76 On the History of the Burma Race. [No. 2, 



garding the cause of this change of dynasty, nor is any hint given 

 as to the lineage of Nga-ta-ba. 



He was succeeded by his son. The descendants of this king are 

 represented as filling the throne until the year of religion 638. The 

 last king of this race was Thupignya, who came to the throne in the 

 year of religion 627, or A. D. 84. He is described as a good king, 

 and devoted to religion. Having a quarrel with the Kan-ran king, 

 whose territory lay in the southern part of the country now called 

 Arakan, he collected an army, and marched against him. The country 

 was subdued, and the king found there a golden image of Gaudama 

 eighty-eight cubits high. On account of this image he remained there 

 for three years. His nobles entreated him to return. He ordered a 

 great raft to be made in order to bring the golden image by sea 

 round the high cape called Na-ga-rit* to his own country. But his 

 nobles, thinking this could not be accomplished, consulted together to 

 evade the king's order. They determined to melt down the large 

 golden image, but to appease the king's anger, they made twenty- 

 eight smaller images which they presented to him, and kept the rest 

 of the gold for themselves; The king then returned to Tha-re-kket- 

 ta-ra. When the people of the country brought the gold of the holy 

 image into daily use, the seven excellent Nats who had presided over 

 the building of the city were offended, and the whole country became 

 confused and distracted with robbery and violence. There was at 

 that time a saying abroad that a man named Nga-tsa-kan, (which 

 means in the Burmese language a corn-sieve) would destroy the 

 country. One day a sudden gust of wind carried away the corn-sieve of 

 a woman, who followed it crying aloud, " My corn-sieve, my corn- 

 sieve." (Nga-tsa-kan, Nga-tsa-kan.) The people, .much alarmed, sup- 

 posed that Nga-tsa-kan had really come. ' They separated into three 

 hostile divisions, and the king died at the same time after a reign of 

 eleven years. 



The three divisions of the people were Pyii or Byii, Kam-ran or 



Kan-ran, and Mran-ma. The last is the present national name for 



* Na-ga-rit or Na-ga-nhit is the name of a well-known high bluff of land on 

 the coast of Burma. The word implies, the place where the Naga or sea dragon 

 sinks ships. It is here that the ship of king D\vot-ta-bung was borne to the 

 depths of the sea by dragons. The adjoining coast is, even in these days, the 

 scene of frequent wrecks. The native name is preserved in Cape Negrais, a 

 term which appears to have been handed down by the old Portuguese voyagers. 



