TO THE COURT OF AVA. 
299 
From the statement here given, we may con¬ 
clude that the trade and industry of Pegu had 
rather retrograded than advanced in the long 
period of two hundred and twenty-five years, 
which preceded the last fifteen. Then we find 
Portuguese and Mohammedan merchants carry¬ 
ing on a brisk trade from Bengal, the South of 
India, and the Malay countries, and furnishing 
the Peguans with the productions of those coun¬ 
tries and of China; while the Arabs import not 
only the produce of their own country, but the 
manufactures of Europe. In Fitch’s description 
of the manners of the Peguans, there are a few 
facts only which do not agree with the existing 
order. The Peguans, who now paint, or rather 
tattoo their bodies, in the same manner as the 
Burmans, are stated, in his time, to have been in¬ 
terdicted from this practice, which was a distinc¬ 
tive mark of the true Burman. This would seem 
to imply that the Burman conquest was recent, 
and that the two nations had as yet in no manner 
assimilated, as in a good measure they have done 
in our times. Brass (not at present so used) is 
said to have been used as money: and a whim¬ 
sical, indecent, and savage rite, practised by the 
men of the country, is confidently and fully des¬ 
cribed, which certainly has no longer any ex¬ 
istence. 
The Portuguese appear to have established 
themselves early in the Burmese dominions, and 
