1857.] The Remains at Pagan. 27 



lar and bold cornice, and resting on a regular and varied series of 



The travels of Odoardo Barbosa to this coast about 1520 are given in Ramu- 

 sio's collection. He speaks of " Verna" as a distinct kingdom from Ava, as many 

 later travellers do. Apparently Toungoo is meant.* 



About the same time Antony Correa was sent by the Portuguese to negotiate 

 a treaty with the King of Pegu.f 



The celebrated Ferdinand Mendez Pinto was in these countries as a military 

 adventurer in 1545, and professes to have been present at the sieges of Martaban 

 and Prome. His relations are full of extravagant statements, and a great deal 

 of his geography is probably absolute invention. Still it is evident that he was 

 in the country. Among names still easily recognizable which he mentions, are 

 Dalaa (Dalla near the coast of the Delta), Digon (Dagon, i. e. Rangoon), the 

 Province of Danaplu (Danobyu), Anseda (Henzada), and Meletay (Meaday). 

 The last he correctly describes as a fortress twelve leagues up the river from 

 Prome.J 



Many of the old maps depict a certain " Lake of Chimay" somewhere in the far 

 interior of the Indo-Chinese countries, whence issue all the great rivers of Eastern 

 India. § But Ferdinand Mendez is probably the only traveller who declares he 

 had seen it. He gives it, however, a different name. 



During the constant wars that went on between Siam, Pegu, Toungoo, Ava, 

 and Arracan, during this century, some Portuguese partisans appear generally to 

 have been found on either side. Thus in 1544, when Martaban was besieged by 

 " Para Mandara (as he is called by the Portuguese writers) || king of the Burmas" 

 (i. e. of Toungoo),^" we find among his force some galleys manned by Portuguese 

 under John Cay ero, and five years later when the same prince invaded Siam and 

 attacked the capital, he had with him 180 Portuguese under James Surez de Melo, 

 whilst the king of Siam in his besieged city of Odio* had 50 Portuguese under 

 James Pereyra.f 



Some years later when this conquering king of the Burmas had been murdered 



* Ramusio, p 316. t Modern, Universal History, VI. 162. 



+ Elsewhere he speaks of the kingdom of Meletay, which other travellers have 

 reproduced as a kingdom of Melintay. It is curious that Malanda is one of 

 Ptolemy's names for an inland city in this region. 



§ Such a notion seems to have been generally diffused, probably from India 

 with the Buddhist legends. Doubtless it originated in the fact of the rise of the 

 Indus, the Sutlej, the Granges, and the Tsanpoo within a space of little more than 

 two square degrees from that great world- water- shed on which lake Mansarowar 

 lies. v 



|| Probably Men- tara-gyee Phra, a common appellation of Burmese monarchs. 



T[ According to the history consulted by Sangermano, the kingdom of Toungoo 

 was founded by a Prince of Pagan in 1252. The conqueror, Para Mandara, 

 whom Sangermano calls Mentrasvedi, was the thirtieth prince of the line. 



* Odia or Yuthia, the former capital of Siam, above Bankok. 



t History of the Discovery and Conquest of India by the Portuguese. London, 

 1695. II. 134-8. 



E 2 



