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



" subdued this province of Mien." Now this story is quite incon- 

 sistent with what Marco tells us in the 49th Chapter of the hard 

 fought battle the Tartars had with the Burmese in the kingdom 

 of Vociam in the year 1272. That surely could not have led the 

 Khan to anticipate in future a feeble resistance from such a people. 

 Can this statement be explained from the Burmese history ? I 

 think it may be. The Burmese virtually acknowledge that, after 

 the capture of their capital, the kingdom became dependant on the 

 Tartar Khan. The king called contemptuously " Ta-ruk-pye-ming," 

 having been murdered, his son Kyau-tswa was deposed, and three 

 Shan chiefs governed the country from Myin-tsaing, a city about 

 thirty miles south of Ava, where the Shan brothers had established 

 themselves. This is represented as being the state of affairs in the 

 year 1298, (1291 by the revised dates), or fourteen years after the 

 capital had been taken by the Tartars. Then the deposed king 

 Kyau-tswa complained to the Khan, apparently acknowledging 

 himself to be a tributary king. A Tartar army came into Burma 

 to restore king Kyau-tswa. The Shan brothers made no resistance, 

 but conciliated the Tartar general with rich presents, and disposed 

 of Kyau-tswa's claim by putting him to death. This plan was 

 adopted by the advice of " players and buffoons, " who possibly 

 may have come with the Tartar army. The Burmese history 

 states that the Shan brothers were advised to consult tumblers and 

 rope-dancers. The Burmese are very fond of consulting the fates, 

 by listening to undesigned warnings by children or persons of low 

 estate. In accordance with this idea, the tumblers and rope-dancers — 

 who may be accepted as equivalent to the players and buffoons of 

 Marco— were summoned to exhibit a performance. They sang a 

 song in which occurred the words : — (f There can be no dispute, 

 if there is no disputant." This was accepted as a guide to action ; 

 Kyau-tswa was killed, and his head delivered to the Tartar 

 general, — together with arguments in the shape of presents,— to 

 show that no disputant to the existing government remained. 

 The Tartar general then agreed to withdraw his army after having 

 employed it in the unexplained work of digging a canal, which 

 is shewn near Myin-tsaing to this day. The occasion for this second 

 appearance of a Ta-ruk or Tartar army is certainly consistent with 



