0 
JOURNAL OF AN EMBASSY 
fourth temple, of great celebrity, is named Maong- 
Ratna. This is the one in which the public of¬ 
ficers of the Government take with great formality 
the oath of allegiance. A fifth temple is named 
Maha-m rat-muni. I inspected an addition which 
was made to this temple a short time before our 
arrival. It was merely a Zayat, or chapel, and 
chiefly constructed of wood : it however exceeded 
in splendour any thing we had seen without the 
Palace. The roof was supported by a vast number 
of pillars : these, as well as the ceiling, were richly 
gilt throughout. The person at whose expense 
all this was done was a Burraan merchant, or ra¬ 
ther broker, from whom we learned that the cost 
was forty thousand ticals, about 5,000/. sterling. 
When the building was completed he respectfully 
presented it to his Majesty, not daring to take to 
himself the whole merit of so pious an under¬ 
taking. 
The Burman monasteries are usually built of 
wood only; and of those of more solid materials, 
a few ancient ones in ruins only are to be seen. 
There is however one exception in a very spacious 
one lately built by the Queen, close to the Palace. 
This is a clumsy fabric of immense size, and a very 
conspicuous object in approaching Ava. Of the 
population of Ava I shall afterwards speak. 
The town of Sagaing is situated on the opposite 
side of the Irawadi to Ava, and directly fronting 
it. On the river-face it has a brick wall, which 
