224 ON THE RELIGION AND 



" the power of fate, they repeatedly undergo the fame 

 " torments. 



'" Having thus explained the ideas of the Burmas 

 " concerning the various bon, or habitation, of mifery 

 " and happine fs, before we proceed any further, it is 

 " neceflary to ftate, that the beings which inhabit 

 " even the higheft of thefe abodes, may, on account of 

 " bad actions, fink into the infernal regions; or on 

 " account of their good ones, may be raifed to a higher 

 " rank : but it is only in this ifland Zabudiba that 

 " Nieban^ the moll perfect of all ftates, can be ob- 

 *' tained. To arrive at Nitban a perfon muft fee a 

 "god, and hearken to his difcourfes and evidences : 

 " and it is only in Zabudiba that the gods arife. 

 *' There are fome Burma do8:ors indeed, who affert, 

 " that in this ifland only beings can deferve to rife to 

 " a fuperiour, or to fink into an inferiour abode." 



A TOPOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION OF 

 ZABUDIBA. 

 " I HAVE faid, that the Burmas allow the diameter 

 *' of this ifland, which we inhabit, to be 10,000 juzana. 

 " From this extent they fubtra^t 3,000 for woods and 

 " deferts, 4,000 for waters, and fuppofe 3,000 to 

 " remain as a habitation for mankind. I fhall now 

 " explam their ideas concerning the topography of this 

 " abode : but my readers will be much difappointed, 

 " if they exped any thing like an accurate defcription 

 " of the earth, or of its divifions into kingdoms and 

 " provinces. For in the fame manner, as what I have 

 '* already delivered as the opinions of the Burmas 

 " concerning the univerfe, are nothing but vain, 

 " chimerical, and monflrous fables ; fo what they relate 

 " concerning the ifland Zabudiba, never exifted, unlefs 

 " in the invention of God am a, or in the crude con- 

 " ceptions of his commentators. It is true indeed, that 

 " in the Burma writings mention is made of 101 nations, 

 " which are faid to inhabit Zabudiba, and its dependant 

 " fmall iflands : but of all the nations which are 

 " known really to inhabit the earth, we find none nien- 



*' tioned 



