the capital of a small kingdom to the north-east of the bay of Bengal, situated in E. Long. 93° o. N. Lat. 20° 30'. It has the conveniency of a spacious river, and a harbour large enough to hold all the ships in Europe. It is said by Schouten to be as large as Amsterdam; but the houses are flight, being made with palm-trees and bamboo-canes, and covered with leaves of trees. They are seldom above six feet high, but have many windows or air-holes. But the people of the highest rank are much better accommodated. They have no kitchens, chimneys, or cellars, which oblige the women to dress the victuals out of doors. Some of the streets are on the ridges of rocks, wherein are a great many shops. Their orchards and gardens contain all the fruit common to the Indies, and their trees are green all the year. Their common drink is toddy; which is the sap of the cocoa-tree, and when new, will intoxicate like wine, but soon grows sour. Elephants and buffaloes are very numerous here, and are made use of instead of horses. They have plenty of provisions, and but little trade: for when Mr. Chan-noch was here in 1686, with fix large ships, there was nothing to be had in the way of commerce; and yet the country produces lead, tin, flick-lac, and elephant's teeth. The Mogul's subjects come here to purchase these commodities; and sometimes meet with diamonds, rubies, and other precious stones. They were formerly governed by a king of their own; called the king of the White Elephant; but this country has been conquered by the king of Pegu. They pay little or no regard to the chastity of their women, and the common sailors take great liberties among them. Their religion is Paganism; and the idols, temples, and priests are very numerous. The dresses of the better sort is very flight, for it consists chiefly of a piece of white cotton over their arms, breast, and belly, with an apron before. The complexion of the women is tolerable; they wear thin flowered gauze over their breast and shoulders, and a piece of cotton, which they roll three or four times round their waist, and let it hang as low as their feet. They curl their hair, and put glass rings in their ears, and stretch them of a monstrous length. On their arms and legs they have hoops of copper, ivory, silver, &c. The country produces great quantities of rice, and the water is good. Their flocks of sheep and herds of cattle are also numerous near Aracan; but what they say of the towns and villages, with which the country is pretended to be overpread, may be doubted. Captain Hamilton affirms, that there are but few places inhabited, on account of the great number of wild elephants and buffaloes, which would destroy the fruits of the ground; and that the tigers would destroy the tame animals. There are some islands near the sea, inhabited by a few miserable fishermen, who can just keep themselves from starving, though they are out of the reach of oppression. The rich burn the dead bodies; but the poor, who are not able to buy wood, throw them into the river.