174« 0>f THE RELIGION AND 



eclipses, yet they pretend not to ascertain either the 

 howr of their commencement, or the extent of the 

 obscuration. That his account was just, I make 

 no doubt ; as an eclipse of the moon happened dur- 

 ing our stay at jiniarapurf!, which had ehided their 

 science, and which they attempted to discredit. It 

 would intleed appear from a treatise of Mr. Samuel 

 Davis*, that the time of the full moon, and the 

 duration of the eclipse, found by the rules given 

 in the Siin/a Siddhanta, differ considerably from the 

 truth ; and that although the rules given in the 

 S'uldhanta Rahasifa, ami other more modern books, 

 make a nearer approach, yet that they are far from 

 being correct ; so that even the Brahmcns of Hin- 

 dustan are not much farther advanced than tliose of 

 Amarapura, notwithstanding the improvements they 

 have introduced from time to time, perhaps as they 

 were able gradually to procure a little better inform- 

 ation from their conquerors, Mohammedans and 

 CJiristians^;. 



After this long digression. I shall return to the 

 Cosmographia 



" OF THE UNIVERSEr 



" The Universe is called by the Bunnas, Logha, 

 " which signifies successive destruction and repro- 

 " duction : because it is conceived, as we shall af- 

 *' terwards mention, that the Universe, after it has 

 *' been destroyed either by lire, water, or wind, is 

 " again of itself restored to its ancient form. Our 

 " earth the Burmas do not, like us, conceive to be 

 " spherical: but they suppose it to be a circular 

 " plane elevated sornev/hat in the center : so tliat 

 '' the e is every where from the center to the cir- 



" cumfercnce 



* AuaUd Res. II. 285. 



+ I \ia\'e heard it reported, that the Royal Oak has now found its 

 way into some of the oldest BrahmefiUfil treatises en the constella- 

 tions, ''j'he greater pare cfi?r//^«/ manuscripts, owing to themidness 

 of the paper, require to be copied at Ica.st once in ten years, as they 

 y.'ill, in that climate, preserve no longer ; and every copyist, it is to 

 be suspected, adds to old books whatever discoverie.o he makes, re- 

 linquishing his immediate reputation for learning, in orckr to promote 

 the grand and profitable employiQcnt of his sect, the delusion of the 

 multitude. 



