' hy a Slave of tlie Kmg's Eldest Son, 91 
their conduct might give offence to their governors, on which 
account they rubbed out most of the names, as written in the 
proper character, lest their handwriting might discover them. 
I was therefore under the necessity of writing the names 
. in a hurried manner, trusting alone to the ear, which is very 
fallacious; but as several of my authorities did not judge this 
precaution necessary, and as many of their words were not rub- 
bed out with much care, I have found means, by the assistance 
of an intelligent native of Dawae, with whom I met at Calcutta, 
to restore almost every name to its proper character; and this, 
while at Amarapura, I learned to read and write, by the assist- 
ance of a young man, son of the officer appointed by the king 
to supply the wants of the embassy to which I belonged. At 
one time, I formed a scheme for expressing this character by 
our letters, and with the names thus written, the maps were 
first sent to Europe ; but as I find that a scheme for the same 
purpose has gone through two editions at Rome, under the title 
of Amadutii Alphahetum Barmanorum^ I think it best to follow 
the scheme adopted in that work, although it is more suited to 
the Italian than to the English pronunciation. In particular, 
when this scheme writes i before a vowel, we should read y% 
for % and we should read j and jh ; and for sc or ch^ we 
should read sh. It must be observed, that the natives of Ava, 
-especially men of fashion, in pronouncing r, almost always sof. 
ten it into y ; the r being seldom pronounced, except by their 
priests on some very solemn occasions. 
The map which I now publish, contains a general view of all 
the territory that has been in any degree subject to the Kings 
of Ava, that is, of nearly the whole peninsula, Asam, Malaya, 
Siampa, Cochinchina, and part of Tonquin excepted. This 
country, in fertility, in beauty, and grandeur of scenery, and in 
the variety, value, and elegance of its natural productions, is 
equalled by few on earth, and is occupied by people of great 
activity and acuteness, possessed of many qualities agreeable to 
strangers ; but the want of a hereditary nobility, to give its go- 
vernment stability, seems to have long held it in a state of anar- 
chy, with sudden and cruel revolutions from the authority of one 
short-lived dynasty and petty tyranny to another. 
% 
