is a singular fact, that the first version of Sir William Jones's
translation of the Institutes of Hindoo law, was made into the
BIRMAH. 11
the Birmans discover their affinity to the Hindoo
family, while the Siamese, the Annamese, and the
Peguans bear a more strongly-marked resemblance to
the Chinese.*
The political divisions of the Indo-Chinese countries
have undergone the perpetual changes consequent on
ill-defined boundaries, and the constant struggles of
the various rival states to obtain the supremacy. The
most powerful monarchy at one time, as it is probably
the most ancient, was that of Siam, which extended
from the Gulf of Martaban to Cambodia, and south-
ward to Malacca.f Afterwards, Pegu appears to have
been the most flourishing state. Its tyrant is stated to
have demolished the capital of Siam, made himself
master of the white elephant, and sacked the town of
Martaban. Between Siam and Pegu, there seems to
have been carried on a constant struggle for supremacy
from time immemorial. At one time, Pegu is said to
have been conquered by a king of Tonghoo; but the
white elephant, the Buddhic Apis was wrested from
Pegu by a king of Arracan.J When the Portuguese,
Birman language by an Armenian, for the use of the Birman
emperor, in 1795.
* The Indo-Chinese languages are reckoned to be fourteen in
number. Seven of these are polysyllabic, viz. 1. Malayu; 2.
Jawa; 3. Bugis; 4. Bima; 5. Batta; 6. Ta-gola; 7. Pali, the
learned language. The other seven are monosyllabic, viz. 1. Rak-
heng (Arracanese); 2. Barma (Birman); 3. Mon (Peguan); 4.
Thay (Siamese); 5. Khohmin (Cambodian); 6. Law(Laos); 7.
Anam.
t "The king of Siam," says Tavernier, " is one of the richest
monarchs in the East, and styles himself king of heaven and earth,
though he be tributary to the kings of China." Travels, part ii.
b. Hi. c. 18. Tavernier travelled in 166070.
| The Lord of the White Elephant is the distinctive title of the
rightful possessor of an incarnate symbol of Buddha, who is thereby
exalted above his equals ; it therefore is not an empty sound, but
confers an actual supremacy. In like manner, the kings of Egypt
12 BIRMAH.
early in the sixteenth century, had succeeded in mak-
ing themselves masters of Malacca, they found the
regions between the Indian Sea and Anam divided
among the four powerful states which have since been
familiarly known under the names of Arracan, Ava,
Pegu, and Siam.* Their historians tell us, that the
Birmans, though previously subject to the king of
Pegu, had recently become masters of Ava ; and these
Birmans the Portuguese assisted in their subsequent
wars against the Peguans. Ava is, properly speaking,
the name only of a town, and does not appear to have
been ever recognised by the natives as the name of
their country. Besides which, as the name is gene-
rally applied, it seems difficult to understand how
looked upon Apis as a symbol of Osiris. This envied distinction
has for ages been as much an object of ambition in the Buddhic
states, as universal empire has been among the nations of Christen-
dom. The sovereign of Tonghoo once possessed the title with all
its prerogatives ; it was wrested from him by the king of Siam ;
from whom, after torrents of blood had been shed, it passed to the
Talien monarchy. " You hear for what reasons," says Leblanc,
" the king of Pegu waged war with Siam, that bred so much ruin
and desolation for a white elephant only ; a fatal and unhappy
beast that hath cost the lives of five kings, as it happened to the
last king of Pegu, who had it lately taken from him by the king of
Arracan." This old Traveller was not aware, apparently, of the
sacred and symbolical character of the fatal beast. Atiat. Journal,
vol. xix. p. 652. See also PICART'S Histoire des Religions et
Maun des Peuples,
* Assam, however, was, at this time, a powerful and independent
monarchy. " The chiefest of the idolatrous kings of Asia," says
Tavernier, " are the king of Arracan, the king of Pegu, the king
of Siam, the king of Cochin China, and the king of Tonquin."
p. 163. But he afterwards devotes a chapter to the kingdom of
Asem, which he describes as one of the best countries of all Asia ;
and he describes the gold and silver money of the kings of Asem,
Tipoura, Arakan, and Pegu. In one place he seems to make
Asem border on Pegu, and he clearly includes Ava in the latter
kingdom. pp. 187, 8.
BIRMAH. 13
the Portuguese could enter into alliance with the
inhabitants of a country so far inland, to whom they
could gain access only through Arracan or Pegu.
But, in point of fact, the names of Ava and Pegu
appear to have been originally applied by the Portu-
guese to two rivers;* one, the Irrawaddy, and the
other we suspect to be the Sitang or Zeet-taung, the
river of Tonghoo or Taung-oo, although the Bagoo
Mioup or Pegu river is a name applied to a smaller
stream, navigable only with the tide, and communi-
cating with the Rangoon or Syriam branch of the
Irrawaddy. The proper name of the Peguans, that
by which they are known to the Birmans, is Taliens
or Ta-lain, which seems to be the same appellation as
we find given to the Caypumo or great Martaban
river. Their original country would seem to be that
which lies to the west of that river, and which is
traversed by the Zeet-taung. Martaban appears to
have been anciently a dependency of Pegu. It is not
improbable, indeed, that the Talain might occupy
both banks of the river, and extend themselves south-
ward towards Malacca. The isthmus seems to have
been a scene of perpetual contention between the
Siamese, the Taliens, the Birmans, and the Arra-
canese. To whom it originally belonged, it would
perhaps be' impossible to ascertain ; but those who
commanded the mouths of the rivers which fall into
the head of the Gulf of Martaban, would seem to
have the best title to the proprietorship of the western
coast.
* Tavernier says : " Siren is the name of the city where the king
of Pegu resides, and Ava is the port of his kingdom. From Ava
to Siren you go by -water in great flat -bottomed barks, which is a
voyage of sixty days." By Siren, Syriam is probably meant ; and
if so, the Traveller has simply mistaken the city for the port, and
the port for the capital.
14 BIRMAH.
The native name of the country, improperly called
Ava, Dr. Buchanan says, is My-am-ma. The Chinese
know it under the name of Mien-tien, or Zo-mien.
The earliest notice we have of the country, occurs in
the Travels of Marco Polo, who gives an account of
a memorable battle that was fought in the year 1272,
in the province of Vochang or Yunshang, between
the great khan and the king of Mien and Bangala in
India. " The losses in this battle, which lasted from
the morning till noon, were severely felt on both sides ;
but the Tartars were finally victorious; a result that
was materially attributed to the troops of the king
of Mien and Bangala not wearing armour as the
Tartars did, and to their elephants, especially those of
the foremost line, being equally without that kind of
defence, which, by enabling them to sustain the first
discharges of the enemy's arrows, would have allowed
them to break his ranks, and throw him into disorder.
From this period, the great khan has always chosen to
employ elephants in his armies, which before that time
he had not done. The consequences of this victory
were, that his majesty acquired possession of the whole
of the territories of the king of Bangala and Mien, and
annexed them to his dominions."* By some writers,
this title has been understood to imply two confederate
sovereigns; but the context shews that only one per-
sonage is intended, whom we may assume to be the
sovereign of Ava and Arracan. This passage is im-
* Travels of Marco Polo, by Marsden, 4to. p. 444. D'Anville
and others have supposed Mien to be Pegu, which mistake the
learned Editor of Marco Polo supposes to have arisen from the
Peguans having conquered Ava or the Birmah country, from
which, however, they were subsequently driven. Since the year
1757, he adds, Pegu has been a province dependent on the kingdom
of Ava. The fact is, that Pegu has been loosely applied to the
whole country.
BIRMAH. 15
portant, as it proves a close connexion, either by origin
or conquest, between the people of the two countries.
The lord of Arracan long assumed the title of sovereign
of Bengal ; and it appears that whichever of the rival
monarchs of the Buddhic world laid claim to the supre-
macy, assumed the prerogative of including among his
titular dominions all the other states.*
The word Myamma is evidently the same as Mien,
but conformed to the Birman pronunciation.^ It is not
so easy to decide on the etvmology of the latter word.
* The following passage from Vincent Leblanc's Travels (1660)
throws no small light on the facts referred to : " Verma (Bir-
mah) hath formerly belonged unto the kingdom of Bengalee : the
people are very civil and given to trade. Catigan (Chittagong)
belongs to the kingdom of Bengale, which reaches over 400 leagues
of land ; and the lordship of Aracan, a kingdom between Bengale
and Pegu, stronger by sea than by land, and wages often war
with Pegu, and some years since, they say, hath swallowed up
Pegu, but ruined my neighbours, and therefore the king is called
king of Aracan, Tiparet (Tipperah) Chacomas (Cachar?) Bengale,
and Pegu-" Asiat. Journal, vol. xix. p. 650.
t The pronunciation of the Birmans is, to a stranger, almost inar-
ticulate : they hdrdly ever pronounce the letter r ; and t, d, th, s,
and z, are almost used indiscriminately. The same may be said of
p and b. Thus, the word for water, which the Birmans universally
pronounce yoe, Is written rae. This indistinct pronunciation pro-
bably arises from the excessive quantity of betel which they chew.
No man of rank ever speaks without his mouth being as full as
possible of a mixture of betel-nut, tobacco, quick-lime, and spices.
In this state, he is nearly deprived of the use of his tongue, and
hence an indistinct articulation has become fashionable, even when
the tongue is at liberty. A striking singularity in the language is,
that every syllable is liquid in its termination, each letter having
its peculiar vowel or nasal mark subjoined, and in no instance
coalescing with a following letter. Were a native of Birmah or of
Arracan, acquainted with the Roman letters, but not with the rules
of English pronunciation, to read the words, book, boot, bull, he
would, agreeably to the powers he is taught to affix to the charac-
ters of his own language, pronounce them respectively bu, or buca,
buta, bula; the organs of articulation being inadequate to give ut-
16 BIRMAH.
In Dalrymple's Oriental Repository, the Birmans
are called Boragrhmans. In the Birman alphabet,
published at Rome in 1776, the name is written
Bomans.* The first question to be determined is,
whether the appellative is derived from the name
of a country, or is merely an honourable designa-
tion denoting a warlike class. Some have sup-
posed that Birmah or Birman is the same as Myamma
or Biamma the proper name of Ava. On the other
hand some old travellers mention a city and country
to the east of Ava, under the name of Banna, Brema,
or Brama, which they describe as a separate kingdom
from Ava, and whose king sometimes carried on wars
against the king of Ava/f* While again, Leblanc dis-
terance to the final consonants according to the abrupt mode by
which we are accustomed to terminate these words. " A native
of Arracan," says Dr, Hamilton, "of natural strong parts and
acute apprehension, with whom more than common pains
have been taken for some months past, to correct this defect,
can scarcely now, with the most determined caution, articu-
late a word or syllable in Hindustani that has a consonant for a
final, which frequently occasions very unpleasant and some ridicu-
lous equivocations ; and such is the force of habit, even in making
the most simple and easy thing difficult, that, obvious as the first
elementary sound appears to our comprehension, in an attempt that
was made to teach him the Nagari character, of which it is the
inherent vowel, a number of days elapsed before he could be
brought to pronounce it, or even to form any idea of it, and then
but a very imperfect one." Asiat. Res., vol. v. p. 148. Nor is
this peculiarity confined to the Birmans. The Chinese is formed
on the same principle, as well as some of the African dialects,
and, possibly, those of Tibet.
* Malte Brun. vol. iii. p. 340.
t " Southward, Pegu confines upon Martaban and Siam ; east-
ward, upon Brama, Camboya, and Cochin China; northward,
upon Ava, Tazaty, and Arracan; westward, upon the gulf
of Bengal. The kingdom of Pegu is cut through in many places
by that great river, called by the High Indians Amoucherat, and
by the natives, the river of Peni or Caypumo, or Martaban, that
BIRMAH. 17
tinctly mentions a kingdom of Verma or Berma,
adjoining to Chittagong, and consequently to the west
of Ava, and which, he says, formerly belonged to
Bengal. Without laying too much stress on either
the veracity or accuracy of this Traveller, it seems to
us reasonable to believe that there was a country
known under that name. His description of its
position would lead us to conclude, that this could
be no other than that part of Birmah westward of
Chittagong and to the north of Arracan, which is
watered by the Kiayn-duem and its confluents.* On
the other hand, the national name of the Arracanese
is said to be Marwnma, supposed to be a corruption of
Maha-vunna, (the great Vurma)f Vurma being, we
are told, an appellation peculiar to tribes of Khetri or
runs by several branches through the level, and fertilizes the soil.
This river rises at the lake Chiamay, passes through Brema or
Brama, washing in with her waves refined gold. It runs through
the kingdom of Prom, where are the famous towns of Milintay,
Calamba, and Amirandou ; those territories join Ava; then to
Boldia, called by the Higher Indians Siami ; then to Berma or
Verma, whereof the capital is Carpa, and butts upon Tazatay, and
the kingdoms of Pandior (Pandua or Assam), and Muantay (Cassay
or Meckley). The king of Pegu subjected the kingdom of Berma
two years after he conquered Siam." LEBLANC'S Travels, cited
in Atiat. Journal, vol. xix. p. 652. In this account, the Irrawaddy
and the Caypumo are confounded or mistaken for branches of the
same river ; but in other respects it is accurate, and the countries
of Brema and Verma are clearly distinguished.
" Bengal is bounded eastward by the province of Edaspa
(Tiperah?) that joins to the kingdom of Aracan ; one of its limits
southward is Castigan or Catigan (Chatigam or Chittagong) at the
third mouth of the Ganges, over against the kingdom of Verma or
Berma, where are the mines of chrysolites, sardonyx, and to-
pazes." Atiat. Journal, vol. xix. p. 650. "There are mines of
gold, silver, rubies, and sapphires, now open in a mountain called
Wooboolootan, near the river Ken-duem." SrMES, vol. iii. p, 374.
f Hamilton's Gazetteer, art. Arracan.
18 BIRMAH.
Cshatriya extraction, that is, of the warrior caste.
In Bengal, the Arracanese are known under the name
of Mughs or Maugas, that is, subjects of the Great
Mogo, a title of high ecclesiastical dignity assumed
by their rajahs. The Birmans, according to Colonel
Francklin, derive their origin and name from Brum-
wha, who is evidently the same as Maha-vurma; and by
other authorities it is stated, that they profess to have
come originally from Arracan. If the Mogo and the
Maha-vurma be not the same personage, we should
still incline to believe that the Marumma, Vermas, or
Birmans, and the natives of Arracan, belong to the
same race. The proper country of the Mughs is
the Mogo Calinya, extending along the coast from
the eastern branch of the Ganges to Cape Negrais,
whence they appear to have spread into Cassay, called
in Sanscrit the country of the Muggaloo, which has
been corrupted into Meckley, having for its capital the
flourishing city of Munnipore.* Both the Arracanese
* Malte Brun, vol. iii. p. 345. " The inhabitants call themselves
Moytai." This is doubtless the Moantay of Vincent Leblanc,
which he describes as a great kingdom, lying to the north of Cana-
rene, in which we recognise the country of the Kains or Kiayns.
Canarene is described as " a fair town, rich and flourishing as any
in India, the capital of a kingdom of the same name, confining
eastward on the country of Tazatay, south on Carpa (Verma), and
northward on Moantay. The town is seated betwixt two great
rivers, Jiame and Pegu ; it is in circuit about four leagues, magni-
ficently built. In customs and conditions, the people differ much
from those of Pegu, for they never go barefoot. The king of Ca-
narene is potent and wealthy in mines of gold and silver : he hath
also one of emerald, and some mines of turkesses (turquoises)."
The Kien-duem, or Kiayn-duom, the great western branch of the
Irrawaddy, derives its name from the Kiayn tribe, the name signi-
fying the Fountain of the Kiayns. It arrives in the Birman
country from the N.W., and separates it from the conquered pro-
vince of Cassay. The river Jiame is perhaps a mistake for
Mamma. Casssay is now called by the Birmans Ka-thee. Meckley
BIBMAH. 19
and the Birmans are evidently of Hindoo extraction
and are only different tribes of the same stock, a
branch, it is supposed, of the Palli or Palays, whose
overthrow and dispersion form one of the most re-
markable events in the history of India. Their sacred
language, the Pali, their religious faith, the title of
Mogo, and every other circumstance, connect them
with the country of Magadha or Southern Bahar.
The Pali, which is, in fact, a dialect of the Sanscrit,
is the vernacular dialect of Magadha or Southern
Bahar. Magadha was the kingdom of the great
Mago Rajah. Now Gayah, the birth-place of Buddha,
is in this province, fifty-five miles S. of Patna, and is
still a place of pilgrimage for his votaries, though
among the resident inhabitants remarkably few Bud-
dhists are to be found, the Brahminical being the
prevailing religion. That the history of the Birmans,
mythological and civil, is the same as that of the
v Hindoos, Colonel Francklin says, he has abundant
proof in various tracts which he has collected, parti-
cularly the Maha Bogdha-whein, or the great history
of their duties, and the Maha Rqj-whien, the great
history of their kings. A remarkable passage is cited
by Sir William Jones, from the Institutes of Menu,
respecting the origin of the Chinese and other eastern
nations. " Many families," it is said, " of the mili-
tary class (Cshatriya) , having gradually abandoned
the ordinances of the Veda and the company of Brah-
forms the northern part. See HAMILTON'S Gazetteer, art. Keen-
duem. The Chinese call Arracan, Yee-kien, or Yo-kien ; and the
Kains, Canaranes, and Rak-kaings (the same word as Ya-kaings),
are evidently the same people. Kiayn-duem, therefore, is literally
the Arracan river, although it must not be confounded with the
Mayoon or Myoo river, which flows through Arracan into the Bay
of Bengal.
20 BIRMAH.
mans, lived in a state of degradation, as the Pahlavas,
the Chinas" &c. These emigrant tribes are stated
to have rambled in different bodies to the north-east of
Bengal, and to have established separate principalities
in those countries.* It is a striking coincidence, that,
in the war of the Mahabharat, the tribe of warriors is
represented as having been annihilated. Vishnu,
under the form of Ramaswara, is fabled to have
gained this triumph, on which occasion he founded a
new order of Brahmans. From this sanguinary revo-
lution dates the overthrow of Buddhism in India,
Buddha being thenceforth reduced to a subordinate
deity in the Hindoo pantheon. In the Mughs, the
Birmans, and the Panduans of Assam, it seems in the
highest degree probable, that we have the remains of
the annihilated Cshatriya class, the widely-dispersed
Palli of the fallen empires of Pandu and Magadha.
Thus much, then, appears tolerably certain; that
the Birmans were originally, as their name indicates,
a tribe of warriors f of the . Pali nation ; that they
fixed themselves in the first instance on the banks of
the Kien-duem, thence extending themselves east-
ward over the country of Mien to the confines of
China, and descending the great Irrawaddy, possessed
* Sir W. Jones's Works, 4to. vol. i. p. 96, &c.
t In confirmation of this etymology, it may be mentioned, that
the Birmans are a nation of soldiers, every man in the empire being
liable to be called on for his military service. It is somewhat sin-
gular that the word German, which has, in like manner, become
the geographical designation of a collection of separate states, has
a similar meaning : in the Teutonic, according to D'Anville, it
signifies a war-man or warrior. And the emperor of Germany was
formerly, like the Lord of the White Elephant, the military head
of a body of crowned feudatories. The Birmanic empire, too, is
likely to undergo a dismemberment not very dissimilar to that
which has transformed the circles of Germany into distinct king-
doms.
BIRMAH. 21
themselves of the eastern coast as far as Cape Negrais,
while to the south-east they found powerful rivals in
the Taliens, who possessed the line of the Irrawaddy,
south of Prome. By this means they came in contact
with the Portuguese settlements in Chittagong, and
with their assistance carried on their wars against the
Peguans. The main point of contention has always
been, the sovereignty of this important river, the
grand channel of commerce and enterprise ; and to
the foundation of Ragoon, and the total overthrow
of the rival capital of Pegu, may be traced all the
greatness of the Birman empire.* The romantic
* The statements of the Portuguese writers, that the Peguans
were at one time subject to the Birmans, before Alom-praw raised
the standard of independence, appear to us deficient in probability ;
and there is a passage in Leblanc's Travels, which goes some way
towards both proving and explaining their mistakes. It would
seem that, not the Birmans, but an individual of the name of
Bramaa, was the conqueror of Pegu. " Some years before we
arrived, there was in the country a king of the ancient royal race,
who had many deputies in the country of Brema towards the lake
Chiamay ; among the rest, one in the kingdom of Tangu (Tong-
hoo), that rebelled against him, defeated and slew him, and made
himself king of Pegu. They called him the Brama of Tangu, a
great and potent tyrant, who, by force of arms, joined many king-
doms to his empire, as Prome, Melintay, Calcam, Bacam, Mirandu,
Ava, Martaban, and others. He was afterwards put to death by a
Peguan lord, called Xemin or Zatan," (probably the king of Sitang
is meant,) " who made himself king, but was defeated and slain
by another, called Xomindoo, who likewise being made king, was
not long after defeated and put to death by Chaumigren, of near
alliance to Bramaa, who became one of the most powerful kings
that hath reigned in Pegu : he brought totally under the empire
of Siam, with twelve other great kingdoms. The king that reigned
in Pegu in our time, called Brama, was, as I think, the son of this
Chaumigren, afterwards hard enough dealt with by the kings of
Tangu, Aracan, and Syan." (Asiat. Journal, vol. xix. p. 653J
Here, it will be seen, the king of Birmah or Ava is not men-
tioned. The Brama of Tangu may have been a Birman, although
22 BIRMAH.
story of the circumstances which led to these events,
will form the proper
HISTORY OF BIRMAH.
AT the beginning of the seventeenth century,
both the English and the Dutch had obtained set-
tlements in various parts of the Birnian dominions;
but owing to the misconduct of the latter, all Eu-
ropeans were subsequently banished from Ava. It
was many years after this expulsion, that the En-
glish were reinstated in their factories at Ava and
Syriam, and they also took possession of the Island of
Negrais. The superiority of the Birmans over the
Peguans was maintained until 1740, when a general
revolt took place, and a civil war ensued, which was
prosecuted with savage ferocity. In the course of this
contest, the British factory at Syriam was destroyed,
and all commerce was, for several years, suspended.
At length the Peguans, having procured supplies of
European fire-arms, with the assistance of some
renegade Dutch and Native Portuguese, gained seve-
ral victories over the Birmans, during the years 1750
and 1751; and in the year 1752, the capital of Ava,
after a short siege, surrendered. Dweepdee, the
Birman king, was made prisoner, with all his family,
except two sons, who found means to escape to Siam,
where they met with a friendly reception. Beinga
Delia, king of Pegu, returned in triumph with his
captives to his capital, leaving his brother Apporaza
to govern the subjugated country, and to exact an
oath of allegiance from all Birmans that should be
he is represented as coming from Brama near Siam. But the -word
seems to be used as denoting a chief, or as a proper name. At all
events, it was not the Birman king of Ava that acquired the su-
premacy over the Taliens of Pegu.
BIRMAH. 23
suffered to retain their former possessions. All wore
the appearance of submission; the inhabitants and
principal landholders took the prescribed oath, and
Birmah seemed prostrate at the feet of her successful
rival; when an obscure individual, indignant at the
humiliation of his country, effected a complete revo-
lution, and laid the foundation of the present extended
empire. Alom-praw, or Luong-praw, a Birman of
low extraction, known by the humble name of
Aumdzea, or the huntsman, had been continued by
the conqueror in the chiefship of Monchaboo, at that
time an inconsiderable village about twelve miles
from the river, west of Keoum-meoum. Endowed
with a spirit of enterprise and talent equal to the
greatest undertakings, he harboured a fervent desire
to rescue his country from her humiliating yoke ; and
it was not long before the arrogance of the Peguan
monarch afforded him a favourable moment for
making the attempt. On his return to his capital,
the conqueror, in terms of insolent triumph, an-
nounced, that Birmah, subdued by his prowess, was
annexed as a conquered province to his dominions,
and that the city of Pegu was in future to be the
general metropolis. Alom-praw had, at this period,
about a hundred devoted followers, on whose courage
and fidelity he could rely, while there were not more
than fifty Pegu soldiers in Monchaboo, who treated the
natives with ths most galling contempt. Availing
himself of some particular act of indignity, Alom-praw
so skilfully worked on the minds of his followers,
that, attacking the Peguans with irresistible violence,
they put them all to the sword. After this act of
inexpiable rebellion, Alom-praw, still dissembling his
intention, wrote in terms of contrition to Apporaza,
representing the affair as an act of unpremeditated
24 BIRMAH.
violence, arising out of mutual irritation. The vice-
roy, being called to the metropolis by urgent business,
and underrating the character of his adversary, con-
tented himself with ordering the reduction of Mon-
chaboo, and the imprisonment of Alom-praw until his
return. A small force was accordingly despatched to
bring him in bonds to Ava; but, on approaching
Monchaboo, to their astonishment they found it
strongly stockaded, and were received with threats
of defiance. Alom-praw was not a person to suffer
them to recover from their surprise. At day-break,
he sallied forth at the head of his little band, and so
furiously assaulted the Peguans, who did not exceed
a thousand, as utterly to rout them, and he pursued
them for two miles. After this exploit, he invited all
the neighbouring places to join his standard, and
many obeyed the summons, while others thought
the enterprise as yet too hazardous. When news of
this disaster reached Ava, Dotachew, the nephew of
Apporaza, who governed in his absence, timidly
hesitated whether to march at the head of his troops,
to await a reinforcement, or to retreat to Prome;
and while he lingered, Alom-praw, who, through the
affections of his countrymen, had faithful intelligence
of all that passed, boldly resolved to advance, before
he could strengthen himself by the numerous Pegu
forces scattered throughout the country. The report
of his approach was sufficient to embolden the Bir-
mans to rise on their oppressors. Dotachew fled;
all the Peguans who remained behind were slain;
and Alom-praw, spared the necessity of advancing in
person, sent his second son, Shembuan, to take pos-
session of the capital.
At this time, both the English and the French had
re-established their factories at Syrian), and had, of
BIRMAH. 25
course, their separate interests. The French favoured
the Peguans; the English took the part of the Bir-
mans ; both parties, however, contented themselves
with rendering the petty aid of clandestine supplies.
Early in 1754, the Pegu monarch, now awakened to
a sense of the danger, despatched Apporaza from
Syriam, with a numerous fleet of war-boats up the
Irrawaddy, to reconquer the revolted provinces. The
season at which this expedition was undertaken,
was unfavourable. In the dry months of January,
February, March, and April, the river subsides so as
to be scarcely navigable from shoals and sand-banks,
and the northerly wind, which invariably prevails at
this season, retards all boats of burthen. After sus-
taining a series of harassing attacks from the Birmans
on the shores of the river, as they proceeded, Appo-
raza succeeded in advancing as high as the city of Ava ;
but Ava was of sufficient strength to stand a pro-
tracted siege, and Shembuan resolved to defend it to
the last extremity. Alom-praw had, in the mean-
while, collected in the immediate vicinity, at Keoum-
meoum, a powerful fleet, and an army of ten thousand
men; and Apporaza, preferring the risk of a battle
to the tedious and doubtful operation of a siege, left
Ava in his rear, and advanced to attack the Birman
forces. The contest was obstinate and bloody. At
length a report, skilfully spread, that Shembuan was
advancing on their rear from the fort of Ava, threw
the Peguan force* into total disorder and rout ; num-
bers were slaughtered in the retreat, and Shembuan,
issuing from the fort of Ava, completed their destruc-
tion. This signal victory secured the emancipation of
Ava, Enraged at these repeated defeats and reverses,
the Peguans had recourse to vindictive measures,
which, in the end, proved fatal to themselves. Their
PART I. F
26 BIRMAH.
aged and unoffending prisoner, the dethroned king of
the Birmans, was accused of conspiring against the
Peguan government, and on this pretence was put to
death. The principal Birmans in the districts yet in the
hands of the Peguans, being supposed to be implicated,
were every where indiscriminately slaughtered. These
atrocious and bloody scenes effected no other purpose
than to drive to desperation the numerous Birmans in
the towns and districts of Promej Keounzeik, Loon-
zay, and Denoobew. Furious at the murder of their
monarch and the slaughter of their countrymen, they
simultaneously rose upon their oppressors, and having
exterminated the several garrisons, united themselves
to the now distinguished leader of their countrymen.
At this period, the eldest son of the deposed and
murdered monarch, hearing of the success of Alom-
praw, returned to Monchaboo, with a set of brave and
faithful followers, from an eastern province of Siam ;
but, on his venturing imprudently to assume the dis-
tinctions of royalty, Alom-praw so clearly developed
his views on the throne, that the prince thought it
prudent to consult his safety by flight, and again
sought an asylum among the Siamese. In the au-
tumn of 1754, Beinga Delia, king of Pegu, having
made the greatest efforts to raise fresh levies, ad-
vanced and laid siege to Prome. This city was
fortified by a wall and fosse as well as a strong stock-
ade, and for forty days its was vigorously defended
against every assault, until Alom-praw, having col-
lected the choicest of his troops, proceeded down the
river with a formidable fleet of war-boats. A fierce
and bloody encounter took place between the two
armies; but at length, the Birmans obtained a deci-
sive victory, and the vanquished Peguans sought
safety by flight. The mere terror spread by the
BIRMAH. 27
conqueror's approach, sufficed to clear the whole river
to the sea, and to extend his authority over the delta
formed by the mighty waters of the Irrawaddy. Here,
before his return to Monchaboo, on the ruins of a
large and populous town, called in the Pali, Singoun-
terra, Alom-praw laid the foundation of the flourishing
sea-port of Rangoon,* which has since become so well
known, not only to our merchants, but our troops.
The revered temple of Shoe Dagon (the Golden Dagon),
a noble edifice, stands three miles from the banks of
the river.
The contests maintained by the expiring efforts of
the Peguans, were continued for a considerable time
on the Persaim (or Bassien), Syriam, and Martaban
rivers and estuaries ; but Alom-praw finally defeated
all his opponents. Exasperated at the instances of
duplicity and weakness displayed in turn by the prin-
cipal persons of the English and French factories, who
were desirous of assisting only the strongest, and
thereby betrayed both parties, he took a sanguinary
revenge by putting to death the principal Europeans
on both sides, and destroying the factories. Pur-
suing his victorious career, he at length invested
Pegu, the capital of the rival and constant enemy of
Birmah. Having erected numerous stockades so as
to form a circumvallation round the whole city, in
January, 1757, he sat down to wait the slow but
certain effects of hunger and distress. A gallant
struggle, the dying efforts of a once powerful nation,
protracted the siege, and various fruitless efforts
were made to escape the last point of humiliation.
At length, the king of Pegu, whose imbecility seems
to have equalled his ill fortune, surrendered himself
Rangoon, or Dzangoon, Col. Byrnes says, signifies victory
28 BIRMAH.
with his family to the discretion of the conqueror, and
Pegu was given up to indiscriminate plunder.
Turning now again southward, Alom-praw pro-
ceeded to reduce the large district of Martaban, and
the important line of sea-coast from that river down-
wards through the peninsula of Tenasserim to
Mergui, together with the independent state of
Tavoy. In a subsequent expedition, occasioned by
the revolt of the southern provinces, he wrested
Mergui and Tenasserim from the Siamese ; and
provoked at the assistance they had lent to the insur-
gents, he resolved to annex the kingdom of Siam to
his dominions. He had proceeded, in May, 1760, to
lay siege to its capital, and so decided and energetic
were his measures, that he would probably have suc-
ceeded in this bold enterprise, when death arrested his
career, and thus saved the Siamese from total ruin.
Foreseeing that his end was approaching, he raised the
siege, hoping to reach once more his own dominions ;
but within two days' march of Martaban, he expired,
in the fiftieth year of his age. The short space of
seven years not only sufficed to achieve these splendid
conquests, but Alom-praw proved the strength of his
capacity not less by the extent, variety, and clearness
of his civil and judicial enactments. He laid deep and
strong the foundations of the Birman power; they
have never hitherto been shaken, and his posterity still
wield his sceptre. It is unfortunate that the im-
pression of ill-faith on the part of the European
factories long survived his reign, and has apparently
sunk very deep in the minds of the Birman govern-
ment. The incidents of the wars of Alom-praw are not,
therefore, without their interest, even at this distant
period, as they tend to throw considerable light on the
present obstinate contest.
BIRMAH. 29
The eldest son of Alom-praw succeeded to the vacant
throne, but not without a recurrence of those scenes of
sanguinary civil contest which are continually exhibited
in countries scourged by eastern despotism. Nam-
dojee-praw found a rival in his younger brother Shem-
buan, who, being with the army at the decease of his
father, not only endeavoured to gain their support,
but went so far as to issue a proclamation declaratory
of his having been nominated heir to the crown by
the deceased monarch. Finding himself, however,
unable to maintain his claims, he sued for a reconcilia-
tion, which his brother had the magnanimity to grant.
He had to encounter a more dangerous competitor in
Meinla Rajah, a general high in favour with the late
king, who not only seized Tonghoo, the strongest for-
tress in the Ava country, but succeeded in possessing
himself of Old Ava, the ancient capital. His prompti-
tude and rapidity had nearly gained the crown, and
made him master of the person and fortunes of Nam-
dojee-praw, who remained at Monchaboo, the favourite
residence and capital of Alom-praw, engaged in raising
fresh levies to oppose the rebels, but whose chief reli-
ance rested upon the junction of his raw soldiers with
the veteran army led by his father against Siam. The
season befriended him, for the volume of waters poured
down from the Tibetian mountains on the melting of
the snows, so increases the rapidity and force of the
stream, that, in the months of June, July, and
August, the navigation of the Irrawaddy would be
impracticable, were it not counteracted by the strength
of the north-west monsoon. Assisted by this wind,
and cautiously keeping within the eddies of the banks,
the Birman boats use their sails, and make a more
expeditious passage at this season than at any other
time of the year. The distance of the present capital
c2
30 BIRMAH.
of Birmah from Rangoon, by the river, is about 500
miles ; but although so far from the sea, its noble
breadth of stream, aided by the inundation, placed the
royal forces far beyond the reach of any annoyance
from the walls of Ava, which they passed to effect a
junction with the king; and this union of strength
finally enabled him, after an obstinate defence, the
result of despair, to reduce the city, and exterminate
the rebels.
Two other unsucessful revolts occupied the atten-
tion of Namdojee-praw during his short reign of three
years ; but the only event requiring notice was the
tacit agreement of both parties to bury in oblivion
the circumstances connected with the expulsion of
the English from their factory at Negrais, and the
grant of as much ground as they could occupy at
Persaim. Namdojee-praw had the character of a
severe and rigorous judge, punishing slight immorali-
ties with the severities due only to atrocious crimes.
A second conviction even of drunkenness, incurred
the inevitable penalty of death; and any offences
against the tenets of religion or its ministers, were
inflexibly punished. He left one child, an infant ;
but the throne was immediately seized by Shembuan,
his brother, whom he had formerly so generously par-
doned. The reign of this monarch, which lasted for
twelve years, was a scene of active and successful war-
fare, and proved him to be possessed of distinguished
abilities. Pursuing the plans of his parent, Alom-
praw, against the Siamese, Shembuan, in the begin-
ning of the year 1766, advanced against the capital,
which soon surrendered, and the king became his
prisoner. Shembuan appointed a governor over the
country, and exacted an oath of allegiance ; but so
inveterate is their national hatred of the Birmans,
BIBMAH. 61
that nothing short of extermination could long retain,
the kingdom in subjection to the foreign yoke. The
hate of the Siamese soon found vent, and Pe-ya-tai,
the son of a rich China man by a native woman,
governor of the province of Muong-tai, led a revolt
which, after a violent struggle, rescued Siam from its
invaders. The capture and plunder of Yuthia, the
ancient capital, by the Birmans, together with the
disastrous events which followed, had induced many
of the inhabitants to abandon the place. Pe-ya-tai,
collecting the scattered remains of the dispirited popu-
lation, was soon in a condition to found a new city.
Bankok, also seated on the great river of Siam, the
Meinam, was at this time a place of little importance,
noted chiefly for the excellence of its fruits, which
were sent in great abundance to Yuthia; but its site
offered several advantages over that of Yuthia, and
Bankok has ever since been the capital of the king-
dom.
In the year 1744, Shembuan sent a formidable force
against the Munnipoora Rajah and the Cassay Shaan,
carrying his arms into the recesses of the distant hill
districts of the Brahmapootra. The rajah of Cachar
consented to yield as tribute to the Birman monarch,
besides a sum of money, a virgin of the royal blood,
and a tree with the roots bound in their native clay;
thereby indicating that both person and property were
at the disposal of his sovereign pleasure. In the
south of his dominions, Shembuan repressed a most
formidable and dangerous rebellion of the Peguans,
of which he availed himself to bring to a mock trial
and execute as a common criminal, Beinga Delia, the
aged monarch of Pegu, who had lingered for twenty
years in captivity. It deserves notice, however, how
precisely the fate of this unhappy sovereign corre-
32 BIRMAH.
sponded to the act of barbarity inflicted by Beinga
Delia himself on his vassal, the captive king of
Birmah.
The most singular and important event of the reign
of Shembuan, was a powerful invasion of the Birman
dominions by a numerous army of Chinese. Scarcely
was the Siamese war concluded, when the Chinese
emperor, conceiving, probably, that the long and bloody
wars between the Birmans and the Peguans must
have enfeebled the neighbouring state, prepared an
expedition which had for its object to annex the fine
and fertile countries of the Irrawaddy to his immense
dominions. It was in 1767, that the Birman monarch
was informed that a Chinese army of 50,000 men,
supported by a powerful body of Tatar cavalry, had al-
ready advanced from the western frontiers of Yun-nan,
and crossed the mountains that skirt the Chinese and
Birman empires. Shembuan had prepared two armies :
one, consisting of 10,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry,
under Amiou-mee, engaged the attention of the Chinese,
and harassed their progress; while a much greater
force, commanded by Tenjia-boo, a general of high
rank, was directed to get in the rear of the enemy by
a circuitous march over the mountains that lay further
southwards. The Chinese approached by unremitting
marches. Leaving the province of Bamoo to the west,
they penetrated by Gouptong, between which and
Quantong there is a jee, or mart, where the Birmans
and Chinese meet to barter the commodities of their
respective countries. The jee was taken by the
Chinese and plundered; and near Peenjee, the ad-
vanced forces of Amiou-mee sustained an action, in
which, from their inferiority of numbers, they were
worsted and obliged to fall back. This inconsiderable
success led to the total destruction of the Chinese
BIRMAH. 33
army, which became so elated as to conceive that no
obstacle existed to impede their advance to the capital.
Forsaking the high road, probably for the convenience
of forage, they had advanced by Chenghio as far as the
town of Chiboo, when the army of Tenjia-boo appeared
in their rear, while the governor of Quantong, having
joined Amiou-mee, took up a strong position in their
front. Thus enclosed on all sides, the Chinese army
was soon compelled to make a desperate effort at
breaking through their straitened bounds. Supposing
Amiou-mee to be the weaker party, they attacked
his division with the fury of despair ; but, after a very
long and bloody conflict, the arrival of the fresh and
numerous forces of Tenjia-boo decided their fate. Of
50,000 Chinese, not a man returned to their country.
The Birmans have always practised an exterminating
policy towards their enemies, and have followed up
any revolts or resistance to their arms by such unre-
lenting cruelties as have tended to strike terror into
every adjoining state. About 2,500 only were pre-
served from the sword, and conducted in fetters to the
capital, where a quarter was assigned for their resi-
dence. These captives, in conformity to the custom
of the empire, were encouraged to marry Birman
wives, and to consider themselves as natives. This
remarkable peculiarity in the Birman customs, which
reminds us of the Lacedemonian liberality, or of the
genius of Roman institutes, speaks highly for the fol-
lowers of the Shaster, marking the superior character
of their general polity, which grants to every sect the
practice of its religious rites. Tolerant alike of Chris-
tian, Mussulman, or Jew, they admit to equal privi-
leges the votaries of Confucius, or of the Arabian
prophet; and their children, if born of a Birman
woman, are entitled to the same protection from the
34 BIRMAH.
state, as if descended from a long line of Birman
ancestry.
Shembuan, having now established his throne on
the strong foundations of terror and respect, resolved
upon an act of policy, under the disguise of a religious
solemnity, adapted to confirm the impression of his
power. The sacred temple of Dagon near Rangoon,
where Guadma Buddha had been adored from time
immemorial, had, in the year 1769, been greatly da-
maged by an earthquake, and the sacred tee, or umbrella
of open iron work, which crowned the spire, had been
thrown down and irreparably damaged. In Birmah,
a pagoda is not deemed sanctified until it receives the
tee, and its erection is an act of high solemnity.
Shembuan, having caused a magnificent tee to be
constructed at Ava, announced his intention of de-
scending the Irrawaddy, and assisting in person at its
erection. Attended by a numerous train of Birman
nobles, and a body guard of 50,000 men, he left his
capital, and arrived at Rangoon in October, 1775. At
the different stages of his progress, he inflicted the
most relentless punishments upon the different Peguans
of rank who had been concerned in the recent rebel-
lion; and it was upon this occasion that, after a mock
trial, he wantonly put to death the aged monarch
whom he had led captive in his train. These cruelties
and this act of devotion to Buddha were the last deeds
of Shembuan. On his return to the capital, he was
seized with a mortal illness, and expired in the spring
of the year 1776.
Momien, the infant son of Namdojee-praw, was
now growing towards manhood. He had been se-
cluded in the kioum or monastery of Lo-ga-ther-poo,
at a short distance from the fort of Ava, and he was
yet destined to inhabit its privacy. Chenguza, the
BIRMAH. 35
son of Shembuan, ascended, as rightful heir, the
throne which his father had wrested from the infancy
of Momien. Arrived himself at maturity, the state of
the Birman empire so flourishing, its foundations laid
so firm, and potently supported by the faithful ad-
herents and able counsellors of his father, every cir-
cumstance augured a prosperous and brilliant reign;
but the short and ignominious career of Chenguza was
marked by shameless debauchery, and by acts of the
greatest cruelty and barbarity. Stimulated by jealousy,
he caused his younger brother, Chilenza, to be put to
death ; his uncle Terroug-mee also fell a victim to his
suspicions, and his other relatives were either detained
in confinement or harrassed by a vigilant surveillance.
His first marriage being unfruitful, he espoused as his
second wife, a daughter of one of the attawoons, or
chief counsellors of his court. His intemperance
causing mutual alienation, he, in a groundless fit of
jealousy, had the unfortunate victim dragged in open
day from the palace, enclosed in a scarlet sack, and
drowned in the Irrawaddy, in the view of thousands
of spectators, among whom were her agonised father
and many of her relations. His insane caprice induced
him to reverse most of the late king's plans, by recall-
ing his armies, and disgracing Maha-see-soo-ra, the
general in highest reputation; and not content with
having repealed the edicts against drunkenness, he
constantly exhibited himself in a state of inebriety.
By his contemptuous treatment of the sacerdotal class,
with which the sovereign of these regions is closely
and intimately associated, he drew on himself the
hatred of that powerful order, and thereby enabled his
subjects to overthrow his throne, and free themselves
from his yoke. Despotic as are the monarchs of
36 BIRMAH.
Birmah, they are, nevertheless, circumscribed in their
apparently unlimited despotism, by the rhahaans or
priests. This was made apparent by the part they
were prevailed upon to take at the present emergency.
Protected by the sanctity of the chosen retreat and the
sacred functions for which he was professedly destined,
Mornien had been screened by the rhahaans from the
fears and jealousy of Shembuan and his yet more dan-
gerous son and successor Chenguza; and they now
silently prepared to avail themselves of their ascendancy
over their pupil, whose slender capacity made him a
willing instrument. Minderajee-praw, the younger
brother of Shembuan, a man of eminent parts and equal
ambition, soon laid the plans which effected their pur-
pose, One proof of the capricious, unsettled mind of
Chenguza, was his irregularity in issuing from and
returning to his royal fort and palace ; a station in all
Asiatic kingdoms, even in Turkey and Persia, of the
highest importance, as usually containing the trea-
sures and exhibiting the state of the sovereign, and
almost conferring the possession of the royal power on
its occupier. Chenguza had gone to Keoptaloun, about
thirty miles below Ava, to celebrate a high festival,
when Momien, attired in the ensigns of royalty, and
supplied with a royal retinue by the address of his
advisers and followers, presented himself as Chenguza,
at midnight, at the golden gate, and demanded ad-
mission. It was opened, but, suspicions being excited,
an effort was made to close it, which would have been
fatal to the whole enterprise ; the conspirators, how-
ever, rushed in, and after a smart conflict, gained pos-
session of the palace. Early next day, Momien was
proclaimed sovereign of Birmah, and Chenguza was
declared an outlaw. Forces were despatched by sea
and land to Keoptaloun, to seize his person ; but Chen'
BIRMAH. 37
guza, informed of his danger, had shut himself up in
the strong fortress of Chagaing. There he was in-
vested by the forces of the new king, and soon finding
that the weakest of all beings is a despised and de-
throned tyrant, he determined on fleeing to the Cassay
country, and soliciting protection from the Munnipoora
Rajah. During the six years of his reign, he had
observed the most pacific conduct towards his vassals
and neighbours; he might, therefore, have received
the shelter which he courted. From this resolve he
was, however, dissuaded by the voice of his mother,
the widow of Shembuan-praw, who urged him to
prefer death in his own golden courts, rather than to
depend on the precarious bounty of a vassal. Chen-
guza, although so long immersed in vice and profligacy,
yielded to this counsel, and thus gave in his last act one
proof of a lofty and magnanimous spirit. Having pri-
vately prepared a small boat, in disguise, and with only
two adherents, he crossed the Irrawaddy to the prin-
cipal ghaut, or landing-place, at the foot of the walls of
the palace, where he was speedily challenged by the
sentinels. No longer seeking to conceal himself, he
called out in a loud voice, that he was Chenguza-
nandoh-yeng-praw Chenguza, lawful lord of the
palace. A conduct so unexpected and lofty, surprised
the guards, who, overawed and restrained by the
Birman law, which expressly forbids the shedding of
the blood of one of the royal family, suffered him to
proceed, and the crowd that had quickly collected,
respectfully opened for his passage. He had pene-
trated to the gate of the outer court of the palace; and
so rapid are the changes in human affairs, especially in
eastern climates, that he might again have reached the
summit of .power, when he was confronted by the
PART I. D
36 BIRMAH.
attawoon whose daughter he had so inhumanly
drowned in the Irrawaddy. Chenguza, on perceiving
him, exclaimed : " Traitor, I am come to take pos-
session of my right, and to wreak vengeance on my
enemies !" Scarcely had he uttered the words, ere his
exasperated foe, seizing a sabre from one of the attend-
ants, laid him breathless at his feet. For shedding
royal blood, however, the ill-fated attawoon was
basely delivered over to the executioner. Momien, a
mere tool in the hands of those who had made use
of him to achieve the tyrant's downfall, was, within
the space of six days, himself precipitated from the
throne by his ambitious uncle Minderajee-praw ; and
the new king, to prevent any future danger from his
pretensions, caused him to perish in the waters of the
Irrawaddy.
In 1782, Minderajee-praw commenced his reign ;
and although he was indebted for his elevation to deeds
of blood, he governed with clemency and justice, re-
calling and replacing Maha-see-soo-ra, and the officers
and counsellors of his brother and father. Secured
against foreign enemies, and exempt throughout his
reign from family disturbances, he was nearly deprived
of his throne and life by a conspiracy, over the object
and motives of which there hangs a considerable
degree of obscurity. The leader in this treasonable
attempt was Magoung, a low-born man ; and it is
said to have been concerted without the privacy of
any person of consequence. Magoung is represented,
as having been " remarkable only for the regularity
of his actions and a gloomy cast of thought ;" yet, he
must have possessed a certain consideration, as he had
influence enough to form a confederacy of a hundred
persons as visionary and desperate as himself. These
BIRMAH. 39
persons bound themselves, under an oath of secrecy
and fidelity to each other, to take away the life of
the king. Whether Minderajee-praw had infringed
on any privileges, or excited hatred by the outrage
against Momien's sacred person, whatever were
their motives, their attempt to effect their pur-
pose was so energetic and powerful, that, breaking
through the customary guard of seveu hundred men,
they were on the point of succeeding : nothing pre-
served the king but the casualty of his having retired
to the range of apartments allotted to the women. Dis-
appointed of their prey, and surrounded by the guards,
the conspirators were all put to death.
Although, as votaries of Buddha in his character of
Guadma, the Birmans are exempted from the yoke of
Hindoo castes, and pay no regard to the innumerable
deities of the Hindoo mythology, yet, there is a close
connexion between the two forms of superstition.
Brahmins admit Buddha into their pantheon as an
incarnation of Vishnu the preserver ; while the Bir-
mans, although esteeming the Brahmins inferior in
sanctity to their own rhaha'dns, yet hold them in high
respect, and these personages have for ages been
accustomed to migrate from Cassay and Arracan to
Ava. The habits of the Brahmins, and their inter-
course with society, must raise them in general know-
ledge far above the Birman priesthood, who are an
order of monks residing in convents, and holding it to
be an abuse to perform any of the common functions
of life. The Brahmins, skilfully availing themselves
of the early predilection of Minderajee-praw for the
science of judicial astrology, and flattering him with
favourable prognostics, soon introduced themselves into
high influence at court, obtained the grant of a college
40 BIRMAH.
and lands for their support, and engrossed the whole
regulation of the national calendar, assuming the
prerogative of pronouncing upon the propitious or
adverse moment of any undertaking from unerring
prognostics. The Brahmins have thus obtained a
permanent footing in Birmah. A certain number of
them form a train of fatidical augurs, who, like the
Magi of Iran, or the Druids of Britain, compose a
sacred band, the guardians of the throne * Prompted
by these new counsellors, Minderajee-praw removed
his seat of government fromAwa Kaung, or Old Ava,
and founded a new metropolis. His choice was judi-
cious. About four miles from Ava, towards the north-
east, is a deep and extensive lake called Tounzemaun,
formed by the influx of the river during the monsoon,
through a narrow channel, which afterwards expands,
and forms a sheet of water seven or eight miles in
length, and about a mile and a half broad. On a penin-
sula formed by this lake on the one side, and the river
Irrawaddy on the other, stands Amara-pura (Umme-
rapoora), or the immortal city, the flourishing
metropolis of the empire. The situation is dry and
salubrious, and Amara-pura soon became one of the
best built and most flourishing cities of the East.
The chief event of the reign of Minderajee-praw
was the successful invasion of Arracan, a state
of the greatest natural strength, which appears
to have been judiciously planned and executed. Ar-
* Colonel Symes calls them the king's " private chaplains." On
the day of audience, " four Brahmins, dressed in white caps and
gcwns, chanted the usual prayer at the foot of the throne ; a rah-
haan then advanced into the vacant space before the king, and
recited in musical cadence the name of each person who was to be
introduced, and of whose present he entreated his majesty's ac-
ceptance." SYMES, vol. iii. p. 169.
BIRMAH. 41
racan, or Yee-kien, stretches from the river Naff
(or Naaf), which separates it from the district
of Chittagong, as far southward as Cape Negrais.
The great range of western mountains, called Anou-
pectou-mlou, nearly encircles it. From Bass'ien or
Cape Negrais, its southern frontier can be invaded
only by water. On the north, it is accessible from the
Chittagong frontier only by the sea-beach, which is
continually intersected by channels from the sea ; and
the mountainous passes of the Anou-pectou-miou Ghauts
are so difficult, that an enterprising people might, with
a small force, defend them against any numbers.
Although the great river on which the city of Arracan
stands, expands into a noble sheet of water, yet, its
entrance is well protected by sands and numerous
islands. A strong fleet of boats, however, descending
the Irrawaddy, entered the waters of Arracan by the
creeks and channels of the Bassien river, and a naval
action took place about two miles from the fort, which
terminated in favour of the Birmans. The approach
of a powerful detachment under the Prince of Prome,
who had penetrated the mountain denies, completed
the victory. Maha Sumda, the Rajah of Arracan,
terrified at the bold and warlike character of his foes,
sought safety in flight, but was overtaken, and con-
veyed with all his family to Amara-pura, where he
died in the first year of his captivity. The town and
fort of Arracan fell after a faint resistance. This was
followed by the surrender of the islands of Cheduba,
Ramree, and the Broken isles. Many of the Mughs,*
or natives of Arracan, preferring flight to servitude,
* A corruption of Mngo, a term of high sanctity, properly belong-
ing only to the sacerdotal order and the rajah.
42 BIIIMAH.
took refuge in the Dumbuck hills on the borders of
the Chittagong district, and amid the forlorn waste*
and jungles skirting the frontiers ; where, having
formed themselves into independent tribes of robbers,
they have carried on unceasing hostilities against the
Birmans. Some settled in the districts of Dacca and
Chittagong, under the protection of the British flag;
while others, rather than abandon their country, sub-
mitted to the conqueror.
The total reduction of Arracan occupied but a few
months. The booty is said to have been considerable ;
but on nothing was so high a value placed as on the
original sitting statue of Guadma Buddha, made of
brass highly burnished.* This, together with five
other gigantic images, of the same metal, representing
racshyaSy or Hindoo demons, the guardians of the
sanctuary, and an enormous brass cannon, thirty feet
in length, was conveyed by water to the capital with
much pomp and superstitious parade. It was upon
this occasion, we are told, that the Birman monarch,
having gained possession of so important a trophy, and
succeeded to the prerogatives of the great Mogo, as-
sumed the imperial title of .Boa, and the still prouder
designation of Lord of the White Elephant, the
highest distinction in the Buddhic world. This im-
portant acquisition did not, however, satisfy the
conqueror's ambition. The rival state of Siam was
* " The figure is about ten feet high, in the customary sitting
posture, with the legs crossed and inverted, the left hand resting on
the lap, and the right pendant. This image is believed to be the
original resemblance of the reshee (saint), taken from life, and is so
highly venerated, that pilgrims have for centuries been accustccned
to come from the remotest countries where the supremacy of
Guadma is acknowledged, to pay their devotions at the feet of his
brazen representative." SYMBS, voL i. p. 253.
BIRMAH. 43
recovering its former vigour after enjoying a long
respite from hostilities ; but the Binnan emperor now-
resolved to push his conquests further southward along
the western coast of the peninsula. After an unsuc-
cessful effort made by an expedition from Rangoon to
gain possession of the island of Junkseylon, Minde-
rajee left his capital at the head of 30,000 men, and a
train of twenty field-pieces, and taking the route of
Tonghoo, reached Martaban in the spring of 1786.
Scarcely had he entered the Siamese territory, when
he was met by the king of Siam with a powerful army.
A furious engagement ensued, in which the Birmans
were completely routed, their useless cannon were
taken, and the emperor himself narrowly escaped being
made prisoner. Hostilities were carried on between,
the two nations without any decisive result for several
ensuing years, till at length, in the year 1793, over-
tures for peace were made by the Siamese, and a
treaty was entered into, by which they consented to
cede to the Birmans the western maritime towns as
far south as Mergui, including the important province
of Tenasserim and the port of Tavoy ; acquisitions of
great importance, considered either in a political or
a commercial light. The province of Bamoo and the
fort of Quantong had also been wrested from the
Chinese, and the boundary extended to the thickly-
wooded heights which separate the Chinese province
of Yun-nan from Ava ; and the Birman emperor thus
found himself invested with the undisputed sovereignty
of a territory equal in geographical extent to the whole
of France.
Such was the state of things when, in 1794, an
event occurred, which had nearly embroiled the Bir-
mans in fresh hostilities with a more powerful foe than
they had yet encountered. The trade of Arracan had
44 B1RMAH.
long suffered from the attacks of piratical banditti,
and even fleets laden with the royal customs had been
attacked by these bold freebooters, chiefly refugees
from Arracan, who scrupled not to make predatory
incursions by land also. Having accomplished their
object, they, as the Birmans alleged, transported their
spoil across the river Naaf, the boundary of the Chit-
tagong district, and under the protection of the British
flag, lived in safety and at ease, until impelled by want
to renew their depredations. His Birman majesty,
on becoming acquainted with these facts, disdaining
to institute any inquiry or to prefer any complaints,
ordered a body of 5,000 troops to march into the dis-
trict, with positive commands to apprehend and bring
back the culprits. The British Government, surprised
at this aggression, despatched a strong detachment
with artillery forthwith to Chittagong, to expel the
invaders. Seeree Nunda Kiozo, the Birman general,
appears to have conducted himself with singular
moderation and discretion. After his army had crossed
the river and encamped on the western bank, he dic-
tated a letter to the British magistrate of Chittagong,
stating that the only object of this inroad was the
caption of the delinquents, and disclaiming any design
of hostilities against the British : at the same time,
he declared his resolution not to quit the Company's
territory till they were given up ; and having fortified
his camp with a stockade, he seemed determined to
abide by this resolution. On the approach, however,
of Major-general Erskine, Seeree Nunda Kiozo sent a
flag of truce, proposing terms of accommodation on
the same basis ; and he afterwards, with a manly
confidence in the British character, personally waited'
on General Erskine, who appears to have acted with
equal firmness and prudence. It being represented
BIRMAH 45
to them, that no proposals could be listened to while
they remained on English ground, the Birmans were
induced to recross the river, having received a pro-
mise that the matter of complaint should instantly be
investigated. The refugees were already in custody ;
and the result was, that the three principal delinquents
were surrendered to the Birman chief, who, having
attained the object of his expedition, retired with his
captives from the British frontier.
The governor-general (Sir John Shore) now deemed
it expedient to endeavour to cultivate a better under-
standing and a closer connexion with this bold and
formidable neighbour. With this view, an embassy
to the Birman court was determined upon; and in
1795, Colonel Symes was despatched from Calcutta in
the character of agent plenipotentiary, with a suite of
more than seventy persons. To this gentleman's
account of his successful mission, and the historical
memoir prefixed to it, we are indebted for the mate-
rials of the preceding sketch, and for the greater part
of the information which we possess respecting the
geography, manners, and political condition of the
country. The trade between Rangoon and both Cal-
cutta and Madras had, for some time, been on the
increase, more particularly on account of teak timber,
the produce of Ava and Pegu,* which is invaluable
for the purpose of ship-building. But from this
period, it has been more especially an object with the
* In proof of the importance of the Pegu trade, Colonel Symes
states, that " a durable vessel of burthen cannot be built in the
river of Bengal, except by the aid of teak plank, which is only to
be procured from Pegu. Madras is supplied from Rangoon with
timber for all the common purposes of domestic use ; and even
Bombay, although the :oast of Malabar is its principal storehouse,
finds it worth while annually to import a lar^e quantity of planks
from Pegu." SYMES. vol. iii. pp. 2(>6, 10.
I) 2
46 BIRMAH.
Indian government to secure an amicable intercourse,
for the purposes of commerce, with the Birman power.
In the year 1799 and 1800, fresh hostilities broke
out between the Birmans and the Siamese, in
which the latter were the aggressors ; and they ob-
tained at first considerable advantages, routing
the Birmese forces opposed to them. But so great
were the exertions and resources of Minderajee-praw,
that the Siamese were soon compelled to fall back ;
and the result appears to have been, a recognition of
the old boundary, and a truce of longer duration than
usual. The feudal system of conscription which pre-
vails in the Birman empire, enables the sovereign
readily to bring into the field a force of powerful and
menacing amount. The court of Amarapura can
without much difficulty, command, by means of its
great feudatories, the viceroys of Pagahm, Prome,
Tonghoo, and other chiefs, a body of from 60 to 80,000
men on any one poinj;, and by means of its noble
rivers can direct this vast force with sufficient precision
to the prescribed spot. So well arranged and com-
bined are their military movements, that, in the in-
vasion of Arracan by the late monarch in 1783, a
simultaneous operation by three divisions of troops,
and a flotilla of war-boats, took place so accurately,
that they all appeared at nearly the same moment
before Arracan ; and that country has ever since fur-
nished its contingent levy of troops for the armies of
Birmah. But during the Siamese war of 1799 and
1800, a large mass of Arracanese, disgusted or terrified
by the new regulations of conscription, emigrated in
a body into the British province of Chittagong ; and
after various disputes and altercations with the Bir-
mans, they at length were allowed peaceably to settle
on districts apportioned out for them in the British
BIBMAH. 47
territories. The truce with Siam lasted until 1810,
when another furious contest took place, which, after
much bloodshed, terminated as usual to the advantage
of the Birmans, by extending and consolidating all
their conquests, on the western coast from Mergui to
the island of Junkseylon.
No interruption of commercial intercourse between
British India and the Birmans took place during the
remainder of this reign ; but a deep-rooted jealousy
of the British appears to have taken possession of the
mind of the emperor. In 1818, the Marquess of
Hastings had certain information of his having joined
the formidable Mahratta confederacy, which had for
its object to subvert our Indian empire. By the well-
conceived device of transmitting the intercepted docu-
ments to the Birman emperor as forgeries, accompanied
with an account of the triumphant ascendancy of our
arms in all quarters, the governor-general succeeded
in warding off at that time a tremendous inroad on
our eastern frontier. The Birman emperor wisely
availed himself of the hint, and the intercourse be-
tween the two countries went on as before. In June
1819, Minderajee-praw terminated his long and pro-
sperous career, after a reign of thirty-seven years. The
state paper issued on the occasion announced, accord-
ing to the Chinese formula, that the immortal king
had gone up to amuse himself in the celestial regions.
He was succeeded without opposition by his grandson,
the Engy Tekien, or prince royal. The new emperor
was proclaimed in June 1819 ; and on the 2d of No-
vember following, being his birth-day, he was solemnly
crowned at Ava. He must immediately after his
accession have entered on the reduction of the pro-
vince of Cassay, as in January 1820, he celebrated his
victory in presence of the American Baptist mission-
48 B1RMAH.
aries. By this conquest, the frontiers of Birmah Avere
pushed forward, on the north and west, to the eastern
boundary of Bengal, to Dinapore and its districts, the
Garrows, the Sylhet Hills, and the mountain ridges of
Cachar. Nor was it long before this close contact
with our Indian empire became the occasion of fresh
disagreements. In 1822, a large body of the perse-
cuted Assamese migrated into the British territory,
and, as before, the fugitives were followed thither by
a considerable Birman force sent to reclaim them.
The assurance that these refugees were strictly pre-
cluded from exercising any act of hostility against
their conquerors, seems, however, to have satisfied
the Birman commander, and no act of hostility fol-
lowed. Indeed, the attention of the sovereign of
Birmah appears at this time to have been wholly oc-
cupied with the reduction of Siam, the favourite object
of his predecessors in the empire. - In order to accom-
plish the final overthrow of this kingdom, an effort
was made to obtain the concurrence of the king of
Cochin China. Whatever may have been the plans
of attack, the relative frontiers remained unaltered in
1824, when the eventful war broke out between the
British government and the Birman empire. Many
petty acts of ill will had betokened the jealousy and
alienation of the Binnans, when, in September 1823,
a body of their troops, amounting to 500, took forcible
possession of the island of Shapuree, in pursuance of
an order from the capital, read publicly at Arracan.
They were instantly expelled by force, and an expla-
nation demanded. The next act of open hostility,
was the advance of 2000 Birman troops, with a view
to restore the rightful rajah of Cachar, who had been
deposed and had sought refuge in the Biroian domi-
nions. Ghumbur Sing, the usurper, was supported
BIRMAH 49
by the British ; and by this revolution, that state had
been for some months under the British protection.
These acts, therefore, of hostility against Cachar, to-
gether with the attempted occupation of Shapuree,
were the ostensible grounds of the war.
It has been usual, in former wars with the Asiatic
states, to experience a violence of onset, impetuous in
the extreme, but which has soon exhausted itself, so that
it has required only the perseverance and combination
requisite to surmount the first attack, and the storm has
subsided of itself. Not so in the recent contest with the
Birmans. On the northern or Sylhet frontier, in the
district of Chittagong, in the southern maritime districts
of Rangoon, Dalla, and Mergui, every where large
bodies of troops met the British detachments, fought
with a bravery the most determined, and evidenced a
decided superiority over most of the native armies.
The island of Shapuree, in the river Naaf, the boundary
of Chittagong, was soon retaken, and was never again
made the scene of action. In Cachar, the ground was
contested with vigour and skill, large bodies of Bir-
mans and Assamese presenting themselves at every
point. The latter forces, dragged into the war to
support the power of their oppressor, usually fled at
the first encounter ; but the former, entrenching them-
selves in their peculiarly effective stockades, main-
tained a persevering resistance.*
After many severe conflicts, they were expelled
from Cachar ; but invading the Chittagong province.
* Col. Bowen, giving an account of an attack made upon the
stockade of Doodpattee, in Feb. 1824, says : " They fought with a
bravery and obstinacy which I had never experienced in any
troops." The Birmans amounted to 2000. After a most severe
action, which lasted from ten in the morning till the evening, the
British were obliged to retire to Juttrapore with a heavy loss.
50 BIRMAH.
they advanced as far as Ramoo, and surrounding a
detachment consisting of five companies of the 23d
native infantry, three companies of the 20th, some
provincials, the Mugh levy and artillery, they com-
pletely overwhelmed and routed the whole force.
The highest alarm was excited in Calcutta by this
victory, in consequence of the unprotected state of
this important frontier ; but the enemy, as if unde-
cided in their object of warfare, remained stationary
at Ramoo. The brunt of the contest, however, was
destined to fall upon the southern maritime provinces,
and a large armament from the Bengal and Madras
presidencies anchored off Rangoon, on May 16, 1824.
This flourishing place, which had grown to conse-
quence and prosperity by the extent and importance
of its commercial relations, was abandoned and par-
tially destroyed on the approach of the British, and
was completely desolated by the series of obstinate
conflicts carried on in its neighbourhood. In the
month of May, the island of Cheduba and the point
of Negrais were taken possession of by the British
troops, but in neither case without a severe contest.
Stockades of great strength were established by the
Burmans along the river ; and although repeatedly
driven from their stations, they immediately occupied
some post in the rear, retreating with equal order
and judgement, until the gradual rising of the
Irrawaddy, laying the whole country under water,
suspended active proceedings from June to Octo-
ber. The district of Dalla, eventually subjected
by the British, was also spiritedly contested. The
pagoda at Keykloo, fourteen miles above Rangoon on
the Irrawaddy, when attacked by Lieutenant-Colonel
Smith, on the 5th of October, was so judiciously and
skilfully defended, that cur troops were repulsed witb>
BIRMAH, 51
considerable loss, and were obliged to retreat, as the
despatch expresses it, dispirited and ungovernable.
On returning to the attack, on the 9th of October,
with a reinforcement of European troops, the town
was found evacuated and in flames. After a series of
actions, more or less obstinate, Martaban, Tavoy, and
Tenasserim were at length reduced by the British
arms, and the whole Birman possessions eastward of
Pegu fell before the superiority of European tactics.
In Mergui, there were found 143 pieces of ordnance ;
in Martaban, 1 16 pieces. Not in one point only, but
throughout the border of this extensive dominion, the
Birmans had provided formidable means of defence.
But it was in the central provinces, and on Ava's
mighty river, the Irrawaddy, that the most effective
preparations were made for the important struggle.
In the beginning of December, the Maha Bundoola
descended the river, from Prome, with an army of
60,000 men. A series of attacks and combats now
commenced, which manifested a spirit and courage
the most determined on the part of the Birmans, and
a knowledge and skill in the Maha Bundoola, which
extorted the praise of Sir A. Campbell. Their attacks
upon the British line continued for six days. The
left wing of their army, when defeated with great
loss, merely retreated on their right, and the struggle
was renewed, till this division also was routed, with
the loss of 5000 men, and their ordnance and chattahs
(honorary standards). Still undismayed, they rallied
the remnant of this great army, and entrenched
themselves within five miles of their original position,
at the village of Corkain, to the number of about 20
or 25,000 men, " with a judgement," says the
despatch of the brigadier-general, " which would do
credit to the best-instructed engineers of the most
5* BIRMAH.
civilised and warlike nations." In the mean time,
our shipping was attacked by a large naval armament
of war-boats, and was in no small danger from the
fire-rafts of the enemy. Accident, however, had for-
tunately attached to the British fleet a steam-vessel,
equipped in India by a private individual, which
rendered the most efficient assistance, rushing amid
the Birman war-boats with an impetus which nothing
could withstand. Astonished and alarmed at the
wheels, the noise, and the column of smoke which
issued from this mysterious assailant, these brave but
inexperienced foes suffered a total defeat, the larger
portion of their boats being overset and run down.
Driven from the water, and combated both by flood
and by land with arms hitherto unknown in this part
of the East, the remains of the grand army under
their brave leader, retreated towards the shores of
Pegu, there to prepare for future conflicts.
In January 1825, the Birman generalissimo was
found to have stationed himself at Derioobew, a large
town on the great river, about fifty miles above Ran-
goon ; so small a space in the heart of the country
had the British acquired by the series of brilliant but
dearly-bought victories they had gained. Here, the
Birman general prepared to sustain an attack, having
combined the remaining resources of the Pegu vice-
royalty.
About the middle of February, General Cotton
captured the stockade of Panlung, principally by
means of the rockets and mortars ; but at Denoobew,
he sustained a serious repulse, and was obliged to
retire with the loss of many of his officers and men.
In April, General Campbell, \vho had ascended the
Irrawaddy towards Prome without encountering any
resistance, was recalled to the attack on Denoobew,
BIRMAH. 53
which was regularly assaulted with the mortars and
rockets. Here, the brave Maha Bundoola ended his
military career, being killed by a rocket while going
his rounds, and his dismayed followers retired from
the place without much further resistance. The
quantity of ordnance and stores captured was very
considerable. On the 24th of this month, the flotilla
and army advanced to Prome, which city was eva-
cuated by the enemy, after an attempt had been
made to destroy it by conflagration. One quarter
was laid in ashes, and much grain consumed. Above
100 pieces of ordnance were captured here. The
despatch states, that the surrounding hills were for the
most part fortified to their very summits, presenting a
position of a very formidable appearance, and, in
reality, so strong, that 10,000 regular troops could
have defended it against any attack from ten times
that force. While these important movements were
taking place, a series of brilliant and sharply-contested
actions put the British forces in possession of the
kingdom of Arracan. From Cachar and Assam, also,
the Birmans were completely expelled.
Thus terminated, in the beginning of May 1825,
the second campaign of this bloody and devastating
war. Prome, the ancient frontier town of Pegu, is
120 miles from Rangoon, but the distance still from
Amara-pura, the capital, is about 250 miles. Taught
by lamentable experience the great inferiority of their
weapons and tactics to European practice, the Birman
government seems now to have resorted to the fright-
ful expedient of firing every town and village, and
laying waste the lands in the track of their retreat.
The present aspect of Birmah, in fact, is that of a
proud and threatening ruin. Her resources exhausted
beyond what half a century will be sufficient to restore ;
54 BIEMAH.
her population diminished to a frightful extent ;
stripped of Arracan, of the great delta of the Irra-
waddy, of the maritime peninsular provinces ; on the
north and west, driven from Assam, from Cachar, and
Cassay ; a formidable enemy advanced a third of the
way to her capital, and possessed of the strong places
of her conquered and discontented province, the once
flourishing kingdom of Pegu ; still, this powerful state
maintains a posture of defiance, assembles fresh
levies, and seems resolved on trying the fate of arms
'n another campaign. Whether we reflect upon the
pertinacity and bravery of the constant attacks made
on our positions in the vicinity of Rangoon, for at
least the space of twelve months ; the repetition of the
contest after every repulse ; the simultaneous struggle
in the maritime peninsula, tne province of Arracan,
and the mountains of Cachar and Assam ; the various
repulses which at times they inflicted on our troops ;
and the combined arrangements requisite to sustain
so great a chain of warfare upon the scale that every
where was exhibited, we must admit the energy and
power of the Birman empire to have surpassed that
of any Asiatic state of modern times.
" Lord Amherst and his advisers certainly," remarks
a writer in the Quarterly Review, " made a false esti-
mate of the power and resources of the Birmans, when
they so hastily determined on the invasion of their
country. They believed, perhaps, that the military esta-
blishment was the same now as thirty years ago ; they
could not have anticipated that one city alone, that of
Prome, would be found to contain more than one
hundred pieces of ordnance, and to have been capable,
had not the Birmese leader been killed or deserted
by his men, of resisting ten times the force that was
brought against it. But whatever was the belief as
EiRMAH. 55
to the actual state of their fortified towns, and the
extent of their regular forces, Lord Amherst might
fairly consider that neither the one nor the other
could long resist his well-disciplined sepoys, led on by
the gallantry of British officers. This, however, is
not a war against the regular army of Birmah ; it
appears pretty certain, that the Bengal government
either did not know, or left out of their calculation,
that the whole Birman population, capable of bearing
arms, would at once be brought against the invading
army ; that all the lands in the empire are held on a
tenure resembling that of the feud ; that a levy of
100,000 men could, at the shortest notice, be brought
down to any specified point on the frontier, by means
of the numerous navigable rivers which intersect the
country ; and that, in addition to these levies, might
be brought into operation, along the whole course of
the Irrawaddy, from 500 to 1000 war-boats, carrying
each from forty to eighty rowers, with a piece of
ordnance, a nine or ten-pounder, in the prow, and
having on board, besides the rowers, twenty or thirty
men armed with muskets and pikes ; the towns on
the banks of the rivers being compelled to furnish
men for these boats. We had very soon proofs of the
efficacy of these war -boats, when we had taken Ran-
goon. Several hundred of them were brought down to
arrest our advance up the river, which, with the aid
of immense fire-rafts, completely succeeded, for the
first year of the campaign, in stopping our progress....
One thing seems also to have escaped the governor-
general, that, though sure to conquer the enemy, the
British troops were by no means so sure of conquering
the elements ; that the Birmans had only to retreat to
their strong holds in the mountains, and lay waste
their towns and villages, which they could rebuild in
56 BIRMAH.
a month, drive the cattle from the plains, and leave
disease and famine to do the rest, which, with the
assistance of swamps, jungles, forests, and the rainy
season, they would speedily and surely accomplish.
The Birmans did not, however, act thus ; they met
their foes hravely and resolutely, disputed every foot
of territory, and checked effectually the progress of
the invading army, which in twelve months was
unable to push forward twelve miles. It is greatly to
be lamented, that, previously to the present hostilities,
the commander of the British forces had not been
instructed to try what negotiation might effect,
instead of rushing into a war, which, splendid as
may be the achievements, and to whatever results
they may lead, can confer no advantage on either
party, and has inflicted a deplorable loss on both."
POPULATION, &c.
THE population of the Birman empire, it will be
seen from the preceding historical sketch, consists of
various distinct nations or tribes, differing widely in
dialect, physiognomy, and customs. Among these
may be enumerated, 1. The proper Birmans of the
Irrawaddy or Myamma ; 2. The Talain, or Peguans ;
3. The Siamese of the conquered provinces ; 4. The
Kiayn of the western mountains ; 5. The Arracanese
of the coast ; 6. The Karayn, a tribe of cultivators ;
7. The Cassayers, or Kathee people. Besides these,
there are several tribes inhabiting the mountains or
frontiers, of whom little is known, foreigners of
various nations, and mixed castes.* Undefined and
In the sixth volume of the Asiatic Researches, a list is given of
one hundred and one nations with which the Birmans are ac-
B1RMAH. 67
changing as are the boundaries of the empire, it
seems impossible to ascertain, with any tolerable
quainted, obtained from an intelligent native. Many of these
names, however, refer only to cities or towns, others to classes of
persons, as So-g-e, hermits; and a great number are of unknown
reference. Those which can be made out are as follow :
1. Myamma. The Birmans.
2. Ta-lain. The Peguans.
3. Yun. The inhabitants of Sayammay or Chiamay (Upper
Siam) ; the province is called Yun-shan.
4. Yoo-da-ya. The Siamese of the Mei-nam, corrupted into
Yoodras, from Yu-thai, the capital.
5. Sham or Shan. The Siamese subject to Birmah.
(5. Layn-sayn. The inhabitants of Lower Laos.
7. ::. Gium and Khiun. Rude tribes in the Sham country.
9. Dhanu. A rude tribe inhabiting the banks of the Martaban
river.
10. Karayn. An agricultural class, Peguans, who, as cultivators
of the soil, are exempted from the Birman conscription
laws. No. 7, 8, and 9, are also supposed to be Karayn.
11. La-wa. A numerous tribe, inhabiting the forests east of the
Martaban river.
12. Ku-la. Europeans, or Occidentals.
13. Padeik-kara. A western nation.
14. Da-way. Inhabitants of Tavoy.
1"). Ta-nayn-tha-re. Tenasserim.
1C. Ka-du. A tribe between Martaban and Siam.
17. Kiayn. Inhabiting the mountains separating Ava from
Arracan.
18. Ain-jiay. Said to live between Cassay and the Kiayn-duayn.
19. Ka-thee. Cassay, or Meckley.
20. Myvan. Inhabiting the hills between Arracan and Chitta-
gong, called by the Bengalees, Mowong.
21. Thcek. Inhabiting the east bank of the Naaf river and the
upper part of the Kurnafoolce or Chatu river, which rises
in Cachar, and falls into the Chittagong river.
22. Kien-zout. Said to live near Cassay.
23. Ta-rout. The Chinese.
24 Ta-rcek. The Tartars governing China.
2">. Layn-thock. An independent people bordering on Chink
probably Lac-tho.
20, 27. Pft-le and Pa-laung. Inhabitants of the mountains noith-
east of Ava, who pickle the tea-leaves.
59 BIRMAH.
precision, either the extent of surface or the amount
of the population. Malte Brun estimates the empire
at about 1,050 geographical miles in length and 600
in breadth, and it may probably contain, he thinks,
194,000 square miles. Colonel Symes rated the popu-
lation, in 1795, at seventeen millions, while Captain
Cox sets it down at no more than eight, and Colonel
Francklin doubts whether it exceeds four. That of
the capital is estimated at 25,000 houses, or 175,000
souls. In the valuable Essay on the Birman Empire,
by the last-mentioned writer, are given some im-
portant data, which throw considerable light on the
present question.
28. Ka-kiayn. A wild people on the Chinese frontier.
29. Poun-na. The Brahmins.
30. Pat-ta. The Malays of Acheen.
31. The-ho. Ceylon.
32. La-waik. The capital of Cambodia.
33. Zanda. The capital of Laos is said to be Zandapure.
34. A-myayn. A Birman city, remarkable for the resemblance
of its name to that of the country, Mien.
Dr. Buchanan says, that he always heard Great Britain men-
tioned at Amarapura under the name of Pyse-gye, the great king-
dom. The following Birman words are given as often occurring in
composition :
Bura, ^
Praw I Lord. Applied also to Temples. It seems to answer
Bhra.' J toBaa1 '
Do. A forest.
Kiaung.-v
Kioup. } A small river.
Kioum. A monastery.
Mayn. A prince.
Mioup. A river.
Myeet. A great river.
Myoo. A city or township.
'O-wa. A port.
Pyee. A kingdom.
Tbung. AhilL
BIRMAH. 59
Minderajee-praw, desirous of information on the
subject, is said to have ordered that every city, town,
and village in his dominions, including the conquered
countries, should send one soldier to the Birman
army. When they were mustered at Amarapura,
there appeared to be 8000 men. Now, their towns
and villages, in general, are little more than a strag-
gling line of bamboo huts along the banks of the
Irrawaddy, or a double row lining a road of communi-
cation, and the whole of these 8000 towns do not
average more than 150 or 200 houses each. Taking
the largest statement, or 200, it will make the num-
ber of houses in the Birman dominions amount to
1,600,000, and reckoning seven persons to a house,
will give a population of 11,200,000 souls; a very
scanty population for so extended a territory, and not
above one half are in a state of firm allegiance. It is
stated, moreover, that the proportion of women to
men is as ten to six, and in some cases, four to one.
This enormous disproportion is accounted for by their
incessant wars ; for, on the strictest inquiry, Colonel
Francklin says, he pretty well ascertained that the
births of females do not exceed those of males.
Reckoning 6,000,000, then, for the effective popula-
tion, this will give only 1,500,000 males ; and making
from these the usual deductions for all persons
under fifteen and above fifty years of age, it may be
assumed that there are not more than 375,000 men
capable of bearing arms, were even the country to
rise en masse. His Birman majesty has no stand-
ing land force, except a few undisciplined native
Christians and renegadoes of all descriptions, who act
as artillery, a small body of Cassay cavalry, not ex-
ceeding a hundred, and perhaps about two thousand
ill-armed infantry. His armies are composed of levies,
60 BIRMAH.
raised, on the spur of the occasion, by the tee-kiens
(princes), chobwas (tributary chiefs), and great lords,
who hold their lands by military tenure, and are
liable to be assessed according to the emergency of
their sovereign. In Birmah, every man is liable to
be called upon for his military services, and war is
deemed the most honourable profession. When an
army is to be raised, a mandate issues from the golden
palace to all maywoons (viceroys) and miou-jees
(heads of districts), requiring a certain number of
men to be at a general rendezvous on a particular day.
As soon as the imperial mandate is issued, Colonel
Francklin says, " the jugghiredaur (or governor) in.
trigues and employs all his art and interest to get the
number reduced ; hence, various delays and obstruc-
tions to the public service. When his quota is finally
fixed, he proceeds to his jugghire, and gives the like
orders to the mewdhagees (zemindars), but exceeding
the proportion established by the court, that he may
pocket the commutation for the difference. The
mewdhagees strive to abate their respective propor-
tions, and impose on the inhabitants from the same
corrupt motives ; and the inhabitants, in like manner,
strive to avoid part of the imposed burthen ; so that
the whole country is thrown into commotion, business
is neglected, and many of the poorer class flee to the
jungles, or totally abandon their country, in order to
avoid these impositions, of which there is no end
They travel by land in squads to the place of general
rendezvous, at their own expense, or are transported
in boats, put in requisition by his majesty's officers.
Every thing wanted for his majesty's service is im-
pressed or put in a state of requisition, without the
smallest indemnification. Captain Cox saw strings of
these miserable recruits, boys under age and decrepit
BIRMAH. 61
old men, inarching from Arracan to Amarapoorah, in
particular at Pegaan, as he was coming down the
river : they had been six weeks marching so far.
Another oppressive part of the Birman policy is, that
men for the defence of the eastern frontier, are
drafted from the west, those for the defence of the
southern, from the north, and vice versa, in order to
secure their fidelity."*
The levy is calculated according to the population
of the province or district, estimated from the number
of registered houses that it contains. Should the
number of any allotted district fall short, they must
l<e commuted for by fines. Commonly, every two,
three, or four houses are to furnish among them one
recruit, or to pay 300 tecals in money (about 40/. or
451.} The recruit is obliged to furnish himself with
a short spear, sword, and target : he is supplied b}
Government with a musket, for which, however, he
pays ten tecals, and is accountable for it at the end of
the war. He has an allowance of grain, but no pay,
and subsists chiefly by marauding. The families of
these conscripts are carefully retained in the district,
as hostages for the good conduct of their relations ;
and any misconduct on his part, or desertion, inva-
riably proves the destruction of all his family, who
are put into a straw hut and burnt alive : many
dreadful examples of this kind have recently occurred.
This national regulation binds all classes to their
standards under every emergency, and serves in some
degree to account for the obstinacy of their resistance.
The cavalry, who compose the king's guards, are pro-
vided with a spear about seven or eight feet long,
which they manage with great dexterity. All the
* Asiat. Journal, vol. xix. p. 8.
PART I. E
62 BIRMAH.
troopers are Cassayers, who are much better horse-
men than the Birmans. Although the Birmans are
very fond of their muskets, the fire-arms are almost
useless, and certainly, in their present imperfect state,
are much less formidable than their national weapons,
the sabre and spear. But the most respectable part of
the Birman force is their war -boats (tee-lees}. Every
town is obliged to furnish a certain proportion of men
and one or more boats, according to its population,
and 500 of these vessels can in a short time be equip-
ped. They are constructed of the trunk of the teak-
tree. The largest are from 80 to 100 feet long, but
the" breadth seldom exceeds eight feet. They carry
from fifty to sixty rowers, who use short oars that
work on a spindle. The prow is solid, and has a flat
surface, on which is mounted a piece of ordnance, a
six, nine, or even twelve-pounder, secured by strong
lashings on each side. Each rower has a sword and
lance ; and besides the boatmen, there are usually
thirty soldiers on board, armed with muskets. Thus
prepared, they sail in fleets, and draw up in line,
presenting their prows to the enemy. Their attack
is extremely impetuous ; they advance with great
rapidity, singing a war song, and generally endeavour
to grapple when the contest becomes very severe.
The rowers are practised to impel the vessel with the
stern foremost, by which means the artillery still
bears on their enemies. The largest of the war-boats
do not draw more than three feet of water. When
any person of rank is on board, there is a moving
canopy, but gilded boats are allowed only to maywoons,
whoongees (ministers of state), or the princes. These
war-boats, Colonel Francklin says, are the most re-
spectable part of the Birman force in a military point
of view ; but they live chiefly by rapine, and are in a
BIRMAH. 63
constant state of hostility against the rest of the
people, which makes them audacious and prompt to
execute any orders, however cruel or violent. It is
supposed that the emperor can muster from two
to three hundred of those boats.
" A Birman," adds Colonel Francklin, " is seldom
any thing else than a government servant, a soldier,
boatman, husbandman, or labourer. All their best
artificers are foreigners." His account of their cha-
racter is very unfavourable. " The Birman court
appears to me," he says, " an assembly of clowns,
who have neither improved their manners nor their
sincerity by their transposition : they have retained
their native chicane and vicious propensities, and have
not acquired the blandishments of polish to veil the
deformities of vice, or expansion of mind to check ks
domination. To their superiors, the Birmans are
abjectly submissive ; towards strangers, audacious and
ungrateful ; in power, rapacious and cruel ; in war,
treacherous and ferocious ; in their dealings, litigious
and faithkgs ; in appetite, insatiable and avaricious ;
in habit, lazy ; in their ideas, persons, houses, and
food, obscenely filthy below any thing I had ever seen
that has claims to humanity.* It must not be denied
that they have brutal courage, but it tends to debase,
rather than to exalt them ; it is irregular, uncertain,
and not to be depended upon. They are strict ob-
servers of the ceremonial parts of their religion, cha-
ritable to their priests and the poor ; in the country,
In their food, the Birmans are very uncleanly. Being fond of
animal food, but restricted by their religion from killing, (venison
is the only meat permitted to be sold in the markets of the empire,
a privilege allowed to hunters,) they will partake of any putrid or
diseased carcase. All game is eagerly sought for. Reptiles, lizards,
guanas, and snakes are devoured by the lower classes.
64 BIRMAH.
I am told, hospitable and not vindictive ; superstitious,
addicted to magic (and alchemy) ; cheerful, patient
under sufferings, hardy, frugal to penuriousness in
their diet, and affectionate parents. They would
make good soldiers in the hands of a skilful general,
and perhaps good subjects under a virtuous magis-
trate ; but, unhappily, their present government seems
adapted only to exalt their vices and depress their
virtues."
Cunning is, among all the worshippers of Buddha,
esteemed a virtue ; and in their sacred books, the most
abominable exemplifications of this attribute in Guadma
are cited as laudable actions. The deeply-rooted opi-
nion, that address in stealing ranks as an accomplish-
ment next to valour, prevails all over the East, not
only in the Buddhic states, but in Hindostan and
Egypt ; and the Spartan legislator only borrowed his
laws from institutes still existing among the mountain
tribes of Asia. Thus, among the wild mountaineers
to the north-east of Chittagong, whatever property a
thief can convey undiscovered to his own house, can-
not afterwards be claimed : if detected, he is no other-
wise punished than by being exposed to the ridicule
of the village, and being obliged to restore what he
has taken. The idea seems to be, that the address
and dexterity shewn by the successful thief, would
equally qualify the warrior. So thought Lycurgus.
Mrs. Judson gives a somewhat more pleasing cha-
racter of the Birmans. She describes them as " a
lively, industrious, and energetic race, further ad-
vanced in civilisation than most of the Eastern nations.
They are frank and candid, and destitute of that
pusillanimity which distinguishes the Hindoos, and of
that revengeful malignity which is a leading trait in
the Malay character. Some of their men are powerful
BIRMAH. 65
logicians, and take delight in investigating new sub-
jects. Their books ai-e numerous, some of them
written in the most flowing, beautiful style and much
ingenuity is manifested in the construction of their
stories."* Dr. Buchanan asserts that they possess
numerous historical works relating to the different
dynasties of their princes, the most celebrated of which
is the Maha-rajah-waynjee already referred to. They
have also translated histories of the Chinese and Siam-
ese, and of the kingdoms of Kathee, Koshan-pyee, Pegu,
Sammay, and Layn-zayn. On medicine, the Birmans
have several books : they divide diseases into ninety-
six genera. Mummy is a favourite article in their
pharmacopoeia. They are acquainted with the use of
mercury, but their remedies are mostly from the
vegetable kingdom, and chiefly of the aromatic kind.
Their practice is almost entirely empirical, and in
spite of every mode of indirect influence and preten-
sion, the medical class is in low estimation. ]
The Birman language appeai-s originally to have
been purely monosyllabic, but it has borrowed largely
from the Pali, and has formed many polysyllables from
its monosyllabic roots, according to the analogies of that
* Judson's Account of the American Baptist Mission to the Bir-
inan Empire, p. 4.
t One curious custom of the Birman physicians may be men-
tioned here. If a young woman is dangerously ill, the doctor and
her parents frequently enter into an agreement, the doctor under-
taking to cure her. If she lives, the doctor takes her as his pro-
perty ; but if she dies, he pays her value to the parents : for, in
the Birman dominions, no parent parts with his daughter, whethei
to be a wife or a concubine, without a valuable consideration.
" I do not know," adds Dr. Buchanan, " if the doctor may sell
the girl again, or must retain her in his family ; but the number of
fine young women which I saw in the house of a doctor at Meaday,
makes me think the practice to be very common." Asiat. Res.,
vol. vi. p. 304.
E2
60 BIRMAH.
language. It has no inflexions, and depends almost
entirely on juxta-position for the relative value of its
words. Its pronouns and particles are peculiar, its
idioms few and simple, its metaphors of the most
obvious kind, hut it is copious in terms expressive of
rank and dignity ; and the rank of the speaker is in-
dicated by the peculiar phraseology which he employs.
Repetitions of the same turn and expression are affected,
rather than shunned ; and a sententious brevity and
naked simplicity of phrase are the greatest beauties
of which the language admits. Too little is known
of the Indo-Chinese languages to enable us to deter-
mine what resemblances may exist between them, but
hitherto it has been considered as having no decided
affinity to any except the Arracanese.* From the
large portion of Pali which has become incorporated
with it, so as to affect even its structure, it may be
considered as the link between the poly syllabic^ and^ the
monosyllabic languages of India and China, -f-
* Among the various dialects of the Birman empire, Dr. Bu-
chanan mentions one that is spoken by a small tribe called Yo,
(and by the Arracanese Ro,) who inhabit the eastern side of the
Arracan mountains, governed by chiefs of their own, but tributary
to the Birmans. There are four governments of this nation. This
dialect is, in fact, only a slight variation of the Ruk-hing, which
it approaches much nearer than the Birman. The people of Tenas-
serim and Tavoy also speak a peculiar dialect; but, as the ma-
jority of the words in common use among them are to be found in
the Birman writings, they are reckoned to use an obsolete dialect,
rather than a peculiar language. See Asiat. Res., voL v. p. 224 ;
vol. x. p. 236.
t " The greater part of my time, for the last six months," says
Mr. Judson, " has been occupied in studying and transcribing, in
alphabetical arrangement, the Pali Abigdan, or dictionary of the
Pali language, affixing to the Pali words the interpretation in
Birman, and again transferring the Birman words to a dictionary
Birman and English. With the close of the year I have brought
thu tedious work to a close; and J find that the number of Pali
BIRMAH. 67
The Binnans write from left to right, like the
Europeans. Their common books are leaves of the
Palmyra palm, strung together, on which they engrave
their writing with an iron style. Others are formed
of thin pieces of bamboo delicately plaited and var-
nished, the surface being gilded, on which the cha-
racters are marked in black and shining Japan ink.
The margins are often very prettily illuminated in
red and green colours. In their more elegant books,
they sometimes use sheets of ivory stained black, on
which the characters are enamelled or gilded, the
margins being also ornamented with gilding; or at
other times, very fine white Palmyra leaves, on which
the characters are in general of black enamel, and the
ends of the leaves and margins are ornamented with
flowers painted in various bright colours. As there
are but few of the Birmans who do not both read and
write, almost every man, Dr. Buchanan says, carries
with him a parucek, in which he keeps his accounts,
copies songs, and transcribes any thing he deems
curious. " It is in these paruceks that the zares, or
words collected amounts to about 4000. The constant occurrence
of Pali terms in every Birman book has made it absolutely neces-
sary." A considerable number of words in common use, and a
very great proportion of theological terms, are of Pali origin,
although the two languages are entirely distinct. Some knowledge
of the learned language is therefore indispensable to the acquisition
of a perfect knowledge of the Birman. See JUDSON'S Account,
pp. 159, 61. One great impediment to attaining a critical know-
ledge of the idiom of both the Birman and the Rukhing, is, that
there is no regular standard of orthography, or the smallest trace
of attention to grammatical inquiry among these nations. Every
writing that has hitherto come under observation, not excepting
even official documents, has been found full of the grossest inac-
curacies. l*he priests are the only persons conversant with the
Pali, and few even among them are celebrated for either the ex-
tent or accuracy of their knowledge. Asiat, Res., vol. v. p. 236.
68 BIRMAH.
writers, in all courts and public offices, take down the
proceedings and orders, from thence copying such
parts as are necessary into more durable books. The
paruoek is made of one sheet of thick and strong paper,
blackened, about 8 feet long and 18 inches wide ; it is
folded up somewhat like a fan, each fold or page being
about six inches wide, and its length the whole breadth
of the sheet : hence, wherever the book is opened,
whichever side is uppermost, no part of it can be
rubbed but the two outer pages; and it only occupies a
table one foot in width by 18 inches long. The
Birmans write on the paruoek with a pencil of steatites.
When in haste, the ssares use many contractions, and
write with wonderful quickness. I have seen them
keep up with an officer dictating and not speaking
very slow. But when they take pains, the characters
written in the paruoek are remarkably neat. Indeed,
this nation, like the Chinese, pique themselves very
much on writing an elegant and distinct character.
When that which has been written on a paruoek be-
comes no longer useful, the pages are rubbed over
with charcoal, and the leaves of a species of dolichos ;
they are then as clean as if new, and equally fit for
the pencil." *
All the boys in the empire are taught by the priests,
who are dependent for their support on the contribu-
tions of the people ; but no attention is given to female
education, excepting in a few instances among the
higher classes, f The boys are taught to read and write
by means of boards blackened with charcoal and the
juice of a leaf, which answers the same purpose as our
slates, and the letters are formed by a species of white
stone, a little similar to our slate-pencils. A lesson is
* Asiat. Res., vol. vi. p. 307. t Judson, p. 5.
BIRMAH. 69
written out on this board by the instructor : when
the scholar is perfect master of it, it is erased, and a
new one written.
The Birmans are extremely fond both of poetry and
of music. They call the former yeddoo. When repeated
by a scholar, it flows soft and measured to the ear j
it is sometimes in successive, and often in alternate
rhymes. A line is called tagioung, a stanza tubbouk.
They have epic as well as religious poems of high
celebrity, and they are fond of reciting in heroic verse
the exploits of their kings and generals.* Music is a
science held in high estimation. Although termed,
in India as in Greece, the language of the gods, it is
cultivated more generally in Birmah. The royal
library of Amarapura is said to contain several treatises
on the art. Some of the musicians display considerable
skill and execution, and the softer airs are said to be
very pleasing. -f- Among the principal instruments is a
* " It has been said, that his present majesty has a person of
poetic talents, on whom he bestows his royal patronage, and who,
in return, delights the ' precious ear ' with the measured lines of
his own composition Prose works are commonly read, as well
as poetry, and are some of them works of fiction, and others reli-
gious. Of the latter kind, the Dzat and Woottoo, or those books
which illustrate the influence of merit and demerit, are most exten-
sively read. Historical works are scarce, and therefore but little
read. Few individuals have the means or the opportunity of col-
lecting private libraries." HOUGH on the Manners of the Burmese.
Friend of India, No. xii. p. 12.
t " In the music of the Burmese," the Rev. Mr. Hough says,
" there is far more noise than harmony. They make use of
wind and stringed instruments, brass plates of different tones,
and drums of various sizes. For the sake of noise, they will ac-
company the instrumental music by striking together two pieces of
split bamboo on the palms of their hands. They are evidently un-
acquainted with the nature of tones and harmony, all their airs
being wild, irregular, and discordant." Friend of India, No. xii.
p. 11. In founding these brass musical plates, they must be allowed
to shew considerable art. Their tones are exceedingly fine, sur-
70 HI KM AH.
soum or harp, made of light wood, hollowed and var-
nished, in shape somewhat like a canoe with a deck : at
the extremity, a piece of hard wood is neatly fastened,
which tapers to the end, and rising, curves over the
body of the harp ; from this curvature, the strings,
usually made of wire, are extended to a hridge on the
belly of the instrument. There are two sounding,
holes, one on each side of the bridge. It varies from
two to five feet in length. The turr resembles our violin,
but has only three strings ; it is played on with a bow.
The pullaway is a common flageolet. The kye-zoup is
a collection of cymbals suspended in a bamboo frame,
producing modulated gradations of sounds : they vary in
size and number. The patola, or guitar, is a curious
instrument, exactly resembling a crocodile in miniature :
the body is hollow, with sounding -holes on the back ;
three strings of wire extend from the shoulder to the
tail, and are supported on bridges at each extremity.
The strings are tuned by means of pegs in the tail,
to which they are fastened ; it is played on by the
finger, and accompanies the voice. The loundaw is a
collection of drums, oblong in form and varying in
size, which are suspended perpendicularly, in a wooden
frame, by leathern thongs. The whole machine is
about five feet in diameter and four feet high. They
accompany full bands, and are used in processions, be-
ing carried by two men, while the performer shuffles
along between them, playing as he goes. The heem is
the pipe of Pan, of reeds neatly joined together, with
a mouth-piece : it produces a very plaintive melody.*
passing the finest bells in power and sweetness, and the vibration is
prolonged to an astonishing degree. Plates of this description are
worn by the priests, suspended to the neck, and arc used as bells.
* Dr. Buchanan purchased a whole set of these musical instru-
ments for 54 tecttls (between five and six guineas).
BIRMAH. 71
The Birmans are cheerful and fond of music : not
a boatman of the crew, Col. Symes observes, but had
some instrument to beguile the hours ; and he who
could procure no better, had what we call a Jew's
harp. They greatly excel in the art of gently striking
masses of metal so as to elicit the most melodious and
ringing sounds.
The ancient game of chess, called chit-tha-reen, is
in high estimation among the higher classes. Their
board is exactly the same as ours, containing sixty-
four squares, and the pieces are the same in num.
her, sixteen on each side, but vary very consider-
ably from ours in power. They have the king
and his minister on two elephants, (a piece with the
power of the queen is unknown among them,) two
rut-ha or war-chariots, two chein or elephants, two
mhee or cavalry, and eight yein or foot troops.
Each party is arranged on three lines, so that eight
squares are left unoccupied ; and the whole scheme is
rendered more complex than ours. The game is of
very high antiquity among them, and is even autho-
rised by their sacred writings, although every play of
chance is prohibited.
The Birmans, like the Chinese, have no coin, silver
in bullion and lead being the current monies of the
country. Weight and purity are of course the standard
of value : in the ascertainment of both, the natives
are exceedingly scrupulous and expert. The tecal or
kiat is the most general piece of silver in circulation :
it weighs 10 pennyweights, 10 grains, and f. Its
subdivisions are, the tubbee^ two of which make one
moo, two TTioo one math, four math one tecal, and 100
tecal one visa. Weights are all made at the capital,
where they are stamped, and then circulated through
72 BIRMAH.
the country : all others are forbidden. Rice is sold by
a measure called tayndaung, or basket : the weight is
16 viss (about 561bs).
The Birmah measures of length are, a paul-ghaut,
or inch, 18 of which compose the taim or cubit ; the
saundaung, or royal cubit, of 20 inches ; and the dha,
or bamboo, which consists of seven royal cubits = 11 feet
8 inches : 1000 dha make one Birman league, or dain,
nearly equal to two miles two furlongs, British. The
league is also subdivided into tenths. The Birmans.
like the Chinese, keep their accounts in decimals.
In their physiognomy, the Birmans bear a nearer
resemblance to the Chinese, than to the natives of
Hiiidostan. The women are fairer than the Hindoo
females, but not so delicately formed ; they are, how.
ever, well made, and in general inclined to corpulence ;
their hair is black, coarse, and long. The men are
not tall, but active and athletic, and have a very youth-
ful appearance, from the custom of plucking their
beards. In their temperament, which is lively, cho-
leric, and restless, they present a striking contrast to
the languid inactivity of the Hindoos. Dr. Buchanan
describes them as of a short, squat, robust, fleshy
make, with a face somewhat in shape of a lozenge, the
forehead and chin being sharpened, while at the cheek-
bones it is very broad. The eye-brows or superciliary
ridges project very little ; the eyes are very narrow,
and placed rather obliquely, the external angles being
the highest ; the nose is small, but has not the flat-
tened appearance of that feature in the negro;
the nostrils, circular and divergent ; the mouth in
general well shaped ; the hair harsh, lank, and black.
Those who reside in the warmest climate do not
acquire the deep hue of the negro or Hindoo ; nor do
BIRMAH. 73
such as live in the coldest countries ever acquire the
clear bloom of the European.* In common with all
the Indo-Chinese races, in their shape and stature,
square features, elongated eyes, yellow complexion,
and lank locks, they bear a strong resemblance to the
Mongol tribes. The Birmans have a tradition, that
a colony of Mongols once arrived in their country,
amounting in number to 700,000 men capable of
bearing arms.f Such traditions, however, serve only
to prove, that the original stock of these nations must
have occupied these regions from time immemorial.
In Indo- China, as in Hindostan and in Egypt, re-
mains of an indigenous race, of widely different
character, are found occupying the recesses of the
mountain ridges which stretch throughout the whole
empire. Among these, one of the most remarkable
are the Kiayns or Kayns, who extend over the moun-
tainous and woody tract lying between Bengal,
Arracan, Ava, and Cassay. They call themselves
Koloun. Many of them, since the conquest of Arracan
by the Birmans, have been induced to quit the moun-
tains, and settle in the plains. " They speak a dialect
peculiar to themselves, and appear distinct from all
the surrounding tribes. They are remarkable for
simple, honest industry and inoffensive manners, ac-
companied by the rudest notions respecting religion.
They have no idea of a place of future reward and
punishment, and deny the existence of sin in their
country. They burn their dead, and collect the ashes, I
which, after certain ceremonies, are carried to a place
* Asiat. Res., vol. v. p. 220.
t Probably this refers to the conquest of Mien by the great khan,
mentioned by Marco Polo.
I This is a Tatar custom, and still prevails among the people of
Tibet and in Yun-nan. P. GerbiJJon says, that even the Chinese
sometimes adopt it. See MARSDEN'S Marco Polo, note 328,
PART 1 I. F
74 BIRMAH.
of interment, and on the sod which covers them is
laid a wooden image of the deceased. They believe
that their deity resides on the great mountain Gnowa,
which the Birmans have never yet invaded. When a
Kayn dies within the jurisdiction of the Birmans, the
relations of the deceased always convey the urn and
image of the departed person to this mountain, there
to be deposited in the sacred earth. These people
have no letters, nor any law except custom, to which
the Birmans leave them, never interfering in their
municipal or social economy. The females of this
tribe have their faces tattoed all over in lines, mostly
describing segments of circles, which give them a most
extraordinary and hideous appearance."*
The Carayns, Karaian, or Carianers, are another
singular people. They are supposed to be originally
from the province of Yun-nan, but are now widely
scattered over the empire. Col. Symes, on the autho-
rity of a respectable Italian missionary, represents
them as " a simple, innocent race, speaking a language
distinct from that of the Birmans, and entertaining
rude notions of religion. They lead quite a pastoral
life, and are the most industrious subjects of the state.
Agriculture, the care of cattle, and rearing poultry,
are almost their only occupations. A great part of the
provisions used in the country is raised by the Carian-
ers; and they particularly excel in gardening." Dr.
Buchanan adds, that they have sufficient knowledge
of the useful arts to manufacture comfortable, and
even handsome clothing, f They are a peaceable people,
disinclined to war, and it is universally agreed, that
* Symes, Buchanan, &c. in Hamilton's Gazetteer.
t Col. Francklin, speaking of the Binnans generally, says, " To
their women alone must be ascribed the merit of weaving and dye-
ing." Col. Symes, on visiting the queen mother, saw the females
in the palace busily engaged at the loom.
BIRMAH. 7T>
their morals are good ; but, like the Kiayns, if,
indeed, they are not the same people, they have
no laws, are wholly illiterate, and, though they be-
lieve in a future state, have no notion of its being a
state of retribution.* Whether these Tibetian tribes
are aboriginal inhabitants, older than the Birmans,
or remains of Chinese colonists, their affinity to the
Tartar tribes is obvious and decided. Many of their
customs attach equally, however, to the Birmans, as
will be seen from the following valuable account of
the manners and customs of the Birmans, by the Rev.
G. H. Hough, some time resident in that empire, for
which we are indebted to a recent number of " The
Friend of India," published at Serampore in Bengal.
" There is perhaps no country in the world, in which
the sway of despotism has been less controlled by any
correct feeling or sentiment, or which exhibits a
stronger specimen of its injurious effects upon the
physical and moral powers of mankind, than the Birman
dominions. . . . The obstacles to mental and moral im-
provement there, however, are neither so numerous
nor so formidable as those which have presented them-
selves in India.
" Caste, which has separated the Indian community
into so many diversified sects, and the motto of which
is, ' taste not, handle not,' has no existence in the
Birman empire. There, society is founded on a basis
that would admit the existence of the most liberal
* Asiat. Res., vol. vi. p. 300. In Marsden's Marco Polo, (note
826, ) the learned editor cites P. Gaubil and De Guignes as autho-
rities for the opinion, that Karaian is the north-western part of
the province of Yun-nan, which is bounded in great measure by
the Kiu-sha-kiang. Its capital is said to have been Yachi ( Ye-chu
or Yao-cheu), afterwards changed to Tali-fu, on the western bank
of the lake Siul. Karazan or Kalashan is either the same pro-
vince or another district of Yun-nan, further westward.
76 BIRMAH.
institutions. There, no individual, through fear of
personal defilement, is deterred from acting in every
ease according to those rules which secure entire free-
dom of intercourse between man and man. While, in
many other countries, official rank, wealth, and re-
spectability of character, create the only lines of dis-
tinction, the path to honour and influence is here
equally open to all, without the least distinction.
" The priests have their religious peculiarities; but
even these have no relation to caste. These peculiari-
ties are seen in their monastic habits, their yellow
apparel, their shaven heads, their unshod feet, their
sober, meditative demeanour, and in their morning
perambulations to receive the voluntary contributions
of the people. Their monasteries may be considered
as the literary as well as the religious institutions of
the country. Into these, without restricting them-
selves to any limited term, young men in their novici-
ate enter, considering it as a merit which will hereafter
meet its sure reward, to deny themselves indulgences
enjoyed by other men, to assume the yellow cloth, to
deprive the head of that ornament which nature has
bestowed, to taste the fancied sweets of abstraction,
and employ their minds in committing to memory
extracts from the books they esteem sacred. The age
or previous character of candidates for the priesthood,
forms no objection to their admittance. Present in-
tention is the only subject of investigation, and this
is done by an established catechetical form. Persons
of all ages, from the mere youth to the hoary head,
assume the sacred habiliments and character: even
conjugal and paternal affection are not unfrequently
smothered by the superstitious wish of self-consecration
to this sacred order. To reject a wife and family, to
abandon them to distress and suffering, are esteemed
BIRMAH. 77
acts of religion in any individual who wishes to enter
it ; and his thus doing is deemed an eminent attain-
ment in piety, and a meritorious result of self-denial.
It is related that Gautama, the last Boudh, in one of
his incarnations, while heir-apparent to the throne,
not only suffered banishment to a remote and solitary
place for giving away a white elephant; but, during
the term of his expiation, attained to such an eminent
degree of self-denial, as to yield up first his son and
daughter to slavery, and then his wife to the impor-
tunities of another.
" The priests perform no labour, except what is
considered as particularly meritorious, and this consists
in eradicating the grass and shrubs which sprout up
around their monasteries and pagodas. They never
ride on horseback, nor eat after the sun has passed
the meridian. Such is their reverence for the yellow
cloth which covers their bodies, that they view it as
disgraceful to pass underneath any building, or convey
themselves through any aperture, while to do so even
by bending the head, would save them the trouble of
avoiding any obstruction in their path. They restrain
their minds from all attachment to the fair sex; and
no female ventures to approach a priest, unless to per-
form some religious duty, or to present some pious
offering. Their public duties consist of recitations
from the Dzats, said to be revelations of Gautama re-
lating to his own history throughput his previous
transmigrations, in which the consequences of works
of merit and demerit are illustrated by his own per-
sonal example ; and in repeating extracts from other
writings esteemed sacred, which tend to enforce the
duties of morality as taught in their system of religion.
On days of public worship, they edify their congre-
gations, which assemble in zayats (or sheds) contiguous
78 BIRMAH.
to some pagoda of importance, by repeating their
liturgy or form of religious service, when the auditory
evince their devotion by their humble posture, by ele-
vating their hands with the pakns united, and by
regular responses. The priests affect the most entire
disinterestedness in the discharge of their sacred
functions ; but their worldly wants are always amply
supplied, and they uniformly receive the tribute of a
reverential public. Even their monasteries are not
approached or passed with the feet covered. Many of
them are learned in the Pali or Magudha, but the
great majority exhibit evident marks of mental sloth
and inanity.
" The sacred writings of the Birmans are reported
to have been transcribed in the most miraculous man-
ner, in one day, from the original copies first put
into a legible form by yahans (rahaans), or priests, on
the island of Thee-ho (Ceylon), nearly 400 years
after the supposed annihilation of Guatama, and about
a century previous to the Christian era.* These
writings, embracing every science, natural and reli-
gious, within the scope of their author's reputed
universal and infallible knowledge, amount to some
thousands. Few of them are read by the priests, and
fewer still by the reading part of the public. The
middling and lower classes of society are content with
knowing little more of the principles of their religion
than what is ascertained from the public ritual. This
announces the three grand objects of religious homage ;
* There is a tradition among the Cingalese, that one of the
kings of Hindostan, immediately after Boodhu's death, collected
together 500 learned ascetics, and persuaded them to write down
on palmyra leaves, from the mouth of one of Boodhu's principal
disciples, all the doctrines taught by Boodhu in his life-time."
WARD'S View of the Hindoos, vol. ii. p. 211.
BIRMAH. 79
God (or his substitute, a pagoda or image) ; Fate, or
the immutable law or course of things; and the
Priesthood. The fundamental moral precepts are
five, and are merely prohibitory : they forbid the de-
struction of animal life, theft, lying, adultery, and
drinking ardent spirits. The doctrine of transmigra-
tion is most firmly believed, and also the final anni-
hilation of animal life, and the destruction of material
substances. Every thing is mutable but fate, which
is eternal; and while that ordains the final destruc-
tion of present things, it has provided that another
material universe shall of itself necessarily arise, and
thus successively, ad infimtum. Even their God is the
subject of merit or demerit; he has undergone incar-
nations as beast, as man, and as a celestial being; he
has been repeatedly punished millions of years in hell,
has enjoyed ages of sensual happiness in the Nat
country, and is now in Niekbaan, or annihilation.
"The Birmans, considering the moral features of
their religious system, and their being surrounded
with objects of misery, both among beasts and their
own species, which they are taught to contemplate as
the effects of retributive justice awarded by irresistible
and unmerciful fate, ought to be a pious and orderly
race of men. In this respect, however, little can be
said in their favour. Of their religious character it
may be observed, that while it exhibits little of per-
sonal concern and anxiety, and appears to be unmixed
with enthusiasm, it manifests on all occasions a suf-
ficently conspicuous faith in the religion of their
country. The religion, being national, is therefore
popular, and every appearance of dissent is deemed to
present just cause for criminal prosecution. The
Birmans do not appear to be so deeply impressed with
cordial regard for their religion, as with the duty of
80 BIRMAH.
conformity. They exhibit, in matters of religion,
just that state of mind and that exterior deportment
which might be expected from a people, among whom
secular authority claims dominion over the free exer-
cise of conscience. The despot of the realm by one
word could annihilate Boodhism, with all its monu-
mental memorials and imagery, and with the same
ease could ordain the observance of a new religion.
"The days of public worship are pointed out by
the change, the first quarter, the full, and the last
quarter of the moon.* Those of the full and new
moon are observed with more general attention. The
grand annual festival happens at the beginning of their
year, about March. During three days, religious
prostrations, music and dancing, masquerades, pugil-
ism, throwing water upon one another, puppet-shows,
and comic scenes, make up the festive jumble. Reli-
gious duties consist in building pagodas and ornament-
ing them with gold leaf; in forming large and small
images of Gautama; in erecting monasteries, zayats,
and bridges; in digging tanks; in supporting the
priesthood by donations of food, cloth, &c. ; in pro-
strations before pagodas and images, and in presenting
before them lighted candles, clusters of flowers, um-
brellas of various descriptions, rice, and fruits; in
erecting high poles, and suspending long flags on their
tops ; in casting bells, and hanging them near their
pagodas ; or contributing to any of these objects ; in
attention to the recitations of the priests, and when-
ever an offering is made, expressing a wish that the
merits of it may be enjoyed. The use of the bells is,
to proclaim to the celestial regions the fact of present-
The four quarters of the moon are, in like manner, festival
days among the Cingalese.
BIRMAH. 81
ing an offering; and the person who thus announces
the fact, is both worshipper and bellman.
" Nearly allied to the religion of the Birmans are
their superstitious ideas. They have their fortunate
and unfortunate days, and no affair of importance is
undertaken without consulting astrologers. The par-
ticular day and hour, with the position of the planets,
are carefully observed on the birth of a child. A man's
fortune may be read on the lines of the palm of his
hand. They believe in the. existence of evil spirits,
ghosts, and witches, in demoniacal possessions, and the
use of charms. According to their ideas, the cholera
morbus has been several times expelled from Rangoon
by the noise produced by the simultaneous discharge
of cannons and muskets, and beating the houses with
bamboos. In the year 1823, when the cholera was
extensively fatal, the supreme court at Ava issued an
order that the inhabitants should wear the title of the
heir apparent, written on a small slip of paper, in the
hole of the lobe of their ears, as an infallible specific
against the effects of that destructive demon.* If a
vulture perch upon a house, some awful calamity
threatens its inhabitants, and they immediately aban-
don it. The doctrine of transmigration leads them
into the absurdity of propitiating their future destiny
* Capt. Cox relates a disgusting instance of this medical super-
stition. A criminal's body was exposed above ground, pinned to
the earth, and left to rot, " The king's doctor cut off the tip of
his nose, ears, lips, tongue, and fingers, which, with some of his
blood, is to form a compound in some medicine of wonderful
efficacy in insuring longevity and prosperity to those who are so
happy as to obtain a portion of it from his majesty's bounty. This
is one of the palace nostrums, of which there are many others
equally mystic in the preparation, and wonderful in the operation.
These his majesty occasionally dispenses to the credulous multi-
tude." Cox's Journal, p. 342.
F 2
82 BIRMAH.
by offerings of food to animals : a deceased friend may
thus be nourished in the form of a four-footed or
feathered animal, and, in some future period of ex-
istence, the good deed be repaid with ample interest.
Carved images of the most ridiculous shapes are to be
seen in many places, the supposed representatives of
different nats or demons. Astrologers are numerous,
and obtain the means of subsistence by the practice of
their profession. A great proportion of them are
Brahmuns, or professors of Hindooism, here called
Pounas, who have been born in the country, or have
emigrated from Assam or Hindostan. Birmans also
embrace the profession. The order is highly respected,
but not esteemed so sacred as that of the priesthood.
The medical department is peculiarly subject to the
control of superstition. Its influence is often seen
in the collection of medicinal roots, the method of
compounding medicines, and the time and manner of
administering them. Of books which treat of the
nature of diseases, the virtues of medicinal roots and
plants, the art of compounding them, and their specific
qualities, they have a considerable number. Shops of
drugs and medicines are in full proportion to the
wants of the public. With surgery they are wholly
unacquainted.
"Their funeral solemnities are conducted with
decency. The manner of disposing of the dead is
either by incineration or burial: the former is
esteemed the most honourable. The corpse is en-
closed in a coffin, ornamented with gold leaf or other-
wise, according to the means of the friends of the
deceased, and, followed by the mourners dressed in
white, is borne to the public place of interment, ( which
is without the city or town,) the procession being
usually preceded by the music of wind-instruments
and drums, and the presents intended for the priests
BIRMAH. 83
who may be invited on the occasion. These presents
usually consist of pieces of cotton cloth, sugar-cane,
and fruits of various kinds. On their arrival at the
place of incineration, fuel is placed under the coffin,
the moveable ornaments being first taken away ; and
the corpse is consumed, after which the bones are
interred. Infants and criminals are buried, as also
the poorest part of the community. All funeral pro-
cessions must pass out of the city by a particular gate,
called the Funeral Gate ; and no corpse must be car-
ried towards a city or town where the governors
usually reside. The banks of the Irrawaddy are not
selected for the performance of funeral obsequies, like
the banks of the Ganges; neither are its waters re-
garded as possessing any sacred qualities, nor are they
in the least degree the object of superstitious reverence.
The business of the priests at funerals is, to recite
some portion of their sacred books, and to receive
presents; -but it is not customary for them to take
any other part in funeral ceremonies, unless at the
incineration of their own order, in which they render
personal assistance. As food is generally given them,
and they do not eat in the afternoon, funerals are
usually attended in the morning. It is customary
to preserve the corpses of priests a long time previously
to incineration. This is done by embalming the body,
after removing those parts and fluids most liable o
become offensive, and then covering it with gold leaf.*
* " When apriest dies, he has peculiar honors paid him. Several
months since, a neighbouring priest died, or returned, for the
Birmans think it undignified to say that a priest dies. His body
was immediately wrapped up in tar and wax ; holes were perfo-
rated through the feet and some distance up the legs, into which
one end of a hollow bamboo was inserted, and the other fixed m
the ground. The body was then pressed and squeezed, so that its
fluids were forced down through the legs, and conveyed off by
84 BIRMAH.
"In the construction of their dwelling-houses,
bamboo, of which there are several species, and in
great abundance, is the principal, and in many in-
stances the only material used. Holes, two or three
feet deep in the earth, receive the posts, which are
more or fewer according to the size of the houses.
Mats, made of split bamboos, form the outside cover-
i of the bamboos. In this state of preservation the body bar-
been kept. For some days past, preparations have been making
to burn this sacred relic, and to-day it has passed away in fumiga-
tion. On four wheels was erected a kind of stage or tower, about
twelve or fifteen feet high, ornamented with paintings of different
colours, and figures, and small mirrors. On the top of this was
constructed a kind of balcony, in which was placed the coffin, de-
corated with small pieces of glass of different hues ; and the corpse,
half of which was visible above the edge of the coffin, was covered
with gold leaf. Around the tower and balcony was fixed several
bamboo poles, covered with red cloth, displaying red flags at their
ends, and small umbrellas glittering with spangles ; among which
was one longer than the others, covered with gold leaf, shading the
corpse from the sun. Around the upper part of the balcony was
suspended a curtain of white gauze, about a cubit in width, the
lower edge of which was hung round with small pieces of isinglass.
Above the whole was raised a lofty quadrangular pyramid, gradu-
ating into a spire, constructed in a light manner of split bamboo,
covered with small figures cut out of white cloth, and waving to
and fro for some distance in the air. The whole, from the ground
to the top of the spire, might measure fifty feet. This curious
structure, with some living priests upon it, was drawn half a mile
by women and boys, delighted with the sport, and in the midst of a
large concourse of shouting and joyous spectators. On their arrival
at the place of burning, ropes were attached to the hinder end of
the car, and a whimsical sham contest, by adverse pulling, was for
some time maintained, one party seeming to indicate a reluctance
to have the precious corpse burned. At length, the foremost party
prevailed, and the body must be reduced to ashes. Amidst this,
there were loud shoutings, clapping of hands, the sound of drums,
of tinkling and wind instruments, and a most disgusting exhibition
Of female dancing, but no weeping or wailing. The vehicle was then
taken to pieces, the most valuable parts of which were preserved,
and the body was consumed." JUDSON'S Account, pp, 82, 3.
BIRMAH. 85
ing, inside partitions, and sometimes the floor. But
commonly the latter is made by splitting the material
into quarters, laying them down in a series, and
tying them to the transverse poles with split rattans.
Leaves of the Nipah tree, called here donee, compose
the roof; and a house not positively uncomfortable,
and sufficiently capacious for a small family, is con-
structed at the moderate expense of thirty or forty
rupees. Men of high rank and ample means build
their houses in the same form with posts of teak ; the
sides, partitions, and floor are boards of the same
wood, and the roof is made either of leaves or of flat
tiles. These tiles are burnt like bricks, each about
eight inches long, five broad, and nearly one thick,
jutting over at the head about an inch, by which they
retain their positions upon the rafters. They are laid
double, the lower edges of one series projecting over
and lying upon the heads of the next lower series;
thus forming a defence from wind and rain, and pre-
senting a good degree of security from exterior fires.
The monasteries are built in the same manner, having
two or three roofs elevated one above another, and in
many instances, their cornices, angles, and eaves
ornamented with carved work of flowers, figures of
elephants, of priests, and of other forms which have
no existence but in the superstition of the people.
The posts of the houses and monasteries, being inserted
from two to four or five feet in the ground, are subject
to the depredations of white ants, and to rapid decay.
The old palace at Amarapoora is built of teak: the
roofs piled upon each other to a great height, and
diminishing in size as they ascend, present the
appearance of a lofty spire. The exterior and inte-
rior parts are covered with gold leaf, and the whole
exhibits a resplendent object to the beholder. His
present majesty, who ascended the throne of his
85 BIRMAH.
grandfather about June 1819, has since built a new
palace at Ava, a few miles below the former capital, of
which he took possession about March 1824. The
pagodas are solid masses of masonry, varying in
height, of a conical form, covered with plaster, com-
posed of sand and lime, and many of them with gold
leaf. The large pagoda situated about a mile and a half
to the N.W. of Rangoon, and called Shwa-dagon Porah,
is a splendid and magnificent monument of heathen
superstition and idolatry. According to its history,
the foundation was laid soon after the supposed anni-
hilation of Gautama. If this be true, it must have
existed for a period of about 2,300 years. Since its
erection, its size has been increased by successive
additions.
" From the above description of their dwelling-
houses, the transition is easy to a correct inference
relative to the furniture which they contain. A few
mats answer the purpose of beds, couches, chairs, and
tables; and two or three wooden plates of Birman
manufacture, or of coarse earthen-ware imported,
form the breakfast and dinner service. A small box
or two, or as many baskets, contain the wardrobe of
the family. Those, however, who have the means,
indulge themselves in the use of a bedstead. Although,
in their houses and persons, the appearance of clean-
liness is not very striking, yet, in this respect, they
are on a par with their western neighbours. But this
is not saying much in their favour. They certainly
do not exhibit, particularly in their houses, any special
regard to neatness ; nor, on the other hand, can they
be considered as inattentive to personal appearance.
Both sexes enjoy the comfort of frequent bathing.
They are much addicted to the practice of chewing
betel; and in the disposition of the saliva, they are
BIRMAH. 87
not particularly nice. The more respectable class
accommodate themselves with pig-dannies and betel-
boxes, the bearers of which are in constant attendance.
These materials are of gold, silver, or less valuable
metal, according to the rank or circumstances of those
who use them. They universally anoint the head
with oil ; and as the hair is permitted to grow to its
natural length and density without the frequent appli-
cation of a comb, a convenient situation is afforded
for the accommodation of vermin ; and as the Birman
religion prohibits the destruction of life, their propaga-
tion is seldom interrupted, except by casualties.
" On public days, days of worship, and when visit-
ing, it is an object with them to put on the appearance
of neatness in their persons and apparel. The women
are usually dressed in long, loose, white cotton gowns,
with petticoats of cotton, cotton and silk, or silk, of
vari-coloured stripes. The men wear gowns a little
similar to those of the women, with cotton or silk plaid
cloth, decently wrapped around their loins, and hang-
ing in front below the knees. The women wear their
hair collected into a knot on the back part of the
head, while the men twist theirs into a spiral form
upon the top, encircling the head either with a
checquered or a white muslin kerchief folded to a
narrow width. The men commonly tattoo themselves
with various figures upon the thighs, the abdomen,
and the loins. The shoes of both sexes protect only
the sole of the foot, having two loops, into which the
great toe and the other four are inserted: they are
manufactured of wood, or of hides. The women, to
render themselves more attractive, rub their faces
with a fine powder, made of the bark of a species of
sandal highly odoriferous, and sometimes colour with
a beautiful red, the nails of their fingers and toes.
88 BIBMAH.
" In the management of internal household affairs,
the wife takes the principal share. She goes herself
to the market, or directs purchases to be made, and
superintends the cooking, or does it with her own
hands. As opportunity presents, she brings in . her
contribution to the domestic establishment, by spin-
ning, weaving, trafficking in bazar articles, or by
keeping a shop and vending merchandise. In con-
ducting the general family concerns, she is by no
means excluded: her judgment is consulted, given
with perfect freedom, and seldom entirely disregarded.
The female branches of the family are not recluses
here, neither are they reserved or shy in their man-
ners; they form a constituent part of domestic and
public society. They esteem it happy to become
mothers, but consider the birth of a son as a more
fortunate event than that of a daughter. They in
general nurse their children till they arrive at the age
of three or four. As they are seldom blessed with a
numerous progeny, the increase of population is slow. . . .
The wife of a judge or governor is often seen at his
side, assisting in the decision of causes ; and the wives
of viceroys and other high officers are often permitted
to hold their own courts, and decide independently on
petitions presented to them. Women of all ranks
enjoy a high degree of freedom, appear abroad un-
veiled whenever they choose, ornamented according
to the taste and fashion of the country, and add zest
to public scenes of amusement by their presence and
gaiety.
" In the formation of their matrimonial connexions,
there is generally an appropriate preface of personal
acquaintance and plighted love. In the ceremony of
marriage, little expense is incurred either of time or
of money. A feast of good things, according to the
BIRMAH. 89
ability of the bridegroom, is prepared, in which the
assembled family connexions participate. The mar-
ried pair taste a mixture of the tea-leaf steeped in oil,
(which is the form of sealing all contracts,) eat toge-
ther from the same plate, and, exchanging their reci-
procal promises, they twain are made one flesh.
Unfortunately, however, for the perpetuity of conjugal
felicity, in no country, perhaps, is the marriage-con-
tract regarded with so little respect, or maintained
with so little propriety as in Birmah. No disgrace is
attached to a divorced husband or wife. Slight occa-
sions originate verbal abuse, and these quarrels are
often protracted till both parties seek that remedy
which is to be found, in their country, in any common
court of justice. Polygamy is not only allowed, but
abounds in this country. Money is not offered to
obtain a female as a wife, but for the purchase of
bond-maids as concubines. If a concubine of this sort
wishes to be released, the terms of her departure are
made easy. A high sense of female chastity not being
prevalent, the consequences are obvious. The male
sex conceive themselves by nature, both physically and
mentally, the superior: hence are seen lordship in
the one sex, and subjection in the other. A brother
exercises over a sister, and a husband over a wife, con-
trol at pleasure, and applies, if need require, the shoe,
the rod, the foot, the palm of the hand, or even the
point of the elbow, to correct the forwardness or obsti-
nacy of the weaker vessel. Among the higher and
more polite circles, however, this right is n<3t so much
exercised as acknowledged.
" Generosity and hospitality are not among the
practical virtues of the Birmans; on the contrary,
they are cold-hearted, unfeeling, and suspicious, con-
templating misery and suffering, in whatever form, with
90 BIBMAH.
apathy. No public institutions of benevolence appear
to proclaim a general interest in the comfort or conve-
nience of the less happy. Avarice and selfishness, the
two ruling passions of the Birmans, preclude the exer-
cise of right feeling towards others. To the existence
of such a state of feeling, it is probable the nature
of the government contributes. The petty acts of
tyranny practised by the subordinate civil officers,
are a terror to the public, and create between man
and man that jealousy and suspicion which destroy
confidence, and annihilate the best feelings of huma-
nity. The writer of this article beheld, in the
eastern road leading from the town of Rangoon to the
great pagoda, a Birman lying on the ground, under
the suspension of his faculties by a fit. He fell while
walking with a companion, which was no sooner dis-
covered by the latter, than he departed with all pos-
sible speed. No individual approached the miserable
sufferer. The writer, not aware of any evil conse-
quence, went towards him, when several voices from
individuals at a distance urged him to retire. On
inquiring their reasons, they replied : " You will meet
with difficulty* from Government; the man may report
that he has been deprived of something, and you may
be called upon to answer as a thief.'" This was an
effectual check to any offer of assistance. In such a
state of things there can be found little benevolence,
kindness, or hospitality in exercise, particularly to-
wards strangers.
" Travelling by boats, which affords the greatest
personal comfort, presents the danger of bands of rob-
bers, who often attack with knives and muskets, and
make a ' clear sweep' of whatever portable effects can
be seized, to the jeopardy, and frequently to the
destruction of the lives of their possessors. It is but
BIRMAH. 91
just to add, however, that the view which these re-
marks would otherwise present, should in some
respects be qualified. There are recognised among the
Birmans, friendly relations and ties of consanguinity,
which, in private life, are seen so to operate as to
soften in some degree the sterner features of their
public character. Among relatives and friends be-
tween whom there is a mutual and thorough acquaint-
ance, feelings which originate generous actions, the
duties of hospitality, kind deportment and sympathy,
prevail over those views of mere personal considera-
tion, which govern the general course of their lives in
their civil connexion with one another. They are
certainly not incapable of strong attachments ; and
could their public character be formed in a different
mould from that in which their system of government
has already cast it, they would be by no means desti-
tute of those elementary principles which combine to
form the happiness of civilised society." *
Little will remain to be added to these details,
as regards the manners and customs of the Bir-
mans; but, in order that the reader may have a
just idea of their religion, it will be necessary to lay
before him a brief view of the history of the Buddhic
faith.
HISTORY OF BUDDHISM.
THE origin of Buddhism, which, under some modi-
fication or other, is the religion of the Birman empire,
Siain, Ceylon, Japan, Anam, and the greater part of
China, is involved in considerable obscurity. There
is strong reason, however, to believe, that it is of the
highest antiquity; that it was substantially the an-
* Friend of India, No. xii. 1824.
92 BIRMAH.
cient faith of India, the Brahminical superstition
being the invention of later times; for it is certain,
Mr. Ward says, " that, among the six schools of phi-
losophy formerly famous among the Hindoos, two of
them inculcated doctrines respecting the first cause of
things that were decidedly atheistical, or such as the
followers of Boodhii maintain at this day; and it is
indisputable, according to the Hindoo writings, that
these two sects were numerous before the appearance
of Boodhii," The word Boodhii or Buddha, which
signifies the wise or the sage, admits of a various
application, that has served not a little to perplex the
subject. It is the title of the Hindoo Mercury,* the
Woden of the northern nations, traces of whose wor--
ship are to be found in almost every primitive lan-
guage; but the historical Budha is quite a different
personage ; or rather, there can be no doubt that, as in
the case of Zoroaster, under that name several dis-
tinct personages have been confounded. The distin-
guishing tenet of the religion, or, as it has been cor-
rectly termed, the atheoloyy of these nations, is the
substitution of an incarnation of the divine energy, in
some deified hero or sage, for the Creator of all things,
who is reduced to a mere abstraction, unintelligent,
and differing little from the Eternal Matter of the
western atheists. They believe, in common with the
Hindoos, that there is one God, but so completely
* " This god has four arms ; in one hand he holds the discus, in
another a club, in another a scimitar, and with the fourth is be-
stowing a blessing. He rides on a lion, is of a placid countenance,
and wears yellow garments." He was the eldest son of Somu or
Chundru, the moon, whence he is called Soumyu, and from his
mother, Rouhineyu. Wednesday (Boodhu-varu) is sacred to him :
in Siamese, it is called Van-Phoodh, the day of Phoodh, Boodh,
or Fo. See WARD'S View of the Hindoos, vol. i. p. 92.
BIRMAH. 93
abstract in his essence, that he is not the object
either of worship, of hope, or of fear ; that he is even
destitute of intelligence, and remains in a state of
profound repose, except at times, when, united to
energy, he becomes possessed of qualities, and creates
worlds. This energy, it is said, exists separate from
Bramha in his abstract state, as smothered embers,
and is, like himself, eternal. Among the regular
Hindoos, the beings supposed to possess most of this
energy are the gods, the giants, the bramhuns, and
devout ascetics : among the heterodox sects of Bud-
dhists, Jains, and some others, ascetics are almost
exclusively considered as the favoured depositaries of
the Divine energy. This " indwelling scheme," as it
has been termed, is the prominent feature of all the
systems of paganism throughout the East. The doc-
trine of incarnations, that of transmigration, the
adoration of the deified elements or of deified heroes,
of Vishnoo, of Budha, of the Lama, of Fo, of the cow,
of the elephant, all rest upon the same basis. The
divine energy, wherever it is supposed to reside, or
the abstract idea of power in alliance with sow* material
form, is, under some modification or other, the univer-
sal object of worship. " Exactly conformable to the
Hindoo idea," remarks Mr. Ward, " was the declara-
tion respecting Simon Magus : * This man is the great
power of God.' And in union with this notion, all
these people embrace the doctrine of transmigration,
and the efficacy of religious austerities to restore these
emanations of the deity, dwelling in matter, to the
Great Spirit from which they issued."*
* See Ward's View of the Hindoos, vol. i. pp. i. ix ; xvii. ; vol. ii.
pp. 206, 306, &c. These notions of the Hindoo philosophers aic
essentially the same as the system of Emanation, received not only
by the Ionic philosophers, Thales and Anaximander, but by the
94 BIBMAH.
The . Grand Lama is an hereditary living deity,
before whom millions prostrate themselves. He dies
only to re-appear in another form. Captain Turner,
speaking of the religion of Tibet, says : " It seems to
be the schismatical offspring of the religion of the
Hindoos, deriving its origin from one of the followers
of that faith, a disciple of Bouddhu, who first broached
the doctrine which now prevails over the wide extent
of Tartary. It is reported to have received its earliest
admission in that part of Tibet bordering upon India,
which hence became the seat of the sovereign Lamas,
to have traversed Mantchieux Tartary, and to have
been ultimately disseminated over China and Japan.
Though it differs from the Hindoo in many of its
outward forms, yet, it still bears a very close affinity
with the religion of Brumha in many important parti-
culars. The principal idol in the temples of Tibet is
Muha-Moonee (the Great Philosopher), the Booddhu
of Bengal, who is worshipped under these and various
other epithets throughout the great extent of Tartary
and among all nations to the eastward of the Brumhu-
pootru. He is styled Godumii or Goutumu in Assam
Pythagoreans, the followers of Heraclitus, and others. They held
God to have been eternally united to matter in one whole, which
they called Chaos, whence it was sent forth, and at a certain time
brought into form by the energy of the divine inhabitant. Thia
deity, far from being a simple spiritual essence, is a compound
being, "the soul of the world inclosed in matter, the primeval
energy, the prolific and vivifying principle dwelling in all animated
existences." In fact, this atheistic system is that of the materialist,
applied to the Divine Being, whose intelligence is made absolutely
dependent on some mode of organisation. A learned bramhun,
on having the well-known lines of Pope read to him, beginning,
" All are but parts of one stupendous whole,
Whose body Nature is, and God the soul,"
started from his seat, and declared that the author must have
been a Hindoo.
BIRMAH. 95
and Ava ; Shumunu, in Siam;* Amida Buth,f in
Japan ; Fohe, in China ; Boodhu and Shakhu Moonee
in Bengal and Hindoostan ; and Dhurmii Ra.jii and
Muha Moonee, in Bootan and Tibet."
The name under which the idol of Binnah is wor-
shipped, is, as we have seen, Godama (Guadma, Gua-
tama), the same as the Siamese Kodom, or Kodoma;
a word which is said to signify cow-herd, and, meta-
phorically, king; though Dr. Buchanan was assured
by a Hindoo pundit, that it implies the eminently
sage, which is the meaning of Boodha. There can be
no uoubt, that under this name a real personage is
intended, although it perhaps admits of question,
whether the Divine Philosopher to whom all these
titles refer, be the same. The Birmans, in common
with the other Buddhic nations, reckon three pre-
decessors of Guadma Budha. J The Zarado* or arch-
* Or Soramono-kodara : i. e. Kodam (Godama) the saint. He is
also known there under other titles, as Pra-phut, the high lord,
Y-thee-pee-so, Pa-ka-wa, Ora-hang, &c. By the Cingalese, he is
known under the name of Saka, or Sakya-muni, the astute sage.
This is sometimes written Xaca, and again Shaknun and Shak-
muny, and with the adjunct, burchan (the Tartar for deity), is
corrupted by Marco Polo into Sogomon-barchan. MARSDEN'S
Marco Polo, note 1354. FINIAYSON'S Siam, p. 253.
t Boodh, Buth, Phoodh, Fohi, are evidently the same word
under different forms. The Tamul, adding the termination en,
makes it Pooden; whence Wod-en. Amita, in Chinese O-mee-to,
the epithet applied to Buddha in China and Japan, is the Sanscrit
Amita, immeasurable, whence the Greek ap.crpov.
I " The religion of the Birmans," Colonel Francklin says, " is
that of the younger Buddha or Bhaddoo of the Hindoos, the
ninth incarnation of VUhnoo ; but the Birmans insist, that in his
character of Weethandra, a prince of Godomha-it, he is a tenth
incarnation of the divin'ty. The elder Buddha, or Rama the
conqueror of Ceylon, which, in the ancient Pali, is called Dewi
Lanca, they do not acknowledge as their legislator ; his history is
merely read as an amusing fable by their bards or musicians. I
have a co>y of his history : it agrees with the Indian legend, but
96 BIRMAH.
abbot of Biruaah, at the solicitation of a Roman
Catholic bishop, drew up an account of their tenets,
in which the gods who have appeared in the present
world, and who have obtained the perfect state of
niffban, are said to be four ; viz. Chau-cha-sam
(or Kau-ka-than), Gonagom (Gau-na-gon), Gaspa
(Katha-pa), and Godama. * The Sakya-muni of
Ceylon (the Sogomon-barchan of Marco Polo, and
the Shakhu-moonee of Bengal), has generally been
they call him Yama." We are not aware on what authority Rama
is called the elder Budha. Ramu, or Rama, is the seventh incar-
nation of Vishnoo, Bulurama the eighth, Boodhu the ninth ; but
the origin of Buddhism is not to be found in these legends, which
are of a more modern date. There are acknowledged to be four
Buddhas ; but there seems no connexion between this succession
of sages and the nine incarnations of Vishnoo.
* This document then proceeds by question and answer. " Q. Of
which of these gods ought the law at present to be followed?
A. Of the god Godama. Q. Where is the god Godama? A. Go-
dama, at the age of thirty-five, having attained his divinity,
preached his law for forty-five years, and brought salvation to all
living beings. At eighty years of age he obtained nigban, and this
happened 2362 years ago [from 1795]. Then Godama said : after
I shall have departed from this earth, I will preserve my law and
disciples for 5000 years ; and he commanded that his images and
relics should be worshipped, which has accordingly been ever since
done. Q. What is meant by obtaining nigban T A. When a per-
son is no longer subject to any of the following evils, weight, old
age, disease, and death, then he is said to have obtained nigban.
Nothing, no place can give us an adequate idea of nigban : we can
only say, that to be free from the four above-mentioned miseries,
and to obtain salvation, is nigban. In the same manner, as when
any person labouring under a severe disease, recovers by the assist-
ance of medicine, we say he has obtained health; but if any person
wishes to know the manner or the cause of his thus obtaining
health, it can only be answered, that to be restored to health
signifies no more than to be recovered from disease : in the same
manner only can we speak of nigban. And after this manner
Godama taught." Reckoning the 2362 Birman years as equal to
2341 Julian years, this would place the death of Godama about
546 years B. C. Asiat. Res. vol. vi. p. 265. See also Ward's View,
&c., vol. ii. p. 212.
BIRMAH. 97
considered as the founder of the sect. M. la Loube*re
supposes the Siamese Somonocodom to be unquestion-
ably the same person ; and according to the sacred books,
his father was Bali, king of Teve Lanca, or Ceylon.
La Croze states, that the name of Fo before his apo-
theosis, was Xaca (Saka), and that, according to the
best-established opinion, he was born in the isle of
Ceylon.* The name of Sommonokodam (Godama)
before he was deified, Mr. Finlayson was told, was
Pra-si-Thaat ; his father's name was Soori-soo-thoght,
and his mother, Pra-soori-maha-maya. f The general
persuasion of the priests, we are told, is, that their
religion had its origin in Lanca, or Ceylon, and many
circumstances establish the close connexion between
the Cingalese and the Siamese ; but this is sufficiently
to be accounted for, without supposing that Buddhism
had its origin in that island. 1 If any stress can be
* Marsden's Marco Polo, note 1355. Bali is evidently only the
word Pali, the name of the sacred language, and of the nation to
whom the Buddhists belong ; a proof that the Cingalese filiation of
Godama is apocryphal.
t Pra is a mere affix, signifying lord : the other names are pos-
sibly mythological. One of the Siamese titles assigned by this
Traveller to Buddha, that of Ora-hang, is the Siamese name of
Adam's Peak, in Ceylon.
J Not only the religion and sacred language of Ceylon are the
same as those of Birmah and Siam, but there are many proofs of
an intimate connexion and commercial intercourse between that
island and the Indo-Chinese states ; as well as the clearest evidence
that Ceylon derived alike its mythology, language, and priesthood
from Magadha, or Bahar. The name of the island (Singhala) is
clearly derived from tingh, a lion; a distinctive appellation of
the khetries, or military class. We have evidently the same word
in Sincapoor (Singa-pura), as well as in Singhea in Bahar, Singe-
poorum and Singhboom in Orissa, &c. Sincapoor is said to have
been founded by emigrants from Sumatra. In that island we find
the Rakhan river, evidently the same as Arracan, and a town of
Acheen, the same name as the chief place on the Kank-kao river,
which falls into the gulf of Siam. Salanga (Junkseylon) is appa-
rently the same word as Lanca, the Siamese name of Ceylon.
PART I. G
98 B1RMAH.
laid on the Jatiis, or histories of the ten incar-
nations, Buddha, prior to his first incarnation as
Teinee, had, at a remote period, reigned in Varanu-
see (Benares) twenty years, and after an interval of
80,000 years, had been born and lived in Tavutingsa
(Ceylon?). This Maha-Satwa (great Saint), orBood-
hii Sutwu, as he is called, would seem, indeed, at all
events, not to be the first Buddha; but his earliest
appearance is placed in Bahar. It is more to the pur-
pose to remark, that the Cingalese admit that they
received their religion from the hands of a stranger ;
and Mr. Ward thinks, that it was probably propagated
in the Birman empire soon after its reception in Cey-
lon, that is, about four hundred and fifty years after
Buddha's death. "The Birmans believe, that six
hundred and fifty years after that event (about A.D.
107), in the reign of Maha-moonee, a bramhun, named
Buddha- Ghosha, was sent to Ceylon, to copy the
Vishooddhimargu, which includes all the Jatus, or
histories of the incarnations of Buddha. Since then,
many Birmans have translated and commented on
these writings. In a work entitled "The great Hi-
story of the Birman and Pegu Kings,' it is recorded,
that, during the T'hiooru-kshutriyu dynasty, no fewer
than fifty-five translations were made, and as many
comments written on these books. But the Birmans
are believed to possess works of higher antiquity than
the Jatus." *
There can be, we think, no doubt, that India, and
that part of India which formed the kingdom of Ma-
gadha, or Benares, has the best claim to the honour of
having given birth to Buddha Guadama. In fact, both
Booddhu and Goutumii would seem, from the following
account, given by Mr. Ward from Sanscrit documents,
* Ward, vol. ii p. 211.
BIRMAH. 99
to have been either family names or honorary titles of
the Magadha dynasty.*
" About 700 years before the commencement of the
Christian era, Veeru-Vahoo, of the race of Goujumii,
a person attached to one of these sects, destroyed his
sovereign Bodhumullu, and immediately seized the
throne of Delhi. This king, and his three immediate
successors, reigned one hundred and eight years.
* The Scanda and Buddha puranas, the two sacred poems
which describe the actions of Godama, among a multitude of
matter extravagant beyond the stretch of imagination to portray,
and defying all rational analysis, contain these few intelligible
historic details. It seems that Sataketu, of the race of the gods,
had resolved to descend to earth and to become incarnate, in order
to instruct mankind. The house of Sacya Singu was in possession
of the sixty-four indispensable virtues, and therefore the god
assumed the human form in the family of Sudd-hodana, at Capilu-
vasu, in the kingdom of Magadha (South Bahar). His mother
was Maha-divi. His wisdom puzzled his instructors in infancy.
Repairing to Cushi, he took up his abode under a tree, and began
a series of seven penances. He subsequently exemplified the duties
of social life, and married Gopa, daughter of Sacshya; but finally
renewed his penances, and became a complete Sanyasi. One thou-
sand votaries were added to Buddha's disciples before he reached
Gaya, the holy shrine near which he fixed his retreat. His mother,
Maha-divi, afflicted at his tremendous penances, came down to
remonstrate, but, instead of obeying, he fell down and worshipped
her; for which act of extraordinary piety, together with his com-
pletion of the unutterable Yoga, the samyacsam-bodhi, the asto-
nished gods fell down in adoration, and thus completed the earthly
consecration of this incarnate deity. The Birmans adopt this
purana, but add other particulars; among which, the artificer,
Viswakarma, is introduced, presenting a large forest, created for
the scene of Buddha's austerities. The king his father, and the
neighbouring princes, who had attempted to seize his kingdom
during his absence, turn anchorets, in imitation of the rishi, or
saint ; and even the horses and elephants in his father's train are
so spiritualised, that, after having run wild on earth, they are born
again in the six abodes of the gods. This legend, however, bears
internal evidence of its relating to a personage far less important
than the original Buddha.
100 BIRMAH.
Muhee-putee, or the lord of the earth, was the name
of the third of these monarchs; and as most of the
\vriters on this subject agree in placing the era of
Boodhxi in the sixth century B.C., it seems reasonable
to suppose, that Boodhii was the son or near relation
of Muhee-putee. If not connected with this family,
why should the family name of this race, Goutumii, be
one of the most common names of Booddhu ?* As the
capital of the most powerful of the Hindoo monarchs
of this period was in South Bahar, if Booddhu was
not the son of one of the Mugudhii kings, it is possible
he belonged to some branch of the family reigning at
Benares, which was probably then a separate king-
dom. In the Te*mee Je"tu, a history of one of the
incarnations of Booddhu, he is said to have been the
son of a king of Benares, and to have persevered in
choosing the life of an ascetic, against every possible
artifice and persuasion of his royal parents. If then it
be admitted that Booddhu was a person of royal descent,
that he chose an ascetic life, and embraced a system of
philosophy already prevalent in India, the other scenes
of the drama require no assistance from conjecture : he
became the patron and idol of the sect which from
this time was distinguished by his name; he also re-
ceived the support of the reigning monarchs, who
were attached to him not only by holding the same
philosophical opinions, but by the ties of blood.
" This sect being thus established by Muhee-putee,
the eleven Bouddlm monarchs who succeeded him, and
who reigned 291 years, may reasonably be supposed
to have done what the bramhiins charged them with,
to have obliterated the religion of their opponents.
" It is certain, however, that the learned adherents
* Titles of deity have sometimes been assumed as family names.
Thus, among the kings of Sirinagur, several bore the name of
Deo, others that of Paal, &c. See Asiat. Res. vol. vi. p. 338.
BIRMAH. 101
of the bramhinical religion did not remain silent
spectators of what they deemed the triumph of
atheism. They contended with their equally learned
opponents; and this dispute, as is manifest by the
character of many of the works still read by the Hin-
doos, called forth all the talents of both sides : chal-
lenges to conduct the controversy in the presence of
kings and learned assemblies were given and accepted.
But here, as in innumerable other instances, the arm
of power prevailed ; and as long as the reigning mo-
narchs were Bouddhus, the bramhiins were obliged to
confine themselves to verbal contentions.
" At length, Dhoorundhuru, of the race of Muydorii,
destroyed Adityii, the last Bouddhii king, and assumed
the sovereignty ; and it is probable that from this
time (about 300 years B.C.) we are, to date the com-
mencement of the persecutions of the Bouddhus.
"One or two facts tend to prove, that the bram-
hiins were not much more mild and tolerant than
other persecutors. Though a number of Joinus are
scattered up and down in various parts of Hindoo-
st'hanii, scarcely a vestige of the Bouddhii superstition
is to be found, and all its adherents are seen in the
adjoining countries. The fact respecting these per-
secutions is, however, placed beyond all doubt by the
Prayushchittii-vive'ku, a Hindoo work on atonements ;
from which we learn, that Ooduyunacharjyu, a learned
jramhun, and a fierce combatant against the Bood-
dhiis, actually burnt himself to death on a chaff-fire
(kooshuanulu), as an atonement for the sin of having
excited the Hindoo kings to put to death many
Bouddhu bramhuns. To avoid the malice of their
enemies, therefore, the Bouddhus emigrated to the
-neighbouring countries, and gave to the uncivilised
inhabitants those doctrines for which they had been
G2
102 BIRMAH.
unsuccessfully contending on the plains of Hin-
doost'hanu.
" We have no authentic documents to prove how
long this persecution lasted ; but it is a pretty current
opinion among the most learned Biirmans, that the
religion of Booddhu was introduced into that country
about 450 years after his death. According to this
statement, (admitting that the persecution began with
Dhoorundhurii,) it will appear to have continued 183
years." *
According to this view of the subject, Godama, the
fourth and last deity, and the founder of the present
system of atheology which goes under the name of
Buddhism, was an ascetic of royal birth, who lived
about 2,370 years ago.f Having, like Zoroaster,
Manes, Mahommed, and Abdul Wehhab, professed
himself a religious reformer, he travelled over India,
Ceylon, and other countries to propagate his doc-
trines.J His image uniformly represents him with
Ward, vol. ii. pp. 20710. See also Asiat. Res. vol. ix.
f A native of Ceylon assured Mr. Ward, that the Cingalese con-
sidered it to be about 2,500 years since the death of Gautama.
Mr. Felix Carey, on the authority of the Birman history, made it,
in 1813, 2,357 years since the birth of the god. According to other
authorities, cited by Dr. Buchanan, both the Siamese and the
Cingalese make Budha's death to have happened either 542 or 546
years B.C. The Chinese authorities state that Shaka lived 1028
years B.C. (see note p. 106.) . If any reliance could be placed on
this opinion, it would go far to prove that Sakya-muni preceded
Gautama by nearly 500 years.
J " When the Budhuist superstition was first introduced to the
island of Ceylon, has never been satisfactorily determined ; but the
circumstances attendant on its introduction are set forth by the
Singhalese historians in all the extravagant hyperbole of Eastern
fable. According to their writings, Budhu visited Ceylon for the
purpose of rescuing the natives from the tyranny of the demons,
who covered the'whole island, and exercised the most cruel tyranny
over the inhabitants. So numerous were these malignant spirits,
that, on the arrival of Budhu, they covered the whole ground, and
BIRMAH. 103
curling hair, like that of an African ; his ears long, as
if distended by heavy ear-rings, and in a sitting posture,
with his legs folded. This physiognomy is remark-
able, and may be admitted, perhaps, as an indication
of the Ethiopic extraction of the Magadha dynasty,
since Godama was clearly not a foreigner. In his life-
time, there is no reason to suppose that he set up for
a god ; and it would seem that, like all other pseudo
reformers, he acknowledged certain predecessors in his
office, Boudhas or wise men who had appeared before
him. Who Kaukka-that, Gaunagon, and Kathapa
were, can be but matter of conjecture ; but it may
be allowed us to suggest, that the original Boodha
was probably the Eastern Hermes, the Mercury of
the Hindoo pantheon, and the Boodha of the calen-
dar. Of the five deities assigned to the present
kulpu, or mundane period, four have already ap-
there -was not sufficient space left for him to set his foot ; and had
a pin fallen, it could not have found its passage to the ground.
IJudhu, confident of the efficacy of his doctrines, directed his dis-
course to a part of the vast mass before him, which immediately
yielded to its force, and became panic-struck by the superior power
which was opposed to them. Availing himself of the confusion
Into which the demons were thrown, and perceiving a vacant
space, Budhu descended, and occupied the spot. As he continued
to preach, directing his sermons to every part of the vast circle
which was formed around him, the demons gradually retired fur-
ther from his presence, until they were all at length driven into the
gea. Budhu then issued the following proclamation : ' Behold, I
have conquered the malignant spirits who had so long and with such
irresistible sway tyrannised over you. Pear demons no more !
worship them no more f ' This tradition, divested of the absurdities
in which it is clothed, represents Budhu as a religious reformer,
\vho finding the Singhalese devoted to the Kappooa system of
demon-worship, endeavoured, by preaching some portion of truth,
though mixed up with much error, to raise their minds from the
degraded and enslaved state In which they had been held for ages.
Success followed the persevering promulgation of the system, until
it gained the ascendancy, and became the established religion
of the island." HARVARD'S Mission to Ceylon, p. liv.
104 BIBMAH.
peared, including Godama, whose exaltation is to
continue till the expiration of 5000 years, 2,368 of
which have now expired. Another saint will then
obtain the ascendancy and be deified.
The introduction of Buddhism into Indo-China ap-
pears to have been through different channels, from
Bengal and Assam, from Ceylon, and from China. It
is evident that it must have had a footing in Birmah,
before Budha-Gosha was deputed to visit the sacred
isle to copy the Jatits. In fact, it must have been
brought into the country with the first Pali emigra-
tion consequent on the overthrow of the Boudhic
dynasty in Magadha, supposed to be 300 years B.C.,
even if it had not previously extended over these
countries. It is highly remarkable, however, that the
Birman era carries us up no higher than A.D. 638.
This era is said to be that used by the' astronomers of
Siam, from whom, first the Taliens of Pegu, and then
the Birmans are supposed, with great probability, to
have adopted it.* The Siamese, there is reason to
think, derived their religious lore and language from
Laos on the borders of Yun-nan : in other words, they
derived it from China.f But the worship of Fohi or
* " Wheace the Birmans date their era, I could not learn worn
them. The akunwoon of the province of Pegu, the most intelligent
man with whom we conversed, did not seem to know. He said,
that whenever the king thought the years of the era too many, he
changed it. The fact, I believe, is, that the era commencing in
our year 638, is that used by the astronomers of Siam, and from
them, as a more polished nation, it has passed to the Birmans,
whose pride hindered them from acknowledging the truth."
Atiat. Res., vol. vi. p. 171.
t " It is from this nation " (the Laws or Laos,) " that both the
Birmans and Siamese allege they derive their laws, religion, and
institutions. It is in the country of the Laos that all the celebrated
founders of the religion of Buddha are represented to have left
their most remarkable vestiges. Ceylon boasts the sacred traces
BIRMAH. 105
Buddha was not introduced into China till the first
century of the Christian era; and the idol is said to
have been imported from an island towards the west,
which was probably Ceylon, about A.D. 66.* At
that time, China was itself divided into petty king-
doms : these were subsequently reduced to two, the
northern and the southern, and at length, und*er the
usurper Yang-kien, were united into one empire,
A*D. 585. His successor, the first monarch of the
Tang dynasty, which lasted for nearly 300 years,
began to reign in the year 626 ; a period so nearly
answering to the Birman era, (especially when we
allow for the difference between the Birman and the
of the left foot of Buddha on the top of the mountain Amali-sri-
pali, or Adam's Peak. Siam exhibits the traces of the right foot
on the top of the golden mountain Swa-na-bapato. Other traces
of the sacred step are sparingly scattered over Pegu, Ava, and
Arraoan. But it is among the Laos that all the vestiges of the
founder of this religion seem to be concentered, and thither de-
votees resort to worship at the sacred steps of Pra Ku-ku-son, Pra
Kon-na-kon, Pra Putha-kat-sop, and Pra Samutta Kodom ; Siam-
ese names of the four Buddhas, corresponding to the Birman
Kaukason, Gonasom, Kasyapa, and Gautama ; and to the Cey-
lonese Kakusanda, Konagom, Kasyapa, and Gautama." The
Laos language, which, there is no reason to think, varies but very
slightly from the Siamese, is said to abound in books, especially in
translations from the Pali. HAMILTON'S Gazetteer, art. Laos.
* Some authorities make it later. " In no age," remarks the
learned Missionary Milne, " has China been free from idolatry ;
but it greatly increased after the time of Laou-tsze, A.C. 500, the
restorer of the religion of Taou, and especially after the introduc-
tion of the superstition of Fuh, A.D. 81 . This last dragged in with
it from the west, a sacred language the doctrine of a non-entity
the transmigration of souls the final absorption of good men into
deity also, a degrading idolatry and superstitions without number.
We recognise :"n this sect, Indian deities, Indian doctrines, an In-
dian language, and Indian canonicals. It has carried the Chinese
nation further off from the fountain of life than it was before."
First Trn Years of the Protestant Mission to China, by WILLIAM
MILNE. (Malacca, 1820). P. 28.
106 B1RMAH.
Julian years,) that we are tempted to consider it as
the real epoch adopted by the Siamese astronomers.
On the other hand, M. Reinusat, in his learned " Dis-
sertations on the Religion and Antiquities of the
Hindoo and Tatar Natic-ns," has given a list of
twenty-eight Buddhas, or Buddhic patriarchs, con-
tained in a Japanese manuscript, which terminates
with one who is said to have been the last who fixed
his abode in Hindostan, and who, retiring to China,
died there A.D. 495.* It would seem that the eccle-
siastical supremacy of the Chinese sovereign, as lord
of the Buddhic world, may be dated from that period.
This last Buddha, who is said to have assumed the
* This list is given in a paper explanatory of a Hindu map of
sixty kingdoms. The name and birth-place of each illustrious
rishi (saint) is carefully specified, together with the period of his
death, in Chinese characters and Japanese letters, precisely answer-
ing to the Sanscrit or Pali word. The birth of Sakya-muni is
fixed on the eighth day of the fourth moon of the twenty-fourth
year of the reign of Tchao-wang, of the dynasty of Tcheou ; that
is, according to De Guignes, 1029 B.C. He is stated to have lived
79 years, which, added to the 1445 years assigned to his successors,
twenty-eight in number, down to Bodhidana, bring us to A.D.
495. " The twenty-seventh patriarch burned himself A.D. 457,
and left the secret doctrine to that Bodhidana, of the caste of
Kettris, and son of the king of Mawar, in Western India, who
changed his name to Bodhi-dharma, and was the twenty-eighth
patriarch, and the last who fixed his residence in Hindostan. In
fact, he embarked on the sea of the south, went to China, and
fixed himself near the celebrated mountain of Soung, in the vicinity
of Honan, where he died the fifth of the tenth moon, the nine-
teenth year tai-ho ( A.D. 495). I came into this country, he said in
dying, to teach the law, and to deliver men from their passions.
Every flower produces five petals, which set themselves in fruit.
Thus I have fulfilled my destiny. He bequeathed the secret doc-
trine to a Chinese, who took the mystic name of Tsoui-kho."
REMUSAT, Melanges Asiatiques, p. 125. Kcempfer, in his History
of Japan, declares that Buddhism began generally to spread through-
out that country, A.D. 518. It had been introduced, however,
about A.D. 63.
BIRMAH. 107
name of Bodhi-dharma, is expressly stated to have been
of the Khetri or Cshatriya caste, and son of the king of
Mawar or Bahar. He took up his residence near the
celebrated mountain of Soung, in the vicinity of the
city of Ho-nan, and at his death bequeathed his office to
a Chinese, who assumed the name of Tsoui-kho (skilful
penetration). The first four successors of Bodhi-
dharma were honoured with the title of muni or moonee
(philosopher). But in the year 713, having acquired
a greater degree of political influence, the Buddhic
patriarch was dignified with the titles of great mas-
ter and spiritual prince of the law. The Mongol
princes, following up the system, attached to their
throne this representative of Buddha, under the high
titles of director of the conscience, chief of spiritual
affairs, master of the kingdom (&oue-sse) , master of
the emperor (ti-sse), and, at length, as the sovereign,
immaculate, immortal, divine non-entity, the Grand
Lama.*
The removal of the visible head of the Buddhic faith
from the banks of the Ganges to China, and the esta-
blishment of the ecclesiastical supremacy of the Chinese
monarch, are certainly circumstances of sufficient im-
portance to present a probable explanation of a new
era. Bodhi-dharma died, however, we have seen,
about 140 years before the Birman or Siamese era.
* " It is a general belief in Tibet, that the arts and sciences had
their origin in the holy city of Benares, which the inhabitants have
been taught to esteem as the source both of learning and religion.
Their alphabet and character they acknowledge to be derived from
the Sanscrit. According to tradition, the ancient teachers of the
faith professed by the inhabitants of Tibet, proceeded from Benares.
There are two sects of priests, distinguished by their dress ; the
red or the yellow cap. The latter is reckoned the most orthodox,
andhas, nmong his votaries, theemperor of China." HAMILTON'S
Gaz., art. Tibet.
108 BIRMAH.
That era, therefore, if connected with these events,
must have been determined by some subsequent poli-
tical or ecclesiastical change in one of the two coun-
tries. However this may have been, the supremacy
of the Chinese Boa (Ou-dee-Boa) or emperor, over
the Indo-Chinese kingdoms, territories too distant to
have been retained by the mere tie of conquest, appears
to have been universally acknowledged, till Minderajee-
praw, after the conquest of Arracan, first ventured to
assert his equal dignity and independence by assum-
ing the title of Boa of Birmah.
Thus, then, we seem to have a variety of concurring
evidence to prove that Buddhism had its origin in
India, where it was identified with a dynasty of mo-
narchs, and with a race whose vernacular dialect has be-
come the sacred language as well of Ceylon as of all the
other Indo-Chinese nations. The origin of the Bir-
raans and Arracanese, as well perhaps of the Singh-
alese, as a people, seems clearly referrible to emigra-
tions of the Khetri caste from Magadha. The aboriginal
population of Birmah was doubtless Tatar, and con-
sisted of rude tribes similar to the Karayns. The
Birmans themselves had probably well nigh lost all
remembrance of their sacred institutes, having become
a mixed people, when a learned brahman was sent to
Ceylon to copy the sacred writings. In that island,
the Buddhic religion appears to have been preserved
in its greatest purity, probably as having been the
asylum of the fugitive priesthood ; and from thence it
was communicated to Japan and China. In the
mean time, it appears to have spread northward over
Bootan and Tibet, and the shadowy representative of
the Buddhic sovereigns found refuge in China, whose
monarch claims to be considered as the khalif of Bud-
dhism. The emigrations of Chinese fugitives, conse-
BIRMAH. 109
quent on the Tatar conquest, may account for the
superior information and polish ascribed to the people
of Laos. Nor is there any violence in supposing that
Buddhism, which had travelled from Magadha to
Ceylon, and from Ceylon to China, found its way
through Laos, by means of Chinese fugitives or
colonists, to Siam and Pegu, and thus met, as it were,
with the Buddhism already imported into Birmah,
both from Ceylon and from Bengal.*
There are several highly-interesting inquiries con-
nected with the history of Buddhism and its intro-
duction into these regions, to which we hare not
ventured to advert. Whether the religious creed
which it displaced was of a purer kind, as in China,
or only a grosser adolatry, and whether Buddhism
itself be not a corruption of a purer faith, are ques-
tions not of very easy solution. How far any of the
tenets or institutions of the Indo-Chinese nations may
be thought to exhibit traces of a Christian origin, is
also a curious inquiry. When it is recollected, that a
Nestorian mission was introduced into Ceylon in the
fifth or sixth century, it. is certainly possible that the
striking coincidences observable in many parts of the
* " The Birmans of Ava acknowledge the superior antiquity of
the Cingalese, and the reception of their laws and religion from
that quarter. The king of Ava has, within the last thirty years,
at separate times, sent two messengers, persons of learning and
respectability, to Ceylon, to procure the original books on which
their tenets are founded. In one instance, the Birman minister
made official application to the governor-general of India, to pro-
tect and assist the person charged with the commission." HAMIL-
TON'S Gazetteer, art. Ceylon. On the other hand, we are told,
that "the Birmans entertain the highest reverence for Magadha.
A deputation from his majesty of Ava visited the sacred places in
that vicinity a few years ago." FINLAYSON'B Siam, p. 252, note
(by SirS. Raffles.)
PART I. H
110 BIRMAH.
Buddhic system are not purely accidental.* The
zarado who furnished the account, already referred
to, of the religion of Birmah, mentions six impostors,
teachers of false doctrine, who had appeared prior to
the coming of Guadma. " The second of these pre-
tenders taught," he says, "that after death, men are
by no means changed into animals, and that animals,
on being slain, are not changed into men ; but that
after death, men are always born men, and animals
born animals." "This," remarks Dr. Buchanan,
" was probably the doctrine adopted by the Birmans
before they embraced the religion of Buddha, for it is
yet retained by the Pegu and Birman Carayns."f
According to Mr. Judson, it is not more than about
eight hundred years ago, that the religion of Boodha
was first publicly recognised as the religion of this
country. J
The resemblances between some of the rites and
regulations of the Romish Church and the monastic
institutions of the Birman religion, are so striking as
to suggest the idea that one must have been copied
from the other, or both from a common model. In-
deed, Father Boori, a Portuguese missionary who
visited Cochin China in the sixteenth century, pro-
* The Cingalese annals record that, in the fourth century, the
throne of that island was usurped by two Malabar missionaries,
who administered the government for upwards of twenty years,
and were at length slain by a member of the royal family.
HARVARD, p. Ixii.
t Asiat. Research, vol. vi. p. 267.
1 " Here, about eight hundred years ago, Ah-rah-ran, the first
Boodhist apostle of Birmah, under the patronage of king Anan-ra-
tha-men-zan, disseminated the doctrines of atheism, and taught
his disciples to pant after annihilation as the supreme good."
JUDSON, p. 224.
BIRMAH. Ill
tests in despair, in his narrative, " that there is not a
dress, office, or ceremony in the church of Rome, to
which the devil has not here provided some counter-
part. Even when he began inveighing against the
idols, he was answered, that these were the images of
departed great men, whom they worshipped exactly on
the same principle and in the same manner as the
Catholics did the images of the apostles and martyrs."*
The following additional particulars respecting the
ecclesiastical system of the Birmans, are taken chiefly
from Dr. Buchanan's valuable papers in the Asiatic
Researches.
The priests of Guadma, or rahaans, are all regulars,
member of some kioum (monastery), and under the
direction of a superior, in a manner strikingly resem-
bling the monastic orders of the Romish Church.
They are under vows of celibacy, and live together in
their convents or colleges, which are by much the best
habitations in the country. Every kioum has a head
called zara, which may be interpreted "reader," but
it may also be translated abbot. In a particular man-
ner is respected the zarado (or seredaw), or royal
abbot, who may be likened to the king's confessor.
His apartments are very superb, and his attendants
very numerous. Next to the emperor, he is the per-
son to whom the greatest external homage is paid, and
he is permitted to sleep under a piasath, a dignity not
enjoyed even by the king's eldest son, who already
possesses one half of the imperial power. But al-
though these zaras possess grades of rank conformable
to the opulence of their kioums, and the power of
their patrons, every zara manages his own establish-
Murray's Hist, of Discoveries in Asia, vol. iii. p. 249.
112 JBIRMAH.
ment, without any appeal to a superior, or even to the
head zarado.
The respect shewn to the rhahaans by the lay
inhabitants is very great. The road on all occasions
is yielded to them ; they are always addressed as
phongi (or pun-jee, eminence) and bura (praw, lord) .
They are permitted to use painting and gilding, and
even white, the royal colour, common only to their
divinity and the monarch. Although thus honoured,
they retain the greatest simplicity in their manners,
the dress of the high zarado not differing from the
multitude prostrate before him. When at Rangoon,
he used, like other rhahaans, to perform his rounds
bare-footed, and to receive from house to house the
rice that was offered as alms. In this, perhaps, there
was somewhat more than humility, as the streets
were covered with cloth, and the men prostrated
themselves at his feet, begging his blessing, while the
women were kept out of his way, as unworthy to be in
the presence of a man so weaned from the pleasures of
sense.
The necessaries for a rhahaan are, a sabeit (pitcher),
a proper yellow garment, a large fan, serving for an
umbrella, a mat and pillow for a bed, a bucket to
draw water, a bottle to keep it in, and a drinking
cup. The rhahaans are allowed to eat every thing
they receive as a present, provided it be ready dressed,
for they never kindle a fire, for fear of destroying
some insect. On professing, the phonghi, or novice,
is told, that his first duty consists "in eating that
food only which is procured by the labour and motion
of the muscles of the feet." What is meant is this :
" Every morning, as soon as they can distinguish the
veins on their hands, the rhahaans issue from their
BIRMAH. 113
convents, and spread themselves all over the neigh-
bouring streets and villages : as they pass along, they
stop at the different doors, but without saying a word.
If the people of the house are disposed to be charitable,
or have not already given away all that has been
prepared for the purpose, a person, generally the
mistress of the house, comes out, puts the ready-
dressed provisions into the sabeit, and the rhahaan
goes on in silence, without returning thanks. Nor
does he ever solicit for any thing, should it not be
convenient or agreeable for the family to bestow alms,
but, after standing for a few minutes, proceeds on his
rounds. So nice are they in this particular, that it
is deemed sinful for a rhahaan on such occasions to
cough, or make any signal, by which he might be
supposed to put the laity in mind of their duty. As
they literally take no care for the morrow, the super-
fluity they daily give away to animals, to the poor,
and to needy strangers and travellers. In order that
they may be able to supply these demands, as well as
to comply with the letter of this law, even when they
are in no want of provisions, the rhahaans make their
daily rounds. From this regulation It results, that
where there are not a sufficiency of inhabitants to
support a convent, there are no rhahaans; and thus
the finest kioums in old Ava are deserted, and their
gilded halls have become the habitations of outlaws
and unclean animals."
Among the instructions delivered to the rhahaan on
his ordination are the following : " Whoever is ad-
mitted into the priesthood, can by no means be per-
mitted to extol himself as a saint, or as a person en-
dowed with any preternatural gifts ; such as the gifts
called meipo or zian; nor is it lawful for him to
declare himself a hermit, or a person that loves soli-
114 BIRMAH.
tude. The priest who, prompted by ambition, falsely
and impudently pretends to have obtained the extraor-
dinary gifts of zian or of meipo, or to have arrived
at nieban, is no longer a priest of the divine order.
To what can he be compared ? In the same manner
as a palm-tree cut through the middle can never be
rejoined so as to live ; in such manner shall this am-
bitious priest be unworthy of being esteemed as
belonging to the sacred order." *
The priests have no regular service like the mass.
" As far as I could learn," Dr. Buchanan says,
" they do not officiate at all in the temples. Very
few of them were present at any religious ceremonies
or processions; nor do any of them appear to take
charge of the temples or images. Their time seems
to be employed in instructing the youth, in reading,
and soliciting alms."f This statement is hardly
consistent with the account which represents them as
passing a great part of their time reposing in seques-
tered and umbrageous spots, as if absorbed in contem-
plation. The Birmans are very fond of processions:
scarcely a week passes, Colonel Symes says, in
which there is not a religious spectacle of some kind
at Rangoon ; either a pompous funeral, or rather
incineration, or some festival or ceremony. They
observe a species of Lent, which is followed by a
month of public festivity. In their prayers, they use
rosaries; these are made sometimes of amber beads,
sometimes of seeds, especially those of the Canna
Indica, a plant peculiarly sacred to Buddha, and sup-
posed to have sprung from his blood, when, once upon
a time, he cut his foot with a stone. They are in pos-
* Asiat. Res. vol. vi. p. 289. Ziau and meipo are different de-
grees of abstraction or absorption,
t Asiat. Res. vol. vi. p. 279.
BIRMAH. 115
session of one very singular privilege. It is a law,
that no criminal can be executed within the walls of a
city, nor can he be put to death should a rhahaan touch
him when being led to execution. " This privilege,"
Dr. Buchanan says, " they often exert ; and although
they are, no doubt, sometimes bribed thus to save a
bad man, yet, I believe, they much oftener interfere
to prevent injustice'"* Col. Symes was told, that
there were formerly nunneries of virgin priestesses,
who, like the rhahaans, wore yellow garments, cut off
their hair, and devoted themselves to religious duties ;
but these societies were suppressed many years ago, as
being unfavourable to the increase of the population.
" At present," adds this gentleman, " there are a few
old women, who shave their heads, wear a white dress,
follow funerals, and carry water to the convents ; and
these venerable dames have some portion of respect
shewn to them." Whether these Buddhic vestals
have the same privileges as the rhahaans, we are not
told; but the classic reader will probably be not a
little startled at finding these traces of customs so
nearly allied to the institutions of Greece and Rome,
among the semi-barbarous tribes of eastern Asia. We
should err, however, were we to consider all the rites
and usages which are now incorporated with the
Birman religion, as original or essential and charac-
teristic parts of Buddhism. Like every other form of
superstition, it has undergone the modifications intro-
duced by time, and has taken its complexion from
national character, blending itself, in different coun-
tries, more or less, with creeds and customs ancient
and modern, Christian and heathen, Indian, Ta-
tiirian, and Chinese. What its peculiar doctrines may
Asiat. Res. vol. vi. pp. 276, 297.
116 BIRMAH.
be, is an inquiry more curious than important, except
as it relates to the obstacles they may create in the
way of the communication and spread of a purer faith.
In this point of view, its negative character, as con-
trasted with the Brahminical superstition, is the most
pleasing feature of the system. But whatever be its
dogmas, the system, as Mr. Judson remarks, " has
no power over the heart, lays no restraint upon the
passions. Though it forbids theft and falsehood, and
inculcates benevolence, forgiveness of injuries, and
love of enemies, it is destitute of power to repress the
one, or to produce the other." In short, it has the
beauty and symmetry of an image, but there is no
life in it.
We have, perhaps, too long detained the reader
with a disquisition not strictly within the province oi
the Traveller, but which we have thought adapted to
throw some light on the present condition of the Indo-
Chinese countries. In proceeding to avail ourselves
of the very scanty materials which exist for illustrat-
ing the topography of this country, our chief guide
will be Colonel Symes, who visited Ava as envoy from
the governor-general of India in the year 1795,* to-
gether with the Journal of Captain Hiram Cox, who
was selected as the company's first resident at Ran-
goon, and who visited Amerapoora in 1797 ; besides
which, the works of older travellers, the journals of
the American missionaries, and the tracts and com-
munications scattered through different periodical
works, are the only accessible sources of informa-
tion.
* Dr. Buchanan, whose contributions to the Asiatic Researches
have been so repeatedly referred to, accompanied the embassy as
surgeon.
BIRMAH. 117
RANGOON.
THE river of Rangoon is to the Irrawaddy, what
the Hoogly is to the Ganges : it forms the grand en-
trance to the Birman empire. The general appear-
ance of the river and its banks resembles that of the
Calcutta river; the navigation, however, is much
more commodious. The land on each side is low and
swampy, and the banks are skirted with high weeds
and brushwood; but the channel is bold and deep.
Before a vessel is quite land-locked, Dagon pagoda,
with its gilt spire and tee, is seen towering above the
trees; and, a little beyond, Syriam pagoda, which is
of similar shape, but less lofty. Syriam, where the
first British factory was established, lies up a branch
of the river that comes from the N. N. E. ; it stands in
lat. 16 49' N., long. 96 17' E. The Rangoon branch,
called also the Panlang, comes from the N.W. The
town is situated on a tongue of land about a mile and
a half above its confluence with the Syriam river, in
lat. 16 47' N., long. 96 9' E * The river, thus far,
is perfectly commodious for shipping ; it is about 600
yards wide at Rangoon; the water in general deep
from shore to shore, the bottom good, and the current
moderate. The spring tides rise twenty feet. The
banks are soft, and so flat, that there is need of little
labour for the formation of docks, although they can
receive ships of 8 and 900 tons.
The town, as seen from the river, has a rude ap-
pearance, being composed of straggling huts of cadjan
(palm-leaf) and bamboo, raised on piles close to the
* Where not otherwise mentioned, the longitude and latitude
are given on the authorities of Symes, Buchanan, and Hamilton's
East India Gazetteer.
H 2
118 BIRMAH.
water's edge, slips for building ships, and mud docks.
Some few tiled houses are seen among the trees within
the stockade, and the roof of the custom-house is raised
two stories in the Chinese style. Part of the timber
stockade, which encloses what is called the fort, is
seen towards the river; and near the flag-staff is a
very good wooden pier, with a crane and steps for
landing goods. Here, also, is placed the saluting bat-
tery of sixteen old iron guns, four or six pounders,
which are run out through port-holes, in a wooden
breast-work like a ship's side. Many small pagodas,
some of them with gilt spires, are seen amid the trees
on both sides of the river. The buildings along shore
on the town side, extend about one mife and a half,
and on the opposite one, about a quarter of a mile.
The city forms a square, surrounded with a high
stockade ; and on the north side it is further strength-
ened by a fosse, across which is thrown a wooden
bridge : on this side, there are two gates j in each of
the others, only one. Wooden stages are erected in
several places within the stockade, for musketeers to
stand on in case of attack. The number of cannon,
and the. quantity of spoil of every description captured
here in 1825, prove the efforts made to strengthen
the place, and to maintain its possession against an
enemy, to have exceeded greatly the estimate made of
its state by Col. Symes. Close to the principal wharf
are (or were, for we are describing Rangoon as it was,)
two commodious wooden houses, used by the mer-
chants as an exchange. The streets are narrow, much
inferior, Col. Symes says, to those of Pegu, but clean
and well paved. There are numerous channels to
carry off the rain, over which strong planks are laid
to prevent any interruption of intercourse. The
houses are raised on posts ; the smaller are supported
BIRMAH. 119
by bamboos, the larger ones by strong timbers. The
officers of government, the most opulent merchants,
and all persons of consideration, live within the fort :
shipwrights, and people of inferior rank, inhabit the
suburbs, where one entire street, called Tackally, is
exclusively assigned to women of a class who too gene-
rally abound in all sea-ports, and who are not permit-
ted to dwell within the precincts of the fortification.
The minute and interesting Journal of Mr. Judson,
the American missionary, who resided nearly twelve
years at Rangoon, describes the society there to be
in a very insecure and disorganised state, robberies
occurring nightly, and murders being very frequent.
This state of things renders the outskirts of the town
a very unsafe residence for any persons who might be
deemed opulent ; but these marauders do not wantonly
molest the lower classes. Rangoon, in fact, partakes
of the vicious character of most sea-ports, which,
attracting all descriptions of persons for the purposes
of trade, are generally found to exhibit a state of
manners and public character far below the average
standard of morals in the interior.
The population of Rangoon is considerable. In,
1796, there were 5,000 taxable houses in the city and
suburbs. Since then, it has enjoyed a flourishing trade,
and efforts had evidently been made to increase the
strength of the place. Before the war, it may be
presumed to have contained at least 30,000 inhabit-
ants. In January 1810, the town was almost totally
consumed by fire ; and again, in March 1823, a most
destructive conflagration was witnessed by the mission-
aries resident there. " We beheld," says Mr. Judson,
" several houses in flames, in a range which led
directly to the city; and, as we saw no exertion to
extinguish it, we concluded the whole place would be
120 BIRMAH.
destroyed. We set off immediately for our house in
town, that we might remove our furniture and things
that were there ; but when we came to the town gate,
it was shut. The poor people, in their fright, had
shut the gate, ignorantly imagining that they could
shut the fire out, though the walls and gates were
made entirely of wood. After waiting, however, for
some time, the gate was opened, and we removed in
safety all our things into the mission-house, some
distance in the suburbs. The fire continued to rage
all day, and swept away almost all the houses, with
the walls, gates, &c." In a country of forests, how-
ever, a wooden town is soon rebuilt. The fire, oc-
curring in open day, did not occasion any loss of lives ;
and the structures, light and slender as they are, were
soon restored. Such is the character of all conflagra-
tions in the cities of the East, that the same detail
equally suits Delhi, Constantinople, Pekin, or Ran-
goon. Fatalists by creed, indolent by habit, careless
and improvident from the influence of a grinding
despotism, the inhabitants view the devastation of
public property with a callous and supine indifference.
Having long been the asylum of insolvent debtors
from the different settlements of India, Rangoon is
crowded, Col. Symes observes, with foreigners of des-
perate fortune. " Here are to be found fugitives from
all countries of the East, and of all complexions. Their
common place of meeting exhibits a motley assemblage
of merchants, such as few towns of much greater mag-
nitude can boast of : Malabars, Moguls, Persians,
Parsees, Armenians, Portuguese, French, and English,
all mingle here, and are engaged in various branches
of commerce. They not only receive the protection
of the government, but enjoy the most liberal tolera-
tion in matters of religion ; they celebrate their several
BIRMAH. 121
rites and festivals, totally disregarded by the Birmans,
who have no inclination to make proselytes. The
Birmans never trouble themselves about the religious
opinion of any sect, nor disturb their ritual cere-
monies, provided they do not break the peace, or
intermeddle with their own divinity Guadma."
Nature has bestowed on Rangoon every facility and
advantage calculated to render it a flourishing and
highly important commercial place ; and from its
position, in skilful hands, it would soon attract the
richest commerce of these highly-gifted regions, and
become an entrep6t for India.
The imports from the British settlements consist
chiefly of coarse piece goods, glass, hardware, and
broad cloth; the returns are almost wholly in the
teak timber, A considerable traffic also is carried on
by boats, which are fitted out annually as well from
Rangoon, as from various ports on the great river
Irrawaddy, and which proceed by way of the Bassien
river, through the channels which divide Cape Negrais
from the Continent, to Luckipore and the Dacca pro-
vinces, and through the whole course of the Brahma-
pootra. These boats carry in general from 1000 to 1,500
mounds (of 80 Ibs. each), with a crew of from twenty
to twenty-five men. Each boat is supposed to contain,
on an average, the value of 4000 rupees, the greater
part in bullion : the remainder consists of sheathing
boards, sticks of copper from China, stick lac, cutch,
ivory, and wax. The indirect trade of China through
Arracan, as well as from Rangoon, has of late years
experienced an increase. In fact, from its geographical
position, the commerce of Rangoon must become very
productive and important.
The facilities of the harbour being so great, and the
teak forests of Henzawuddy almost inexhaustible,
122 BIBMAH.
ship-building forms an important and principal part
of the occupation of the natives. Vessels of 900 and
1000 tons burthen are built here at a considerably less
cost than at any other part of India. In 1800, the
cost of ship-building at Rangoon was 13/. per ton,
coppered aud equipped in the European style : the
French models are those used. It is asserted, that
ships can be built here for one third less than they
cost at Calcutta, and for nearly half what they cost at
Bombay.
Speaking of their method of ship-building, Col.
Symes observes: "While we admire the structure
and materials of their ships, we could not overlook the
mode in which the work was executed, and the obvious
merit of the artificers. In Bengal, a native carpenter,
though his business is commonly well done, yet, in his
manner of performing it, excites the surprise and ridi-
cule of Europeans. He cuts his wood with a diminu-
tive adze, in a feeble and slow manner ; and when he
wants to turn a piece of timber, has recourse to a
labourer that attends him. Numbers there compensate
for the want of individual energy: notwithstanding
this, they finish what they undertake in a masterly
manner. The Birman shipwrights are athletic men,
and possess in an eminent degree that vigour which
distinguishes Europeans, and gives them pre-eminence
over the enervated inhabitants of the East ; nor, I
imagine, are the inhabitants of any country capable
of greater exertions than the Birmans."
The. convents in the neighbourhood of Rangoon are
numerous. Colonel Symes was told, that they exceeded
1,300. From the high importance of the Shoe-dagun
Pagoda, it follows that the zarado, or head of the
rhahaans at Rangoon, receives the highest venera-
tion. He lives in a very handsome monastery half a
BIRMAH. 123
mile from the town, on the way to the temple. No-
thing can more strikingly exemplify the tolerant cha-
racter of Buddism, than that its chief priest, who
would not have gone out of his way, or stopped, had a
monarch accosted him, on being joined by Col. Symes,
entered freely into conversation with him, and not
only suffered him to bear him company in his walk
homeward, but invited him to enter and rest himself.
The apartment consisted of a large, lofty hall, with
mats spread on the floor, in the centre of which they
seated themselves; several young rhahaans who had
attended him in his walk, ranging themselves at a
little distance. The conversation, as led by the
zarado, referred solely to his rank as head of the
church at Rangoon, and to the sacerdotal titles con-
ferred on him by the Birman sovereigns. He is de-
scribed as a diminutive old man, seventy-five years of
age, but he still walked with a firm step. He wore
the usual yellow dress of the rhahaans, and both his
head and feet were bare. He maintained a perfectly
abstracted appearance, rivetting his eyes on the ground
before him, even when engaged in conversation; but
he would seem not to have been wholly dead to the
vanities of this world, whatever self-denial he might
practice as to its gratifications.
About two miles and a half N.N.W. of Rangoon
stands the stately pagoda of Shoe-dagun, or the Golden
Dagun. This grand building, although not so high
by twenty-five or thirty feet as that of the Shoe-madoo
at Pegu, is much more highly ornamented. The ter-
race on which it stands, is raised on a rocky eminence,
considerably higher than the circumjacent country,
and is reached by above 100 stone steps, that have been
suffered to fall into decay. The situation renders
Shoe-dagun a conspicuous object at a distance of many
124 BIRMAH.
miles. The tee, or umbrella of open iron-work, and
the whole of the spire, are richly gilded, and, when
the sun shines, exhibit a singularly splendid appear-
ance. The placing of the tee is an act of high import-
ance and solemnity; it is, in effect, the sanctification of
the temple, signifying that then, and not until then,
the divinity takes possession of it. The borders of the
terrace on which the temple is raised, are planted with
trees in regular rows. From this eminence, there is
a beautiful and extensive prospect; the Pegu and
Rangoon rivers are seen winding through a level,
woody country, and the temple of Syriam, little in-
ferior to that of Dagun, stands near the junction of
the streams. The road leading from the city to the
temple is formed with care. A wide causeway in
the centre prevents the rain from lodging, and throws
it off to the sides. The road is made of bricks, and
appears to be constructed in a way peculiar to this
country. The bricks are about one inch and three-
quarters thick, and are placed on the edges by sixes laid
transversely. Judging from the length of time which
has elapsed since the road was laid down, this method
has all the recommendation of durability, it being very
little cut up by the clumsy carriages drawn by bullocks
passing over it. Numberless little spires are ranged
along the edge of the road, in which are niches to
receive small images of their divinity Guaduia or
Dag-un. Several kioums or monasteries lie in this
direction, generally removed a small distance from
the public way, under the shade of pipal or tamarind
trees.
The golden temple containing the idol, may chal-
lenge competition in point of beauty with any other of
its class in India. The building is composed entirely
of teak wood, and indefatigable pains are displayed in
BIRMAH. 125
the profusion of rich carved work which adorns it.
The whole is one mass of the richest gilding, with the
exception of the three roofs, which have a silvery ap-
pearance. A plank of a deep red colour separates the
gold and silver, which has a happy effect in re-
lieving them. The ornaments represent the head
of the peacock. All round the principal pagoda are
smaller temples richly gilded, and furnished with
images of Guadma, whose unmeaning smile meets you
in every direction, the sight of which, accompanied
by the constant tinkling of the innumerable bells hung
on the top or tee of each pagoda,* combines with the
stillness and deserted appearance of the place, to pro-
duce an impression on the mind not speedily to be
effaced.
The deity now worshipped in tbe temple of Shoe-
dagun, is unquestionably Buddha ; but how comes he
to have usurped here the name and honours of the
monstrous deity who
" had his temple high
Reared in Azotus, dreaded through the coast
Of Palestine, in Gath, and Ascalon,
And Accaron, and Gaza's frontier bounds ?"
The word Dag-un or Dagoung is composed of the
word dag, fish, and the mysterious and sacred mono-
syllable om, on, aum, or own, a title bestowed upon the
sun, but which appears, under its various forms, to imply
divine existence, t Dagon, therefore, is the Fish-God,
* Each bell has a fan suspended to its tongue, to catch the pass-
ing breeze.
t Dagon, according to Sanchoniathon, was Osiris in the shape
of a fish, Deus Cetus. Said-on is the same deity, both dag and said
signifying fish, whence the names of Sidon and Beth-saida ; so,
Beth-dagon, Josh. xv. 41, and xix. 27 ; places so named, in all pro-
bability, from the idol worshipped there. Derketos or Atargatis
(from Krros) is the same deity. Under this allegorical represen-
126 BIRMAH.
the amphibious deity who was the chief object of Phe-
nician idolatry. Under this form, Vishnou himself is
represented in the matsyu avatar, as a man issuing
from a fish. According to the testimony of Mr.
Hamelton, the idol originally enshrined here was not
of a human form ; but he was not allowed to see it.
There can, however, be little doubt that the place has
taken its name from the deity to whom it was conse-
crated, and who was worshipped here, ages before the
era of Buddha, either by the Tallien nation or by a
foreign colony ; and that the Indian Gaudama has in-
herited the honours of the Syrian Dagon, just as the
Virgin has succeeded in western countries to the
shrines and altars of the Mater Dea, and the temple
of Vesta has become the church of the Madonna of the
Sun. Here, the mariner who has been delivered from
peril, now presents as his votive offering, a model of a
ship or boat to Buddha, as his ancestors once did to
their amphibious patron, and as in many countries is
practised by the worshippers of the Virgin as Our
Lady of Deliverance. In like manner, the temple of
Shoe-madoo (Maha Deo) at Syriam was once, no
doubt, sacred to the Hindoo Apollo, Sooryii or Syrius;
and Sitong may perhaps be nothing else than Saidon
(or 2iTo>i'), the Phenician Dagon under another name.*
Mr. Judson, the American missionary, was present,
in 1817, at the grand annual festival held at Rangoon
in honour of Gaudama. It lasts for three days. " It
tation, it is plausibly supposed that Noah is referred to. See
BRTAXT'S Mythology, vol. iii. p. 134; iv. 140; v. 236. CALMET'S
Dictionary, by TAT LOR, art. Dagon; and Fragments, cxlv. ccxii.
ccxiv.
* If the Philistines or Palestines were, as has been contended, a
branch of the Palli or Indo-Scythians, it would cease to be remark-
able, that the same object of worship should be introduced by a
maritime people into their different colonies.
BIBMAH. 127
is observed," he says, " all over the country; but I
presume the multitude collected in this place is much
greater than at any other, excepting Ava. Priests
and people come in boats from a great distance, to
worship at the pagoda in this place, which is supposed
to contain a relic of Guadama. The viceroy, on these
days, goes out in all the pomp and splendour possible,
dressed and ornamented with all his insignia of office,
attended by the members of government, and the
common people. After kneeling and worshipping at
the pagoda, they generally spend the day in amuse-
ments, such as boxing, dancing, singing, theatrical
exhibitions, and fire-works. Most of the older people
spend the night at the pagoda, and listen to the in-
structions of the priests.
" Great and expensive offerings are made at this
season. One, last year, presented by a member of
government, cost 3,000 tecals, or 1,200 dollars. It was
a kind of portable pagoda, made of bamboo and paper,
richly ornamented with gold leaf and paintings. It
was a hundred feet in height, and the circumference of
its base about fifty. Half way up its height was a
man ludicrously dressed, with a mask on his face,
white wings on his shoulders, and artificial finger-
nails, two inches in length, in the posture of dancing.
This offering was carried by sixty men, preceded by a
band of music, and followed by the officer who made
it, and his suite. Other offerings presented at this
festival are, various kinds of artificial trees, the
branches and twigs of which are filled with cups,
bowls, handkerchiefs, and garments of all descriptions :
these are given to the slaves attached to the pagoda,
who, the week following, have something like a fair to
dispose of their offerings.
" The pagoda to which such multitutes resort, is
128 BIRMAH.
one of the largest and most splendid in the empire.
To give an accurate description of this noble edifice,
requires an abler pen than mine ; and perhaps a better
one of its construction and dimensions cannot be
given, than that which has already been presented to
the public by Col. Symes, of a similar pagoda at Pegu.
The beauty and variety of its appendages, however,
are far superior. After having ascended the flight of
steps, a large gate opens, when a wild, fairy scene is
abruptly presented to view. The ground is completely
covered with a variety of ludicrous objects, which
meet the eye in every direction, interspersed with the
banyan, cocoa-nut, and toddy trees. Here and there
are large open buildings, containing huge images of
Guadama, some in a sitting, some in a sleeping position,
surrounded by images of priests and attendants, in the
act of worship, or listening to his instructions. Before
the image of Guadama are erected small altars, on
which offerings of fruit, flowers, &c. are laid. Large
images of elephants, lions, angels, and demons, toge-
ther with a number of indescribable objects, assist in
filling the picturesque scene."
It was in the year 1813, that this estimable mis-
sionary and his wife, bidding farewell to the com-
forts of civilised life and the privileges of Christian
society, took up their residence at Rangoon, with the
resolution of devoting themselves to the study of the
language, for the purpose of being qualified to translate
the Holy Scriptures and other religious works into
Birman. There were at the time no English families
in the town, nor a female in all Birmah with whom
Mrs. Judson could converse. The difficulties to be
overcome were appalling, and their situation was alike
cheerless and defenceless, surrounded by despotism,
avarice, and cruelty, and the palpable darkness of
BIRMAH. 129
heathenism. Several missionaries had previously made
attempts to reside there, but had been discouraged,
and had abandoned the enterprise. Too warm praise
cannot be bestowed on the signal patience, constancy,
and cheerfulness with which, year after year, they con-
tinued to prosecute their silent labours, conciliating by
their manners the esteem of the natives, but without
attempting any direct attack on their prejudices. That
they should have remained so long in this unprotected
situation, without suffering either depredation or in-
sult, must be admitted, however, to be greatly to the
credit of the people, and a proof of their mild and tole-
rant character.
A few detached extracts from Mrs. Judson's Journal
will supply some interesting illustrations of the man-
ners and customs of the inhabitants of Rangoon.
1813. " Our home is in the mission-house built by
the English Baptist Society, on the first arrival of
Messrs. Chater and Carey* in this country. It is
large and convenient, situated in a rural place, about
half a mile from the walls of the town.f We have
gardens enclosed, containing about two acres of ground,
full of fruit trees of various kinds. In the dry season,
our situation is very agreeable. We often enjoy a
pleasant walk within our own enclosure, or in some of
the adjoining villages.
"As it respects our food, we are much better cir-
cumstanced than we expected. We have no bread,
* The son of the venerable Dr. Carey, of Serampore. Mr.
Carey married a Birman lady of European extraction, who, to-
gether with their two children, was drowned in ascending the
Irrawaddy, through the upsetting of the boat. Mr. Carey nar-
rowly escaped.
t They subsequently found it advisable to remove to a house
in the town.
130 BIRMAH.
butter, cheese, potatoes, or scarcely any thing to which
we have been accustomed. Our principal food is rice
and curried fowl, and fowls stewed with cucumbers.
The country presents a rich and beautiful appearance,
every where covered with vegetation, and, if cultivated,
would be one of the finest in the world. But the poor
natives have little inducement to labour, or to accu-
mulate property, as it would probably be taken from
them by their oppressive rulers. Many of them live
on leaves and vegetables which grow spontaneously,
and some actually die of hunger. At the present time
there is quite a famine. Every article of provision is
extremely high; many, therefore, are induced to steal
whatever comes in their way. There are robberies and
murders committed frequently. Scarcely a night passes
but houses are broken open, and things stolen; but
our trust and confidence are in our Heavenly Father,
who can easily preserve and protect us."
1814. "Dec. 11. To-day, for the first time, I have
visited the wife of the viceroy. I was introduced to
her by a French lady, who has frequently visited
her. When we first arrived at the government-house,
she was not up; consequently we had to wait some
time. But the inferior wives of the viceroy diverted
us much by their curiosity in minutely examining
every thing we had on, and by trying on our gloves,
bonnets, &c. At last, her highness made her appear-
ance, richly dressed in the Birman fashion, with a long
silver pipe in her mouth, smoking. At her appear-
ance, all the other wives took their seats at a respectful
distance, and sat in a crouching posture without speak-
ing. She received me very politely, took me by the
hand, seated me upon a mat, and herself by me. She
excused herself for not coining in sooner, on the ground
of indisposition. One of her women brought her a
BIRMAH. 131
bunch of flowers, of which she took several, and orna-
mented my cap. She was very inquisitive whether I
had a husband and children, whether I was my hus-
band's first or principal wife, supposing that Mr. Jud-
son had several wives. When the viceroy came in, I
really trembled, for I had never before beheld such a
savage-looking creature. His long robe arid enormous
spear not a little increased my dread. He spoke to
me, however, very condescendingly, and asked if I
would take some rum or wine. When I arose to go,
her highness again took my hand, told me she was
happy to see me, and that I must come to see her
every day. She led me to the door; I made my
salaam, and departed."
1815. Sept. " A. new viceroy has lately arrived,
who is much respected and beloved by the people. He
visited us soon after his arrival, and told us that we
must come to the government-house very often. After
he had moved into his new house, he gave an invita-
tion to all the English and Frenchmen to dinner. The
viceroy and his wife did every thing in their power to
amuse the company. Among other things were music
and dancing. The wife of the viceroy asked me if I
knew how to dance in the English way ? I told her,
that it was not proper for the wives of priests to dance.
She immediately assented, deeming that a sufficient
reason for my declining."
In the spring of 1816, Mr. and Mrs. Judson -were
bereaved of the solace of their hearts, in their first-
born and only son. "A few days after the death
of our little boy," says Mrs. Judson, "the viceroy's
wife visited us with a numerous retinue. She really
appeared to sympathise with us in our affliction, and
requested Mr. Judson not to let it too much affect his
132 BIRMAH.
health, which was already very feeble. Some time
after her visit, she invited us to go out into the country
with her for the benefit of our health, and that our
minds, as she expressed it, might become cool. We
consented, and she sent an elephant with a howdah
upon it, for our conveyance. We went three or four
miles through the woods. Sometimes, the small trees
were so close together, that our way was impassable
but by the elephant's breaking them down, which he
did with the greatest ease, at the word of the driver.
The scene was truly interesting. Picture thirty men
armed with spears and guns, and with red caps on
their heads, which partly covered their shoulders ;
then, a huge elephant, caparisoned with a gilt howdah,
containing a tall, genteel female, richly dressed in red
and white silk. We had the honour of riding next
to the viceroy's lady ; after us, on three or four ele-
phants, came her son and some of the members of
government. Two or three hundred followers, male
and female, concluded the procession. Our ride ter-
minated in the centre of a beautiful garden of the
viceroy's. I say beautiful, because it was entirely the
work of nature : art had no hand in it. It was full
of a variety of fruit trees, growing wild and luxuriant :
the noble banyan formed a delightful shade, under
which our mats were spread, and we seated ourselves
to enjoy the scenery around us. Nothing could ex-
ceed the endeavours of the vice-reine to render our
excursion agreeable. She gathered fruit and pared
it, culled flowers and knotted them, and presented
them with her own hands. At dinner, she had her
cloth spread by ours, nor did she refuse to partake of
whatever we presented her. We returned in the
evening, fatigued with riding on the elephant, de-
BIRMAH. 133
lighted with the country and the hospitality of the Bir-
mans, anJ dejected at their ignorance of the true God."
Speaking again of this interesting person, the wife
of the viceroy, Mrs. Judson says : " I had an oppor-
tunity of trying the sincerity of her friendship at the
time we procured our order for going to Bengal.* I
went to her with* a petition, and, contrary to Birman
custom, appeared without a present. She was in an
inner room, with the viceroy, when I presented the
petition, and after hearing it read, she said it should
be granted. She called her secretary, and directed
him to write an official order, have it regularly passed
through all the offices, and impressed with the royal
stamp. I was determined not to leave her until I
received the order, as it would be very difficult to ob-
tain it unless delivered in her presence." As Mrs.
Judson had foreseen, the official persons wished to
evade its being executed, and urged her to return
home, promising that it should be brought her. The
viceroy's wife asked her if that would answer her pur-
pose. " Being perfectly acquainted with the object of
the man," says Mrs. J., " I replied, that I had had
much anxiety on account of this order, and if it was
her pleasure, I preferred waiting for it. She said it
should be as I wished, and ordered the man to expe-
dite the business." Mrs. Judson was permitted to re-
main in her apartment until towards the evening, when
the order was brought in and delivered.
An order had arrived from court, some time after
this, for the banishment from the country of all the
Portuguese priests. There were but three then resi-
dent at Rangoon; but to ascertain exactly this point,
* The state of Mr. Judson's health had rendered a change of
climate necessary; but, \rithout an order from the viceroy, no
female can leave the country.
PART I. I
134 BIBMAH.
the viceroy had directed that all foreign priests should
appear at the court-house ; and this edict had afforded
the inferior officers the means of summoning and
harassing the members of the mission, who were led
to expect their own banishment. At length, a sum-
mons, on a Sunday morning, incited Mrs. Judson to
attend with the Rev. Mr. Hough, who had joined the
American missionaries^ and to present a petition
stating the grievance. As soon as she caught the
viceroy's eye, he, in a very condescending manner,
called her to come in and make known her request.
On hearing the petition, the viceroy reproved the
offender in the most austere manner; at the same
time giving a written order that Mr. Hough should
not be called on " his sacred day," and that he should
be molested no more.
1819. April. " This evening I went, for the
second time, to hear a popular Birman preacher. On
our arrival, we found a zayat* in the precincts of
one of the most celebrated pagodas, lighted up, and
the floor spread with mats. In the centre was a frame
raised about eighteen inches from the ground, where
the preacher, on his arrival, seated himself. He
appeared to be about forty-five years of age, of very
* The zayat is raised four feet from the ground, and divided
into three parts. The first division is laid entirely open to the
road, without doors, windows, or a partition in the front side; it
takes up a third part of the building. Their size is of course re-
gulated by the probability of the resort of hearers. They are
made of bamboo and thatch. The building erected on the road
to the Dag-un pagoda by Mr. Judson, to attract the passers-by,
(an experiment highly hazardous,) was twenty-seven feet by
eighteen. It must be considered as a very decisive proof of the
mild administration of the Birman government, that this bold
step was persevered in by Mr. Judson for some time, and he had
made very considerable progress without any personal injury or
danger.
EIRMAH. 135
pleasing countenance and harmonious speech. He
was once a priest, but is now a layman. The people,
as they came in, seated themselves on the mats ; the
men on one side of the house, and the women on the
other. The congregation was small, not exceeding a
hundred persons. The people being convened, one
appointed for the purpose called three times for silence
and attention. Each person then took the leaves and
flowers which had been previously distributed, and
placing them between his fingers, (as rosaries,) raised
them to his head, and in that respectful posture
remained motionless until the service was closed.
When all things were properly adjusted, the preacher
closed his eyes, and commenced repeating a portion
from the Birman sacred writings. His subject was
the conversion of the two prime disciples of Guadama,
and their subsequent promotion and glory. His
oratory I found to be entirely different from all that
we call oratory. At first, he seemed dull and mono-
tonous ; but presently his soft mellifluous tones won
their way into the heart, and lulled the soul into that
state of calmness and serenity, which, to a Birman
mind, somewhat resembles the boasted perfection of
their saints of old. His discourse continued about
half an hour ; and at the close, the whole assembly
burst out into a short prayer, after which, all rose
and retired. This man exhibits twice every evening
in different places."
As far as regards acuteness, the Birman teachers
would seem to be no mean proficients in the art of rea-
soning, and fit to rank as scholars even of the Athenian
sophists. Moi- ng-hong, " a disciple of the great Toung-
dwen teacher, the acknowledged head of the semi-
atheists," is described as a complete sceptic, scarcely
believing his own existence, and always quarrelling on
136 BIRMAH.
some speculative point with his wife, who is pronounced
by Mrs. Judson to be the most superior woman, in point
of intellect, that she met with in Birmah. " If she
says, the rice is ready, he will reply, Rice ! what is
rice? Is it matter, or spirit? Is it an idea, or
is it non-entity ? Perhaps she will say, It is matter.
He will reply, Well, wife, and what is matter ? Are
you sure there is such a thing in existence, or are you
merely subject to a delusion of the senses ? " Yet, in
manners, our philosopher was all suavity, humility,
and respect. His wife, " as sharp as himself,"
harassed Mrs. Judson with all sorts of questions
relative to the possibility of sin's finding entrance
into a pure mind, or of its being permitted under the
government of a holy sovereign. In their habits and
mode of thought and reasoning, the Birmans are in-
fluenced by a high conceit of their own powers, and a
fancied superiority, fenced by strong prejudices. This
was most apparent in the very interesting conversa-
tions held with Oo-yan, a man of talents and respect-
ability. On doctrinal points, he discovered a most
acute, discriminating mind; and his reasoning was
both insinuating and adroit. Candour, too, was strik-
ingly evinced by some of the disputants. And num-
bers, it appears, " indeed, all the semi-atheists," who
seem to be Buddhists par excellence, are despisers of
Guadama and the established religion of Birmah.
While the rhahaans, however, affect to make no pro-
selytes, both they and the government are strictly
jealous to detect, and relentless to punjsh any indivi-
dual Birmans who shall depart from the faith of
Guadama. They are slaves of the emperor, and it is
viewed as a mark of treason to dissent in this respect
from his will. Thus, when the keen reasoners and
disputants among their doctors could not gainsay the
BIRMAH. 137
zeal, talents, and Christian doctrine of Mr. Judson,
and applied to the liberal-minded Maywoori Mya-day-
mien to interfere and send him away, asserting that,
by means of Moung-shway-gnong, a convert, every
endeavour was making " to turn the priests' rice-pot
bottom upward," he calmly replied, " What conse-
quence? Let the priests turn it back again." But
when proofs were alleged that he had become a
Christian convert, the viceroy replied, " Then he is
worthy of death." The mere rumour that the words
" Inquire further" had proceeded from the lips of the
viceroy, sufficed to occasion the desertion of the zayat,
which was consequently shut up in 1819; and Mr.
Judson determined on the bold measure of proceeding
to the capital, to present a memorial to the young fno-
narch. An account of his interview with the lord of
all elephants will be given under our description of
the capital. It was unsuccessful ; yet, up to the close
of the Journal in December 1823, Mr. Judson was
still allowed to carry on divine worship in private in
the mission-house, and to give religious instruction to
all who called upon him, while he prosecuted, as his
main work, the translation of the New Testament.
We must now prepare to ascend the mighty Irra-
waddy; but, before we leave Rangoon, it will be
proper to make a few remarks on the general appear-
ance and nature of the surrounding country, and the
southern portion of the delta.
The country in the immediate vicinity of Rangoon,
far from being flat and swampy, is agreeably diver-
sified with gentle risings and slopes. From the site of
an old pagoda on an eminence, Captain Cox obtained
a commanding view of the country for many miles
round. " The Martaban mountains formed a boun-
dary to the N.E. To the south, and westward of the
i 2
138 BIRMAH.
river, the meanderings of which are seen for many
miles, is an extensive plain, cleared for paddy-grounds,
and bounded by deep forests. The soil of the valleys
is a fine loam, covered with rich luxuriant pastures ;
the cattle are as large and in as good a condition as
are to be seen in any part of India. The soil of the
knolls or little hills appeared to be a red loam mixed
with sand, on a basis of red rock, that seems to have
undergone the action of fire ; it is friable and broken
on the surface into gravel, and contains, apparently, a
large portion of iron. The roads at present are very
indifferent, but might very easily be rendered good
and fit for carriages. In the vicinity of the town ,are
several orchards and many pleasant situations for
building. The air is pure and elastic ; and its general
salubrity is evinced by the appearance of the inha-
bitants, who are a hale, robust race."* It has been
supposed that the inequalities in the soil are artificial.
Nothing, however, Captain Cox states, can be more
distant from the truth. Immediately to the north-
ward of the town, a gentle ridge commences, extend-
ing from the river two miles and a half, north and
south: at its highest point, it is two hundred feet
at least above the level of the river at neap tides. In
its breadth, it varies from fifty to four hundred yards,
shelving away to the westward, and sending off bluff
spires to the eastward, f On the apex or northern
* " The climate is good," says Mrs. Judson, " better than any
other part of the East."
t The soil of this ridge is, 1st. A thin stratum of vegetable
mould, mixed with silicious earth, which latter predominates ; this
first stratum is of various depths, from twelve feet to a few inches ;
2d. Red, ferruginous, porous rock, with its stratum vertical or per-
pendicular to the horizontal strata of the other classes ; 3d. De-
composed red ferruginous rock, mixed with silicious earth, with a
large proportion of iron ore, red, yellow, and blue ; 4th. Argilla-
BIRMAH. 139
edge of this ridge, stands the stupendous pagoda of
Shoe-dagun; and to the north of it, in a hollow
formed by the rains, is a pool of water, limpid but
acid to the taste.* Wherever the blue, ponderous
stone (which forms the sixth stratum) has been laid
bare by the monsoon torrents, and is exposed to the
rays of the sun, a native copperas is formed. The
rocks on the surface near the large pool have the
appearance of sandstone, in many places skinned over
with a thin crust of red, dephlogisticated iron ore ;
but when exposed to the air, they fall into a yellowish
white impalpable powder. On the surface of the mud
deposited in those pools which have been dried up by
evaporation, a yellow scum appears; and among the
rocks and hollows, the presence of sulphur is strongly
indicated.
" The general course of the river is to the S.E., but
with frequent and deep windings, where the reaches
on the river are about 250 yards broad, winding
sometimes less than 100 yards, but with depth suf-
ficient for ships. The banks are low, highest on the
north-eastern side, and appear well cultivated and
interspersed with straggling houses. The spontaneous
growth of the banks are cane reeds from six to ten feet
high, the tops of which are excellent provender for
cattle. The soil from the edge of the river, is an
unvaried stratum of rich, sandy loam "
ceous earth, white clay ; 5th. Blue, silicious earth, with a large
proportion of iron ore and vitriolic acid ; and Cth, immediately
below it, is a dark blue, ponderous, granular stone, emitting fire
on collision with steel, containing a large proportion of iron ore
and vitriolic acid.
* From the result of some experiments on the water, Cap-
tain Cox was led to conclude that it is a pure chalybeate, contain-
ing iron held in solution by either sulphuric or vitriolic acid, with
a very small proportion of magnesia and common salt.
140 BIRMAH.
Panlang (by Captain Cox written Pau-layn), the
first station above Rangoon, has once been a town of
considerable magnitude, and the number of boats
generally moored near ft, indicate that it is still a
place of some importance. Here, the Rangoon river,
which is frequently called the Panlang-mioup, sepa-
rates from the great stream in the same manner as
the Hoogley does from the Ganges. The principal
branch, which is about 700 yards in width at this
junction, pursuing a southerly course, divides, as it
approaches the sea, into a number of channels, which
are filled by the tide, and are for the most part navi-
gable. The eastern bank is in the viceroyalty of Pegu,
but the opposite country is included in the province of
Dalla. The great delta of the Irrawaddy, extending
from the western mountains of Cape Negrais to Sirian
or Syriam, is about 110 geographical miles in length,
and is divided into the governments of Negrais Bas-
sien (or Persaim), Dalla, Rangoon, and Syriam. The
district of Dalla extends westward to Mainda, the
residence of the governor of the district ; a town con-
sisting of one long street, at the east end of which is a
creek, which extends all the way to Bassien, and has
twelve feet of water at high tide. The city of Dalla,
from which the district takes its name, is said to be on
the western bank of an arm of the Irrawaddy, called
the Chinabucker, and was formerly a place of import-
ance. The jurisdiction is entirely distinct from that
of Rangoon, which is vested in the viceroy of Henza-
waddy : the Pegu maywoon cannot interfere with a
criminal on the Dalla side of the river.
Bassein (properly Persaim) is seated on the river to
which it gives name, called also the Negrais river, the
westernmost branch of the Irrawaddy, which falls into
the Indian Ocean at Cape Negrais. The harbour is
BIRMAH. 141,
commodious, and it is reported that vessels of any
size might securely anchor in its stream. The British
factory established here in 1757, was destroyed in the
wars between the Birmans and Taliens in the days of
Alompraw ; and as it has never been restored, Bassien,
though occupying so favourable a position, has not, of
late years, been visited by Europeans, Rangoon having
become the emporium of the empire. It stands in lat.
16 50' N., long. 93 E.
The island of Negrais lies off the mouth of the
Bassien or Negrais river. Its only importance is
derived from the harbour. There is not a single
spring of fresh water, nor any habitation on the
island. The coast is here a barren desert, covered
with an impenetrable jungle. Towards the north,
there is a hill crowned with an old pagoda, from
which the point of Cape Negrais is known under the
name of Pagoda Point. At its foot, a flat has been
cleared of jungle sufficiently to allow of the erection
of a few fishermens' huts. Negrais harbour is said
to be, without exception, the most secure in the Bay
of Bengal, as from hence a ship launches out at once
into the open sea, and may work to the southward
without any other impediment than the monsoon
opposes.
The whole delta of the Irrawaddy, including the
country southward and westward of Tonghoo, and
between Cape Negrais and the Bagoo-kioup, is now
called Henzawaddy. The tract lying between the
Syriam river and the Sittong river, formed the an-
cient kingdom of Sittong, which divides Henzawaddy
from Martaban. Exclusive of the delta, there is very
little low land in the Birman dominions. The teak-
tree does not grow here ; but even at a short distance
142 BIRMAH.
from Syriam, the country is dry and hilly. The soil
is remarkably fertile, and produces the finest rice.
VOYAGE UP THE IBRAWADDY.
THE voyage from Rangoon to the capital in the
dry season, may be accomplished in little more than
a month; it occupied, however, Colonel Symes and
Captain Cox fifty-one and fifty-two days. The stream
is always very rapid, but, at the season of its increase,
it would become too powerful to admit of any boats
proceeding upwards, were it not for the assistance of
the south-west monsoon, which sets in at the same
period, and enables them to stem the current. The
navigation, however, is troublesome and tedious,
owing to the frequent halts which it is necessary to
make, to afford rest to the boatmen. Mr. Judson
descended the river from Ava to Rangoon in twelve
days.*
The boats which navigate the Irrawaddy in large
fleets, and are constantly plying on its waters, are
* Colonel Symes left Rangoon on May 29, 1795, and reached
Amerapoora on the 20th of July ; the river was then regularly on
its increase. Captain Cox set out from Rangoon, December 5, 1 796,
at which season the stream was at the lowest, and reached the
capital on January 25th. Mr. Judson embarked December 21st,
1819, and reached the landing place of the capital January 25, being
only the thirty-sixth day. On his return, he left Amerapoora on
the 6th of February, and arrived at Rangoon on the 18th, being
just a third of the time required to ascend the river, and not a
fourth of the interval occupied by the voyage of Colonel Symes.
In like manner, in ascending the Magdalena, boats are sometimes
delayed, in the rainy season, from fifty to sixty days ; the average
time is about twenty-five days ; whereas in descending, the voyage
may be accomplished in seven days. Ten leagues is reckoned, in
going up the stream, " a good day's journey." See MOD. TRAV.,
Colombia, p. 300, &c.
BIRMAH. 143
constructed on a commodious plan, and are well
adapted to make their course against the powerful
stream. A boat sixty feet in length measures not
more than twelve feet across in the widest part. But
the consequence of their being thus long and narrow
is, that they not only require a great deal of ballast,
but would be in constant danger of oversetting, were
they not provided with outriggers, consisting of thin
boards, or buoyant bamboos, which compose a plat-
form extending horizontally six or seven feet on the
outside of the boat from stem to stern; so that the
vessel can incline no further than until the platform
touches the edge of the water, when she immediately
rights. Upon this platform the boatmen ply their oars,
or impel the vessel forward by poles.* Here the crew
sleep by night, and lire by day ; protecting themselves
from the weather by putting up mats, or spreading a
sail from the roof of the boat to the outside edge. A
sort of cabin is constructed by taking away one thwart
beam near the stern, laying a floor two feet below the
gunwale, and raising an arched roof about seven feet
above the floor; a commodious room is thus formed,
14 feet in length and 10 feet in width, together with a
small closet. At the stern is a stage, on which the
leedegee or steersman takes his stand. A vacant space
is left of about seven feet, where a kettle may be boiled
and dinner cooked. On each side of the cabin, a door
opens on the platform, and there are windows which
admit of a free circulation of air. The roof is made
of bamboos covered with mats, and over all is extended
a piece of canvass that effectually secures it from the
heaviest rain. The inside is neatly lined with matting.
* In the same manner the roof of the champans, or flat-bot-
tomed boats used on the Magdalena, serve as a deck for the boat-
men, on which they stand to push along the boat with their poles.
144 BIRMAH.
A vessel of this bulk will require a crew of twenty-six
boatmen, besides the leedegee, who acts as captain.
Boats of precisely similar construction, with the ex-
ception of the outriggers, are described by Herodotus,
and are still to be seen represented on the sculptured
walls of the Egyptian temples.
The Irrawaddy, or, as it might be rendered, Ele-
phantine river,* has been supposed to derive its name
from the vast herds of that majestic animal which
abound on its banks. As the word, however, is San-
scrit, this is not so likely, as that it has a mythological
reference, or that the sacred name of the Indian Iravati
has been transferred to the Birman river; agreeably to
the practice of all colonists, who love to bestow, on the
ground of some real or fancied analogy, the names of
their native scenes on new regions. Deep jungles
skirt the banks of the river in this part, and, as usual
in all uncleared tracts under this latitude, there is no
trifling drawback on the pleasures of the voyage, occa-
sioned by the swarms of mosquitoes. Captain Cox
describes them as the largest and most ravenous he
ever met with; and Col. Symes, as venomous beyond
what he ever felt. Two pairs of thick stockings were
We have already noticed the various orthography observed
by different travellers in giving the name of this river. That
which we have adopted in the text, is not the most correct, but
comes near the pronunciation, and has been most commonly fol-
lowed in our maps. Col. Francklin writes it Era Wuddey; Mrs
Judson, A-rah-wah-tee and Aiayawotte; others, Iravati and Ira-
bati ; from which it is easy to suppose that the word Ava has
been formed. In like manner, the Elephantine river of India,
the third of the Punjab, is called the Ravey, a corruption of
Iravati, which the Greeks turned into Hydroates or Hydravates.
The Nile also, which the Irrawaddy in many respects resembles,
had the same title of Elephantine where it entered Egypt from
the north, although the elephant is believed not to be indigenous
.in Africa. See note at p. 4.
BIRMAH. 145
insufficient to guard against their attacks. The ser-
vants, and even the boatmen, got no rest all night. A
kind of reed that grows on the banks, breeds and har-
bours them in the greatest abundance. Fortunately,
this pest does not extend many miles up the river: a
war-boat, quickly rowed, can soon escape from them,
but a heavy vessel must lie for one tide exposed to their
action. " They assailed us," says Col. Symes, " even
in the day-time, and in such numbers, that we were
obliged to fortify our legs with boots, and put on thick
gloves, while, by continual flapping with a handker-
chief, we endeavoured to defend our faces. But no
sooner had darkness commenced, than these trouble-
some insects redoubled their attacks in such multi-
tudes, of such a size, and so venomous, that, were a
European with a delicate skin to be exposed uncovered
to their ravages for one night, it would nearly prove
fatal. The Birman boatmen, whose skins are not
easily penetrated, cannot repose within their action,
and the Bengal servants actually cried out in tor-
ment."* Indigo is cultivated here in patches on the
* This is nothing to the insect plagues of the New World. Along
the whole course of the Magdalena, innumerable insect tormentors
wage war upon the lord of the creation. Mosquitoes near the sea,
and further up, enormous flies glut themselves with his blood.
See MOD. TRAV., Colombia, p. 292. A very interesting account
of the singular manner in which these insects attach themselves to
a particular spot, exhibiting varieties of species in the space of a
few leagues, and never intermixing, and of other phenomena con-
nected with their geographical distribution, may be found in
Humboldt's Pers. Narr., vol. v. pp. 85118. " How comfortable
must people be in the moon !" said an Indian to Father Gumilla;
"she looks so beautiful and clear, that she must be free from
mosquitoes." "When two persons meet in the missions of the
Orinoco, the first questions they address to each other are : " How
did you find the zancudoes (venomous gnats) during the night ?
How stand we to-day as to mosquitoes ?" " These questions,"
adds the learned Traveller, " remind us of a Chinese form of
PART I. K
146 BIRMAH.
banks of the river, which are generally about a mile
apart, with houses scattered at intervals. " Where-
ever I have landed," says Capt. Cox, " the natives
have appeared to me as well lodged, clothed, and fed,
as the peasantry of any part of India I have seen.
Every family plant their own indigo, cotton, and
paddy; and the women spin, manufacture, and dye
all the cloth necessary for their own consumption,
while the men attend the labours of the field. Consi-
dering that there is no encouragement for exporting
the surplus produce, I am at a loss to account for any
appearance of opulence among them. That they have
some commerce is, however, certain, from the number
of excellent boats of burthen that are seen lying at
every considerable town, or passing and repassing.
Above Panlang, the influence of the tide becomes
weaker, and the water during the ebb is fresh. At
Ran-gen-tsen-yah, (or, as Colonel Symes writes it,
Yangain-chain-yah,) a village about forty miles from
Rangoon, the traveller passes out of the Panlang or
Rangoon stream, and enters into the great Irrawaddy.
The course of the stream is here nearly south, and
politeness, which indicates the ancient state of that country.
Salutations were made heretofore in the celestial empire in the
following words : Vou-to-hou implying, Have you been incom-
moded in the night by the serpents ?" As both the mosquitoes and
the gnats pass two-thirds of their lives on the water, in the forests
crossed by great rivers, they generally become more rare in pro-
portion as the traveller recedes from the shore. In that zone,
" where the barometer becomes a clock," the true mosquito is not
a nocturnal insect : their reign lasts from six in the morning till
five in the afternoon, when they are succeeded by twilight tor-
mentors (tempraneros), and these again give place to the zancju-
does, who fly by night. This voracious appetite for blood, in in-
sects that live on vegetable juices, and in countries so thinly in-
habited, is very surprising. " What would these animals eat if
we did not pass this way ?" say the Creoles in ascending the
American rivers.
BIRMAH. 147
about a mile wide. Thus far, progress is made prin-
cipally by rowing and poleing along the boats ; but
now the river being no longer enclosed by high and
close banks, the boatmen spread their canvass, and take
advantage of the strong southerly gales to ascend the
stream.*
Denoobew (Da-noo-byoo) , about sixty miles from
Rangoon, which Colonel Symes passed early on the
sixth day, is an extensive town with a lofty temple,
resembling Shoe-dagun in form, but of smaller size.
There is here a manufactory of mats, which are made
in beautiful variety, and superior in quality to what
are fabricated in any other part of the empire. " We
passed in the course of this day's journey," (the fifth
from Rangoon,) proceeds Colonel Symes, "many
islands of sand formed by different streams of the
river in the dry season, but which are entirely covered
when the waters swell : on some of these islands there
* From Mr. Judson's Journal, we take the following itinerary :
First Da}' (Dec. 21). To Kyee-myen-daing, a village. Second Day.
Reached at noon, Kyoon-noo, a cluster of villages, hear one of
which, about twenty miles from Rangoon, they remained the
rest of the day. Third day. Passed into the Irrawaddy, and reached
Ran-gen-tsen-yah, twenty miles from Kyoon-noo. Fourth day.
Passed Danoo-byoo. Sixth day. Passed Hen-tha-dah. Tenth
day. Reaced Kah-noung, a considerable town, ninety miles from
Rangoon. Twelfth day (Jan. 1.) Passed a remarkably high, rocky
mountain, the side of which, for a considerable extent, is indented
with numerous recesses, containing images of Guadama, all carved
out of the solid rock. Thirteenth day. Passed the large towns of
Shway-doung and Pah-doung, on opposite sides of the river, and
reached Pjee (Prome), 120 miles from Rangoon. On January 17,
being the twenty-eighth day, they reached Pah-gan, distant about
260 miles from Rangoon. Here the river bends to the east, and
forms a point. On the 20th. Reached Guah-myah-gnay. 22d.
Passed the confluence of the Kyen-duem with the Irrawaddy.
25th. Passed Old Ava and Tsah-gaing; and about noon, reached
O-ding-mau, the lower landing-place of Ahmarapoora, about 350
miles torn Rangoon.
K2
148 BIRMAII.
are trees and verdure. We left the towns of Segah-
ghee on the east, and Summeingtoh on the west. Our
voyage this day was delightful; the weather turned
out fine, and the wind was so strong, that we passed
the banks at the rate of three miles an hour. There
were no fewer than a hundred sail of boats of differ-
ent sorts in company, and the whole was a cheerful
and pleasing sight. We stopped at sunset near the
town of Yeoung-benzah. The next day (the sixth),
we passed several islands of sand. In one place, we
perceived the roots and stump of a tree growing close
to the water's edge under a high bank, about fourteen
feet beneath the surface of the soil. This singular
appearance is to be accounted for by supposing that,
where the bank is now raised, there had formerly
been a sand-bank level with the water, on which a
tree had taken root, and which had been covered by
annual deposites from the river during the inunda-
tion. It is probable, that the tall reeds and coarse
grass which every year rot and incorporate with the
sand of the river, form the fine soil of the plains.
Thus, aquatic exuviae are to be discovered every where
deep in the earth. The stream, however, washes
away on one side as much as it deposits on the other ;
and, as is the case with all streams flowing through
champaign countries, is continually changing its
channel. In the morning we passed Taykyat, a long
and straggling town on the west side ; also Terriato,
or Mango village, small, but beautifully situated on a
high bank that commands the country on the opposite
side to a great distance : it is surrounded by groves of
mango-trees, from which it takes the name. Taam-
boo-terra, on the same side, is a long town. The
country, in this day's voyage, did not appear so well
inhabited as that we passed through the day before.
BIRMA1I. 149
At half-past four, we halted for the night at Kioum-
zeik, or the convent stairs. Two temples, not very
large, but gilded from top to bottom, here make a
brilliant appearance. There are many monasteries,
and the rhahaans are seen strolling about in consider-
able numbers." This appears to be a very flourishing
place, possessing a manufacture of cotton cloth.
Several water-courses which intersect the town, have
good wooden bridges built over them. Near the
river are some fields planted with indigo, which
thrives luxuriantly, and might be cultivated to great
advantage; but the natives either do not know the
process, or do not take the trouble of purifying and
reducing it to a hard substance, being satisfied with
using it in a coarse liquid state, to colour the coarse
calicoes manufactured here.
Near Kioum-zeik is the much more ancient town
of Henzadah (Hen-thah-dah) . Buffaloes and other
cattle were seen in large herds grazing on the neigh-
bouring plain. In this vicinity, the reedy banks
again renew the visitation of the annoying musquitoes.
A little above this place, a considerable branch of the
river goes off in a south-westerly course to Bassein :
it is sometimes called Anou-kioup, or the western
river. The great Arracan chain of hills are visible
in the north-west quarter. On the eighth day, pass-
ing several small villages, Colonel Symes reached a
town called Ackeo. The course of the river was
sluggish, running deep beneath an overhanging bank ;
and the thermometer, which, on the preceding day,
had stood at 78, rose to 86 ; but still, the heat was
'not oppressive. The next evening they stopped close
to the town of Gnapee-zeik, * having passed this day
* Gnapee is a sort of sprat, which, " half pickled, half putrid," is
K 3
150 BIBMAH.
Shwaye-gaim, so named because gold dust is some-
times found here in the sands, washed down by the
rains. The banks of the river in this part are covered
with reeds six feet high, which harbour numerous
tigers. Near Gnapee, the western bank is planted
with pipal and mango-trees; and near Kanoung-lay,
which they passed on the following day, on the same
side, were seen orchards of mango, plantain, jack-fruit,
and custard apple. The adjacent fields were enclosed
with good fences; many boats were building on the
banks ; and the general aspect of things denoted pro-
sperity. A little further is Kanoung-ghe, or Great
Kanoung ; " a long town, with a good quay and well-
constructed stairs, consisting of a hundred steps, de-
scending to the water's edge." The country is toler-
ably well cleared in this part, and the population of
the district must apparently be considerable. The
thermometer at two o'clock this day rose to 94. A
few quails and wild pigeons were noticed in the
evening.
Early on the eleventh day, Colonel Symes reached
Meyah-oun, formerly Loonzay, distant about 100
miles from Rangoon, the scene of obstinate contests
between the Birmans and the Peguans. This is a
very ancient city, stretching two miles along the
margin of the river, and is distinguished by nume-
rous gilded temples and spacious convents. A great
variety of tall, wide-spreading trees gives this place an
air of venerable grandeur; several rhahaans were
luxuriously reposing under their shade. At the time
of Colonel Symes's visit, two hundred large boats,
each, on an average, of sixty tons burthen, lay off the
a favourite sauce with the Birmans, as a relish to their rice. Zeik
signifies a landing-place.
BIRMAHi 151
quay, all provided with good roofs, and masted after
the country manner. The neighbourhood is uncom-
monly fruitful in rice, and a large quantity is annually
exported to the capital. Here are capacious granaries
belonging to the king, built of wood, and covered with
thatch; these are kept filled with grain, ready to be
transported to any part of the empire in which there
happens to be a scarcity. During this day's voyage,
the Anou-pec-tou-miou, or great western chain of
mountains, was distinctly visible. The particular
mountains in sight are named Taungzo. The districts
passed through seemed exceedingly populous, and in
most parts cultivated.
As they advanced, the next day, towards the town
of Peing-ghee (or Pohem-ghee), the western range of
hills closed upon the river, and displayed in some
places very beautiful scenery. The rocky banks rise
abruptly to the height of two or three hundred feet,
richly clothed with hanging trees of variegated foliage.*
* Captain Cox, describing apparently the same part of this
voyage, but at a different season, (Dec.) says : " About noon," on
the fifteenth day, " as we approached the mountains on the
western shore, a beautiful view opened to us. To the west was a
margin of bright sand, backed by a green bank and woody hill ; to
the northward, high and distant mountains, covered with forest-
trees to their very summits; to the eastward, a high bank, with
large trees and huts scattered below them, ending in an abrupt
point, which closes the reach, so as to give the river here the ap-
pearance of a fine lake chequered with the boats of our fleet. As
we advanced, the scene varied ; many sandy islands divided the
stream, some of them barren sand, others high and covered with
lofty trees and cultivated ground. We advanced by the western
channel, where a precipitous hill about 150 feet high, covered with
trees and bushes, comes down abruptly to the river, and forms its
western boundary. The basis of this hill is a crumbling rock of
yellow, coarse grit sand ; the superstratum, an immense bed of rich
sandy loam. The stream here is about a quarter of a mile wide,
and pretty rapid. When we had passed these cliffs, we came to a
K 4
152 BIRMAH.
Owing to the narrowness of the channel in this part,
the stream is so rapid that oars are useless, and the
perpendicular banks afford no foot-path to track; it
is therefore necessary to impel the boat forward by
bamboo poles, in the use of which the Birmans are
very expert. The town of Peing-ghee, and that of
Sahlahdan, a little above it, export a great part of the
teak-timber that is carried to Rangoon. The forests
extend along on the western mountains, and are in
sight from the river. The trees are felled in the dry
season, and, when the monsoon sets in, are borne by
the torrents to these towns. Colonel Symes saw here
on the stocks, a ship of 400 tons burthen, building
for a Mussulman merchant of Surat. Ship and boat
building is here most actively carried on. The teak-
tree, although it will grow on the plains, is a native of
the mountains. The forests, like most of the woody
and uncultivated parts of India, are extremely pesti-
ferous. " An inhabitant of the champaign country
considers a journey thither, as almost inevitable
destruction. The wood-cutters are a particular class
of men, born and bred in the hills ; but even these are
said seldom to attain longevity." The timber is sold
very cheap. A plank three inches thick, and from
sixteen to twenty feet long, may be purchased for a
tecal or about half a crown.
The scenery of the river in the approach to Prome
beautiful valley, in which is situated the town of Pohem-ghee.
The hills here make a bend to the westward, and send down
another branch of the river, forming a beautiful gorge or valley,
variegated with gentle risings : aU the flat grounds are cultivated
with paddy." Journal, pp. 24, 5. The precipitous hill above
mentioned, must be the rocky mountain referred to by Mr.
Judson, as exhibiting numerous sculptures on the face of the
rock ; but it is remarkable, that neither Col. Symes nor Captain
Cox should notice them.
BIRMAH. 153
or Peeaye-mew, is pleasingly diversified with hill and
valley, with spots of cleared ground and hanging
woods. The range of high mountains recedes in a
westerly direction, but smaller hills still skirt the
river. Several populous towns occur : the principal is
Podung-mew, on the right bank; and Schwaye-do-
mew, on the left or eastern bank of the river. The
city of Prome, also situated on the east side of the
Irrawaddy, in lat. 18 50' N., and long. 95 E., forms
an important point of the line of towns, being, in fact,
the most northern fortress of Pegu. Many ages ago,
it was the residence of a dynasty of Talien kings:
it now forms a vice-royalty, usually conferred on a
member of the reigning family. Prome is sometimes
called TerreJcetteree, or single-skin; and they have a
legendary tale respecting the origin of this name,
which recalls, on the banks of the Irrawaddy, the
fabled origin of Carthage and of Troy. " It is related,
that a favourite female slave of Tutebong-mangee,
or the mighty sovereign with three eyes, importuned
her sovereign for a gift of some ground, and being
asked of what extent, replied in similar terms with
the crafty queen when she projected the site of
Carthage. Her request was granted, and she used the
same artifice."*
The city is situated on the south side of a pleasant
valley, on an elevated point projecting into the river.
"At present," says Captain Cox, who visited it in
December, when the water was low, " it is about
forty feet above the level of the river, which rises
during the rains about twenty or twenty-five feet.
Its area, north and south, is about one mile and a half,
and its breadth about three-fourths of a mile. It was
* Symes, vol. ii. p. 182.
K5
154 BIRMAH.
formerly surrounded with a wall of masonry : parts of
two or three bastions, towards the river, still remain.
They are in the old style of fortifications, with battle-
ments intended for musketry only, the ramparts not
having sufficient breadth to admit of cannon, which, if
mounted, must have been fired en barbet. The inter-
mediate spaces, where the old wall has fallen to ruins,
are defended by a stockade of teak piles, about one foot
square, and twenty feet high. In this stockade are
many gates and steps of wood leading to the river, for
the accommodation of the inhabitants. Within the
stockade are several pagodas, some of them gilt; the
rest of the buildings are mean ; some few are of wood,
but the greater part are built of bamboos and cadjan.
The only regular street leads through the centre of
the town, north and south, the other quarters being
only divided by crooked lanes and alleys. A large
proportion of the inhabitants were stated to be
Mohammedans. Its old fortifications and the remains
of religious edifices attest its former opulence, and its
position on the river renders it still a commanding
post; it is also centrical to the best parts and the most
populous districts of Ava. The hills with which it is
surrounded, abound with teak timber, and are rich in
metals: lead and iron only are at present got from
them, in small quantities, but gold has been, and may
be obtained. The iron is said to be softer and more
malleable than any imported ; and is preferred by the
natives, who manufacture it into many articles for
their own consumption.* Teak timber is the chief
* The tribe of smiths, including all the artificers of metals, (of
which a considerable number reside in Proxne, where the best iron
is procured,) are particularly fond of horse-flesh, supposing it to be
particularly adapted to recruit their strength, when wasted by
working at their forges. To the disgusting practice of eating the
BIBMAH. lf>5
article of trade, to which may be added cotton, grain,
rope, and paper manufactured into umbrellas, books,
&c." A ship of 300 tons was on the stocks when
Captain Cox visited it. The difficulty of getting the
vessel down in safety to Rangoon must be considerable,
as the current is so rapid ; and their effecting it serves
as a proof of their enterprise, and shews what they
are capable of doing if encouraged. Stone-cutters also
are numerous, who manufacture flags for pavements,
and slabs and vases for the use of temples, out of a
fine freestone found in the neighbourhood. Adjacent
to the town, Colonel Symes states, there is a royal
menagerie of elephants, consisting of two rows of
lofty well-built stables, in which these animals are
lodged during the rains. Altogether, Prome is one of
the most important places of the empire. The situa-
tion is deemed particularly salubrious. The river
here flows in a bold, straight channel, from one mile to
half a mile in breadth. To the westward, the hills,
for several miles above and below the town, form the
bank of the river. When the British troops advanced
upon this place in April 1825, all the surrounding hills
were fortified to their very summits, presenting a
position of a very formidable appearance, and in reality
so strong by nature, that 10,000 steady soldiers could
have .defended it against an attack of ten times that
force. The stockade itself was complete, and great
putrid flesh of diseased animals, is attributed the prevalence of a
dreadful disorder, which attacks the extremities, producing ulcer-
ous sores, which soon mortify, and leave those who survive, dis-
gusting and mutilated objects. The beggars of the country are
chiefly composed of this class, who wander about in groupes, as-
sembling at the feasts of the principal pagodas, where they are
relieved by the bounty of the devout and the humane. With the
exception of persons of this description, there is not a beggar to be
seen in the Birman dominions.
156 BIRMAH.
labour must have been bestowed upon it. "Indeed,
both in materials and workmanship," adds General
Sir A. Campbell in his despatch, "it surpasses any
thing we have hitherto seen in this country."* The
place was, nevertheless, evacuated by night on the
advance of the British troops apparently in confu-
sion, as above 100 pieces of artillery were found in the
works, and extensive granaries well filled with corn.
Either by accident or through design, the town was on
fire when our troops entered it; one whole quarter was
reduced to ashes, and much grain destroyed, before it
could be got under .f
About five miles from Prome, in a southerly direc-
tion, there are remains of a still more ancient city,
called by Col. Symes Yaettee, by Capt. Cox written
Therai-Kittra, which, some centuries ago, was the
capital of a dynasty of Peguan kings. A level road,
* Col. Symes mentions the ruins of an ancient fort at the upper
end of the city, " a small pentagon built of brick, which, from its
situation, must have been very strong. The modern fort," he
adds, " is nothing more than a palisadoed enclosure, with earth
thrown up behind it. ' But this was thirty years ago. These
stockades have been found no contemptible defence.
t From subsequent accounts, it would seem to have been inten-
tionally set on fire. " It has been proved to me beyond a doubt,"
writes Sir A. Campbell, " that strong reinforcements and thirty
pieces of cannon were within a short march of Prome, when I took
possession of it. These troops have now very generally dispersed.
Prince Sarawuddy is retiring direct upon the capital, with the
remnant of his people. Desolation marks his track, and the
merest cottage does not escape the incendiary's torch. Prompt and
decisive measures alone saved Prome from the general conflagra-
tion, and its inhabitants from a wretched fate The inhabitants
are coming in in great numbers, and even chiefs of towns and vil-
lages are now suing for passes of protection. They appear highly
delighted at being relieved from a state of oppressive tyranny, that
either compelled them to take up arms in a hopeless cause, or
drove them into the jungles, with their families, to lead a life of
wretchedness." Asiat. Journal, vol. xx. p. 684.
BIRMAH. 157
through cultivated fields interspersed with groves of
tall palmyra-trees, leads from Prome to this place.
He observed in the way, two rivers almost dry, but
which, in the rainy season, pour down an impetuous
torrent from the mountains into the Irrawaddy, bear-
ing down the teak timber from the forests above. It
was dusk before Col. Symes reached Yaettee. He
entered the place through an old gateway, which ap-
peared narrower, but of greater depth, than any that
he had seen; but the ruinous state of both the gate-
way and the wall rendered it difficult to judge of their
original dimensions. Within, he could distinguish
nothing but houses and fields, and it was too late to ex-
plore the antiquities. Two intelligent men informed
him, that it was once a fortified city of importance,
of a square form,* measuring a space equal to two
miles and a half; that it had flourished for several
centuries before the fall Of the Pegu monarchy; and
that the vestiges of the imperial palace and a large
temple were still remaining. During his ride, he
observed two caravans of waggons drawn up in the
form of a double circle, one within the other, present-
ing a very formidable barrier against the assaults
either of men or of wild beasts. They were loaded
chiefly with gnapee and salt fish, from the town of
Omow, situated on a lake where fish is caught in such
abundance, as to constitute an article of commercial
exportation. The roads appeared well made and much
frequented ; and the ledyeree or steersman, who had
travelled by land from Prome to Rangoon, a journey
of six days, reported it to be equally good the whole
way. By similar caravans of waggons is conducted a
* According to information given to Capt. Cox, it was of a cir-
cular form, three miles in diameter, and surrounded with walls
of masonry.
158 BI11MAH.
very important branch of Chinese commerce. Passing
through the centre of the Birman dominions, they
penetrate the Arracan chain of mountains, and thus
traverse the whole country, from the Chinese province
of Yunnan, on the eastern frontier of Birmah, to the
banks of the Brahmaputra and the Bengal provinces.
Leaving Prome at an early hour, with a strong
southerly gale, Col. Symes reached, towards evening,
the town of Kammah or Comma, on the western bank
of the Irrawaddy.* They did not stop here, but con-
tinued their course as far as Neoung-ben-zeik (or Nen-
bon-zeik),f where the boats were moored for the night.
" This also," he -says, " is a town of some respecta-
bility." Among the chief places passed this day, was
Pou-oo-daung, a small village on the western bank,
behind which abruptly rises a hill of a conical form,
on the top of which is a temple of peculiar sanctity,
having once been, as legends say, the abode of Gaud-
ama, the impression of whose foot is shewn indented
on a slab of marble. Obscure hamlets, at distant in-
tervals, just served to shew that this part of the coun-
try was not without inhabitants. Comma is the chief
town of a district, and sends large quantities of teak
timber to Rangoon. " The fort," Capt. Cox says,
" lies three miles inland, on a rivulet that empties it-
self into the Irrawaddy, and is navigable, in the rains,
for large boats almost all the way to Arracan. Here
also is the high road by which the merchants who
Capt. Cox did not reach Comma till the noon of the day after
leaving Prome.
t This, we presume to be the place that is afterwards called, in
Col. Symes's Narrative, Yeoungben-zeik, or Indian fig-tree stairs,
and described as a fine village, on the east side of the river, in a
romantic country. In the despatches from General Campbell, it is
written Nenbonzick. Col. Symes places Comma also on the east
side, whereas it is on the west bank.
BIRMAH. 159
trade to Dacca, bring their goods on bullocks and in
covered carts. The numerous religious buildings in
the town indicate its opulence."
The next evening, Col. Symes reached a town called
Sirriap-mew, and, by noon the next day, the town of
Mee-a-day, the personal estate of the then maywoon
of Pegu, generally called on that accout Meeaday-
praw. Here they halted for nine days, a temporary
house being constructed for their accommodation, con-
sisting of three small rooms and a hall open to the
north : it was got ready for their reception in little
more than four hours. " Fifty or sixty labourers
completed it in that time, and on emergency could
perform the work in much less. Bamboos, grass for
thatching, and the ground rattan, are all the materials
requisite. Not a nail is used in the whole edifice. A
row of strong bamboos, from eight to ten feet high,
is fixed firm in the ground, which describe the out-
line, and are the supporters of the building. Smaller
bamboos are then tied horizontally, by strips of the
ground rattan, to these upright posts. The walls,
composed of bamboo mats, are fastened to the sides by
similar ligatures. Bamboo rafters are quickly raised,
and a roof formed, over which thatch is spread in
regular layers, and bound to the roof by filaments of
rattan'. A floor of bamboo grating is next laid in-
side, elevated two or three feet above the ground;
this grating is supported on bamboos, and covered
with mats and carpets. Thus ends the process, which
is not more simple than effectual. When the work-
men take pains, a house of this sort is proof against
veiy inclement weather. We experienced during our
stay at Meeaday, a severe storm of wind and rain, but
no water penetrated ; and if the tempest should blow
down the house, the inhabitants would run no risk of
160 BtRMAH.
having their brains knocked out, or their bones broken :
the fall of the whole fabric would not crush a lady's
lap-dog.
"Meeaday is a place of no great magnitude, but
extremely neat. There are two principal streets, and
at the north end of the present town are to be seen
the ruins of a brick fort, which, like all other forts of
masonry in the Birman empire, is in a state of dilapi-
dation. At a short distance there is a pleasant river,
which flows through a fertile plain, affording some,
rich pasture-ground, and interspersed with plantations
of tobacco. On the south and south-east sides, the
town is inclosed by a deep ravine, the banks of which
are cut perpendicular ; and the remains of an old brick
wall were discoverable, which was probably a defence to
the former suburb. We observed many small temples
and convents apart from the town, situated in groves of
mango, tamarind, and pipal trees of uncommon state-
liness and beauty. The maywoon had a residence
here ; also a pleasure-house and betel garden at some
distance. North of the town, there is a good deal of
land in cultivation, chiefly rice. The fields are well
laid down and fenced. This quarter is beautifully
wooded and diversified with rising grounds. We ob-
served many cart-roads and path-ways leading into
the country in various directions. The soil is com-
posed of clay and sand, and in some places is very-
stony, particularly near the river."
The point to which we have now conducted our
readers, was the limit to which, in this direction, the
British army had driven back the Birman forces,
when, on the 17th of September last (1825), an armis-
tice was concluded, with a view to the restoration of
peace and amity between the contending powers. The
third article of the armistice provides, that " a line of
BIRMAH. 161
demarcation shall be drawn between the two armies,
commencing at Comma, passing through the village of
Nenbonzick. and continuing along the road from that
village to Tonghoo. The negociations for peace were
to be carried on at Nenbonzick, or Nembenziek, as
being half way between the armies, the British quar-
tered at Prome, and the Birman head -quarters at
Meeaday. Here, then, we shall for the present sus-
pend our progress northward; and before we take
leave of the kingdom of Pegu, on the confines of which
we now find ourselves, we shall gather up what further
information we possess respecting this important pro-
vince of the Birman empire.
PEGU.
THE site of Pegu, the ancient capital, situated about
ninety miles by water above Rangoon, in lat. 17 40'
N., long. 96 12' E., may still be traced by the ruins
of the ditch and the wall which once surrounded it.
The inside displays a striking and melancholy picture
of fallen grandeur, and gives sad evidence of the ruth-
less character of Birman warfare. Alom-praw, when
he took the city in 1757, razed every building to the
ground, and dispersed or led into captivity all the in-
habitants : the praws, or temples, only were spared,
and of these, the great pagoda of Shoe-madoo has alone
been kept in repair. After it had long lain in desola-
tion, Minderajee-praw, to conciliate the natives, issued
orders, about the year 1790, to rebuild Pegu, and in-
vited its scattered families to re-people their deserted
city.* At the same time, the may woon was ordered to
* The order for the rebuilding of the ancient capital of the Ta-
lien monarchy, which Col. Byrnes represents as originating in
liberal policy on the part of Minderajee-praw, is ascribed by Dr.
162 BIRMAH.
remove hither from Rangoon, and to make it the seat
of his government. The present inhabitants are chiefiy
rhahaans, or priests, followers of the provincial govern-
ment, and poor Talien families, glad to regain a set-
tlement in their once magnificent metropolis. Their
numbers altogether, perhaps, do not exceed 6 or 7000.
Those who dwelt there in its days of splendour are
nearly extinct, and their descendants and relatives
are scattered over the provinces of Tonghoo and
Martaban. Many also took refuge in Siam.
The kingdom of Pegu has unquestionably been the
most powerful of all the Indo-Chinese states ; and the
central position of this province, its abundant ferti-
lity of soil, and its mineral wealth, might again render
it a flourishing country. We have, in the Travels
of Vincent Le Blanc, a most romantic account of
what Pegu was in the seventeenth century. "The
kingdom of Pegu," he says, " is one of the largest,
richest, and most potent of the Indies, next to the
Mogul and China ; but to the two last are happened
lately strange revolutions : they are extremely fallen
off from their state, and have been dismembered by
the kings of Tungu and of Arracan, who had, in my
time, the possession of the white elephant that bred so
much contention in Siam. This kingdom, in my days,
contained many others; viz. two empires, containing
Buchanan to a very different motive. " Prophecies and dreams
are also in great credit among the Birmans. We were informed,
that a prophecy having lately been current, foretelling that Pegu
would again be the seat of government, the king was thrown into
considerable anxiety, and thinking to elude the prophecy, had sent
orders tothemaywoon of Haynthawade (Henzawudy) to remove
the seat of his government from Rangoon to Pegu, then in ruins.
The late maywoon was so attached to Rangoon, that he always
found some excuse for delaying the execution of the order ; but
while \re were in Birmah, his successor was busily employed in
rebuilding Pegu." Asiat. Reg., vol. vi. p. 173.
BIRMAH. 163
twenty-six crowned states. The town of Pegu is
very large and square, five gates on every side, en-
compassed with a deep work qr trench, full of
water-crocodiles. The walls are built of wood, with
watch-towers of rich work and gilt, repaired every
tenth year. The houses are stately edifices. At New
Pegu, the king keeps his court. The streets ase ex-
actly straight, and large. About the heart of the town,
you discover almost all the streets, which is a gallant
curiosity. Old Pegu is built after the same model,
and there the merchants inhabit. In New Pegu, the
streets are set with palm-trees and cocoas, loaden with
fruit. The new town was framed and built by the
line, near a forest of palms, towards the north, in a
large field. In the trenches, (filled with water by the
river that washes the coast,) are baths purposely accom-
modated. The town is as big as Fez. The king's
palace stands at the further end of New Pegu, sheltered
from the north wind by a little hill: there grow all
sorts of trees, five sorts of palm-trees, enclosed with a
wall like a park. The palace is built square, with a
dome : at every corner stands the statue of a giant, of
polished marble, who, Atlas-like, upheld this goodly
fabric ; and are represented with such tortions of face,
you would think they complain of their load. The
stone of which it is composed, is smooth and resplendent
as glass: it is environed with a deep trench. The
entrance is over a drawbridge, through a gate of ex-
cessive height and strength, where are the figures of
a giant and his wife, each of one piece, and of a mixed
coloured marble : the pavement is of the same. They
spare neither gold nor azure; and in galleries we see
carved the histories of all their wars. From thence,
we descend some steps of marble into a lower court,
encompassed with rails, where there is a pleasant
PART II. L
164 BIRMAH.
fountain, whence the water is conducted into several
gardens by pipes. The gardens are fenced with strong
walls; one of them is three miles long: the river
Caypumo runs through one end of the garden, west-
ward. There are many other gardens and palaces
nearer hand, built of marble and porphyry, and a lake
a mile in circuit. One of these palaces is allotted to
the queen and her court, which joins to a park stored
with exquisite and rare animals. In the lake belong-
ing to the king's palace are seen all sorts of water-
fowl ; and near this palace there is another park stored
with tame beasts and birds. There is also a park for
lions, tigers, and other fierce beasts; and it is a sad
sight to see criminals daily devoured by them.
" The kingdom of Pegu is rich in mines of gold
and silver, rubies, sapphires, garnets, and other pre-
cious stones : these daily augment the king's treasures.
In one court of his palace at New Pegu, there is such
store, that it is little esteemed ; not one man to guard
it, nor the doors kept shut. There stands a figure or
statue of an exceedingly tall man, all of beaten gold,
with a crown of the same, enriched with rubies, upon
his head ; and round it four other statues of youths,
all of gold, which seem to be idols. In another court,
is represented a giant sitting, of silver, with a crown
of the same, but far richer, set with jewels. In other
courts, stand statues made of gauze, a mixture of many
metals : the crowns of these latter are richer than the
others, with rubies and sapphires.
" The Peguans go all clothed alike, in cottons,
linens, and silks, the best; and all are barefoot ever,
whether walking or riding. Their building-s are
costly, carved and wrought, sparing neither gold nor
azure. When the king or any nobleman builds a
palace, he provides himself with the purest gold to
BIRMAH. 165
gild it. At Old Pegu are many refiners and gold
and silver beaters, who work it into leaves as we do,
for the convenience of the gilders; for they gild the
very walls and towers, and their houses, after the
Persian fashion. New Pegu is almost all so built,
and nothing spared to make up a sumptuous, splendid
structure. Merchants and other tradesmen and shop-
keepers live in strong houses, well built of stone or
brick, close shut with strong gates and locks, and call
those houses^odon*."*
When Col. Symes visited, in 1795, the site of this
once magnificent capital, the building of the new
town was still going forward. He thus describes the
appearance which it then presented.
" The extent of ancient Pegu may still be accurately
traced by the ruins of the ditch and wall that sur-
rounded it : from these it appears to have been a
quadrangle, each side measuring nearly a mile and a
half. In several places the ditch is choked up by rub-
bish that has been cast into it, and the falling of its
own banks ; sufficient, however, still remains to shew
that it was once no contemptible defence. The breadth
I judged to be about sixty yards, and the depth ten or
twelve feet. In some parts of it there is water, but in
no considerable quantity. I was informed, that when
the ditch was in repair, the water seldom, in the hot-
test season, sunk below the depth of four feet. An
injudicious faussebray, thirty feet wide, did not add
to the security of the fortress. The fragments of the
wall likewise evince that this was a work of magni-
tude and labour: it is not easy to ascertain precisely
what was its height, but we conjectured it at least
thirty feet, and in breadth, at the base, not less than
* Asiat. Journ. vol. xix. pp. 651, 2.
166 BIRMAH.
forty. It is composed of brick, badly cemented with
clay mortar. Small equidistant bastions, about 300
yards asunder, are still discoverable, and there had
been a parapet of masonry ; but the whole is in a state
so ruinous, and so covered with weeds and briars, as to
leave very imperfect vestiges of its former strength.
In the centre of each face of the fort, there is a gate-
way about thirty feet wide; and these gateways were
the principal entrances. The passage across the ditch
is over a causeway raised on a mound of earth, that
serves as a bridge, and was formerly defended by a
retrenchment, of which there are now no traces.
" Pegu, in its renovated and contracted state, seems
to be built on the plan of the former city, and occu-
pies about one half of its area. It is fenced round by
a stockade from ten to twelve feet high : on the north
and east side, it borders on the old wall. The plane of
the town is not yet filled with houses, but a number
of new ones are building. There is one main street
running east and west, crossed at right angles by two
smaller streets not yet finished. At each extremity
of the principal street, there is a gate in the stockade,
which is shut early in the evening; and after that
time, entrance during the night is confined to a
wicket. Each of these gates is defended by a wretched
piece of ordnance, and a few musketeers, who never
post sentinels, and are usually asleep in an adjoining
shed. There are two inferior gates on the north and
south side of the stockade.
" The streets of Pegu are spacious, as are those of
all the Birman towns that I have seen. The new
town is well paved with brick, which the ruins of the
old plentifully supply; and on each side of the way
there is a drain to carry off the water. The houses
of the meanest peasants of Pegu, and throughout the
BIRMAH. 167
Birman empire, possess manifest advantage over Indian
dwellings, by being raised from the ground either on
wooden posts or bamboos, according to the size of the
building. The kioums or monasteries of the rhahaans,
and the habitations of the higher ranks, are usually ele-
vated six or eight feet ; those of the lower classes from
two to four feet.
" There are no brick buildings, either in Pegu or
Rangoon, except such as belong to the king, or are
dedicated to their divinity, Gaudma; his majesty
having prohibited the use of brick or stone in private
buildings, from the apprehension, as I was informed,
that if people got leave to build brick houses, they
might erect brick fortifications, dangerous to the
security of the state. The houses, therefore, are all
made of mats, or sheathing-boards, supported on bam-
boos or posts; but, from their being composed of such
combustible materials, the inhabitants are under con-
tinual dread of fire, against which they take every
precaution. The roofs are lightly covered, and at
each door stands a long bamboo, with an iron hook at
the end, to pull down the thatch: there is also an-
other pole, with a grating of iron at the extremity,
about three feet square, to suppress flame by pressure.
Almost every house has earthern pots filled with water,
on the roof; and a particular class of people,* whose
* " These people are called Pagwaai; they are slaves of govern-
ment ; men who have been found guilty of theft, and, through
mercy, had their lives spared. They are distinguished by a black
circle on each cheek, caused by gunpowder and puncturation, as
well as by having on their breast, in Birman characters, the word
thief, and the name of the article stolen ; as, on one that I asked
to be explained to me, putchoo khoo, cloth thief. These men
patrole the streets at night, to put out all fires and lights after
a certain hour. They act as constables, and are the public exe-
cutioners.'*
168 BIBMAH.
business it is to prevent and extinguish fires, peram-
bulate the streets during the night.
' The maywoon's habitation, though not at all a
magnificent mansion for the representative of royalty,
is, notwithstanding, a building of much respectability,
compared to the other houses of Pegu. From an out-
side view, we judged it to be roomy, and to contain
several apartments, exclusive of that in which he gives
audience: it possesses, however, but few ornaments.
Gilding is forbidden to all subjects of the Birman em-
pire; liberty even to lacker and paint the pillars of
their houses, is granted to very few. The naked wood
gave an unfinished appearance to the dwelling of the
maywoon, which, in other respects, seemed well
adapted for the accommodation of a Birman family.
" The object in Pegu that most attracts and most
merits notice, is the noble edifice of Shoemadoo, or
the Golden Supreme. This extraordinary pile of build-
ings is erected on a double terrace, one raised upon
another. The lower and greater terrace is about ten
feet above the natural level of the ground, forming an
exact parallelogram: the upper and lesser terrace is
similar in shape, and rises about twenty feet above
the lower terrace, or thirty above the level of the
country. I judged a side of the lower terrace to be
1,391 feet; of the upper, 684. The walls that sus-,
tained the sides of the terrace, both upper and lower,
are in a ruinous state: they were formerly covered
with plaster, wrought into various figures. The area
of the lower is strewed with the fragments of small
decayed buildings, but 'the upper is kept free from
filth, and is in tolerably good order. There is reason
to conclude that this building and the fortress are
coeval, as the earth, of which the terraces are com-
posed, appears to have been taken from the ditch, there
BIRMAH. 169
being no other excavation in the city, or in its neigh-
bourhood, that could have afforded a tenth part of the
quantity.
"The terraces are ascended by flights of stone
steps, which are now broken and neglected. On each
side are dwellings of the rhahaans, raised on timbers
four or five feet from the ground. These houses con-
sist only of a large hall ; the wooden pillars that sup-
port them are turned with neatness; the roofs are
covered with tiles, and the sides are made of boards.
There are a number of bare benches in every house,
on which the rhahaans sleep; but we saw no other
furniture.
" Shoemadoo is a pyramidical building, composed of
brick and mortar, without excavation or aperture of
any sort, octagonal at the base, and spiral at top;
each side of the base measures 162 feet : this immense
breadth diminishes abruptly, and has not unaptly been
compared in shape to a large speaking-trumpet. Six
feet from the ground, there is a wide projection that
surrounds the base, on the plane of which are fifty-
seven small spires of equal size, and equidistant : one
of them measured twenty-seven feet in height, and
forty in circumference at the bottom. On a higher
ledge there is another row, consisting of fifty-three
spires of similar shape and measurement. A great
variety of moulding^ encircle the building ; and orna-
ments somewhat resembling the fleur-de-lis surround
the lower part of the spire; circular mouldings like-
wise girt it to a considerable height, above which
there are ornaments in stucco, not unlike the leaves of
a Corinthian capital ; and the whole is crowned with
a tee, or umbrella, of open iron-work, from which
rises a rod with a gilded pennant.
"The circumference of the tee is fifty-six feet; it
170 BIRMAH.
rests on an iron axis fixed in the building, and is fur-
ther secured by large chains strongly rivetted to the
spire. Round the lower rim of the tee are appended
a number of bells, which, agitated by the wind, make
a continual jingling. The tee is gilt, and it is said to
be the intention of the king to gild the whole of the
spire. All the smaller pagodas are ornamented with
proportionable umbrellas of similar workmanship,
which are likewise encircled with small bells. The
extreme height of the edifice, from the level of the
country, is 361 feet, and above the interior terrace,
331 feet.
" On the south-east angle of the upper terrace,
there are two handsome saloons, or Mourns, lately
erected, the roofs composed of different stages, sup-
ported by pillars : we judged the length of each to be
about 60 feet, and the breadth 30. The ceiling of one
is already embellished with gold leaf, and the pillars
are lackered; the decoration of the other is not yet
completed. They are made entirely of wood. The
carving on the outside is laborious and minute : we
saw several unfinished figures of animals and men in
grotesque attitudes, which were designed as ornaments
for different parts of the building. Some images of
Gaudma, the supreme object of Birman adoration, lay
scattered around. ^
" At each angle of the interior and higher terrace,
there is a temple sixty-seven feet high, resembling, in
miniature, the great temple : in front of that in the
south-west corner, are four gigantic representations,
in masonry, of Palloo, or the evil genius, half beast,
half human, seated on their hams, ea.ch with a large
club on the right shoulder. The pundit who accom-
panied me, said that they resemble the Rakuss of
the Hindoos. These are guardians of the temple.
BIRMAH. 171
" Nearly in the centre of the east face of the area,
are two human figures in stucco, beneath a gilded
umbrella. One, standing, represents a man with a
book before him, and a pen in his hand; he is called
Thasiamee, the recorder of mortal merits and mortal
misdeeds: the other, a female figure kneeling, is
Mahasumdera, the protectress of the universe, so long
as the universe is doomed to last; but when the time
of general dissolution arrives, by her hand the world is
to be overwhelmed and everlastingly destroyed.
" A small brick building near the north-east angle,
contains an upright marble slab, four feet high and
three feet wide : there is a long legible inscription on it.
I was told, it was an account of the donations of pil-
grims of only a recent date.
" Along the whole extent of the north face of the
upper terrace, there is a wooden shed for the conve-
nience of devotees who come from a distant part of
the country. On the north side of the temple are
three large bells of good workmanship, suspended
nigh the ground, between pillars; several deer's horns
lie strewed around. Those who come to pay their
devotions, first take up one of the horns, and strike
the bell three times, giving an alternate stroke to the
ground: this act, I was told, is to announce to the
spirit of Guadma the approach of a suppliant.* There
are several low benches near the foot of the temple, on
which the person, who comes to pray, places his offer-
ing, commonly consisting of boiled rice, a plate of
sweetmeats, or cocoa-nut, fried in oil. When it is
given, the devotee cares not what becomes of it: the
* It is deserving of remark, that the approach of a suppliant to
the shrine of Jupiter Ammon in the Oasis, was announced to the
divinity by the sounding of metal knobs suspended between two
pillars.
1.2
172 BlttMAH.
crows and wild dogs often devour it in presence of the
donor, who never attempts to disturb the animals. I
saw several plates of victuals disposed of in this man-
ner, and understood it to be the case with all that was
brought.
" There are many small temples on the areas of
both terraces, which are neglected and suffered to fall
into decay. Numberless images of Gaudma lie indis-
criminately scattered. A pious Birman who purchases
an idol, first procures the ceremony of consecration
to be performed by the rhahaans; he then takes his
purchase to whatever sacred building is most conve-
nient, and there places it within the shelter of a
kioum, or on the open ground before the temple; nor
does he ever again seem to have any anxiety about its
preservation, but leaves the divinity to shift for itself.
Some of those idols are made of marble that is found
in the neighbourhood of the capital of the Birman
dominions, and admits of a very fine polish; many
are formed of wood, and gilded; and a few are of
silver: the latter, however, are not usually exposed
and neglected like the others. Silver or gold is
rarely used, except in the composition of household
gods.
" On both the terraces are a number of white cylin-
drical flags, raised on bamboo poles; these flags are
peculiar to the rhahaans, and are considered as em-
blematic of purity and of their sacred function. On
the top of the staff there is a henza, or goose, the
symbol both of the Birman and Pegu nations.
" From the upper projection that surrounds the
base of Shoemadoo, the prospect of the circumjacent
country is extensive and picturesque; but it is a pros-
pect of nature in her rudest state; there are few in-
habitants, and scarcely any cultivation. The hills of
BIRMAH. 173
Martaban rise to the eastward, and the Sitang river,
winding along the plains, gives an interrupted view
of its waters. To the north-west, about forty miles,
are the Galladzet hills, whence the Pegu river takes
its rise ; hills remarkable only for the noisome effects
of their atmosphere. In every other direction, the
eye looks over a boundless plain, chequered by a wild
intermixture of wood and water." *
Colonel Symes, accompanied by Dr. Buchanan, took
a ride for about a mile and a half to the eastward of
the fort. The road lay through woods intersected by
frequent pathways. A miserable hut, here and there,
beneath a clump of bamboos, was the only habitation
they met with ; but the memorials of an extinct popu-
lation were thickly strewed. Hillocks of decayed
masonry, covered with a light mould, and the ruins of
numerous temples, met the eye in every direction.
They saw no gardens or enclosures, but the pathways,
which bore the traces of cattle, indicated that the
country further on was better peopled. On the
western side of the river was found an inconsider-
able village, in the neighbouroood of which there
were rice-plantations that extended a mile to the
westward. Beyond these lay a thick wood, chiefly of
* Col. Symes was told by the zarado of Pegu, that the temple of
Shoemadoo is believed to have been founded 2,300 years ago, by
two merchants, brothers, who came to Pegu from Tallo-miou, a
district one day's journey 's E. of Martaban . ' ' These pious traders
at first raised a temple one Birman cubit (22 inches) in height.
Sigeamee, the spirit that presides over the elements, in one night
increased its size to two cubits. The merchants then added an-
other cubit, which Sigeamee doubled in the same short time.
The building thus attained the height of twelve cubits, when the
merchants desisted. The temple was afterwards gradually in-
creased by successive monarchs of Peg"u." Shoemadoo signifies
literally Golden Divinity; shoe, or shwa, signifying golden, and
madoo being a corruption of maha-deva ormaha-deo, magnus deus.
Madlmvu is given by Mr. Ward as one of the titles of Vishnoo.
174 BIRMAH.
bamboo and pipal-trees. Through this wilderness,
one of the party penetrated nine or ten miles, without
meeting with an inhabitant or seeing a single dwell-
ing. " Southward of Pegu, about a mile beyond the
city walls, there is a plain of great extent, for the most
part overgrown with wild grass and low brushwood,
and bare of limber, except where a sacred grove
maintains its venerable shade. A few wretched vil-
lages are to be seen, containing not more than twenty
or thirty poor habitations. Small spots have been
cleared for tillage by the peasants, who seem to live in
extreme poverty, notwithstanding they possess in
their cattle the means of comfortable subsistence;
but they do not eat the flesh, and what is remarkable
enough, seldom drink the milk. Rice, gnapee, and
oil, expressed from a small grain, with salt, are almost
their only articles of food. Their cows are diminutive,
resembling the breed on the coast of Coromandel; but
the buffaloes are noble animals, much superior to
those of India. Some are of a light cream-colour.
The.y are used for draft and agriculture, and draw
heavy loads on carts and small waggons, constructed
with considerable neatness and ingenuity.
" The only article of consequence manufactured at
Pegu, is silk and cotton cloth, which the women
weave for their own and their husbands' use. It is
wrought with considerable dexterity; the thread is
well spun; the texture of the web is close and strong,
and it is mostly checkered like the Scotch tartan;
but they make no more than what suffices for their
own consumption."
The country in this neighbourhood abounds with
various kinds of game, particularly antelopes, jungle-
fowl, and peacocks. Tigers prowl around the villages
by night, and sometimes carry off the dogs, but do not
BIRMAH. 175
venture to attack the buffaloes, who, to all appearance,
Colonel Symes says, are a match for any tiger, and
almost as fierce. The inhabitants also complained of
being much molested, in the wet season, by wild ele-
phants, who occupy the forests in great numbers.
" These powerful animals, allured by the early crops
of rice and sugar-cane, make predatory excursions in
large troops, and do a great deal of mischief, devas-
tating more than they devour. The peasantry have
often to lament the destruction of their more exposed
plantations."
" How much is it to be lamented," exclaims Colonel
Symes, "that this country, one of the fairest and
most healthful on the globe, should remain for the
greater part, a solitary desert ! It must require a
long and uninterrupted term of peace, to renew the
population of Pegu. Should it be so fortunate, there
can be little doubt that Pegu will be numbered
among the most flourishing and delightful countries
of the East." How far recent events may conduce to
so desirable a result, time will shew. If, in pursuance
of our Indian policy, it should be deemed advisable to
re-establish the Peguan monarchy in the person of some
native chief, with a British resident at his capital, the
oppressed Taliens and Carayns would joyfully hail their
emancipation' from their Birman masters; and the
prediction which troubled Minderajee-praw, would be
most singularly fulfilled.*
* The Taliens or Talains of Pegu are evidently a race of Hindoo
origin, who attained civilisation at an earlier period than the Bir-
mans. They call themselves Mon, and are termed by the Siamese
Ming-mon. Their language, the Mon,' has never been satisfac-
torily analysed. " It seems," Dr. Leyden says, " to be quite ori-
ginal, and is said by the Barmas (Birmans) and Siamese to have
no affinity with either of their languages. In the early Portuguese
histories, they arc denominated the Pandalus of Mon; and they
176 BIRMAH.
FROM PEGU TO MARTABAN.
Of the country between Pegu and Martaban, our
only information is derived from the journal of the
late Mr. Francis Carey, who attended the viceroy in
an expedition to Martaban, in the year 1809. "The
Birman army moved before daylight on the morning of
the 19th of November, passed a large village called Shoe-
6on (golden flower), and after travelling for some hours
in a N.W. direction, encamped in an extensive plain,
within two days' march of the river Chitoung (Zeet-
taung) . The first two hours, they penetrated through
thick jungles of small trees and bamboos ; after which
they entered upon a very large plain, extending to the
E. as- far as the mountains, to the S.W. as far as the
sea, and to the N.E. as far as the eye could reach.
The plain was a complete grass jungle with a few
cultivated spots, and abounded with various kinds of
wild beasts. The mountains appeared to run in a
north-easterly direction from Chitoung, and to turn
off again to the S. towards Martaban. The next day,
the army crossed, on boats rafted together, a river
called Kouban, about 200 yards broad, and not ford-
able. Mr. Carey supposed it to be a branch of the
Chitoung, or to rise among the mountains of Tonghoo.
The country, during the march, was a complete wilder-
ness, covered with long grass: the course was N.E.
On the 21st, the course was altered to S.E.; and after
travelling through very high grass, the army encamped
on the bank of the Chitoung river. The whole
country from Pegu hither was an extensive plain, ap-
are supposed to have founded the ancient Kalaminham empire at
a very early peroid," Kalaminham is probably corrupted from
ming-mon. The Mon alphabet appears to be a variety of the Pali.
See Asiat. Res. vol. x. p. 240.
BIRMAH. 177
patently flooded during the rainy season, covered with
long grass, and infested with wild beasts.* The town
of Chitoung is situated on the east bank of the river ;
it is surrounded by a few straggling villages. The
river is about half a mile in breadth, and appears to
be deep and regular: it abounds with alligators.
Towards the N., it runs close up under the mountains,
and then strikes off to the S., till it falls into the sea.
Mr. Carey saw no mountains to the W. of the Chitoung
river, as described in Symes's Embassy. The eastern
mountains are totally uncultivated and uninhabited.
Around the borders are to be found a few houses of
Corians (Carayns) or mountaineers. The moun-
tains appear to be covered with large trees, with here
and there a vacancy; they are said to abound with
chatts, a large sort of deer, chines, a species of ante-
lope, and tigers ; and the valleys with elephants, wild
hogs, deer, &c.
" The passage of the viceroy took place the next
morning with great pomp : he crossed the river upon
four boats lashed together, and towed by two war-
boats. The troops lined the road where he landed,
sitting with their backs towards him, as a mark of very
great respect. Presents of rice, fish, and betel-nut
were made to him. On the ensuing morning, the
army, still directing its march to the S.E., entered the
thick forests which skirt the Chitoung mountains :
they were found almost impenetrable, consisting of
various kinds of timber trees, among which are the
yendak, red and black, a species of mahogany; the
moukkhou, a tall, smooth tree, of a hard grain; the
ketchee, yielding a useful gum, and the wood of which
* The Chitoung Sittong, or Zeet-taung river, formed the ancient
boundary between the kingdoms of Pegu and Siam.
178 BIRMAH.
is durable; the peema or jarool; and the penyadoor,
the hardest wood in the Birman dominions. The
road had been long ago formed by cutting away the
trees. There is a shorter and better road over the
plain country, but it is passable only in the months of
November and December. The rate of travelling
through the forests was about two miles and a half
an hour : it had been four miles an hour to the Chi-
toung river. On the 25th, the viceroy amused himself
with an elephant hunt. Next day, the track of march
continued through the forests: the army encamped
on the east side of the mountain called Tikklat, a
cluster of six large hills. A small canal, called Theboo,
runs from the mountain towards the Chitoung river.
" On the 27th, the army emerged from the thick
forests on the banks of a beautiful river called Doung-
wing, or Maywing (Taungwa-kiaung) , whence Mr.
Carey could perceive that they had passed between
two ranges of mountains : that on the W. was called
Koukthinating, that on the E., Jingat, on which is a
lofty pagoda. On the 28th and 29th, they again tra-
versed dense forests; the course S.E. On the 30th,
the course was altered to the E. On December 1st,
the road was diversified with fine views on both sides
of the mountains, spreading into an open plain or
valley : those to the N.W. formed a regular range.
Mr. Carey ascended one of the mountains, and found
the habitations of some Corians, who are in a perfectly
savage state.* The march next day diverged to the
S. ; and on the 3d, they reached a village called Kwy-
* Neither men, women, nor children appeared to have washed
their hands or faces for months. Their faces were besmeared with
the red betel, and the saliva drivelled down their chins. Their
clothes were few and filthy, aod swarmed with vermin ; their nails
were " like little spades." They use a small pipe, which is seldom
BIRMAH. 179
agan, three miles distant from Martaban. On the 4th,
the army collected, and marched through the town of
Martaban, which is more than a mile in length. Next
day, Mr. Carey ascended one of the highest moun-
tains, to take a view of the country, which he thus
describes : ' The prospects were truly grand and mag-
nificent. To the N. and S., the range of mountains
upon which the town is situated, were to be seen as
far as the eye could reach. To the E., the long and
high range of mountains which separate the Birman
dominions from those of Siam, run in a parallel line
with those which skirt the sea-shore, at about the
distance of 100 or 150 miles. To the W., was to
be seen the river (the Thaluan), divided into two
branches, and opening into the sea, with vast num-
bers of high islands scattered in different directions.
The town appears to be well peopled, as does the sur-
rounding country. The population consists of Peguans,
Birmans, Siamese, and mountaineers. The town is
situated on the E. side of the mountain, and a stockade
runs along the top and the, bottom of it; but it is
now in a state of decay.' "*
In Vincent Leblanc's Travels, before referred to,
we have the following brief account of Martaban
" From Siam, we came to the kingdom and town of
Martaban, sometime subject to Pegu, but since to
Siam. There is plenty of rice and other sorts of
grain ; mines of metals, rubies, and other stones ; and
the air is very wholesome. The capital town is Marta-
ban, 16 N. (the true latitude is 16 8' N.) It hath
out of their mouths. They acknowledge no government, and live
entirely on what these forests yield, together with the rice, betel,
&c. which they raise, a bare sufficiency for the year's consumption.
* Asiat. Journal, vol. xx. p. 267.
180 BIBMAH.
a good harbour, situate upon the river Caypumo, or
rather an arm of the sea, where the tides run strongly
towards Pegu; for, whereas ordinarily it flows by
degrees, with an easy motion, here it fills that arm of
the sea or river on a sudden, and flows with such
fury and impetuosity, as it were mountains rolled up
in water; and the most rapid torrent in the world
doth not parallel this in swiftness : by three passages,
it fills the harbour with a most fearful force and
rapidity. Martaban joins to the territories of Dougon"
(probably, Dag-un, on the Syriam or eastern branch
of the Rangoon river), " the remotest town of Pegu.
At Martaban, some years before we made our travels
there, a rich and potent king, named Chaubaina, was
besieged by Bramaa of Pegu. That inhuman tyrant
of Pegu put him to a cruel death, and sacked that
flourishing town : it had twenty-four gates. We
went from Martaban to Pegu, four small days' journey
distant by land."*
In October, 1824, an expedition, composed of Eu-
ropean and native troops, was sent by General Camp-
bell to take possession of this port. The place is
described in the despatches as having a strong and
commanding appearance. It is situated at the bottom
of a very high hill, washed by an extensive sheet of
water. On its right is a rocky mound, surmounted
with a two-gun battery, with a deep nullah beneath.
The battery communicated with a stockade of timber ;
and behind this was a deep wall of masonry, varying
from twelve to twenty feet in thickness, with small
embrasures for cannon and musketry. The stockade
ran along the margin of the water for three quarters
of a mile, where it joined a large pagoda, which pro-
* Asiat. Journal, vol. xix. p. 65 1.
BIRMAH. 181
jects into the sea as a bastion. The town continues
to run in an angle from the pagoda for at least a
mile, terminating at the house of the maywoon, close
to a stockade which extends up the hill. The rear of
the town and works was protected by a thick jungle
and large trees. The enemy suffered the British to
reconnoitre without molestation. On the next day
(the 30th), after a heavy cannonade during the night,
the British troops stormed the rock on which the bat-
tery was placed ; it was bravely carried, and the re-
maining works were soon cleared. The enemy fled at
the approach of our troops, rushing into the water and
the jungle by hundreds, under a destructive fire. The
town was found deserted, all the property having
been carefully carried off. A considerable number of
prisoners, however, were taken, together with 116
pieces of cannon, mostly wall-pieces. The capture of
Martaban was followed by the voluntary submission
of Tenasserim, and the town and province of Yeah ;
Tavoy and Mergui had previously surrendered ; * and
thus, the whole Birman coast, from Rangoon east-
ward, was reduced to British authority.
The coast of Tenasserim originally formed part of
the dominions of Siam, but was ceded in 1793 to
Birmah. Mergui is situated about six miles up the
Tenasserim river, in lat. 19 12' N., long. 98 24' E.
This river, like all others in this part, has a bar, but
vessels of moderate size can cross it, and the port is
said to be very commodious : the largest ships can
anchor in the roads. The English had a factory here
in 1687, and were much esteemed. A number of
Mohammedans are settled here, and some Romish
* An expedition sailed from Rangoon on the 20th August,
under Lieut.-col. Miles, which soon gained possession of these
valuable ports.
182 BIRMAH.
Christians, who have a priest and a church. The Mergui
islands, an archipelago extending along this coast 135
miles, are uninhabited, although the soil is said to be
fertile. To the south of these is the island of Salanca,
or Junk-seylon, about 54 miles long, and 15 broad,
separated from the main land by a shallow channel, a
mile in breadth, which is nearly dry at low water. It
has a harbour at the north end, called Popra, which
may be entered over a mud bar, during the spring
tides, by ships drawing twenty feet of water. The
anchorage round the island is generally good. There
are valuable tin mines in the island, which are worked
by the natives ; and prior to the colonization of
Prince of Wales's Island, it was a place of considerable
trade. The chief town is Terrowa. The inhabitants
consist of Malays, Chinese, Siamese, and Birmans.
This island formed the southernmost point of the
Birman empire.
Tavoy (or Daway), like Tenasserim, is at once the
name of a town, a river, and a province. The town
is about eight leagues up the river, in lat. 13 13' N.,
long. 98 6' E. A pagoda stapds on the point which
forms the western side of the entrance of the river.
The country is stated to be extremely fertile.
The inhabitants of these provinces are said to be
a peculiar tribe called Meng.* The country pro-
duces tin, sapan wood, stick-lac, corn, and marbao, a
timber fit for ship-building. From Martaban are
exported tin, rice, wild cardamums, edible birds' nests
from the Andaman and Nicobar islands, and a species
of caviare called balachong, compounded from the
spawn of fish and pounded shrimps, made into thin
cakes : great quantities of this article are consumed in
* Probably, Mong ; and if so, they are Talain or Peguans.
BIRMAH. 183
Ava, and by the Malays, but it is very disgusting to a
European palate. The chief trade of Martaban arises,
however, from its potteries. The port is about twenty
leagues E. of Rangoon river.*
We now resume our itinerary of the Irrawaddy,
Asiat. Journ., vol. xix. p. 760. It will hardly be expected that
we should undertake to expound the ancient geography of these
regions, respecting which, learned authorities are so much at va-
riance. Ptolemy is almost the only ancient writer who affords any
intelligible information on this point ; and all he knew of the
countries eastward of Ceylon, was from report. In the Periplus of
the Erythean Sea, immediately after leaving the Ganges, there is
said to be an island in the ocean, called Khruse, or the Golden Isle,
which lies directly under the rising sun, and at the extremity of
the world towards the east. Khruse is mentioned as an island by
Mela, Dionysius, &c. ; as a Chersonese by Ptolemy. Acccording to
Mela, it was an island at the promontory Tamos, supposed to be
the Tamala of Ptolemy. But what point this name denoted, is
questionable. D'Anville supposes it to be Cape Negrais ; yet, if
so, how can the Golden Island be Malacca ? The learned Editor
of the Periplus, concluding Tamala to be either Cape Negrais (as
D'Anville supposes), or Botermango (according to the hypothesis
of M. Gosselin), is disposed to place Khruse at the mouth of the
Irrawaddy. Here Gosselin fixes his Golden Chersonese and the
river Chrysoana. " But Ptolemy," remarks Dr. Vincent, " has
two provinces, one of gold and one of iilver, before he arrives at
the Chersonese ; and if his Kirrhadia be Arracan, these provinces
must be on the western coast of Ava, above the Golden Chersonese
of his arrangement." This would seem to prove that Gosselin's
theory is untenable, and that D'Anville is correct in making the
Aurea Chersonesus correspond to the Peninsula of Malacca, and
the Magnum Promontorium to Cape Romania. Tamala may then
be Malaya, and Khruse, Sumatra. The Zaba and Thagora of
Ptolemy, which he mentions as ports on either.side of the great
promontory, are supposed to be Saber (or Saban) and Tingoram.
By the river Daona, seems to be meant that from which the city
of Tana-serim takes its name. Here it may be supposed that the
Seres had a colony. If SerusFluvius be the Meinam, as D'Anville
concludes, we might expect to find traces of the same nation in
this part of the ancient dominions of Siam. See D'ANVILLE'S
Anc. Geoff., vol. ii, pp. 1215. VINCENT'S Periplus, vol. ii. p. 514.
184 BIRMAH.
and rejoining Col. Symes at Meeaday, shall proceed to
trace his route
FROM PROME TO AMARAPURA.
IT has already been mentioned, that the line of
demarcation agreed upon in the armistice between the
British and the Birman forces, was drawn along a
road leading eastward from Nenbon-zeik to Tonghoo.
Respecting this important place, once the capital of a
powerful state, we have at present no certain informa-
tion, as it has never been visited by any European.
It appears to be situated on one of the heads or
tributaries of the Zeet-taung river, and is noted for its
cotton-manufactories. The district is said to be fertile,
but thinly inhabited; it yields the best betel-nut in the
empire. Gold dust is found in the neighbourhood of
the city. The prince of Tonghoo is generally one of
the blood-royal. The inhabitants of this part of the
empire would seem to bear not the very best character.
While Colonel Symes was at Amarapura, the Tonghoo
Tee-kien was residing there with a number of his
followers. They are described as a class of persons
notorious among the Birmans for their insolence and
dishonesty. " I had before heard much," he says,
" of the ferocity of these people : they were always
quarrelling with the followers of the other princes, par-
ticularly those of the prince of Prome." As the mili-
tary retainers of a prince do not always present the
most favourable specimens of national character, it
would be hardly just to draw any sweeping inferences
against the people of Tonghoo from this circumstance;
but it shews that national or provincial feuds and
jealousies are still rife between the several tribes or
clans.
BIRMAH. 185
During Colonel Symes's stay at Meeaday, he made
several short excursions to different parts of the
country. He found little variation in its appearance,
but describes it as very beautiful, though but half cul-
tivated. He was uniformly treated with respect by
the natives. Not only the better class of the inha-
bitants of Meeaday came to visit him, but people of
condition from all the towns and villages, for twenty
miles round; so great was the curiosity excited by
the news of the mission, to see the general of the
strangers. The Colonel says, he often received eight
or ten different companies in a morning. " When a
party wished to be introduced, a message was sent to
ask permission; which being obtained, they entered
the room in a crouching position, and sat down on
their heels, men and women alike. They always
brought a gift of something, whatever they supposed
might be acceptable, tobacco, onions, fine rice, &c. :
no company presented themselves empty-handed; it
would not have been respectful. Of course, their
offerings drew from me a suitable return, such as
fillets of Indian muslin to the women, and a Cossem-
buzar silk handkerchief to the men. Several parties
of women came unaccompanied by their husbands or
any of their male friends; and according to the no-
tions entertained by them, there was nothing indeco-
rous in it; they were unconscious of any thing but
an innocent desire to gratify curiosity, and manifest
respect. Women of a better class were -always accom-
panied by a train of female attendants, and, like the
sex every where, were more lively, good-humoured,
and inquisitive, than the men.
Colonel Symes mentions a very remarkable object,
which he met with in the course of his walks, " a
flat stone, of coarse grey granite, laid horizontally on
186 BIRMAH.
a pedestal of masonry, six feet in length and three in
width, protected from the weather by a wooden shed.
This stone, like that at Pou-oo-dang, was said to bear
the genuine print of the foot of Guadma. On the
plane of the foot, upwards of one hundred emblema-
tical figures are engraved in separate compartments.
Two convoluted serpents are pressed beneath the heel,
and five conch- shells, with the involutions to the
right, form the toes. It was explained to be a type
of the creation, and is held in profound reverence."
The rhahaans made no objection to Colonel Symes's
copying it. A similar impression, he was informed,
is to be seen on a large rock situated between two
hills, one day's journey west of Memboo. Adam's
Peak, in the island of Ceylon, is impressed with another
of these sacred foot-prints; and it is a tradition com-
mon to the Birmans, the Siamese, and the Singalese,
that Gaudma Buddha placed one foot on the continent,
and the other on the island of Ceylon !
On resuming their route for the capital, with a
hard gale from the south, they made way at not less
than five miles an hour, and soon passed, on the
western side, Meelsah-gain ; "a large village at the
foot of a fine, swelling, wooded lawn, ornamented
with some neat temples." Beyond this occurred
some villages of no note. The country seemed popu-
lous, and herds of cattle were seen grazing on the
banks. The next day, they sailed till they came to
an extensive island, which divides the river into two
branches, and taking the eastern channel, brought to
at the lower town of Loon-ghee. "Loon-ghee, or
Great Cable, takes its name from a curious ligament
of stone, which unites a pointed rock that rises in the
middle of the stream with the opposite bank: it has
the appearance of a petrified cable; and the natives
BIRMAH. 187
relate, that, a hundred years ago, a large rope floating
down the river, was stopped at this place, and that,
one end adhering to the rock, and the other to the
bank, the rope was changed into stone. The quality
which the waters of the Irrawaddy possess, of chang-
ing wood into stone, of which," continues Colonei
Symes, " we afterwards saw innumerable instances,
renders the transmutation of the cable by no means
an impossible circumstance. They also say, that the
opposite island formerly constituted part of one situated
fifteen miles higher up, but was severed from it by an
earthquake, and carried down to the place where it
now rests. Whether removed by an extraordinary
convulsion of nature, and by a still more extraordinary
transportation, or whether encircled by the river from
its having changed its channel, the island now consti-
tutes a principal object in one of the finest sylvan
scenes I ever beheld. From a temple above Loon-
ghee, seated on a commanding cliff whose summit
overhangs its base, the eye is gratified with a delightful
combination of natural beauties. A fine sheet of
water, three miles in breadth, broken by an island
more than a mile long and half a mile wide, covered
with trees of luxuriant foliage; eminences on the
opposite shore, that rise from gently swelling grounds
clothed with wood, to brown and rugged mountains,
which, receding in an oblique direction, leave to the
view a long and level plain; these altogether form a
landscape rarely equalled."
The embassy was detained for some days at Loon-
ghee, in compliance with the wishes of the Maywoon
who accompanied it. His infant son had been unwell
for some time, and the illness had now increased to a
dangerous height. " A war-boat was despatched
express to the capital, to bring down medicine and a
PART II. M
188 BIRMAH.
celebrated professor of physic. In the mean time, all
the physicians of the country, to the number of
twenty, were assembled to consult and prescribe for
the sick infant. The disorder was an inflammatory
fever. Tea, made of wild thyme, and decoctions of
several vegetable productions, were the only medicines
administered. They did not, however, neglect to call
in the aid of supernatural remedies : incantations and
amulets were used, to the efficacy of which much was
attributed." While the recovery of the child conti-
nued doubtful, Colonel Symes sent his Hindoo pundit
every morning to inquire after its health. The pundit
was introduced into the sick chamber, where he wit-
nessed the most amiable demonstrations of parental
tenderness. Both the father and the mother were
seen kneeling by the side of the infant's bed, and
they attended on him day and night. At length, the
twenty doctors pronounced their patient out of
danger, to the joy of his parents, and all their
attendants.
During their detention here, Colonel Symes made
several short excursions. The soil in the immediate
neighbourhood is light and sandy, with many loose
stones : it is very favourable for the cultivation of
cotton, several plantations of which were seen. Sesa-
sum also is sown here. The country is, for the most
part, undulating. There are several neat villages
within the distance of two or three miles. A deep
ravine, formed by the monsoon rains, extends inland
from the river, the banks of which are covered with
stunted trees, affording shelter to numerous tigers,
who abound in the adjacent forests. Partridges,
hares, quails, and wood-pigeons of a beautiful plumage,
may be met with in the open fields ; but the jungle-
fowl keep close in the thick covers, where it is dan-
BIRMAH. 189
gerous to venture after them. On the island were
seen a few deer, extremely wild, and three buffaloes.
The cattle used for draft and tillage are remarkably
good. They put only a pair in the plough, which
differs little from that of India. In their large carts,
they yoke four, and often six. Colonel Symes one day
met a waggon drawn by four stout oxen, driven by a
country girl standing in the vehicle, who seemed to
manage the reins and a long whip with equal ease and
dexterity. They were going at a hard gallop, "a
novel sight to a person accustomed to the slow-moving
machines of India, in which the women are almost too
timorous to ride, much less to attempt to guide them."
These vehicles are well constructed, and both neater
and more commodious than the clumsy gawries of Hin-
dostan. A caravan of eighteen waggons, each drawn
by six bullocks, was met travelling from the south
towards the capital. A good tilted roof of bamboo,
covered with painted cloth, threw off the rain. " They
contained not only merchandise, but also entire fami-
lies, the wives, children, monkeys, cats, parroquets,
and all the worldly substance of the waggoner. Each
bullock had a bell under his throat. The wheels not
being greased, a horrid noise announced the approach
of the caravan long before it could be seen. They
travel slowly, from ten to fifteen miles a day. At
night, the waggons are disposed in a circle, and form
a barrier, within which the carriers feed their cattle,
light fires, and dress their victuals, secure from the
attacks of tigers, which much infest the less populous
parts of the empire." A well-frequented road leads
from Loon-ghee to the city of Tonghoo, distant fifteen
day's journey.
At length, the embassy proceeded, and reached, at
the end of the first day's voyage, Mee-ghe-oung-yay
190 BIRMAH.
or Crocodile Town, a place of considerable trade on
the western bank. Nearly a hundred large boats and
several smaller ones were lying off the stairs; they
were taking on board rice, garlic, onions, and oil, for
the consumption of the capital. The fields in this
neighbourhood are divided by thorn hedges ; the low
grounds are planted with rice, and the higher lands with
leguminous shrubs, or are left for pasture. Some
neat farms were observed, each containing four or five
cottages, better built than the houses in general are in
the towns, and fenced round with wide enclosures for
the cattle. In this day's voyage, they passed many
towns and villages, and, about half way, another
island, two miles in extent, on which was a pyramidal
temple called Keendoo-praw, together with several
smaller ones. The next day, they passed Patanagoh,
a long, straggling village, with a richly gilded temple.
Every house had a comfortable garden, enclosed with a
bamboo railing, with orchards of palmyra, plantain,
and mango-trees. Near this place, which is on the
eastern shore, the villagers were seen cutting the
ripened indigo. On the western side, Melloon seemed
rich in temples, but not otherwise important. Nume-
rous villages were seen this day, and several sandy
islands. In the evening, they brought to, on the
eastern side, between the towns of Magway and Span-
zeik. Low, woody hills now begin to skirt the river,
particularly on the eastern bank. The summits of
some of these hills are crowned with temples : one
on the western bank, called Maynbu, appeared to be
considerable. The river, where not interrupted by
islands, is not less than two miles across.
After passing various villages, (among others,
Shoe-lee-rua, or Golden-boat-village, so called from
its being inhabited by watermen in the golden service,)
BIRMAH. 191
the embassy reached, in the afternoon of the third
day, Yanangheoum (Ranangoong), or Earth-oil-creek,
which derives its name from the wells of petroleum
in the neighbourhood. The aspect of the country
now became totally changed. The surface is broken
into small, separate hills, entirely barren; the only
vegetation consists of some stunted bushes that grow
on the declivities and in the dells, and a few un-
healthy trees immediately in the neighbourhood of the
villages. The soil, a reddish clay, is superficially
covered with a quartz-gravel, and concrete masses of
the same material were seen thickly scattered. The
mouth of the creek was crowded with large boats,
waiting to receive a lading of oil; and immense
pyramids of earthern jars were disposed within and
around the village, in the same manner as shot
and shells are piled in an arsenal. Yanangheoum is
situated in lat. 20 28' N., long. 94 30' E. The
town has a mean appearance, notwithstanding its
numerous pagodas, which Captain Cox describes as
falling to ruins. The inhabitants, however, he says,
were well dressed and many of them had gold ear-
ornaments of a spiral form. They ought to be rich,
from the great trade they carry on in the earth-oil.
At the time of his journey, thirty-three large boats,
besides numerous smaller ones, were lying here ; and
thirty-three more large merchant-boats were lying at
two villages a little higher up. Colonel Symes repre-
sents the place to be inhabited only by potters, who
carry on an extensive manufactory, and find full em-
ployment. He found the smell of the oil extremely
offensive. The nearest wells are about three miles
from the river in an E.N.E. direction. The road lies
through the dry, sandy channels of water-courses, and
over rugged, arid downs, partially clothed with plants
M 2
192 BIRMAH
of the euphorbium genus, the cassia-tree, which yields
the cutch, or terra japonica, (used throughout India to
add to the astringency of the betel,) and the hardy biar
or wild plum of India. The wells in this place are
180 in number; they are scattered over the downs at
irregular distances. Four or five miles to the N.E.,
there are 340 more. The oil of naphtha is of a dingy
green, and odorous. It is used for lamps. Boiled with
a little dammer, (a resin of the country), it serves for
paying the timbers of houses and the bottoms of boats,
which it keeps from decay and vermin; it is also em-
ployed as a lotion in cutaneous eruptions, and as an
embrocation in bruises and rheumatic complaints. It
is drawn pure from the wells in the liquid state; but,
in the cold season, it congeals in the open air, and
always loses something of its fluidity. " It is, in
fact," says Captain Cox, " a genuine petroleum, pos-
sessing all the properties of coal-tar. The only differ-
ence is, that Nature elaborates in the bowels of the
earth, that for the Birmans, for which European
nations are indebted to the ingenuity of Lord Dun-
donald."
The method of sinking these wells is ingenious.
" The hill is cut down so as to form a square table of
from fourteen to twenty feet for the crown of the well ;
and from this table, a road is formed by scraping away
an inclined plane. The shaft is sunk of a square
form, and is lined, as the miner proceeds, with frames
of cassia- wood staves; the uppermost ones about four
feet and a half square, but more contracted below.
When a miner has pierced six or more feet of the shaft,
a series of these frames are piled one on another, and
are regularly added to at top, the whole gradually
sinking as he deepens the shaft, so as to secure him
against the falling in of the sides. The strata to be
BIRMAH. 193
pierced through consist of, first, a light, sandy loam,
intermixed with fragments of quartz, silex, &c. ;
secondly, a friable sand-stone, easily wrought, with
thin horizontal strata of martial ore, talc, and indu-
rated argil; thirdly, at about twenty cubits from the
surface, a pale blue, argillaceous schist, impregnated
with the petroleum, very difficult to work, growing
harder as they go deeper, and ending in schist and
slate, such as is found covering veins of coal in Europe.
Below this schist, at the depth of 130 cubits, is coal.
The specimen seen by Captain Cox was mixed with
sulphur and pyrites. The machinery used in drawing
up the rubbish, and afterwards the oil, consists of an
axle crossing the centre of the well, resting on two
rude forked stanchions, with a revolving barrel like
the nave of a wheel, in which is a score for receiving
the draw-rope. The bucket is of wicker work covered
with dammer. To receive the oil, one man is sta-
tioned at the brink of the well, who empties the
bucket into a channel leading to a jar sunk in the
earth, whence it is ladled into smaller ones, and im-
mediately carried down to the river. When a well
grows dry, they deepen it : none have been abandoned,
and they would seem to be inexhaustible. Even the
death of a miner from mephitic air, which sometimes
occurs, does not deter others from persisting in deep-
ening them when dry. The miners assured Captain
Cox, that no water ever penetrates the earth into these
wells. The rains in this part of the country are, in
fact, seldom heavy, owing probably to the high range
of mountains to the eastward, which arrest the clouds.
During the rainy season, a roof of thatch is thrown
over the wells; the waters soon run off to the river,
and what sinks into the earth, is prevented from
descending to any great depth by the increasing hard-
194 BIRMAH.
ness of the oleaginous strata.* The property of these
wells is in the owners of the soil, and descends as a
sort of entailed hereditament, with which, it is said,
the government never interferes, and which no dis-
tress will induce them to alienate. One family gene-
rally possesses as many as four or five wells; seldom
more. A tenth of the produce goes to the king, and
one-sixth to the labourers, either in oil or in money.
The average, produce of each well per diem, Captain
Cox estimates at 300 viss, or 109,500 viss per annum,
equal to 173 tons 9551bs, or, in liquid measure, 793
hogsheads of sixty- three gallons each. And as there
are 520 wells registered by government, the total pro-
duce per annum is 412,360 hogsheads; worth, at the
wells, 711,750 tecals.-^ Between seventy and eighty
boats, of an average burthen of sixty tons, are con-
stantly employed in this branch of commerce.
Colonel Symes picked up near this town, several
lumps of petrified wood, in which the grain was clearly
discernible. " It was hard, silicious, and seemed com-
posed of different lamina. The natives said, that the
petrifying quality of the earth at this place was such,
that leaves of trees shaken off by the wind, were not
unfrequently changed into stone before they could be
decayed by time." This whole tract seems to invite
the researches of the geologist.
After passing Pengkioum, where a small river falls
into the Irrawaddy, the country resumes its verdant ap-
* The coal mines of Whitby are worked below the harbour, and
the roof of the galleries is not more than fifty feet from the bed of
the sea.
t At the wells, it is worth & tecals per 100 viss. It is delivered
to the exporter at the river, at two tecals per 100 visa, the value
being enhanced three-eighths by the portage. At Rangoon, it
is sold at the rate of three sicca-rupees, three anas, and six pice
per 112 Ib.
BIRMAH. 195
pearanee, and the trees shoot up with their usual vigour.
The bed of the river is here very wide, being about
four miles across in the dry season, but its stream is
then divided into different channels by low islands of
sand. On the western bank is seen the town of
Sembu-ghoon, a position of great importance, as here
only the lofty range of Anou-pec-tou-miou, which
sweep round and enclose the province of Arracan,
open and form a pass about sixty miles in length.
Through this opening, all the Bengal merchandise im-
ported into Birmah by way of Arracan, is brought, to
be shipped on the Irrawaddy.* A little higher up, on
the eastern side, is a large town called Pakang-yay,
with several neat temples, surrounded with groves of
palmyra, tamarind, and banyan-trees; here also were
some heavy trading-boats. In the evening after leav-
ing Yanangheoun, the embassy reached Sillah-miou, a
large and handsome town, shaded by wide-spreading
trees, and embellished with several temples. A smooth
bank of the finestvverdure, sloping to the river, adds
much to its beaaty. The soil seemed in general poor,
but some fields were regularly fenced, and large herds
were grazing in the neighbourhood. The crotolaria
juncea, which yields good hemp or flax, grows here
spontaneously. This town is distinguished for its
silk-manufactories. The silk is brought from Yun-
man in China, by way of Amarapura, in a raw state,
and is returned in the web. The colours are bright
and beautiful, though not very durable, and the tex-
ture is close and strong. The goods are mostly woven
* The difficulties of reaching Arracan even through this na-
tural gap, would be almost insurmountable by any other than
native troops, accustomed to jungle warfare. Accordingly, it has
been deemed necessary that the Bengal army, on evacuating Hen-
zawuddy, should retire by way of Rangoon.
196 BIRMAH.
in patterns adapted to the Birman dress. At a short
distance from the town are the ruins of a brick fort,
erected in a very judicious situation.
The next day, they made little progress, owing to
the violence of the current, which obliged the boatmen
to take to their poles. The Arracan mountains ap-
peared to the west, and a lofty conical hill, called
Poupa, was in sight to the eastward. A few villages
and numerous temples skirted the banks. At a place
called Yoo-wa, another small river enters the Irra-
waddy; and two days' journey up this river, is a
large town called Yoo-miou. The district derives its
name from the people called Yoo, who were repre-
sented to Colonel Symes as exceedingly ugly, having
protuberant bellies and white teeth, a great deformity
in the eyes of the Birmans, who stain their teeth, eye-
lashes, and the edge of the eye-lids with black.* The
Yoos are said to speak the language of Tavoy. They
are subject to the Birmans, and are, like them, wor-
shippers of Guadma. Their territory skirts the great
chain of Anou-pec-tou-miou from lat. 21 to 23 N.
Small barren hills now form the eastern bank, abound-
ing with petrifactions, but relieved by fertile and well-
cultivated valleys ; till, after doubling a rocky point,
round which the current sets with formidable rapidity,
we come to the large town of Seen-ghoo, situated on
a green level bank, affording a fine range of pasturage.
For a great distance, small temples are built close to
the river. At Kea-hoh, a poor village, which Colonel
Symes reached in the evening of the third day (from
Yanangheoum), the inhabitants obtain a livelihood by
* The collyrium they use is called surma, the Persian name for
antimony. White teeth, they say, are fit only for dogs ! The
practice of dying the eye-lashes is common to the females of Hin-
dostan and Persia.
BIRMAH. 197
extracting molasses from the palmyra-tree, of which
they make tolerably good sugar. " Although," re-
marks Colonel Symes, " the soil near the river is in
most places unproductive and barren, yet, as we ad-
vanced northwards on the following day, population
increased. Every little hill or rising ground was
crowned with a temple. That of Logah-nunda is dis-
tinguished for its superior size ; it is a clumsy, inele-
gant mass of building, elevated on a semicircular
terrace; the base is painted with different colours,
and the cupola is richly gilded." A little beyond
appears in view the once magnificent city of
PAH-GAHN.
OF this ancient capital, celeorated in Birman
history as the seat of a former dynasty,* little more
Pah-gahn is said to have been the residence of forty-five suc-
cessive monarchs, and to have been abandoned about 500 years ago,
in consequence of a divine admonition. " Whatever may be its
true history," remarks Colonel Symes, " it certainly was once a
place of no ordinary splendour." The learned editor of Marco
Polo's Travels, supposes it to be no other than the ancient capital
of Mien, referred to by that Traveller in his account of the inroad
made into Birmah by the Great Khan. He describes it as distant
fifteen days' journey from the great plain in which the Birmans
were totally defeated by the Tatar army. The coincidence of dates
is remarkable, as five centuries would place the abandonment of
Pah-gahn about the period of the Mongol conquest. Amarapura
did not then exist, and Ava was too near to have taken fifteen days
in reaching it. Marco Polo styles the city large and magnificent.
"The inhabitants," he adds, "are idolaters, and have a language
peculiar to themselves. It is related, that there formerly reigned
in this country a rich and powerful monarch, who, when his death
was drawing near, gave orders for erecting on the place of his inter-
ment, at the head and foot of his sepulchre, two pyramidal towers,
each terminating with a ball. Around the balls are suspended small
bells of gold and silver, which sounded when put in motion by the
wind. The whole formed a splendid object ; and the Great Khan,
198 BIRMAH.
than a few straggling houses is to be seen from the
river; and " in fact," says Colonel Symes, " scarcely
any thing remains of ancient Pagahm, except its nu-
merous mouldering temples, and the vestiges of an old
brick fort, the ramparts of which may still be traced."
Mr Judson ascended one of the principal edifices, up-
wards of a hundred feet high, and he describes the
view presented from the summit as extremely striking
and impressive. " All the country round seems
covered with temples and monuments of every sort
and size ; some in utter ruin, some fast decaying, and
some exhibiting marks of recent attention and repair.
The remains of the ancient wall of the city stretched
beneath us, the pillars of the gates, and many a gro-
tesque decapitated relic, checkered the motley scene."
The ruins are stated by Colonel Symea to cover a space
of ground not less than six or seven miles along the
river and three miles inland. The religious edifices
differ in structure from those in the lower provinces.
" Instead of a slender spire rising to a great height
from an extended base, the temples of Pah-gahn in
general carry up a heavy breadth to very near the
top, and then come abruptly to a point, which gives
them a clumsy appearance.* Many of the more
ancient temples are not solid at the bottom : a well-
upon being informed that they had been erected in pious memory
of a former king, would not suffer them to be violated or injured
in the smallest degree."
* The pyramid of Meidun near Memphis, displays the shape of
the Pah-gahn temple, while that of Gheeza, if surmounted with a
tee, would correspond precisely to that of Shoe-madoo. Both
these pyramidal forms, as well as the globular structures of the
Cingalese, are alike sacred to Buddha under different invocations
or avatars. The variations of structure are neither accidental nor
arbitrary, but imply the particular incarnation to which the edifice
is dedicated.
BIRMAH. 199
arched dome supports a ponderous superstructure.
Within, an image of Guadma sits enshrined. Four
arched door-ways open into the dome." In one of
these, Colonel Symes saw a human figure erect,
which, he was told, represented Guadma, and another
of the same personage, lying on his right side, asleep;
both colossal. He supposes the erect figure, however,
to be rather, the Hindoo, Ananda, and the recumbent
one, Na-ra-yan, sleeping on the waters. A very cu-
rious and ancient temple was being repaired by order
of the Engy-Teekien, at the time of Colonel Symes's
return. " It was built of masonry, and comprehended
several arches, forming separate domes, into which
four arched porches led, that faced the four cardinal
points. On each side of the doors, in recesses in the
walls, were seated gigantic human figures, made of
stucco, with large staring eyes, and the head pro-
truded forward, as if to look at those who approached
the threshold. These were the preternatural porters,
whose power of perception is believed to be such, that
they can penetrate the recesses of the heart, and dis-
cover the sincerity of devotion." The prince intended
to gild this temple; and four visa of gold, equal to
600/., were already prepared for it. The art of turning
well-formed arches of brick, exhibited in the more an-
cient temples, is now lost in Birmah; and wooden
buildings have every where superseded the more sub-
stantial edifices of masonry erected by a former race of
inhabitants.
Pah-gahn stands in lat. 21 9' N., long. 94 35' E.,
about 260 miles distant from Rangoon. A small
river, named in the days of its splendour Shoe-Jciaung y
the golden stream, here falls into the Irrawaddy.
The modern town of Neoundah, about four miles to
the north, is, in fact, a continuation of Pah-gahn, and
PART II. N
200 BTRMAH.
has succeeded to a portion of its honours. " On en-
tering the town," says the Colonel, "we came into a
long, narrow, winding street, about thirty feet wide;
the houses were built of bamboo, and raised from the
ground. This street was full of shops, containing no
other articles than lackered ware; boxes, trays, cups,
&c., varnished in a very neat manner, were displayed
in the front of the shops; they were of various colours;
some had figures painted on them, others wreaths of
flowers. Leaving this street, we crossed a water-
course on a good wooden bridge, and came to the
bazar, or provision market ; the green-stalls seemed
to be well provided with rice, pulse, greens, garlic,
onions, and fruit; there were also fresh fish, gnapee,
and dead lizards, which latter the Birmans account a
delicacy; but there was not any meat. In our pro-
gress, we passed over another bridge, and saw several
streets running in parallel lines: some of these were
inhabited by carriers, whose cattle were feeding on
rice straw round their houses. Having reached the
extremity of the town in this direction, we came upon
a well-paved road, that led to the great temple named
Shoezeegoon, to which we proceeded. On each side
of the road there was a range of small temples, ne-
glected and in ruins: the kioums, or monasteries,
were in good repair, and we saw some handsome
houses for the accommodation of strangers. Shoe-
zeegoon is neither so large nor so well built as the
temples at Rangoon or Pegu; the height does not
exceed 150 feet; it is surrounded with a spacious area,
paved with broad flags, on which there are a number
of smaller buildings, profusely gilded and laboriously
carved. A staircase on the outside leads up to a gal-
lery, about a third of the height of the principal
temple, whence we had an extensive prospect of the
BIRMAH. 201
country, whieh appeared to be exceeding unproductive
and barren.
" Returning by a different way, we walked through
an alley occupied by blacksmiths' shops, furnished
with bill-hooks, spike-nails, adzes, &c. A little fur-
ther on, we saw the ruins of a street that had been
consumed by fire only two days before : from seventy
to eighty houses were destroyed by the conflagration.
Passing through the suburbs, we came to a part where
the inhabitants were employed in expressing oil from
the sesauium seed : the grain is put into a deep,
wooden trough, in which it is pressed by an upright
timber fixed in a frame; the force is increased by a
long lever, on the extremity of which a man sits and
guides a bullock that moves in a circle, thus turning
and pressing the seed at the same time. The machine
was simple, and answered the purpose effectually.
There were not less than 200 of these mills within a
narrow compass. From the circumstance of the cattle
being in good order, we concluded that they were fed
on the seed after the oil was extracted. The land
about Pagahn scarcely yields sufficient vegetation to
nourish goats."
Neoundah is a place of considerable trade. Cotton,
japanned wares, and sesamum oil, are the principal
exports. On his return, Colonel Symes brought to
at night off this place, amid a fleet of not fewer than
two hundred large trading boats, moored at the bank,
in waiting for their lading. Here, in proceeding to
the capital, the envoy took formal possession of a
royal barge which had been sent down from Amara-
pura for his personal accommodation, with two war-
boats to row it. " The platform contained space for
thirty-two rowers, sixteen on each side; but on this
occasion the oars were not fastened, as it was meant
202 BIRMAH.
to be towed by the war-boats. The inside was divided
into three small apartments handsomely fitted up.
The roof and sides were lined with white cotton, and
the floor was covered with carpets and fine mats.
After leaving Neoundah, the eastern bank rises to
from eighty to a hundred feet in perpendicular height.
In the face of the cliff, more than half way up, are
seen apertures resembling door-ways, said to be en-
trances to caves formerly inhabited by hermits The
river is perpetually divided by long islands, but is still
for the most part about three miles wide. After
passing the towns of Sirray-kioum and Gnerroutoh,
both on the eastern bank, they brought to near
Shwayedong, a small but neat town, containing about
300 houses in a regular street, each with its small
garden, fenced with a bamboo railing. Two monas-
teries and a few small temples were seen under the
shade of wide-spreading trees. The country, during
the latter part of the day's voyage, seemed much more
fertile and populous than in the neighbourhood of
Pah-gahn. Keozee, on the same side, is the only place
of consequence that occurred in the next day's voyage.
Near this town, the country is enclosed, and the re-
mains of a tobacco-plantation were seen. Detached
hills appeared to the eastward. They brought to at a
small village called Tou-cheac, where the inhabitants
acquire a livelihood by selling the lapac, or pickled
tea-leaf, of which the Birmans are extremely fond.
The plant grows in a district to the north-east of Ama-
rapura, called Palang-miou, but is very inferior to the
tea of China, and is seldom used but as a pickle.
The river is now from three to five miles in width.
The country continued to improve in the appearance
of culture and population. They passed on the eastern
side, Kiouptaun, or the Line of Rocks, Tanoundain, a
BIBMAH. 203
respectable town, with several other smaller towns
and villages, and in the evening, brought to at an
island opposite Tirroup-miou, or Chinese City. This
name commemorates a victory gained here over a
Chinese army some centuries ago, when Pah-gahn
was the seat of Government. It appears to have
been through many ages, a favourite object of am-
bition with the Chinese emperors, to achieve so de-
sirable a conquest as that of the valley of the Irra-
waddy.
About five miles above Tirroup-miou, the Kiayn-
duem river, which rises in the lower range of
mountains on the confines of Assam, in lat. 25 N.,
mingles its waters with the Irravvaddy. At its en-
trance, the Kiayn-duem is nearly a mile in breadth.
It flows through a very fertile country, and is said to
be navigable for large boats twenty days' distance
from its confluence with the Irrawaddy.
In the rowers of the barge sent down from Amara-
pura to meet the embassy, Col. Symes was struck with
a physiognomy differing much from the other boat-
men, and a softness of countenance resembling the
Bengalese, more than the Birman cast of features. They
proved to be Cassayers who had been brought away
from then: native country, which lies beyond the
Kiayn-duem, when the Birmans earned their preda-
tory incursions across its stream. Above the conflux
of the two rivers, the Irrawaddy has the appearance of
a beautiful canal, the island to the westward, as well
as the eastern bank, being well inhabited. "Num-
berless villages and hamlets, with farm-yards, sur-
rounded with stacks of paddy, buffaloes, horses, and
black cattle, recall to mind scenes of European hus-
bandry, and evince the industry and plenty of the
country." At Yanda-boo, are manufactories of
204 BIRMAH.
earthern-ware ; and at the succeeding town of Sum-
mei-kioum is the greatest manufactory of saltpetre
and gunpowder in the empire. Hence the royal
magazines are supplied ; neither gunpowder nor salt-
petre is, however, suffered to be exported under any
plea, nor can the smallest quantity be sold without a
special license from some man in power. A creek
leads up to this town. The grounds in the neigh-
bourhood are cultivated with rice. Temples and vil-
lages now line the banks so thickly, Colonel Symes
says, that it would be tedious to enumerate them.
Gnameaghee is celebrated for producing the best tobacco
in the empire. Many brick-kilns were burning here,
preparing materials for building temples, of which
there appeared to be already a sufficient number.
Beyond this place occur numerous islands : some of
them are wooded and cultivated, and have inhabitants.
The next place of consequence is Sandaht, or Elephant
Village, situated near a bend of the river, in doubling
which, the boats had great difficulty in making their
way against the powerful stream. It derives its name
from being wholly occupied by the elephant-keepers of
the royal stables. The king is sole proprietor of all
the elephants in his dominions; and the privilege to
ride on or keep one of these animals, is an honour
granted only to personages of the very first rank and
consequence. His Birman majesty is said to possess
six thousand.
The next day, they passed Meah-moo, a large town
on the western bank, remarkable for a manufactory of
coarse checkered cotton cloth ; Yapadain, on the east-
ern side, a town with several temples and a handsome
monastery ; further on, several populous villages, plea-
santly situated and adorned with well-enclosed gar-
dens and orchards of plantain, guava, and other fruit-
BIRMAH. 205
trees; and at night reached Kioptaloun, where a
large temple, surrounded with several small buildings,
was the only object that merited attention. " As our
distance from Amarapura diminished," says Colonel
Symes, " towns and villages on each side recurred at
so short intervals, that it was in vain to inquire the
name of each distinct assemblage of houses. Each,
however, had its name, and was, for the most part,
inhabited by one particular class, professing some
separate trade, or following some peculiar occupation.
We were shewn a tomb erected to the memory of a
person of high distinction, who had been accidentally
drowned near the spot fifteen years before : it was an
oblong brick building, one story high, with eight or
nine doors opening towards the river. Many beautiful
temples and kioums would have engaged our attention,
had we not already seen such numbers, and had we not
been assured that all we had viewed fell far short of
those we should have an opportunity of beholding at
the capital."
Late in the evening of the eighth day from Neoun-
dah, they reached the lower landing-place of what was
long the metropolis of
AVA.
THE scene of desolation which here presented itself,
was very striking. The scattered religious buildings
that yet remain, extend about two miles along the
banks of the river, which are here of a moderate height
and rocky. Ava (or Aungwa), says Colonel Symes,
" is divided into an upper and a lower town, both of
which are fortified. The lower, which is the more
extensive, is about four miles in circumference; it is
protected by a wall thirty feet in height, at the foot of
which there is a deep and broad fosse. The upper fort
206 BIRMAH.
or citadel, about a mile in circuit, was much more
compact and strong than the lower. The walls are
now (1795) mouldering into decay; ivy clings to the
sides, and bushes undermine the foundation, and have
already caused large chasms in different faces of the
fort. The materials of the houses, consisting chiefly
of wood, had, on the first order for removing, been
transported to the new city of Amarapura ; but the
ground, except where covered with bushes or rank
grass, still retains the traces of former buildings and
streets. The lines of the royal palace, the lotoo, or
grand council-hall, and the spot on which the piasath,
or imperial spire, had stood, were pointed out to us by
our guide. Clumps of bamboos, tall thorns, and a few
plaintain-trees, occupy the greater part of the area of
this once flourishing capital. Numerous temples (on
which the Birmans never lay sacrilegious hands) were
dilapidating by time. It would be impossible to draw
a more striking picture of desolation and ruin."
Among the religious buildings within the fort, the
Shoegunga-praw has been always held peculiarly sacred.
An oath of allegiance is taken in this temple by every
Birman officer, on being appointed to any great public
trust, whether civil or military ; and the infringement
of this oath, which is viewed as the most heinous crime
that a Birman can be guilty of, is invariably punished
with the severest tortures. A temple of much greater
magnitude stands a short distance to the westward of
the fort. It is named Logatherpoo-praw, and was
formerly the residence of the zarado or high priest of
the empire. The area on which the temple stands, is
a square surrounded with an arcade of masonry; on
each side are erected nine cubical towers. The temple
in which the stupendous idol is placed, has an arched
excavation which contains the image of Guadania,
BIRMAII. 207
seated on a pedestal in its customary position. The
height of the idol, from the top of the head to the
pedestal, is nearly twenty-four feet. The head is
eight feet in diameter; across the breast it measures
ten feet; and the hands are between five and six
feet long. The pedestal, which is also of marble,
is raised eight feet from the ground. The neck and
left side of the image are gilded, but the right arm
and shoulder remain uncovered. It was declared to
be composed of one block of marble, nor could Col.
Symes, on the closest inspection, observe any junction
of parts.
Ava was, at this period, the resort of numerous
thieves, who found concealment among its decayed
buildings. To any onejicquainted with the fickle cha-
racter of Asiatic rulers, it will cause no surprise to
learn, that recent accounts represent Ava as likely again
to resume its ancient honours as once more the capital
of the empire. Amarapura was the creation of Mindera-
jee-praw ; its streets were laid out on the same plan as
those of Ava. The will of the emperor once expressed,
will soon restore the old city to its former splendour,
and throw back the modern capital into a similar state
of neglect and ruin.
On leaving Ava, the river bends again to the north-
ward, when the opposite city of Chagaing, and the
spires, the turrets, and the lofty piasath of Amara-
pura, create an unexpected pleasure, and exhibit a
fine contrast to the gloomy and deserted walls of Ava.
Chagaing, on the northern side, has also been an im-
perial residence, and is noted in Birman history. It
is situated partly at the foot, and partly on the side of
a rugged bill, which is broken into separate eminences;
and on each summit stands a spiral temple. These
temples, rising irregularly one above another to the
N 2
208 BIRMAH.
top of the mountain, forms a beautiful assemblage of
objects, the effect of which is increased by their being
carefully whitewashed and kept in repair. Chagaing
is the principal emporium to which cotton is brought
from all parts, and where, after being cleaned, it is
embarked for the China market. Its scattered houses
extend for three or four miles along the banks. It is
very populous, and has a large share of trade. There
are remains of a fort built of brick, the walls about
sixteen feet high, but unimportant as to strength,
being commanded by the adjacent hills. The river,
when at its height, has the appearance of a vast lake
interspersed with islands, in which the foundations of
Amarapura seem to be immersed. Numberless boats
are seen passing up and down, and the houses on the
southern shore occur in such uninterrupted succession,
as to appear like a continued town or the suburbs of a
city.
AMARAPURA,
THE immortal city, stands on the banks of the
deep and extensive lake of Tounzemahn, which
communicates by a navigable channel with the Irra-
waddy. The situation is particularly fine for the
site of a metropolis: it was chosen by Minderajee-
praw, who founded the city in 1783. To be seen to
advantage, however, it should be visited when the
river is at its height.* When filled by the periodical
rains, the lake on the one side, and the river on the
other, form a dry peninsula, on which advantageous
* Mr. Judson, who visited Amarapura in January, landed at
O-ding-miou, the lower landing-place. " At our present distance
of nearly four miles from the city," he writes, " (and we cannot
get nearer at this season,) it appears to the worst advantage. We
can hardly distinguish the golden steeple of the palace amid the
glittering pagodas, the summits of which just suffice to mark the
spot of our ultimate destination."
BIRMAH. 209
situation the city is built. The number and variety
of the boats moving on the waters of the lake, the
great expanse of water, and the lofty surrounding
hills, present a most striking scene. The palace,
viewed in this direction, appears a confused assem-
blage of buildings, glittering with a blaze of gilding.
One part of it consists of a square building finished
with battlements, and a flat roof, with Tuscan pilas-
ters at the angles. It is painted white, with gilded
mouldings, but is so surrounded with trees and the
mean abodes of the natives, that it is very imperfectly
seen from the river. The city extends for four miles
along the south-eastern bank, and is filled with reli-
gious buildings of various classes. The palace is about
three-fourths of a mile N.E. by N. from the extre-
mity of the western suburbs, and the fort about one
mile further. To the eastward and northward is a
high range of rugged, barren mountains, distant from
four to five miles. The main breadth of the river,
opposite Amarapura, is about two miles. In the dry
season, its bed is mostly filled with high sandy islands,
then under cultivation; but they are entirely covered
by the inundation, and are annually changing their
form and position.
The fort of Amarapura is an exact square. There
are four principal gates, one in each face, and a smaller
gate on each side of the great gate, equidistant between
it and the angle of the fort; twelve gates in all. At
each angle of the fort there is a large quadrangular
bastion, which projects considerably; there are also
eleven smaller bastions on each side, including those
over the gateway. A curtain extending two hundred
yards connects each bastion. Each side of the fort
occupies 2,400 feet. The rampart, faced with a wall
of brick, is about twenty feet high, exclusive of the
210 BIRMAH.
parapet, which has embrasures for cannon, and aper-
tures for musketry. Small bastions project at regular
distances, and the gates are massive, and guarded by
cannon. Considered as an Eastern fortification, it is
highly respectable, but would be insufficient to resist
modern tactics. From the height and solidity of the
wall, the Birmans deem it impregnable, although a
battery of half a dozen well-served cannon would effect
a breach in a few hours.
The southern face of the fort is washed, during the
rainy season, by the waters of the lake. The houses of
the city and suburbs extend along the bank as far as.
the extreme point of land. The houses have in general
but a mean appearance from the river : they are raised
on piles, with pitched roofs. Few are built of brick
and mortar, except those belonging to members of the
royal family. Many are of wood, with tiled roofs:
others are composed of mats and bamboos, covered in
with shingles or thatch. The houses of the chief per-
sons are surrounded with a wooden enclosure. On the
ridge of the roofs are ranged earthen pots filled with
water, which every citizen is compelled to provide in
readiness against any conflagration. The religious
buildings have a very splendid appearance, owing to
the unbounded expenditure of gilding on the outside
of the roofs, which must cost immense sums. The
gold leaf used is exceedingly pure, and bears exposure
to the air for a long time without injury. The size or
glue used to make it adhere, called seesee, is prepared
from the juice of the croton subiferum.
On the further side of the lake, and opposite to
the fort, stands the village of Tounzemahn, near
which, in a tall grove of mango, palmyra, and
cocoa-nut trees, a dwelling was prepared for the
British embassy; and here all missions to the court
BIRMAH. 211
are detained until after their presentation to the
Golden Feet.* " On entering the lake," says Col.
Symes, " the number of boats that were moored, as
in a harbour, to avoid the influence of the sweeping
flood, the singularity of their construction, the height
of the waters, which threaten inundation to the whole
city, and the amphitheatre of lofty hills that nearly
surrounded us, altogether presented a novel scene
exceedingly interesting to a stranger." f*
The population of Amarapura was estimated by
Capt. Cox, in 1800, at 175,000 persons, and the houses
at between 20,000 and 25,000; but in 1810, Captain
Canning was of opinion, that it did not contain more
than half that number, the entire city having
recently been destroyed by fire. The city is divided
into four subordinate jurisdictions, in each of which a
* The usage of debarring an envoy or foreign minister from en-
tering the capital previously to his first formal presentation, has
long been the established practice of both the Birman and the
Siamese courts.
t The dwelling assigned to Colonel Symes was in a grove, behind
which extended a smooth level plain, intersected by embankments
enclosing plantations of rice. The spot was very little above the
level of the lake, and the river, when it reached its utmost height,
had encroached so much on the grove, as to excite the Colonel's
apprehensions of inundation. " The cause of the swelling of the
waters," he says, " was not apparent, as there had not fallen with
us rain sufficient to produce the smallest alteration in the river.
The Birmans, however, who knew the exact limit to which it would
rise, laughed at our proposing to make arrangements for a sudden
embarkation, and assured us, that within the memory of man, the
floods had never surpassed a certain boundary." Nothing is more
remarkable than this invariable regularity in those vast operations
of nature to which these regions are indebted for their fertility, and
to which it might have been expected that uncertainty must ine-
vitably attach. In like manner the Nile, after a lapse of three and
twenty centuries, still observes the same standard of sixteen cubits
in its periodical rise, that was the point of plenty in the days of
Herodotus.
212 BIRMAH.
raaywoon presides. This officer, who, in the provinces,
has the powers of a viceroy, exercises in the metro-
polis the functions of a mayor and recorder, holding
both a civil and a criminal court of judicature; he
acts also as a sheriff in all capital cases, being obliged
to attend in person at the execution of the culprit.
The power of life and death is vested in the monarch.
The examinations taken by the maywoon are, in such
cases, transmitted to the lotoo, or grand council, by
whom, after further investigation, report is made to
the king. Civil suits may also be transferred from
the lower courts to the lotoo, but at a heavy expense.
There are regular lawyers, who conduct causes and
plead. Eight only are licensed to plead in the lotoo ;
they are styled ameendozaan, and their usual fee is equal
to about 16*. The government has moreover large
profits on all suits that are brought into court. In
fact, the advance which the Birmans have made in
civilization, is most strikingly evirtced by the resem-
blance which in these respects their legal and fiscal
institutions bear to the enlightened system of European
nations.
" In no country in the East," says Colonel Symes,
" is the royal establishment arranged with more
minute attention than in the Birmau court." Next
in rank to the princes of the blood are the woongees,
or chief ministers of state ; they are four in number,
and form the grand council of state. They issue
mandates to the maywoons or provincial viceroys, and
control every department. To assist them in the
administration of affairs, four woondocJcs are associ-
ated with them, who sit in the lotoo in a deliberate
capacity, but have no vote. Four attawoons, or
privy-counsellors, seem to be a sort of check upon
the woongees : they have the peculiar privilege, not
BIRMAH. 213
enjoyed even by the woongees themselves, of access
to the emperor at all times. Besides these grand of-
ficers of state, there are four chief secretaries, called
seredojees, who have numerous screes (writers) under
them; four nakhaanjees, who sit in the lotoo, and
take notes of the proceedings; four sandohffaan, who
regulate all ceremonials, introduce strangers of rank
into the golden presence, and bear messages from the
council to the emperor; nine sandozains, or readers,
attached to the lotoo ; an assay woon, or paymaster-
general ; a daywoon, or king's armour-bearer ; a
chainjeewoon, or master of the elephants; together
with woons, or pages of the queen's household, and of
that of the prince royal. Each of the junior princes
has also his distinct establishment.
"In the Birman government, there are no here-
ditary dignities or employments; all honours and
offices, on the demise of the possessor, reverting to the
crown.
" The tzaloe, or chain, is the badge of the order of
nobility, of which there are different degrees, distin-
guished by the number of strings or small chains that
compose the ornament ; these strings are fastened by
bosses where they unite ; three of open chain work is
the lowest rank; three of neatly twisted wire is the
next ; then of six, of nine, and of twelve. No subject
is ever honoured with a higher degree than twelve :
the king alone wears twenty-four.
" It has already been noticed, that almost every
article of use, as well as ornament, particularly in
their dress, indicates the rank of the owner. The
shape of the betel-box, which is carried by an attend-
ant after a Birman of distinction wherever he goes,
his ear-rings, cap of ceremony, horse furniture, even
214 BIRMAH.
the metal of which his spitting-pot and drinkiug-cup
are made, (which, if of gold, denote him to be a man of
high consideration,) all are indicative of the gradations
of society; and woe be unto him that assumes the in-
signia of a degree which is not his legitimate right ! *
"The court dress of the Birman nobility is very
becoming : it consists of a long robe, either of flowered
satin or velvet, reaching to the ankles, with an open
collar and loose sleeves; over this there is a scarf, or
flowing mantle, that hangs from the shoulders; and
on their heads they wear high caps made of velvet,
either plain, or of silk embroidered with flowers of
gold, according to the rank of the wearer, f Ear-rings
are a part of male dress : persons of condition use
tubes of gold about three inches long, and as thick as
a large quill, expanding at one end like the mouth
of a speaking-trumpet ; others wear a heavy mass of
gold beaten into a plate, and rolled up : this lump of
metal forms a large orifice in the lobe of the ear, and
* This strict observance of the laws of etiquette regulates also
their domestic architecture. In constructing houses, whether
temporary or permanent, the rank of the occupant determines the
form and number of stages of which the roof may be composed ;
nor dares any subject assume a mode of structure to which he is
not legally entitled : he would soon have his house pulled about
his ears. Gradations of rank are indicated also by the chattdh or
umbrella. That of the emperor is white with a deep fringe,
adorned with gold lace and plates ; those of the princes of the blood
are gilded, but without fringe ; those of the woongees are of the
same shape as the imperial one, but red instead of white ; those of
the tributary princes are yellow; those of the maywoons of pro-
vinces, blue. Inferior officers have black umbrellas, but supported
by very long shafts. Commoners use black umbrellas, with shafts
of moderate length.
t Three officers of high rank who visited Col. Symes, are de-
scribed as having their caps ornamented with a wreath of gold
leaves, not unlike the strawberry-leaves in a ducal coronet.
BIRMAH. 215
drags it down by the weight to the extent sometimes
of two inches. The women, likewise, have their dis-
tinguishing paraphernalia: their hair is tied in a
bunch at the top of the head, and bound round with
a fillet, the embroidery and ornaments of which ex-
press their respective ranks, a short shift reaches
to the pit of the stomach, is drawn tight by strings,
and supports the bosom; over that is a loose jacket
with close sleeves ; round their waist they roll a long
piece of silk or cloth, which, reaching to their feet,
and sometimes trailing on the ground, encircles them
twice, and is then tucked in. When women of con-
dition go abroad, they put on a silk sash, resembling
a long shawl, which crosses the bosom, and is thrown
over the shoulders, gracefully flowing on each side.
The lowest class of females often wear only a> single
garment, in the form of a sheet, which, wrapped round
the body, and tucked in under the arm, crosses the
breast, which it scarcely conceals, and descends to
their ankles. Every woman, when walking, must shew
great part of her leg, as what may be called the petti-
coat is always open in front, instead of being closed by
a seam.
" Women, in full dress, stain the palms of their
hands and their nails of a red colour, for which they
use a vegetable juice, and strew on their bosoms powder
of sandal-wood, or of a bark called suneka, with which
some rub their faces. Men of rank wear, in common
dress, a tight coat, with long sleeves made of muslin,
or of extremely fine nankeen, which is manufactured
in the country; also a silk wrapper that encircles the
waist. The working class are usually naked to the
middle; but in the cold season, a mantle or vest of
European broad cloth is highly prized."
The description given by Colonel Symes of his
216 BIRMAH.
formal presentation to the Lord of all Elephants, is
highly curious and interesting. Owing, as it should
seem, to unfavourable impressions respecting the rela-
tive greatness and importance of the British empire,
which he ascribes to foreign emissaries, and a hesi-
tation on the part of the Birman emperor to recog-
nise the governor-general of India in any higher cha-
racter than that of a provincial governor, our envoy
was at first treated with a parsimonious politeness
bordering on contempt. At the first interview, the
throne was vacant, his majesty not deigning to illu-
minate them with the golden presence. At the same
time, a studied exhibition was made of the pomp and
dignity of the court. An elephant was sent to convey
Colonel Syines from the landing place to the palace ;
but Dr. Buchanan and Mr. Wood, who were attached
to the mission, were provided only with horses. The
procession was arranged with due formality. After
proceeding a short way, they entered a wide and hand-
some street, paved with brick. The houses, which
were low, built of wood, and tiled, had evidently been
afresh white-washed for the occasion, and were deco-
rated with boughs and flowers. In front of each house
projected a slight latticed railing of bamboo, over which
were hung mats, forming a sort of covered balcony,
every one of which was crowded with spectators, male
and female. Boys sat on the tops of the houses, and
the streets were so thronged as to leave only space
sufficient for the procession to pass; but throughout
this crowd there was no disturbance or noise. Every
person, as the procession came in sight, squatted down,
and remained in that respectful position till it had
passed. The pagwaats, or constables, armed with long
rods, drove back those who advanced too far, but
without hurting any one. The distance from the
BIRMAH. 217
landing-place to the fort, the colonel supposes to be
two miles. Within the fort are the dwellings of the
official persons. They passed through a market sup-
plied with rice, pulse, and other vegetables, but saw
neither meat nor fish. At the distance of two short
streets from the palace, they dismounted and pro-
ceeded on foot to the rhoom> a lofty hall, raised four or
five feet from the ground, and open on all sides, in the
centre of a spacious area, about a hundred yards from
the gate of the palace. On entering this saloon, they
were required to put off their shoes, and to take their
seats on the carpets spread for them, with their faces
towards the palace gate, awaiting the arrival of the
princes of the royal family.
The prince of Pah-gahn, the junior in rank, though
not in years, being born of a different mother, first made
his appearance, mounted on the neck of a very fine ele-
phant,* which he guided himself, while a servant be-
hind screened him from the sun with a gilded cliattah.
Fifty musketeers led the way; next came a number of
halberdiers, carrying spears with gilded shafts and de-
corated with gold tassels, followed by six or eight officers
of his household, dressed in velvet robes, with em-
broidered caps, and chains of gold depending from the
left shoulder to the right side; these immediately pre-
* Men of rank in Birmah always guide their own elephants,
sitting on the neck in the same manner as the drivers do in India.
Owing to this custom, they are unprovided with those commodious
seats in which an Indian gentleman reposes at ease on the back of
this noble beast while the guidance is intrusted to the attendant.
Colonel Symes was placed in a large wicker basket, somewhat re-
sembling the body of an open carriage, but smaller, without any
seat, but carpeted, and fastened to the animal by iron chains passed
round his body : the equipage was neither comfortable nor ele-
gant. It is remarkable, that the drivers, instead of making the
elephant kneel to receive his rider, guided him to a stage erected
for the purpose of mounting.
218 BIRMAH.
ceded the prince's elephant; another body of spear-
men, with his palanquin of state, closed the procession.
On entering the gate, the prince gave to an attendant
the polished iron hook with which he governed his
elephant, as any thing that can be used as a weapon
is not suffered to be brought within the precincts of
the palace, even by the emperor's sons. Soon after,
the prince of Tonghoo, the next in precedence, ap-
peared, attended by a similar suite ; and then in suc-
cession, the princes of Bassien and Prome. The Engy-
Teekien, or heir-apparent, came last, just as the great
drum that proclaims the hours, sounded twelve from
a lofty tower near the palace. He was preceded by a
body guard of infantry, of 4 or 500 men, armed with
muskets, and uniformly clothed and accoutred. Next
came a party of Cassay troopers, in their fanciful dress
and high conical caps bending backwards. They
were followed by twenty or thirty men with gilded
wands. Then, after eighteen or twenty officers of rank
with gilded helmets, came the civil officers of the
household, wearing the tzaloe, or chain of nobility,
over their robes, and in their caps of state. The prince
now appeared, borne on men's shoulders, in a very rich
palanquin, but without any canopy. On each side
walked six Cassay astrologers of the brahminical sect,
in white gowns and white caps studded with gold
stars. Close behind, servants carried the prince's gold
water-flaggon and an immense gold betel-box. Several
elephants and led horses, with rich housings, came
after; and lastly, inferior officers and a body of spear-
men, with three companies of musketeers, one clothed
in blue, another in red, and another in green, closed
the procession. The utmost decorum and regularity
were maintained; and if, Colonel Symes observes, the
parade was less splendid than imperial Delhi could
BIRMAH. 219
exhibit in the days of Mogul magnificence, it was far
more decorous than that of any court of Hindustan at
the present day. The whole of these processions occu-
pied two hours.
Colonel Symes was now permitted to proceed to the
lofoo, or grand hall of audience, where the court was
assembled in all the pomp that Birmah could display.
This magnificent hall was supported by seventy-seven
pillars, disposed in eleven rows: the space between
the pillars, Colonel S. judged to be about twelve
feet, except the central row, which was wider. The
roof of the building was composed of different stages,
the highest in the centre. The row of pillars that
supported the middle roof, was between thirty-five and
forty feet in height ; the others gradually diminished
towards the extremities of the building, and those
which sustained the balcony were not more than twelve
or fourteen feet high. At the further end of the hall, a
high gilded lattice extended quite across the building :
in its centre was a gilded door, elevated five or six
feet from the floor, which, when open, displayed the
throne. At the bottom of the lattice was a gilt balus-
trade, in which were deposited the umbrellas and other
insignia of state. The royal colour is white, and the
umbrellas are of white silk bespangled with gold.
Within this saloon were seated on their inverted legs,
all the princes, woongees attawoons, officers of state,
and principal nobility of the Birman empire. The
space between the central pillars is always left open,
that the Golden Eyes may not behold any persons but
from choice. In a few minutes, eight Brahmins, dressed
in uhite sacerdotal gowns, and silk caps of the same
colour studded with gold, assembled round the foot of
the throne, within the balustrade, and recited a long
prayer in not unpleasing recitative ; this ceremony
220 BIRMAH.
lasted a quarter of an hour. When they had withdrawn,
the letter from the governor-general was placed on a
silver tray in front of the railing ; a reader then ad-
vanced, and chanted what was understood to be a Bir-
man translation of it, and proclaimed a list of the pre-
sents for the emperor. Some questions were now put
to the envoy by a nakhaanjee, as from his majesty,
respecting the royal family of Great Britain and the
state of England ; the officer withdrawing each time,
to communicate the colonel's reply to the invisible
sovereign.* A handsome dessert of sweetmeats, Chinese
and Birman, including laepac or pickled tea-leaf and
betel, was now served up in silver, china, and glass-
ware. The gentlemen of the embassy tasted of a
few, and found some of them very palatable. It was
at length intimated, that there was no occasion for
them to remain any longer; and after making three
obeisances to the empty throne, they were reconducted
to the saloon. Here they waited till the princes had
taken their departure, the Engy-Teekien first, and the
others according to their rank, and then returned to
their dwelling on the island.
At length, the unequivocal marks of disrespect
which Col. Symes received, determined him on pre-
ferring a temperate remonstrance. It had its designed
effect, and his Birman majesty at length consented to
receive the English gentlemen in the character of an
imperial deputation. This time they were received
with far more attention. Tea was served to them in
the rhoom, and they were permitted to wear their
shoes till they reached the inner enclosure that sepa-
* No inquiry whatever was made respecting the governor-gene-
ral, nor, in the colonel's subsequent conversations with the princes,
was his name once mentioned ; but the woongees were anxious to
draw from Mr. Wood the real extent of his authority.
BIRMAH. 221
rates the court of the lotoo from that of the royal
palace, which no nobleman is allowed to tread with
covered feet. The royal saloon of ceremony into which
they were now ushered, was an open hall, supported
by colonnades of pillars, twenty in length and four in
depth. The basement of the throne, as in the lotoo,
was alone visible : it was about five feet from the floor.
Folding-doors screened the seat. The whole was
richly gilded and carved. On each side extended a
small gallery, enclosed with a gilded balustrade, a few
feet in length, containing four umbrellas of state; and
on two tables at the foot of the throne, were placed
several large vessels of gold, of various forms. Imme-
diately over the throne, a splendid piasath rose in
seven stages above the roof of the building, crowned
by a tee, from which issued a spiral rod. "We had
been seated little more than a quarter of an hour,"
says the colonel, " when the folding-doors that con-
cealed the seat, opened with a loud noise, and disco-
vered his majesty* ascending a flight of steps that
led up to the throne from the inner apartment. He
advanced but slowly, and seemed not to possess the free
use of his limbs, being obliged to support himself with
his hands on the balustrade. I was informed, how-
ever, that this appearance of weakness did not proceed
from any bodily infirmity, but from the weight of the
regal habiliments in which he was clad: and if what
we were told was true, that he carried on his dress
fifteen viss (upwards of fifty pounds avoirdupois) of
gold, his difficulty of ascent is not surprising. On
reaching the top, he stood for a minute, as though to
* This was Minderajee-praw, who, "wearied with the fatigues
of royalty, went up to amuse himself in the celestial regions," in
1819, after a prosperous reign of thirty-seven years, and was suc-
ceeded by his favourite grandson, the present emperor.
222 BIRMAII.
take breath, and then sat down on an embroidered
cushion with his legs inverted. His crown was a high
conical cap, richly studded with precious stones ; his
fingers were covered with rings; and in his dress he
bore the appearance of a man cased in golden armour,
while a gilded, or probably a golden wing on each
shoulder, did not add much lightness to his figure.
His looks denoted him to be between fifty and sixty
years old, of a strong make, in stature rather beneath
the middle height, with hard features, and of a dark
complexion; yet, the expression of his countenance
was not unpleasing, and seemed, I thought, to indicate
an intelligent and inquiring mind.
" On the first appearance of his majesty, all the
courtiers bent their bodies, and held their hands joined
in an attitude of supplication. Nothing further was
required of us, than to lean a little forward, and to
turn in our legs as much as we could, not any act
being so unpolite or contrary to etiquette, as to pre-
sent the soles of the feet towards the face of a digni-
fied person. Four Brahmins, dressed in white caps and
gowns, chanted the usual prayer at the foot of the
throne: a nakhaan then advanced into the vacant
space before the king, and recited in a musical cadence
the name of each person who was to be introduced on
that day, and of whose present, in the character of a
suppliant, he entreated his majesty's acceptance. My
offering consisted of two pieces of Benares gold bro-
cade; Dr. Buchanan and Mr. Wood each presented
one. When our names were mentioned, we were
separately desired to take a few grains of rice in our
hands, and, joining them, to bow to the king as low
as we conveniently could, with which we immediately
complied. When this ceremony was finished, the
king uttered a few indistinct words, to convey, as I
BIRMAI-I. 223
was informed, an order for investing some persons pre-
sent with the insignia of a certain degree of nobility :
the imperial mandate was instantly proclaimed aloud
by heralds in the court. His majesty remained only
a few minutes longer, and during that time looked at
us attentively, but did not honour us with any verbal
notice, or speak at all, except to give the order before
mentioned. When he rose to depart, he manifested
the same signs of infirmity as on his entrance. After
he had withdrawn, the folding-doors were closed, and
the court broke up.
" In descending, we took notice of two pieces of
cannon, apparently nine-pounders, which were placed
in the court, on either side of the stairs, to defend the
entrance of the palace. Sheds protected them from the
weather, and they were gilded all over. A royal car-
riage was also in waiting, of curious workmanship, and
ornamented with a royal spire: there was a pair of
horses harnessed to it, whose trappings glistened in
the sun."
In the outer court, Col. Symes saw the immense
piece of ordnance captured at Arracan: it had been
gilded and placed beneath a roof of a dignified order.*
Prior to this interview with the emperor, Col.
Symes attended the levees of the Engy Teekien and
the queen dowager. The etiquette observed in his visit
to the prince, was much the same as in his presen-
tation to the emperor. The saloon of audience was
adorned with six rows of pillars, seven in a row; but
there was neither gilding nor paint on them, such
ornaments being strictly confined to the sovereign and
the priesthood ; and the naked pillars gave a very rude
appearance to the apartment. Four Brahmin priests
See page 42.
PART II. O
224 BIBMAH.
chanted a prayer, that lasted a quarter of an hour; at
the close of which, a window opened at the end of the
saloon, and discovered the prince seated behind it,
dressed in a habit that shone with gold, and with a
pyramidal cap that glistened exceedingly. His head
and shoulders alone were visible. He spoke not a
word, and noticed no one, but sat erect and motionless
like a pagod. A list of the presents was recited by a
reader kneeling in front of the sofa ; and after about
a quarter of an hour had elapsed in this dumb inter-
view, the shutters were suddenly closed, and they
saw him no more. Subsequently, however, the prince
vouchsafed to honour Col. Symes with an. unceremo-
nious reception, when, instead of merely exhibiting
himself from a casement, he was seated on a richly
ornamented couch, in a very simple costume : he wore
a vest of white muslin, with a lower garment of silk,
and his head was bound with an embroidered fillet.
His manners on this occasion were frank and free from
ostentation; he asked many frivolous questions, and
endeavoured to amuse his visiter with the prattle of two
sprightly children, his daughters. *
The interview with Medaw-praw, the queen dowager,
was far more interesting. An Asiatic princess holding
a drawing-room, is no ordinary spectacle. This ve-
* This prince, to whom Minderajee-praw is said to have been
particularly attached, died before his father, in consequence of
which, his son, at that time a boy, was declared heir to the throne.
His claims, however, appear to have been contested by his uncles,
and his accession was the signal for the execution of the Prince of
Tonghoo, with his family and adherents. The Prince of Prome
also, whose daughter he had married, was thrown into prison,
where he died of his wounds shortly after. " The emissaries of
the new king," writes Mr. Judson, (July 1819) " are searching in
every direction for the adherents and proteges of his deceased
uncles." He was crowned on the 2d of November following.
BIRMAH. 22o
nerable personage appears to have been held in the
highest estimation. Her sister had been the wife of the
famous Alom-praw, and her daughter being espoused
to the reigning monarch, she stood in the double rela-
tion of aunt and mother-in-law to Minderajee-praw.
Her rank gave her precedence over all the sons of the
emperor, except the heir-apparent. Col. Byrnes found
her residing in a very handsome mansion, near the pa-
lace. " We entered the enclosure," he says, " without
any of the parade observed in our former visits. At the
bottom of the stairs we put off our shoes, and ascended
into a handsome hall, supported by several lofty pil-
lars ; at the further end, a portion of the floor was ele-
vated six or eight inches, and separated by a neat
balustrade from the rest of the room; within this
space, under a white canopy, was placed a large
cushion of blue velvet fringed with gold, on a carpet
covered with muslin. There was a numerous assem-
blage of both sexes, but particularly women, sitting
round the balustrade. As soon as we entered, a space
was immediately vacated for us to occupy, in front of
the door and opposite to the cushion. After we had
been seated a few minutes, the old lady came forth
from an inner apartment, and walked slowly towards
the elevated seat, supported by two female servants,
whilst another held up her train ; her long white hair
hung loose upon her shoulders, but she wore neither
covering nor ornament upon her head. Her dress,
which was extremely fine, without being gaudy, be-
came her advanced years and high dignity : it consisted
of a long robe of white muslin, and over her shoulders
was thrown a sash of gauze, embroidered with sprigs
of gold. She advanced to where the cushion was
placed, and took her seat on the carpet, supporting
her head on her arm that rested on the pillow, whilst
226 BIBMAH.
the two female attendants, neatly dressed, kneeling,
one on each side, fanned her with long gilded fans.
Every person seemed to pay her profound respect, and
when she entered, both men and women bent their
bodies in the attitude of submission. I had brought,
as a token of my veneration, a string of pearls and
some fine muslin. The Sandphgaan announced the
offering, and enumerated the articles with a loud voice,
entreating, in my name, her gracious acceptance of
them. She looked at the English gentlemen with
earnestness, but seemed entirely to disregard the
Chinese, although their dress was much more showy
than ours. Her manner was on this occasion extremely
complaisant, and she asked several questions, such as,
what were our names ? how we were in health ? what
were our ages ? On being informed, she obligingly said,
she would pray that we might attain as great a longe-
vity as herself; adding, that she had reached her
seventy-second year. I did not perceive, amongst the
numerous company that attended, any of the junior
princes, or of the principal ministers, although there
were several personages of distinction. After she had
retired, a very handsome dessert was served up : the
fruits and preserves were delicious: whatever China
could yield, was united with the produce of their own
country. Having tasted of various dishes, we withdrew
without any ceremony."
Rope-dancers, figure-dancers, musicians, tumblers,
and masquerade performers, were in attendance both
at the imperial palace and at the levees of the princes.
The tumblers, however, appeared much inferior in
agility to those of southern India.
When Captain Cox repaired to Amarapura, the
emperor, with all his court, was residing at Mhe-
ghoon, a few miles higher up the river, where his
BIRMAH. 227
majesty was busily employed in erecting a magnificent
pagoda. The city of Mheghoon was at this time
merely " an assemblage of bamboo huts, with a few
wooden houses, straggling along the western bank of
the river for about two miles, under a range of high,
barren hills." About the centre was a wooden pa-
lace, externally of a mean appearance, a little beyond
which was the site of the intended pagoda. His ma-
jesty held his court in a large tent, about 300 feet in
diameter, supported in the centre by a stout mast
about sixty feet high, and the sides resting on an
arcade of a hundred arches, of bamboo work, with
wooden piers about fifteen feet high. " The throne,
which came close to the outer edge of the tent, was an
octagon of wood, like a large pulpit; each face was
about ten feet ; the floor elevated about six feet above
the level of the tent ; the sides open to the south and
east, the west and north sides skreened by a curtain ;
the floor was carpeted, and a raised bench, covered
with velvet cushions laced with gold, was placed near
the centre, a little advanced to the front. Below,
within the circle of the tent, was a raised seat like a
clerk's reading-desk, covered with green velvet, edged
and trimmed with broad gold lace, with large red
velvet cushions on it, trimmed in the same manner.
To the right and left of the throne, on the ground,
just within the arcade of the tent, were ranged twenty
of the king's body-guard, in satin gowns trimmed
with gold lace, with treble scolloped capes and cuffs,
and gilt hats like Mambrino's helmet. Nearer the
throne, to the right or west side, were seated in a line
with the body-guards, six eunuchs of the palace, na-
tive Mahommedans, in white jammas and coloured silk
lungees, with white handkerchiefs round their heads.
The princes of the blood, the chobwas (petty tributary
o 2
228 BIBMAH.
princes), and all the courtiers of superior rank, were
dressed in red velvet gowns, like that worn by the
maywoon ; the caps of the princes and chobwas varying
according to their rank, which is further denoted by
the gold chains they wear. The inferior courtiers'
dress and caps were made of satin trimmed with narrow
gold lace, but in form the same as the viceroy's.
" His majesty was dressed in white muslin with a
gold border, and had on a crown, shaped something
like a mitre, about fifteen inches in height. In his
hand he had a Small chowrie, made of peacock's quills,
with which he fanned away the flies. When seated,
he asked in a clear and audible voice, which was the
resident. The interview lasted about twenty minutes,
during which the emperor made several inquiries re-
specting the Europeans, and at length, addressing the
viceroy, said, " The weather is very warm I must
retire : take care of him."
Mr. Burnet, who attended Capt. Cox, was subse-
quently admitted to a still more familiar interview
with his majesty in his retreat at Mheghoon. He
found the king seated on a common mat on the floor
of his bungalow, reclining on pillows covered with
green velvet. He was dressed in an open jamma of
white cloth, a common silk lunyee round his loins, his
hair gathered into a knot on the crown of his head,
without any handkerchief. The courtiers and Mr.
Burnet were arranged on the same level, but on the
bare bamboos. The king's grandson came in and took
his seat at his majesty's left hand, on which Mindera-
jee-praw embraced and kissed him. The daughter of
the prince of Prome, the intended wife of the grand-
son, seated herself on his right hand. Several of the
emperor's daughters also came in, bowed to the ground,
and then seated themselves opposite to his majesty.
BIRMAH. 221)
Mr. Burnet, though evidently noticed, was not spoken
to by the emperor, whose mind was at this time wholly
occupied with the changes which he meditated intro-
ducing in the ecclesiastical system of the empire,* but
which, it seems, he found it impracticable or impolitic
to carry into effect. A few months after, the new regu-
lations were repealed (it is said at the intercession of
the queen), and the priesthood were again admitted to
his favour
* " Among the observations that were made by him on the
subject, he said, that he feared too many resorted to a religious
life from a love of indolence ; that he did not pretend to be learned
in these matters himself, but, as the head of the religion of his
dominions, it was his duty to see that those immediately intrusted
with its rites were well informed ; and in consequence, he gave
orders that candidates for the superiority of keoums should in
future undergo a more strict examination. His courtiers main-
tained a humble and profound silence, except when occasionally
answering in the affirmative. It appears that his majesty is much
dissatisfied with the present state of religion in his dominions,
and meditates some great changes. He has found the priesthood
in general miserably ignorant ; even his arch-priest cannot satisfy
his doubts. He says, they read over their canonical books, when
they first enter the monastic life, as a task imposed on school-
boys ; and although they have no other employment to engage
their attention, they never afterwards investigate or inquire into
the mystical meaning of their rites ; so that they are totally unfit
to instruct the people. Hence the various abuses that have crept
into their religion ; the building of small pagodas, the use of beads,
&c., all of which are cloaks for hypocrisy, and unauthorised by. the
tenets of their ancient faith. These he means to forbid ; also the
practice of the poonghees taking servants with them to carry the
provisions they collect in the morning ; and to restrain the number
of poonghees. These severe strictures and meditated reforms alarm
his courtiers very much : they dare not remonstrate, and are afraid
to obey." P. 231. It seems that Minderajee-praw was in no small
degree under the influence of the Brahmin magi attached to his
court. He wished to introduce an additional intercallary moon, in
order to rectify die Birman calendar ; but the rhahaans resisted
the innovation, and in the end prevailed. See As. Res. vol. vL
p. 170.
230 BIRMAH.
Minderajee-praw was believed to be in heart hostile
to the established religion, and his death was the sig-
nal for renewed exertions on the part of the priests.
" Since the decease of the old king," writes Mr. Jud-
son, in 1819, "the people have been more engaged
than ever in building pagodas, making sacred offerings,
and performing the public duties of their religion."
A persecuting spirit, instigated, by the rhahaans, be-
gan at the same time to manifest itself against the
estimable American missionaries stationed at Rangoon,
which determined Mr. Judson and his colleague to go
up to the new sovereign with their memorial.* They
obtained without difficulty, through the good offices of
the former viceroy of Rangoon, permission to behold
the golden face. " The scene to which we were
introduced," says Mr. Judson, " really surprised our
expectation. The spacious extent of the hall, the
number and magnitude of the pillars, the height of
the dome, the whole completely covered with gold,
* We have been unable to ascertain from any document the
name of the reigning emperor ; a circumstance which will awaken
no surprise when the Birman etiquette on this point is known.
" Among the Hindus," says Dr. Buchanan, "it has never been
customary to call any prince by his proper name. This custom has
been communicated to the Birmans with such strength, that it is
almost impossible to learn the name of any prince during his reign.
His titles only can be lawfully mentioned ; and the law is enforced
with such rigour, that Birmans even in Calcutta shudder when
requested to mention his dreadful name." Asiat. Res. vol. vi.
p. 264. In the letter addressed by Minderajee-praw to the governor-
general (Sir John Shore), given by Col. Symes, no name occurs,
but the imperial writer is designated as " the lord of earth and air,
the monarch of extensive countries, the sovereign of the kingdoms
of Sonahparinda, Tombadeva, Seawuttena, Zaniengnia, Soona-
boomy, in the district of Hurry Mounza, in the country of Zemee,
Hamaratta, Dzodinagara, &c. ; " moreover, master of the white,
red, and mottled elephants; with a string of other pompous and
unmeaning titles. By the way, no mention is made of the pro-
prietorship of the white elephant.
BIRMAH. 231
presented a most grand and imposing spectacle. Very
few were present, and these evidently great officers of
state. We remained about five minutes, when every
one put himself iiito the most respectful attitude, and
Moung Yo whispered that his majesty had entered.
We looked through the hall as far as the pillars would
allow, and presently caught sight of this modern Aha-
suerus. He came forward, unattended, in solitary
grandeur, exhibiting the proud gait and majesty of an
eastern monarch. His dress was rich, but not dis-
tinctive; and he carried in his hand the gold-sheathed
sword, which seems to have taken the place of the
sceptre of ancient times. But it was his high aspect
and commanding eye that chiefly rivetted our atten-
tion. He strided on. Every head, excepting ours,
was now in the dust. We remained kneeling, our
hands folded, our eyes fixed on the monarch. When
he drew near, we caught his attention : he stopped and
partly turned towards us. * Who are these ? ' * The
teachers, great king,' I replied. ' What ! you speak
Birman? the priests that I heard of last night?
when did you arrive ? are you teachers of religion ?
are you like the Portuguese priest ? are you mar-
ried ? why do you dress so ? ' These and some other
similar questions we answered; when he seemed
pleased with us, and sat down on an elevated seat,
his hand resting ou the hilt of his sword, and his eyes
intently fixed on us."
Moung Zah, the prime minister of state, now read
the petition, which stated, that the American teachers
had come up to behold the golden face, and had reached
the bottom of the golden feet, to ask permission to
preach their religion in the Birman empire, and that
those who were pleased with it, whether foreigners or
natives, might not be molested by the officers of go-
232 BIRMAH.
vernment, this being the only favour they had to ask
of the excellent king, the sovereign of land and sea.
The emperor heard the petition, and stretched out his
hand. Moung Zah crawled forward and presented it.
His majesty began at the top, and deliberately read it
through : he then handed it back without saying a
word, and took the tract which had been prepared by
the missionaries as a statement of their doctrines. He
held it long enough to read the two first sentences,
which asserted, " that there is one eternal God, who is
independent of the incidents of mortality, and that,
beside him, there is no god ; " he then, with an air
of indifference or disdain, dasded it to the ground.
Moung Yo, an officer of the viceroy, made an attempt
to serve them by unfolding one of the volumes which
composed their present a Bible in six volumes, co-
vered with gold leaf, each volume enclosed in a rich
wrapper : but his majesty took no notice. After a few
moments, Moung Zah interpreted his imperial master's
will in the following terms : " In regard to the objects
of your petition, his majesty gives no order. In regard
to your sacred books, his majesty has no use for them :
take them away." Something was said respecting
Mr. Colman's skill in medicine, upon which the em-
peror once more opened his mouth and said, "Let
them proceed to the residence of my physician, the
Portuguese priest ; let him examine whether they can
be useful to me in that line, and report accordingly."
He then rose from his seat, strided on to the end of
the hall, and there throwing himself down upon a
cushion, lay listening to the music and gazing at the
parade spread before him. The missionaries subse-
quently learned from Moung Zah, that the policy of
the Birman government, in regard to the toleration of
any foreign religion, is precisely the same as that of
BIRMAH. 233
the Chinese; that there was no room to hope that any
of the emperor's subjects who should embrace a reli-
gion different from his own, would be exempt from
punishment: and that, in presenting a petition to
that effect, they had been guilty of an unpardonable
offence.*
This interview took place in January 1820. Cha-
grined and disheartened, Mr. Judson returned to Ran-
goon, and subsequently accompanied Mrs. Judson to
Bengal, for the benefit of her health. In January
1821, he resumed his duties at Rangoon, under some-
what more favourable auspices. The viceroy had given
unequivocal evidence of his disposition not to inter-
fere, and had defeated the efforts of some of the native
priests to injure Moung Shwa Gnoung, the most pro-
minent among the converts. Towards the close of
this year, Mr. J. was joined by Dr. Price, an American
physician. In the mean time, it seems, the emperor
had sometimes made inquiries respecting the Ameri-
can teachers, in such a manner as to awaken a hope
that another application might be more successful than
the first had been ; and reports of Dr. Price's medical
and chirurgical skill having reached the golden ears,
an order was despatched from Amarapura, requiring
his attendance at the palace. Accordingly, on the
28th of August, 1822, Mr. Judson and Dr. Price, leav-
ing the mission at Rangoon in charge of Mr. Hough,
set out for the capital, which they reached on the
27th of September following. They were favourably
received by the emperor, f with whom, and some of his
* Judson's Account, pp. 228 234.
t When the missionaries were presented to the king this time
(Sep. 27, 1822). Dr. Price was received very graciously; but,
though Mr. Judson appeared before him almost every day, the
emperor did not notice him till the 1st of October, when he thus
234 BIRMAH.
chief courtiers, conversations were several times held
on the subject of Christianity. After spending about
four months at Amarapura, Mr. Judson returned to
Rangoon, to fetch his lady, while Dr. Price remained
behind, having, it appears, gained ground considerably
in the emperor's favour.*
addressed him: "And you, in black, what are you? a medical
man, too ?" " Not a medical man, but a teacher of religion, your
majesty." The emperor then asked him if any persons had em-
braced his religion ? to which Mr. Judson replied in the affirma-
tive. No marks of displeasure were produced by this information,
but the emperor asked Mr. Judson many questions on subjects of
religion, geography, and astronomy. Mr. Judson remarks, in a
letter dated November 22, of that year, that he is more cordially
received as a minister of the Christian religion than he had ever
anticipated, and that the disposition of the emperor and his most
intimate associates appeared to be characterised by toleration and
candour. It was believed that the emperor and other distin-
guished natives had for some time been sceptical in relation to the
superstitious theology of their own country, and that this state of
mind had rendered them less hostile to principles subversive of
the opinions generally held sacred by the Birmans. Mr. Judson
supposes that the repulse which he met with on his former pre-
sentation, was dictated as much by policy as by any other motive.
The emperor had recently ascended the throne, and might fear to
render the commencement of his reign unpopular by counte-
nancing a new religion. " Besides, a distinguished nobleman,
who is believed to be examining the truth of the Gospel revelation
in a state of feeling bordering on anxious conviction, it is thought,
that the princess, who directs the education of the heir-apparent,
and who is a woman of superior endowments and great influence,
is also impressed with the important facts made known in the
Divine system." Miss. Reg. Jan. 1825, p. 48.
* " Since Mr. Judson left me," writes Dr. Price, " the king has
been more familiar than ever, manifesting a desire to make my
solitude as comfortable as his favour can make it. His majesty
exhibits an entire confidence, and admits me near his person. His
counsellors are disposed to encourage every useful art. The king
has given an order for granting me a building lot on the bank
opposite Ava. The same privileges he promised to every American
or Englishman. On a spot of ground, 245 cubits by 140 to 170, on
the river directly opposite the palace, I have put up a bamboo
BIRMAH. 235
This unexpected turn of affairs changed the whole
aspect of the Mission. No distinct promise to tolerate
the Christian religion had, indeed, been given as yet
by the monarch, but his affable manner awakened
the sanguine expectation of ultimate success ; and
the emperor's own brother, some time after Mr.
Judson's return to Rangoon, wrote to him in affec-
tionate terms, requesting his speedy return to Ava,
and begging him to bring with him the sacred books.*
On the 12th of December 1824, Mr. (now Dr.) and
Mrs. Judson, embarked on the river for Ava, to which
the court had removed. A foreign female had never
yet been introduced at the Birman court, and much
curiosity was excited by the expectation of her arrival.
They arrived there after "a pleasant trip" of six
weeks, and found that Dr. Price had taken a native wife.
The war with England, unhappily, had somewhat
soured the emperor's mind against foreigners, and
Mr. Judson's reception at court was rather cool. But
Mrs. Judson immediately commenced her benevolent
plans by Opening a free school ; and in January, it
already contained nine boys and seven girls. Since
then, up to the last accounts, no intelligence had been
received from them : but a sepoy who had escaped
from Ava to the British head-quarters at Prome,
stated, that all the Europeans at Ava were in chains,
in prison, and wholly dependent on charity for subsist-
ence ; that Mrs. Judson, however, was permitted to
live at her own house, and was allowed to see Dr.
Judson every two or three days.f Under few eastern
house ; and as I have a royal order for as many bricks as I want,
provided I take them immediately, I have thought it best to put
up a brick house to accommodate one or two families." Miss.
Reg. Jan. 1825, p. 48,
Judson, p. 328. f Miss. Reg. Jan. 1826, p. 77.
PART II. P
236 BIRMAH.
despotisms would the life and liberty of an unprotected
female, in such circumstances, have been so far re-
spected.
Amarapura, to which Minderajee-Praw gave the
proud title of the immortal city, is no longer the
capital of Birmah. A new palace was being erected
at Old Ava in February 1824, of which, as soon as
completed, the emperor was expected to take pos-
session in due form, and this city was to be the future
residence of the court. Of the transitory nature of
mundane grandeur, there cannot be a more striking
illustration than a Birman capital, with its wooden
houses and glittering pagodas. All the magnificence
which once attached to New Ava has, probably, ere
this, passed away. Colonel Symes describes several very
handsome edifices. One of the most interesting was
the Piedigaut-tiek, or royal library, a large brick
building, raised on a terrace, at the north-west angle
of the fort, close to a very handsome monastery. It
consisted of one square room, with an enclosed veran-
dah running round it. The room was locked, and
could not be opened without a special order ; but the
librarian assured Col. Symes that there was nothing in
the inside different from what he saw in the verandah,
where about a hundred large chests, curiously orna-
mented with gilding and japan, were ranged against
the wall. The books were regularly classed, and the
contents of each chest were inscribed in gold letters on
the lid. The librarian opened two, and shewed Co-
lonel Symes some very beautiful writing on thin
leaves of ivory, the margins ornamented with flowers
of gold. Some were in the Pali language. " If all
the other chests were as well filled as those that were
submitted to our inspection," remarks the colonel,
" his Birman majesty may probably possess a more
BUIMAH. 237
numerous library than any potentate from the banks
of the Danube to the borders of China."
The kioum-do-gee, or royal convent, is described as
an edifice not less extraordinary from the style of its
architecture, than from the magnificence of its deco-
rations. " It was composed entirely of wood. The
roofs, rising one above another in five distinct stories,
diminished in size as they advanced in height, each roof
being surmounted with a cornice curiously carved and
richly gilded. The body of the building, elevated
twelve feet from the ground, was supported on large
timbers driven into the earth after the manner of
piles, of which there were probably 150 to sustain the
immense weight of the superstructure. The inside
was most splendid. A gilded balustrade, fantastically
carved into various shapes and figures, encompassed
the outside of the platform. Within this, there was
a wide gallery, that encompassed the entire circuit of
the building. An inner railing opened into a noble
hall, supported by colonnades of lofty pillars : the
centre row was at least fifty feet high, and gilded from
the summit to within four feet of the base, which was
lackered red. In the middle of the hall there was a
gilded partition of open latticed work, fifteen or twenty
feet high, which divided it into two parts from N. to
S. The space between the pillars varied from twelve
to sixteen feet ; and the number, including those that
supported the galleries, appeared not fewer than a
hundred, which, as they approached the extremities,
diminished in height, the outermost row not exceeding
fifteen feet.
" A marble image of Guadma, gilded, and sitting
on a golden throne, was placed in the centre of the
partition ; and in front of the idol, leaning against
one of the pillars, we beheld the seredaw (or zarado)
238 BIRMAH.
sitting on a satin cushion, encompassed by a circle of
rhahaans, from whom he could be no other ways
distinguished, than by his preserving an erect position,
while the others bent their bodies in an attitude of
respect, with their hands joined in a supplicating
manner."
On taking leave of the primate, Col. Symes pro-
ceeded along a wide road leading to the northward,
which soon brought him to an extensive plain, reach-
ing in an uninterrupted level to the foot of a range of
mountains ten or twelve miles distant. The soil is a
poor clay, and the pasturage very indifferent. At a
distance were seen some fields of grain ; and they were
told, that capacious reservoirs had been constructed
with great labour and expense, by order of the em-
peror, in the vicinity of the mountains, which enabled
the inhabitants of the low countries to irrigate the
grounds, and render them productive in a season of
drought. " Several kioums and villages were scat-
tered over the plain; but," continues Col. S., " when
we had advanced about two miles, the religious edi-
fices increased beyond our power to calculate the
number.
" The first that we entered was called Knebany
Kioum, or the kioum of immortality, from the centre
of which rose a royal piasath to the height of 150
feet: the roofs were of the customary structure, dimi-
nishing in stories. This is the place where the em-
balmed bodies of the deceased seredaws are laid in
state. The building rests on a terrace of brick, and
is not elevated on pillars as the kioums usually are.
The hall was very handsome, about seventy feet
square ; the roof sustained by thirty-six gilded pillars,
the central one forty feet in height. Mats were
spread in different parts for the repose of the rha-
BIRMAH. 239
haans, and on each was placed a hard pillow ; there
v, as also a tray containing books on the duties of rha-
haans, on religion, and the forms of worship.
" The next kioum that we visited, was the ordinary
residence of the seredaw : it far exceeded in size and
splendour any that we had before seen, and is perhaps
the most magnificent of its kind in the universe. It is
constructed entirely of wood, and resembles, in the style
of its structure and ornaments, that in which we had
an interview with the seredaw, but is much more
spacious and lofty. The numerous rows of pillars,
some of them sixty feet high, were covered with bur-
nished gilding; and the profuse expenditure of gilding,
as well on parts exposed to the weather, as on the
inside, cannot fail to impress a stranger with astonish-
ment, although he may not approve of the taste with
which it is disposed. This kioum was also divided by
a partition. There was a small room on one side,
made of gilded boards, which we were told was the
bed-chamber of the seredaw. Mats were spread on
the outside for the attendant rhahaans. The figure
of Guadma was made of copper, and a European
girandole of cut glass stood before his throne.
" Leaving this building, we passed through many
courts crowded with kioums and smaller temples.
Several gigantic images of Rakuss, the Hindoo demon,
half beast, half human, made of brass, were shewn as
a part of the spoils of Arracan. From these we were
conducted to a magnificent temple, which is erecting
for the image of Guadma brought from the same
country. The idol is made of polished brass, about ten
feet high, and sitting in the usual posture, on a pe-
destal within an arched recess ; the walls are gilded
and adorned with bits of coloured mirrors disposed
with much taste. Peculiar sanctity is ascribed to this
240 BIIIMAH.
image, and devotees resort from every part of tlie
empire to adore the Arracan Guadraa. This temple,
with its auxiliary buildings, promises to be the most
elegant in the empire. The chounda, or place of re-
ception for strangers coming from a distance to offer
up their devotions, is also a beautiful specimen, of
Birman architecture. It comprehends five long gal-
leries separated by colonnades, each consisting of
thirty-four pillars, or two hundred and four alto-
gether: the two central rows are about twenty-five
feet high, but the external ones do not exceed fourteen
feet. They are painted of a deep crimson ground,
enlivened by festoons of gold leaf encircling them in a
very fanciful and pleasing manner. The ceiling is
embellished with a profusion of carved work, executed
with great labour and minuteness. The whole length
is five hundred and seventy feet, and the breadth of
each distinct gallery about twelve feet, the central one,
as usual, being rather wider than the others. A low
railing extends along the outer pillars, to prevent im-
proper persons and dogs from defiling the place. It is
built upon a terrace of brick, elevated three feet from
the ground ; and the floor is made of chunam, a fine
stucco composed of lime, pounded steatites, and oil,
forming a hard and smooth surface that shines like
marble. Our conductor informed us, that this edifice
had been lately erected at the sole expense of the
senior woonjee."
The new pagoda wnich Minderajee-praw was erect-
ing at Mheghoon in 1797, appears, from Captain Cox's
description, to have been, at least in its design, one of
the most singular and imposing edifices in this land of
pagodas. It stands on a small natural mound, the
sides of which have been cut down and faced with
masonry, the terraces being left of the common soil, a
BIHMAH. 241
sandy loam mixed with shingle. The first terrace
is about fifteen feet above the level of the river in
the rainy season. " Immediately within the verge
of the first terrace, on either side of the steps, are two
colossal figures of lions, or rather sphinxes, couchant.
They are of brick masonry, raised on pedestals of the
same materials. The height of the figures is fifty-
eight (Birman) cubits, and, with their pedestals, sixty
cubits, or ninety-five English feet. The body and
limbs are of proportionate magnitude. The eyes and
teeth are of alabaster ;* the eye-ball is thirteen feet in
circumference. Six terraces rise one above the other,
their parapet walls equidistant, the faces of good brick
masonry, with stone spouts, ornamented with sculp-
tured alligators' heads, to carry off the water. On a
seventh terrace stands the plinth of the pagoda.
Within this plinth, a hollow chamber is left, forming
a quadrangle of sixty-one feet, its depth eleven feet, and
the walls are nearly thirteen feet thick. The interior
of the chamber is plastered with white chunam, and
decorated with painted flowers and pannelled compart-
ments with trees and flower-pots in them. There are
also rows of columns, twenty-nine inches square, and
pilasters, to support the leaden beams and terrace with
which the whole is to be covered when the dedicated
treasures are deposited there ; with a number of
quadrangular compartments, large and small, from
ten feet to four feet five inches square, to contain
them : the smaller ones are lined with plates of lead
three fourths of an inch thick. The innermost quad-
rangles are intended for the preservation of the trea-
sures dedicated by his majesty, while the space around
them is devoted to the oblations of his courtiers. Op-
posite each of the smaller compartments, whose depth
* The idol Guadma in the British Mi seum exhibits a specimen
of the alabaster eye.
242 BIRMAH.
is equal to that of the larger ones, and which appeared
like so many wells, were placed, on small Bengal carpets,
little hollow temples, three feet square, with pyramidal
roofs ornamented in the Birman style ; the interior
frame being of painted wood, covered with thin plates
of silver, alloyed to about fifty per cent standard ; in
height, from the base to the pinnacle, seven feet ; the
eaves ornamented with strings of red coral, about six
beads in each, terminated with heart-shaped pieces of
common window -glass. Round the solid part of the
building and upon the terrace were arranged piles of
leaden beams, about five inches square, and of sufficient
length to cover .the respective chambers, with plates
of lead of the same length, fourteen inches broad and
three fourths of an inch thick, for the coverings ; and
besides these, a number of slates of a schistous granite
were arranged in readiness to cover the whole. We
were told that there was another set of chambers of
the same dimensions and structure, charged with trea-
sure, below these : how true this is, I cannot pretend
to determine. The invention of lining the chambers
with lead for the preservation of the treasures, is an
honour claimed by his present majesty, who has great
skill in these matters.
" The dedicated treasures were arranged on the
platform of a bamboo shade, about seventy feet in
length, and thirty broad ; they consisted of a great
variety of Birman temples and kioums in miniature,
covered with plates of fifty per cent, silver, and filled
with little images of their idols, from three inches to a
foot in height, of the same materials. Besides those
in the temples, &c., there were -squadrons of others of
the same kind and quality arranged on the floor ; also
many which they said were of solid gold, but, on exa-
mination, we found them less valuable; there were
also two rows of about a dozen larger images of ala-
BIRMAH. 243
baster, from four to two feet in height, well gilded and
burnished. Their cast of features and hair were pre-
cisely that of the Abyssinian negroes.* There were
also several flat caskets of gilt metal, said to contain
gold and precious stones, several piles of bricks, slabs
of coloured glass, white chattahs, and lastly, an appa-
ratus for impregnating water with fixed air. On the
opposite side, in another shade, was an idol in a port-
able temple, with poles for four bearers, which, we
were informed, were sufficient when its godship was
hi good humour ; but when displeased, not all the
power of the Binnan empire could move it. In a
separate shade, in a moveable wooden house that tra-
vels on wheels, is a print of the foot of Guadma on a
slab of marble ; the impression is about three feet in
length."
A short time before Captain Cox visited Mheghoon,
a silver mine had been discovered by a Chinese a little
higher up, which was said to yield forty per cent, but
he did not visit it. There are cliffs of a very tine
limestone, of which he obtained specimens. -|- The
hills on the western side of the river, which commence
at Chagaing, terminate about sixteen miles above
* Captain Cox remarked, that the four colossal gilded images of
Ouadma standing on a lotos-dower in one of the principal pagodas
at.Pah-gahn, have all the crisped hair. The priests pretend, that
when Guadma assumed the religious habit, he cut off his hair with
his sword, leaving it rugged or furrowed. " The features of a
genuine Birman," Captain C. adds, " have a good deal of the Caffre
cast." p. 416.
i Near Chagaing also, Captain Cox noticed a white limestone
marble. On some of the spars he found the stones variegated,
black, blue, green, and red, mixed with silicious and quartzose
pebbles and fragments; also those calcareous stalactites called in
India couker. The whole range appears to be metalliferous. He
met with nothing but iron ore ; but silver, copper, and lead, as-
well as precious stones, are stated to have been obtained from dif-
ferent parts.
r 2
244 BIRMAH.
Mheghoon, where commences a high plain, lugged,
and in general uncultivated, if not unsusceptible of
cultivation. Only one considerable village occurs in
the interval on the western bank. The eastern range
of mountains continues to extend along the river as
far as has hitherto been explored. Mr. Burnet,
Capt. Cox's interpreter, ascended as high as Keoun.
meoun, about forty-six miles above Amarapura. The
course of the river is nearly north and south, with a
very slight inclination from the east of north to S.W.
by S. Monchaboo is about eight miles inland to the
west of Keoun-meoun, in lat. 22 40' N., long. 96 20' E.
To the N. of Menchaboo, there is reported to be a
lake of very considerable extent, called Nandokando ;
but no European has hitherto penetrated thus far into
the interior.
Of the northern and eastern extremities of Ava,
scarcely any thing is known. The town of Bamoo,
situated on the Irrawaddy, in lat. 24 N., long. 96 5&
E., is only twenty miles from the Chinese frontier.
Here, as in the days of Marco Polo, there is ajee, or
mart, attended by the Chinese merchants. The go-
vernor of the district, informed Col. Symes, that the
road from the frontier to Manchegee or Yun-nan,
lies over high mountains. He had been twice by this
route to Pekin, and was upwards of three months
performing the journey. During the last thirty days,
he travelled in a boat on canals and rivers.
Above Bamoo, still ascending the valley of the
Trrawaddy, is the Bong district, reaching to Assam on
the north, Yun-nan on the east, and Cassay on the
west. The Bong mountains are inhabited by a wild
tribe, called by the Cassayers, Koukies.*
* For an account of this rude mountain tribe, who are all
hunters and warriors, see Asiat. Res., vol. vii. p. 183.
BIRMAH. 245
ASSAM
CONSISTS for the most part of a long valley, about
seventy miles in average breadth, and nearly 700 miles
in length, divided through its whole extent by the
Brahmapootra into nearly equal parts. It is situated
principally between the 25th and 28th parallels of N.
latitude, and between 94 and 99 of E. longitude,
and contains probably an area of 60,000 square miles.
It is known to be very thinly peopled, owing to the
mcessant warfare carried on by the petty rajahs against
each other. Seven-eighths of the country are said to
be overgrown with jungle, though the soil is extremely
fertile ; the climate is consequently most pestilential.
Owing partly to this circumstance, every attempt to
conquer this country had proved abortive, prior to the
Birman invasion in 1817- Hossein Shah, nabob of
Bengal, once attempted it, but the rainy season inter-
cepted his supplies, and all his army perished. Ma-
hommed Shah, Emperor of Hindostan, invaded Assam
with 100,000 cavalry, and was never heard of more.
The Emperor Aurungzeb was equally unsuccessful. His
general, Mourzum Khan, penetrated as far as Gergong,
the capital ; but, when the rains began, the Assa-
mese came out from their hiding-places, and harassed
the invaders, while sickness broke out, and the flower
of the army perished. The rest endeavoured to escape
along the narrow causeways which have been formed
over the morasses, but few ever reached Bahar. After
this expedition, the Mohammedans of Hindostan de-
clared that Assam was inhabited only by infidels, hob-
goblins, and devils. Yet, in spite of all obstacles, in
* In 1801, the population was estimated at 493,000 souls.
246 BlRMAH.
1817, the Birrnan.s succeeded, under Minderajee-praw,
in acquiring entire possession of the country.
The general appearance of Assam is that of a num-
ber of irregular, insulated hills, at short distances,
clothed with trees and verdure to their very summits,
while to the north and east, lofty mountains rise ab-
ruptly, like a wall, to the height of from 5 to 6000
feet above the adjacent plains. On the S.W., a less
elevated range separates it from Sylhet, and, extend-
ing southward through Cachar, forms the bold and
lofty sweep of the Anou-pec-tou-miou. The western
mountains, and part of those to the north, are inha-
bited by a fierce race consisting of two tribes, the Abors
and the Meshmees, of whom little is known. The
latter extend down to the eastern hills, and mix with
the Sing-fos. These formerly consisted of twelve
tribes ; and about forty years ago, the poverty of their
native soil, and the fertility of the plains of Assam,
induced the Sing-fos to settle in the plains, which they
cultivated by means of Assamese captrves, whom they
carried off from the southward. At the commence-
ment of the late campaign, there are supposed to have
been about 15,000 of these Assamese vassals held in
bondage : the greater part have been already liberated
by the British.* In these Sing-fos, we may recognise
a Birman tribe subjecting a native race of Carayns.-f
From similar beginnings, doubtless, arose the empire
of Ava.
The mountainous country extending from Sylhet
to the plains of Assam, and from about half way be-
tween Laour and Doorgapore eastward to Cachar, is
inhabited by the people called Cossyahs (or Cassayers),
* Asiat. Journ., vol. xxi. p. 495.
t In the word Sing, we have evidently the distinguishing appella-
tion of the warrior caste. See p. 97-
BlllMAH. 247
but who are said to denominate themselves Khyee.
They are described as a handsome, muscular race,
active and martial ; they always go armed, in general
with a bow and arrows, a long sword, and a large
shield. Their language is said to differ entirely from
that of the Garrows, Cacharrees, and other surrounding
tribes, who speak various dialects of an original com-
mon tongue ; and they are distinguished from them
by their physiognomy, not having that peculiar con-
formation of the eye-lid which forms the characteristic
feature of those tribes, in common with the Indo-Chi-
nese and Chinese nations. In religion, they are to a
certain extent Hindoos : their laws of inheritance are
similar to those of the Nairs, estates and governments
descending to the sister's son. Their most powerful
rajahs are those of Chyram, Sooloong, and Jyntah.*
These Cassayers of the mountains, however, can hardly
be the same race that are usually known under that
name, inhabiting the district called Meckley, who in
Bengal go. by the name of Muggaloos, but who are
said to call themselves Moitay^ The Cassayers of
* See Narrative of a Journey from Sylhet to Assam, by Mr. David
Scott, Asiat. Journ., vol. xix. p. 259.
j Cospoor is generally considered as the capital of Cachar, or
Cosari, which is made to lie between Assam on the north, Tipperah
and Sylhet on the west, and Cassay on the east and south ; but its
dimensions, we are told, are uncertain. (See HAMILTON'S Gazetteer.)
The fact appears to be, that Cachar, Cosari, Cassay, and Kathee,
are the same word differently articulated. Cospoor (Caspura) is
evidently the town of the Cassays, with which Cacharrees must be
considered as synonymous. The true distinction is between the
mountaineers (Khyee), and the equestrian tribes (Moi-tay). A
water communication is said to exist between Cachar (Cassay) and
Assam. In 1774, Oundaboo, the general of Shembuan, marched
against the rajah of Cachar (Cospoor), whose country is described
as to the N.W. of Munnipore. ' In his advance, he overcame
Anoup Singh, prince of a country called Muggeloo, and advanced
within three days' march of Cospoor. Here he was opposed by the
248 BIRMAH
Munnipora, to whom the Birmans are said to give
the name of Kathee, are horsemen and gunsmiths,
and, like the Assamese, people of the plains. Munni-
pora (the town of jewels), situated, according to the
maps, in lat. 24** 20' N., long. 94 30' E., appears to
stand on one of the heads of the Kiayn-duem river,
in the midst of a district liable to inundation in the
rainy season.* It was captured by the Birmans in
1774. An intercourse subsists between this town
and Assam, and the road would seem to be passable
at some periods for cavalry ; although our troops have
found great difficulty in approaching it from Cachar.
A few months, however, will clear up the uncertainty
which at present hangs over the topography of these
regions.-f
confederate rajahs of Cospoor and Gossain ; and his troops being
attacked by the hill fever, his army was dispersed and destroyed."
A second expedition was more successful, and the Cachar rajah
averted the invasion, when the army had reached the pass of
Inchamutty, by consenting to pay, besides a sum of money, an
annual tribute of a maiden of the royal blood, and a tree with the
roots bound in the native clay. Col. Symes, in 1795, witnessed the
arrival at Amarapura of this degrading tribute. In like manner
Xerxes demanded that the Greeks should prove their submission
by sending to him earth and water in token of vassalage.
* From April to December, the whole country is said to be one
entire pool. Asiat. Journ., vol. xx. p. 484.
t In 1794, the British detachment which went to Gergong, saw
there a body of cavalry which had arrived from Munnipore. By
what route they had reached Assam, does not appear to have been
ascertained. According to the report of a Mr. Mathews, between
Doodputly in Cachar and Munnipore, there are no fewer than
seven distinct ranges of hills to be traversed ; and the pathway is
described as leading, in some places, up rocks almost perpendicular.
The first range, a continuation of the Garrows, is inhabited by the
Nagahs, who are described as living in a state of rudeness bordering
on savage life ; they are perfectly naked, dwell in small villages
strongly stockaded, and subsist chiefly on swine's flesh, as the hiHs
afford little soil susceptible of cultivation.~.<4iaf. Journ. , vol. xx.
249
The vegetable and animal productions of Assam
are nearly the same as those of Bengal, which country
it resembles in its physical aspect and its multitude
of rivers. In its mineral treasures, however, it is far
richer, almost all the smaller streams being auriferous.
In the number of its rivers it exceeds every other
country of equal extent.* Including the Brahma-
pootra and its two great branches, the Dehing and the
Looichiel, sixty-one have been ascertained to exist, of
which thirty-four flow from the northern, and twenty-
four from the southern mountains. The latter are
never rapid. The inundation commences from the
northern rivers, filling both the Brahmapootra and
the southern rivers, so that the water has no consider-
able current till May or June. In May, the inunda-
tions are usually at their height ; and on their subsid-
ing, the most luxuriant vegetation bursts forth. The
source of the Brahmapootra (or Burrampooter) has
never yet been explored. Recent accounts, however,
in contradiction to the received theory, place its pri-
mary source not far from those of the Irrawaddy,
which is represented as flowing down the opposite
side of the same mountain to the plains of the Bor
Khangty country, and running nearly south to Ava.-|-
p. 484. In the vicinity of the Garrows (or Garudas), according to
Dr. Leyden, there is a tribe called Hajin, who worship the tiger,
and offer human flesh to their carnivorous idol. This ferocious
race, as well as the Nagahs, seems to bear a resemblance to the
Papuas and Haraforas of the Andaman Islands, Sumatra, and
Borneo. See Dr. LEYDEN'S Dissertation .on the Indo-Chinese Na-
tions. Asiat. Res., vol. x. pp. 217, 220, 2?2.
* Many of these rivers are remarkable for their extremely sinuous
course. The Dekrung, though it flows through a tract of only
25 miles, has a winding course equal to 100 miles before it falls into
the Brahmapootra. This river is particularly famous for the quality
as well as quantity of its gold.
t Aflat. Journ., vol. xxi. p. 491.
250 B1RMAH.
Other statements make the Irrawaddy communicate
with a branch of the Brahmapootra. This would
seem to sanction the old notion that prevailed when
Count Buffon wrote, of " a lake Champe, giving rise
to the two great rivers which water Assam and Pegu."
The whole of Assam is now in full possession of the
British. On the 1st of February, 1825, the fort of
Rungpore, which commands the capital, surrendered
to the British forces under Lieut. -col. Richards; and
all the Birmans, in pursuance of the terms of capitu-
lation, subsequently evacuated the Assamese territory.
To the south of Bamoo, extending in fact along the
western shores of the Thaluayn-meet, from where it
enters Binnah from Yun-nan, to the city of Junsa-
laen (Yun-saluain ?), on the frontiers of Martaban, is
the mountainous region called Mrelap-shan. In these
mountains are found the sapphire and ruby mines :
they are stated to be also rich in the precious metals.
The principal ruby mines are near the town of Momeit,
in lat. 23, and at Mogouk-kiap-pyaya, some leagues
further south. At Boduayn, a considerable place to
the south-eastward of Momeit, not far from the Chi-
nese frontier, are mines of gold and silver. They are
chiefly worked by Chinese, under the crown. Exten-
sive tracts in this quarter are covered with vast
forests of the l&pac, or tea-tree. Great part of this
district formerly belonged to the Chinese, and was
wrested from them, in 1767, by Shembuan-praw.*
* See p. 43. CoL Francklin says : " The whole produce of the
ruby mines, (in which sapphires, topazes, emeralds, and garnets are
found jumbled together,) does not amount to more than 30,000
tecals per annum; at least, what are permitted to be sold, the most
valuable being appropriated to the king, and locked up in his
treasury. Mining, every where a dangerous speculation, is here
particularly so : the Chinese and Shans are hi general the adven-
turers." Neither Col. Symes nor Capt. Cox, however, saw any
BIRMAH. 251
Throughout this region of forests, various tribes of
Carayns, nominally tributary to Birmah, maintain
substantially their independence under their native
chobwahs or chieftains. On the eastern side of the
Thaluayn is the country of the Lowa-yayn and Yun-
shan, formerly comprehended in Siam, into which no
modern European traveller is known to have pene-
trated.
It only remains briefly to notice the maritime
province of
ARRACAN.
AT the beginning of the seventeenth century, Ar-
racan was the seat of a powerful monarchy, and the
.Roman Catholics had established a mission in the
capital. Towards the close of the last century, as
stated in our historical sketch, it was annexed by con-
quest to the Birman empire. In 1825, it yielded to
the arms of the British. The capital is the only place,
apparently, of much importance or interest ; and of
this we are only able to give an imperfect description
from the details furnished by the periodical press.
" The city of Arracan presents a very peculiar ap-
emeralds in Birmah. All precious stones go under the same name,
being distinguished only as blue, violet, or yellow rubies. Taver-
nier, speaking of the rubies of Pegu, says : " Among all the stones
that are there found, you shall hardly see one of three or four carats
that is absolutely clean, by reason that the king strictly enjoins his
subjects not to export them out of his dominions ; besides that he
keeps to himself all the clean stones that are found. So that I have
got very considerably in my travels, by carrying rubies out of
Europe into Asia; which makes me very much suspect the relation
of Vincent Le Blanc, who reports that he saw in the king's palace
rubies as big as eggs." Travels, part ii. b. 2, c. 16. Among the im-
perial titles of Minderajee-praw, one was, Proprietor of all kinds of
precious stones, of the mines of rabies, agate, gold, silver, amber.
252 BIRMAH.
pearance. It is built upon a plain, or it may be
called a valley, about four miles in circumference, of a
quadrangular form, and entirely surrounded with hills,
some of which are 500 feet high. The plain itself is
hard and rocky ; it is intersected by divers nullahs
and streams, which occasionally join each other and
fall into the river. Some of them rush with violence
through chasms and fissures in the rock, and one flows
directly through the city, which is thus divided into
two parts, connected by means of strong and clumsy
Avooden bridges. This stream ebbs and flows with the
tide, and at high water, boats are able to navigate it.
These nullahs are oif -shoots, as it were, of a stream
which separates from the great river Mahatti, and
traverses the plain in which the city stands. As the
site of the city is thus pervaded by water, it is over-
flowed during the rains ; consequently, the houses are
raised upon piles, or strong posts of timber. These
houses, or rather huts, are miserable structures, little
more than four feet from the ground, composed of
bamboos or timber, thatched with straw or mats, and
only one story high. They are ranged with consi-
derable regularity in streets : the principal street is on
each side of the stream which runs through the city.
The number of houses is nearly 19,000. Reckoning
five persons to a house, the number of inhabitants in
Arracan, before its capture by our troops, must have
been about 95,000 ; and this estimate is said to be
below the truth. Many of the houses (perhaps nearly
half) are now unroofed or damaged, and some are
burned. A considerable space was obliged to be cleared,
to allow of commodious buildings for the accommoda-
tion of oui' troops during the wet season. Although
many of the inhabitants have returned, the native
population of the city does not now exceed 20,000, a
BIRMAH. 253
large proportion of whom are priests, who were almost
the only residents when our army entered the place,
which presented a singular spectacle, from its marks
of recent populousness, and its then stillness and
aspect of desolation.
" The most curious object within the city, is the
ancient fort (the only building of durable materials
in the place) which is surrounded with three quad-
rangular concentric walls, each about twenty feet
high, and of considerable thickness. They are formed
of large stones, put together with great labour, and
are evidently of some antiquity. Those parts which
are decayed, have been repaired by pieces of timber
being inserted in the interstices. The outer wall is
partly natural, and of considerable extent. The inner
space is the citadel, where resided the governor, the
public officers, &c. ; and here also were situated the
public granaries. The distance between the walls
varies in different places ; sometimes being about 100
feet, and sometimes not half so much. Upon the
whole, this remnant of the power of the ancient king-
dom of Arracan is highly deserving of attention.
" The heights which surround the city are covered
with pagodas, the gilded spires of which, shooting up
from every pinnacle around, and glittering in the sun,
contribute greatly to the singular and picturesque ap-
pearance of the place. Upwards of sixty of these
temples, the shapes of which are various, can be
counted at once : each contains an image of Gaudama.
Many of these buildings disclose subterranean pas-
sages, which deserve exploring. The architecture of
the temples in this country is curious. Although the
style has no pretensions to real taste, it is not un-
sightly ; and some of the porticoes of the better sort of
254 BIRMAH.
pagodas are handsome. There is a profusion of gild-
ing and painting -in most of them : even marble is
often covered with gold leaf. Sometimes a deception
is practised, as in English architecture, where humble
stucco assumes the character of a more costly material;
wooden pillars are occasionally coated with a sort of
composition or cement, which gives them the appear-
ance of dark marble. Independently of the fort, the
temples are the only stone or pucka buildings about
Arracan ; and without them, this capital of an exten-
sive province, once an independent state, would
only deserve the name of a large but very beggarly
village."
The following paragraph is from the diary of Dr.
Tytler, now in Arracan :
" The Baboo Deeong is one of the most remarkable
hills included within the boundaries of this extraordi-
nary city. It is situated in a direction nearly due west
from the entrance where the army gained admission,
subsequently to the escalade which was so gallantly
executed by the troops under the command of Briga-
dier Richards; and is surmounted by four pagodas,
dedicated to the worship of Gaudma, Saca-moonee, Si-
moonee, Maha-moonee, or Buddha. Leading to those
edifices are several flights of steps ascending the
eastern face of the hill, which are ornamented with
colossal figures of deformed giants, composed of brick-
work, and plastered with chunam, of an uncouth
shape, brandishing clubs in their hands ; and what is
extremely remarkable, figures of the Egyptian sphinx
present themselves close to the temples, and which are
so constructed as to exhibit an acute triangle; two
lions' bodies being conjoined to a single female head,
placed at the sharp angle of the building. The Baboo
BIRMAH. 255
Deeong hill is about 100 feet in height, and is composed
of strata of schistus : it is completely surrounded with
water even when the tide is ebb.
" Surrounding the outer wall of one of the principal
and most ancient of the Arracan temples, is observed
amongst the weeds and jungle, which in many places
obscure those interesting relics, a series of very sur-
prising mutilated sculptures, placed in interstices
resembling embrasures, constructed in the ruined wall
enclosing the court of the temple. Upon one of those
stones is sculptured the Tauric man, or Bucephalus
Siva, the Mithra of the Persians, or, in other words,
the sun in Taurus. Another distinctly exhibits the
Sphinx, consisting of the bust of a woman attached to
the body and feet of a lion, or the solar luminary
having passed Leo and entered Virgo. The dragon's
head and tail, shewn in the headless volume of an im-
mense snake's body, are conspicuous upon another
stone in the series. Another contains a groupe appa-
rently comprising the crow and Sagittarius, and repre-
senting a man aiming with an arrow at an evident
figure of a raven. Another exhibits a woman seem-
ingly in the acf of striking a sleeping man with a stone ;
which representation I take to form an allusion to
the sun leaving Virgo, (under the figure of a man
slain by a woman, and perhaps mixed up with a per-
version of the historical fact of Jael and Sisera,) and
entering Libra, the first of the lower or southern signs,
and thus, slain by Virgo, or the woman, becoming
dead and cold to the inhabitants of the northern hemi-
sphere. I imagine the whole of the sculptures which
are cut on both sides of those stones (a sort of dark,
friable sandstone) to afford representations of the con-
stellations, and thus to exhibit the remains of a very
ancient and curious zodiac, differing totally, in some
256 BIRMAH.
respects, from any with which we are acquainted, and
emitting a brilliant ray upon the antiquities of the
western world ; for, between the hieroglyphics of Ava
and Egypt, a striking analogy is particularly remarked
by Symes, and every day's discoveries tend to confirm
the fact."*
" In point of magnitude," says a writer in The
Scotsman in the East, " the monuments of Arracan
are unequalled by any hitherto explored by me, and
in some particulars differ essentially from the remains
of former magnificence I have examined, either on the
continent of India, or on the islands of the Eastern
Archipelago. Similar to those of Java, they consist
of octagonal temples, surrounded with bell-shaped fanes,
but, unlike them, are less decorated with sculpture,
and are distinguished by stupendous arches, vaults,
and arched galleries, which, I had thought, existed
only in the imagination of poets and novelists. There
exist here the ruins of nearly three edifices, which
consist of circular galleries, arches, and vaults, built
of brick and stone, strong, cemented with mortar, and
of the most massy construction. These subterraneous
passages (for they consist of excavations in rocky
masses of the hills) contain not fewer, probably, than ten
thousand images of Buddha, varying in size from not
less than fifteen or twenty feet high to an inch. Many
of them are decapitated, which I attribute to the Mus-
sulmans in their irruption into this province, as I
have discovered a portion of an Arabic inscription near
one of the entrances of the principal temple. In that
extraordinary edifice, of which a portion is orna-
mented with various sculptures, (among which we are
enabled to discern the Ganesa Garuda and Nag Sing
* Asiat. Journ., April 1826, p. 512.
BIRMAI1. 257
of Hindoo mythology,) is contained the sacred foot,
consisting of a large slab of grey schist, about 3 feet
10 inches long, and 3 feet broad, on which appears a
rude representation of five mis-shapen toes and the
side of a foot. Close behind this was a smaller, which
I secured. These passages contain double, triple, and
quadruple rows of fanes and niches, each containing a
large figure of Buddha, accompanied with prodigious
numbers of smaller dimensions.
"Near the entrance is an inscription in ancient
Deva-Nagri character, upon a large slab of sand-stone,
the letters of which are remarkably distinct, and the
writing legible throughout, so far as has yet been
cleared. The square courts in front of these buildings
exhibit numerous traces of tesselated pavements, or
mosaic work, of brick and stone; and some of the
temples contain metallic images of Buddha, so large
that the nail of his finger, in one instance, measures
upwards of half a foot! The metal of which these
stupendous idols are composed, seems an alloy resem-
bling the tutenaffue, or white copper, so commonly
made use of in India. The bells in front of the pagoda
are remarkably fine. One in particular is of immense
size, and entirely covered with inscriptions in the
Birman language."*
Arracan is situated in lat. 20 40' N., long. 93 5' E.
The city stands about two tides' journey from the sea,
on the west side of the Arracan river, which here
expands to a noble sheet of water, although it has
but a short course, rising in the hills to the N.E.
The harbour, however, cannot be approached without
hazard during the south-west monsoon, on account of
* Asiat. Journ., vol. xx. p. 695. The Rukheng is the more
ancient and primitive dialect of the Birman, and the character is
very similar. See Asiat. Res., vol. x, p. 222.
258 BIRMAH.
rocks and sands off its entrance. The climate has
been reported to be salubrious, but the occupation of
the city by the British troops was attended by a fright-
ful mortality, and the stench of the forests after the
rains have subsided, is described as most pestiferous.*
Fowls of the finest breed, deer, and game of all kinds
abound in the neighbourhood. Large herds of ele-
phants inhabit the forests. The crops of grain appear
to be abundant, if we may judge from the stores accu-
mulated in the capital: about half a million maunds
of paddy were found deposited in the fort of Arracan
at the time of its capture by the British. The number
of villages in Arracan Proper is about eighty.
The principal exports are bees' wax and ivory,
brought from the inland country; salt, produced on
the coast ; rice, grown on the contiguous islands, which
are highly fertile; small horses; lead, tin, and the
precious metals. A considerable intercourse is carried
on with the provinces of Bengal, especially Chitta-
gong; and a general coasting- trade was maintained
along this shore, during the north-west monsoon, from
the ports of Henzawuddy and Martaban, to Chitta-
gong, Dacca, and Calcutta. From forty to fifty boats
of 500 maunds (of 80 Ibs.) each, were annually fitted
out at Arracan by merchants from Amarapura and
* According to a register published in the East India Gazette,
the fall of rain at Arracan in the month of July, was nearly 60
inches : in August it was rather more than 42%. A great deal had
fallen previously in the months of April, May, and June. The
rainy season in most parts of the tropics, yields from 100 to 115
inches of water; at Bombay, 106 inches. In the West of England,
the mean quantity of rain that falls annually, is only 57 inches.
The greatest height of the thermometer in July was 89: in August,
it rose to 94. The minimum in these months was 77. The weather
in March also is usually very sultry, the thermometer frequently
rising above 95 at noon, with a dry, hot wind, as at the com-
mencement of the hot season in the upper provinces of India.
BIRMAH. 259
Chagaing, for the Bengal trade:* the cargo of each
boat might amount to 4,000 rupees, chiefly in silver
bullion. One half of them regularly returned laden
with red betel-nut, chiefly from Luckipoor, where
the merchants farmed the plantations of this article.
The acquisition of Arracan must be considered as of
immense importance. It gives us the undisputed pos-
session of the whole coast of the Bay of Bengal, in-
cluding a range of valuable harbours, and confers
facilities for extending our commerce, which may be
deemed alone sufficient to counterbalance the charges
of the late war.
The once powerful monarchies of Magadha, Pegu,
and Assam, have passed away ; that of Siam is dwindled
to the shadow of its ancient greatness; and now the
Birman empire, which had swallowed up those rival
states, and, like a mighty serpent gorged with its prey,
was rendered powerless by its voracity, lies bleeding
and dismembered. Deprived of the maritime pro-
vinces of Arracan, Mergui, and Tavoy, the sovereign
of Ava can no longer lay claim to the title of lord of
the waters : and it matters little what becomes of the
white elephant. Buddhism may be considered as
having already received its death blow. In Ceylon, it
is fast giving way before the progress of education and
the exertions of the missionaries, and the sacred lan-
guage has, for the first time, been made to speak the
oracles of God. Buddhic priests have been transformed
into Christian clergymen, and Birmah may hereafter
be indebted to that island which she has long regarded
as the mother-land of her laws, literature, and reli-
* In the advance of the British forces to Prome, a large convoy
of at least 400 bullocks, laden with commodities, was met proceed-
ing to Arracan ; and a deputation was sent to inquire of the British
commander, whether the road was open for them.
PART II. Q
260 BIBMAH.
gion, for missionaries of a purer faith. In the mean-
time, the results of the patient and exemplary labours
of the American missionaries must not be lightly es-
timated. As pioneers in the work of civilization,
they have done incalculable service. The number of
professed converts may be inconsiderable,* but it is
evident that they have done much towards undermin-
ing the prejudices of the natives, and wakening a
spirit of intelligent inquiry among the higher orders.
The impression of the superiority of the British in arts
and arms, which our conquests cannot fail to produce,
will not a little favour any attempts to impart to them
the blessing of Christian instruction; while the more
intimate commercial intercourse which promises to be
carried on between British India and the Indo-Chinese
nations, will inevitably lead to the most beneficial
results. In Birmah, there is no intolerant sacerdotal
caste to intercept the diffusion of knowledge; there,
no shoodras are condemned to eternal mental bondage ;
nor is woman there reduced to a cipher or a slave.
The machinery of instruction seems ready prepared in
the national institutions, and the zayats may here-
after serve the same purpose as the Jewish synagogues
in the Apostolic age. The costly war into which the
British have been reluctantly forced, and which has
shaken the Birman empire to its foundations, will, we
doubt not, prove a benefit to that country, which it
has laid open to the progress of knowledge and the
* In 1825, the first native Christian Church established at Ran-
goon, consisted of eighteen baptised converts. Mr. Hough had re-
tired to Serampore, where he was engaged in superintending the
printing of Dr. Judson's revised translation of the Gospel of St.
Matthew in the Birman language. The Serampore missionaries,
it seems, have already established stations in Arracan, which bids
fair to be a most important sphere of exertion and channel of com-
munication. Miss. Reg. Feb. 1826, p. 76.
BIRMAH. 261
spirit of enterprise; nor will an extension of the
British territory and a crore of rupees be the only
compensation gained by the dear-bought triumph of
our arms. Its commercial and its moral results must
be infinitely more important.*
* While these sheets have been passing through the press, de-
spatches have been received, announcing the ratification of a
treaty of peace between the Honourable Company and the Bur-
mese Government, of which the terms are to the following effect :
" The four provinces of Arracan, and the provinces of Mergui,
Tavoy, and Zea to be ceded in perpetuity to the Honourable Com-
pany, and the Burmese Government engage to pay the Honour-
able Company one crore of rupees by instalments. The provinces
or kingdoms of Assam, Cachar, Zeatung (Sittong, Zeet-taung,
Chitoung), and Munnipore, to be placed under princes to be named
by the British Government. Residents, with an escort of fifty
men, to be at each court. British ships to be admitted into Bur-
mese ports, to land their cargoes free of duty, not to unship their
rudders or land their guns. Burmese ships to have the same
privilege in British ports. No persons to be molested for their
opinions or conduct during the war. The Siamese nation to be
included in the peace." Dated Jan. 3, 1826.
END OF BIRMAH.
SI AM.
S 1AM.
[A kingdom lying between lat. 12 and 18 N M and long. 99 and
104 E. ; bounded on the N. and W. by Birmah ; * on the E. by
Cambodia and Anam ; on the S. by the Gulf of Siam.]
THE kingdom of Siam ranked at one period, in wealth
and importance, at the head of the Indo-Chinese
states. Though considerably reduced in its geogra-
phical limits, within the last fifty years by the en-
croachments of the Birmans, it still extends over a
vast and highly valuable tract of country, comprising
the shores of the Gulf of Siam, and the grand valley of
the Meinam. The name under which it is known, is
said to be of Malay origin, and signifies black; an
appellation probably derived from the colour of its rich
alluvial soil.f The Siamese call themselves T'hay (or
Tai), that is, Free-men or Franks. They are divided
* The northern boundaries of Siam appear not to be ascertained.
In Hamilton's Gazetteer, Siam is stated to lie principally between
the parallels of 10 and 15; while Mr. Crawfurd makes it -extend
as far southward as lat. 7, and its Malayan tributaries to 3. To
the northward, he says, the extreme confines of the Siamese terri-
tory extend, as far as could be learned, to lat. 25. Asiat. Jour.
vol. xix. p. 12. The boundary of Siam Proper, however, has been
understood to be a river that flows from the westward into the
Meinam between lat. 17 and 18.
t Plutarch informs us, that the priests of Isis called their coun-
try Chemia, Black, (evidently the same word as Syama,) from its
rich, black soil. And it will appear that this is not the only re-
markable coincidence between the valley of Egypt and that of
" the Siamese Nile." The Peguans pronounce the word Tsiam.
Sayammay or Chiamay is probably derived from the same word.
266 SI AM.
into two distinct tribes ; the T'kay J'hay, or Great
Tai, who inhabit the country between the Meinam
and the Meikong, and the Thny Noe, or Little Tai,
who, for the most part, inhabit the western bank of
the Meinam, extending to the frontiers of Birmah, and
who are at present the ruling race in Siam.* The for-
mer are the more ancient race ; and they are the people
once famous for their learning and the power of their
empire. The records of their dynasty are supposed
still to exist. The annals of the latter race are said to
detail, with much minuteness and great exaggeration,
the events which have happened in Siam and the
adjacent states during the last 1000 years. They
also, with less precision, go back 400 years earlier, to
the building of the city Maha.Nakhon. Their astro-
nomical era, however, is said to correspond to
A.D. 638*f
HISTORY OF SIAM.
WARS with Pegu and usurpations of the throne
constitute the only leading features of Siamese history
subsequently to the discovery of the country. In 1568,
Chaumigren, king of Pegu, invaded Siam, and after
scenes of carnage, its monarch became his tributary.
On his death in 1583, the king of Siam, as well as the
kings of Ava and Tonghoo revolted ; and about 1600,
after a series of desolating wars, succeeded in esta-
blishing their independence.! Early in the seven-
* Leyden. As. Res. vol. x. p. 241.
t See p. 104. M. Malte Brun, without stating his authority,
ssys, that their first king began his reign about A. D. 756.
t "The Kingdom of Siam," says Le Blanc, "was subject to
continual revolutions, till Bramaa, king of Pegu," (who is stated
to have been the son of the conqueror Chaumigren,) " took occa-
SIAM. 267
teenth century, Rajah Hapi, or the black king, sub-
dued the countries of Cambodia, Laos, Tenasserim,
and several other states ; but these conquests were not
long retained, owing to the civil wars which ensued.
Chaw Naraya, who ascended the throne in 1657, dis-
satisfied, as it would seem, with the conduct of his
own priests, gave great encouragement to both Chris-
tians and Mohammedans to settle in his kingdom. It
was in his reign that a series of romantic adventures
placed an Ionian Greek at the head of the administra-
tion of an Indo-Chinese kingdom.
Constantine Phalcon, a native of Cephalonia of a
noble Venetian family, but reduced to poverty, being
compelled to seek his fortune in foreign lands, came to
England in the year 1660, where his talents soon re-
commended him to employment. He was sent out to
India, whence, having entered the service of a respect-
able merchant of the name of White, he passed into
Siam. He gradually acquired property sufficient to
freight some ships, but disasters attended his course,
and he was at length wrecked on the coast of Malabar,
and lost every thing except about 2,000 crowns. Here,
however, by one of those strange turns of fortune which
sometimes make history read like fiction, he fell in with
a fellow-sufferer, who proved to be no less important
a personage than an ambassador from the king of Siam
to the shah of Persia. Phalcon, being able to speak
Siamese, offered his services to convey back the envoy
to Siam, which were gladly accepted ; and the grateful
noble recommended him so warmly to his master, that
sion to besiege Odiaa" (Yuthia or Yoodra) ; "but leaving his life
in the siege, his successor demolished the town, and obtained the
white elephant. Since then, Siam hath revenged herself upon
Pegu."
268 SIAM.
the Greek soon became the favourite, and, in effect,
the prime minister of the sovereign.
Such was the state of things when, in 1685, a
French embassy, attended by six Jesuits and a body
of French soldiers, arrived at Bankok, the capital, to
convert the king of Siam to the Christian faith, and
lay the foundations of a Gallic-Indian empire. With
the view of carrying into effect his ulterior designs,
Phalcon had opened a trade with France; and under
the pretext of protecting the navigation of the Gulf of
Siam against the Dutch, he procured the introduction
of a French garrison into the strong ports of Bankok
and Mergui. He secured the warm support of the
Jesuits by renouncing the Protestant for the Popish
faith ; and so great was the ascendency he had ob-
tained over the mind of Chaw Naraya, that, at his in-
stigation, more than three hundred nobles were put to
death, to clear the way for his ambitious plans. By
these atrocious measures, Phalcon could not fail to
render himself the object of universal hatred to the
Siamese, who saw with indignation their seminaries
filled with foreign teachers, and their cities with Euro-
pean troops. A dangerousnllness which attacked the
king at Lou-oo, his favourite hunting-seat, to the
north of Yuthia, enabled them to mature their plans
for ridding themselves of the foreigners. At the head
of the conspiracy was a foster brother of Chaw Naraya's,
named Oc-pra Pecherachas, or Pitrachas; an indivi-
dual whose professed zeal for the national faith se-
cured the attachment of all the talapoins or priests,
and he is said to have been at the same time highly
popular. Phalcon, having received intelligence of his
designs, immediately sent orders to the French com-
mander at Bankok to advance with a strong detach-
ment to Lou-oo ; but, on reaching Yuthia, through
SIAM. 2C9
which it was necessary to pass, the French found the
gates shut and the country in arms. Pitrachas was
already in possession of the palace, and at the head of
an army; and the wretched adventurer fell, without
a struggle, into the hands of his enemy. After en-
during dreadful tortures, he was beheaded. The
adopted son and declared heir of Chaw Naraya was
the next victim: he was put into a scarlet sack, and
beaten to death with clubs of sandal wood.* The
brothers of the king shared the same fate; and on the
day following their execution, disease saved the usurper
the additional crime of removing by violent means the
unhappy monarch himself: he expired in the thirty-
second year of his reign.
The Jesuits and the French troops, it may easily be
conceived, would not be very desirous to prolong their
residence in a country where they had now neither
allies nor protectors. They were glad to come to an
arrangement, which provided for their undisturbed
retreat and embarkation, but denounced, as the only
alternative, the penalty of death. Thus were the
crafty schemes of the French monarch rendered abor-
tive, and, as M. Malte Brun expresses it, " the con-
nexion with France was broken off."f
This inhuman mode of execution was probably adopted to
ave the shedding of royal blood.
t There can be no doubt that the priests had a principal hand in
this rebellion. A report had been spread, that the king had shewn
a disposition to embrace the Christian religion. The Jesuits indeed
state, that they had no ground to entertain such an expectation,
and that Constantine had assured them, that such an idea was
wholly out of the question. A speech, however, is attributed to
him, in which he expressed his disbelief in the doctrine of me-
tempsychosis, and his belief in one Eternal God. It is difficult to
reconcile the representations made as to the enlightened and pa-
triotic character of this prince, with the cruelties of which, at the
270 3IAM.
Pitrachas, when seated on the throne, is stated to
have conducted himself with prudence and lenity.
The reign of his successor was marked by two cala-
mitous events. In 1717, he invaded Cambodia with an
army of 50,000 men, half of whom perished for want
of provisions; and some time after, a season of extra-
ordinary drought, causing, probably, a failure of the
annual inundation, led to a famine, by which Siam was
to a great extent depopulated. This monarch died in
1748, at an advanced age, and was succeeded by his son
Chaw-Oual-Padou, in whose reign took place the first
Birman invasion, under the famous Alom-praw. The
death of that enterprising chief at that time saved the
capital; but in 1767, Shembuan-praw took Yuthia by
assault, and made the king of Siam his prisoner.* Pe-
ya-tac, the son of a wealthy Chinese by a Siamese
woman, who had risen from a humble office in the
palace to be governor of the province of Muong-tac,
having taken refuge in Chantibond, was soon in a
condition to make head against the enemy; and he at
length succeeded in expelling the Birmans from the
valley of the Meinam. Having declared himself king,
he removed the capital to Bankok, which he fortified,
and where he built a palace, which is still to be seen.
Every second or third year, he was involved in war
with his restless and ambitious neighbours, the Bir-
mans, whom he uniformly repulsed ; and he not only
recovered all the former Siamese territories, but ex-
tended them. Appreciating the superior industry of
his countrymen, the Chinese, he granted them pecu-
instigation of Constantino, he is said to have been guilty, and
vrhich may be thought, after all, to have had as much share in
producing the rebellion, as his supposed heterodoxy.
See p. 30.
SIAM. 271
liar privileges, as an inducement to settle in his do-
minions ; and they came in such swarms, that a third
of the population of Siam is now said to be Chinese.
Pe-ya-tac conducted himself for some time with ex-
emplary moderation, and his memory is still honoured
for his regard of justice. In the latter part of his
reign, however, a sordid avarice took possession of his
mind, and impelled him to the commission of several
acts of cruelty. The natural consequence was a con-
spiracy, headed by the father of the late monarch,*
who, having put to death the tyrant, took possession
of the undisputed throne. He died in 1782.
The first public act of his son and successor was an
inauspicious commencement of his reign. He was
scarcely seated on the throne, when he put to death
his nephew Chaw Pha, with upwards of a hundred
nobles, who were supposed to be in his interest. The
odium occasioned by this sanguinary proceeding, he
contrived to avert by his subsequent good conduct ; but
he was probably indebted, in no small degree, to inces-
sant wars with the Birmans for the domestic tran-
quillity of his reign. It is understood that, since
Mr. Crawfurd's mission to Siam in 1821, he has been
succeeded by his illegitimate son, Chroma Chit, who
commenced his reign by allowing a general freedom of
trade both to his subjects and foreigners, except in the
articles of fire-arms, opium, and a few other royal
monopolies.
As the greater part of our information respecting
the present state of Siam is derived from the published
accounts of the mission, from the Governor-general
of India to the court of Bankok, in 1821, we shall now
The monarch who was reigning in 1822, at the time of
Mr. Crawfurd's mission.
PART II. R
272 SIAM.
proceed to give, in connexion with a narrative of that
mission, a description of the capital.*
On the 21st of November, 1821, the " Agent," Mr.
Crawfurd, with the other gentlemen attached to the
mission, (the object of which was to open a friendly
intercourse for the purpose of trade between the two
countries,) embarked at Calcutta, and on the 21st of
March following, they cast anchor off the coast of
Siam. They had to send for a pilot to Packnam,f a
village at the mouth of the river ; and it was not till
the 25th, that they attempted to cross the bar. They
succeeded in clearing the sand-bank, but the ship stuck
in a bar of mud, on which, at ebb tide, there are only
six feet water. Towards evening, as the tide rose,
the vessel got afloat again ; and after passing two or
three short reaches, they cast anchor opposite to Pack-
nam. At its mouth, the river, which forms an angle
with the entrance to the harbour, is about a mile and
half in breadth ; it diminishes to about three quarters
of a mile at Packnam, but is very deep : the banks
are low and wooded. At this village, near a Buddhic
monastery, there is a battery consisting of ten or
twelve iron guns, mounted on decayed carriages, half
sunk into the earth, and unserviceable. The houses
extend in a straggling line for several miles along the
banks, and there are some handsome temples. As
they ascended the river, the banks still continued very
low, but, being thickly planted with the attap, they
had rather a picturesque appearance. In the back-
* See " The Mission to Siam and Hue. From the Journal of
the late George Finlayson, Esq., Surgeon and Naturalist to the
Mission. With a Memoir by Sir T. S. Raffles, F.R.S." London,
1826. Also, Asiat. Jour., vol. xix. p. 12.
t This word, of frequent occurrence in Siam as the name of a
place, apparently signifies the mouth of a river.
SIAM. 273
ground, the betel-palm was seen growing in great
abundance, it is supposed spontaneously. Besides
these, the jungle consisted of various species of calamus,
bamboo, and long grass. Further up, extensive plains
opened to view, occupying the left bank of the river,
now between eight and ten feet above the level of the
stream. In the rainy season, these plains are covered
by the inundation to the depth of two or three feet,
and are therefore well adapted for the cultivation of
rice. Between them and the river, there is a narrow
strip of jungle, and small houses or huts, built on piles,
are interspersed along the bank, amid extensive planta-
tions of areca-palm and plantain, with a few cocoa-nut
trees. The opposite bank is covered with jungle.*
The banks are tolerably steep, with very deep water,
from thirty to sixty feet near their edge; the mud
stiff and plastic. At night they were molested by
mosquitoes.
As they approached Bankok, the next morning, the
river assumed a very lively aspect. Canoes and small
covered boats were plying in all directions. " The
market hour was now approaching, and all seemed
life and activity. Here, one or more of the priests of
Buddha were guiding their little canoe on its diurnal
eleemosynary excursion : there, an old women hawked
betel, plantains, or pumpkins. Here, you saw canoes
laden with cocoa-nuts : there, groupes of natives were
proceeding from house to house on their various occu-
pations. But the most singular feature in the busy
scene was the appearance of the houses, floating on
the water, in rows about eight, ten, or more, in depth
from the bank. This novel appearance was peculiarly
Mr. Finlayson noticed here, the adjutant and several species
of falco, a beautiful species of pigeon, and the blue jay of Bengal.
274 SI AM.
neat and striking. The houses were built of boards, of
a neat oblong form, and towards the river were provided
with a covered platform, on which were displayed
numerous articles of merchandize, fruit, rice, meat, &c.
This was, in fact, a floating bazar, in which all the
various products of China and of the country were
exposed for sale. At either end, the houses were
bound to long bamboos driven into the river. They
are thus enabled to move from place to place, accord-
ing as convenience may demand. Every house is fur-
nished with a small canoe, in which they visit and go
from place to place to transact business. Almost all
those collected in this quarter seem to be occupied by
merchants, many of them very petty, no doubt, and
by tradespeople, as shoemakers, tailors, &c. The
latter occupations are followed almost exclusively by
the Chinese. The houses are in general very small,
consisting of a principle centre room, and one or two
small ones, the centre being open in front, for the
display of their wares. The houses are from twenty
to thirty feet in length, and about half that space in
breadth. They consist of a single stage, the floor
raised above the water about a foot, and the roof
thatched with palm-leaves. At low water, when the
stream is rapid, there appears to be but little business
done in these shops. Their proprietors are then to be
seen lolling or sleeping in front of their warehouses,
or otherwise enjoying themselves at their ease. At
all hours of the day, however, many boats are passing
and repassing. They are so light and sharp in their
form, that they mount rapidly against the stream.
They are rowed with paddles, of which the long canoes
have often eight or ten on each side. The number of
Chinese appears to be very considerable ; they display
the same activity and industry here that they do
SIAM. 275
wherever they are to be found. Their boats are gene-
rally larger, and rowed by longer paddles. They have
a sort of cabin, made of basket-work, in the centre,
which serves to contain their effects, and answers the
purposes of a house. Many of them carry pieces of
fresh pork up and down the river for sale."
BANKOK.
THE Mei-nam, at Bankok, is about a quarter of a
mile in breadth, not including the space on each side
occupied by floating houses; its depth, close to the
bank, varies from six to ten fathoms; its current is
about three miles an hour. It brings down a large
volume of water, containing a considerable proportion
of soft mud. The fort and palace of Pe-ya-tac are on
the right bank of the river : they have a mean and
paltry appearance. The palace of the present king is
situated on the left bank, nearly opposite, upon a nar-
row island between two or three miles .in length.
" This palace, and indeed almost the whole island, is
surrounded with a wall, in some places of considerable
height, with indifferent-looking bastions here and
there, and numerous gates. The persons attached to
the court reside here in wretched huts made of palm-
leaves. There is, in fact, but little distinction be-
tween this place and other parts of the town, except
that you see few Chinese there, and that the shops are
of inferior quality. The greater part, however, of the
space included by the wall, consists of waste ground,
swamps, and fruit-gardens.
" The city is continuous with the palace, extending
on both sides of the river to the distance of three or
four miles; but it lies principally on the left bank.
The town is built entirely of wood; the palaces of the
276 SIAM.
king, the temples, and the houses of a few chiefs being
alone constructed of brick or mud walls. From the
great length which it occupies along the banks of the
river, it might be supposed to be a place of vast extent;
this, however, is not the case. The Siamese may be
said to be aquatic in their disposition. The houses
rarely extend more than one or two hundred yards
from the bank of the river; and by far the greater
number of them are floating on bamboo rafts, secured
close to the bank. The houses that are not so floated,
are built on posts driven into the mud, and raised
above the bank; a precaution rendered necessary
both by the diurnal tides and by the annual inunda-
tion. To every house, whether floating or not, there
is attached a boat, generally very small, for the use of
the family. There is little travelling but what is per-
formed by water; and hence the arms both of the
women and the men acquire a large size from the con-
stant habit of rowing.
"The few streets that Bankok boasts, are passable
on foot only in dry weather; the principal shops,
however, and the most valuable merchandise, are
found along the river in the floating houses, occupied
almost exclusively by Chinese. The greatest unifor-
mity prevails in the appearance of the houses. A
handsome spire here and there serves to enliven
the view^ and these are the only ornaments which
can be said, to produce this effect, for the singular
architecture displayed in the construction of the tem-
ples and palaces, can hardly be considered in this
light.
" The floating-houses, like every other building in
the place, consist of one floor only. The houses gene-
rally have a neat appearance; they are, for the most
part, thatched with palm-leaves, but sometimes with
SIAM. 277
tiles. They are divided into several small apartments,
of which the Chinese always allot the central one for
the reception of their household gods. The shops,
forming one side of the house, being shut up at night,
are converted into sleeping apartments. The whole
is disposed with the greatest economy of space ; even
the narrow verandahs in front, on which are usually
disposed jars of water, pots with herbs and plants,
bundles of firewood, &c. They have become so habi-
tuated to this sort of aquatic life, as scarcely to expe-
rience any inconvenience from it. The walls and
floors of the houses are formed of boards ; and consi-
dering the nature of the climate, such buildings afford
very comfortable shelter. The houses of the common
people are equally wretched in appearance with those
of a common bazar in India. Those occupied by the
Chinese are in general neater and more comfortable.
The latter people are not only the principal merchants,
but the only artificers in the place. The most com-
mon trades are those of tinsmith, blacksmith, and
currier. The manufacture of tin vessels is very con-
siderable, and the utensils, being polished bright, and
often of very handsome forms, give an air of extreme
neatness to the shops in which they are displayed.
Were it not for the very extraordinary junction of the
trade of currier, such places might readily be mistaken
for silversmiths' shops.
"The palaces are buildings of inconsiderable size,
in the Chinese style, covered with a diminishing series
of three or four tiled roofs, sometimes terminated by
a small spire; they are more remarkable for singularity
than beauty. The palace of the king is covered with
tin tiles. Many of the temples cover a large extent of
ground : they are placed in the most elevated and best
278 SIAM.
situations, surrounded with brick walls or bamboo
hedges, and the enclosure contains numerous rows of
buildings, disposed in straight lines. They consist of
one spacious and, in general, lofty hall, with narrow
but numerous doors and windows. Both the exterior
and interior are studded over with a profusion of mi-
nute and singular ornaments of the most varied de-
scription. It is on the ends, and not on the sides of
the exterior of the building, that the greatest care has
been bestowed in the disposition of the ornaments.
A profusion of gilding, bits of looking-glass, China
basins of various colours, stuck into the plaster, are
amongst the most common materials. The floor of the
temple is elevated several feet above the ground, and
generally boarded or paved, and covered with coarse
mats. The wildest stories of Hindoo theology figure
on the walls. Sometimes, the painter's hand, by acci-
dent, perhaps, more than design, has portrayed human
passions with a degree of spirit and of truth worthy
of better subjects.* At one end of the temple, a sort
of altar is raised, on which is placed the principal
figure of Buddha, surrounded by innumerable smaller
ones, and by those of priests ; and here and there is
disposed the figure of a deceased king, distinguished
by his tall, conical cap, peculiar physiognomy, and
rich costume. The figures of Buddha have a cast of
the Tartar countenance, particularly the eye of that
race. It will scarcely be credited how numerous are
the images of Buddha in the temples. They are dis-
posed with unsparing profusion on the altar, of all
sizes, from one inch to thirty feet in height. In the
* Here, for the first time, Mr. Finlayson observed obscene paint-
ings in a temple dedicated to Buddha. ' ' In Ceylon, they would
have been deemed altogether profane."
si AM. 279
outer courts of the temple, they are disposed in still
greater number.* The expense in gilding alpne
(for every image is gilt) must be great.
" The arrangement observed in the Waat-thay-
cham-ponn, may be given as an instance of what occurs
in the rest. This consists of a number of temples,
pra-cha-dis, and buildings allotted for the accommo-
dation of priests, enclosed in an ample square, rather
more than a quarter of a mile on each side. The
principal temples are further surrounded by a piazza,
open only towards the temple, and about twelve or
fifteen feet in breadth, and well paved. Against the
back wall, a stout platform of masonry extends round
the temple, on which are placed gilded figures of
Buddha, for the most part considerably larger than
the human size, and so close to each other as to leave
no vacant place on the platform. Of these statues,
the greater number are made of cast iron; others are
made of brass, others of wood or of clay, and all with
careful uniformity. Several hundreds of such images
are thus seen at one glance of the eye. In other and
less spacious passages, minor figures, chiefly of clay or
wood, are heaped together in endless numbers. They
would appear to accumulate so fast, that it seems
probable, the priests are at times reduced to the neces-
sity of demolishing hosts of them. The apartments
allotted for the accommodation of the priests are clean,
neat, substantial, and comfortable, without ornament
or superfluity. The pra-cha-di of this temple is the
handsomest of the kind in Bankok, and is deserving
of notice on account of its architectural beauty.
"The pra-cha-di, f called, by the Buddhists of
* See page 255.
t Mr. Finlayson interprets this word, "the roof of the pra or
lord." Sir Thomas Raffles suggests, that both in their character
R2
280 SIAM.
Ceylon, dagoba, is a solid building of m-asonry, without
aperture or inlet of any sort, however large it may be.
It is generally built in the neighbourhood of some
temple, but is not itself an object or a place of worship,
being always distinct from the temple itself. In its
origin, it would appear to have been sepulchral, and
destined to commemorate either the death of Buddha,
or his translation into heaven. Even at the present
time, these ornamental buildings are thought to con-
tain some relic of Buddha. This one in particular
makes a light and handsome appearance: the lower
part consists of a series of dodecahedral terraces, dimi-
nishing gradually to nearly one half of the whole
height, where they are succeeded by a handsome spire,
fluted longitudinally, and ornamented with numerous
circular mouldings. The minor ornaments are nume-
rous, and towards the summit there is a small globe
of glass. The total height would appear to be about
250 feet from the ground. Minor edifices of this sort
are common in every temple. They are in general
raised upon a base of twelve sides, but sometimes of
eighteen."
Mr. Finlayson describes a temple which they visited,
at a short distance from the hall of audience, a pyra-
midal structure, its point terminating in a slender
spire about 200 feet high. The interior is a lofty
chamber, nearly fifty feet square, paved with stones.
In the centre were placed, on irregular stages, count-
less images of Buddha, intermixed with bits of looking-
glass, scraps of gilded paper, and Chinese paintings:
the whole was surmounted with a figure of Buddha,
about a foot and a half high, of some sort of stone,
as a sepulchral shrine, and in their form, the pyramid and the
dagoba seem to coincide.
SI AM. 281
Mr. Finlayson supposes, Chinese figure-stone, or helio-
trope. There was nothing in the shape of an altar.
The strangers were followed into the temple by a
crowd of idlers, whose noisy indecorum shewed little
reverence for the place. A paved arcade surrounds
the temple, the walls of which are covered with rude
paintings of subjects taken from the Ramayana. In
the same enclosure there is a small handsome building,
also of a pyramidal form, in which are deposited the
royal collection of sacred books. A flight of steps
leads to it, which, as well as the floor, is covered with
plates of tin. The books, which appear to be not
very numerous, are contained in a cabinet ornamented
with small pieces of mother-of-pearl. At each of the
principal gates of this enclosure, stand gigantic earthen
images, of grotesque form, with clubs in their hands ;
and at each angle of the temple, are brass figures of a
nondescript animal, somewhat resembling a lion. Be-
sides these, there are other figures of clay, paltry in
appearance and absurd in design. Altogether, in the
style of their architecture, sculpture, painting, and
decoration, the Siamese appeared to Mr. Finlayson to
be far behind the rude inhabitants of Ceylon.
The description given of the royal levee, at which
the Agent of the Governor-general was presented to
his majesty of Siam, exhibits the same ceremonials,
but on a far less magnificent scale, that are observed
at the court of Ava.* The reception given to Mr.
* The hall was lofty and about 60 feet in length, supported by
wooden pillars, ten on each side, painted spirally red and dark
green. The ceiling and walls were also painted with wreaths and
festoons in various colours. Some small and paltry mirrors were
disposed on the walls ; glass lustres and wall- shades were hung in
the centre ; and to the middle of each pillar was attached a lantern,
not much better than our stable lanterns. The floor was carpeted.
A large and handsome cloth curtain, covered with tinsel or gold.
282 SIAM.
Cravvfurd was pointedly disrespectful. Indeed, it was
afterwards distinctly intimated to him, that the mis-
sion had been received by the king as a deputation
from a provincial government. Unfortunately, this
gentleman arrived hi the country totally unacquainted
with the manners of the people and the etiquette of
the court ; and he unwittingly laid himself open to
this contemptuous treatment, by entering into nego-
tiations with persons of no authority, and trusting to
verbal communications carried on by means of a low
and artful fellow, a Malay. With singular indiscre-
tion, also, he gave up the Governor-general's letter to
an officer of subordinate rank, and he submitted to be
lodged in a species of out-house. No person of rank
waited upon him ; and even the Portuguese consul
excused himself, on the pretence that Mr. Crawfurd
had not yet been presented at court; yet, he con-
sented to visit the minister and Prince Chroma-chit,
on which occasion his own interpreters were excluded.
When at length they were admitted to an audience,
his majesty appeared without his crown; a few only
of the presents from the Gavernor-general were exhi-
bited, and no notice whatever was taken of the letter
of the noble marquess. On leaving the hall, they were
compelled to retrace their steps barefoot through
muddy paths ; and for a royal present, they each re-
leaf, hung before the arched niche in which was placed the
throne, raised about twelve feet above the floor. The appearance
of the king strongly reminded Mr. Finlayson of an image of
Buddha, and the breathless silence of the prostrate multitude cor-
responded to the idea of religious worship. Indeed, Buddha him-
self does not receive such reverential homage from his votaries.
When the king rose to go, all the people raised a shout, and turn-
ing on their knees, touched with both hands the earth and their
forehead alternately. This shout of adoration recalls the abject
adulation offered by the Tyrians to Herod, as recorded, Acts,
xii. 22.
SIAM. 283
ceived a paltry Chinese umbrella, which might have
been purchased in the bazar for a rupee. All this
might have been expected from the known character
and customs of the Indo-Chinese courts ; and indeed,
the treatment which Col. Symes met with, and more
especially Capt. Cox, at Amarapura, might have put
Mr. Crawfurd upon his guard against degrading con-
cessions in the first instance. A mercantile agent
would naturally be looked upon in a very contemptuous
light by these haughty courts, and by the Portuguese
'and Malay traders with any but friendly feelings.
Mr. Crawfurd's mission failed in every respect. They
were received with coldness, treated with contempt,
and dismissed with indifference.
They had been at Bankok about a month, when it
so happened that a Cochin- Chinese embassy arrived at
Packnam ; and now, they had the mortification of
beholding how the court of Siam was accustomed to
receive the recognised representative of an equal state.
Notice of his arrival having been transmitted to the
court, the chief of Packnam was ordered to entertain
the ambassador, while preparations were made for
conducting him in due form to the capital. The fes-
tivities lasted for several days, consisting of scenic
representations, musical entertainments, and gym-
nastic exercises. At the end of a week, all things
being ready, he embarked with his train, and pro-
ceeded by easy stages up the river. " The scene,"
says Mr. Finlayson, " was interesting beyond expec-
tation ; it was both beautiful and picturesque. The
rapidity with which the boats and barges moved, the
order and regularity with which innumerable rowers
raised and depressed their paddles, guided by the shrill
notes of a song that might well be deemed barbarous,
together with the singular and barbaric forms, the
284 SI AM.
brilliant colours, the gilded canopies of the boats, the
strange and gaudy attire of the men, the loud and
reiterated acclamations of innumerable spectators,
gave to the transient scene an effect not easily de-
scribed.
" It was now, for the first time, that we had an
opportunity of seeing those singular and highly-orna-
mented royal barges which had attracted the attention
of M. Chaumont and his suite, ambassador to Siam
from the court of Louis XIV. The description given
of them by LoubeVe, in his Histoire de Siam, will, with
very little alteration, apply to those now in use. They
are in general from sixty to eighty feet, or more, in
length, about four in breadth, and raised about two
feet in the middle from the water, the bow and stern
rising boldly to a considerable height. They are
highly ornamented with curious and not inelegant
devices, all of which are neatly carved on the wood
and gilt. The form is that of some monstrous or ima-
ginary animal. In the centre there is erected a
canopy, generally well gilt, and hung with silken cur-
tains, or cloth interwoven with gold tissue. The
space under the canopy is calculated to contain but
one or two persons, the rest of the boat being entirely
occupied by the rowers, often to the number of forty
or fifty.
" The procession moved in the following order :
Four long boats in front, with numerous rowers,
dressed in red jackets, and wearing tall conical caps
of the same colour. These boats were covered with a
light awning of mats. Six richly-ornamented boats,
with gilded canopies, in the form of a dome, and
richly carved. In these were the assistants and suite
of the ambassador. Each boat carried two small brass
swivels in front: the men were dressed as in the
S1AM. 285
former. About forty rowers were in each boat. A
very handsome, richly-ornamented barge, with a gilt
canopy of a conical shape, and rich curtains, in which
was the ambassador, bearing the letter from the king
of Cochin-China. Four or six boats similar to those
in front.
" In the course of a few days after his arrival at
Bankok, he was admitted to an audience of the king,
without going through those forms which had been
pointed out as necessary to be observed by the Agent
to the Governor-general. The Cochin- Chinese am-
bassador neither visited the Prince Chroma-Chit, nor
his deputy the Pra-Klang, Suri-Wong, before he had
obtained an audience of the king.
" The ambassador was carried to the palace by his
own followers in a palanquin, preceded by a number
of armed men. He got out of his vehicle at the inner
gate, and walking up to the hall of audience without
laying aside his shoes, took his seat in the place
allotted to him, taking his own interpreter along with
him."*
* M. de Chaumont, the ambassador from Louis XIV. in 1685,
made still higher terms for the mission, insisting upon keeping on
their shoes, contrary to all oriental etiquette, and also upon deli-
vering the letter into the king's own hands, instead of entrusting it
to one of the officers. The ambassador, having entered and found
the king seated, made three bows in the course of his advance ;
then began his speech, after two or three words of which, he put on
his hat, and delivered the rest sitting and covered. He then rose
to give the letter ; but it appeared to him that the king's position
was much higher than had been stipulated, or than would admit of
his delivering the letter without stretching his person in a manner
unsuitable to his dignity. He therefore formed the bold resolution
not to lift the letter higher than himself. Constantine, the mi-
nister, who was lying on his hands and feet, implored him to raise
his arm; but the ambassador was deaf; and at last the king, laugh-
ing, stooped and took the gold box in which the letter was con-
tained. He then conversed for about an hour with great affability
286 SIAM.
The chief pride of the court of Siam still consists in
its elephants ; but a white elephant is no longer so
great a rarity as to claim to be worshipped as a divine
phenomenon, an object of contention between rival
powers. Instead of one white elephant, and that an
old and sorry one, which the French mission saw,
attended by a hundred servants, his Siamese majesty
now possesses no fewer than five. This, however, is
regarded as a most singularly auspicious and extraor-
dinary circumstance. A white elephant is still reck-
oned above all value, and a subject can perform no
service more gratifying to the monarch than that of
securing one. All elephants, as in Birmah, are the
sacred property of the crown.
"The appellation white, however," says Mr. Fin-
layson, "as applied to the elephant, must be received
with some degree of limitation : the animal is in fact
an occasional variety, of less frequent occurrence in-
deed, but in every respect analogous to what occurs in
other orders of animals, and, amongst the rest, in the
human species. They are, correctly speaking, albinos,
and are possessed of all the peculiarities of that ab-
normal production; but of these white elephants, it
was remarkable that the organ of sight was, to all
appearance, natural and sound, in no' way intolerant
of light, readily accommodating itself to the dif-
ferent degrees of light and shade, and capable of
being steadily directed to objects at the will of the
and made many inquiries about the affairs of France. All the
mandarins in the hall remained flat with their faces to the ground,
so long as the king was present. In Siam, every man is doomed to
crawl before his superior. The servant crawls before the master,
the master before the grandee, the grandee before the prince ; and
thus, the greatest men are doomed to take their turn of grovelling.
In Siam, as in Birmah, it is unlawful to speak of the king by name,
and wives never pronounce the names of their lords.
SIAM. 287
animal ; in short, similar in all respects to that of the
common elephant, with the exception of the iris, which
was of a pure white colour. In this respect, they
resembled all the quadrupedal albinos that I had
hitherto seen, as those among horses, cows, rabbits.
This circumstance I should scarcely have thought worth
the noticing, were it not that I shall have occasion to
mention in the sequel an instance of an animal of the
albino kind, possessed of the peculiar eye of the human
albino. In one or two of the elephants, the colour
was strictly white, and in all of them, the iris was of
that colour, as well as the margins of the eye-lids; in
the rest, the colour had a cast of pink in it. The hairs
upon the body were for the most part yellowish, but
much more scanty, finer, and shorter than in other
elephants; the strong hairs of the tail were darker,
but still of a yellowish colour. In none did the colour
and texture of the skin appear entirely healthy. In
some, the cuticular texture of the legs was intf rspersed
with glandular knobs, which gave a deformed appear-
ance to these members. In others, the skin of the
body was uncommonly dry, while the natural wrinkles
were unusually large, secreted an acrid-like fluid, and
seemed ready to burst out into disease. These beasts
were all of small size, but in excellent condition ; and
one 1 of them was even handsome. They were treated
with the greatest attention, each having several keepers
attached to him. Fresh-cut grass was placed in abun-
dance by their side; they stood on a small boarded
platform, kept clean ; a white cloth was spread before
them ; and while we were present, they were fed with
sliced sugar-cane, and bunches of plantains.*
* When the king of Pegu was at the zenith of his power, the
undisputed Lord of the White Elephant, the sacred animals, we are
288 SI AM.
" In the same place we observed rather a fine-
looking elephant, but a small one, which appeared to
me to be a greater object of curiosity than any of the
others. This animal was covered all over with black
spots, about the size of a pea, upon a white base. It
is not unusual to observe a partial degree of this
spotted appearance in the elephant of Bengal, as on
the forehead and trunk of the animal ; but in this in-
stance, the skin was entirely covered with them.
" The greatest regard is entertained in Siam for
the white elephant. He who discovers one, is regarded
as the most fortunate of mortals. The event is of
that importance, that it may be said to constitute an
told, were served in vessels of vermilion; musical instruments
preceded their steps when they went forth to take exercise or to
drink ; and when they came up from the stream, a royal attendant
washed their feet in a golden basin ! In Hamilton's description
of Hindostan, there is an account of the household establishment
of the white elephant belonging to the Emperor of Birmah, which
goes even beyond this in absurdity. The sacred animal had his
regular cabinet, composed of a woongee, a woondock, a serogee, a
nakhaan, and various subordinate officers. Presents of muslins,
chintzes, and silks, were regularly made to him by all foreign
ambassadors. His residence, it is said, "is contiguous to the
royal palace, with which it is connected by a long, open gallery,
supported by numerous wooden pillars, at the further end of which
a curtain of black velvet, embossed with gold, conceals the august
animal from the eyes of the vulgar ; and before this curtaui the
offerings intended for him are displayed. His dwelling is a lofty
hall, covered with splendid gilding both inside and out, and sup-
ported by sixty-four pillars, half of which are elegantly gilded.
To two of these his fore feet are fixed by silver chains, while his
hind ones are secured by links of a baser material. His bed con-
sists of a thick mattrass covered with blue cloth, over which ano-
ther of a softer composition is spread, covered with crimson silk.
His trappings are very magnificent, being gold, studded with large
diamonds, pearls, sapphires, rubies, and other precious stones.
His betel-box, spitting-basin, ankle-rings, and the vessel out of
which he feeds, are likewise all of gold, inlaid with precious stones ;
and his attendants and guards amount to one thousand persons."
SIAM. 289
era in the annals of the nation. The fortunate dis-
coverer is rewarded with a crown of silver, and with a
grant of land equal in extent to the space of country
at which the elephant's cry may be heard. He and
his family, to the third generation, are exempted from
all sorts of servitude, and their land from taxation.
" The next and only other animals that we saw
here, are certainly of very rare occurrence, and objects
of great curiosity. These were two white monkeys,
perfect albinos in every respect. They are about the
size of a small dog, furnished with a tail about as long
as the body. They are thickly covered with fur,
which is as white as snow, or that of the whitest rabbit.
The lips, eyelids, and feet are distinguished by the in-
animate whiteness of the skin noticed in the human
albino; while the general appearance of the iris, the
eye, and even the countenance, the intolerance of the
light, the unsettled air they assumed, and the grimace
they affected, afforded so many points of resemblance
between them and that unhappy variety of our species,
as rendered the sight disgusting and humiliating. One
who had seen a perfect albino of the human species,
would find it impossible to separate the impression of
his appearance from that of the animals now before us.
These had but little of the vivacity or mischievious
disposition for which this tribe is so remarkable. All
their movements, all their attitudes, had for their
apparent object the lessening of the effect of light and
glare, towards which they always turn their backs.
Their eye-brows seemed pursed up and contracted, the
pupils were of a light rose-colour, the irides of a very
pale cast of blue. One was very old, and had but
few teeth in his head. His lips were besides remark-
ably thick, and apparently diseased. The other was
much younger.
290 SIAM.
" It did not appear that they were held in any de-
gree of veneration by the Siamese : we learned that
they were placed here from superstitious motives, with
the object, as they said, of preventing evil spirits from
killing the white elephants.!'*
There are no data which enable us to estimate the
population of Bankok. At least one half are supposed
to be Chinese; the remainder consist of Siamese,
native Christians, f Birmans, Peguans, Malays, and
Laos, probably the same people as the Tai-yay, or
Northern Siamese. These different classes occupy
distinct portions of the town, and associate only with
their countrymen. The population of the kingdom of
Siam was computed, in 1750, to amount to something
short of two millions of adults, which would give a
population of between three and four millions; but
no dependence can be placed on the estimate. Since
then, Siam has been deprived of a very large and im-
portant portion of territory. On the other hand, the
* About two years before, the king was stated to have had in
his possession, an albino of the deer kind; and albinos among
buffaloes are, Mr. Finlayson says, not uncommon in Siam or in the
Malay Islands. " How far the habit is developed by peculiarity
of climate, it is difficult to determine. The geographical limits
within which this variety occurs with unwonted frequency, are
not very extensive." All the elephants which he saw here, were
smaller than the Ceylon elephant, but of handsomer shape; their
tusks were also shorter, and less curved. The royal tiger is very
commonly to be met with in the interior ; the black tiger is by no
means rare ; and the leopard is common. The bones of the tiger,
to which medical virtues are ascribed, are, as well as skins, a
considerable article of trade with China.
t Chiefly the descendants of Portuguese settlers, a degraded and
despised class, who are found throughout the coasts of Hindostan
and Indo-China; but who, as interpreters, form a valuable link of
communication. They speak Portuguese, in general, with ease
and fluency, and may be considered as forming a caste or nation
almost as distinct as the Armenians or Jews.
SIAM. 291
eastern province of Chantibond, acquired from Cam-
bodia, is supposed to contain nearly a million ; but
others reckon it under half that number.
Before we take leave of the capital, we shall gather
up a few additional scattered notices relating to the
national customs and physical character.
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.
MR. FINLAYSON describes the Siamese physio-
gnomy as characterised by a remarkably large face,
the forehead very broad, prominent on each side, and
the hairy scalp descending unusually low, so as to
cover in some the whole of the temples ; the cheek-
bones are large, wide, and prominent; but the most
remarkable peculiarity is the extraordinary size of the
back part of the lower jaw, which has almost the effect,
on a careless inspection, of a swelling of the parotid
gland. A similar appearance is often observable in Ma-
lays. The eyes are small and oblique; the mouth is
large ; the lips thick ; the beard scanty ; the hair thick,
coarse, lank, and uniformly black, and both sexes wear
it cut so short behind, as only to reach the tops of the
ears, but leave a short tuft on the head, which they
comb backward. The people generally go naked
from the waist upwards, sometimes throwing a piece
of cloth over the shoulders. The younger women
fasten a short piece of cloth round the chest, leaving
the shoulders and arms bare. From the loins to the
knee, they wrap round them a piece of coloured cloth,
generally blue, over which the better sort wear a piece
of Chinese crape, or a shawl. Both the head and the
feet are generally bare. Those who use papouches, or
slippers, invariably lay them aside on entering their
dwellings, and never wear them in the presence of
292 SI AM.
their superiors or of the priests. The mandarins wear,
besides the loin-cloth, (called by the Portuguese payne,
from the Latin pannus,} which is generally black, a
muslin shirt or vest, and, on days of ceremony, a high
conical cap, somewhat resembling the king's ; only that
his is encircled with jewellery, while their respective
rank is indicated by circles of gold, silver, or ver-
milion.
" The skin of the Siamese is of a lighter colour than
in the generality of Asiatics to the west of the Ganges,
by far the greater number being of a yellow com-
plexion; a colour which, in the higher ranks, and
particularly among women and children, they take
pleasure in heightening by the use of a bright yel-
low wash or cosmetic, so that their bodies are often
rendered of a golden colour. The texture of the skin
is remarkably smooth, soft, and shining."*
The Siamese women are represented by M. LoubeYe
as both cleanly and modest. They are fond to excess
of the bath, using it repeatedly in the twenty-four
hours, and they are generally excellent swimmers, but
they never lay aside the pagne. They never make a
visit of ceremony without a previous ablution. They
use perfumes, and apply a paste to their lips, which
increases their natural pallidness, in order, it may be
presumed, to set off their blackened teeth.
The food of the Siamese consists chiefly of rice,
which is eaten with a substance called balachonff, " a
strange compound of things savoury and loathsome,
but in such general use, that no one thinks of eating
without some portion of it." The religion, as in the
* This fondness for a golden complexion is not peculiar to the
Indo-Chinese. Van Egmont tells us, that the Greek ladies at
Smyrna, on high occasions, used to gild their faces, which was
considered as rendering them irresistibly charming.
SI AM. 293
case of the Birmans, does not restrain them from
animal food, provided that they are guiltless of having
killed the animal. They are more choice in their
food, however, and less indulgent of their appetites,
than the Chinese inhabitants, who are described as
gourmands.
Indolence is one of the most prominent traits in the
character of the Siamese, and the ease with which they
can procure the necessaries of life, contributes to foster
this habit.* Their chief amusement is gambling, of
which they are immoderately fond; they will even
stake their wives and children. Both priests and
laymen may often be seen squatted on the pavement
of a pagoda, playing at chess or some game of chance,
before the very shrine of the idol. They are also ex-
cessively addicted to smoking. They are very fond of
dramatic representations, founded chiefly on the ex-
ploits of fabulous and mythological personages, and
have the credit of being the best performers among
the Indo-Chinese nations. Bull-races, cock-fights,
and battles of wild beasts, wrestling, rope-dancing,
and fire-works, are also enumerated among the na-
tional amusements. The Siamese are moreover a very
* M. Loubere draws the following portrait of a Siamese life :
' ' When the six months' service to the king is expired, it belongs
to their wife or mother to maintain them. They apply to no
business, as they practice no particular profession. A Siamese
works not but for the prince ; he neither walks nor hunts ; in
short, he does nothing but sit or lie, eating, playing, smoking, and
sleeping. His wife will wake him at seven in the morning, and
serve him with rice and fish ; he will fall asleep hereupon, and at
noon he will eat again ; and will sup at the end of the day. Be-
tween these two last meals will be his day : conversation or play
consumes the rest. The women plough, and sell and buy. Not-
withstanding this unequal yoke on the female sex," he adds, " the
Siamese love their wives and children exceedingly, and it appears
that they are greatly beloved by them." P. 50.
294 SIAM.
musical people. " Even persons of rank," says Mr.
Finlayson, " think it no disparagement to acquire a
proficiency in the art. Their music is for the most
part extremely lively, and more pleasing to the ear of
a European, than the want of proficiency in the more
useful arts of civilised life would lead him to expect of
such a nation. Whence this proficiency has arisen,
it may be somewhat difficult to explain; more especially
as the character of their music partakes but little of
that eccentricity of genius and apparent, heaviness of
mind and imagination, for which they are, in other
respects, so remarkable. We have no means of ascer-
taining what is of domestic origin, or how much they
may be indebted to foreign intercourse for the im-
provement of their music. On inquiry, we were told
that the principal instruments were of Birman, Peguan,
or Chinese origin, and that much of the music had
been borrowed from the two first-mentioned nations,
particularly from Pegu. " It is somewhat singular that
these nations consider the Siamese as superior in mu-
sical skill, and attribute to them the invention of the
principal instruments, as may be seen in Col. Symes's
account of those countries.
" It might be supposed that the Siamese had bor-
rowed their music from the same source that they
have their religion, the softness, the playful sweet-
ness and simplicity of the former seeming to harmo-
nise in some degree with the human tenets, the strict
morality, and apparent innocence of the latter. The
prominent and leading character, however, of the
music, appears to be common to the Malays and
other inhabitants of the Indian islands, as well as to
the whole of the Indo-Chinese nations.
" My friend Captain Dangerfield, himself an adept
in musical science, remarks that the music of the
SIAM. 295
Siamese differs from that of all barbarous tribes, in
being played upon a different key on that, if I un-
derstand him right, which characterises the pathetic
music of certain European nations. There is cer-
tainly no harsh or disagreeable sound, no sudden or
unexpected transition, no grating sharpness in their
music. Its principal character is that of being soft,
lively, sweet, and cheerful, to a degree which seemed
to us quite surprising. They have arrived beyond
the point of being placed with more sound : the
musician aimed at far higher views, that of inte-
resting the feelings, awakening thought, or exciting
the passions. Accordingly, they have their different
kinds of music, to which they have recourse accord-
ing as they wish to produce one or other of these
effects.
" Their pieces of music are very numerous. A
performer of some notoriety, who exhibited before us,
stated that he knew 150 tunes. This man brought
with him two instruments, the one a wind, the other
a stringed instrument. The former, called klani, re-
sembled a flageolet, as well in form as in the tones,
which, however, were fuller, softer, and louder, than
those of that instrument. His manner of blowing on
it resembled that of a person using the blow-pipe. He
was thus enabled to keep up an uninterrupted series
of notes. The other, a more curious, as well as more
agreeable instrument is called tuk-kay, from its fancied
resemblance to a lizard, though, in point of form, to me
it appears to approach nearer to that of a Chinese
junk. It is about three feet long, has a hollow body,
and three large sounding holes on the back, which is
of a rounded form. It is composed of pieces of hard
wood, inlaid with mother-of-pearl. Three strings,
one of brass wire, the others of silk, supported on
PART II. S
296 si AM.
small bits of^wood, extend from one end of the instru-
ment to the other, and are tuned by means of long
pegs. The performer, pressing his left hand on the
cords, strikes them at proper distances with the fore-
finger of the right. There is another instrument,
called khong-nong, the music of which is also very
pleasant. It consists of a series of small cymbals of
different sizes, suspended horizontally in a bamboo
frame, forming a large segment of a circle. It is
sometimes so large, that the performer may sit within
the circle of the instrument, his back being then
turned to the vacant space. The tones of this instru-
ment are very pleasing. It is usually accompanied by
the instrument called ran-nan; this is formed of flat
bars of wood, about a foot in length, and an inch in
breadth, placed by the side of each other, and disposed
so as to form an arch, the convexity of which is down-
wards. Both this and the last-mentioned instrument
are struck with a light piece of wood, or a small
mallet. In conclusion, we may observe, that there is
a very remarkable difference between the character of
their vocal and of their instrumental music, the former
being as plaintive and melancholy, as the latter is
lively and playful."
The Siamese or T'bay language contains a great
variety of compositions. Their poems and songs are
numerous, as are their cheritras or romantic fictions,
which, in their general characteristics, resemble those
of the Birman, Rukheng, and Malaya tribes.* Many
of the Siamese princes have been celebrated for their
poetical powers. Their books of medicine are reckoned
* Dr. Leyden has given the titles of forty-one of the most po-
pular cheritras, The Rama-kien seems, he says, to be a version
of the Ramayana, and the greater part are obviously derived from
the Sanscrit through the Pali. Asiat. Ret., vol. x. p. 248.
SIAM. 297
of considerable antiquity, and their laws are celebrated
all over the East. Their medical practice, however,
is behind even that of the Birmans ; and their litera-
ture is, apparently, altogether exotic. Both in science
and in poetry, we are told, those who affect learning
and elegance of composition, sprinkle their style co-
piously with a mixture of Pali.
The language of Siam is considered by Dr. Leyden
as an original one. It is, he says, "more purely
monosyllabic than the languages of Birmah, Arracan,
and Pegu, and is certainly connected in some degree
with the Chinese dialects, especially the mandarin or
court language, with which its numerals, as well as
some other terms, coincide." In its construction,
its intonations, and its modes of expression, it coin-
cides much more closely with the Chinese dialects than
with those of Birmah ; and the words which it has
borrowed from the Pali or Magadha, (the sacred lan-
guage of the votaries of Buddha) are much more con-
tracted and disguised than in the other vernacular
idioms.* The Siamese calendar differs little from
that of the Chinese. Mr. Finlayson says, indeed, that
it is very doubtful if they could construct one with-
out the assistance of a Chinese calendar, which they
procure regularly from Pekin. Their era, answering
to A.D. 638, also appears to be derived from China.
Their customs approximate to those both of India
and China. Polygamy is tolerated. The monarchs
have sometimes espoused their own sisters. Women
enjoy far less freedom and consideration in Siam, than
they do in Birmah. The wife is not allowed to eat
with her husband, nor even to sail in the same boat.
She must attend no public amusements, but confine
Asiat. Res. vol. x. p. 244.
298 S1AM.
herself to her domestic duties. All the heaviest labour
devolves on the females. Their treatment of the dead
varies according to the rank of the deceased. The
corpses of the poor are unceremoniously thrown into
the river. Infants under the age of dentition, and
women who have died before delivery, are interred
in a superficial grave, a peculiarity connected with
some obscure superstition. With these exceptions,
the practice of burning the dead extends to all classes.
This is often performed very imperfectly, and the
partially consumed bones are left to bleach on the
plain, or to be devoured by beasts. In some instances,
it is deemed meritorious, before burning the corpse,
to distribute the fleshy parts among the beasts of the
field and the birds of the air. In other cases, the
body is sometimes embalmed before it is burned. This
appears to be a relic of a very ancient practice, in use,
probably, prior to the introduction of the custom of
incineration. The actual state of the art of embalming
is characteristic, Mr. Finlayson says, of that general
ignorance of the ornamental as well as of the useful
arts of civilised life, which is displayed by the modern
Siamese.
The criminal punishments, as among the Birmans,
are most barbarous. Trial by ordeal is very frequently
had recourse to: of this there are various kinds,
walking over hot irons, ordeal by water, and by com-
bat with tigers. Adultery is now punishable only by
fine. Debtors are very severely treated, being for the
most part reduced to slaver)'. All males in Siam are
enrolled from infancy, and are liable, on' becoming
adults, to be called on for military service, without
pay, during six months of the year. The king has no
standing army except his personal guards, who are
chiefly Tatars, but the whole nation is thus formed
SIAM 2&9
into a militia. Here, as in the fiirman empire, it is
striking to observe the analogy which some of their
institutions present to the old feudal tenures and
military service of Europe in the eleventh century.
No Siamese can wear arms without special permission ;
but a knife, as in Spain, is in universal use, not being
considered as a weapon.*
We should now proceed to the topographical de-
scription of the country, but for this we have scarcely
any materials. The interior of Siam is for the most
part land untravelled by Europeans. It is remarkable,
that while the Siamese found no cities or towns except
on the borders of their rivers, they form no settlements
on their maritime coasts, which are uniformly de-
serted, and, for at least a day's journey from shore, are
destitute of any habitation, whether through fear of
piratical invaders, or from any other cause, does not
clearly appear.
Respecting Yuthia, the ancient capital, we have
only the vague accounts of the missionaries and older
travellers. Tavernier, referring, apparently, to the
same city under the name of Siam, says : " Siam, the
capital city, where the king keeps his court, is walled
about, being about three of our leagues in circuit :
it is situated on an island, the river running quite
round it, and might easily be brought into every
street in the town, if the king would but lay out as
much money on that design, as he spends in temples
ai d idols." Kaempfer states, that the temples are
* The city of Campang-pet (walls of diamond) is celebrated for
its mines, which yield excellent steel. Yet, iron is little used
Their boats have only wooden anchors ; pegs of bamboo are usec
for nails in the construction of their houses ; and they have neithe:
i:ins, nail?, nor iron tools. There are also mines of tin and lead.
S 2
300 SIAM.
more elegant than the churches are in Germany. In
the eastern part of the city were two squares, sur-
rounded with walls, and separated by a canal, contain-
ing numerous monasteries, colonnades, and temples.
In a plain to the north-west of the city, stood the
Puka-thon^ a pyramid erected to commemorate a
famous victory gained over the king of Pegu. Father
Gervaise states, that the foreigners' quarter was full
of brick houses, and that the parts occupied by the
natives contained handsome paved streets.*
Louvok, another populous town on the great river,
(supposed to be the Loeach of Marco Polo,) is probably
I/ou-oo, the favourite residence of Chaw Naraya.
Above the capital also, we find mentioned, Porseloc,
the chief town of an ancient principality of that name,
famous for its dye-woods and valuable gums.-f- The
names of other towns are given by Loubere as occur-
ring on the Mei-nam between Yuthia and Metak,
which is stated to be the frontier town of the Tay-
iio'i, beyond which the country belongs to the Great
Tays. From Bankok to Yuthia, the banks of the
Mei-nam are believed to be populous. " Lower down,
they are mere deserts, swarming with monkeys, phos-
phoric flies, and mosquitoes." J
* By the Birmans, the city of Siam is known under the name of
Dwarawuddy ; the proper native name is See-y-thaa. See p. 6. It
is said to stand in lat. 14 5' N., long. 100 25* E. Although of great
extent, it now contains but a small population. HAMILTON'S
Gazetteer.
t Malte Brun, vol. iii. p. 386- On the frontier of Pegu, there is
said to be a considerable town called Cambouri, the seat of a great
commerce in eagle-wood, ivory, and rhinoceros' horns, and from
this place comes the finest varnish. Ligor, a town on the western
coast of the Gulf of Siam, in lat. 8 SO 7 , gives name to a province
still in the possession of the Siamese, which yields a very pure tin
called I'filh).
Malte Brun, vol. iii. p. 383.
SI AM. 301
About ninety miles N. of the frontier, of Lower
Siam, in lat. 20* 30', according to Loubere, is Chiamay
or Jamahay, the capital of a state called Yangoma.
Thus far, the Mei-nam is said to be navigable by boats.
This is apparently the province of Yun-shan ; or pos-
sibly, the Yuns may be inhabitants of the shan, or
mountainous region, bordering on the country of
Chiamay or Saymmay, where there is said to be a lake
two hundred miles in extent, bounded by vast forests
and impassable marshes.* In this lake, according to
Mendez Pinto, the Mei-nam has its rise ; and Father
Gervaise places its source, on hearsay evidence, in a
great lake in the country of Laos, which must be in
this direction. Kaempfer states, however, that the
Mei-nam was believed to have its source in the moun-
tains of Tibet, -j- He describes it as dividing itself into
three arms, one of which flows through Cambodia,
another through Siam, and a third through Pegu, into
the sea. That the Mei-nam and the Mei-kong mingle
their waters by the Anan-myeet, seems to be ascer-
tained ; and another branch of the Mei-nam, called the
Bomeik-myeet, flowing westward, may perhaps find its
way into the Thaluayn. J We have already suggested
that possibly, in the rainy season, the waters of these
great rivers may unite to form a periodical inland sea,
* See p. 6, note.
t M. Loubere also considers the story of its origin in a lake a*
doubtful, " by reason it is so small at ita entrance into the kingdom
of Siam, that, for about fifty leagues, it carries only little boats
capable of holding no more than four or five persons at most. At
the city of Laconcevan (the mountain of heaven), the Meinam re-
ceives another considerable river, which also comes from the north,
and is likewise called Meinam, a name common to all great rivers."
LOUBERE, fol. p. 4. May not this river proceed from a lake ? Or
perhaps, the lake is southward of their confluence.
-t The authors of the Universal History, on the authority ol
M. Loubcr<_ and the journal of two Chinese, speak of the ninctiai
302 SIAM.
similar to that which is produced by the expansion of
the great South American rivers in the centre of
Paraguay. But time will resolve these conjectures.
The Mei-nam, or mother-water, is a name not re-
stricted to the river of Siam ; a circumstance whicli
contributes not a little to perplex the geography of
these regions. That which we now speak of, seems,
however, pre-eminently entitled to the appellation : it
is certainly one of the most considerable in eastern
Asia. The inundation takes place in September. In
December, the waters decline. It differs from the
Ganges, in swelling first in its upper part, owing its
inundations principally to the rains which fall among
the mountains. The inundation, as has been already
mentioned, is most remarkable in the centre of the
kingdom. The operations of the rice -harvest are
conducted (as in Paraguay) chiefly in boats.* The
water of the Mei-nam, though muddy, is agreeable
and wholesome. The banks are uniformly a rich and
deep alluvial soil, in which scarcely a stone or pebble
is to be found. The soil of the mountains, which are
granite, is dry and barren.
Siam may be considered as an immense valley form-
ed by a double chain of mountains, in some places
of a great river (meaning theMei-kong) with the Mei-nam. They
also mention two other considerable rivers which fall into the great
Mei-nam near its mouth. One, on the western side, rises near the
city of Kambui, (Cambouri ?) and divides into two branches, the
more northerly of which joins the Mei-nam a little above Yuthia,
while the other branch falls into the sea near Pipila. The river,
on the eastern side, has its source a little above the city of Karazema
on the frontiers of Laos, and passing by Kanayot and Perion, enters
the sea at Banplasoy near the eastern mouth of the Mei-nam.
Unit: Hist. vol. vj. p. 254. The Mei-nam falls into the Gulf of
Siam by three mouths, but the Packnam branch only is navigable.
* See Mod. Trav. Brazil, vol. ii. p. 127, note.
SI AM. 303
between fourscore and a hundred leagues in breadth,
and extending on each side of the gulf in the form of
a horse-shoe. The western range of mountains which
stretch down through the peninsula of Malacca, have,
from the gulf, a singularly picturesque appearance,
thus described by Mr. Finlayson :
" An extensive low ground, covered with thick
woods, stretches along the sea-coast. We could here
see abundance of palms growing; the Palmyra ap-
peared to be the most common. Appearances would
lead us to infer this low ground to be well inhabited.
The lofty mountains in the back ground render this
country singularly picturesque. Sam-rayot, signifying
three hundred peaks, the name by which the Siamese
designate this tract, is expressive of its appearance.
The mountain ranges run in the direction of north
and south. They are very elevated, extremely rugged
on their flanks, as well as summits, projecting into
innumerable bold conical peaks. It is perhaps a singular
circumstance, considering that the direction of these
mountain ranges is from north to south, that they are
steepest towards the east, while of mountains so distri-
buted, it has been observed, that the steepest acclivities
lie towards the west. Another singular circumstance
in the appearance of these mountains, is the insulated
situation of somq of the loftiest peaks, or rather moun-
tains. Three of the latter are perfectly conical, lofty,
and very steep, and their position is perfectly insular,
miles intervening between them and the mountain
ranges from which they stand detached. They are
situated upon the flat, apparently alluvial ground
Already mentioned. The greater hardness of the
granitic mass in these, will hardly account for thj
circumstance/'
304 SIAM.
The eastern shores of the Gulf are bordered by in-
numerable groupes of islands, composed, for the most
part, of mountainous masses, and all of them are of
considerable elevation. They are all covered with
vegetation, and have a picturesque aspect ; but it
does not appear that any of them have ever been
occupied. " The want of a constant supply of water
must ever be a principal objection : while their steep
forms and scanty soil forbid every attempt at cultiva-
tion. In many, the summits are rounded : in others,
peaked and rugged. In fact"," continues Mr. Finlayson,
" we here appear to have ascended the tops of a range
of mountains, in structure partaking of the nature of
rocks both of the primitive and the secondary kind.
The direction of this partly submerged range is like
that on the peninsula of Malacca, from north to south,
bending a little from east to west. The breadth of the
range is considerable. The islands form a continuous
narrow belt extending along the coast, in this respect
somewhat similar to those on the east coast of the Bay
of Bengal. There, however, we observe a stupendous
parallel chain of mountains, extending from one extre-
mity of the peninsula to the other ; whilst here, the
most remarkable circumstance is the extreme low-
ness of the continental land. It is an extensive allu-
vion, on a level with the sea, on which we look in
vain for hill or elevation of any sort. At the distance
of a few miles, the trees only, and not the ground, are
visible from the deck, whilst the islands, many of them
rising above 1000 feet, are to be seen many miles off.
The occurrence of granite on this, the first of the
series, was rather unexpected. This granite presents
several varieties. It is less perfectly crystalised, and
more granular, than that we found on the western coast
SIAM. 305
of the peninsula of Malacca. Many of the specimens
contain hornblende; and on the summit of the hill,
there is a red granite, which breaks into brick -like
fragments. The lower granite is uncommonly hard,
and breaks with much difficulty."*
At the head of the gulf, a mountainous country
divides the valley of Siam from Cambodia. This is
the province of Chantibond, which originally belonged
to the kingdom of Cambodia, but, on the partition of
that beautiful country, was seized upon by the Cochin
Chinese, and at length was annexed, by Pe-ya-tac, to
the empire of Siam, of which it is stated to constitute
one of the richest and most valuable provinces. Mr.
Finlayson describes it as " singularly beautiful and
picturesque, diversified by lofty mountains, extensive
forests, and fertile valleys and plains. The passage
thence to Cambodia is of short distance, a ridge of
mountains dividing the two countries. It possesses a
good and convenient harbour, well protected by nu-
merous beautiful islands in front. The river is ob-
structed in a great measure at its mouth, but affords
convenient and safe navigation to small vessels and
boats. It once possessed an extensive and profitable
* Mr. Finlayson supposes, that the base, both of the islands and
of the bay formed by them, is granite. " Extensive masses," he says,
of a coarse-grained granite, abounding with plates of gray and
black mica, in parallel laminae, are to be seen at low water at seve-
ral points on the shores of the islands. This rock presents a rough,
horizontal surface, never ascending into peaks, and rarely rising
above high-water mark. On this rock are superposed, collaterally
a d often alternating with each other, quartz rock and granular
limestone, both of them varying in appearance, and containing a
considerable proportion of calcareous matter. The direction of
the strata is from E. to W., dipping to the north. On the smaller
islands, the quartz is intersected by retiform veins of iron ore.
Caves of considerable extent occur in the slaty quartz." See FIN-
LAYSON'S Mitrion, pp. 90, 1 ; 2757-
306 SIAM.
commerce, which has been upon the decline since the
place fell into the hands of the Siamese. The produce
of the country is annually removed to Bankok, and
the commerce with foreign ships is prohibited. The
principal productions are pepper, the cultivation of
which may be increased almost to an unlimited extent,
benzoin, lac, ivory, agila-wood,* rhinoceros* horns,
hides of cows, buffaloes, deer, &c., gamboge, some
cardamoms, and precious stones, the latter of inferior
quality. The forests abound in excellent timber, and
afford the best materials for ship-building: accord-
ingly, many junks are built at this place. Many of
the islands in front of the port, and particularly that
called Bangga-cha, produce abundance of precious
stones. The island Sa-ma-ra-yat, to the east of the
harbour, is said to produce gold. In the former of
these islands, there is a safe and convenient harbour.
At a short distance from the coast, there is a very
high mountain, called Bomba-soi, commanding an ex-
tensive view both of Chantibond and of Cambodia.
" The amount of the population is uncertain,
* The agila-wood of Chantibond is equalled only by that of
Cochin China. The odoriferous principle, which gives it value,
resides in a black, thick, concrete oil, resembling tar or resin
while burning, and it is probably a combination of an essential
oil with resin. It is disposed in numerous cells, and gives to the
wood a blackish, dotted appearance. As it is found in compara-
tively few trees, and those only which exhibit signs of decay, it
has naturally been supposed to be the effect of disease. Probably,
it is occasioned by the puncture of some insect. The Siamese
name the substance nuga-mai : it is also called mai-hodm. The
consumption of it is considerable, even in Siam ; but the greater
part is exported to China, where it is used in the service of the
temples, and in the incineration of the corpses of persons of dis-
tinction. The powder, mixed with a gummy substance, is laid
over small sticks, which burn with a slow and smothered flame,
giving out a feeble but grateful perfume.
SIAM. 307
some estimating it at nearly one million, while
others reckon it under half that number. It is com-
posed of Chinese, Cochin- Chinese, Cambodians, and
Siamese; but by far the greater number are Chinese,
in whose hands are all the wealth and the richest
products of the country. There are also from two to
three hundred native Christians in the place, who,
like those in other parts of Siam, are placed under the
care of the bishop of Metellopolis, Joseph Florens, a
Frenchman. The place is governed by a man of Chi-
nese extraction, appointed by the king of Siam."
To the south of Cape Liant, which bounds on that
side the province of Chantibond, the eastern coast of
the Gulf of Siam takes a south-easterly direction as
far as Cape Cambodia. Two-third of this tract, 300
miles in length, are a sandy desert; but here, near
the mouth of a deep but narrow river, a small inde-
pendent state was founded in 1705, by a Chinese mer-
chant named Kiang-si, Avhich for some time prospered
under a flourishing trade, presenting the phenomenon
of a commercial republic, a Chinese Pisa or Ragusa,
at the eastern extremity of Asia.
" Departing," says Le Poivre, " from the peninsula
of Malacca, I fell in with a small territory, known, in
the maritime charts, by the name of Ponthiamas.
Surrounded on all sides with despotism, this charming
country, about fifty years ago, was uncultivated and
almost destitute of inhabitants. A Chinese merchant
who frequented these coasts, being a man of intelli-
gence and genius, resolved on a colonisation of these
parts. He hired a number of labourers, partly
Chinese and partly from the adjacent states, and so
skilfully ingratiated himself with the neighbouring
princes, that they assigned him a guard for his pro-
tection. In the course of his voyage to Batavia and
PART II. T
308 SI AM.
the Philippines, he borrowed from the Europeans
their art of defence and fortification. With regard to
the internal police, he gave the preference to the
Chinese. The profits of his commerce soon enabled
him to raise ramparts, sink fosses, and provide artil-
lery; these precautions secured him from the sur-
rounding barbarians. He distributed his lands among
his labourers, without the least reservation in the
shape of fines, duties, or taxes, and he provided his
colonists also with all sorts of instruments of hus-
bandry.
. " His country became the resort of every indus-
trious man who wished to settle there : his ports were
open to all. The woods were cleared ; the grounds
were sown with rice ; canals, cut from the rivers,
watered their fields, and plentiful harvests supplied
their own wants and afforded means of commerce.
The neighbouring states call him king, a title he
despises; he pretends to no sovereignty, but that of
doing good, and certainly merits a very noble title,
that of friend to mankind. The neighbouring dis-
tricts, astonished at this abundance, flock to his
magazines, which, notwithstanding the great fertility
of Cochin China, are the granary of these eastern
Asiatic states."*
It were a pity to destroy so pleasing a picture, even
if tinged with a little romance. It is clear, that a
lucrative commerce was established here; but its
prosperity must have been of short continuance, as,
in 1720, Hamilton found the city in ruins. It had
been taken and plundered in 1717, by the Siamese.
It was then a place of considerable trade, and it is
said, that not less than 200 tons of ivory, ready for
exportation, were destroyed.
* Pennant's Outlines of the Globe, vol. iii. p. 52.
SIAM. 309
The river on which the town of Ponthiamas is
seated, communicates, in the season of inundation,
with the Meikong, by which means commodities are
brought to this mouth, instead of the Cambodia branch,
which is said to be of very troublesome navigation,
from the number of low islands and sand banks which
obstruct the channel.*
The valley of Cambodia is the last of those vast
longitudinal basins into which this region is divided,
and here we enter on the confines of the An ami tic
empire.
* Probably, the Bassak is referred to. See p. 333, note.
END OF SIAM.
ANAM
ANAM.
[An empire, comprising Tong-kin, Cochin China, Tsiampa, Cam-
bodia, and Laos ; extending from lat. 9 to 23 ; bounded on
the N. by China; on the E. and S. by the Chinese Sea; on the
W. by Siam and unknown country.]
THE country of Anarn (Aynam, An-nan, or Onam),
which originally consisted of Tong-kin,* is recorded to
have been at one time comprised, together with Cochin
China, Cambodia, and Tsiampa, within the Chinese
empire ; but, on the Mogul invasion of China in the
thirteenth century, the Chinese governors of the south-
ern provinces took the opportunity of setting up the
standard of independence. In this manner several
distinct kingdoms were created, the sovereigns of
which, however, continued for many years to acknow-
ledge a nominal vassalage to the throne of China.
Tong-kin is stated to have separated from China in
1368. Its princes gradually assumed a greater degree
of independence, and about 1553, are asserted to have
subdued Cochin China. The dynasty of Le" ruled the
kingdom for many ages with all the wisdom and be-
nignity that despotism can admit of. But one of the
* There is no end to the arbitrary variations introduced in our
geographical orthography. In Hamilton's Gazetteer, this word is
written Tunquin. In a recent map by Mr. Wild, it is Ton-king.
Mr. Barrow writes it Tung-quin ; Lieut. White, Tonquin, which
is adopted by the Translator of Malte Brun; but we are told that
the word is Don-kin, the " Court of the East." There is certainly
no good reason for our adopting the French q, which answers to
our * ; and it i j probable that Tong-kin comes near the true pro-
rttmciation.
314 ANAM.
great officers of the crown, the shooa (chua, or shua-
rua] , answering, apparently, to the Mahratta peishwas,
or the ancient mayors of the palace in France,
having placed himself at the head of the army, suc-
ceeded in making the office hereditary, and in reducing
the bova (boa) or king to the shadow of a monarch.
The subsequent history of Tong-kin presents only a
confused succession of assassinations and revolts, and
a perpetual fluctuation of boundaries.
Cochin China, or Southern Anam, is said to be in-
debted for its present population to an unsuccessful
rebellion of a Tongkinese prince against his sovereign,
somewhat less than two centuries ago. The insur-
gents, being totally routed, fled before the victorious
troops of the king of Tongkin into Cochin China,
then inhabited by the Lois or Laos, a timid and peace-
ful race, who, at the approach of these intruders,
retired into the mountains of Tsiampa, abandoning
their country without a struggle, if we may believe
the story, to the Tongkinese fugitives. In a very
short time, the latter had spread themselves over the
northern section of this fertile country ; nor was it
many years ere they had penetrated southward as far
as the borders of Cambodia, where they built the city
of Sai-gon, and subsequently that of Don-nai. In
somewhat less than forty years, they had gained pos-
session of the whole of Cochin China, and had made
successful inroads into Cambodia. There, however,
they were opposed by a more warlike people than the
Laos; nor were the Cambodians finally subdued by
the Anamese until the reign of the monarch who still
occupied the throne in 1820.
The Cochin Chinese kingdom soon became one of
the most powerful and prosperous in Eastern Asia.
Its fertile soil, its important line of coast, and a mild
A NAM. 315
government, favoured its rapid improvement; and
about the middle of the eighteenth century, it had
attained its zenith. " The first six kings of the Tong-
kinese race were," we are told, " greatly beloved by
their subjects, whom they governed in the manner of
the ancient patriarchs, looking upon their people as
their children, and by their* own example prompting
them to habits of simplicity, industry, and frugality.
But the subsequent discovery of the gold and silver
mines, and the easy and frequent communications
which their commerce had opened with the Chinese,
were the means of introducing luxury and effeminacy
to the court of Anam, and of inflating the minds of its
sovereigns, in imitation of the mighty monarchs of
the celestial empire. Their courtiers, finding their
interest in flattering them, bestowed the blasphemous
epithet of King of Heaven upon their infatuated
masters, who readily adopted this arrogant title: by
edict, its use became general in their own country, and
by courtesy, in imitation of the slavish adoration paid
to other eastern potentates, was confirmed to them by
the politic diplomatists of tributary and less powerful
states, who occasionally visited the court. It would
be absurd to suppose that the King of Heaven could
be lodged and attended like the common kings of the
earth; and we find Vous-tsoi, the immediate ancestor
of the present sovereign, inhabiting, according to the
seasons, his winter, summer, and autumnal palaces,
and plunging into the greatest luxury and excess.
Even the gold mines were not a sufficient resource
against this torrent of extravagance; new taxes were
levied, new impositions devised; and these exactions
were 'wrung from the hard hands of peasants,' by
force and tyrannical oppression, as their contributions
had now ceased to be voluntary. The prince, sur-
T 2
16 ANAM.
rounded by flattering sycophants, who guarded every
avenue to the royal ear, was consequently ignorant of
the growing evils which his mal-administration had
produced. With astonishing infatuation, he aban-
doned himself to his pleasures, and his government to
his insidious courtiers, who, taking advantage of ex-
emption from punishment, robbed the people, and
plunged the nation into an abyss of poverty and dis-
tress. This catastrophe was hastened by a general
corruption of manners, communicated by the empoi-
soned streams which flowed from the court and capital,
and spread their baneful influence over all ranks and
conditions of the people.
" Notwithstanding the errors and defects of this
sovereign, he is represented as having been of a mild
disposition, and secretly attached to the simple and
primitive manners of his ancestors; fond of his sub-
jects, always calling them his children; friendly to
the doctrines of Christianity, and treating its ministers
with great respect and indulgence."
The natural consequence of this state of things
were soon exhibited in a rebellion, followed by a civil
war, which for nearly thirty years agitated the country.
The details of this revolution are tolerably authentic.
In the year 1774, in the 35th year of the reign of
Caung-shung, the father of the late King Gia-laong,
the rebellion commenced in the city of Quin-hone, the
capital of the division of Chang, headed by three
brothers. The eldest, whose name was Yinyac, was
a wealthy merchant, who carried on an extensive
commerce with China and Japan; Long-niang, the
second brother, was a general officer, or war-man-
darin of high rank; and the third was a priest.
Their first care was to get possession of the person of
the king, which they effected, and put him to death,
ANAM. 317
together with all of the royal family who fell into their
hands. The city of Saigon, in the province of Don-
nai, was supposed to be favourable to the cause of the
deposed sovereign; an army was therefore marched
against it, the walls were levelled to the ground, and
20,000 of its inhabitants put to the sword. In their
arrangements for the future government of this ex-
tensive country, it was determined that Yinyac should
possess the southern and central divisions of Chang
and Don-nai; Long-niang, that of Hue", bordering
on Tongkin; and the youngest brother was to be
high -priest of all Cochin China.
Long-niang was soon involved in hostilities with
the King of Tongkin, then a tributary to the Emperor
of China, and defeated him in battle. The vanquished
king fled to Pekin, and Tongkin was overrun by the
victorious usurper. Kien-Long sent an army of
100,000 men to replace the King of Tongkin on his
throne; but Long-niang so skilfully harassed the Chi-
nese army, laying waste the country in their line of
march, that they retired in distress for provisions be-
fore they had reached the frontiers of Tongkin. The
consequence was a treaty, whereby the Chinese em-
peror recognised and confirmed Long-niang as sove-
reign of Cochin China and Tongkin, which were to be
held as tributary to the emperor.*
* Mr. Barrcrvr gives a truly curious account of the result of this
Chinese expedition. Foo-chang-tong, the commander, -was so
miserably harrassed in his retreat by the usurper, that no fewer
than 50,000 men are said to have perished by famine and the sword,,
without any general battle having been fought. To prevent in-
evitable disgrace, he resolved therefore to open a negotiation with
the usurper ; but Long-niang assumed the tone of a conqueror.
Under these circumstances, the Chinese general had recourse to
the bold expedient of transmitting to the court of Pekin an account
of the unparalleled success of his expedition : the arms of the em-
318 ANAM.
At the period of the rebellion, there resided at the
court of Cochin China a French emissary of the name
of Adran, who styled himself the apostolic vicar of
Cochin China. Caung-shung had held him in so high
esteem as to place under his tuition his only son, the
heir to the throne. Adran, on the first burst of the
revolt, saw that the only hope of safety was in flight.
The king was already in the power of the rebels, but
the queen, the young prince, with his wife and infant
son, and one sister, by Adran's assistance, effected
their escape. They took refuge in a forest, where
they lay concealed for several months. When the
enemy retired, they made the best of their way to
Saigon, where the prince was crowned under the name
peror had been uniformly victorious ; but he bore honourable tes-
timony, at the same time, to the valour of the enemy, and to the
justice and reasonableness of his pretensions to the throne, which
the former possessor had relinquished; and dwelt on the universal
esteem in which he was held by the people ; giving it as his opi-
nion, that Long-niang should be invited to Pekin, to receive the
investiture of the Tongkin crown, and suggesting that a mandarin-
ate would amply satisfy the dispossessed Tongkinese prince. The
whole scheme succeeded, and an invitation in due form was sent
down to Long-niang to proceed to Pekin. This wary general, how-
ever, thinking it might be a trick of the viceroy to get possession
of his person, remained in doubt as to what course he ought to pur-
sue. On consulting one of his confidential generals, it was con-
cluded between them, that this officer should proceed to the capital
of China as his representative, and personate the new king of
Tongkin and Cochin China. He was received at the court of Pekin
with all due honors, loaded with the usual presents, and confirmed-
in his title to the united kingdoms, which were in future to be
considered as tributary to the emperor of China, On the return
of this mock king to Hue, Long-niang was greatly puzzled how to
act. But seeing that the affair could not long remain a secret with
so many living witnesses, he caused his friend and the whole of
his suite to be put to death, as the surest and perhaps the only
means of preventing the trick which he had so successfully played
on the emperor of China, from being discovered. This event hap-
pened in 1779. BARROW, p. 254.
ANAM. 319
of his father, Caung-shung. Some efforts were made,
under Adran's direction, to re-establish him on his
throne ; but, after many unsuccessful attempts, the
king was obliged to leave his country and take refuge
in Siam, where he was hospitably received. In the
meantime, Adran, to whom, at his earnest solicitation,
he had intrusted his son, embarked for Pondicherry,
and thence sailed for France, where he arrived with
his royal charge in 1787. The young prince was pre-
sented at court, and treated with every mark of
respect; and the project of the missionary was so
highly approved, that, in the course of a few months,
a treaty of alliance, offensive and defensive, was drawn
up and concluded between Louis XVI. and the king of
Cochin China, (signed on the part of the latter by the
young prince,) by which his most Christian majesty
engaged to lend Caung-shung effectual assistance in
recovering his throne. Adran was created bishop of
Cochin China, and honoured with- the appointment of
ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary.
Matters being thus concluded, Adran and his
charge again set sail for Pondicherry. From the
Mauritius, a powerful armament was to have been
sent out; but untoward events* retarded its operations
* The untoward circumstances alluded to, are detailed by Mr.
Barrow. At the time of the bishop's arrival at Pondicherry,
Madame de Vienne, a celebrated beauty, was the mistress of Con-
way the governor, and had obtained an absolute ascendency over
him. Piqued at Adran's refusal to visit her, and still more enraged
at some expressions which he was reported to have used in repro-
bation of the general's licentiousness, she resolved to have her re-
venge by frustrating the expedition. She managed so well to rouse
Conway's jealousy of Adran, that he despatched a fast-sailing vessel
to the Mauritius, with directions to suspend the armament till fur-
ther orders should be received from Versailles. " Had not this
event taken place," remarks Mr. Barrow, "it is difficult to say
what the consequences of such a treaty might have been to uur
320 ANAM.
until the French revolution finally put a stop to the
expedition.
Adran, however, was not to be deterred from his
undertaking. He had carried with him from France,
several officers, who were to have held appointments
under the government. With some of these as volun-
teers, the bishop and the young prince embarked on
board a merchant- vessel for Cape St. James. On
reaching the coast, they learned that the king, availing
himself of dissensions among the brother usurpers, had
repossessed himself of Saigon, where Adran and his
charge joined him in 1790. The greater part of the
first year was occupied in fortifying Saigon, in recruit-
ing and disciplining an army, and in collecting and
equipping a fleet. In the following year, the usurper
Long-niang died at Hu, leaving a son twelve years of
age, to succeed him on the throne of Tongkin and
Hue". The ratification of his title to the kingdom of
Tongkin by the emperor, had been the cause of hosti-
lities between the two brothers, in which Yinyac had
been constantly worsted, and his dominions contracted.
In 1792, Caung-shung attacked the fleet of Yinyac in
the harbour of Quinhone, and either captured or de-
stroyed the greater part. Yinyac did not long survive
this defeat, and his son, Tai-saun, succeeded to his
government.
In the year 1796, Caung-shung resolved to attack
the capital by land. Tai-saun was enabled to bring
against him an army of a hundred thousand men ; but
the king, supported by his French officers, completely
routed it with a very inferior force, and gained posses-
sion of the whole as far as Turon Bay.
Indian possessions and to the trade of the East India company
with China ; but it is sufficiently evident that it had for its object
the destruction of both." Voyage to Cochin China, p. 266.
ANAM. 321
Bishop Adran had, in the mean time, become the
oracle and guide of the king. " Under his auspices,
the country was greatly improved; and during a short
peace, previous to the final termination of the war, he
established a manufactory of saltpetre, opened roads,
cut canals, held out rewards for the propagation of
the silk-worm, caused large tracts of land to be cleared
for the cultivation of the sugar-cane, established manu-
factories for the preparation of pitch, tar, rosin, &c. ;
opened mines of iron, and constructed smelting-furnaces
and foundries for cannon. Adran translated into the
Anam language, a system of European military tactics,
for the use of the army. Naval arsenals were esta-
blished, and a large navy, principally consisting of
gun-boats, galleys, &c. was built and equipped. Under
his direction, a reformation was effected in the system
of jurisprudence; he abolished several species of pu-
nishments that were disproportionate to the crimes to
which they were annexed; he established public
schools, and compelled parents to send their children
to them at the age of four years; he drew up com-
mercial regulations, built bridges, caused buoys and
sea-marks to be laid down in all the dangerous parts
of the coast, and surveys to be made of the principal
bays and harbours. The officers of the navy were
instructed in naval tactics by Frenchmen; his army
was divided into regular regiments; military schools
were established, and the officers taught the science of
gunnery. Unfortunately for the country, the death
of Adran occurred shortly after this; and with him
expired many of the wholesome laws, institutions, and
regulations established by him."
Adran died in the year 1800, and was interred at
Saigon with all the pomp and ceremonies prescribed
322 AXAM.
by the Anamese religion. The heir-apparent, hia
pupil, died shortly after.
The young usurper of Hue*, however, still kept pos-
session of that city and part of Tongkin; but in 1802,*
Caung-shung, at the head of a formidable armament,
dislodged him; and in 1804, he was acknowledged by
the emperor of China as the undisputed sovereign of
the whole country, the name of which he changed on
this occasion from Anarn to Viet-nam.
Caung-shung died in February 1820, in the sixty-
third year of his age, and was succeeded by his second
son, who assumed the title of Minh-menh (or Ming-
menff, shining providence). The character of this
sovereign, who is compared by Mr. Barrow to Peter
the Great of Russia, certainly exhibits a very extra-
ordinary combination of talent, energy and courage.
At one time an outcast, forced to flee from the hand
of the usurper and the assassin, and to suffer the
keenest pangs of adversity, he was nevertheless able,
in the course of ten or twelve years, to recover the
whole of his possessions, and to extend them by the
acquisition of Tongkin. He undoubtedly owed much,
however, in every point of view, to the instructions,
the talents, and the efficient aid of Adran, whom he
venerated almost to adoration, distingishing him by
an epithet bestowed on Confucius alone, " the illus-
trious master."
* In 1800, the military forces of Caung-shung are said to have
amounted to 113,000 men; viz. 24 squadrons of buffalo troops,
6,000; 16 battalions of elephants (200 animals), 8,000; 30 regiments
of artillery, 15,000 ; 24 regiments trained in the European manner,
30,000; infantry -with matchlocks, 42,000; guards, trained to
European tactics, 12,000; exclusive of a marine amounting to
26,800. Total, 139,800. BARROW, p. 283.
ANAM. 323
Mr. Barrow portrays the character of this monarch
in glowing colours. " Caung-shung," he says, " is
represented to be a complete soldier. He is said to
esteem the name of general far more than that of
sovereign. At the head of his army, he is cheerful
and good-humoured, polite and attentive to all the
officers under his command. His memory is so correct
that he is said to know by name the greater part of
his army. He takes uncommon pleasure in conversing
with his soldiers, and in talking over their adventures
and exploits. He makes particular inquiries after
their wives and children, whether the latter go regu-
larly to school, how they mean to dispose of them
when grown up ; and, in short, enters with a de-
gree of interest into a minute detail of their domestic
concerns.
"His conduct to foreigners is affable. T9 the
French officers in his service he pays the most marked
attention, and treats them with the greatest polite-
ness, familiarity, and good humour. On all his hunt-
ing excursions and other parties of pleasure, one of
these officers is always invited to attend.* He openly
declares his great veneration for the doctrines of
Christianity, and tolerates this religion, and, indeed,
all others in his dominions. He observes a most scru-
pulous regard to the maxims of filial piety, as laid
down in the works of Confucius ; and humbles him-
self in the presence of his mother, who is still living,
as a child before its master. With the works of the
" Though no apparent alteration took place in his conduct
towards the French officers, yet, the French character is said to
have suffered greatly in his estimation from the moment he was
made acquainted with the outrageous and inhuman treatment
which the unfortunate family experienced from a licentious and
avage rabble."
324 ANAM.
most eminent Chinese authors, he is well acquainted ;
and through the translations into the Chinese character
of the Encyclopedic by the bishop Adran, he has
acquired no inconsiderable knowledge of European
arts and sciences, among which he is most attached to
such as relate to navigation and ship-building. It is
stated, on what appears to be good authority, that, in
order to obtain a thorough knowledge of the practice
as well as the theory of European naval architecture,
he purchased a Portuguese vessel for the sole purpose
of taking it to pieces, plank by plank, with his own
hands, fitting in a new piece of similar shape and
dimensions to the old one he removed, till every beam
timber, knee, and plank had been replaced by new
ones of his own construction, and the ship thus com-
pletely renovated.
" The energy of his mind is not less vigorous than
the activity of his corporal faculties. He is repre-
sented, in fact, as the mainspring of every movement
that takes place in his extensive and flourishing king-
dom. Intendant of the ports and arsenals, master-
shipwright of the dock-yard, and chief engineer of all
his works, nothing is attempted to be undertaken
without his advice and instructions. In the former,
not a nail is driven without first consulting him, nor
a grin mounted in the latter but by his orders. He
not only enters into the most minute detail by draw-
ing up instructions, but actually sees them executed
himself."
In his diet, he was singularly temparate, not taking
Chinese wine or any kind of spirituous liquors, and
contenting himself with a very small portion of animal
food. A little fish, rice, vegetables, and fmit, with
tea and light pastry, constituted the chief articles of
his diet. Like a true Chinese, descended, as he boasted,
ANAM. . 325
from the imperial family of Ming, he always ate alone,
not permitting either his wife or any part of his family
to sit down at the same table with himself. His mode
of life was almost methodical. He rose at six, and
bathed; at seven, held a levee of mandarins; then
proceeded to the naval arsenal, to inspect the works;
between twelve and one took his first meal, consisting
of a little boiled rice and dried fish ; at two, retired to
take what might be called his siesta; at five, gave
audience to naval and military officers and heads of
departments; at midnight, supped and passed an hour
with his family, and between two and three retired to
his bed. In stature, he was somewhat above the mid-
dle size, his features regular and agreeable, his com-
plexion ruddy and sunburnt. Such was Caung-
shung II., one of the most extraordinary personages,
assuredly, that ever occupied an Asiatic throne.
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
THE Anamese empire, according to its present limits,
extends from Cambodia Point, in lat. 8 40' to the
northern confines of Tongkin, which reach within a
very few miles of the Tropic, and from long. 105 to
109 24' E. From Cape Avarella, its easternmost point,
it extends westward about a hundred and fifty miles,
but its average breadth is about a hundred. It com-
prises the following grand divisions :
Lat. Lat.
1. The Kingdom of Tongkin, lying between 23 30' and 17 30' N.
2. The Province of Hue, 17 30' and 15
3. Chang, 15 and 12
4. Donnai, 12 and 8 4<H
These grand divisions are subdivided into districts,
the present names and limits of which are not ascer-
tained with any accuracy. Hue" and Chang would
326 ANAM.
seem to include nearly the whole of Cochin Chit.a
Proper;* while Don-nai comprises the little state of
Tsiampa and the conquered parts of Cambodia.f The
city of Hue" is the present capital of theempire.
Within these limits there appear to be no fewer
than five considerable rivers; namely, the Sang-koi,
or river of Tongkin, that of Hue", that of Sai-gon,
the Mei-kong, and the river of Ponthiamas. The
river of Tongkin, on which Kescho the capital is
situated, at the distance of 120 miles from its mouths,
has its source in the Chinese province of Yun-nan:
traversing the kingdom in a south-easterly direction,
it fertilizes a great tract of country, and falls into
the Bay of Tongkin in about lat. 20. Owing to the
sand-bank whicli obstructs the entrance it is not now
navigable for vessels of more than 200 tons burden.
Cochin China Proper has no navigable river of any
magnitude. The river of Hue* has but a very short
course and, although broad, being but shallow, is not
of extensive utility as regards navigation. Its estuary,
however, forms a fine harbour, and, in the south-west
monsoon, ships of 200 tons burden may enter and quit
" The Japanese call the country westward of China, Cotchin
Djina, and the Europeans have followed them." MALTE BRUN,
vol. iii. p. 272. The Chinese call Cochin China Proper, Tchan-
tching ; Tongkin is known to them under the name of Nyan-nan,
and Tsiampa is called Tchin-la. MARSDEN'S Marco Polo, note
1,164.
t The northern division of Cochin China is stated to comprise
the province of Dinhkhat (Dingoe), Kwangbin (or Quambin), a
mountainous district, Dinhwi, and Hue. The southern com-
prises, besides Chang (or Kyam), which skirts the Bay of Turon,
the provinces of Don-nai, Nyat-lang, Quan-hia (or Kwangsia),
Quin-nong (Kwin-yong, Quinhone, Quinam), containing the an-
cient capital of the same name, situated on the bay of Shin-shen,
Fuyen (Foy or Phayn), and Ran-ran. Tongkin is also subdivided
into eleven province!.
ANAM. 327
it in safety. In the opposite monsoon, it is almost
inaccessible. "In regard to harbours, Cochin China
is singularly fortunate. Within the six degrees and a
half of latitude which intervene between Cape St.
James and the Bay of Turon, there are no fewer than
nine of the finest harbours in the world, accessible
with every wind, safe to approach, and affording the
most complete protection." *
There is no shore which suffers more perceptible
encroachments from the sea, than that of Cochin
China. M. Poivre found that, between the years 1744
and 1749, it had gained 190 feet.f A range of moun-
tains stretches down in a line parallel with the coast.
The rocks in the southern provinces are unstratified
masses, generally granite, and sometimes with perpen-
dicular fissures. Cape St. James, which is the first
land made on coming from the south, (lat. 10 16' 41",
N., long. 107 45' E.J) is the extremity of a ridge of
hills about 300 feet in height, forming the left bank
of the Sai-gon river. It is seen at a great distance.
The land on the opposite side of the river is extremely
low, || and an extensive sand-bank lies before it,
stretching for several miles. A few miles within this
point is a fine, spacious, semi-circular bay, called the
Bay of Cocoa-nuts. The rocks are granite and syenite,
intersected with small veins of rich iron ore. Into
this bay, the Gagn-jai, the Cai-mep, and other small
Asiat. Jour. vol. xix. p. 122.
t The general appearance of the coast of Tongkin indicates a
retrogression of the sea.
t White, p. 58. M. Dyot made it 10<> 15' 48" N. lat. and 107
5' 51" E. long.
|| A mud flat commences from Cambodia Point, and gradually
increases in breadth till it terminates at the mouth of the Donnai
river, where it extends into the sea about four leagues.
Flnlayson, p. 295.
328 AN AM.
rivers fall. It is not considered as very safe in the
S.W. monsoon, though the ground is good, but in the
opposite season, the harbour is excellent.
The coast of Cochin China, from Cape St. James to
Turon Bay, is singularly bold and picturesque. A
continuous chain of lofty mountains stretches in the
direction of the coast, (that is S.E. and N.W.)
throughout this tract, at a very short distance from
the shores, which are in general abrupt, bold, and
precipitous, or. begirt with a narrow sandy beach.
" The ranges of hills are numerous, and for the most
part are seen to rise above each other in gradual suc-
cession as they recede from the. sea. Their abrupt,
acuminated, and ridgy forms, their sterile summits,
their steep flanks, leave little room to doubt that the
greater part, and the whole of the western half of
these mountains, are granitic. Near to the middle of
the chain, they become less bold and less elevated,
while their forms are rounded at top. With this
change, increased fertility of the soil and a country
better adapted for the support of man come into
view. Here, human industry struggles against the
inequality of the soil. Numerous fields are observed
to occupy the sides of the hills, and a vast fleet of
boats plying in the open sea, indicates the existence of
a numerous population. Some of the islands along
the coast are also cultivated in a similar manner."
The bay of Turon is completely land-locked, and
were its entrance as easy as its interior is safe, it
would be justly numbered among the best of har-
bours.
From Turon to Hue", a passage of about twenty
hours, the coast still preserves its rugged, bold, and
picturesque character. The chain of mountains is
continued ; the ridges bear the same forms and direc-
ANAM. 321)
tion, but increase in altitude, and the granitic peaks
become more acuminated. The coast now wears a
more sterile aspect ; no signs of vegetation enliven the
sandy shores, and the whole country is evidently
granitic. But in the middle of the river of Hue*-
Hane, three miles up, there is an island of sand, from
the centre of which rises a large and magnificent ala-
baster rock, which in several places is perforated quite
across. It is called the hill of apes.*
Cochin China includes two distinct regions, the
mountains and the plains. The former enjoy a steady,
temperate climate, but prove insalubrious to foreigners,
owing, it has been supposed, to the quality of the
waters. Here are found the savage tribes called Mays
or Kemoys, who are said to worship the sun. The
mountains contain some iron mines, which are worked ;
pure gold is also found, and silver has recently been
discovered. But their principal riches consist in their
forests, which yield rose-wood, iron-wood (syderoxylori),
sapan and sandal wood, eagle wood (agallochum) , ebony,
and calambac (aloexylum verum), the most precious of
all, on account of the aromatic resin which it yields ;
also, the tree yielding the gum lac (croton lacciferum),
various species of dragon's-blood-tree (dracona f erred) ,
the tallow-tree, the teak-tree, and the stately poon
(callophyllum) , which furnishes excellent ships' masts ;
besides cedars, mimosas, walnuts, and (in Cambodia)
* Malte Bran, vol. iii. p. 374. This must be, we apprehend, the
range of marble rocks which Mr. Crawford met with in his return
overland from Hu6 to the bay of Turon, near the city of Faifo.
He represents them as rising almost perpendicularly from the low
sand-hills to an elevation of from 3 to 400 feet, without a hill or a
mountain within twenty miles of them. They abound, he adds,
in splendid cave*, containing temples and images in honour of
Buddha.
330 AN AM.
most of the timber trees of India.* The mountain*
abound with tigers and monkeys. Tsiampa, Malte
Brun remarks, is more the country of tigers and of
elephants than of men.
The plains are exposed to an insupportable degree
of heat in the months of June, July, and August, ex-
cept in the places which are refreshed by the sea-
breezes, f In September, October, and November,
the plentiful rains, which fall exclusively in the moun-
tains, swell the numberless rivers with which the
country is intersected : in an instant, all the plain is
inundated, and the villages, and even the houses, are so
many islets. Boats are navigated over the fields and
hedges, and the children in small barks go out to fish
for the mice, which cling to the branches of the trees.
This is the season of inland commerce, large fairs, and
popular fetes ; but the cattle are sometimes drowned,
and are picked up by the first who finds them. These
inundations recur every fifteen or twenty days, and
last for three or four. From December to February,
the rains are less violent and frequent, but are accom-
panied with cold winds from the northern mountains.
On the coasts, the north-easterly monsoon prevails
from May to October, and the south-westerly during
the remainder of the year.
The low lands in Cochin China produce rice, areca-
nut, betel, tobacco, indigo, a coarse cinnamon (pre-
ferred, however, by the Chinese to that of Ceylon),
pepper, cardamoms, cotton, silk, and sugar. Most of
Malte Brun, vol. iii. p. 375. Barrow, p. 345.
t From the beginning of May till the end of August, the ther-
mometer, at Hue, varies from 70 to 90 Fahr. In July and Au-
gust, it sometimes rises as high as 1 10 ; but this is rarely the case.
From September till the end of April, it is from 55 to 75.
ANAM. 331
the tropical fruits are produced in great abundance.
The inundated lands generally produce two crops of
rice, one of which is reaped in April, the other in May,
besides which there is the mountain rice. Maize,
millet, several kinds of beans, and pompions are also
raised; and wax, honey, ivory, gold dust, and aguila-
wood are brought down by the mountaineers. The
islands abound in the edible nests of the salangan
swallow (hirundo esculentd), which are in so much
request among the epicures of China. The Cochin
Chinese have a small breed of horses; also, mules,
asses, goats, and plenty of poultry.
The chain of mountains which encircles Cochin
China, reaches so nearly to the Tongkin Gulf, on the
northern frontier, as to leave only a narrow defile,
which, during the separation of the two kingdoms,
was closed by a strong wall. Another ridge, extend-
ing eastward, separates Tongkin into two unequal
divisions, (the northern being considerably the larger,)
and a prolongation of the same ridge is said to sepa-
rate Laos from Lactho. Another lateral branch of
the same plateau separates Tongkin from China. The
passes are here also closed with walls, one side of which
is guarded by Chinese soldiers, and the other by Tong-
kinese. This frontier is represented as almost impe-
netrable. The mountains are very lofty, and rise into
sharp peaks. The soil is sandy, gypseous, and ferru-
ginous That of the plains is in general rich, light,
and marshy, watered by numberless streams, and of
boundless fertility. The productions are nearly the
same as those of Cochin China.* Mulberry-trees are
* Mr. Crawford says that Tongkin is the only part of the em-
pire which furnishes the metals. The iron of Tongkin, he says,
supplies the whole kingdom, except Saigon, which is furnished by
Siam. Gold and silver mines are also found here.
PART II. U
332 ANAM.
plentiful; also, the cocoa-nut and other palms, and
an inferior sort of tea-plant; but the chief article of
cultivation is rice. The grape does not come to ma-
turity. There are neither sheep nor asses, nor hares,
but deer of all kinds, goats, hogs, and poultry abound.
The horses are a contemptible breed. The buffalo is
used for agricultural purposes. The rhinoceros is oc-
casionally discovered, and elephants are very numerous;
also tigers, some diminutive bears, and monkeys of
every description. The mountainous parts are much
infested with rats, and the whole country swarms with
vermin, reptiles, and insects, venomous and harmless.
The population of Tongkin is said to be much
greater than in any other part of the Anamese empire,
notwithstanding that it suffered so severely during the
civil wars. Recent accounts (but little dependence
can be placed on them) carry the computation as high
as eighteen millions, while that of Cochin China is stated
by the missionaries at only six millions. It is, how-
ever, unquestionably, the most populous and the richest
province of the empire. Owing to the redundant
population, vast numbers labour under the most ex-
treme indigence; and it is computed, that one-tenth
of the inhabitants of Lower Tongkin live constantly
on the water. The mountains bordering on China,
called Kaubang, are inhabited by the Quan-to, an
ancient race, (as the name imports,) who regard them-
selves as the original possessors of the country, and
consider the Anamese as intruders. Their language is
said to be essentially different from the Anam, (called
Juan by the Siamese and Malays,) which appears to be
an original monosyllabical language.*
* The Anamese employ several sounds, in particular b, d, and
r, which are'incapable of being pronounced by a Chinese.
AX AM. JW3
Our chief guides in the topographical description of
such parts of the empire as have been visited by mo-
dern travellers, will be Mr. Barrow, who visited Co-
chin China in 1793; Lieut. White, of the United
States navy, who made a voyage to Saigon in 1819;
and Mr. Finlayson, who attended Mr. Crawfurd in
his mission to the court of Hue* in 1822.
VOYAGE UP THE DON-NAI RIVER.
THE reader has already been conducted from the
Gulf of Siam to the mouth of the Don-nai or Saigon
river, which appears to bear in fact the same relation
to the Mei-kong or Cambodia river, that the Rangoon
river does to the Irrawaddy.* Including its meander-
ings, it is a distance of nearly sixty miles from Cape
St. James to the city of Sai-gon. After passing Dai-
jang point and the opposite village of Canjeo, the
river gradually contracts to the breadth of half a mile,
till, at about nine miles up, it expands into a large
sheet of water, bearing the appearance of a capacious
estuary, its surface rippled by the conflicting currents
of the numerous streams which here flow into the
Don-nai. This is Nga-bay, called by the Portuguese
* The river of Cambodia (by the Malays written Camboetsja,
and pronounced Cambootja) " falls into the sea by three mouths ;
that of Sai-gong, which, according to the missionaries, is more
particularly called the river of Cambodia ; one called the Japanese
river, from being frequented by the junks of Japan ; (the proper
name is the Bassak ;) and a third, the Mat-siam, which the Dutch
have called the Onbequame, or the'Inconvenient. The tides extend
a great way up this river; and it is said that a great lake or inland
sea is connected with these mouths. The inundations take place
in June. The beds of the two western channels are full of low
islands and sand-banks, which render them unfit for being navi-
gated by large vessels." MALTE BRUN, vol. iii. p. 381. Lieut.
\Vhite says, that the Anamese call Cambodia Cou-maigne.
334 AN AM.
Sete Bocas (seven mouths), from the fact of so many
entrances to the different rivers being visible from a
certain point, " presenting long vistas fringed with
foliage of different shades of verdure, like so many
radii from a centre." The scene is described as highly
beautiful. While crossing this noble basin, Lieut.
White's attention was attracted by a curious and un-
explained phenomenon. " Our ears," he says, " were
saluted by a variety of sounds, resembling the deep
bass of an organ, accompanied by the hollow guttural
chant of the bull frog, and the tones which imagina-
tion would give to an enormous Jew's harp. This
combination produced a thrilling sensation on the
nerves, and, as we thought, a tremulous motion in
the vessel. On going into the cabin, I found the
noise, which I soon ascertained proceeded from the
bottom of the vessel, increased to a full and uninter-
rupted chorus. The sensations it produced, were simi-
lar to those of a torpedo or electric eel ; but, whether
these feelings were caused by the concussion of sound,
or by actual vibrations in the body of the vessel, I
could neither then nor since determine. In a few
moments, the sounds, which had commenced near the
stern of the vessel, became general throughout the
whole length of the bottom. Our linguist informed
us, that our admiration was caused by a shoal of fish,
of a flat oval form, like a flounder, which, by a certain
conformation of the mouth, possesses the power of
adhesion to other objects in a wonderful degree ; and
that they are peculiar to the Seven Mouths. Whe-
ther the noises were produced by any peculiar con-
struction of the sonorific organs, or by spasmodic
vibrations of the body, he was ignorant. Very shortly,
after leaving the basin, a sensible diminution was per-
ceived in the number of our musical fellow-voyagers ;
AN AM. 335
and before we had proceeded a mile, they were no
more heard."
The stream now contracts to the breadth of about
two furlongs, and the current is very rapid; the
general depth is from eight to fifteen fathoms in
the middle, and from three to nine close to the bank;
the bottom a soft ooze throughout. "The principal
precaution necessary in navigating the Don-nai,"
Lieut. White remarks, "is, to have boats a-head
of the ship, to tow in calm or light winds, to prevent
her being drawn into the mouths of the numerous
streams which communicate with it, and to assist
in guiding her among the various intersecting currents
thereby produced." No variation, thus far, is ob-
servable in the features of the country. Nothing be-
yond the banks of the river is visible from the deck,
but from the mast-head might be perceived to the
eastward, the rugged promontory of Cape St. James,
and the lofty mountain of Baria, towering high above
the dark line of unbounded forests which, in every
other direction, mingled with the horizon. Thousands
of monkeys and birds of the most beautiful plumage
are the tenants of the woods. At night, the mosqui-
toes were found intolerable. About twelve miles
above the mouth of the principal branch of the Dong-
thrang river, and about half-way between Canjeo and
Saigon, is the only dangerous shoal in the Donnai
river; it is composed of hard coral rocks, which stretch
out from the eastern bank about half way across the
river for the distance of more than a mile, having
three feet water on it at the lowest ebb.* It is the
haunt of innumerable alligators. Beyond this shoal,
* Of this nature, probably, are the cataracts which the Dutch
envoy Wusthof met with in the upper part of the Mei-kong.
u 2
336 ANAM.
another large branch of the river joins the main
stream. A short distance higher up, the prospect
expands, and presents, on the left, another stream
equally capacious with the Don-nai itself, called the
river of Soirap. In front, and separated from it by the
distance of a mile, is seen the majestic Rio Grande,
(as the Portuguese have named it,) of which the Soirap
is a branch. The latter is shallow and unnavigable
for ships. Being very rapid, and forming an oblique
angle with the great river, it produces strong and
dangerous eddies in this part, and has formed a mud-
bank on the eastern side of the main stream. Within
a short distance of the city, scattered cottages and
patches of cultivated ground, fishing-boats, and a dis-
tant forest of masts, gave the first indications of human
habitations which they had observed during the whole
voyage from Canjeo, except a few huts on one spot
where a few acres had been cleared of jungle. The
banks are mostly covered with mangrove.*
SAIGON.
THE city of Sai-gon, the capital of the province of
Don-nai (or Tsiampa), is one of the most important
and flourishing places in the empire. Here the late
king constructed a naval arsenal. There are, in fact,
two cities here, " each of them," Mr. Finlayson says,
" as large as the capital of Siam." They are above a
* Mr. Finlayson, alluding, perhaps, to the same spot, says:
" We observed no cultivation until we -were within twenty or
thirty miles of the town." He ascended the river in a barge.
They continued to row all night, and reached Saigon in fifteen
hours. The fishing-boats frequently make a passage from the
sea to Saigon in one tide. The American vessel was between six
and seven days in accomplishing the navigation.
ANAM. 337
mile apart. That which is more recently built, is
called Bingeh; the other is Saigon. Lieut. White
gives the following description of both towns as they
appeared in 1819 :
" The city of Saigon is situated on a point formed
by a confluence of two branches of the Donnai river,
and occupies about six miles of the north bank. The
population is dense near the river, but scattered at a
short distance from it. The houses are built princi-
pally of wood, thatched with palm-leaves or rice-straw,
and are of one story; some few are of brick, and
covered with tiles. Those of the higher classes have
hanging chambers, built under the roof-tree, about
ten feet wide, extending the whole length of the
building, with wooden gratings on each side for air,
to which they ascend by ladders; they are surrounded
with a court, with a gate towards the street. The
dwellings of the poor are situated in the streets, and
generally present a miserable appearance. The streets
are regularly laid out, generally intersecting each
other at right angles, and some of them are quite
spacious.*
In the western part of the city, are two Chinese
pagodas; and they have a great number of these
temples in various parts of the city. In a central
situation is a Christian church, over which two Italian
missionaries preside, who have several disciples and
* Mr. Finlayson says : " The houses are large, very wide, and
for the climate rery comfortable. The roof is tiled, and supported
on handsome large pillars, of a heavy, durable black wood called
too. The walls are formed of mud, enclosed in frames of bamboo,
and plastered. The floor is boarded, and elevated several feet
from the ground. The houses are placed close to each other, dis-
posed in straight lines, along spacious and well-aired streets, or on
the banks of canals. The plan of the streets is superior to that of
many European capitals." p. 304.
338 AX AM.
many converts. The number of Christians in Cochin
China is 70,000 ; of which number, according to the
viceroy and the missionaries, the division of Don-nai
contains 16,000; they are all Roman Catholics. The
city of Saigon is said to contain 180,000 inhabitants,
of which about 10,000 are Chinese.
" Equidistant from the extremities of the city, near
the bank of the river, are the magazines of rice ; which
is a regular monopoly, the exportation being prohibited
on pain of decapitation. The ground is occupied in
the northern part of the city, for the space of two
miles, by about three-fifths of a mile square, as a
repository for the dead. This immense cemetery is
filled with tombs, built, like those of the Chinese, in
the form of a horse-shoe : its borders are planted, as
are many of the streets in the suburbs, with the pal-
maria-tree. In the north-eastern part of the city, on
the banks of a deep creek, are the navy-yard and
naval arsenal. This establishment does more honour
to the Anamese than any other object in their country;
indeed, it may vie with many of the naval establish-
ments in Europe. The ship timber and planks ex-
celled any thing I had ever seen.* There were about
150 galleys, of most beautiful construction, hauled up
under sheds; they were from 40 to 100 feet long,
some of them mounting sixteen guns of three pounds
calibre ; others mounted four or six guns each, of from
four to twelve pounds calibre; all of brass, and most
beautiful pieces. There were also about forty galleys
One plank which Lieutenant White measured, was 109 feet
long, more than four inches thick, and perfectly square to the
top, where it was two feet wide ; it was sawed out of the trunk of
a teak-tree, which here attains a most extraordinary magnitude.
It is not unusual to see trees that would make a natural main-
mast for a line of battle ship, clear of knots.
ANAM. 339
afloat, most of them decorated with gilding and carved
work, presenting a very animated and pleasing spec-
tacle.
" The city of Saigon was formerly confined to the
western extremity of its present site. The part now
called old Saigon, bears much greater marks of an-
tiquity, and exhibits a superior style of architecture.
Some of the streets are paved with flags; and the
quays, of stone and brick-work, extend nearly a
mile along the river. Since the civil wars have ter-
minated, the tide of population has flowed rapidly to
the eastward, till it has produced one continued city,
which has spread itself on the opposite bank of the
streams on which it is situated, and surrounds the
citadel and naval arsenal. From the western part of
the city, a river or canal has been recently cut, to the
distance of twenty-three English miles, connecting
with the Meikong, by which a free water communi-
cation is opened with Cambodia. This canal is twelve
feet deep throughout, and about 80 feet wide. It was
cut through immense forests and morasses, in the
short space of six weeks : twenty-six thousand men
were employed, night and day, by turns, in this stu-
pendous undertaking, and 7000 lives were sacrificed
by fatigue and consequent disease. The banks of
this canal are already planted with the palmaria-tree,
which is a great favourite with the Anamese.
" The site of the citadel of Saigon is the first
elevated land which occurs in the river, after leaving
Cape St. James, and this is about 60 feet above the
level of the river : it was formerly a natural conical
mound, covered with wood. The grandfather of the
present monarch caused the top to be taken off and
levelled, and a deep moat to be sunk, surrounding the
whole, which was supplied with water from the river
340 AN AM.
by means of a canal ; -it is most admirably situated for
defence, and would be capable of standing a long siege
against even an European army.*
" The surrounding country is irriguous, and the
city is intersected in various parts by creeks, over
which are thrown bridges, each being a single plank
of immense magnitude. Saigon is within a few miles
of the head of the ship-navigation of the river Don-
nai; it is there interrupted by shoals and sand-banks,
but is navigable for small craft for a great distance
inland. This is also the case with the stream washing
the southern borders of the city, which, with the new
river, connects the Cambodia and Don-nai rivers."
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.
IN their description of the appearance and character
of the natives, the American lieutenant and the
British surgeon are unaccountably at variance. The
former speaks of " men, women, children, swine, and
mangy dogs, equally filthy and miserable in appear-
ance." The women, he describes as " coarse, dingy,
and devoid of decency;" and the " rude curiosity" of
the crowd by which they were annoyed, they were
frequently obliged to chastise with their canes. " The
young females of Cochin China," he says, " are fre-
quently -handsome, and some even beautiful, before
their teeth, tongue, gums, and lips become stained
* " This fortress is furnished with a regular glacis, a -wet ditch,
and a high rampart, and commands the whole country. It is of a
square form, and each side is about half a mile in extent. It is in
an unfinished state, no embrasures being made, nor cannon
mounted on the rampart. The zig-zag is very short, the passage
into the gate straight ; the gates are handsome, and ornamented
in the Chinese style." Finlayson, p. 312. The fortifications of
Saigon were constructed in 1790, by Colonel Victor Oliver.
ANAM. 341
with their detestable masticatory; the children of both
sexes, however, begin this practice at a very early age.
They are by nature finely formed; but their symme-
trical proportions are distorted and disguised by their
dirty habits:* a woman at thirty is an object of disgust,
and, at forty, is absolutely hideous." Their traders
are charged universally with meanness, fraud, and vil-
lany; and Cochin China is pronounced the least desir-
able country for mercantile adventurers, f
Mr. Finlayson, who would naturally compare the
appearance and manners of the people with those of
* In their persons, the Cochin Chinese are, on all hands, ad-
mitted to be not a cleanly people. Many of their customs are
extremely disgusting. Those ablutions so much practised by all
the -western Asiatics, are unknown among them ; and their dress
is not washed from the time it is first put on, till it is no longer fit
for use. In their food, they are any thing but nice, eating mice,
rats, frogs, -worms, and other vermin ; and the entrails of pigs,
fowls, deer, &c. are broiled and eaten, with no other cleansing than
slightly rinsing them. Putrid meat and fish are generally pre-
ferred to sweet. Fresh eggs are despised; those that have become
to a certain degree putrid, fetch thirty per cent more in the market ;
and if they contain young ones, they are still more highly esteemed.
Among the numerous dishes sent to Mr. Crawfurd by the king,
while they were at Hu6, were two plates of hatched eggs, containing
young that were already fledged ; and they were assured that this
was-meant as a compliment, it being considered as a great delicacy.
The Tongkinese are equally gross in their food. Horse-flesh is
exposed for sale. Dogs are esteemed a delicacy. Monkeys, grass-
hoppers, lizards, mountain-rats, and snakes are also eaten. May-
bugs deprived of their heads and intestines, and silk worms fried,
are a bonne-bouche. Milk, butter, and cheese are their aversion.
t That Lieutenant White, disappointed in his sugar-speculation,
viewed every thing with a jaundiced eye, is very evident. " In
vain," he says, " does the traveller look for glazed windou-t, so
indispensable for the comfort of a European. The clumsy wooden
shutters must be thrown open for light !" His expectations seem
to have been the more unreasonable, as there are parts of the
United States in which this indispensable comfort cannot be en-
joyed.
342 ANAM.
the Siamese, whom he had so recently visited, describes
them in much more favourable terms. " The man-
ners of the people" (of Kan-dyu or Cangeo), he says,
" were in general polite, I might say refined ; they
were kind, attentive, and obliging: they courted,
rather than shunned our society, and seemed to have
less of the weakness or ostentation of natural pride
than any of the tribes we had yet met. Their curiosity
was naturally excited by the contrast which they
could not but draw between themselves and us; but in
the gratification of this feeling, or in its expression,
was neither coarseness nor absence of good breeding;
and the greatest liberty they ventured to assume, was
that of simply touching our dress, with the design, I
presume, of ascertaining the materials of its texture,
they themselves having little notion of any other fit
for this purpose than silk, in which all ranks are
almost exclusively clothed.
" They are good-natured, polite, attentive, and
indulgent to strangers. Their manners are agreeable,
and they are, for the most part, found in a lively,
playful humour, and strongly disposed to indulge in
mirth. They are the gayest of Orientals; yet, the
transition from mirth to sorrow and the more hateful
and mean passions, seems to cost them nothing; it is
as rapid as it is unaccountable, insomuch that to a
stranger their conduct appears quite unreasonable as
well as fickle. Like the monkey race, their attention
is perpetually changing from one object to another.
The houses are large and comfortable, constructed in
general with mud walls, and roofed with tiles. The
palm-leaf is but little used. The interior disposition
of the house is somewhat peculiar. About one half
forms an open hall, in which they receive visitors,
transact business, and, if shopkeepers, dispose their
ANAM. 343
wares. In the back part of this hall is placed an altar,
with other emblems of religion. The private apart-
ments are disposed in recesses behind ; these are in
the form of square chambers, open on one side only.
Their beds are formed of a bench, raised about a foot,
and covered with mats.
" The costume of the Cochin Chinese is more
convenient than elegant. In both sexes it is much
alike, consisting of two or more loose gowns with long
sleeves, reaching to the knee, and buttoned close
round the neck. Beneath this, they wear a pair of
wide pantaloons, and, on occasions of ceremony, per-
sons of distinction throw a large black mantle of
flowered silk over the whole. The head is covered
with a turban of crape ; that of the men is in general
black. Over the turbans, females wear a large hat,
similar to a basket. Dress is, with all ranks, an object
of great attention ; even the poorest among them are
clothed from head to foot, and the populace thus make
a more decent and respectable appearance than other
eastern nations."
Again, at Saigon, the crowd conducted themselves
with order, decency, and respect, as pleasing as it was
novel ; a numerous guard of soldiers, however, armed
with lances, were then present. All of the people
were dressed, the greater part in a very comfortable
manner. Their small stature, combined with the
rotundity of their face and the liveliness of their fea-
tures, was very striking. An early visit to the market-
places served to confirm the observations which the
author had made on the manners of the people. The
Cochin Chinese cannot, he says, be considered as in
any way handsome ; " yet, among the females, there
are many that are even handsome as well as remark-
344 ANAM.
ably fair ; and their manners are engaging, without
possessing any of that looseness of character which,
according to the relation of French travellers, prevails
among this people." More regard, however, it is
admitted, is paid to decorum than to chastity ; at least
among the unmarried females, who are liable to no
disgrace or stigma in consequence of conduct held
infamous in civilised society, and for which, after
marriage, they would even there be punishable.
" Here, as in Siam, the more laborious occupations
are often performed by women, and the boats upon
the river are in general rowed by them. A practice,
as ungallant as it is unjust, prevails both here and in
Siam ; that of making females only to pay for being
ferried across rivers, the men passing always free.
The reason alleged for the practice is, that the men
are all supposed to be employed on the king's service.
It is lamentable to observe how large a proportion of
the men in this country are employed in occupations
that are totally unproductive to the state, as well as
subversive of national industry. Every petty man-
darin is attended by a multitude of persons."
" Such commodities as are used by the natives, were
to be found in great abundance in every bazar. No
country, perhaps, produces more betel or areca-nut
than this ; betel-leaf less abundantly. Fish, salted
and fresh ; sweet potatoes, of excellent quality ; In-
dian corn ; the young shoots of the bamboo, prepared by
boiling ; rice, in the germinating state ; coarse sugar ;
plantains, oranges, pumeloes, custard-apples, pome-
granates, and tobacco were to be had in the greatest
quantity. Pork is sold in every bazar, and poultry of
an excellent description is very cheap. Alligator's
flesh is held 'in great esteem, and our Chinese inter-
ANAM. 345
preter states that dog's flesh is sold here. The shops
are of convenient size, in which the wares are disposed
to the best advantage. One circumstance it was im-
possible to overlook, as it exhibits a marked difference
of taste and manners in this people from that of the
nations of India. Articles of European manufacture
have, amongst the latter, in many instances, usurped
the use of their own ; and you can scarcely name any
thing of European manufacture which is not to be had
in the bazars. Here, with the sole exception of three
or four case bottles, of coarse glass, there was no
article whatever to be found that bore the least resem-
blance to any thing European. A different standard
of taste prevails. A piece of cotton cloth was scarcely
to be seen. Crapes, satins, and silks are alone in use,
the greater number of them the manufacture of China
or of Tongkin, there being, in fact, little or no manu-
facturing industry here. The articles which they
themselves had made, were not numerous. I may spe-
cify the following : handsome and coarse mats, matting
for the sails of boats and junks, coarse baskets, gilt
and varnished boxes, umbrellas, handsome silk purses,
in universal use, and carried both by men and women,
iron nails, and a rude species of scissors. Every thing
else was imported from the surrounding countries.
In exchange, their territory affords rice in abundance,
cardamoms, peppe^, sugar, ivory, betel, &c. There
are a few wealthy Chinese who carry on an extensive
trade here ; the bulk of the people are miserably poor,
and but few amongst them are in a condition to trade
but upon the most limited scale. Few of the shops in
the bazars appear to contain goods of greater value
than might be purchased for forty or sixty dollars,
and the greater number are not worth half that sum.
It is difficult to conceive that a population so extensive
346 ANAM.
can exist together in this form, with trade on so small
a scale."
Nothing could exceed the civility and hospitality
with which Mr. Crawfurd and the other gentlemen
who accompanied him were treated both by the man-
darins and the people of Saigon ; they were enter-
tained with shows and plays, and a fight between a
tiger and an elephant was got up for their special
amusement. Such a scene would not have been tole-
rated in the dominions of his majesty the white
elephant. The combat was most unequal ; the tiger
was muzzled, and his claws had been torn out ; yet,
the first elephant was wounded and put to flight. At
length, the tosses which the tiger received at the tusks
of his successive antagonists, (their trunks being cau-
tiously rolled up under the chin,) terminated his life.
When he was perfectly dead, an elephant was brought
up, who, instead of raising him on his tusks, seized
him with his trunk and threw him to the distance of
thirty feet.
After Mr. Finlayson had visited Turon Bay and the
capital, and further intercourse with the natives had
brought to light additional traits of character, and
given him an opportunity of gaining a more intimate
knowledge of their physical form and habits, he thus
sums up his observations :
" In point of stature, the Cochin Chinese are,
perhaps, of all the various tribes that belong to this
race, the most diminutive. We remarked, that they
want the transverse breadth of face of the Malays,
the cylindrical form of the cranium, as well as the
protuberant and expanded coronoid process of the
lower jaw of the Siamese, and the oblique eyes of the
Chinese. In common with all of these, they have a
scanty, grisly, straggling beard ; coarse, lank, black
ANAM. 347
hair ; small, dark eyes ; a yellowish complexion ; a
squat, square form ; and stout extremities."*
" The globular form of the cranium, and the
orbicular shape of the face, are peculiarly character-
istic of the Cochin Chinese. The head projects more
backwards than in the Siamese ; it is smaller, and
more symmetrical in regard to the body, than in
the tribes already noticed ; and the transverse dia-
meters, both of the occiput and the sinciput, are very
nearly equal. The forehead is short and small, the
cheeks round, the lower part of the face broad. The
whole countenance is, in fact, very nearly round ; and
this is more particularly striking in the women, who
are reckoned beautiful in proportion as they approach
this form of face. The eyes are small, dark, and
round. They want the tumid, incumbent eyelid of
the Chinese; and hence they derive a sprightliness
of aspect unknown to the latter. The nose is small,
but well formed. The mouth is remarkably large;
the lips are prominent, but not thick. The beard is
remarkably scanty, yet they cultivate it with the
greatest care. There are amongst them those who
can number scarcely one dozen of hairs upon the chin,
or on the whole of the lower jaw. That on the upper
lip is somewhat more abundant. The neck is for
the most part short. Before quitting this part of the
subject, I may remark, that there is in the form of
the head a degree of beauty, and in the expression
of the countenance a degree of harmony, spright-
liness, intelligence, and good humour, which we
* Of twenty-one persons, taken chiefly from the class of soldiers,
the average height was five feet three inches. Few are of a very
black complexion. Many of the females, in particular, are stated
to be as fair as the generality of the inhabitants of the south of
Europe.
348 AN AM.
should look for in vain either in the Chinese or the
Siamese.
" The shape of the body and limbs in the Cochin
Chinese, differs but little from that of the tribes
already noticed. The chest is short, large, and well
expanded ; the loins broad ; the upper extremities are
long, but well formed ; the lower are short, and re-
markably stout. There is this remarkable difference
from the others of the same race, that here the ten-
dency to obesity is of rare occurrence. The limbs,
though large, are not swollen with fat. The mus-
cular system is large and well developed, and the leg
in particular is almost always large and well formed.
The Cochin Chinese, though a laughing, are not a fat
people.
" Though living in not merely a mild, but a warm
climate, the partiality for dress is universal. There
is no one, however mean, but is clothed at least from
the head to the knee. Nor is it comfort and conve-
nience alone that they study : they are not above the
vanity of valuing themselves on the smartness of their
dress, a failing which often leads them into extra-
vagance. The principal and most expensive article
in their dress is the turban. That of the men is made
of black crape, that of the women of blue. On occa-
sions of mourning, it is made of white crape.
" A loose jacket, somewhat resembling a large
shirt, but with wide sleeves, reaching nearly to the
knee, and buttoning on the right side, constitutes the
principal covering of the body. Two of these, the
under one of white silk, are generally worn, and they
increase the number according to their circumstances
and the state of the weather. Women wear a dress
but little different from this, though lighter, and both
wear a pair of wide pantaloons of various colours.
ANAM. 349
The dress of the poorer class is made of coarse cotton,
but this is not very common, coarse silks being more
in vogue. Those of China and Tongkin are worn by
the more opulent classes. Shoes also are worn only
by the wealthy, and are of Chinese manufacture ;
clogs, in fact, rather than shoes."*
The Tongkinese wear a long robe reaching to the
heels, tied with a girdle or sash. Persons of rank
have a robe of silk, and a cap of the same material.
The lower classes wear the large Cochin Chinese hat.
While subject to China, the Tongkinese were com-
pelled to tuck up their hair in token of sxibjection.
On recovering their independence, both sexes adopted
the custom of letting it hang over their shoulders ; a
practice which the close-shaven bonzes, however, dis-
countenance and ridicule.
Mr. Finlayson describes the Cochin Chinese as a
nation almost without any religion whatever : " at
all events, they derive no moral feeling from this
source." Yet, he elsewhere remarks, that " in every
house, and every building, whether public or private,
even in the slightest temporary sheds, is placed some-
thing to remind you of religion, or, to speak more
accurately, of the superstitious disposition of the
people. And as the emblems of this nature have, for
the most part, a brilliant appearance, they produce a
striking effect." They have, however, neither reli-
gious instructors nor priests. In vain do we look
here for the rhahaans of Birmah, or the talapoins of
* The lower orders sometimes wear a jacket made of palm-
leaves closely sewed together, having the appearance of a shaggy
skin ; a hat, between two and three feet in diameter, shaped like
& basket, comei down over the shoulders; and, thus protected,
they suffer little inconvenience from the rains.
350 AN AM.
Siam.* Although Fo is an object of worship, the
traces of Buddhism are much fainter and more indis-
tinct here, than in the other Indo-Chinese kingdoms.
They do not appear to believe in metempsychosis.
The better sort, Mr. Finlayson says, affect to follow
the precepts of Confucius. The adoration of ancestors
seems, however, to be the most prevalent supersti-
tion ; and this the government is said to foster. The
more barbarous rites of the aborigines, who worship-
ped the elephant, the dog, and the tiger, are not yet
extinct. -f- In general, if religion is ever thought of,
u it consists in the ceremony of placing on a rude
altar, some bits of meat and a few straws covered with
the dust of scented wood ; or in scattering to the
winds a few scraps of paper covered with gold foil ;
or in sticking a piece of writing on a post, a door, or
a tree."J You inquire, in vain, for the motives of
* In Tongkin, however, they have schools in every village, in
which children are taught to read and write, but no superior col-
leges.
t Lieut. White explored a rude hovel, " dedicated to the evil
spirit," erected on Dai-jang Point. It contained two apartments.
" The entrance to the first room was from the platform, through
a large doorway. It was about fifteen feet square. At the further
end was a sort of table of hewn planks, on one side of which was
seated a small wooden idol, with an elephant's proboscis, not un-
like some of the objects of Hindoo worship, but of most rude and
disproportionate manufacture. On the other side of the table was
the model of a junk, about two and a half feet long; and on the
table was placed a brazen censer, and an earthen vessel half filled
with ashes, in which were stuck a number of matches, the upper
ends of which had been burnt. Several other small images,
mostly broken and otherwise mutilated, were lying about in con-
fusion. The back room was of smaller dimensions, and contained
no object of curiosity. In fact, the whole establishment was in a
ruinous state, and appeared to be seldom visited."
In the woods in the suburbs of Saigon, Lieut. White says,
hat he frequently saw miniature houses erected on four posts, with
ANAM- 351
such acts. The objects of their fear are as numerous
as they are hideous. One form of superstition is ob-
served by seafaring people; another by those who
live on the coast ; and a third by those inhabiting
agricultural districts.
" In a sequestered spot in the environs of the
city," (Saigon,) says Lieut. White, " at the further
end of a romantic pathway, amid the foliage of various
kinds of beautiful trees, we arrived at the largest
pagoda we had yet seen in the country, situated on a
small mound, apparently artificial. It was of brick,
covered with tile, and in a totally different style from
others in the city. It bore traces of great antiquity,
which, with its immense proportions, and a certain
air of Gothic grandeur and druidical seclusion, were
admirably calculated to inspire involuntary awe, and
to render it a proper retreat for the most rigid
ascetic. An old priest with a grey beard, but not
otherwise distinguishable from the laity, accompanied
by a young aspirant, advanced a few steps to meet us,
and received us with great appearance of cordiality ;
and, when informed by the linguist that our object
was curiosity to see the temple, he readily proceeded
to gratify us. In front of the pile were suspended
four bells of different sizes and tones, and of the form,
and arranged in the manner, heretofore mentioned.
We entered by a door near the eastern angle, and
were ushered into a small apartment, where were
suspended from the walls several articles of clothing,
which appeared to be the vestments of the priests.
From this, by a side door, we entered a spacious ves-
tibule, separated from the nave of the church by a
massy partition of polished wood in pannel work. In
an idol sitting in the interior, and offerings of fruit and cooked
dishes placed before it.
x2
352 ANAM.
this place were three immense drums, mounted on
frames, and on a table a small brass idol, with an
elephant's proboscis, before which was a brazen censer
filled with matches, one end of each of which had
been burned. The priest then threw open a large
door in the partition, and led the way into the body
of the temple. There was no light besides what was
admitted through the door by which we had entered,
and that was barely sufficient to render ' darkness
visible:' our eyes were, however, enabled to penetrate
the gloom sufficiently to ascertain that its interior
proportions were commensurate with the idea that
we had formed from its exterior. Several groupes of
idols, of hideous, and some of colossal proportions,
were visible through the dim twilight that pervaded
the temple, and seemed to render them still more
hideous and unearthly. In fact, the recollections of
this exhibition are more like the traces of an indis-
tinct and feverish dream, than reality. It would be
as futile to attempt any description of the various
monstrosities in this pantheon of pagan divinities, as
it would be to repeat their several genealogies, his-
tories, exploits, &c., as delivered to us by the priest,
through the medium of Polonio. Their divinities,
however, were not treated with any great veneration
by these guardians of the temple. 4 This fellow,' the
old priest would say, taking hold of the hoof of an
ox on the bust of a man with an elephant's head,
' was famous for his gallantries ; and this one,
tweaking a tremendous nose on a human head, stuck
upon the body of what appeared to be intended for a
tiger, ' was celebrated for destroying wild beasts ;' and
his history of the capricious amours of some of their
deities, no longer excited any wonder at the pro-
duction of these anomalies.
ANAM. 353
" A more direct engine," continues ]\Ir. Finlayson,
" than that of religion itself, has modified, if not formed,
the moral character of the people ; it is that of an
avaricious, illiberal, and despotic government, the effect
of which, so sedulously pursued through a course of
ages, it is melancholy and revolting to human nature
to contemplate. It has involved the whole body of the
people in perpetual and insurmountable poverty; it
has debased the mind ; it has destroyed every generous
feeling ; it has crushed in the bud the early aspira-
tions of genius ; it has cast a blasting influence over
every attempt at improvement. Such being the cha-
racter of the government, it will not appear surprising
that the moral character of the people should in many
respects be brutalised. What is defective in their
character, has been occasioned by perpetual slavery and
oppression ; yet, notwithstanding all this, they dis-
play traits of moral feeling, ingenuity, and acuteness,
which, under a liberal government, would seem capable
of raising them to an elevated rank amongst nations.
But they are perpetually reminded of the slavery under
which they exist ; the bamboo is constantly at work, and
every petty paltry officer, every wretch who can claim
precedence over another, is at liberty to inflict lashes
on those under him. But the tameness with which
they submit to this degrading discipline, alike appli-
cable to the people as to the military, is the most
extraordinary circumstance. Their obedience is un-
limited, nor do they, by word or by action, manifest the
slightest resistance to the arbitrary decisions of tlieir
tyrants. It will not appear surprising that this system
should render them cunning, timid, deceitful, and
regardless of truth ; that it should make them con-
ceited, impudent, clamorous, assuming, arid tyrannical,
where they imagine they can be so with impunity.
354 ANAM.
Their clamorous boldness is easily seen through, and
the least opposition or firmness reduces them to the
meanest degree of submission and fawning.
" Such are the more revolting traits' in their cha-
racter ; they are in a great measure counterbalanced
by a large share of others that are of a more amiable
stamp. They are mild, gentle, and inoffensive in
their character, beyond most nations. Though ad-
dicted to theft, the crime of murder is almost unknown
amongst them.* To strangers, they are affable, kind,
and attentive ; and in their conduct, they display a
degree of genuine politeness and urbanity quite un-
known to the bulk of the people in other parts of
India. They are, besides, lively and good-humoured,
playful and obliging. Towards each other, their con-
duct is mild and unassuming"; but the omission of
accustomed forms or ceremonies, the commission of
the slightest fault, imaginary or real, is followed by
immediate punishment. The bamboo is the universal
antidote against all their failings.
" The Cochin Chinese are more industrious than
we should be apt to suspect, considering the oppressive
nature of the government. Where the government
interferes but little, as in the fisheries on the coast,their
industry is indeed very conspicuous, and there seems
every reason to believe that, were they freed from op-
pression, they would be equally so in other branches.
They are capable of supporting a large share of fatigue ;
and the quantum of daily labour, as for instance in
the operation of rowing, or of running, is in general
very considerable. But the greatest obstacle to the
development of industry proceeds from the oppressive
* Lieutenant White says, that murders are now by no means
unfrequent, especially by poison.
ANAM. 355
nature of the military system, by which about two-
thirds of the male population are compelled to serve
as soldiers, at a low and inadequate rate of pay. Of
all the grievances they labour under, it would appear
that they consider this the most oppressive. It not
only takes from agriculture and other occupations, the
hands necessary for such labours, but by the idle habits
which the military service generates in the men, it
renders them unfit to return to that condition of life.
The consequence of this system may easily be con-
jectured, though not perhaps to the full extent. Almost
all kinds of labour are performed by women, whom it
is not unusual to see guiding the plough and sowing
the seed. Besides, the labour of women is paid for at
an equal rate with that of the men. The daily wages
for either is one mas and their food, or two mas, with-
out it. Another great evil arising out of the military
system of levy, consists in the destruction of family
connexions and ties. From the age of seventeen to
twenty, a selection of the youth is made for military
service, from which there is no retiring until age
or infirmity has rendered them incapable of further
service. It is true that, from time to time, they are
allowed to return to their homes on leave of absence ;
but it is to be feared that a temporary residence of
this nature affords a feeble barrier to the unsocial
tendency of the system."
In the administration of justice, the utmost venality
prevails. All capital crimes, except adultery, are
punished by decollation. In that case, the parties are
bound together, back to back, and thrown off a bridge
into the river. Theft, though a capital crime, is uni-
versally prevalent. Yet, the police is conducted on
" an excellent plan," one of the most respectable in-
habitants being made responsible for the good order
356 ANAM.
of every street. Riots and disturbances are conse-
quently very rare. Minor crimes are punished by
imprisonment, flagellation, and the caungue. Poly-
gamy and concubinage are universal, and are under no
restriction ; but a man " seldom takes more than three
wives, one of which is always paramount : the children
of all are equally legitimate. The marriage-festival
lasts, according to the rank and means of the parties,
from three to nine days. Their colour for mourning is
white. In their funerals and funereal fetes, their mag-
nificent coffins, the superstitious selection of particular
spots for interment, and the festivals in honour of an-
cestors, the Anamese copy the Chinese, or perhaps dis-
cover an original affinity to that nation. Their dress,
too, bears a general resemblance to that of the Chinese,
prior to the Tatar invasion. Like the Chinese, they have
no real coin, except the brass (or tutenague} money called
sepecs (sapuca), rather smaller than an English shil-
ling, and very brittle : 60 sepecs make one mace, and
10 mace (600 sepecs) one quan or khwan. Both these
are imaginary money. In 1764, a quan exchanged
against a Spanish dollar, or two rupees. The value
of 21 Spanish dollars ; n sepecs of tutenague, weighs
150 Ibs. This currency, therefore, is most incommo-
dious. Ingots of gold and silver, however, are the more
common medium of exchange : their value as money
is determined by an impression stamped upon them.
Their weights have the same denomination as in
China. The cattee is equal to a pound and a half
English, and 100 cattees make apicul of 150 Ibs. Their
bushel is equal to 39 quarts.
We have thus brought together the substance of the
information we possess relative to the Anamese, in this
place, because most of the observations were collected
at Saigon. From their vicinity to China, and the in-
ANAM. 357
timate connexion that has at different periods subsisted
between the two countries, the Chinese character, as
well as literature, has been extensively introduced;
and whatever strongly-marked features of dissimilarity
may originally have existed, have been softened down
or effaced. The Chinese scattered about the kingdom,
maintain, indeed, a distinctive character. " These
industrious and enterprising people," says Mr. Finlay-
son, " are the butchers, the tailors, the confectioners,
and the pedlars of Cochin China ; they are met with
in every bazar and in every street, with their elastic
pole carried across their shoulders, at each end of
which is suspended a basket filled with their various
commodities ;* they are also the bankers and money-
changers, and a great part of the circulating medium
of the country passes through their hands." But the
superior industry of the Chinese, both in Cochin
China and in Siam, is partly accounted for by their
exemption from the military conscription. In Cochin
China, every man is a soldier, and even the commer-
cial and mercantile operations, as well as all the native
manufactures, are carried on by the women : they are
the husbandmen, the mariners, and the merchants.
Political causes have thus had a powerful influence on
the national character. Nor do the Chinese differ
more widely from the Anamese in the particulars re-
ferred to, than, in Spain, the Galician differs from
the Murcian, or than tribes of the same family are
often found to be distinguished in habits, dialect, and
character.
The proper Anam written character is said greatly
to resemble the Siamese. The language, in its con-
struction, approaches nearer also to the Thay (or
* Some of them are itinerant cooks, who carry in this way
various dishes ready-dressed for the table.
358 ANAM.
Siamese) and the Malayu, than it does to the Chinese",
although its vocabulary has borrowed more from the
latter language, and bears little resemblance to that of
Siam. In common with other monosyllabic languages,
its essential poverty renders it necessary to use the
primary monosyllables in a varying signification, de-
termined solely by the accent ; and a diversity of
dialect is produced merely by a difference of accentu-
ation. Thus, Dr. Leyden has given a list of sixteen
languages spoken in China, the Khunn, or mandarin
language, varying considerably from the Kong-tong^ or
language of Canton.* Whether the Anam may not
be included among them, it is at present impossible to
ascertain : he was inclined to consider it as wholly
distinct and original.
We must now hasten to complete, so far'as our mate-
rials will enable us, our topographical description.
From Saigon, Mr. Crawfurd proceeded to Turon Bay,
which receives the waters of a river on which is situ-
ated the city of Fai-Foh, once the centre of the com-
merce of Cochin China. -f-
* Asiat Res. vol. x. p. 267- Mr. Barrow declares that scarcely
two provinces in China have the same colloquial language.
f " On arriving at Faifo, we were surprised to find the recent
ruins of a large city, the streets laid out on a regular plan, paved
with flat stone, and well-built brick houses on each side. But,
alas ! there was now little more remaining than the outward walls,
within which, in a few places, you might behold a wretch who
formerly was the possessor of a palace, sheltering himself from the
weather in a miserable hut of straw and bamboos. Of the few
edifices left entire, one was a wooden bridge built upon piles, over a
narrow arm of the river, with a tiled roof. The temples and their
wooden gods were no further molested than by being robbed of
their bells, which, I understood the present usurper, with the
purpose of coining them into money. The course of the river
from Turon to Faifo was a little to the eastward of South." (The
voyage occupied fourteen hours.) CHAPMAN'S Voyage to Cochin
China, 1778. Asiatic Journ. vol. iv. p. 15.
ANAM. 359
TURON.
THIS magnificent bay, which resembles a fine, tran-
quil lake, is surrounded almost entirely with bold and
lofty hills, clothed with wood to their very summit.
Compared, however, with the more luxuriant vege-
tation of the southern provinces, the aspect of the
country is sterile, and the general effect, Mr. Finlayson
describes as falling short of his expectation. Extensive
sandy beaches surround the shore, except where they
are rendered more bold by the projection of granitic
rocks. In point of scenery, he says, it is greatly infe-
rior to that of Trincomalee, to which the absence of
cultivated land and the deficiency of human habita-
tions assimilate it. Here and there, on the shores
of the bay, are to be found the huts of a few wretched
creatures who live by fishing ; but neither the betel,
nor the cocoa-nut, nor a palm of any description is to
be seen, nor, except a few acres of rice-ground, any
signs of agriculture. Every thing indicates an un-
grateful soil. Yet, the great extent of the circular
basin, the serrated tops of the mountain ridges, par-
tially enveloped in mists, the number of Chinese
junks and other boats that are always to be seen
sailing to and fro, and the bold forms of a few rocks,
confer upon this harbour a peculiar interest.*
* See the plate. Before the harbour, on a low peninsula, is a
large mass of brown marble rocks, resembling, at a distance, a
heap of ruins ; and on the point is a remarkable rock, bearing a
strong resemblance to a lion couchant, as if about to spring into
the sea ; and what renders the illusion more complete, the head,
at the seat of the eye, is perforated. Turon Bay is in lat 16 7' N.
The peninsular promontory of Turon (or Hansan), together with
Callao Island, was the price demanded by France, in the treaty
negotiated by Bishop Adran, for her assistance. This peninsula,
Mr. Barrow observes, is to Cochin China, " what Gibraltar is to
360 ANAM.
Vast numbers of boats were seen plying off the
coast in the open sea, indicating the existence of a
numerous population. " These boats are in shape
similar to those of the Malays, but are differently
rigged, having a large square-shaped sail in the mid-
dle, and one, somewhat similar, at each end ; at a
distance they look like small ships. Several hundreds
of them are sometimes in sight, all under sail. With
scarcely a rag of clothes to cover them, without either
house or home, other than that which their frail
bark, covered with a sorry matting, affords, with a
scanty supply of poor, and perhaps unwholesome food ;
in this way does a numerous, but wretched popula-
tion lead a life of misery. The more barbarous of
the Orang Laut are not more squalid or more
wretched, than many of the fishing tribes that occupy
the coasts of Cochin China. The facility with which
subsistence, though a miserable one, is to be procured
in this occupation, will account for the great numbers
that are engaged in fishing. It requires no funds,
and but little industry, to put a family in the
way of providing for itself. Hence, every boat is
for the most part the residence of a single family ;
and as the source from which they derive their sub-
sistence it inexhaustible, there appears to be no
limit to the increase of marriages amongst them.
A man of ordinary industry is capable of construct-
Spain, with this difference in favour of the former, that, to its
impregnability, it adds the important advantage of a convenient
and well-sheltered port and harbour. On the peninsula is a suf-
ficient extent of level surface for a small town, with a naval
arsenal and magazines of every description ; the whole capable
of being rendered perfectly defensible by a handful of men. The
small island of Callao, about thirty miles south of Turon Bay,
completely commands the entrance to the river and city of Faifoe,
the ancient mart for foreign commerce." BARROW, p. 335.
ANAM. 361
ing, with his own hands, the machinery and mate-
rials necessary for the existence of himself and fam-ly.
Of these, the boat is the principal and an indispensable
part ; and here we observe a much cheaper and easier
mode of constructing them than is generally adopted
throughout these seas. The practice of hollowing out
single trees must be painful, tedious, and difficult.
The Cochin Chinese have substituted in its stead a
sort of basket-work, of very close texture, of which
they form both the bottom and the greater part of the
sides of the boat. This close basket-work, or matting,
is made of split rattans, and being stretched upon the
frame, is well covered with pitch. The upper work
is, however, formed of one or two planks, and the boat
is further strengthened by a deck of the same mate-
rials. In the centre, there is a small space covered
with matting, the sole accommodation of the occu-
piers; bamboos serve for masts; the bark of trees is
made into tackling ; a few mats, sewed together, are
the only sails ; all of which, as well as fishing-nets and
lines, are made by every man for his own use. Thus
equipped, they launch into the deep, carrying with them
all that they possess, and wander from bay to bay in
quest of a subsistence, which their squalid and wretched
forms would lead us to believe to be precarious and
inadequate. Though, for the most part, under the
shelter of a bold and rocky coast, they are to be found
at times far out at sea. The night and their idle
time are invariably spent under the shade of trees, or
on some sandy beach. Here they indolently saunter
away their time, till necessity again calls for exertion.
Their share of toil may be considered moderate, the
stmcture of their boats being such as to admit of
their sailing with all winds, and in every direction."
The village of Turon lies nearly three miles from
362 ANAM.
the usual place of anchorage. The approach is through
an' extensive shallow bank, guarded by a respectable
fort. The houses appeared neat and clean, but there
is little or no culture of any sort ; the bazar is an
indifferent one.
Two narrow barges, containing forty rowers each,
but with very paltry accommodations, were sent from
Hue, to convey the British Agent to the capital. It
appears to have been the object of the Cochin Chinese
government, to strip the mission from the Governor-
general as much as possible of an imposing, or even a
respectable appearance, that they might treat it ac-
cordingly; owing, at least in part, to his not being
the bearer of any letter from the British monarch, but
only from a viceroy.
HUE.
THE mouth of the river of Hue (or Hoa) is nar-
rowed by extensive sand -banks. After passing the
bar, on which there are between sixteen and eighteen
feet at high water, you seem to have entered a vast
fresh-water lake, and to be completely excluded from
the sea. The scenery now becomes very interesting.
Islands covered with cultivation are visible at a dis-
tance ; several vast rivers appear to pour their waters
into one basin ; and thousands of boats are seen
returning from or proceeding to sea. The city is
about nine miles up the river, in lat. 16 45' N., long.
106 32' E. Here we must again avail ourselves of
Mr. Finlay son's Narrative.
u The river is so much divided by islands of various
dimensions, and so intersects the country in every
way, that it is difficult to state more of its course,
than its general direction, which is from west to east.
ANAM. 363
In ascending the river to the Mandarin's, we soon
quitted the branch which we first occupied, and turn-
ing to the right, entered a fine and wide canal, partly
natural and partly artificial. This canal surrounds
three sides of the capital, and, at both extremities, joins
the great river, which lies in front of the fourth. The
canal is about forty or fifty yards wide at its lowest
part, where we entered ; it becomes narrower as you
ascend, and, at the upper extremity, it is little more
than eighteen or twenty yards across. It is main-
tained in perfect order. The sides are regularly sloped,
and supported by embankments where requisite. Its
depth would appear to be, in most parts, about eight
feet. It affords the double advantage of an outward
defence of the place, for which it was doubtless ori~
ginally intended, as it bounds the glacis throughout
its course, and of water -conveyance to the various
parts of an extensive city.
" We had seen little more than the bare walls of
our habitation since our arrival. The most beautiful
and luxuriant scenery now burst upon our view ; and
we soon agreed, that the banks of the river of Hue
present the most beautiful and interesting scenery of
any river we had seen in Asia. Its beauties, how-
ever, are the gifts of nature, more than of art. A vast
expanse of water, conveyed by a magnificent river
through a fertile valley, not so wide but that the eye
can compass its several parts ; ridges of lofty and bold
mountains in the distance ; the cocoa-nut, the areca,
the banana, the sugar-cane ; hedges of bamboos that
wave their elegant tops in the air ; and rows of that
beautiful plant, the hibiscus ; are the principal mate-
rials which, grouped in various forms, delight the eye.
From this, we must not separate the not less interest-
ing prospect of numerous and apparently comfortable
364 ANAM.
villages. In these, the most remarkable circumstance
is the neatness and cleanliness of the houses of the
natives, and the cheerful, contented, and lively dispo-
sition of the people. The houses of the better sort
are substantial and large, covered with tiles, the walls
being partly made of brick and mortar, and partly of
wood. Besides, they shew considerable taste in adorn-
ing their grounds and little gardens with flowers and
ornamental trees.
" Though we were in the immediate vicinity of a
large city, few people were to be seen : these were at
work in the fields, collecting weeds from the canal, or
passing on the roads. We were still more surprised
to find so few boats upon the river ; and of junks, we
saw no more than three or four As soon as we had
entered the canal, we found ourselves in front of one
face of the fort. The term fort, however, is apt to
convey erroneous notions of this place : it is, in fact,
a fortified city ; and if the French had compared it
with such places as Delhi and Agra, instead of Fort
William, the comparison had been more just. The
fortifications are, without question, of a most extra-
ordinary nature, whether considered in the magnitude
of extent, the boldness of design, the perseverance in
execution, or the strength which they display. The
fort appears to be built with the greatest regularity,
and according to the principles of European fortifica-
tion. It is of quadrangular form ; each side appeared
to us to be at least a mile and a half in length.* The
rampart is about thirty feet high, and cased with brick
and mortar. The bastions project but little, con-
taining from five to eight embrasures, and are placed
* The French mandarins told them, that the length of each side
was 1,187 toises, and that the walls would contain 800 pieces of
cannon.
ANAM. 365
at a great distance from each other. The walls are in
excellent order. We could not distinctly see whether
there was a ditch at the foot of the wall, but were told
that there is. The glacis extends to the canal, and is
about 200 yards in breadth. An enemy on the op-
posite side of the canal would, in many parts, find
shelter in the brushwood and hedges, and even vil-
lages, within reach of the guns of the fort, and thence
would find the means of attacking the place with little
exposure of his men. But it is not to be expected,
that such places should be capable of much resistance.
They may serve as a temporary defence against a sud-
den alarm, and against a tumultuary attack from irre-
gular troops ; but a handful of brave and enterprising
men would soon possess themselves of the place. The
gates are ornamented in the Chinese style, but the
approaches are calculated for the purpose of defence.
There appeared no reason to doubt that we were
brought by this circuitous route, in order that we
might see the extent of the fortifications."
Subsequently, they were permitted to see the interior.
" On entering the gate, we turned to the right, and
passed along the rampart. As much care has been be-
stowed on the construction of the interior as of the ex-
terior. The place is laid out in quadrangles ; the roads
are wide and convenient ; and a navigable_canal, which
leads to the granaries and magazines, passes through
the place. The town, if it may be so called, is rather
paltry : the greater part of the ground appears to be
laid out in ill-cultivated gardens, attached to miserable,
but probably only temporary huts. The bazars have
an appearance of poverty ; yet, the regularity of the
streets gives an air of great neatness to the place, and
the view both of the country and the town, from the
rampart, is very fine. After passing for more than a
366 ANAM.
mile along the rampart, we were conducted to the
public granaries, consisting of a vast number of well-
built, substantial storehouses. The greatest attention
has been bestowed upon every thing, and the powder-
magazines are erected in the midst of tanks.
" The palace of the king is surrounded on every side
with handsome and well-built rows of barracks. These
were uncommonly clean, and very complete in their
structure, and would lose little in comparison with the
best we have in England The citadel is a small
quadrangular building, with strong and lofty walls,
close to the palace, not calculated to excite any pecu-
liar interest."
Of the palace itself, they could see nothing, except
on passing one or two of the gates, so completely is it
concealed by the barracks. The display of iron and
brass guns of all sorts and sizes, of mortars and am-
munition, in the artillery department, was truly sur-
prising. " It was easy to perceive," Mr. Finlayson
says, u that the genius which had directed every thing
was French, and that the master-mind which had
created such great works, no longer presided over
them."
The principal bazar at Hue consists of a spacious
street about a mile in length, with shops on either side,
some of them paltry huts made of palm-leaves ; the
rest more substantially built of wood, with tiled or
thatched roofs. The poverty of the shops was here
very striking, and altogether, Hue and its inhabitants
appeared to great disadvantage in comparison with the
capital of Don-nai. There are few Chinese among the
population, which is stated to amount to 30,000 souls.
During the violent rains to which this part of Cochin
China is subject, the town is liable to be speedily in-
undated ; and people are seen moving about the streets
ANAM. 367
in boats, where, but the day before, they had passed
on dry ground.
Our limits restrict us from entering into further
details. Mr. Crawfurd could not succeed in obtain,
ing an audience of the king of Cochin China.
He was told, that his business being entirely of a
commercial nature, it altogether precluded the pos-
sibility of his being admitted to the royal presence ;
that it was an affair for the cognizance of his minis-
ters ; that had he been the envoy of the king of Eng-
land, or of any other king, he would have been pre-
sented at court ; but that in his case, it was as if the
governor of Saigon had sent an envoy to the imperial
court. The presents of the Governor-general were
politely declined by his majesty, and the mission was
dismissed, not without evident manifestations of dis-
pleasure or contempt.*
Before many years, the British nation and the
court and good people of Hue will be better acquainted
with each other. His majesty has condescendingly
promised to accept of whatever presents may be agree-
able to him, next time, paying for the same. Who
can tell but that, in a few years, we may have a British
factory at Turon, steam-boats plying on the Saigon
river, or even ascending the unknown course of the
Mei-kong, and that a joint-stock company may be
formed to work the geld mines of Tongkin !
* Mr. Crawfurd had suffered the letter from the Governor-general
to be opened by the governor of Saigon, which evidently gave great
offence. In 1804, Mr. Roberts, an envoy from the Governor-general,
had been honourably received, and obtained two audiences of the
king.
END OF ANAM.
ERRATA.
Page 78, line 14, for Brimans read Birmans.
95, line 5, for Binnah read Birmah.
.1. MOVES, TEMPJ,K PrtlNTING OFFICE, BOUVKRIh STREET.
LIBRARYFACIUTY
