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



tation, to the garden situated within the same lake, and his maj esty ordered 

 the Wun-gyih Kou'n-ye'-thu' to take us roundand shew us all the monaste- 

 ries, temples and gardens. We embarked in a boat with that officer and 

 rowed about the lake, and saw the different monasteries, &c. In two 

 monasteries situated on the top of a hill on the western side of the lake, 

 there were several images of the unequalled and most excellent deity, 

 surrounded by images of inspired disciples. We saw more than fifty priests 

 here also dressed in yellow cloth. There were ten more monasteries on 

 the top and sides of a hill running from the westward of the hill before 

 mentioned to the north. They contained, besides many images of the 

 deity, a figure of the Man-Nat* with 1,000 arms, and figures of hermits 

 and priests in stone, and various paintings. A small hill and the garden 

 where a monastery is situated are joined by an arched brick bridge of 50 

 tdsf or 350 cubits. At the end of the lake nearest the city, there is an 

 octagon pyramidical building with three roofs covered with green tiles. 

 On the western sides, on the slope of a hill, there are two Buddhist 

 temples, and a monastery with three roofs ; on the south-east a large 

 building with four roofs dedicated to a Nat ; and on the north-east on 

 a level ground, stands the pyramidical building at which the emperor 

 stops. The lake is upwards of 400 tds from north to south, and upwards 

 of 300 tds from east to west, and in it there are five large vessels with 

 several boats. The emperor ordered that we should also be taken round 

 and shown all the monasteries within and without the city, and be allowed 

 to compare the books and writings, and see if they were similar to ours. 



" On examining the different monasteries, we saw some with images of the 

 deity (Gaudama), and priests dressed in yellow in attendance ; some with 

 people dressed in dark-coloi'ed caps and trowsers, whom the Chinese call 

 Ho:Shyeng^ ; and some with the ship country Kulas in attendance on the 

 image of Devaddt§, which they worship. The books, writings and language 

 spoken in these monasteries were not like ours, and those who accom- 

 panied us took notes of all we said, and submitted the same to the emperor. 



" On the 23rd October, when the empei - or returned from the palace lake 

 to the city, we received him in company with the Chinese officers outside of 

 the western gateway of the palace enclosure. Every day after the emperor 



* The Hindu god of love and desire, Ka'ma, one of whose names, Ma'ra, 

 is written by the Burmese Mar, and pronounced Mdn. 



f A t& is a measure of 7 cubits, and a royal cubit is equal to It) ^3 English 

 inches. 



X Du Halde says, the Bonzes, or priests of Fo, are called by the Chinese 

 Ho-shang, but the people here described may be of the sect of " Lookiun," men- 

 tioned by the same author as worshipping demons, and pretending to a know- 

 ledge of magic. 



§ See in La Loubere's Historical Relation of Siam for some account of 

 Thevetat, whom some Buddhists pretend to consider as the same person as 

 our Saviour. 



