288 
JOURNAL OF AN EMBASSY 
of the family, carried in small litters, covered 
with white cloths; the husband and male rela¬ 
tions on foot, dressed in white, followed in or¬ 
der. The Queen’s aunt; the wives of the Wun- 
gyis, the Atwen-wuns, and Wumdauks, with 
other females of distinction, closed the proces¬ 
sion. The body was conveyed to a broad and 
elevated brick terrace, where it was to be burnt. 
We assembled on this to see the ceremonies 
to be performed. The coffin, which was very 
splendid, was stripped of the large gold plates 
with which it was ornamented, and the class 
of persons whose business it is to burn the bo¬ 
dies of the dead, were seen busy in preparing 
the materials of the funeral pile. This is a 
class hereditarily degraded, living in villages 
apart from the rest of the inhabitants, and held 
to be so impure that the rest of the people 
never intermarry with them. By the common 
people they are called Thuba-raja, the etymo¬ 
logy of which is uncertain ; but their proper 
name is Chandala, pronounced by the Burmans 
Sandala. This is obviously the Sanscrit name 
of the Hindoo outcasts. The Chandalas, uni¬ 
ted with the lepers, beggars, and coffin-makers? 
are under the authority of a Wun, or gover¬ 
nor ; hence called Le-so-wun, or Governor of 
the Four Jurisdictions. He is also occasion- 
