CHARACTERS. 



303 



and had no motive to deceive me, 

 amount to 8,000^ not including the 

 recent addition of Aracan. If this 

 be true, which I have no reason to 

 doubt, and we suppose each town 

 on an average, to contain 300 

 houses, and each house six persons, 

 the result will determine the popu- 

 lation at fourteen millions, four hun- 

 dred thousand. Few of the inha- 

 bitants live in solitary habitations ; 

 they mostly form themselves into 

 small societies, and their dwellings 

 thus collected compose their ruas,or 

 vUlages; if, therefore, we reckon 

 their numbers, including Aracan, 

 at seventeen millions, the calcula- 

 tion may not be widely erroneous ; 

 I believe it rather falls short of 

 than exceeds the truth. 



Ceremonial of the Presentation of 

 the English Ambassador to the 

 King of Birman ; from the same. 



ON approaching the gate, the 

 greater part of our attendants 

 were stopped, and not permitted to 

 follow us; and we were desired to 

 put off our shoes, with which we 

 immediately complied. The area 

 we now entered was spacious, and 

 contained the lotu or grand hall of 

 consultation and of audience; where 

 the wangis meet in council, and 

 where affairs of state are discussed 

 and determined. Within this in- 

 closure there is an inner court, se- 

 parated by a brick wall, which 

 comprehends the palace, and all 

 the buildings annexed to the royal 

 residence. Within the gate a 

 troop of tumblers were performing 

 their feats, while dancing girls were 

 exhibiting their graces in the open 

 air, and on the bare ground, to the 

 sound of no very harmonious music. 



We were next ushered up a flight of 

 stairs into a very noble saloon, or 

 open hall, called the lotu, where 

 the court was assembled in all the 

 pomp that Birman grandeur could 

 display. On entering this hall, a 

 stranger cannot fail to be surprised 

 at the magnificence of its appear- 

 ance ; it is supported by seventy- 

 seven pillars, disposed in eleven 

 rows, each consisting of seven. 

 The space between the pillars I 

 judge to be about twelve feet, ex- 

 cept the centre row, which was 

 probably two feet wider. The roof 

 of the building is composed of dis- 

 tinct stages, the highest in the cen- 

 tre. The row of pillars that sup- 

 ported the middle, or most lofty 

 roof, we judged to be thirty-five or 

 forty feet in height ; the others gra- 

 dually diminish as they approach the 

 extremities of the building, and 

 those which sustain the balcony are 

 not more than twelve or fourteen 

 feet. At the farther part of the 

 hall, there is a high gilded lattice, 

 extending quite across the building, 

 and in the centre of the lattice is a 

 gilded door, which, when opened, 

 displays the throne ; this door is 

 elevated five or six feet from the 

 floor, so that the throne must be as- 

 cended by means of steps at the 

 back, which are not visible, nor is 

 the seat of the throne to be seen, 

 except when the king comes in per- 

 son to the lotu. At the bottom of 

 the lattice there is a gilt balustrade, 

 three or four feet high, in which 

 the umbrellas and several other in- 

 signia of state were deposited. The 

 royal colour is white, and the um- 

 brellas were made of silk of that 

 colour, richly bespangled with gold. 

 Within this magnificent saloon were 

 seated, on their inverted legs, (the 

 posture of respect) all the princes 



