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JOURNAL OF AN EMBASSY 
ta-long should be received suitably. Let them 
wait where they may have arrived on receipt of 
this, and let the old Governor of Myit-sin and 
the North Commandant of Horse be sent up to 
report the day, the hour, and the place of their 
arrival.” Being assured that preparations were 
making to give us a handsome reception, and 
that a second deputation, consisting of officers 
of superior rank, was coming down to meet us, 
we came to an anchor, at half-past one o’clock, 
off the east bank of the river, at a place pointed 
out as a suitable one by the Bur man deputies. 
This was at a small village named Paok-to, 
about six miles from Ava, and facing a stupen¬ 
dous temple, called Kaong-m’hu-d’hau, on the 
opposite bank of the river: this differed in shape 
from all we had seen, being something between 
that of a bell and a bee-hive, with a small cu¬ 
pola at the top. Kaong-m’hu means, in the 
Burman language, “ good act,” or “ meritorious 
deed,” and has become an appellative for any 
religious building. When, for example, in¬ 
quiry is made respecting the foundation of any 
particular temple, it is a common phrase to say, 
“ Whose deed of merit is this ?” or words to 
that effect. The present temple means the royal 
deed of merit, so called par excellence. The 
scene which now presented itself was extremely 
