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indicate an intelligent and inquiring mind.

"On the first appearance of his majefty, all the courtiers bent their bodies, and held their hands joined in an attitude of fupplication. Nothing farther 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 fo unpolite, or contrary to etiquette, as to prefent the foles of the feet towards the face of a dignified perfon. Four Brahmins, dreffed in white caps and gowns, chanted the ufual prayer at the foot of the throne: a nakhaan then advanced into the vacant space before the king, and recited in a mufical cadence the name of each perfon who was to be introduced on that day, and of whofe prefent, in the character of a fuppliant, he entreated his majesty's acceptance. My offering confifted of two pieces of Benares gold brocade; doctor Buchanan and Mr. Wood each pre

fented one. When our names were mentioned, we were feparately defired 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 indiftinct words, to convey, as I was informed, an order for invefting fome perfons prefent with the infignia of a certain degree of nobility: the imperial mandate was inftantly proclaimed aloud by heralds in the court. His majefty 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 When he rofe to depart, he manifefted the fame figns of infirmity as on his entrance: after he had withdrawn, the folding doors were clofed, and the court broke up."

RELIGION, LAWS, ROYAL and MILITARY ESTABLISHMENTS, CUSTOMS, and CHARACTER of the BIRMANS.

"THE

[From the fame Work.]

HE Birmans are Hindoos: not votaries of Brahma, but fectaries of Boodh, which latter is admitted by Hindoos of all defcriptions to be the ninth Avatar, or defcent of the deity in his capacity of preferver. He reformed the doctrines contained in the Vedas, and feverely cenfured the facrifice of cattle, or depriving any being of Life: he is called the author of happinefs: his place of refidence was difcovered at Gaya in Bengal, by the illuftrious Amara, renowned amongst men, who caufed an

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image of the fupreme Boodh to be made, and he worshipped it:

' reverence be unto thee in the form of Boodh; reverence be unto thee, Lord of the earth; reverence be unto thee, an incarnation of the ' deity; and, eternal one, reverence be unto thee, O God in the form of Mercy.'

"Gotina, or Goutum, according to the Hindoos of India, or Gaudma, among the inhabitants of the more eastern parts, is faid to have been a philofopher, and is by the Birmans believed to have

flourished

flourished above 2300 years ago: he taught, in the Indian fchools, the heterodox religion and philofophy of Boodh. The image that reprefents Boodh is called Gaudma, or Goutum, which is now a commonly received appellation of Boodh himself: this image is the primary object of worship in all countries fituated between Bengal and China. The fetaries of Boodh contend with thofe of Brahma for the honour of antiquity, and are certainly far more numerous. The Cingaleze in Ceylon are Boodhifts of the pureft fource, and the Birmans acknowledge to have originally received their religion from that ifland. It was brought, fay the rhahaans, first from Zehoo (Ceylon) to Arracan, and thence was introduced into Ava, and probably into China; for the Birmans affert with confidence that the Chinese are Boodhifts.

"This is a curious fubject of investigation, and the concurrent teftimony of circumftances, added to the opinions of the most intelligent writers, feems to leave little doubt of the fact. It cannot, how ever, be demonftrated beyond the poffibility of difpute, till we fhall have acquired a more perfect knowledge of Chinese letters, and a readier accefs to their repofitories of learning. Little can at prefent be added to the lights caft on the fubject by the late fir William Jones, in his difcourfe delivered to the Afiatic Society on the Chinese. That great man has expreffed his conviction in pofitive terms, that Boodh was unquestionably the Foe of China,' and that he was alfo the god of Japan, and the Woden of the Goths; an opinion which correfponds with, and is perhaps grafted on, the information of 1800.

the learned and laborious Kæmp fer, corroborated afterwards by his own refearches. On whatever grounds the latter inference refts, it will not tend to weaken the belief of his firft pofition, when I obferve that the Chinefe deputies, on the occafion of our introduction to the feredaw or high prieft of the Birman empire, proftrated themfelves before him, and afterwards adored an image of Gaudma with more religious fervour than mere politeness, or acquiefcence in the cuftoms of another nation, would have excited: the bonzes alfo of China, like the rhabaans of Ava, wear yellow as the facerdotal colour, and in many of their cuftoms and ceremonies there may be traced a ftriking fimilitude.

"Whatever may be the antiquity of the worship of Boodh, the wide extent of its reception cannot be doubted. The most authentic writer on the eastern peninfula calls the image of Gaudma, as worshipped by the Siamefe, Somona-Codom: being unacquainted with the language of Siam, which, from fo fhort a refidence as four months, it was impoffible he could have acquired, he confounds two diftinct words, Somona, and Codom, fignifying Codom, or Gaudma, in his incarnate ftate; the difference between the letters C and G may eafily have arifen from the mode of pronunciation in different countries; even in the Birman manner of uttering the word, the diftinction between thefe letters is not very clear. The Boodh of the Indians and the Birmans is pronounced by the Siamese Pooth, or Pood; by the vulgar, Poo; which, without any violence to probability, might be converted by the Chinefe into foe; the Tamulic termination en, as Mr. Chambers F remarks

remarks, creates a ftriking refemblance between Pooden and the Woden of the Goths; every perfon who has converfed with the natives of India, knows that Boodh is the Dies Mercurii, the Wednesday, or Woden's day, of all Hindoos. Chronology, however, which must always be accepted as a furer guide to truth, than inferences drawn from the refemblance of words and etymological reafoning, does not, to my mind, fufficiently eftablish that Boodh and Woden were the fame. The period of the ninth incarnation of Vishnu was long antecedent to the exiftence of the deified hero of Scandinavia. Sir William Jones determines the period when Boodh appeared on the earth to be 1014 years before the birth of Chrift. Odin, or Woden, flourished at a period not very diftant from our Saviour, and was, according to fome, a cotemporary of Pompey and of Julius Cæfar. The author of the Northern Antiquities places him 70 years after the Chriftian era. Even the Birman Gaudima, conformably to their account, muft have lived above 500 years before Woden. Simente a space can hardly be fuppofed to have been overlooked: but if the fuppofition refers, not to the warrior of the north, but to the original deity Odin, the attributes of the latter are as widely oppofed to thofe of Boodh, who was himfelf only an incarnation of Vishnu, as the dates are incongruous. The deity whofe doctrines were introduced into Scandinavia was a god of terror, and his votaries carried defolation and the fword throughout whole regions; but the ninth Avatar brought the peaceful olive, and came into the world for the fole purpose of preventing fanguinary acts. Thefe appa

rent inconfiftencies will naturally lead us to hefitate in acknowledging Boodh and Woden to be the fame perfon; their doctrines are oppofite, and their eras are widely re

"Had that diftinguished genius, whofe learning fo lately illumined the east, been longer fpared for the inftruction and delight of mankind, he would probably have elucidated this obfcurity, and have removed the dufky veil that ftill hangs over the religious legends of antiquity. The fubject, as it now ftands, affords an ample field for indulging in pleafing theories, and fanciful fpeculations; and as the probability increases of being able to trace all forms of divine worship to one facred and primeval fource, the inquiry in proportion becomes more interefting, and awakens a train of ferious ideas in a reflecting mind.

"It would be as unfatisfactory as tedious to attempt leading my reader through the mazes of mythological fable, and extravagant allegory, in which the Hindoo religion, both Braminical and Boodhic, is enveloped and obfcured; it may be fufficient to obferve, that the Birmans believe in the Metempsychofis, and that, after having undergone a certain number of transmigrations, their fouls will at laft either be received into their Olympus on the mountain Meru, or be fent to fuffer torments in a place of divine punishments. Mercy they hold to be the first attribute of the divinity: Reverence be to thee, O God, in the form of mercy!' and they worship God by extending mercy unto all his creatures.

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from their religion: divine autho- gion are, I believe, in general, conrity revealed to Menu the facred fcientiously administered. The principles in a hundred thoufand locas, or verses; Menu promulgated the code; numerous commentaries on Menu were compofed by the Munis, or old philofophers, whofe treatifes conftitute the Dherma Saftra, or body of law.

"The Birmans generally call their code Derma Sath, or Saftra; it is one among the many commentaries on Menu: I was fo fortunate as to procure a translation of the most remarkable paffages, which were rendered into Latin by Padre Vincentius Sangermano, and, to my great furprife, I found it to correfpond closely with a Perfian verfion of the Arracan code which is now in my poffeffion. From the inquiries to which this circumstance gave rife, I learned that the laws, as well as the religion, of the Birmans had found their way into the Ava country from Arracan, and came originally from Ceylon. The Birman fyftem of jurifprudence is replete with found morality, and, in my opinion, is diftinguifhed above any other Hindoo commentary for perfpicuity and good fenfe; it provides fpecifically for almost every fpecies of crime that can be committed, and adds a copious chapter of precedents and decifions to guide the inexperienced in cafes where there is doubt and difficulty. Trial by ordeal and imprecation are the only abfurd paffages in the book; but on the fubject of women it is, to an European, offenfively indecent; like the immortal Menu, it tells the prince and the magif trate their duty, in language auftere, manly, and energetic; and the exhortation at the clofe is at once noble and pious.

criminal jurifprudence of the Birmans is lenient in particular cafes, but rigorous in others; whoever is found guilty of an undue affumption of power, or of any crime that indicates a treafonable intent, is punished by the fevereft tortures. The first commiffion of theft does not incur the penalty of death, unlefs the amount ftolen be above 800 kiat, or tackal, about 100l. or attended with circumstances of atrocity, fuch as murder or mutilation. In the former cafe, the culprit has a round mark imprinted on each cheek by gunpowder and punctuation, and on his breast the word thief, with the article ftolen; for the fecond offence he is deprived of an arm; but the third inevitably produces capital punishment; decapitation is the mode by which criminals fuffer, in the performance of which the Birman executioners are exceedingly skilful.

The city of Ummerapoora is divided into four diftinct fubordinate jurifdictions, in each of which a maywoon prefides. This officer, who in the provinces is a viceroy, in the metropolis refembles a mayor, and holds a civil and criminal court of juftice; in capital cafes he tranfmits the evidence in writing, with his opinion, to the lotoo, or grand chamber of conful tation, where the council of state affembles; the council, after clofe examination into the documents, reports upon them to the king, who either pardons the offender, or orders execution of the fentence: the maywoon is obliged to attend in perfon, and fee the punishment carried into effect.

"Civil fuits may be transferred "Laws thus dictated by reli- from the courts of the may woons

to the lotoo; this removal, how ever, is attended with a heavy expence. There are regular eftablifhed lawyers, who conduct caufes and plead; eight only are licenfed to plead in the lotoo; they are called ameendozaan: the ufual fee is five tackal, equal to fixteen fhillings; but the government has large profits on all fuits that are brought into court.

"There is no country of the Eaft in which the royal establishment is arranged with more minute attention than in the Birman court; it is fplendid without being wafteful, and numerous without confufion; the moft diftinguished members, when I was at the capital, were: the fovereign, his principal queen, entitled Nandoh Praw, by whom he has not any fons; his fecond wife, Myack Nandoh, by whom he has two fons; the engy teekien, or prince royal, and pee teekien, or prince of Prome. The princes of Tongho, Baflien, and Pagahm, are by favourite concubines. Meedah Praw is a princess of high dignity, and mother of the chief queen. The prince royal is married, and has a fon and two daughters, all young; the fon takes precedence of his uncles, the crown defcending to the male heirs in a direct line. These were the principal perfonages of the Birman royal family.

mandates to the maywoons, or viceroys of the different provinces; they control every department of the ftate, and, in fact, govern the empire, fubject always to the pleafure of the king, whofe will is abfolute, and power undefined.

"Next in rank to the princes of the blood royal are the woongees, or chief minifters of state. The established number is four, but the place of one has long been vacant: thefe form the great ruling council of the nation; they fit in the lotoo, or imperial hall of confultation, every day except on the Birman fabbath, from twelve till three or four o'clock, or later, as there happens to be bufinefs; they iffue

"To affift in the administration of affairs, four officers, called woondocks, are affociated with the woongees, but of far inferior authority; they fit in the lotoo in a deliberative capacity, having no vote: they give their opinions, and may record their diffent from any measure that is propofed; but the woongees decide: the woondocks, however, are frequently employed to carry into execution butinefs of great public importance.

"Four attawoons, or' minifters of the interior, poffefs a great degree of influence that fometimes counteracts with fuccefs the views and wifhes of the woongees; these the king felects to be his privy counsellors, from their talents, and the opinion he entertains of their integrity; they have access to him at all times; a privilege which the principal woongee does not enjoy.

"There are four chief fecretaries, called fere-dogees, who have numerous writers or inferior ferees under them.

"Four nachaangee fit in the lotoo, take notes, and report whatever is tranfacted.

"Four fandohgaan regulate all ceremonials, introduce strangers of rank into the royal prefence, and are the bearers of meffages from the council of fate to the king.

"There are nine fandozains, or readers, whofe bufinefs it is to read all official writings, petitions, &c. Every document, in which the public is concerned, or that is

brought

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