244 
JOURNAL OF AN EMBASSY 
audience in the year 1823, her Majesty then 
appeared upon the throne,—an invasion of Ori¬ 
ental usage which must have been a subject of 
wonder to a ceremonious and punctilious na¬ 
tion, who themselves keep the sex in a state of 
entire retirement and seclusion. To the Bur- 
mans themselves, however, the matter does not 
seem so extraordinary ; for, with them, gene¬ 
rally speaking, women are more nearly upon an 
equality with the stronger sex, than among any 
other Eastern people of consideration ; yet they 
have never, that I am aware of, been raised to 
the throne, or directly exercised any political 
authority. Her Majesty’s disposition is less 
amiable than that of the King, and her temper 
more austere and haughty. In pecuniary mat¬ 
ters the King is thoughtless, or liberal; but the 
Queen, frugal and parsimonious. Although 
considerable allowances must be made for the 
personal character of the King, the history of 
her advancement plainly shows that her Majesty 
is a woman of superior mind. This however 
is not the common opinion among the Burmans, 
because with them she is unpopular: they con¬ 
sider her as a violator of national manners, and 
attribute, as I have already said, her whole ascen¬ 
dancy to the practice of supernatural and un¬ 
lawful arts. There is one class however, and 
