their use. The King's Palace is in the middle of the city, made in form of a walled castle with ditches full of water round about it; the lodgings within are made of wood all over gilded, with fine pinnacles, and very costly work, covered with plates of gold. Truly it may be a King's house: within the gate there is a fair large Court, from the
Fig. 72. Burman at his devotions.
one side to the other wherein there are made places for the strongest and stoutest elephants appointed for the service of the King's person, and amongst all other elephants he has four that be white, a thing so rare that a man shall hardly find another King that has any such, and if the King know that any other hath white elephants, he sendeth for them as for a gift[1].
Now Pegu is a small provincial town, chiefly interesting on account of its rich treasures of Buddhist antiquities. Conspicuous are the beautiful Shwemawdaw Pagoda, 324 feet in height, dating from the 6th century, vividly described by Captain Symes; and the great recumbent image of Gaudama Buddha called the Shin-bin-tha-lyaung.
Mergui. Mergui (17,297), on the Tenasserim coast, was formerly classed with Rangoon and Negrais as one of the three best ports in the east[2]. Crawfurd writes: "The best and securest harbour, without reference, however, to commercial convenience is that of Mergui....This will admit vessels of almost any burthen, and the ingress and egress are perfectly safe at all times[3]." Mergui is the depot of
