TO THE COURT OF AVA. 
83 
reached Melloon, pronounced Malun, but writ¬ 
ten Mel wan. Immediately, on turning a sharp 
elbow of the river, which is here only six hun¬ 
dred yards broad, we came upon Melloon on 
the west, and Patanago on the east bank, front¬ 
ing each other, where the stream expands to a 
breadth of nine hundred yards. During the 
negotiations which terminated in a renewal of 
hostilities, the British army was encamped at 
Patanago, and the Burman entrenched at Mel¬ 
loon, the river only separating the adverse par¬ 
ties. The Burman army, alleged to amount to 
SO,000 men, was commanded by Prince Me¬ 
in iabo (Men-myat-pu), a half-brother of the 
King, and a youth without any experience. 
Under him was the chief Kaulen Mengyi, one 
of the Burman negotiators, a suspicious nig¬ 
gardly old man, who had never commanded an 
army before, or even had any knowledge of the 
art of war as practised by the Burmans them¬ 
selves. Mr. Judson, who was taken out of 
irons and sent down from Ava to Melloon, to 
act as interpreter to the Prince, had an oppor¬ 
tunity of observing personally the miserable 
manner in which things were conducted, and 
the dismay and consternation with which the 
Burmans had been seized. Old Kaulen Men¬ 
gyi meted out the gunpowder to the soldiers in 
Gr S 
