J 839.] on the Tenasserim Provinces, fyc. 981 



Where settled. — From the great tracts of alluvion which the 

 mighty Irawaddy deposited, and which its numerous branches now 

 intersect, as well as from the banks of the Pegu and Sittary rivers, 

 the Talians extended to the Salween, compelled as it seems to spread 

 and to retire, on account of the oppression exercised by the little 

 controled Burmese governors. 



The province of Martaban, part of which is at present British, and 

 comprised under the name of the Province of Amherst, was also inha- 

 bited by Talians, whence they seem to have spread from the banks of 

 the Salween to the eastward, over the plains which are intersected by 

 the waters of the Guin and Attaran. The mountain range to the east 

 (now the frontier between Tenasserim and Siam) divided them from 

 the river territories of the Menam, and appeared to form a barrier to 

 their further extension from west to east. 



Reasons of their migration towards the east. — But it seems the op- 

 pression of the Burmese in these districts, distant from the seat of 

 government, must have been too severe to be borne ; and forty thou- 

 sand people expatriated themselves at once from the Province of 

 Amherst into Siam, to exchange the yoke of Burmese rule for a milder 

 despotism. When Amherst Province became British it was almost 

 destitute of inhabitants. 



Sensation and feelings of the Talians towards the British at the 

 time of their first arrival— At the commencement of the last Bur- 

 mese war, the arrival of English soldiers in Pegu created an extraor- 

 dinary sensation among the Peguans, the greater part of whom never 

 before saw Europeans, who were represented to them as cannibals. 

 When the first excitement subsided, and the people of Pegu had 

 opportunities of perceiving that the foreign invaders were not only men 

 like others, but much kinder enemies than they even thought compa- 

 tible with the character of a soldier ; they began to assist the British 

 army, their hatred against their old oppressors broke out a fresh and 

 they sincerely desired the total downfall of Burmese despotism. 



The historian must regret to record, that conquered Pegu was 

 again restored to the court of Ava, at the peace of Yandaboo. By 

 this, these faithful allies were inconsiderately, and we may say mer- 

 cilessly, delivered up again into the hands of their irreconcilable 

 oppressors ; an act, which they the least expected, as it was a notion 

 incomprehensible to them, that a conqueror ever gives up voluntarily, 

 what he once possessed indisputably. Many sought of course a re- 

 fuge in the Tenasserim provinces, but many, chiefly those from dis- 

 tant parts, could not remove their families and goods in the first in- 



6 K 



