PEGU PEKING. 



451 



PEGU, or BEGU ; till 1757, a kingdom of Asia, 

 now a province of the Binnan empire, bounded north 

 by Aracan and Ava, east and south by Siam and the 

 sea, and west by part of Aracan and the bay of 

 Bengal. Pegu seems to be a level country, without 

 any considerable mountains, excepting some which 

 surround it, and serve for a frontier towards the land, 

 but is liable to be invaded not only by sea, but also 

 by land, by means of the rivers which make their 

 passage through those mountains. The two princi- 

 pal rivers are the Irrawaddy and Sitang. The air 

 is healthy ; the soil very fertile in rice, corn, fruit, and 

 roots; it likewise produces good timber of several 

 kinds. The country abounds with elephants, buffa- 

 loes, goats, hogs, and other animals : here is abun- 

 dance of wild game, and deer in great plenty. There 

 are mines not only of iron, tin, and gansa, or lead, 

 which passes for money, but also of rubies, diamonds, 

 and sapphires. The rubies are the best in the world ; 

 but the diamonds are small. But the most valuable 

 production is teak timber, for ship-building. The 

 principal ports are Rangoon, Sirian, and Negrais. 

 The inhabitants are mostly idolaters of the sect of 

 Budda. Pegu was formerly the capital ; Ion. 96 42' 

 E. ; lat. 18 5' N. ; population, 7000. This city, in 

 the year 1600, was splendid, large, and populous, 

 supposed to contain 150,000 inhabitants. According 

 to some Europeans, who saw it in its greatest splen- 

 dour, it was very spacious, fair, and strong, surround- 

 ed with stone walls and very wide ditches. It was 

 divided into two cities, the old and new ; in the old 

 lived the merchants and strangers ; and, as the houses 

 were only built with wood, or bamboo canes, covered 

 with tiles, each had a warehouse of brick, arched, to 

 secure the goods from fires, which were frequent 

 here. The new city, inhabited by the king, the 

 nobility and the people of fashion, was extensive and 

 populous ; its figure square ; and in each side of the 

 wall were five gates of stone, with many gilded 

 towers by the side of it for posting sentries. It was 

 encompassed with broad ditches, in which were bred 

 crocodiles, to deter people from wading over them. 

 The king's palace stood in the midst of this new city, 

 built like a fortress, with walls and ditches. In 1757, 

 Pegu was destroyed by Alompra, the Birman em- 

 peror ; but the temples were left standing, and the 

 temple of Shoemadoo still exists as a monument of 

 the greatness of its ancient monarchs. It stands 

 upon two quadrangular terraces, of which the lower 

 is ten feet high, the upper, twenty feet. The sides of 

 the former are each 1391 feet in length, of the latter, 

 684. The temple is a massive pyramid of brick and 

 mortar, without any excavation or aperture, octa- 

 gonal at the base, each side of which measures 162 

 feet. A projecting part round the base is surmounted 

 with fifty-seven turrets, twenty-seven feet high. On 

 this stands a second projection, surmounted by fifty- 

 three similar towers. The whole is crowned by a Tee 

 or iron summit, on which is a gilt umbrella, fifty-six 

 feet in circumference, 360 feet from the ground. The 

 Tee is gilt, and beneath it hang numerous bells, which 

 the wind keeps constantly ringing. In each angle of 

 the upper terrace are temples, sixty-seven feet high, 

 resembling the principal temple. All around the steps 

 are innumerable images of Godama or Budda. The 

 priests say that the Shoemadoo was begun 2000 years 

 ago. 



PEHLVI. See Persian Language. 



PEIPUS, or TCHUDSKO ; a deep lake, between 

 the Russian governments of Livonia, Esthonia, Pskov, 

 and St Petersburg (eighty versts long by thirty broad). 

 It is connected with lake Pskov, or Pleskov, by a nar- 

 row channel, with lake Virtz by the Eno, and with the 

 gulf of Finland by theNarova or Narva. In the bril- 

 liant day of the Hansa, it had considerable navigation. 



PEISHWAH. See Mahmttas. 



PER AN. See Weasel. 



PEKAN-NUT. See Walnut. 



PEKING, or PEKIN ; a city of China, capital of 

 the empire, situated in a very fertile plain, twenty 

 leagues distant from the great wall ; Ion. 116 23' E. ; 

 lat. 39" 54' N. The city encloses an area of fourteen 

 square miles, exclusive of the suburbs, and is divided 

 into two towns, the one inhabited by Tartars, and the 

 other by Chinese. The Chinese city has a wall of 

 its own, enclosing an area of nine square miles. The 

 estimated population of Peking, says Sir G. Staunton, 

 was carried in the last century, by the Jesuit Grinmldi, 

 to 16,000,000. Another missionary reduces, at least 

 that of the Tartar city, to 1,250,000 ; according to 

 the best information given to the embassy, the whole 

 was about 3,000,000 ; but this number is probably 

 exaggerated. The low houses of Peking seem 

 scarcely sufficient for so vast a population ; but very 

 little room is occupied by a Chinese family, at least 

 in the middling and lower classes of life. In their 

 houses there are no superfluous apartments. A 

 Chinese dwelling is generally surrounded by a wall 

 six or seven feet high ; within this enclosure a whole 

 family, of three generations, with all their respective 

 wives and children, will frequently be found. One 

 small room is made to serve for the individuals ot 

 each branch of the family, sleeping in different beds, 

 divided only by mats hanging from the ceiling. One 

 common room is used for eating. 



Peking contains thirty-three temples, eight public 

 altars, as the altars of heaven and earth (on the 

 former of which the emperor sacrifices in summer, 

 the latter in winter), those of eternal life, of the sun, 

 of the moon, and of agriculture, two Catholic churches 

 (Portuguese and French), several monasteries, two 

 Russian-Greek churches, with a monastery (whose 

 archimandrite, and eight monks, usually selected 

 from the pupils of the Russian seminaries, are chang- 

 ed every four years; four of the latter learn the 

 Chinese and Mantchoo languages, and are destined 

 for interpreters), four mosques, a foundling hospital, 

 twenty-six tribunals, and 10,000 palaces. The name 

 Peking, which signifies the northern court, is given 

 to distinguish it from Nanking, or the southern court. 

 The emperor formerly resided in the latter ; but the 

 Tartars, a restless and warlike people, obliged the 

 prince to remove his court to the northern provinces, 

 that he might more effectually repel the incursions of 

 those barbarians, by opposing to them the numerous 

 militia that he generally keeps around his person. 

 This capital forms an exact square, and is divided 

 into two cities ; the first is inhabited by Chinese, the 

 second by Tartars. These two cities, without in- 

 cluding the suburbs, are six leagues in circumference. 

 The walls of the Tartar city are very lofty, and so 

 thick, that twelve horsemen might easily ride abreast 

 upon them ; with spacious towers at intervals, a 

 bow-shot distant from one another, and large 

 enough to contain bodies of reserve in case of neces- 

 sity. The city has nine gates, which are lofty, and 

 well arched ; over them are large pavilion-roofed 

 towers, divided into nine stories, each having several 

 apertures or port-holes ; the lower story forms a 

 large hall, for the use of the soldiers and officers who 

 quit guard, and those appointed to relieve them. Be- 

 fore each gate a space is left of more than 360 feet ; 

 this is a Kind of place of arms, enclosed by a 

 semicircular wall, equal in height and thickness to 

 that surrounding the city. The great road which 

 ends here, is commanded by a pavilion-roofed tower, 

 like the first, in such a manner that, as the cannon of 

 the former can batter the houses of the city, those of 

 the latter can sweep the adjacent country. The 

 streets of Peking are straight, the principal ones 

 r2 



