152 
JOURNAL OF AN EMBASSY 
public presentation. This was intimated with 
much delicacy ; and it seemed that the rule, in 
regard to us, was not to be much insisted upon. 
Maung-la-kaing, so called from his estate, was 
the same Wungyi who signed the treaty of 
peace; and the choice of the two officers who 
brought this event about, seemed an indication 
of good feeling on the part of the Court, and 
was, at all events, certainly dictated by good 
taste. Maung-la-kaing was a feeble-looking old 
man, and extremely emaciated. His manners 
were gentle, affable, and courteous. He told 
us his age, which was fifty-eight, although he 
seemed to us full seventy. He asked all of 
ours: there is no incivility in doing so among 
the Burmans ; on the contrary, to question their 
new acquaintances respecting their age implies 
that they take some interest in their welfare. 
After sitting for half an hour, the Burman 
chiefs left us, and we inspected our new habita¬ 
tion : it consisted of one large house in the 
centre, surrounded, at the distance of the rail¬ 
ing, by five smaller ones, with a large open shed 
for the accommodation of the Burman officers 
and attendants;—these temporary dwellings 
were all raised, according to the custom of the 
country, on posts a foot high, and had bamboo 
floors, walls of plaited bamboo, and roofs thatch¬ 
ed with grass. Some of us preferred continu- 
