1837.] -Some account of the Wars between Burmah and China. 407 



cities of the first second and third class in Burmese, as p.hu, or b,hu, 

 t,su, or tso, and shyen ; but I have set down these names as they 

 usually appear in our maps of China, as/ft, choio and Hen. 



The following table will show the power of the vowels as used 

 by me. 



a, as in America. 



a, as in father. 



e, as in men. 



e, broad as ey in they, or ay in mayor, or a in name. 



i, as in pin. 



1, as in police, or ee in feet, and a. 



i, the same with a grave sound like e in me. 



o, as in toto. 



6, the same sound prolonged, or as in lone, sown. 



6, broad as in groat. 



6', the same sound prolonged. _, 



u, as in Italian, or like oo in foot. 



u, the same sound prolonged, or oo in mood. 



The Siamese and Shan letter, which is sounded something like the 

 French letters eu, I mark, as the Catholic Missionaries in Siam have 

 long marked it, thus, u and u / . 



a '» I Each of these vowels is pronounced as when separate* 

 au ' 1 excepting that the sound of the second is a little more pro- 

 • ' | longed than that of the first vowel. Kaing, Ka-ung, Ko-un, 

 uo> J me-in, yu-on. 



The letter ng is pronounced something like the same letters in the 

 French word ma°rnanimite, but as a final, it is usuallv sounded as a 

 nasal n. When followed by the heavy accent I have usually express- 

 ed the g, in the Roman character. 



The prosodial short sign is used to shorten the sound of some of 

 the above vowels and diphthongs. 



According to the above system I have nearly completed a compara- 

 tive vocabulary of the Burmese, Siamese, Taung-thii and three Shan 

 dialects. 



Of the towns and places in China mentioned by the Burmese envoys 

 in their journals and routes, I shall set down within brackets the pro- 

 per names of such as I can trace in Du Halde. 



In the year 1787, intelligence was brought to Ava, that an embassy 

 from the emperor of China had arrived at Theinni, and as the ceremony 

 of the public audience given to these ambassadors corresponds in 

 3 g 2 



