412 Some account of the Wars between Burmah and China. [June, 



The ambassadors were first conveyed from the hall of audience to the 

 eastern Youm, where they were made to stand until the princes and all 

 the nobles and officers passed to their respective houses* ; after which 

 they were taken to the house allotted for them, by the same route as that 

 by which they had been before brought. 



" On Sunday, the 10th June, 1787, his Majesty addressed the following 

 letter and presents to the emperor of China, and appointed Let-yueigy^h 

 mhu':, Ne-myo':Shue-daung, Thihagyo-gaung, and Welutha'ya, am- 

 bassadors on his part, to proceed to China in company with the Chinese 

 ambassadors. 



' The protector of religion, the sun-descended king of righteousness, 

 bearing the name and title of Thlri pawara wizayd nanta yatha tiri bawa- 

 nd ditiyd dipadi pandita mahd dhamma raja-dirdja\, owner of the white, red, 

 and mottled elephants, and proprietor of mines of gold, silver, rubies, and 

 amber, who rules over the great kingdoms and all the umbrella- wearing 

 chiefs of the westward, affectionately addi'esses the royal friend, the lord 

 of the golden palace, who rules over the great kingdoms and all the um- 

 brella-wearing chiefs to the eastward. No enmity having existed between 

 the two great eastern and western kingdoms from the first creation of 

 the world, and both being independent sovereigns who have possessed a 

 golden umbrella and palace from generation to generation, and the hom- 

 age of a multitude of umbrella-wearing chiefs, the royal friend deputed 

 the son of the lord of Kaing:mah, who arrived at the great and golden 

 city of Amarapura on the 26th May, 1787. The royal letter and the 

 presents consisting of eight images of the A'batthara% Byamhd, ten car- 

 pets, ten pieces of gold cloth and ten horses, having been arranged in 

 front of the throne and hall of audience, his Majesty, attended by the 

 heir-apparent, his royal brothers and sons, and all his officers, came forth 

 and sat on the throne, and caused the royal letter to be read out. His 

 Majesty was exceedingly pleased to hear, that if a friendship like the 

 union which has always existed in former states of existence between the 

 kings of the two countries, and an agreement as fixed and permanent as 

 a nail driven in, be entered into, it would be to posterity from generation 

 to generation like two pieces of gold converted into one (as inseparable) ; 

 and also, that the royal friend, the lord of the golden palace himself and 

 his queen, royal children, and relatives and all his officers are in the enjoy- 

 ment of health. The royal friend, lord of the golden palace, who rules 



* The British Resident returned at once to his own house from the hall of 

 audience. 



f The meaning of the Pali words of this long title is thus rendered by the Bur- 

 mese ; — " The illustrious, excellent and greatest conqueror, whose glory is bound- 

 less and substantial, who will rule over the three orders of beings with surpassing 

 power, the wise and great king of righteousness, the king of kings." 



X Abatthara is the sixth of the 20 stages or stories of the superior celestial 

 regions. 



