Cox's Burmhcui Empire. 
commanded a perfect view of tile men 
and women going and returning* The 
crowd of both sexes was very great 
from sun-rise till ten o’clock, every 
one carrying, or rather offering, ac¬ 
cording to their abilities or zeal. Some 
of them bore pageants in the form of 
trees, the branches loaded with clothes, 
betel, and other necessaries for the 
priests; others, elegantly constructed 
pyramids of various forms on tile backs 
of paper elephants, crocodiles, or giants. 
These pyramids were very neatly made 
of coloured paper and wax, formed into 
fret-work containing fire-works-—others 
fi re-works, cloth, or fruit. The offi¬ 
cers of government, and those who 
could afford the expense, were preceded 
by the country musicians; all were 
dressed in their gala-suits, and in the 
silks manufactured in the country; 
which for texture and vivid colours 
would be esteemed even in polished 
circles. The manners of the who!e re¬ 
flected credit upon them as a nation; 
iio jostling or ill-humour yeas seen, all 
were gay .and. decorous. The dress of 
the women impresses strangers with an 
idea of their being immodest; but, in 
my opinion, they are oii'ife the reverse ; 
frank, but .'innocent.; affectionate wives 
and tender mothers. 
ho XL OF PEGU. 
November 25, I to-day visited a mi¬ 
neral spring in the neighbourhood, and 
as it may be proper in the first place 
to notice the country in which it is 
situated, I ought to observe, that the 
province of Pegu has generally been 
represented as flat and swampy, parti¬ 
cularly that part which is in tile vici¬ 
nity of Rangoon; and those who have 
attempted to describe it to me have in 
general fallen into an error common 
among the seafaring people, who fre¬ 
quent this port, stating that the ine¬ 
qualities of the soil are artificial. No¬ 
thing is, however, more distant from 
the. truth. 
December^, 1796. At five A. M.we 
left Rangoon with the flood-tide ; the 
general course of the river was to the 
north-west, but with frequent and deep 
windings, where the reaches on the 
river are about 250 yards broad; wind¬ 
ing sometimes less than 100 yards, but 
with depth sufficient, I was told, for 
ships. The banks are low, but highest 
on the north-eastern side, and;appear 
well cultivated, and interspersed with 
straggling houses. I had, however, no 
opportunity of seeing whether the coun¬ 
try is more highly cultivated or more 
579 
populous inland. The same contri¬ 
vance for scaring the birds from the 
paddy fields, which is used by the Ma¬ 
lays in the eastern islands, is common 
here. This is a high stage erected in 
the centre of the fields, with lines ex¬ 
tending to elastic poles in every direc¬ 
tion, with little branches affixed,to the 
lines, so that the least motion at the 
centre agitates the whole. The spon¬ 
taneous growth of tile banks of the 
river are cane-reeds from six to ten 
feet high; the tops of these canes 
are excellent provender for cattle: 
there were also varieties of trees 
unknown to me, hut none of them ap¬ 
parently valuable as limber, and the 
soil from the edge of the river is an un¬ 
varied stratum of rich sandy loam. 
All the boats of burden have out¬ 
riggers, and a platform of bamboos fore 
and aft clear of the body of the boat, 
for the crew to walk along in poling. 
The main banks for the most part are a 
mile distant from each other, with 
houses scattered along them., Culture 
does not seem to be carried on upon an 
extensive plan, but in spots and patches 
according to the exigencies of the na¬ 
tives. Wherever I have landed, they 
have appeared to me as well lodged, 
clothed, and fed, as the peasantry of 
any other part of India I have seen. 
Every family plant their own indigo, 
cotton, and paddy; and the women 
spin, manufacture, and dye, all the 
cloth necessary for their own consump¬ 
tion, while the men attend the labours 
of the field. 
January 20. The banks on both sides 
were about thirty feet above the pre¬ 
sent level of the river, and from them 
spreads an extensive cultivated plain, 
level to a range of mountains seven or 
eight miles inland on the east side, and 
(o the westward and northward as far 
as tiie visible horizon. The soil at the 
surface is in general a sandy loam, and 
in some places clayey. Numberless 
villages and hamlets with farm-yards 
surrounded with stacks of paddy, buf¬ 
faloes, horses, and black cattle, re¬ 
called to our minds scenes of European 
husbandry, and evince the industry 
and plenty of thecountry. We stopped 
to breakfast at the town of Cheynacoun, 
for several leagues round which salt¬ 
petre is extracted from the soil in the 
usual manner. 
CITY OF AVA. 
January 24. We came opposite the 
centre of the city of deserted Ava. Seve¬ 
ral pagodas still remain, but apparently 
few 
