Birmah, Siam, and Anam
' fc V ";> ( :.!>;,•(//• <- B O R X THE MODERN TRAVELLER. POPULAR DESCRIPTION, GEOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL, AND TOPOGRAPHICAL, VARIOUS COmTBiES OF THE GLOBE. BIRMAHf'SIAM, and ANAM. If** Jos^ Z 9 • LONDON: PRINTED FQPJ^AMES DUNCAN; OLIVER AND BOYD, EDINBURGH; M. OGLE, GLASGOW; AND R. M. TIMS, DUBLIN. 1826. I* THE MODERN TRAVELLER. j POPULAR DESCRIPTION, GEOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL, AND TOPOGRAPHICAL, VARIOUS COtoTMES OF THE GLOBE. BIRMAHf'SIAM, and ANAM. r1 Josal C4- ) LONDON: PRINTELTKiaE9i^JAMES DUNCAN; OLIVER AND BOYD, EDINBURGH ; M. OGLE, GLASGOW : AND R. M. TIMS, DUBLIN. 1826. -ft*/ ^ J. M0YB8, TEMPLE PRINTING OKFICK, BOJIVEBIK STHKKT. i / CONTENTS. BIRMAH. rAGB BOUNDARIES 1 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 Indo-China to face the Title. Birman Costume 214 Imperial Court at Am arapura 221 Cochin Chinese Shipping 359 THE MODERN TRAVELLER, ETC. ETC. BTRMAH. [An empire lying between the parallels of 8° and 27° N., and be- tween long. 91° 3«y 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 of 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 limits. TATIT I. B 2 MKMAR. 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.-f- The whole of the western part, having recently been comprised in the Birman 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 respect 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 lower 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),-f- 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 4 BIRMAH. of the Birmans into two unequal parts. To the east- ward, they 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-vutU). 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- em 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. 1UKMAH. 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. % 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 Birmans, 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, — more 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 BI11MAH. 7 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 season 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. i. 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 Kcempfer represents the Mei-nam as sending branches through the kingdoms of Cambodia and Pegu. * M. de la Bissachere. 3 BIRMAH. no 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. Make 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. J 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 bigh * Marini and Wusthof, as cited by Make Brun. t Jarric. See Malte Brun, vol. iii. p. 3(54, from whom we have gathered most of these facts, though we have not adopted his conclusions. $ See note at page 6. § Malte Brun, vol. iii. p. 365. BIKMAII. 9 mountains. Taking all these circumstances into con- sideration, we infer that, to the south of Yun-nan, there is an immense tract of low level country, abounding with lakes, swamps, and morasses,* like the Hon- quang, or lake-country of China, or that of the Sete La- goas (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 ; -f 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.:}: 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. X 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 ! 11 2 10 BIItMAH. 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. 1 1 the Birmans discover their affinity to the Hindoo family, while the Siamese, the Annamese, and the Peguans hear a more strongly-marked resemhlance to the Chinese.* The political divisions of the Indo-Chinese coun- tries 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 southward to Malacca.-]- 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 Bud- dhic Apis, was wrested from Pegu by a king of Arracan.J When the Portuguese, early in the six- Birman language by an Armenian, for the use of the Birman em- peror, in 179o. * 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 lan- guage. The other seven are monosyllabic, viz. 1. Rak-heng ( Arra- canese) ; 2. Barma (Birman) ; 3. Mon (Peguan) ; 4. Thay (Siamese) ; 5. Khohmin (Cambodian); 6. Law (Laos); 7. Anam. f " The king of Siam," says Tavemier, " 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. ni. c. 18. Tavemier travelled in 1660—70. % 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 12 EIRMAH. teenth century, had succeeded in making 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 confers an actual supremacy. In like manner, the kings of Egypt 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 symbolic character of the fatal beast.— Asiat. Jou)-nal, vol. xix. p. 652. See also Picart's Histoire des Religions et Mceurs 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. B1RMAII. 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 Avhich 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 gTeat 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. BIRMAI1. 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 etymology 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 Bengale : 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 by neighbours, and therefore the king is called king of Aracan, Tiparat (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 hardly 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 i/oe, 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, orbuca, buta, bula; the organs of articulation being inadequate to give ut- 16 B1RMAH. In Dalrymple's Oriental Repository, the Birmans are called Boraghmans. 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 Barma, Brema, or Brama, which they describe as a separate kingdom from Ava, and whose king sometimes carried on wars against the king of Ava.-|- 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 things 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, Tazatay, 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 Pegu, ov Caypumo, or Martaban, that BI11MAH. 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 Marumma, supposed to be a corruption of Maha-vurma, (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." — Lrblanc's Travels, cited in Asiat. 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 topazes." — Asiat. Journal, vol. xix. p. 1550. " There are mines of gold, silver, rubies, and sapphires now open in a mountain called Wooboolootan near the river Ken-duem." — Svmes, vol. iii. p. 374. t 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 Calinga, 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 nourishing 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 Canarene 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-duem, 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 Miamma. Cassay is now called by the Birmans Ka-thcc. Meckley BIRMAH. 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. 