288 
JOURNAL OF AN EMBASSY 
“ 596. Kya-chura, otherwise called D’hama-raja, 
succeeded his father. He loved every body; 
read, and became master of every book; held 
public disputations ; and seven times a day in¬ 
structed his household. He wrote himself a 
work, called e Parmata Bingdu,’ and built a 
great house for the purpose of holding disputa¬ 
tions. He also constructed a monastery at Sagu, 
and a great tank, by damming a mountain stream. 
During this reign, there were no wars, or com¬ 
motions of any kind. Exercising himself one 
day with the spear, he received a wound, which 
put an end to his life in the fifty-seventh year 
of his age, and sixteenth of his reign. On this 
occasion, a vulture was seen to perch on his 
stable,* and a demon was descried peeping over 
the throne.” 
The strongest internal marks of authenticity in 
Burman chronology, is the average shortness of 
the reigns. From the year 301 before Christ, 
to the accession of the present King in 1819, a 
period of two thousand one hundred and twenty 
years, the number of sovereigns is one hundred 
and twenty-three ; and therefore the length of 
each reign is only between sixteen and seventeen 
years, or from three to four years less than the 
computed average for European monarchies. 
This is what might reasonably be expected 
* The perching of a vulture on a house is considered by the 
Burmese a most direful omen to the owner. 
