1873.] 
125 
Sir Arthur P. Phayre —The History of Pegu. 
He mentions the habit of tattooing the body, and says that the women practise 
it as well as the men, which is not now the case. The king, he says, has ten 
thousand elephants, which he uses in his wars. “ They fix castles on their 
backs, from which eight or ten men fight with javelins, bows, and those 
weapons which we call crossbows.” The number ten thousand is, no doubt, 
an exaggeration, probably double the actual number. From Ava, Conti 
proceeded towards the sea, “ and at the expiration, of seventeen days he 
“ arrived at the mouth of a moderately sized river, where there is a port, 
“ called Xeythona, and having entered the river, at the end of ten days, he 
“ arrived at a very populous city, called Panconia, the circumference of 
“ which is twelve miles.” 
It is not said by what route Conti went from Ava, but apparently it 
was by land to Ramethen and Taungu. The port Xeythona may possibly 
be the town of Sittang, but that town being situated on the river of the 
same name some seventy or eighty miles from its mouth, and the river not 
being navigable from the sea, it can scarcely be called “ a port.” The name, 
therefore, is more probably meant for Tha-htun, which was an ancient and 
celebrated port, and was still to some extent frequented. It is now mentioned 
for the last time in the history of Pegu. The populous city of Panconia, 
a misprint probably for Pauconia, is no doubt Pegu, or, as Conti would 
have heard it called, Pa-go or Ba-go. The traveller makes no mention of 
any war between the kings of Ava and Pegu, and from A. D. 1426 for 
many years no such war is recorded in the native histories. Conti’s narrative 
agrees well with the local histories, and from his notices of the people, the 
truth of his statements is evident, even when he mistakes some of the 
native customs. Thus he observes of the Burmese: “ All worship idols ; 
nevertheless, when they rise in the morning from their beds, they turn 
towards the east, and with their hands joined together say, c God in Trinity 
and his law defend us.” ’ All pious Budhists in Burma, on first awaking 
in the morning, invoke or bless the three precious objects “ Budha, his law, 
and his disciples;” but, of course, there is here no reference to God in 
Trinity. 
The next traveller who claims our notice, is Athanasius Nitikin, a 
Russian, who came to India between 1428 and 1474. He mentions having 
gone from Ceylon to Shibait and Pegu. He merely observes of the latter— 
“ It is no inconsiderable port, principally inhabited by Indian dervishes.” He 
perhaps means that the principal merchants were Indians, as he says the 
products of the country were sold by the dervishes. Why he should style 
them dervish is not apparent, but probably most of the Muhammadan 
merchants assumed the title of Haji. 
Hieronimo de Santa Stefano, a Genoese, came by the Red Sea to India, 
to the port of Calicut j thence to Ceylon and Coromandel, which latter 
17 u 
