TO THE COURT OF AVA. 
57 
nature of the surrounding scenery, it had much 
the appearance of a fine lake. 
We rapidly approached the town of Prome 
with the advantage of a fair wind, and at half¬ 
past four o’clock in the afternoon anchored be¬ 
fore it. In sailing close to the east bank of the 
river, immediately before arriving at the town, 
we encountered a disagreeable object—the place 
of execution. It was situated on the brow of 
a hill, under a large tamarind tree. On each 
side of the tree there was a wooden rail, on 
which were the remains of two human bodies. 
One of these was tolerably entire, and exhibit¬ 
ed the malefactor in the attitude in which he 
had been executed. The legs and arms were 
stretched out against the rail to the utmost ex¬ 
tent ; the head had fallen over on the breast, 
and the appearance of the body showed plainly 
that death had been inflicted, in the horrid 
mode of Burman execution, by tearing open 
the abdomen. The Myowun afterwards in¬ 
formed us, that these two men were robbers, 
caught marauding in the rear of the British 
army when it was retiring, and that for this 
offence he had caused them to be executed. 
I am sorry, for the credit of his veracity, how¬ 
ever, that this account was not verified on far¬ 
ther inquiry. 
