42 
JOURNAL OF AN EMBASSY 
as I had no public business to discuss with him, 
being now a mere passenger to Bengal, invested 
with no public authority. If the Wungyi had 
any public business on his side, I said, I should 
be glad to receive him on board the steam-vessel. 
The Akunwun said that this was impossible, as it 
was contrary to etiquette for a man of the Wun- 
gyi’s rank to come without the walls of the fort 
and expose his person when the place was besieged. 
I replied, that I had quite made up my mind not 
to visit the Wungyi in his own house; but as he 
was anxious for an interview, I would meet him, 
if he desired it, at any place in the town, not 
being a government building, and I proposed the 
house which I had myself formerly occupied when 
commissioner. This was agreed to, and the meet¬ 
ing took place to-day at eleven o’clock. 
The Akunwun had intimated to us that none of 
the European soldiers or Sepoys of our escort should 
be permitted to enter the town during our stay, 
as it was in a state of siege. In reply to this, I an¬ 
swered, that this exclusion had an unfriendly ap¬ 
pearance, and that I would not go into the town 
without such an escort as the Burman chiefs were 
accustomed to when Rangoon was occupied by 
us. This arrangement was assented to with some 
difficulty, and we entered the town, preceded by 
twelve men of the European escort. The ladder, 
which had been taken away from the wharf on 
the first alarm of the Talain insurrection, was re- 
