1869.] On the History of the Burma race. 77 



without success. The kings of Pegu at this time were no longer the 

 old dynasty of Talaing race. The Shans from Zimmay and the 

 adjoining states had occupied Martaban, and eventually succeeded to 

 the throne of Pegu. These tribes of the Thai branch of the Indo- 

 Chinese family, had been pouring down from their highlands by 

 various routes through a long period of time. They gradually 

 accomplished in the countries watered by the Irawati and the lower 

 Salwin, a plantation and revolution similar to what had been worked 

 out by the north men, in the British islands, and on the coasts 

 of Western Europe in the eighth and ninth centuries. Had it no* 

 been for the Muhammadan occupation of Bengal in the thirteenth 

 century, it is probable that they would have penetrated into that 

 country through Assam or Cachar. 



The continued attacks made by the kings of Ava on Pegu, pro- 

 duced a counter invasion by Ra-dza-di-rit, who nearly conquered Ava 

 in the year 766, A. D. 1404. The possession of guns or jinjals at 

 this time, with which Prome was defended, is mentioned ; but it 

 seems doubtful whether they can have been known in Burma at this 

 period. 



The successful attack on Ava in the year 788, A. D. 1426, by the 

 Shan chief of Mo-nhyin, renewed the Shan race and spirit in the 

 kings of Ava. But the monarchy was weakened. From this time 

 for more than a century, the kings of Ava were rather the heads 

 of a loose confederation of Shan chiefs, whose states lay to the north 

 of Ava on either side of the Irawati, than sovereigns of a Burmese 

 kingdom. One curious result of this state of affairs was, that the 

 rulers of the petty state of Toung-ii, originally Shan by race, gra- 

 dually became identified with the national or Burmese party. This 

 afterwards led to important results. The rulers of Toungu, more 

 isolated from Shan influence than the Tsau-bwas to the north, became 

 in fact Burmese. The character and couduct of the Shan chiefs, as 

 disclosed in this history, entirely corresponds with the Tsau-bwas of 

 the Shan country, of the present day. Each chief in his own state, 

 which, in some instances, is but a few square miles in extent, is jealous 

 of the least interference ; and they have not yet learnt to combine for 

 their general safety, except on sudden emergencies, when they rise in 

 rebellion against the Burmese. 

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