1S-J Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [July, 



hitherto described from any part of Europe, though any implement 

 yet found in India, has its precise analogue in Europe. 



The material of which the Burmese implements are fashioned, is 

 either basalt, or some schistose rock, quite unlike anything to be met 

 with in the district where the implements themselves occur ; a fact, 

 pointing, in my opinion, to their having been brought down from 

 upper Burma, (where these implements are said to be common) by the 

 original settlers in the country. They are called " mo-gio," or thun- 

 der-bolt, by the Burmese, and are believed to accompany the lightning. 

 The popular idea is that, if a flash of lightning is seen to strike and 

 an earthen chattie, or other vessel, is inverted over the spot, that in 

 the course of a year, or so, the mo-gio will be found in it, having 

 worked its way back again to the surface by its own recoil. To the 

 true " mo-gio" the Burmese attach much value from the properties 

 they believe it to possess, but they subject the article to many tests, 

 as, no doubt from experience, they have discovered that many of them 

 are in circulation, which from not possessing the characteristic powers 

 of the mo-gio must therefore be spurious. I have not, however, 

 myself seen more than one stone mo-gio, whose authenticity I doubt- 

 ed, and that mainly from its being made of jade ; but though rare 

 down here, authentic jade implements may be found in upper Burma. 

 The implement was somewhat of the type, represented in fig. 3, pi. IV, 

 and I was asked Us. 50 for it. 



One test of authenticity, the Burmese say, is that, if wrapped 

 in a cloth and fired at, no effect will be produced on either the cloth, 

 or its contents, however, near the piece may be fired at, and the true 

 mo-gio is mainly valued from this belief in its presence producing in- 

 vulnerability in the wearer. Another test is, placing the mo-gio 

 on a mat with a quantity of rice. If a genuine stone from heaven, no 

 fowls, or other creatures, will venture near the rice. Again another test 

 is cutting a rainbow in half ; a feat quite within the power of any one 

 possessing the real mo-gio. Or if he cuts down a plantain tree with 

 one, the tree will be killed and not, as is usually the case when cut 

 down, send up a new shoot. It also guards from fire, which leaves 

 untouched any house containing one. Its medicinal virtues too are 

 believed to be very great, and a small chip reduced to powder and , 

 administered internally is considered as a cure against inflammation of 

 the viscera and of the liver. 



