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Account of Books for the Year 1 800. 



An Actount of an Embassy to the 

 Kingdom of Ava, sent by the Go- 

 vernor General of India, in the 

 Year 1795. By Michael Symes, 

 Esq. Major in his Majesty's l6th 

 Regiment, Uo. 1800. 



AT the northern extremity of 

 the vast peninsula which se- 

 parates the Gulph of Bengal from 

 the Chinese Sea, the Birman nation 

 bccupies a fertile region, denomi- 

 nated by European geographers, 

 from the name of its former capital, 

 the kingdom of Ava. On the west, 

 a range of lofty mountains inclose 

 the maritime country of Aracan ; 

 the flat lands of Pegu, on the south, 

 define the ancient boundaries, with- 

 out limiting the present power, of 

 the Birman empire : the distant de- 

 pendencies of Siam, and the woody 

 confines of China, mark its eastern 

 extremity ; while the northern 

 mountains shelter a hardy raccj who 

 continue to assert the independence 

 of their hills, under various native 

 princes. After having laved the 

 Chinese province of Yuman, the 

 Ira vati enters the Birman country, 

 where it receives the Keenduem, 

 and rolls a rapid stream through 

 the whole extent of Ava and Pegu, 

 where, by a number of mouths it 

 discharges its waters in the bay of 

 Bengal. These ';ountries have hi- 

 therto been impervious to the pe- 



Tietrating eye of philosophic re- 

 search and though in the immediate 

 vicinity of the British dominions 

 in India, no intercourse was esta- 

 blished between the governments. 

 Rumour spoke of battles, of revo- 

 lutions, and of conc(dests; and their 

 reality was attested by multitudes 

 of fugitives, who soiight refuge in 

 the frontier provinces of Bengal 

 from the sword of the conqueror : 

 but the scenes and the actors were 

 unknown, and the events excited 

 little interest in our European set- 

 tlements. Such was the situation 

 of aflfairs, when, without any pre- 

 vious intimation, in the year 1 794', 

 an army of Birmans entered Chitta- 

 gong in a hostile manner, and en- 

 camped on the company's terri- 

 tories. 



Several centuries have witnessed 

 the conflicts of the Birman and Pe- 

 guviail nations; and fortune has 

 frequently chatiged sides in the con- 

 test. In 1 7i4, a century of actual, 

 if not undisputed siipremacy, seem- 

 ed to confirm to the fotmer a last- 

 ing superiority : but in that year 

 the king of Pegu, throwing oiF the 

 yoke, expelled the Birmans from his 

 dominions: the warfare which en- 

 sued added to their misfortunes ; 

 and in 1752 a period was put to a 

 long line of Birman monarchs, by 

 the conquest of the whole territory, 

 and the death of the sovereign. 



