TO THE COURT OF AYA. 49 
bank of the river, and heard that the Talain chief 
J\Iaong-zat, in person, had arrived at Dalla with a 
considerable force, and meditated an attack upon 
Rangoon. The Burmans immediately began to 
make preparation against it, and by two o’clock 
the remaining houses in the suburbs were set on 
fire, with a view of clearing the glacis in front of 
the stockade. The meditated attack, however, 
did not take place. The Bur man garrison, it ap¬ 
pears, amounted to about 4000 men, 21500 of whom 
were called regular troops. The provisions in the 
stockade were equal only to a month’s consump¬ 
tion, and the garrison seemed completely cut off 
from farther supply, unless by sea; so that, unless 
the place were relieved by a Burman army forcing 
the stockade at Panlang, it would be compelled to 
surrender. 
The Wungyi Maong-kaing was reputed to be, 
for a Burman, a man of humanity ; yet, notwith¬ 
standing, he had committed his full share of cruelty 
since the commencement of the insurrection. In 
the first action which was fought, three Talains 
were killed, and one prisoner made : the heads 
of the first were struck off, and, to make the 
number even, that of the prisoner also; these 
heads were carried in triumph through the town. 
The Burman warriors displayed their courage by 
running up to them and wounding them with 
their spears. This happened in the view of the 
English gentlemen residing in the place, from 
VOL. II. e 
