6 
A TRANSLATION OF THE KEDDAH ANNALS. 
The fleet had scarcely arrived when Girda again appeared* 
sending a tempest before him of rain* thunder and lightning. 
The two vessels of the Prince and Ambassador were an¬ 
chored close together* and the other ships were stationed 
around them* and kept ready with their arms. Marong 
Mahawangsa* having seized his bow with the arrow named 
Brdtpurd , with its point flaming with fire* and* having 
stood out on the gunwale* of shot the arrow towards the 
sky. It sped with a loud noise* and in its descent dispelled 
the tempest. But notwithstanding the innumerable flights 
of arrows, and the constant firing and shouting of the 
sailors* Girda contrived to carry off three more vessels— 
for he was invulnerable to all these missiles. So* after a 
short respite* he returned to his work of destruction as 
before. 
. Again Marong Mahawangsa sent the arrow Brdtpurd at 
him* which he avoided* and it thus fell into the sea. 
Whereupon Girda snatched away three more ships in his 
beak and talons* and soared aloft with them. Thus six ves¬ 
sels were lost with all their crews. On the ensuing day* as 
Girda did not appear* the remnant of the fleet set sail in its 
now dismantled condition* having had twelve ships with all 
their crews destroyed. The fleet soon after got to the port 
of Mrit. (f) & 1 
in its Transactions (-), It was a place in the days our Author alludes to, of 
much more importance to those navigating the eastern seas than it now is, wheu 
even the native vessels from Arab ports and from India strike across the ocean, 
guided by the compass. Besides it may be noticed that the population of the 
regions to the Eastward of India professed either BudLism or the doctrines 
of one or other of the two great sects of Hindus which divided India, and con¬ 
sequently that the navigators of the periods antecedent to the spread of Islam- 
ism there, probably found always a welcome at such places, as they touched at. 
Budhism, it is well known, prevails at this day in Pegu, and all along the Coast 
of Tenasserim, while Hinduism has been always tolerated, and never persecuted 
by the BuddhistB of these regions. The natives of Tavoy say that about two 
thousand years ago, colonies arrived from Martaban and from the Eastward, 
and that long after this event people reached it from Arracan in search of iron, 
a rather curious but not probable reason, and settled at Daungwe or Thaungwe, 
about five miles up the Tavoy river, and on the west bank. This party called 
the country Daliweh “ knife, buy,” They brought along with them the Bud¬ 
dhist religion. 
When the present town of Tavoy was built, the people could not I think have 
been under much apprehension from the Siamese. If they had been so, they 
would have erected the Fort on the west side of the bank, where the ground is 
higher. 
( 3 ) 1834 to 1840 Art. XIV. 
(f) This was the name then, and in fact is the native name now, given to 
the .British possession of Mergui. It doubtless appertained at the time of 
their voyage to Siam—-for it was under the latter, in A.D. 1053 as I find in the 
Bot Phrcc Ayakda r a Siamese work—or Digest of Siamese Law, which I pro- 
