TO THE COURT OF AVA. 21 
of Bassien. The chief advanced to the door to 
meet us, and shook us cordially by the hand in 
the English fashion. All the Burmese chiefs, 
as well as the English gentlemen, were seated 
on chairs. The Wungyi was a man of forty- 
five, as he informed us himself. He was tall 
for a Burman; and, instead of the squat form 
which distinguishes the race generally, his fi¬ 
gure was slender; his complexion, much fairer 
than usual; and his features, especially the 
nose, more distinct and better formed than 
common: his eyes, however, were Chinese. 
His manner was cheerful, unconstrained, and 
not undignified. He had, in short, the man¬ 
ners of an Asiatic gentleman. The name, or 
rather the title, of this personage was Maong- 
kaing. He had long been an Atwen-wun, or 
Privy-counsellor, and was raised to the rank of 
Wungyi towards the close of the war. In the 
early part of the contest he was a lieutenant 
under Bandula, in Arracan ; and was afterwards 
employed in negociating the armistice of Nya- 
ong-ben-saik. A curtain, behind the place 
where he sat, concealed the inner apartments 
from our view; but towards one end of it sat a 
handsome well-dressed young woman, full in 
our view, and without making any attempt to 
conceal her person. This was one of the junior 
