1874.] Sir Arthur P. Phayre —On the History of 'Pegu. 11 
ever of value remained, and the city was utterly destroyed. Pegu proper 
seems now to have been ruled by various local chiefs and by the Portuguese 
adventurers at Syriam. 
Nga-naung-dau, son of the king of Taungu, urged his father to put the 
emperor to death, as a measure requisite for their own safety. The king 
replied that what he had done was for the public benefit, and not from 
hatred to his nephew. The prince then went to his mother, and though 
she was the sister of the emperor, by her order he was secretly murdered, 
early in the year 1600. Thus the empire of Pegu, which only forty years 
before, European travellers had described as the most powerful in Asia 
except China, was utterly broken up. 
It will be interesting now to quote from European authors notices of 
the events we have summarized from the death of Bureng Naung in A. D. 
1581. These events are related by the Portuguese historian Sousa ; by 
Nicolas Pimenta, a Portuguese priest ; by Gasparo Balbi, a Venetian mer¬ 
chant traveller; and by Peter Floris, a Hollander. Ralph Pitch, an 
Englishman, also came to Pegu in 1586 during the reign of Nanda Bureng. 
He gives a faithful account of the country and people, but says little of 
public events. He describes the king as keeping great state, and says, 
“ When he goeth to war he goetli very strong. At my being there, he went 
“ to Odia in the country of Siam with 300,000 men, and 5000 elephants.” 
This refers to the expedition of 15S7, described in the Burmese history. 
Balbi, who was at Pegu in 1583, states that he had an audience with the 
king who received him kindly. This was before the evil days came, which 
totally changed his disposition. The traveller, however, saw the beginning 
of his troubles in his quarrel with his uncle the king of Ava. Suspecting 
that his own nobles were intriguing against him, he had them burnt as 
traitors with their wives and children, “ an eminent and spacious scaffold” 
being built for the purpose. The Burmese history, diminishing as usual the 
cruel act of the king when any such is mentioned, says that only thirty per¬ 
sons were burnt; Balbi says “ four thousand, great and small,” which must be 
an exaggeration. Still the number must have been very large. “ I also,” he 
states, “ went thither, and saw with great compassion and grief, that little 
“ children without any fault should suffer such martyrdom.” “ Ten days 
“ after that I saw the king upon an elephant, all over covered with gold and 
“ jewels, go to war with great courage. He encountered with the king of 
“ Ava, and they two fought body to body, without any hindrance from the 
“ armies.” He states that the king of Ava was killed on the spot, which 
differs from the Burmese account, and that the emperor’s elephant was 
killed. Nicolas Pimenta, whose narrative is translated in Purchas, came 
from Goa to Pegu in 1597, and remained in the country for a year or two. 
He relates the principal events in the reign of Nanda Bureng, “ of the race 
