with a high peak, in form not unlike the spire of a Burman pagoda, which it was probably intended to resemble. I was told that it was of entire gold, and it had all the appearance of being studded with abundance of rubies and sapphires. In his right hand his majesty held what is called in India a chowrie, which, as far as we could see, was the white tail of the Thibet cow. It is one of the five established ensigns of Burman royalty, the other four being a certain ornament for the forehead, a sword of a peculiar form, a certain description of shoes, and the white umbrella. His majesty used his flapper with much adroitness and industry; and it occurred to us, who had never seen such an implement but in the hands of a menial, not with much dignity. Having frequently waved it to and fro, brushed himself and the throne sufficiently, and adjusted his cumbrous habiliments, he took his The Burman courtiers, who were seated in the usual posture of other Eastern nations, prostrated themselves, on his majesty's appearance, three times. This ceremony, which consists in raising the joined hands to the forehead, and bowing the head to the ground, is called, in the Burman language, Shi-ko, or the act of submission and homage. No salutation whatever was dictated to us; but as soon as his majesty presented himself, we took off our hats, which we had previously kept on purposely, raised our right hands to our foreheads, and made a respectful bow.

seat.

The queen presented herself immediately after his majesty, and seated herself upon the throne, at his right hand. Her dress was of the same fabric, and equally rich with that of the king. Her crown of gold, like his, and equally studded with gems, differed in form, and much resembled a Roman helmet. The little princess, their only child, and about five years of age, followed her majesty, and seated herself between her parents. The queen was received by the courtiers with similar prostrations as his majesty, and we also paid her the same compliment as we had done to the king. When their majesties were seated, the resemblance of the scene which presented itself, to the illusion of a well got up drama, forcibly occurred to us; but I may safely add, that no mimic exhibition could equal the splendour and pomp of the real scene.'-p. 132-5.

The Burmese, however, were too cunning, after all, for Mr. Crawfurd. It is the custom of this government, it seems, that, at the beginning and termination of their annual lent, or great fast, all the tributaries and public officers shall attend to present their offerings to the king, and ask pardon' (ka-dau) for whatever offences they may have committed within the year. It is something like our annual bill of indemnity, with this difference, that the Burmese pay dearly for their release from such pains and penalties as they may or may not have incurred. "Our presentation,' says the ambassador, was evidently put off from day to day, that we might appear among the crowd of supplicants asking forgiveness for past offences.' Added to this, the last of all the

6

offerings

offerings presented were those of the Governor-General of India. When the lists were read over, by the palace reporter, with an audible voice, the address to the throne, of which the following is a translation, was made at each presentation.

'Most excellent glorious Sovereign of Land and Sea, Lord of the Celestial (Saddan) Elephant, Lord of all White Elephants, Master of the Supernatural Weapon, (Sakya,) Sovereign Controller of the present state of existence, Great King of Righteousness, Object of Worship! On this excellent propitious occasion, when your Majesty, at the close of Lent, grants forgiveness, the English ruler of India, under the excellent golden foot, makes an obeisance of submission (shi-ko), and tenders offerings of expiation.'-p. 136.

As the name of each suppliant was announced, the party took a few grains of parched rice between the hands, and made the customary prostration, as the token of homage and submission. This token, however, which was insisted on in the case of Colonel Symes, was not proposed on the present occasion. The audience being ended, the ambassador was entertained in the court before the palace with an exhibition of dancing women, buffoons, and tumblers in masques and masquerade dresses, puppet-shows, state elephants, led horses, with state carriages and palanquins. The tumblers appeared agile and expert; they were chiefly disguised as monkeys and other wild animals, and amused the company by ludicrous gestures, scrambling up poles, letting themselves fall from them, and similar feats.' Lord Macartney's amusing description of the royal puppet-shows in China accords very exactly with these exhibitions of Ava: both are wretched enough; but it would hardly be fair in us to condemn them as barbarous, when we so frequently witness the tricks of menmonkeys, bears, and elephants, on the stages of our national theatres..

The Burmese elephants are described as noble animals. Here, as in Siam, the white elephant is considered as an object of great veneration. He has a regular establishment of wuns, wun-dauks, secretaries, &c. Mr. Crawfurd says, however, that he is not an object of worship, but considered an indispensable part of the regalia of sovereignty; that royalty would be incomplete without it; and that both court and people would consider it peculiarly inauspicious to want a white elephant. No wonder, then, that his Burmese Majesty should be anxious to increase his stock, which was at this time reduced to a single specimen. While the embassy was at Ava, a report was brought that a white elephant had been seen; but it was stated that its capture and transport would cost at least ten thousand baskets of rice, On this being stated to the king, his Majesty

is said to have exclaimed, What signifies the destruction of ten thousand baskets of rice, in comparison with the possession of a white elephant ?'-and an order was forthwith given for the hunt of this precious animal. Mr. Crawfurd is satisfied that there is no foundation whatever for the pretended delicacy which has been ascribed to the elephant, and which, in reality, is neither more nor less than a romance, of European origin; and he has no doubt that its courage and sagacity have been nearly as much exaggerated as its modesty.

As the waters of the Irawadi begin to fall, a yearly festival of three days is held, consisting chiefly of boat-racing. It is called the Water-festival, of which we have the following account :

'According to promise, a gilt boat and six common war-boats were sent to convey us to the place where these races were exhibited, which was on the Irawadi, before the palace. We reached it at eleven o'clock. The Kyi-wun, accompanied by a palace secretary, received us in a large and commodious covered boat, anchored, to accommodate us, in the middle of the river. The escort and our servants were very comfortably provided for in other covered boats. The king and queen had already arrived, and were in a large barge at the east bank of the river. This vessel, the form of which represented two huge fishes, was extremely splendid: every part of it was richly gilt; and a spire of at least thirty feet high, resembling in miniature that of the palace, rose in the middle. The king and queen sat under a green canopy at the bow of the vessel, which, according to Burman notions, is the place of honour; indeed, the only part ever occupied by persons of rank. The situation of their Majesties could be distinguished by the white umbrellas, which are the appropriate marks of royalty. The king, whose habits are volatile and restless, often walked up and down, and was easily known from the crowd of his courtiers by his being the only person in an erect position; the multitude sitting, crouching, or crawling all round him. Near the king's barge were a number of gold boats; and the side of the river, in this quarter, was lined with those of the nobility, decked with gay banners, each having its little band of music, and some dancers exhibiting occasionally on their benches. Shortly after our arrival, nine gilt war-boats were ordered to manoeuvre before

us.

The Burmans nowhere appear to so much advantage as in their boats, the management of which is evidently a favourite occupation. The boats themselves are extremely neat, and the rowers expert, cheerful, and animated. In rowing, they almost always sing; and their airs are not destitute of melody. The burthen of the song, upon the present occasion, was literally translated for me by Dr. Price, and was as follows:-" The golden glory shines forth like the round sun; the royal kingdom, the country and its affairs, are the most pleasant." If this verse be in unison with the feelings of the people, (and I have no doubt it is,) they are, at least, satisfied

with their own condition, whatever it may appear to others.'-pp.

112, 113.

Boat-racing, taming wild elephants, and boxing-matches, are said to be the chief amusements of the king and the people. Mr. Crawfurd saw all these, and he tells us that in the last of them the populace formed a ring with as much regularity as if they had been true-born Englishmen, and preserved it with much greater regularity than is usually witnessed here-thanks to the assistance of the constables with their long staves. While these official persons were duly exercising their authority, the same good-natured monarch, who roasted his prime minister in the sun, frequently called out, 'Don't hurt them-don't prevent them from looking on.' It does not appear that Mr. Crawfurd was entertained with so many exhibitions, as Colonel Symes had the opportunity of witnessing, of singing and dancing girls, illuminations and fire-works. rockets are of extraordinary size, the cylinders being trunks of trees hollowed out, many of them seven or eight feet long, and from two to three feet in circumference. These rockets are always let off in the day time, from the humane motive, as Colonel Symes thinks, of letting the people see and thus avoid the danger of the falling carcase; yet notwithstanding this precaution, a man was unfortunate enough to be killed by one of them on the spot.

Their

There is no doubt that the Burmese are the most manly, daring, and athletic of the Hindoo-Chinese nations, but a most execrable government has rendered them callous to every feeling of humanity.

The lowest in

The Burman punishments are severe and cruel. the scale is imprisonment and fetters; the number of the latter varying, according to circumstances, from one pair up to nine. Then follow mulcts, flogging, mutilation, condemnation to the perpetual slavery of the temples, and various forms of death, more or less cruel, according to circumstances. Decapitation is one of the most frequent of these; but embowelling is also not uncommon. Drowning, burying alive, and throwing to wild beasts, are occasionally had recourse to. I shall give one or two authentic examples of these punishments. On the 26th of January, 1817, four persons were executed at Rangoon for robbing temples. Their abdomens were laid open; huge gashes were cut in their sides and limbs, laying bare the bones; and one individual, whose crime was deemed of a more aggravated nature than that of the rest, had a stake driven through his chest. The gentleman who related this to me was present at the execution. Another European gentleman, who had resided many years in Rangoon, informed me, that for the same offence of sacrilege, he saw seven persons put to death at once. They were tied to stakes on the banks of the Irawadi at low water, and left to be drowned by the returning tide, which did not do its work for four hours. The Burmans commonly

suffer

suffer death with the intrepidity or indifference of other Asiatic people. One gentleman told me that he had seen a deserter eat a banana with his bowels out, after the executioner had performed more than half his task; and another, also an eye-witness, stated that a woman condemned for murder to be thrown to a tiger, deliberately crept into the cage, made the savage a shi-ko, or obeisance, was killed by a single blow of the animal's fore-foot, and immediately dragged by him into the recess of his den. It must however be observed, that the Burmese seldom condemn women to death. "The sword," they say, 66 was not made for woman."'—pp. 407, 408.

For certain offences criminals are sawn asunder between two planks, a species of punishment which the Jews sometimes practised on the early Christians. In our late contest, one of the ministers, after some reverses, had entreated the king to give him the command of the army, which was granted. The troops, being new levies, refused to fight, and ran away when attacked: the minister fled to Ava, and asked the king for reinforcements; and the sovereign, provoked at his assurance, ordered him for immediate execution.

'He was dragged from the hall of audience by the hair of the head, and conducted to prison, where he remained only one hour, when he was led to the place of execution and beheaded. Mr. Judson told me, that he happened by accident to be present when he was dragged to prison, and afterwards when he was taken to the place of execution. The Burmese gaolers and executioners, for they are one and the same, are all pardoned criminals; and upon this occasion displayed the most savage ferocity, knowing it was safe to do so towards a man who had not only incurred the king's displeasure, but against whom also the public hatred was particularly directed. In leading him to the prison, he was dragged along the ground and stripped naked, the executioners disputing with each other for the different articles of his dress. When led to execution, he was pinioned as usual, and, for a distance of two miles, was goaded with spears, and otherwise maltreated to such a degree, that he was nearly dead before suffering decapitation.' -pp. 61, 62.

And yet this humane sovereign is reported to have said, when told of one of his generals, who had behaved gallantly and lost his life, 'Why did not the fool run away?' This same personage ordered the architect of his palace to be decapitated because the spire fell in a thunder-storm about the time that accounts were received of the arrival of the British expedition. Prisoners of war are treated in the most inhuman manner, being generally either put to death, or sold as slaves, or thrown into prison, which is worse than either death or slavery. If a prisoner should have any money, or means of subsistence, the gaolers take care to extort it by the application of torture or something like it,

'The