478 
PEGU. 
cay. Numberlefs images of Gaudma lie indifcriminately 
fcattered. A pious Birman who purchafes an idol, firft 
procures the ceremony of confecration to be performed 
by the rahaam, or priefts ; he then takes his purchafe 
to whatever facred building is mod convenient, and there 
places it within the (belter of a kioum, or on the open 
ground before the temple; nor does he ever again feem 
to have any anxiety about its prefervation, but leaves the 
divinity to fhift for itfelf. Some of thofe idols are made 
of marble that is found in the neighbourhood of the ca¬ 
pital of the Birman dominions, and admits of a very fine 
polifh ; many are formed of wood, and gilded; and a few 
are of filver; the latter, however, are not ufually expofed 
and neglefted like the others. Silver and gold are rarely 
ufed, except in the compofition of houfehold gods. 
On both the terraces are a number of white cylindrical 
flags, raifed on bamboo poles ; thefe flags are peculiar to 
the raliaans, or priefts, and are confidered as emblematic 
of purity, and of their facred funftion. On the top of 
the ftaff there is a henza, or goofe, the fymbol both of the 
Birman and Pegu nations. 
The raliaans, or priefts, are a kind of monks who pro- 
fefs celibacy, and abftain from every (enfual indulgence. 
The prefcribed punifhment for a rahaan detefted in an 
a< 5 l of incontinence, is expulfion and public difgrace. 
The delinquent is feated on an afs, and his face daubed 
with black paint, interfperfed with fpots of white. He is 
thus led through the ftreets, with a drum beating before 
him, and afterwards turned out of the city. The juniors 
only go abroad by the permiflion of the fuperior or prior 
of the convent. They are drefled in a long loofe cloak, 
and yellow is the only colour worn by them. The ra- 
liaans never drefs their own viftuals, holding it an abufe 
of time to perform any of the common functions of life, 
which, fo long as they occupy, mult divert them from 
the abftraft contemplation of the divine eflence. They 
receive the contributions of the laity ready cooked, and 
prefer cold food to hot. At the dawn of the morning 
they begin to perambulate the town, to colled! fupplies 
for the day : each convent fends forth a certain number 
of its members, who walk at a quick pace through the 
ftreets, fupporting with the right arm a blue lackered 
box, in which the donations are depofited ; thefe ufually 
confift of boiled rice mixed with oil, dried and pickled 
fifli, fweetmeats, fruits, &c. During their walk they ne¬ 
ver caft their eyes to the right nor to the left, but keep 
them fixed on the ground ; they do not ftop to folicit, 
and feldom even look at the donors, who appear more 
defirous to beftow than the others to receive. A much 
larger quantity of provifions being commonly procured 
than fuffices for the members of the convent, the furplus 
is difpofed of as charitably as it was given, to the needy 
ftranger, or the poor fcholars who daily attend them to 
be inftrufted in letters, and taught their moral and reli¬ 
gious duties. 
From the upper projeftion that furrounds the bafe of 
Shoemadoo, the profpeft of the circumjacent country is 
extenfive and pifturefque ; but it is a profpeft of nature 
in her rudeft ftate: there are few inhabitants, and 
fcarcely any cultivation. The hills of Martaban rife to 
the ealtward, and the Sitang river, winding along the 
plains, gives an interrupted view of its waters. To the 
northward about forty miles are the Galadzet hills, 
whence the Pegu river takes its rife; hills remarkable 
only for the noifome eftefts of their atmofphere. In 
every other direftion the eye looks over a boundlefs 
plain, chequered by a wild intermixture of wood and 
water. 
The temple of Shoemadoo appears to be the largeft in 
the province of Pegu. At the fame time they have many 
others formed upon a fimilar plan and of great extent. 
Of one of thefe we (hall take notice, on account of the 
coincidence between its name and the name of a pagan 
temple mentioned in the facred Scriptures. It is to be 
obferved, that in the Birman tongue the word Jhoe. figni- 
fies golden ; and the name of the temple to which we al¬ 
lude, is called Shoedag-on, or the Temple of the golden 
Dagon. It is thus defcribed : “The temple of Shoeda- 
gon, about two miles and a half north of Rangoon, is a 
very grand building, although not fo high by 25 or 30 
feet as that of Shoemadoo at Pegu. It is much more or¬ 
namented ; the terrace on which it ftands is raifed on a 
rocky eminence, confiderably higher than the circumja¬ 
cent country. It is afcended by above one hundred 
ftone fteps that have been fu(Fered to fall into decay. The 
fituation renders Shoedagon a confpicuous objeft at the 
diftance of many miles. The tee and the whole of the 
fpire are richly gilded, which, when the fun fliines, ex¬ 
hibit a fingularly fplendid appearance. The fmalkaux- 
iliary buildings are yet more numerous than thofe that 
furround the bafe of the Pegu temple. Perceiving that 
feveral of thefe were in a ruinous ftate, whilft the foun¬ 
dations of others were juft laid, and fome half finiftied, I 
alked why they did not repair the damages of the old 
before they erefted new ones ; and was told, that to mend 
a decayed praw, or temple, though an aft of piety, was 
not fo meritorious as to ereft a new one: and that fome- 
tiines the old ones were repaired by thofe who were un¬ 
willing or unable to be at the expenfe of a complete 
building. The borders of the terrace on which the tem¬ 
ple is raifed are planted with fliady trees in regular rows ; 
from this eminence there is a beautiful and extenfive 
profpeft ; the Pegu and Rangoon rivers are feen winding 
through a level woody country; and the Temple of Sy¬ 
rian), little inferior to thofe that have been defcribed, 
ftands near the junftion of the ftreains.” 
The language of Pegu is called by Dr. Leyden a dif- 
tinft original language; but it is written in the Burrnan- 
i(h charafter, and Adelung’s fpecimen differs fcarcely at 
all from the Burmanilh. We may not improperly men¬ 
tion in this place, that the emperor of Burmah and 
Pegu has employed an Englishman, Mr. Felix Carey, to 
eftablifli, at his expenfe, a printing-prefs at Ava, the me¬ 
tropolis, for printing a verfion of the Scriptures in the 
Burmanifli tongue. 
Pegu is ninety miles from Rangoon by water, moftly 
in a northern direftion ; but, on account of the windings 
of the river, it would be by land, in a ftraight line, 
much lefs. Lat. 17. 40. N. Ion. 96. 11. 15. E. Symes’s 
Ava, vol. ii. Afiatic Refearches, vol. v. p. 111. 
PEGU', a river of Afia, in the vicinity of the city of 
the fame name. It is called by the natives “ Bagoo 
Kioup,” orPegue Rivulet, to diftinguifh it from “Mioup,” 
or the River. This river is navigable but a very few 
miles to the northward of the city of Pegu, and for this 
it is indebted wholly to theaftionof the tide. It has no 
communication with the fea, except by the Rangoon 
river ; and, in the fair feafon, at low water, isalmoft dry. 
This ftream has been fometimes miftaken for the Sitang 
river, about fifteen miles eaft of Pegu, which is a large 
and independent body of water, that partly defcribes the 
courfe that in the map is given to what is called the Pegu 
river. 
PEGUN'NOCK, a branch of the Paflaic river, in New 
Jerfey. 
PEGUN'TIUM, or Pegun'ti^e, in ancient geography, 
a town or citadel of Dalmatia, on the Adriatic, oppofite 
to the ifland Brattia, fcarcely five miles oft’, and forty 
miles to the eaft of Salonae. According to Fortis, a 
mountain, a large hollow, and fubmarine fprings, are feen 
here. “This hollow (fays he) feems to have been ex¬ 
cavated by fome ancient river. The fprings which bub¬ 
ble up from under the fea are fo confiderable, that they 
might pafs for the rifing-again of a river funk under 
ground. Vrullia has the fame derivation as the word 
Vril, which in Sclavonian fignifies a fountain, and this 
etymology, rendering the name of Vrullia the Berullia 
of Porphyrogenitus analogous to that of Peguntium, 
fince Tleyv and Vril are fynonymous, induces me to be¬ 
lieve, that the caftle named Peguntium by ancient geo¬ 
graphers 
