SUPPLEMENTARY NUMBER 
to the FIFTY-SECOND VOLUME of the 
MONTHLY MAG AZINE. 
No. 363.] JANUARY 31, 1822. [Price 2s. 
a -~-' -- —;;; — ~ ■ iy M • 
Selections from the Chief Publications of the Half-Year . 
JOURNAL 
OF A 
RESIDENCE 
IK 
THE BURMHAN EMPIRE, 
And more particularly at the 
COURT OF AM All A POOR A H. 
BY CAPT. HIRAM COX. 
fAVben Captain Cox returned from Rangoon, 
from the embassy described in this original 
work, he found that Sir John Shore, under 
whose auspices he went, had sailed for Eu¬ 
rope, end been succeeded as Governor-Ge¬ 
neral by the Earl of Morningtcn, who ex¬ 
pressed himself perfectly satisfied with his 
eonduct during his negotiation with the 
Burmhan Government. The tyranny of 
the Burmhan Government in the province 
of Arracun, having, in 1T98, driven a con¬ 
siderable body of its unfortunate inhabitants 
to the resolution of abandoning their homes 
and native country, to seek a precarious 
existence in the woods and forests, which 
form the boundary of the British territories 
on the Chittagong frontier;—to give im¬ 
mediate assistance to these unfortunate 
beings, Captain Cox was commissioned by 
flic Governor-General to proceed to Chitta¬ 
gong, for the purpose of arranging the most 
effectual means of relieving their necessities, 
by giving them a permanent settlement on 
the waste lands of that extensive district. 
In an active performance of the arduous 
duties ofthis situation, and in a cliamte pe¬ 
culiarly noxious to an European constitu¬ 
tion, Captain Cox persevered till his own life 
became a sacrifice to his zeal and sense of 
public duty. His premature death at the 
age of thirty-nine years, in the midstof pub¬ 
lic employment, of a nature that demanded 
the whole of his time and attention, there¬ 
fore., prevented his making many additions 
to his journal From his private memoran¬ 
dums, (which it was his intention to have 
done had his life been spared ;) or even of 
arranging the matter it contained for the 
press.] 
THE RANGOON RIVER. 
S (he journal of a voyage is usually 
barren of events which can afford 
either interest or amusement, and is 
Monthly Mag. No. 363. 
generally a repetition of remarks on 
the wind and weather, I shall com¬ 
mence ray detail, says Capt. Cox, with 
the arrival of the Swallow packet in 
the P^angoon river, October 8, 1796, 
where I was met by a boat containing 
the king’s linguist, who brought me a 
present of fruit from the Shabunder* 
of Rangoon, and informed me, that 
the Naklian and a Sercedoghee were in 
waiting at the entrance of the river, to 
compliment me on my arrival. 
October 9. To-day, two war canoes 
camealong-side, each rowing about ten 
oars, with music playing, which con¬ 
sisted of two pipes, sounding like the 
bagpipe, and called in the Burmhan 
language, Nhae , a tomtom,! and a pair 
of cymbalsr The seat in these boats 
for passengers is placed on the bow, 
with a raised platform and canopy, the 
stern being elevated above the water 
about six feet or more; the rowers sit 
two on a bench, using short oars like 
paddles ; the steering oar is also like a 
large paddle, fixed obliquely, and 
worked with a pin or arm on its side, 
by way of tiller. The stern is orna¬ 
mented with bushy tails, something 
like small chowriesj hung all round, 
and a long pole projects over it. In 
these boats were a Naklian, or reporter, 
and a Sercedoghee, or writer, sent by 
the Rangoon government to compliment 
me on my arrival. I received them in 
the cabin, and gave them chairs to sit 
on; they were well-dressed, hand¬ 
some men, above the middle stature, 
with fine open countenances, and an 
olive-brown complexion; they had 
small, thin beards from the tip of their 
chins ; their hair gathered up and tied 
in a knot on the crown of the head, 
and their teeth quite black. Their 
* Shabunder, in the ports to the east¬ 
ward of Calcutta, is a situation similar to 
that of master attendant in our harbours. 
f Tomtom, a species of drum, common 
all over the East. 
| Chowries are made of horse hair, or 
the tail of the Tartary cow; they are ased 
for whisking; away dies. 
4 1> 
dress 
