35 



may have twelve or thirteen : but it does not entirely depend on the 

 wiil of the party how many syllables he may have, but on the num- 

 ber out of the ten virtues" that he possesses. This king, with the 

 title of fifteen syllables, took more it is said than he deserved, and 

 therefore his reign was but short. Some king, a long while ago, in 

 Ceylon, took a title of twenty-one words at the time he had reign- 

 ed seven years ; but after this act of presumption he lived to enjoy 

 his honours only seven days. It is not lawful to translate the title 

 of the king. The number of words in a title forms a gradation of 

 rank. Persons may not assume place with those who have longer 

 titles than themselves : if they do, the party intruded on may cut 

 (with his knife, the sitting party of) the intruder. 



(4) This is the translation of the name of a pagoda of large size 

 in the city oi' Ava. The occasion of its construction was as follows : 

 — Upon ascending the throne, the king' gave to his four younger 

 brothers employment in the government, and built palaces for them 

 near his own, at the four cardinal points. The three younger of 

 these brothers conspired against their eldest brother and sovereign 

 to put him to death ; their excuse for which was, that he had con- 

 stituted his own son heir-apparent in contravention of the^ dying 

 commands of Alompra, who had directed that his sons should 

 succeed to the throne, according to their seniority ; asserting, more- 

 over, that SaNE-pyoo-shane was not entitled to reign, having 

 been born whilst their father was yet a man of low estate ; but that 

 they were the lawful heirs, being the sons of the king. The re- 

 maining brother, Mown-wine (grandfather of the present king), 

 having also been born before their father became a king, was not 

 admitted to the conspiracy. The conspiracy failed, and their lives 

 were of course forfeited ; but the kmg spared them, and built the pagoda 

 in question to commemorate the circumstance : two of them, how- 

 ever, were afterwards put to death, and the thiid banished to a dis- 

 tance, by MoWK-wiNE. The accessions from Alompra to the pre- 



sent king have been as follows : 



First. Alompra, in the year of Guadama 1116 



Second. His son, Nown-daw-ghee 1123 



Third. Sane-pyoo shane brother of the last 1134 



Fourth. Sane-goo-za, Son of the last 1140 



Fifth. GuAMowN, Son of the second, reigned but seven days 114S 



Sixth. Alompra's, son IVIown-wine 1143 



Seventh. The present king, grandson of the last 1181 



(5) Or rather Nats, imaginary beings, good and bad : the good 

 inhabit certain stages of the sacred mountain " Myeen-Moef' or 

 the ** highest;" the bad live in jungles and hills on. earth, and 



