TO THE COURT OF AVA. 
233 
Christ 1756, Alompra, who was a native of the 
place, made it his capital, giving it the Pali name 
of Ratna-thingha, or 6e the gem lion.” B’hamo is 
said to be a hundred and twenty-five taings dis¬ 
tant from Ava, in a direction east of north. This 
is the principal mart of the Chinese trade, and 
contains, among its resident inhabitants, a good 
many Chinese of Yunan. It is surrounded by a 
wooden stockade, and its governor, one of the 
most considerable of the kingdom, exercises the 
powers of a viceroy. Debarain lies west-north¬ 
west of Ava, at the distance of thirty-six taings, 
or seventy-two miles. This place is surrounded 
by a brick-wall, and is the principal town of a 
populous province, which, I was told, contained 
900,000 P£s. of cultivated land. The inland town 
of JBadong, the chief place of a district of the same 
name, as, indeed, is the case with all other Bur¬ 
mese towns, lies west of Ava, on the right bank 
of the Irawadi, and distant thirty taings, or three 
days’ journey.* It is surrounded by a wall of 
brick. A village of the same district, called Na- 
paren, is celebrated as the birth-place of the Bur¬ 
mese general Bandula. The town of Tongo, for¬ 
tified by a brick-wall, is said to be a place consi¬ 
derable for its traffic and population. It lies south 
of Ava; is distant from it a hundred taings, and 
* The Burmese reckon a day’s journey to be ten taings, or 
about twenty miles. . 
