122 The Pegu Pagoda. [No. 2, 



present walled city of Pegu, to the west of the former town of Hantha- 

 wadie, and nearer the river. The power of this king was great. Ceylon 

 paid him tribute and Siam sent princesses. He built the Maha-tsedee 

 Pagoda, a huge pile of brick and laterite, about two miles to the west 

 of Pegu, near the Karanee monastery. This, if completed, would have 

 rivalled the Shwe Hmawdaw in size, but it appears never to have been 

 finished, though the king dedicated 31 families from Twante in Dalian 

 to its service. This is the first occasion on which the Dallah division 

 of the present .Rangoon district, which lies to the west of the Rangoon 

 river, is mentioned by the chronicler. 



This part of the country appears to have been colonised by an 

 independent race of Takings, and not to have formed part of the 

 original country of Hanthawaclie. 



After the death of Nau-kya-bhooreng, in A. D. 1624, a " KoolaPathee 

 kappeetan" (literally a western foreigner Musalman captain) ruled 

 Pegu from Thanlyeng or Syriam. He, no doubt, was a Portuguese. The 

 chronicle states " he was a heretic, and for 12 years searched for 

 " Pagodas to destroy them. Religion perished in Ramangnya, and 

 " good works were no longer performed. The Htee and the Tshap- 

 " thwa-hpoo* of the Shwe Hmawdaw were pulled down and taken to 

 " Syriam. But the people of Hanthawadie, at the instigation of the 

 " Rahans Telatseng and Engamoot, made a new Tshap-thwa-hpoo of 

 " 150 viss of gold of the Pagoda." 



When the Ava king heard of the conduct of the Kappeetan, he 

 sent an army of 10,000 men under Meng-rai-kyaw-tswa against him ; 

 the Kappeetan fled, and was drowned when crossing the river to 

 Dallah. The Ava king, whose name is not given, then ruled in Han- 

 thawadie. He appears to have resided in Hanthawadie. 



The fifth king of this dynasty, Meng-rai-kyaw-goung, dedicated 

 190 families of Pada in Syriam, who had rebelled against his authority, 

 to the service of the Shwe Hmawdaw, and assigned three villages for 

 their support. 



The seventh king reigned in Ava, and made Hanthawadie over to a 

 governor Guatha Oung, who oppressed the people and was killed in a 

 rebellion. The next governor also was killed by a rebel named 



* The spike above the Htee, so called from its resemblance to the flower of 

 the screw-pine. 



