290 
JOURNAL OF AN EMBASSY 
account of localities and manners is surprisingly 
accurate and faithful. As examples, his account 
of the port and town of Bassein (Cosmin); of the 
navigation from Bassein to Syrian (Cirion); of the 
King of Pegu’s palace ; of the white elephants ; 
of the catching and taming of elephants ; of trade; 
of the temples ; of the priests ; of the trial by 
ordeal,—may all be safely referred to. I shall 
give a few extracts, to show, from the only au¬ 
thentic record which we possess, the condition of 
Pegu near two centuries and a half ago. His 
account of the temples is as follows. “ And 
they consume many canes, likewise, in making of 
their Varellaes, or ido] temples, which are in great 
number, both great and small. They be made 
round, like a sugar-loaf; some are as high as a 
church, very broad beneath; some a quarter of 
a mile in compass : within they be all earth, done 
about with stone. They consume in these varel¬ 
laes great quantity of gold; for that they be all 
gilded aloft; and many of them from the top to 
the bottom: and every ten or twelve years they 
must be new gilded, because the rain consumeth 
off the gold; for they stand open abroad. If 
they did not consume their gold in these vanities, 
it would be very plentiful, and good and cheap 
in Pegu. About two days’ journey from Pegu, 
there is a Varelle, or pagoda, which is the pil¬ 
grimage of the Pegues : it is called Dagonne 
