THE COURT OF AVA IN 1856 219 



it, so you see the same things for sale all in a row, and there 

 is a good deal of competition and importuning to purchase. 

 The site of Sir Arthur Phayre's Embassy was about a mile 

 and a half from the town across a large lake. We had to 

 cross a bridge (wooden) fully a mile long to get to it. In 

 Lower Burma in those days we had not succeeded in rearing 

 European vegetables, so we were delighted at seeing some 

 cabbages growing, and, after a good deal of haggling, I bought 

 one for a rupee and took it home in triumph. My boy, the 

 next day, bought twelve for the same price ! The phoongie 

 houses were splendid the inner posts of that occupied by the 

 high priest were studded with precious stones. Very fine 

 oranges are grown in the hilly districts, and of course all 

 tropical fruits thrive if looked after ; but we were then not at 

 the right season for fruit. Our interview with his Majesty was 

 postponed from day to day ; either the stars were unpropitious, 

 or a child was born, or some excuse made. So we left without 

 seeing the king of kings after all. Just as we were leaving, 

 the Kulawoon (Minister for Foreign Affairs) presented each 

 of us with a putso of silk of the king's own pattern as a fare- 

 well gift, and asked us to delay our departure. We thanked 

 him, but would not remain any longer. 



The king has one principal wife his half-sister and some 

 seven hundred concubines, many of whom he probably would 

 not recognize. If we could believe a quarter of what we were 

 told, great profligacy was carried on by the ladies of his 

 harem, who admitted their lovers freely; and as for the 

 children, not one in a hundred could claim paternity from the 

 Lord of Many White Elephants, etc. So the half-sister was 

 probably no way related, and that I think must be pretty well 

 understood, for I always found that the Burmese had a horror 

 of committing incest, and the greatest opprobrium you can cast 

 on a man is to accuse him of having been intimate with his 

 own sister. No rain had fallen for two months when we were 

 in Umrapoora, though it was the height of the monsoon in the 

 Lower Provinces. I only saw one cultivated fig-tree in the 

 suburbs ; at a little distance, I was told, they, as well as 

 peaches, apricots, pomegranates, and other fruits, were to be 

 found. 



