12 
Sir Arthur P. Phayre —On the History of Pegu. [No. 1, 
of the Bramas,” and how that king, maddened by his misfortunes, com¬ 
manded his son the king of Ava to bring “ all into the kingdom of Pegu 
“ now so destitute of inhabitants ; but the aire not agreeing, they brake out 
“ in pushes and diseases.” The king of Siam then besieged Pegu. By the 
“ help of some Portugals and Turks the city escaped ; but famine succeeded 
“ with a worse siege, insomuch that they killed and did eat each other.” 
For subsequent events, Pimenta refers to the letters of two Jesuit 
Fathers, Andrew Bones and Francis Fernandez, who relate the surrender of 
the emperor of Pegu to the king of Taungu, and the arrival in Pegu of a 
second expedition sent by the king of Arakan to secure some of the treasures 
still left in the city. “ I went thither,” says the Father, “ with Philip 
“ Brito, and in fifteen days arrived at Syriam, the chief port in Pegu. It is 
“ a lamentable spectacle to see the ruins of temples and noble edifices ; the 
te ways and fields full of skulls and bones of wretched Peguans, killed and 
“ famished and cast into the river in such numbers, that the multitude of 
“ carkasses prohibiteth the way and passage of any ship.* * * * The 
“ king of Arakan is yet Lord of Pegu, though not acknowledged by those 
“ who fled and hid themselves, and hath delivered Syriam to Philip de Brito, 
“ that the Peguan fugitives might have refuge under Portugal protection.” 
The narrative of Faria y Souza relates the insane measures of Nanda 
Bureng after the death of his son, who, as we have seen, was killed in Siam 
in the year 1593, and which, as already shown, long after attracted the 
notice of Bernier. “ The king of Pegu,” he states, “ in a rage for the death 
“ of his son, turned his fury against the people, and some days burnt above 
“ ten thousand, throwing so many into the river Ganga* as stopped the 
“ passage even of boats. He forbid them sowing,! which caused such a 
“ famine, that they not only eat one another, to which purpose there was a 
“ public butchery of man’s flesh, but devoured part of their own bodies. * 
“ * * This was followed by a pestilence that depopulated the whole 
“ kingdom. The neighbouring princes taking this advantage, fell upon the 
“ king of Pegu, covetous of his treasures. Among them was the Black of 
“ Siam, who retired with the loss of 100,000 men. The king of Taungu 
“ was he that possessed himself of all ; he promised life, liberty, and estates 
“ to all that would come over to him. The first that deserted were the 
“ Portugueses and Moors ; for some Portugueses are like Moors in matter 
* An error as to tlie name of the Pegu river. 
f This interference with agriculture, which is also mentioned by Bernier who appears 
to have read this account, is alluded to in the Burmese history in a somewhat obscure 
passage. The crown-prince Meng-re-kyau-tswa, about A. D. 1593-94, it is stated, took 
possession of a large area of rice land, with the object apparently of cultivating it, doubtless 
by forced labour, under government direction, in order to lower the price of rice. It is 
admitted in the history that the effect was the very reverse. 
