688 Accowit of Arakan. [No. 117. 



era corresponds with a. d. 639 ; from what event it was established 

 is not mentioned, but I have been told that the former era having 

 extended to many hundred thousand years, had become inconvenient 

 for ordinary purposes, and therefore a new one was commenced. 



The first king whose reign is calculated in the Ra-dza-wang, 

 according to that era, is Meng- Tsan-mwon, who ascended the throne 

 in 746, equivalent to a. d. 1385; before his time the number of 

 years each king reigned is entered, but not the year of his ascent 

 according to the era, though of course this is easily ascertained. His 

 grand nephew, Ta-tsan-phyoo, who succeeded in 821, or a. d. 1460, 

 had extensive possessions in Bengal. Coins of that date now exist 

 with legends in the Bengalee and Persian character, as well as Bur- 

 mese, some being struck by the viceroys in Chittagong, others in 

 the name of the king himself. About a century later, the Portuguese 

 appeared and attempted to conquer Arakan. I say the Portuguese, 

 though the natives now call them Angleit, and I believe them to be 

 no others than the English. But Ang-leit is, I think, an interpolation of 

 the copyists of the Ra-dza-wang in later times ; the invaders are first 

 called Bho-dau-thwe-pha-laung, the first word being apparently a 

 corruption of Portuguese, and the second a term of contempt towards 

 foreigners, pha-laung being a provincial word for a tadpole. In the 

 latest editions of the history, the white invaders in ships are called 

 Bho-dau-thwe-aung-leit-pha-laung — i. e. Portuguese-English tadpoles.* 

 The invasion by the Portuguese occurred in the reign of Meng-bha, 

 and the same year a son being born to him, was known afterwards 

 by the name of Meng -pha-laung. This king in a. d. 1610, (vide 

 Marshman*s History of Bengali) joined with some Portuguese adven- 

 turers in invading Bengal, when they took Bulooa and Luckipoor. 

 This event is also recorded in the Ra-dza-wang. In a. d. 1666, we 

 learn from the History of Bengal^ that Chittagong was lost to the 

 Arakanese, they being defeated on the banks of the Tenny river by the 

 Subadar of Bengal. After this defeat, the Arakanese were occupied 

 with feuds at home; the old race of kings was deposed in 1124, or 

 A. D. 1763, and different chiefs, one after another, took possession 



* This term pha-laung is still frequently screamed after Europeans by children in, 

 the streets of AJcyab, the little rogues then run off laughing heartily. 



