APPENDIX A.
NARRATIVE OF AN EMBASSY FROM THE KING OF AVA
TO THE KING OF COCHIN CHINA.
I n the year 1 8 2 3 , the very one following our own Mission,
the present King o f Ava, who had ju st ascended the
throne, sent an Embassy to the King o f Cochin China, the
circumstances and results o f which are so illustrative o f the
character of the two Governments of Ava and Cochin China,
but more particularly of the last, that I have deemed a
succinct account of it worth appending to the present work.
The following brief explanation of the circumstances which
led to the Burmese Mission, and o f the manner in which
the Narrative fell into my hands, and has been prepared,
will be necessary.— In 1 8 2 2 , a certain Cochin Chinese
petty chief, or inferior officer, who had once professed the
Christian religion, but apostatized, represented to Chao
Kun, the Governor of Kamboja, so frequently mentioned
in my Journal, that a mine of wealth might be made by
purchasing esculent swallows’ nests in Ava and sending