386 
JOURNAL OF AN EMBASSY 
parture of such persons, no serious obstruction 
had ever been opposed. At the last meeting the 
senior Atwen-wun, in order that it might not 
appear in evidence against him, used every effort 
short of pulling it out of Mr. Judson’s hand, to 
gain possession of the original draft. Mr. Jud- 
son, from this anxiety, had a presentiment that 
there was something wrong, and declined giving 
it up. When the circumstance of the alteration 
was pointed out to the negotiators, they were 
evidently annoyed at having been detected; but 
pretended to consider the words as entirely sy¬ 
nonymous. When urged, however, to make the 
necessary alteration, they declined it, saying it 
would be necessary to refer the matter to their 
superiors. I may, indeed, take this opportunity 
of mentioning, that nearly the whole negotia¬ 
tion had been hitherto conducted on their part 
under special and detailed instructions on each 
point from the Lut-d’hau. The Burman nego¬ 
tiators came daily with written instructions, and 
never decided upon any point, however trifling, 
without a reference. At the Lut-d’hau, Kaulen 
Mengyi seemed, from all I could understand, to 
have been the person who took the principal 
direction. He was the confidential agent of the 
Queen and her brother, and expressed no senti¬ 
ments but what were theirs. 
