a very considerable kingdom of Asia, beyond the Ganges. The country properly so called is but about 350 miles in length from north to south, and as much in breadth from east to west. It is situated on the eastern side of the bay of Bengal, nearly opposite to Aria, and to the north-east of the coast of Coromandel. It is bounded on the north by the kingdoms of Arrakan and Ava; on the east by the Upper and Lower Siam; on the south by part of Siam and the sea; and on the west by the sea and part of Arrakan.

The kingdom of Pegu is said to have been founded about 1100 years ago. Its first king was a seaman; concerning whom and his successors we know nothing till the discovery of the East Indies by the Portuguese in the beginning of the 16th century. In 1518 the throne of Pegu was possessed by one Breflagukan, with whom Antony Correa the Portuguese ambassador solemnly concluded a peace in 1519. This monarch was possessed of a very large and rich empire, nine kingdoms being in subjection to him, whose revenues amounted to three millions of gold. We hear no farther account of his transactions after the conclusion of the treaty with the Portuguese. In 1539 he was murdered on the following occasion: Among other princes who were his tributaries was Para Mandera, king of the Barmas. These people inhabited the high lands called Pangavirau, to the northward of the kingdom of Pegu. Their prince, by one of the terms of his vassalage, was obliged to furnish the king of Pegu with 30,000 Barmas, to labour in his mines and other public works. As the king used frequently to go and see how his works went forward, and in these journeys took along with him none but his women, the Barmas observing these visits frequently repeated, formed a design of robbing the queen and all the concubines of their jewels; and pursuant to this design, the next time the king visited the works, they murdered him, and having stripped the ladies, fled to their own country.

By this enormity all Pegu was thrown into confusion: but, instead of revenging the death of their king, the people divided everywhere into factions; so that Dacha Rupi, the lawful heir to the crown, found himself unable to maintain his authority. Of these commotions, the king of the Barmas taking the advantage, vantage, not only shook off the yoke, but formed a design of conquering the kingdom of Pegu itself—With this view he invaded the country with an army of more than a million of foot, and 5000 elephants; besides a great fleet which he sent down the river Ava towards Bagou or Pegu, the capital of the empire; while he himself marched thither by land. Just at this time Ferdinand de Mirales arrived at Pegu from Goa with a large galleon richly laden on account of the king of Portugal. As soon as Dacha Rupi heard of his coming, he sent to defire his affiance against the enemy. This he obtained by great presents and promises; and Mirales, setting out in a galliot, joined the king's ships. Had the numbers been anything near an equality, the superior skill of Mirales would undoubtedly have gained the victory: But the fleet of the Barmas covered the whole river, though as large as the Ganges, while that of Dacha Rupi could scarce be observed in comparison with them. Mirales did every thing that man could do, and even held out alone after the natives had deserted him; but at last, opprested and overwhelmed with numbers, he was killed, with all his men.

Thus Para Mandara became master of all Pegu; after which he attacked the tributary kingdoms. In 1544 he besieged Martavan, the capital of a kingdom of the same name, then very great and flourishing. The land-forces which he brought against it consisted of 700,000 men, while by sea he attacked it with a fleet of 1700 sail; 100 of which were large galleys, and in them 700 Portuguese commanded by John Cayero, who had the reputation of being a valiant and experienced officer. The siege, however, continued seven months, during which time the Barmas lost 120,000 men; but at last the besieged king, finding himself straitened for want of provisions, and unable to withstand so great a power, offered terms of capitulation. The besiegers would admit of no terms, upon which the distressed king applied to the Portuguese in the service of his enemy; for by their affiance he doubted not to be able to drive away the Barmas. Accordingly, he sent one Seixas to Cayero, intreating him to receive himself, his family, and treasure, on board the four ships he had under his command; offering, on that condition, to give half his riches to the king of Portugal, to become his vassal, and pay such tribute as should be agreed upon. Cayero consulted the principal officers, and in their presence asked Seixas what he thought the treasure might amount to. Seixas answered, that out of what he had seen, for he had not seen all, two ships might be loaded with gold, and four or five with silver. This proposal was too advantageous to be slighted; but the rest of the officers envying the great fortune which Cayero would make, threatened to discover the whole to the king of Barma if he did not reject it. The unhappy king of Martavan had now no other resource but to set fire to the city, make a fall, and die honourably with the few men he had with him: but even here he was disappointed; for by the defection of 4000 of his troops the enemy were apprised of his design, and prevented it. Thus betrayed, he capitulated with the Barma king for his own life and the lives of his wife and children, with leave to end his days in retirement. All this was readily granted, but the conqueror intended to perform no part of his promise.

The city was plundered and burnt, by which above 60,000 persons perished, while at least an equal number were carried into slavery. Six thousand cannon were found in the place; 100,000 quintals of pepper, and an equal quantity of other spices. The day after this destruction, 21 gibbets were erected on a hill adjoining to the city; on which the queen, her children, and ladies, were executed, by hanging them up alive by the feet: however, the queen expired with anguish before she suffered such a cruel indignity. The king, with 50 of his chief lords, was cast into the sea, with flames about their necks. This monstrous cruelty so provoked the tyrant's soldiers, that they mutinied, and he was in no small danger of suffering for it; however, he found means to pacify them; after which he proceeded to besiege Prom, the capital of another kingdom. Here he increased his army to 900,000 men. The queen by whom it was governed offered to submit to be his vassal; but nothing would satisfy the Barma monarch less than her surrender at discretion, and putting all her treasure into his hands. This she, who knew his perfidy, refused to do; on which the city was fiercely assaulted, but greatly to the disadvantage of the Barmas, who lost near 100,000 men. However, the city was at last betrayed to him, when Mandara behaved with his usual cruelty. Two thousand children were slain, and their bodies cut in pieces and thrown to the elephants; the queen was stripped naked, publicly whipped, and then tortured, till she died; the young king was tied to her dead body, and both together cast into a river, as were also 300 other people of quality.

While the tyrant was employed in fortifying the city, he was informed, that the prince of Ava had sailed down the river Queytor with 400 rowing vessels having 30,000 soldiers on board; but that, hearing of the queen's disaster, he stopped at Meletay, a strong fortress about 12 leagues north of Prom, where he waited to be joined by his father the king of Ava with 80,000 men. On this news the Barma king sent his foster-brother Chaumigrem along the river-side with 200,000 men, while he himself followed with 100,000 more. The prince in this emergency burnt his barks, forming a vanguard of the mariners, and, putting his small army in the left position he could, expected the enemy. A most desperate engagement ensued, in which only 800 of the prince's army were left, and 115,000 out of 200,000 Barmas who opposed him were killed. The 800 Avans retired into the fort; but Mandara coming up soon after, and being enraged at the terrible havoc made in his army, attacked the fortress most violently for seven days; at the end of which time, the 800, finding themselves unable to hold out any longer, rushed out in a dark and rainy night, in order to sell their lives at as dear a rate as possible. This last effort was so extremely violent, that they broke through the enemy's troops in several places, and even pressed so hard on the king himself that he was forced to jump into the river. However, they were at last all cut off, but not before they had destroyed 12,000 of their enemies.

Mandara having thus become master of the fort, commanded it to be immediately repaired; and sailed up the river to the port of Ava, about a league from Pegu, the capital, where he burnt between 2000 and 3000 vessels, and lost in the enterprise about 8000 men. The city itself he did not think proper to invest, as it had been newly fortified, was defended by a numerous garrison, and an army of 80,000 men was advancing to its relief. The king also, apprehensive of Mandara's power, had implored the protection of the emperor Siam; offering to become his tributary on condition that he would assist him with his forces in recovering the city of Prom. To this the emperor readily assented; which news greatly alarmed the Barma monarch, so that he dispatched ambassadors to the Kalamimhan or sovereign of a large territory adjacent, requesting him to divert the emperor from his purpose. On the ambassadors return from this court, it appeared that the treaty had already taken effect; but as the season was not yet arrived for invading Ava, Chaumigrem the king's foster-brother was sent with 150,000 men to reduce Sebadi or Savadi the capital of a small kingdom about 130 leagues north-east from Pegu. The general, however, failed in his attempt; and afterwards endeavouring to revenge himself on a town in the neighbourhood, he was surprised by the enemy and put to flight.

In the meantime, the empire of Siam fell into great distractions; the king, together with the heir to the crown, were murdered by the queen, who had fallen in love with an officer, whom she married after her husband's death. However, both of them were soon after killed at an entertainment; and the crown was given to a natural brother of the late king, but a coward and a tyrant. On this Mandara resolved to invade the country; and, his principal courtiers concurring in the scheme, he collected an army of 80,000 men, with no fewer than 20,000 elephants. In this army were 1000 Portuguese, commanded by one James Suarez, who already had a pension of 200,000 ducats a-year from the king of Pegu, with the title of his brother, and governor of the kingdom. With this formidable army he set out in April 1548. His first achievement was the taking of a fort on the borders of the enemy's country; before which, being several times repulsed, and having lost 3000 of his men, he revenged himself by putting all the women to the sword. He next besieged the capital itself; but though the siege was continued for five months, during which time the most violent attacks were made upon it, the assailants were constantly repulsed with great loss. However, it was still resolved to continue the siege; and a mound of earth was raised, on which were placed 40 pieces of cannon, ready to batter it anew, when, in October, advice was received of a rebellion having broken out in Pegu.

The person who headed the rebels on the present occasion was Shoripam Shay, near akin to the former monarch slain twelve years before. He was a religious person, of great understanding, and esteemed a saint. As he was a famous preacher, he made a sermon, in which he set forth the tyranny of the Barmas in such a manner, that he was immediately taken out of the pulpit, and proclaimed king by the people, who, as a token of sovereignty, gave him the title of Shemindoo. The first act of sovereignty which he exerted was to cut in pieces 15,000 Barmas, and seize on the treasure; and so agreeable was this change of government to all ranks of people, that in three weeks time all the strong holds of Pegu fell into his hands.

On this news the king immediately raised the siege in which he was engaged, and in 17 days got to Martavan. Here he was informed, that Shemindoo had posted 500,000 men in different places, in order to intercept his passage; at the same time that he had the mortification to find 50,000 of his best troops deserted. To prevent a greater defection, after 14 days stay, he departed from Martavan, and soon met Shemindoo at the head of 600,000 men. A desperate engagement followed; in which Shemindoo was entirely defeated, with the loss of 300,000 men. Of the Barma troops were slain 60,000; among whom were 280 Portuguese.

The morning after this victory, the tyrant marched to the city; the inhabitants of which surrendered, on condition of having their lives and effects spared. The kingdom being thus again brought under his subjection, his next step was to punish the principal persons concerned in the rebellion: their heads he cut off, and confiscated their estates, which amounted to no less than ten millions of gold. Others say, that he put all without distinction to the sword, excepting only 12,000, who took shelter in James Suarez's house; that alone affording an asylum from the general slaughter. The plunder was incredible, Suarez alone getting three millions. All these cruelties, however, were insufficient to secure the allegiance of the tyrant's subjects: for in less than three months news was brought that the city of Martavan had revolted; and that the governor had not only declared for Shemindoo, but murdered 2000 Barmas. Mandara then summoned all the lords of the kingdom to meet him with their force, within 15 days, at a place called Mouchau, not far from his capital, whither he himself went with 300 men, to wait their arrival. But in the meantime he received intelligence that the shemin or governor of Zatan, a city of some consequence, had submitted to Shemindoo, and also lent him a large sum of gold. The shemin was immediately sent for in order to be put to death: but he, suspecting Mandara's design, excused himself by pretending sickness; after which, having consulted with his friends, he drew together about 600 men; and having with these privately advanced to the place where the king was, he killed him, with the few attendants that were about him at the time. The guards in the court being alarmed with the noise, a skirmish ensued with the shemin's men, in which about 800 were slain on both sides, most of them Barmas. The shemin then retreated to a place called Pontel; whither the people of the country, hearing of the death of the king, who was universally hated, resorted to him. When he had assembled about 5000 men, he returned to seek the troops which the late king had with him; and finding them dispersed in several places, easily killed them all. With the Barmas were slain 80 out of 300 Portuguese. The remainder surrendered, with Suarez their leader; and were spared, on condition of their remaining in the service of the shemin.

The shemin, now finding his forces daily increase, assumed the title of king; and, to render himself more popular, gave out that he would exterminate the the Barmas so effectually, as not to leave one in all the kingdom. It happened, however, that one of those who were with the late king at the time he was murdered, escaped the general slaughter; and, swimming over the river, informed Chaumigrem of the king's death. He had with him 180,000 men, all of them natives of Pegu, excepting 30,000 Barmas. He knew very well, that if the natives had known that the king was dead, he and all his Barmas would have instantly been put to the sword. Pretending, therefore, that he had received orders to put garrisons into several places, Chaumigrem dispatched all the natives into different parts; and thus got rid of those whom he had so much cause to fear. As soon as they were marched, he turned back upon the capital, and seized the king's treasure, together with all the arms and ammunition. He then set fire to the magazines, arsenals, palace, some of whose apartments were ceiled with gold, and 2000 rowing vessels which were on the river. Then destroying all the artillery, he fled with the 30,000 Barmas to his own country, being pursued in vain by the natives of Pegu.

Thus the shemin of Zatan was left in quiet possession of the kingdom; but, by his repeated acts of tyranny and cruelty, he so disgusted his subjects, that many fled to foreign countries, while others went over to Shemindoo, who began now to gather strength again. In the mean time, James Suarez, the Portuguese whom we have often mentioned, lost his life by attempting to ravish a young woman of distinction; the shemin being unable to protect him, and obliged to give him up to the mob, who flamed him to death. The shemin himself did not long survive him; for, being grown intolerable by his oppressions, most of his followers abandoned him, and he was besieged in his capital by Shemindoo with an army of 200,000 men, and soon after slain in a sally; so that Shemindoo now seemed to be fully established on the throne. But in the mean time Chaumigrem, the foster-brother to the deceased king, hearing that Pegu was very ill provided with the means of defence, invaded the kingdom with an army of 300,000 men. Shemindoo met him with three times their number; but his men, being all natives of Pegu, were inferior in strength, notwithstanding their numbers, to the enemy. The consequence was, that Shemindoo was defeated with prodigious slaughter, and Chaumigrem caused himself to be proclaimed king of Pegu. Shortly after, Shemindoo himself was taken; and, after being treated with the utmost cruelty, was beheaded.

The history of Chaumigrem is very imperfect. However, we know that he was a very great conqueror, and not at all inferior in cruelty to his predecessors. He reduced the empire of Siam and Arrakan, and died in 1583; being succeeded by his son named Pranjmoko, then about 50 years of age. When this prince ascended the throne, the kingdom of Pegu was in its greatest height of grandeur; but by his tyranny and obstinacy he lost all that his father had gained. He died in 1599, and after his death the kingdom of Pegu became subject to Arrakan. For some time past it has been tributary to the more powerful kingdom of Ava; the sovereigns of which country have hitherto been extremely cautious of permitting Europeans to obtain any settlement among them.

The air of Pegu is very healthy, and presently recovers sick strangers. The soil also is very rich and fertile in corn, rice, fruit, and roots; being enriched by the inundations of the river Pegu, which are almost incredible, extending above 30 leagues beyond its channel. It produces also good timber of several kinds. The country abounds with elephants, buffaloes, goats, hogs, and other animals, particularly game; and deer is so plenty in September and October, that one may be bought for three or four pence; they are very fleathy, but have no fat. There is store of good poultry; the cocks are vastly large, and the hens very beautiful. As for fish, there are many sorts, and well tasted. In Pegu are found mines, not only of gold, iron, tin, and lead, or rather a kind of copper or mixture of copper and lead, but also of rubies, diamonds, and sapphires. The rubies are the best in the world; but the diamonds are small, and only found in the craws of poultry and pheasants. Besides, only one family has the privilege of selling them; and none dare open the ground to dig for them. The rubies are found in a mountain in the province of Kablan, or Kapelan, between the city of Pegu and the port of Sirian.

The inhabitants are of an olive, or rather a tawny complexion. The women are branded by some travelers as having shook off all modesty, on account of their exposing some parts of their bodies which ought to be concealed from sight. Some also tell us, that the men wear bells, which at a certain age, viz. 25 or 30, or according to others, when they are capable of making use of women, are inserted on each side the virile member between the skin and the flesh, which is opened for that purpose, and healed in seven or eight days. The Peguans may be ranked among the most superstitious of all mankind. They maintain and worship crocodiles; and will drink nothing but the waters of the ditches where those monstrous animals harbour. By thus exposing themselves to the manifest hazard of their lives, they have frequently the misfortune to be devoured. They have five principal festivals in the year, called Japans, which they celebrate with extraordinary magnificence. In one of them the king and queen make a pilgrimage about 12 leagues from the city, riding on a triumphal car, so richly adorned with jewels, that it may be said without an hyperbole that they carry about with them the value of a kingdom. This prince is extremely rich; and has in the chapel of his palace idols of inestimable value, some of them being of maffy gold and silver, and adorned with all sorts of precious stones. The talapoins, or priests of this country, have no possessions; but such is the respect paid them by the people, that they are never known to want. They preach to them every Monday not to commit murder; to take from no person any thing belonging to him; to do no hurt; to give no offence; to avoid impurity and superstition; but above all, not to worship the devil; but these discourses have no effect in the last respect. The people, attached to manicheism, believe that all good comes from God; that the devil is the author of all the evil that happens to men; and that therefore they ought to worship him, that he may not afflict them. This is a common notion among the Indian idolaters.

The inhabitants of Pegu are accused by some authors with being slovenly in their houses, and nasty in their diet. diet, on account of their seasoning their viands with fidol, a composition made of flinking fish, reduced to a consistency like mustard, so nauseous and offensive that none but themselves can endure the smell of it. Balbi says, he could sooner bear the scent of flinking carrion; and yet with this they season their rice, and other soups, instead of oil or butter. As they have no wheat in this country, their bread is rice made into cakes. Their common drink is water, or a liquor distilled from cocoa nut water. They are a spirited and warlike people; open, generous, and hospitable; and have neither the indolence nor the jealousy of most other eastern nations.

The men here, as in most eastern countries, buy their wives, or pay their parents a dowry for them. They have an odd custom; which is to offer their daughters to strangers, and hire them out for a time: some say they hire out their wives in the same manner. These marriages for a time are well regulated, and often prove very beneficial to the occasional husband. Most of the foreigners who trade hither, marry a wife for the time of their stay. In case of a separation, the father is ob- liged to take care of the boys, and the mother of the girls. We are told that no woman is looked upon the worst, but rather the better, for having had several European husbands: nay, we are told, that no person of fashion in Pegu, from the gentleman to the king, will marry a maiden, till some acquaintance or stranger has had the first night's lodging with her.

In Pegu, the inheritance of all land is in the king: he is likewise the heir of all his subjects who die with- out issue; but in case they have children, two-thirds go to them, and the rest to his majesty.

In the government of this country, despotism pre- vails in its full extent, and despotism too of the very worst kind; for the inhabitants are under the absolute power of a set of petty tyrants, who are themselves nothing more than slaves to the king of Ava. As they have little or no emolument, except what they can raise by extortion, it is exercised in the most unlimited man- ner. They take cognizance of all disputes between individuals that come to their ears, without the case being laid before them by either of the parties; and on whatever side the cause is determined, there is a never-failing charge brought in against both, for jus- tice, as they express it; and this price of justice is often three or four times greater than the value of the matter in agitation.

But the inconveniences that this government labours under are not only those of despotism; the unhappy subjects feel those of anarchy too. There are about twenty persons concerned in the government of Ran- goon, who, though one is subordinate to another, and though matters of the first consequence are determined in a council of the whole, can yet act separately; and any one member of this body can by his own authority give out orders, which no inhabitant of Pegu dares to disobey. Those orders may be contrary to the sense of the whole body; in which case they are, indeed, reversed in council: but then there are instances, and "I myself," (says a late traveller,) observed one, of such orders being notwithstanding repeated more than once by the same person, and obeyed each time, till they were again reversed: nor was any redress obtained by the party aggrieved, or any effectual measures taken to prevent such a contempt of authority for the future."

When a person falls sick, we are told that they ge- nerally make a vow to the devil, from whom they be- lieve all evil comes. Then a scaffold is built, and vic- tuals are spread on the top of it to solace Old Nick, and render him propitious. This feast is accompanied with lighted candles and music; and the whole is managed by an undertaker called the devil's father.

The commodities exported from this country are gold, silver, rubies, musk, benjamin, long-pepper, tin, lead, copper; lakka, or gum-lac, whereof they make hard wax; rice; rice-wine; and some sugar-canes, of which they would have plenty, but that the elephants eat them. It may be observed, that under the name of rubies, the Peguans comprise topazes, sapphires, amethysts, and other stones; which they distinguish by saying the blue, the violet, and the yellow rubies. The true ruby is red, transparent, or sparkling, inclining near the surface to the violet of the amethyst. Cotton cloths from Bengal and Coromandel, with some striped silks, are sent for the Pegu market, and silver of any sort will go off there: for the king, in return for his eight and a half per cent. duty on it, allows the mer- chants to melt it down, and put what copper alloy they please in it. They wear none of our European commodities in Pegu but hats and ribbons. The gen- try will give extravagant prices for fine beaver hats, which they wear without any cock. They are also fond of ribbons; flowered with gold and silver, which they wear round their hats.

As to the religion of the Peguans, it is the same at bottom with that which prevails over the rest of India and Tibet; only varies in degree somewhat in different countries, according to the humour or interest of the priests. They hold the existence of one supreme God, of whom they make no image; but they have many inferior created gods, whose images are set up in the temples for the laity to worship. Not content with these, we are told they worship the devil also. Many are seen to run about the streets every morning, with rice in one hand and a torch in the other, crying aloud, that they are going to give the devil his break- fast, that he may not hurt them all the day. Besides the manichean doctrine of two principles, one the au- thor of good and the other of evil, from whence their worshipping the devil has its rise, they believe an etern- al succession of worlds without creation. The Peguans hold the doctrine of the Metempsychosis, or transmi- gration of the human soul, which, after passing through the bodies of various animals, shall attain to the per- fection and felicity of their gods; which in effect is no other than a state of annihilation. They have a strong opinion of the sanctity of apes and crocodiles, inasmuch that they believe the persons to be perfectly happy who are devoured by them. Their temples are of a conic form, and some of them a quarter of a mile round. They observe a great many festivals, some of which are called Japan. The images of their inferior gods are in a fitting posture, with their legs across, and toes of equal length: their arms and hands very small in proportion to their bodies; their faces longer than human; their ears long, and the lappets very thick. The congregation bow to them when they come in and Peguntium when they go out; and that is all the worship which they pay to them. The priests of Pegu, called tudapin, are a sort of mendicant friars. They observe celibacy; and eat but once a day; living in the woods, in a fort of nets or cages built on the tops of trees for fear of the tygers. They preach frequently, lead very innocent lives, and are very hospitable and humane.

The king of Pegu's revenues arise chiefly from the rent of lands, of which he is the sole proprietor. Another branch of it are the duties paid for the commodities imported or exported. In a word, he is judged the richest monarch in the world, next to the emperor of China.