smooth expanse of ice. A judiCious summary of the diseases prevalent in Bootan and Tibet, concludes his valuable communication, which he thus terminates. "I have dwelt long on this subject, because I think the knowledge and observation of these people on the diseases of their country, with their medical practice, keep pace with a refinement and state of civilization, which struck me with wonder, and no doubt, will give rise to much curious speculation, when known to be the manner of a people, holding so little intercourse, with what we term civilized na

tions."

Poorungheer Gossein returned to Teshoo Loomboo, on a mercantile adventure, in the year 1785, and carried letters from Mr Has tings; he found that other specula tors from Bengal, had already availed themselves of this newly opened channel, and that the trade exceeded what might have been expected, at so early a period from its commencement. The young Lama had been solemnly inaugurated, on the 4th October 1784, when he attained his third year, the Dalai Lama, Chinese Viceroy, and an embassador from Pekin, attending to honour that political, and religious ceremony.

It only remains to state, the circumstances which have since un fortunately occurred, to interrupt the intercourse so happily begun. In the year 1792, the Nepalese instigated by a desire of plunder,

invaded Tibet; the young Lama. and his court unprepared for resistance, filed from their capital; Teshoo Loomboo was plundered, and the rich spoils carried off to Nepal by the invaders. An army of Chinese troops advanced to punish this unprovoked aggreffion; the Nepalese suffered successive defeats, and the Rajah imploring the mediation of the Bengal government, Capt. Kirkpatrick was ordered to Nepal for that purpose. But the suspicious character of the Chinese court, did not fail to extract from this circumstance, inferences extremely prejudicial to the intentions which had actuated the English, in their intercourse with Tibet and a Chinese guard stationed on the northern frontier of Bootan, precludes all access from the Com pany's possessions to the territory of the Lama.

The length of our remarks, and the multiplicity of our quotations, sufficiently indicate the high opi nion we entertain of the instructive and amusing work, on which we have so long arrested the attention of our readers. To a very extensive range of observation, Captain Turner unites no common talent for description; whilst the grandeur of the natural scenery, the novelty of the manners, and singularity of the customs, furnish ample scope for the exertion of those qualifications, and have concurred to produce one of the most interesting performances, with which we are acquainted.

FROM the eastern frontiers of Bengal to the confines of China, a fertile and populous region, wa

tered by many navigable streams, is interposed. A variety of nations inhabit this extensive tract, SB 2

whose

whose languages are dissimilar, but whose corporeal configuration strongly indicates the same origin; and the schism introduced by 'Buddha, the ninth Avatara, into the antique system of Brahmanical faith, constitutes the general creed. Amongst these people, four kingdoms have been distinguished as of prominent importance; 1st, Ava, the name by which the land of Miamma is known to Europeans, derived from that of its antient capital, and situated inland in the centre of the tract above de scribed: 2d, Pegu, called by the patives Bagu, bounded Ava on the south, and stretched along the coasts as far as Martaban: 3d, Aracan, occupied the western coasts of the Bay of Bengal, more valuable from the luxuriant fertility of its soil, than the extent of its territory. A ridge of lofty mountains divided this maritime country from the land of Miamma 4th, Siam stretches a level plain from the coast of Tenaserim to the ill-defined limits of Cambodia and Laos. In the progress of research, some perplexity must be expected to ensue from the multiplicity of proper names; few of these countries are known to the natives by their European names, though all of them are distinguished by two appellations, a vernaculnr one, and a scientific, derived from the Pali tongue, which appears to correspond with the Sanscrit.

Of these divisions, the first is occupied by the Burmans, a warlike nation, who during the last half of the sixteenth century, and great part of the last, asserted a supremacy, and exacted a tribute from the King of Pegu. In 1744, the Peguvians threw off the yoke, carried their arms into the Burman territories; and in 1752, the capture of Ava, and the captivity of

Divipadi its monarch, terminated a long line of Burman sovereigns. The conquest was complete, and after stationing a garrison in Ava, and the most considerable towns of his newly acquired dominions, the Peguvian prince returned to his capital in perfect security; when these sudden acquisitions were as suddenly lost, by an insurrection, in a quarter where it was least apprehended. Alompra, a Burman of low extraction, expelled the Peguvian guard from Monchabu, his native village, north of Ava. The intrepidity of his character, the insolence of the Peguvian soldiers, and the dread of a foreign yoke, brought num bers to his standard as soon as it was erected; and in 1753, the invaders were entirely expelled from the northern provinces. Thus commenced a new dynasty of Burman sovereigns; the military exploits of the founder, the entire conquest of Pegu and extinction of the reigning family, the judicial and politicul institutions which he devised for the regulation of his em pire, with the foundation of the now flourishing port of Rangun, mark the energetic and compre hensive mind of this Burman peasant. The last expedition which he undertook was directed against the Siamese, and his was army blockading Yudia, the capital of that empire, when Alompra was attacked by the disorder which put a period to his life, in 1760, after a brilliant and busy reign of six years. The short reign of his eldest son, Namdogi Pra, was agitated by successive rebellions, which were successively reduced; but his death in 1764, exposed the state to new disorders. His bro ther, Shembuan, usurped the sceptre from the infant heir, and adopting the ambitious designs of

his father, attacked the neighbouring dominions of Siam, which were reduced, the capital taken, and a Siamese governor appointed, who engaged to pay a tribute to the Burman monarch. But the total destruction of an immense army of Chinese, which issuing from the contiguous province of Yunnan, advanced into the heart of his dominions, was the most brilliant event which distinguished the reign of Shembuan. For the transitory possession of Siam was soon after lost by a general insurrection of the people, in favor of Pitic Singh, a relation of the former king. Shembuan died in 1776; the debauched character of his son and successor occasioned a revolution in 1781, which terminated by the accession of his present Majesty, Mindragi Pra, to the throne. This prince is the fourth son of the deceased Alompra, and when he assumed the reins of government was 43 years of age, which he had spent in that obscurity, which could alone have protected him from the jealousy of the successive candidates for power. The dominions to which Mindragi Pra thus succeeded, in addition to the Burman territories, comprehended the whole of Pegu, as far south as Mergui, on the coast of Tenaserim. Zemi, (the Chiami of La Loubere) and Sandepura, better known by the name of Laos, on the east, were governed by tributary chiefs. To consolidate this powerful state, nothing was wanting but the addition of Aracan, which had hitherto escaped the horrors of war fare; whilst its unwarlike monarch and inhabitants, inured to peace, presented no very formidable obstacle to a nation so long accustomed to arms. This expedition was undertaken in 1783, and was

successful; a few months put the Burmans in possession of that fertile maritime tract, with the highly cultivated isles of Cheduba and Ramari, which constituted two of its provinces. The king of Ara can was carried a prisoner to the Burman capital, where he soon af◄ ter died a natural death. "Mogo," Colonel Symes informs us, "is a term of religious import and high sanctity, applied to the priest hood and the king, whence the inhabitants of Aracan are often called by Europeans, Mughs." This is not impossible; yet in the Sanscrit dictionary, entitled Vis wa-pracasa, or the World Illus trated, Mogho is said to be the name of a country, which we have always considered as Aracan.

"Indisputably pre-eminent a mong the nations inhabiting the vast peninsula that separates the gulf of Bengal from the Chinese sea; possessed of a territory equal in extent to the German empire; blessed with a luxuriant climate, and a soil capable of producing almost every article of luxury, convenience, and commerce, that the east can supply; Miamma or Burmah, thus happily circumstanced, enjoyed the pleasing prospect of a long exemption from the miseries of war," when an event occurred which had nearly em. broiled them with a more formi dable enemy than they had hi therto encountered.

The trade of Aracan had suffered repeated interruptions from piratical banditti, who, not con tented with their depredations on private merchants, had even the hardiness to attack fleets, laden with the royal customs, which are usually received in kind, in the proportion of one-tenth. The booty thus acquired they conveyed across the river Naf, which se parates

§ B 3

parates Aracan from Chittagong; where they remained, secure from pursuit, under the protection of the British flag. "The banks of the Naf are covered with deep jungles, interspersed with scanty spots of cultivation, and a few wretched villages, where dwell the poorest class of herdsmen, and the families of roving hunters, whose Occupation it is to catch and tame the wild elephants, with which these forests abound. The asylum that such unfrequented places afforded to persons concerned in a Jawless traffic, rendered it easy to be carried on without the know

were

ledge of the English officers of justice.' The offender and the offence were equally unknown in Calcutta, when government received information, that an army of Burmans, crossing the Naf, had encamped on the Company's territories. This party consisted of 5000 men; 20,000 more held in readiness in Aracan to support them, and the instructions of their commander were, not to return without the delinquents dead or alive. This officer seems, however, to have entertained a more accurate conception of the arduous nature of the enterprise, than the government whose agent he was. The negociations which ensued, terminated in his re-crossing the Naf; the delinquents were apprehended, tried, and convicted of piracy; and the execution of justice removed all cause of dissension between the neighbouring states. Lord Teignmouth, with the ability characteristic of that judicious governor, saw the opportunity favourable for adjusting the commercial intercourse between Bengal and Pegu, which, though harassed by subordinate imposi. tion, took off annually to the amount of 200,000l. in Indian

commodities, and supplied from the forests of Ava and Pegu, inexhaustible stores of teak timber for ship-building. But the importance attached to cultivating an amicable intercourse with the Burman government, was not limited to commercial relations; and the preponderance of this rising state in the scale of eastern nations, rendered it desirable, in a political view.

"The Burmans, under their present monarch, are certainly rising fast in the scale of oriental nations; and it is to be hoped, that a long respite from foreign wars will give them leisure to improve their natural advantages. Knowledge increases with commerce; and as they are not shackled by any prejudice of casts, restricted to hereditary occupations, or forbidden from participating with strangers in every social bond, their advancement will, in all probability, be rapid. At present, so far from being in a state of intellectual darkness, although they have not explored the depths of science, nor reached to excellence in the finer arts, they yet have an undeniable claim to the character of a civilized and well-instructed people. Their laws are wise, and pregnant with sound morality; their police is better regulated than in most European countries; their natural disposition is friendly, and hospitable to strangers; and their manners rather expressive of manly candour than courteous dissimu lation; the gradations of rank, and the respect due to station, are maintained with a scrupulosity which never relaxes. A knowledge of letters is so widely dif fused, that there are no mechanics, few of the peasantry, or even the common watermen (usually the most illiterate class), who cannot

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