318 
JOURNAL OF AN EMBASSY 
racter, which the results of that contest afford- 
ed us an opportunity of making, are far indeed 
from having verified. Colonel Symes, it should 
be noticed, had the advantage of being accompa¬ 
nied by a distinguished naturalist, and, in every 
department, a judicious, careful, and zealous in¬ 
quirer, Dr. Buchanan Hamilton, to whom we 
are especially indebted for nearly all that was 
known of Burman geography previous to the 
late war. 
The mission of Colonel Symes was followed, in 
the succeeding year, by another, under Captain 
Cox, of which the narrative was published in 
1821. This work, with errors of style and ar¬ 
rangement, to be expected in a posthumous pub¬ 
lication, abounds in useful information, and, upon 
the whole, exhibits a more faithful picture of the 
Burmans and their country, than the more am¬ 
bitious and agreeable narrative of his predecessor. 
In 1802, Colonel Symes went on a second mis¬ 
sion to Ava, which was attended by no satis¬ 
factory result. Of this no account has been pub¬ 
lished, nor did the envoy avail himself of the 
additional information which he collected, for the 
correction of his former statements or opinions. 
In 1809, Major Canning was entrusted with a 
mission to Ava, the difficult object of which was 
to explain to the Burmans the nature of our sys¬ 
tem of blockade. The information collected by 
