TO THE COURT OF AYA. 
289 
among a rude people, subject to commotions, 
rebellions, usurpations, and foreign invasion. The 
greatest length of the reigns is neither found in 
the earliest or the latest period of Barman history, 
but in the intermediate one, while the seat of Go¬ 
vernment was at Pugan. The long continuance 
of this place as the capital, the vast extent of its 
ruins, and their comparative splendour, may lead 
us to believe that it was here that the Burmese 
nation enjoyed the greatest share of tranquillity 
and prosperity; and, consequently, that it was 
here also that the succession to the throne was 
most regular and uninterrupted. 
In the sketch now given of Burman history, I 
have taken no notice of our own acquaintance, or 
political relations with Ava, and therefore now 
submit the following connected outline of them. 
The first notice we have of the Burman do¬ 
minions in an English writer, is that by Ralph 
Fitch, a merchant of London, who travelled in 
India towards the end of the sixteenth century, 
or from the year 1583 to 1591. Fitch left Bengal 
in the month of November 1586, in a small Por¬ 
tuguese vessel, and the first port of Pegu which 
he entered was that of Bassein, from whence he 
passed, by the inland navigation, to Rangoon and 
Syrian, eventually visiting the town of. Pegu. 
Making allowance for the time in which he wrote, 
and for the scantiness of his opportunities, Fitch’s 
VOL. II. u 
