TO THE COURT OF AVA. 
119 
being more square at least than that used by the 
Siamese and Kambojans. It is not often used 
by the Burmese, even in their religious writings, 
for which they have recourse to their vernacular 
alphabet. There is but one short work indeed, as 
I understand, in which it is used, and this is com¬ 
monly written on thin plates of ivory, or varnished 
palm-leaves. 
Of the character of Bur man literature, I can 
only speak from report. The greater part of it is 
metrical, and consists of songs, religious romances, 
and chronological histories. Versions of some of 
the first of these were made for me; but the spirit, 
if there really was any, in the original, so com¬ 
pletely evaporated in translation, as hardly to 
leave the germ of thought or sentiment behind 
it. The JVutus, or religious romances, appear to 
be compositions of a more respectable order ; and 
Mr. Judson, who had read many of them, assured 
me that a few were works of considerable interest 
and merit. A native of Mon-cha-bo, or Mok-so- 
bo, the birthplace of Alompra, he stated to me, if 
I remember well, to have been the author of the 
best of them. This Burmese writer had not been 
dead above forty years—a proof that Burmese li¬ 
terature is at least in no worse state than in former 
ages. Of the historical compositions of the Bur¬ 
mese I shall speak in another place. Before closing 
this brief notice of the language and literature of 
the Burmese, I should add that the language may 
