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painted x^'ith flowers in various bright colours. A hole 

 through both ends of etich leaf, fcrves to conneci the whole 

 into a volume, by means of two firings, which alfo pafs 

 through the two wooden boards that ferve for binding. 

 In the finer binding of books of this kind, the boards are 

 lacquered, the edges of the leaves cut fmooth and gilded, 

 and the title written on the upper board ; the two ends 

 are by a knot or jewel fecured at a little diftance from the 

 boards, fo as to prevent the book from faUing to piece?, 

 but fuSicicntly diftant to admit of the upper leaves b irg 

 turned back, while the lower ones are read. The more ele- 

 gant bojks are in general wrapped up in filk cloth, and 

 bound round by a garter, on which the Birmans have the 

 art to weave the tide of the book. In everv Kioum, or mo- 

 nallerv, there is a library or repofitorv of books, ufually 

 kept in lacquered chefts. In the royal lihraiy the number 

 of thefe chefts was not lefs than ico The books were re- 

 gularly claficd, and the contents of each chelt were written 

 in gold letters on the lid. Some of thefe books exhibited 

 very beautiful writing on thin leaves of ivory, the margins 

 of which v.-ere ornamented with flowers of gold, neatly ckc- 

 cuted. The library- contained books upon various fubjefts ; 

 more on divinity than any other ; but hiftory, mufic, medi- 

 cine, painting, and romance, had their feparate treatifes. 

 Col. Symes thinks it not improbable, from the chefts which 

 he infpetttd, that his Birman majellv may pofTefs a more nu- 

 merous library than any potentate from the banks of the 

 Danube to the borders of China. Books in the Pali text 

 are foraetim.es compofed of tliin ilripes of bamboo, delicately 

 plaited, and varnifhed over in fuch a manner as to form a 

 fmooth and hard furface upon a leaf of any dimenfions : 

 this furface'is afterwards gilded, and the facred letters are 

 traced upon it in black and Ciining japan. The margin is 

 illumined by wreaths and figures of gold, on a red, green," 

 or black ground. As moft of the Birmans are taught to read 

 and write, they carrv with them a fheet of thick and ftrong 

 blackened paper, called a parawaik, or paruvek, in which 

 ihcy enter their accounts, copy fongs, till they can repeat 

 them from memory, and take memorandums of any things 

 thnt are curious. On thefe parawaiks the zares, or writers, 

 in all courts and public offices, take down the proceedings 

 and orders of the fuperior officers. It is about 8 feet long, 

 and tS inches wide, and folds up like a fan ; each fold being 

 ahout fix inches, and in length the whole breadth of the 

 flieet. I'hey write on this with a pencil of fteatites ; and 

 the charsAers are effaced by rubbing them over with char- 

 coal, and tne leaves of a fpecies of dolichcs. 



In the recitation of poetn,', the language is exceedingly 

 melodious ; even the profe of common converfation appears 

 to be mcafHred, and the concluding word of each fentence is 

 lengthened by a mufical cadence, that marks the period to 

 the ear of a perfon wholly unacquainted with the meaning. 



Of the cofmography and ajlronomy of the Birmans, deduced 

 from their moft ancient writings, the following particulars 

 will be fufacicnt. They conceive that the univerfe, called 

 logha. which fignifits fucceflive deftruftion and reproduClion, 

 after it had been dcftroyed by fire, water, or wind, is again, 

 of itfelf, reftorcd to its ancient form. The earth, they fup- 

 pofe to be a plane fomewhat elevated in the centre, and fur- 

 rounded by a chain of very lofty mountains Its diameter 

 is 1^203,400 juzana, each juzana being 44,800 cubits or 

 nearly 12 miles; its circumference is three times its diameter; 

 and its thicknefs 240,000 jnzana, of which one half isduft, 

 ai:d the other half a *^ohd rock, and the whole fupported by 

 a double thicknefs of water, rcfting on twice its thicknefs 

 of air, below which is a vacuum. Befides our earth, there 

 are ic,ico,ooo others, mutually touching in three points, and 



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forming a fix.ilar number of equilateral fpaces, which, not bs- 

 ing penetrated by the fun's rays, are filltd with water intenfcly 

 cold. In the middle of thf moft elevated part of our earth, the 

 Birmah writings place Mi^-nmo, the lar .jcft of all mountains, 

 elevated above the furface of the fca 84,000 jiizana, and de- 

 fcer.ding a: far below it, fupported by three feet of carbun- 

 cles, having its eaftem face filver, the weftern gli>.f=, the 

 northern gold, and the fouthern pale-coloured carbuncle, and 

 furrouiidcd by fcven cb-jins of hilis^ In the middle of 

 the ocean, oppofite to the four cardinal points of this 

 mountain, are placed four large iflands, the habitations ot 

 men and other animals ; and befides thefe the Birman writers 

 allow 2000 of a fm.aller fize, 500 belonging to each of the 

 la-ger ones. The ocean is in various parts of very different 

 depths. All living beings ate diftributed into three clalTes ; 

 generatirg beings ; thofe which art material, but do not ge- 

 nerate ; and immaterial beings, <>r fpirits, each of which is 

 fubdivided into feveraWiftincl fpecies. The Birman writ- 

 ings admit of tranfmigration, alleging, that in death, whe- 

 ther of man, beaft, or any living being, the foul perifhes 

 with the body, and after this diifolution, out of the fame 

 materials another being arifes, which, according to the good 

 or bad actions of the former, becomes either a man, or aa 

 animal, &c. and they teach, that all beings arc revolring in 

 thefe change?, till they become entitled by their actions to 

 Nieban, the moft perfect of all ftates, in which they are free 

 from change, mifery, death, fickncfs,^ or old age. The 

 Birman writings alio announce the opinion of an infinite 

 number of worlds in conftant fuccelHun, without beginning 

 and without end. Thefe writings mention ei^^ht planets, 

 viz. the Sun, Moon, Mercurv, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Sa- 

 turn, and another named Rahu, which is invilihlcr. The fun 

 is 50 juzana in diameter, the moon 49, Mars 12, Mercury 

 15, Jupiter 17, Venus 19, and Saturn 13 ; and their cir- 

 cumferences are triple. their refpefifve diameters. Thty fup- 

 pofe that the fun, moon, and ftars revolve round the great 

 mountain Mienmo in a circle, the plane of which is parallel 

 to the earth. The ftars, according to them, purfue a con- 

 ilant courfe, without declining to ihe north or fouth ; but 

 the fun, moon, and other planets have a declination ; and 

 the fun, in proceeding from the north to the fouth, and from 

 the fouth to the north, always touches the twelve conftella- 

 tions, which we call the twelve figns of the zodiac, and in 

 the fpace of one year returns to the fame place in the heavens 

 from which he fet out. This fame revolution is performed 

 by the moon in a month. The fun's motion, they fay, is 

 quicker than that of the moon ; and by his diurnal revolu- 

 tion, when he is in the fouthern ifland it is mid-day, in the 

 northern it is midnight, in the eaftern ifland the fun fcts, iu 

 the weftern it rifes. Although the fun, moon, and ftars ap- 

 pear to us round, we are not to fuppofe thtm to be fpheres, 

 but this is a fallacy of vifion. The ir:vifible planet Rahu 

 fervf s the purpofe of explaining eclipfes ; for being a huge 

 monfter, he takes the fun ar.d moon either into h's mouth or 

 under his chin, and thus caufes either total or partial eclipfes. 

 As to the heat and cold which are expeiienced at different 

 fcafons of the year, the Birmans fay, tliat from, the vernal 

 equinox to autumn, the fun is alwHVS tending to the north, 

 and the moon inclining to the fouth ; the feafon is then hot, 

 becaufe the fun's rays, which are naturally hot, then pre- 

 vail ; but from the autumnal equinox to the vernal, the fun 

 inclines to the fouth, and the moon to the north., and the 

 moon's rays, which are by nature cold, predominate, and 

 produce cold. They affign feven caufes of rain, of which 

 fome are phyfical, and fome luoral. Thefe aftronomical and 

 phvlical ideas ot the Birman writings were probably brought 

 from Hindoftan, to ^ethcr with their rcligien and laws ; but 



for 



