TO THE COURT OF AVA. 
107 
a royal edict, under the advice of the Bramins. 
These, by custom, are added to the third month 
of the year. The names of the Burmese months 
are as follow; viz. Ta-gu, Ka-chon, Na-yon, Wa- 
cho, Wa-gaong, Tau-tha-leng, Tha-den-kywot, 
Ta-chaong-mon, Nat-dau, Pya-tho, Ta-bo-dwai, 
and Ta-baong. The Burmese do not, like us, and 
the western nations of Asia, enumerate the days 
of the entire month: they divide each month into 
two parts, an increasing and a waning moon; and 
it is of these subdivisions that the days are enu¬ 
merated. The first day of a month, for example, 
will be the first of the increasing moon ; and the 
sixteenth, the first of the waning moon. In each 
month there are four days of public worship, when 
the people repair to pay their devotions at the tem¬ 
ples ; namely, the new moon, the eighth of the in¬ 
crease, the full moon, and the eighth of the wane. 
By far the most important of these holidays are 
those of the new and full moon. The Burmese 
have a week of seven days; of which last, the 
names correspond in sense, although not in name, 
with those of our own and the Hindu week. The 
native terms are, Ta-nen-ga-nwa, Ta-neng-la, En» 
ga, Bud-da-hu, Kya-tha-ba-da, Thaok-kya, and 
Cha-na. These may be translated, the days of 
the Sun and Moon, and of the planets Mars, Mer¬ 
cury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn. The natural 
day is divided by the Burmese into sixty parts, 
called Nan, Thus subdivided, it commences with 
