192 dx THE RELIGION AND 



** hands 200. When this monstrous and foul planet, 

 *' who like the others is a Nat, is inflamed with 

 *' envy at the brightness of the sun or moon, he 

 '^ descends into rheir path, and devours, or rather 

 *' takes them into his mouth: but he is soon obliged 

 ** to spit them out, for if he retained them long, 

 *' they would burst his head by the constant ten- 

 *' dency which they have to pursue their course. 

 '^ At other times he covers them with his chin, or 

 ** licks them v/ith his immense tongue. In this 

 *' manner the Burma writings explain eclipses of the 

 ** sun and moon, both total and partial, making the 

 *' duration of the eclipse depend on the time that 

 *' Rahu retains the planet in his mouth, or under 

 *' his chin. The Rahans say, that every three years 

 ** Rahu attacks the sun, and every half year the 

 '' moon. These eclipses however are not always 

 *' visible to the inhabitants of this southern island; 

 '* but although they may be invisible here, they are 

 *' not so to the inhabitants of the other islands, ac- 

 " cording as the sun and moon may be opposite tO' 

 *'■ them at the time of the eclipse. 



*' The physical cause of the phases of ihe moon, 

 *' assigned in the Burma writings, is this : AVhen 

 '* the moon is in conjunction, she can give no light, 

 " because the sun is perpendicularly over her: in 

 *' the same manner as a house at noon gives no 

 *' shadow^' : but as the moon recedes daily from the 

 *' sun 100,000 juzana, that part of it M'hich is freed 

 *' from the disk of the sun, gives light; and thi*s 

 " light increases daily, as tliC two luminaries get at 

 * ' a greater distance ; in the same manner as a liouse 

 *' produces a larger and larger' shadow, in propor- 

 *• tion as the sun advances to the Mcst. 



*' Relative to tlic heat and cold which we 

 '•' experience at different seasons of the year, 

 " the Burmas say, that from the vernal cqui- 

 '' nox to autumn, the sun is always tending 

 "to the north, v\liilst at the same time the moon 



* The Burma doctors say so, as living within the tropic. 



