TO THE COURT OF AVA. 
185 
Royal Family, the nobility, and officers of the 
Government of England, followed-—the Bur- 
mans, in all this taking it for granted through¬ 
out, that matters must be exactly on the same 
footing with us as with themselves. The stand¬ 
ing question respecting the age of the parties 
was as usual prominent: on one occasion it was 
omitted ; but the senior Atwen-wun, afterwards 
recollecting himself, apologized for this uninten¬ 
tional want of politeness. His Majesty the 
King was throughout called King of Wi-lat, a 
slight corruption of the Arabic term for a fo¬ 
reign country, and commonly applied by the 
Asiatic nations to Europe especially. The Bur- 
mans know little of the other potentates of Eu¬ 
rope, and have a vague notion that the King of 
England rules over the greater part of it. 
Notwithstanding that the discussion of the 
Commercial Treaty was the immediate object of 
the meeting, it was evident that the Burman 
officers did not come prepared to enter upon a 
serious negotiation, but had distinct views, of 
which I had received no intimation from them. 
These regarded the appointment of the Mission, 
the letter of the Governor-General, &c. On 
these subjects the following conversation en¬ 
sued.* 
* Throughout the whole of the negotiation, notes were 
carefully taken down on the spot. On our parts, the ques~ 
