c< 



LITERATURE OF THE BURSAS. 177 



ference. Utichegru, the northern island, is square, 

 and its circumference is ^4,000, ;'z^^«/^^. Finally, 

 the southern island, which we inhabit, and which 

 is called ZabiuUba, is shaped like a trapezium, 

 and is 30,000 juza?ia in circumference. These 

 names are taken from certain great trees, which 

 are the sacred insignia of each particular island : 

 thus, because the sacred tree of the southern island 

 is Zahu, the island is named Zahudiba, or the 

 island of the tree Zabu; dlba, in the Pali language, 

 *' signifying island*." 



" IV. Besides these four large islands, theBii7'ma 

 " writingsallowSOOOof a smaller size, 300 belong- 

 *' inaj to each of the lars^er ones. All these small 

 '' islands are of the same shape with that on which 

 *' they depend. Except these, the Burmas admit of 

 ** nothing but a vast and impassable ocean. They 

 '* also say, that the four ditferent faces of 3fiemno 

 " communicate their respective colours, not only to 

 " the seas lying opposite to them, but also to the 

 *' islands and their inhabitants. Thus, because the 

 " eastern face of 3//e;/7;?o is silver, the eastern island 

 " and its inhabitants, its trees and rivers, with all the 

 '- eastern sea as far as mount Zetchiavala, are white 

 " like milk. In a similar manner, the glass face on 

 ' ' the Av^est side oiAIienmo communicates a green co- 

 " lourtothegreat western island, and to the oOO small 

 " islands by which it is surrounded, and also to all 

 *' that part of the ocean which lies to the west of 

 ' ' Mienmo. They speak in a similar manner of the 

 " two other parts ; the northern and the southern : 

 Vol. VL M " and 



* Tills tree zabn is entirely the creature of fancy, there being no 

 species of plant so called : bat 1 observed that a kind of respect was 

 paid by the Burmas to the Bo-ahi' hayn or Fian relig'tosa. From the 



characters with which this name is written Q Ajr\ A^ itlsevident- 



ly a Pait or Sauscrit word, and the reverence paid to it has been intro- 

 duced from Hlnduita?!. It is said that Godama rested himself by 

 leaning on it, at a time when he had been much fatigued. The at- 

 tention paid to the tree seems therefore chiefly given, irom its being 

 considered as a relic of the God ; but does not appear to be esteemed 

 of much indportance in the religious code, as it is not mentioned in 

 the summary of religious duties, which we shall afterwards detail. 



