476 P E 
manner tl}at produced a ferious danger. One of the vice¬ 
roys of the fouthern parts of the empire was commanded 
to raife the neceflary forces ; but, as his jurifdiCtion was 
inhabited chiefly by families of Peguers, he had no fooner 
aflembled his recruits and placed arms in their hands, 
than they became confcious of their own ftrength, and 
were feized with a defire to regain their empire. They 
rofe upon their Birman officers and companions, and 
commenced an indifcriminate (laughter. It was not till 
after an army of 20,000 men was aflembled, with twenty- 
four pieces of cannon, befides a great number of war- 
boats, that they could be fubdued. Some time after, 
Shembuan thought fit to vifit his Pegu territories, v^hich 
had fo recently been involved in civil war. On this oc- 
cafion he pretended to difcoverthat the old king of Pegu, 
who had been taken by Alompra, and had remained all 
this while in prifon, had engaged in fome kind of con- 
fpiracy. Tn confequence of an accufation to this effeCt, 
the dethroned monarch underwent the form of a trial, 
was condemned and put to death. Many perfons of 
rank, of the race of the Peguers, were alfo put to death 
on this occafion, under pretence that they had given 
countenance or aid to the late rebellion. 
PEGU', a city of Afia, and formerly capital of the king¬ 
dom of the fame name. This city, in the year 1600, was 
one of the moll fplendid, large, and populous, in the 
whole of Afia; and is defcribed by thofe who faw it in 
its profperity as fpacious, beautiful, and ftrong, fur- 
rounded with ftone walls and very wide ditches. The 
extent of the ancient city may ftill be accurately traced 
by the ruins of the ditch and wall that encompafled it ; 
from thefe it appears to have been a quadrangle, each 
fide meafuring nearly one mile and a half; the ditch, 
which was once no contemptible defence, is about lixty 
yards, and its depth ten or twelve feet. The fragments 
of the wall evince that it was a large and laborious ftruc- 
ture, about thirty feet high, and at the bafe not lefs than 
forty feet broad, compofed of brick, cemented with clay- 
mortar. Small equi-diftant baftions, about 300 yards 
afunder, are ftill difcoverable, and there had been a para¬ 
pet of mafonry ; but, in its prefent ruinous ftate, it is fo 
covered with weeds and briars, as to exhibit very imper- 
feCt veftiges of its former ftrength. In the centre of each 
face of the fort, there was a gateway about thirty feet 
wide; and thefe gateways were the principal entrances. 
The paflage acrofs the ditch is over a catifeway raifed on 
a mound of earth, that ferves as a bridge, and was for¬ 
merly defended by a retrenchment, of which there are 
now no traces. That part of the city inhabit^ by the 
king, the nobility, and the people of fafhion, was very 
extenfive and populous ; its figure, fquare; and in each 
fide of the wall were five gates of ftone, with many gilded 
towers along it for polling centries ; it was encompafled 
with broad ditches, in which were bred crocodiles, to de¬ 
ter people from wading over them. The ftreets were re¬ 
gular, running in a line from gate to gate, and fo wide, 
that twelve men might go abreaft. Each houfe had a 
palm-tree growing at the door, which formed a (hade for 
paflengers. The king’s palace flood in the midft of this 
city, built like a fortrefs, with walls and ditches. The 
houfes and apartments within were of wood, all over 
gilded, and adorned with battlements, covered with plates 
of gold; within the gate was a fpacious court, with lodg¬ 
ings on the fides for the king’s choiceft elephants,amotigft 
which were four of a white colour. That prince w'ould 
not fufferany other to have white elephants; it was on 
this account only that he made war on the king of Siam, 
in 1567, from whom he took the famous white elephant; 
and afterwards aflumed the title of King of the White 
Elephant. Near the palace was a large court, furrounded 
with ftone walls; and its two gates were always open, 
feemingly regardlefs of the immenfe treafure within. In 
the year 1596, the king of Siam befieged the king of Pe¬ 
gu in his capital for three months; but, for this time, 
he was relieved by the afliftance of a body of Turks, in 
G U. 
conjunction with fome Portuguefe ; however, moil of 
thofe whom war (pared, famine deftroyed ; for, out of 
150,000 men, numbered in the city before the fiege, only 
30,000 were left. The kings of Aracan and Tangu, 
taking advantage of this diftrefled condition of Pegu, 
marched to befiege it again; and the king being at length 
obliged to fubmit for want of provifions, fome time in the 
year 1592, yielded himfelf and the city into the hands of 
the king of Tangu ; whofe wife, though filter to the un¬ 
fortunate prince, caufed him and his family to be put to 
death. 
From that time Pegu ceafed to be the royal feat, and 
fell to decay; fo that it is impoffible to conceive, fays co¬ 
lonel Symes, a more Itriking picture of fallen grandeur, 
and the defolating hand of war, than the infide of thefe 
walls difplays. Alompra, king of Birmah, when he got 
pofleffion of the city in the year 1757, (fee the preceding 
article,) razed every dwelling to the ground, and difper- 
fed or led into captivity all the inhabitants. The tem¬ 
ples, or praws, which are very numerous, were the only 
buildings that efcaped the fury of the conqueror ; and of 
thefe the great pyramid of Shoemadoo has alone been re¬ 
verenced and kept in repair. The prefent king of the 
Birmans (1807) has abrogated fome fevere penal laws im- 
pofed by his predecefl’ors upon the native Peguers; and 
the only diftinCtion fubfifting at prefent conlifts in the 
exclufion of the latter from places of public truft and 
power. Nothing has contributed more to reconcile the 
Peguers to the Birman yoke, than the reftoration of their 
ancient place of abode, and the prefervation and ernbel- 
lifhment of the temple of Shoemadoo. Accordingly the 
king fome time ago iffued orders to rebuild Pegu, encou¬ 
raged fettlers by grants of ground, and invited the {bat¬ 
tered families of former inhabitants to return and re¬ 
people their deferted city. His Birman majefty, on the 
death of the late Mayu'oon, or viceroy, directed his fuc- 
cefibr, the prefent governor, to quit Rangoon, and to 
make Pegu the place of his future refidence, and the feat 
of provincial government of the thirty-two diftriCts of 
Henzawucldy, the fanfcrit name given by the Birmans to 
the province of Pegu. The fuccefs of thefe ineafures has 
been fuch, that a new town has been built within the (cite 
of the ancient city ; but Rangoon poftefles fo many advan¬ 
tages over Pegu, in a commercial point of view, that per¬ 
fons of property in bufinefs will not eafily be prevailed 
upon to leave one of the fineft fea-ports in the world, to 
encounter the difficulties of a new fettlement, where 
commerce, if any can fubfilt, mult be very confined for 
the want of commodious navigation. The prefent inha¬ 
bitants who have been induced to return, confift chiefly 
of priefts, and poor families, who were glad to gain a fet¬ 
tlement in their once-magnificent metropolis. Their 
number, all together, does not, perhaps, exceed fix or 
(even thoufand: thofe who dwelt in Pegu, during its 
former days of fplendour, are now nearly extinCt, and 
their defcendants and relatives fcattered over the provin¬ 
ces of Tongho, Martaban, and Talowmeou ; and many 
alfo live under the protection of the Siamefe. 
Pegu, in its renovated and contracted ftate, feems to 
be built on the plan of the former city, and occupies 
about one half of its area. It is fenced round by a ftock- 
ade from ten to twelve feet high ; on the north and eaft 
fides it borders on the old wall. The plane of the town 
is not yet filled with houfes, but a number of new ones 
are building. There is one main ftreet running eaft and 
weft, crofted at right angles by two fmaller ftreets not 
yet.finiflied. At each extremity of the principal ftreet, 
there is a gate in the (tockade, which is (hut early in the 
evening ; and after that time entrance during the night 
is confined to a wicket. Each of thefe gates is defended 
by a wretched piece of ordnance, and a few mufqueteers, 
who never poll fentinels, and are ufually afleep in an ad¬ 
joining filed. There are two inferior gates on the north 
and fouth fide of the ftockade. The ftreets of Pegu are 
fpacious, and well paved with brick, which the ruins of the 
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