informed from an authentic fource, it poffeffed no pretenfions whatever. The members, however, were treated apparently with much perfonal refpect and attention.' P. 284.

The fame weak pride leads the court of Ummerapoora to confider every embaffador as a tributary, and his prefents as tributes, and, generally fpeaking, the opinion is not void of foundation; for it feldom happens that embaffadors and prefents are fent without fome fecret ideas of advantage, even if it be only to have a privileged fpy,' as an embalador has been called, in a rival or a friendly court. Our author's interview with the Chinese envoys was not productive of plea fure or information. It was the dulleft of the dull fcenes of eastern intercourse; yet, at a fubfequent vifit, the affectionate fenfibility of the fon of Kelloree,' one of the younger Chinefe, afforded no fmall degree of entertainment, and did the highest honour to the feelings of his heart. Why will not this nation more frequently unbend from its ftiffiefs, and join in focial intercourfe with the rest of mankind? It is a fingular cuftom in the Birman empire, that the shoom, the hall of juf tice, is an open building. Birmán policy or judgement conceals no tranfaction of this kind.

Major Symes' embaffy was, as to its event, uncertain, from various causes. As the agent of the governor-general, it was difficult to substantiate his clans to the honour of being confidered as the reprefentative of a monarch. Indeed, in all his reprefentations this difficulty recurs; and though with a laudable fpirit of policy, by blending conciliation with steadiness, he fucceeded in establishing his pretenfions, the intermediate agent is always feen, and, we think; ftudioufly brought forward in the Birman papers. Pride is the characteristic of the Birman court, but its effects are softened by benevolence, and it occafionally unbends itself from political motives. As in perfon, fo in their political features, the princes form a link between the Chinefe and the Hindu fovereigns. The good effects of the embaffy were alfo impeded by the interested jealoufy of fome rival powers, particularly the French, who reprefented England as an inconfiderable ifland, almost overpowered by numerous enemies, and her Indian territories as a mere commercial fettlement on its firft eltablishment, but which was afterwards ufurped by conqueft, and was then on the eve of annihilation. With every apparent profeffion of respect, and every hofpitable attention, incivility and public affronts were not uncommon. The Birman court, studiously obfervant of the minutest punctilio, could commit indignities,

Ava and Pekin appear to refemble each other in many points, but in none more than in their vacity, which often manifeils full in a manner not less ridiculous than contemptible.'

which had a tendency to degrade the embaffy, even to derifion, in the eye of the people; indignities which nevertheless could be explained as accidental occurrences, as unintentional or unimportant. In the end, however, the calm good fenfe of major Symes prevailed over every oppofition.

We have engaged in this detail not to interrupt our account of this empire, hitherto fo little known. In religion, the Birmans are followers of Boodh, not 'votaries of Bramha, and the Birman deity, Guadma, refembles very nearly the reprefentative of Boodh, found in Bengal, and defcribed in the first volume of the Afiatic Refearches. Gotma, or Gontum, is the name of an Indian philofopher, who taught the doctrines of Boodh, and from hence the Birman deity's appellation is derived. The followers of Boodh are more numerous than thofe of Bramha, and the pureft profeffion of this religion is faid to be in the ifland of Ceylon.

Whatever may be the antiquity of the worship of Boodh, the wide extent of its reception cannot be doubted. The most authenic writer on the eastern peninfula calls the image of Gaudma, as worshipped by the Siamefe, Somona-codom: being unacquainted with the language of Siam, which from fo fhort a refidence as four months, it was impoffible he could have acquired, he confounds two diftinct words, Somona, and Codom, fignifying Codom, or Gaudma, in his incarnate state; the difference between the letters C and G may eafily have arifen from the mode of pronunciation in different countries; even in the Birman manner of uttering the word, the diftinction between thefe letters is not very clear. The Boodh of the Indians and the Birmaus, is pronounced by the Siamefe Pooth, or Pood; by the vulgar, Poo; which, without any violence to probability, might be converted by the Chinese into Foe; the Tamulic termination en, as Mr. Chambers remarks, creates a striking resemblance between Pooden and the Woden of the Goths; every person who has conversed with the natives of India knows that Boodh is, the Dies Mercurii, the Wednesday, or Woden's day, of all Hindoos. Chronology, however, which muft always be accepted as a furer guide to truth, than inferences drawn from the refemblance of words, and etymological reafoning, does not, to my mind, fufficiently establish that Boodh and Woden were the fame. The period of the ninth incarnation of Vishnu was long antecedent to the existence of the deified hero of Scandinavia. Sir William Jones determines the period when Boodh appeared on the earth to be 1014 years before the birth of Chrift. Odin, or Woden, flourished at a period not very diftant from our Saviour, and was, according to fome, a cotemporary of Pompey and of Julius Cæfar. The author of the Northern Antiquities places him 70 years after the Chriftian æra. Even the Birman Gaudma, conformably to their account, must have lived above 500 years before Woden. So im

mense a space can hardly be supposed to have been overlooked: but if the fuppofition refers, not to the warrior of the north, but to the original deity Odin, the attributes of the latter are as widely oppofed to thofe of Boodh, who was himself only an incarnation of Vinu, as the dates are incongruous. The deity, whose doctrines were introduced into Scandinavia, was a god of terror, and his votaries carried defolation and the fword throughout whole regions; but the Ninth Avatar brought the peaceful olive, and came into the world for the fole purpose of preventing fanguinary acts. Thefe apparent inconfiftencies will naturally lead us to hefitate in acknowledging Boodh and Wodin to be the fame perfon: their doctrines are oppofite, and their æras are widely remote.' P. 300.

We are not prepared, nor indeed is this the proper place, to difcufs the queftion, refpecting the identity of Gaudma or Boodh, and Odin; but we may remark, that among a ferocious or fanguinary tribe, the mild doctrines of Boodh may have affumed a fiercer character; and, though Odin was a warrior of a comparatively late epoch, we know that Scandinavia received its inhabitants from the Eaft; that they had deities long before the era of this warlike chief; and that, previous to the time of Odin, they revered Woden. We fufpect, therefore, that our author's oppofition to the opinion of fir William Jones will be found not very formidable.

The laws of the Birman empire are thofe of Bramah, and their fundamental work is that, of Menu, whofe ordinances, with the commentaries, form the Shaftra. The commentary which they adopt is, in major Symes' opinion, diftinguished for perfpicuity and good fenfe, and comprifes almost every fpecies of crime. The minuter details of the legislative code, with the diftinction of ranks, in their political fyftem, drefs, &c. must be perufed in the work itself.

The population of the empire is estimated at about fourteen millions and a half, but this is in a great degree confeffedly conjectural. Its revenues cannot even be approximated. The monarch hoards all the money, rewarding his officers and favourites with governments, &c. and keeping them in a dependence, ftriatly feodal. Thus every man in the kingdom may be a foldier, and the Birman is, of courfe, a military na-, tion. The standing army is by no means numerous. cavalry are all caffayers, and resemble thofe of Affam; the magazines are well provided with numerous arms, but the firelocks are in a very imperfect state, as the manufacturers are by no means expert.

The

By far the most refpectable part of the Birman military force is their establishment of war-boats. Every town of note, in the vicinity of the river, is obliged to furnish a certain number of men, and one or more boats, in proportion to the magnitude of the place,

I was informed that the king can command, at a very short notice, 500 of these vefiels: they are constructed out of the folid trunk of the teak tree, which is excavated partly by fire, and partly by cutting; the largest are from eighty to one hundred feet long, but the breadth feldom exceeds eight feet, and even this space is produced by artificially extending the fides after the trunk has been hollowed. They carry from fifty to fixty rowers, who ufe fhort oars that work on a spindle; the prow is folid, and has a flat surface, on which, when they go to war, a piece of ordnance is mounted, a fix, a nine, or even a twelve pounder; the gun carriage is fecured by lafhings to strong bolts on each fide, and swivels are frequently fixed on the curvature of the ftern...

The rowers are feverally provided with a fword and a lance, which are placed by his fide whilft he plies the oars. Befides the boatmen, there are ufually thirty foldiers on board, who are armed with mufkets: thus prepared, they go in fleets to meet the foe, and, when in fight, draw up in a line, prefenting their prows to the enemy. Their attack is extremely impetuous; they advance with great rapidity, and fing a war-fong, at once to encourage their people, daunt their adverfaries, and regulate the ftrokes of their oars; they generally endeavour to grapple, and when that is effected, the action becomes very fevere, as thefe people are endued with great courage, ftrength, and activity. In times of peace they are fond of exercising in their boats, and I have often been entertained with the dexterity they difplay in the management of them. The veffels being low in the water, their greatest danger is that of being run down by a larger boat ftriking on their broadfide, a misfortune which the fteersman is taught to dread, and to avoid, above all others. It is furprifing to fee the facility with which they fleer, and elude each other in their mock combats. The rowers are alfo practifed to row backwards, and impel the veffel with the stern foremoft; this is the mode of retreat, by means of which the artillery ftill bears upon their opponent. The largeft of the war-boats do not draw more than three feet water. When a perfon of rank is on board, there is a fort of moving tilt or canopy, for his particular accommodation, placed fometimes in the centre, and fometimes on the prow. The fides of the boat are either gilt as far as the water's edge, or plain, according to the rank of the person it carries, Gilded boats are only permitted to princes of the blood, or to perfons holding the higheft ftations, fuch as a maywoon of a province, and a minifter of state,' P. 320.

The great innovation made by Boodh, in the religion of Bramha, was the forbidding the flaughter of animals for food, This precept the Birmans have refined upon, and conftrue it to mean domefticated animals. Game they eagerly devour, and do not feem anxious to inquire how any domefticated animal was killed, if not exprefsly informed,

The country is particularly fertile: befides its invaluable. production, the teak tree, in the northern mountainous parts, the fir feems to grow to a vast fize, fo as to be able to fupply mafts and yards for the fhips conftructed of this Indian oak. Gold, filver, and precious ftones, except diamonds and emeralds, are plentifully produced. The first is applied as an ornament to all the regal infignia, and hence the epithet golden, implies royal: the golden feet' is the imperial presence; and information conveyed to the monarch, is faid to reach the 'golden ears.' The marble of Ava is a facred flone, employed only for the images of Gaudma; the amber and ivory are of an extraordinary finenefs, and in great quantity; and cotton, both white and of a nankeen colour, are exported to China. Rice is produced in immenfe profufion. The Birmans have, however, no coin, and the bullion is weighed as in China. It was a fenfible and judicious request of the emperor to have from Bengal the inftruments for coinage, as well as a perfon acquainted with the process.

• It has already been noticed, that the general difpofition of the Birmans is ftrikingly contrafted with that of the natives of India, from whom they are separated only by a narrow range of mountains, in many places admitting of an eafy intercourfe. Notwithftanding the fmall extent of this barrier, the physical difference between the nations could scarcely be greater, had they been fituated at the oppofite extremities of the globe. The Birmans are a lively inquifitive race, active, irafcible, and impatient; the character of their Bengal neighbours is too well known, as the reverse, to need any delineation; the unworthy paffion of jealousy, which prompts moff nations of the east to immure their women within the walls of an haram, and furround them with guards, feems to have scarcely any influence over the minds of this extraordinary and more liberal people. Birman wives and daughters are not concealed from the fight of men, and are fuffered to have as free intercourfe with each other as the rules of European fociety admit; but in other respects women have just reason to complain of their treatment; they are confidered as not belonging to the fame scale of the creation as men, and even the law ftamps a degrading diftinction between the fexes; the evidence of a woman is not received as of equal weight with that of a man, and a woman is not fuffered to afcend the steps of a court of juftice, but is obliged to deliver her teftimony on the outfide of the roof. The custom of felling their women to ftrangers," which has before been adverted to, is confined to the lowest claffes of fociety, and is perhaps oftener the confequence of heavy pecuniary embarraiment, than an act of inclination; it is not, however, confidered as fameful, nor is the female difhonoured; partly perhaps from this caufe, and partly from their habits of education, women furrender themfelves the victims of this barbarous custom with