47 6 JOURNAL OF AN EMBASSY 
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each containing the image of a disciple of 
Buddha. 
The Aracan temple is distant from Amara- 
pura about two miles, and was a very costly 
fabric; as usual, with abundance of gilding, 
carving, and wooden pillars : the latter amount¬ 
ed to no less than two hundred and fifty-two, 
all massive, tall, and well gilded. This may 
convey some notion of the extent of the build¬ 
ing. The celebrated image is a sitting statue 
of Gautama, in bronze, which has the reputa¬ 
tion of having been cast in his own lifetime, 
and is therefore looked upon as peculiarly 
sacred: it measures seven and two-thirds royal 
cubits, or about twelve feet, in height: it is 
gilt all over, as usual: in features it does not 
much differ from the ordinary figures of Gau¬ 
tama, although, upon the whole, probably these 
are a little more animated. This image was 
brought from Aracan in the year 1146 of the 
Burman era, corresponding with the year 1784. 
I am told that it was transported from Aracan 
by the difficult route of Pa-daong, and not by 
that of Senbewgioun. To facilitate its car¬ 
riage, it appears to have been taken to pieces, 
—a circumstance which does not well accord 
with the current tradition, that it was cast in 
one entire mass. It was the principal trophy 
