There was hardly time to save the dispatches, jewels, and
other presents for the Court of Cochin China.
Having made application to the Governor of Prince of
Wales’s Island, a loan of 4000 dollars was given to me for
a bill on the Myowun of Rangoon.* The Mission then took
a passage in a Portuguese ship.
I t finally sailed, on the 22d o f April, from Prince of
Wales’s Island, reached Malacca on the 2d of May, and
Singapore on the 12th. On the 18th we left this last place,
and on the 1st of June reached the anchorage of Vungtao,
or that o f Cape St. James in Kamboja.
On the 3rd the Mission reached the village o f Canju.
Four barges of ceremony came here to receive us from Sai-
gun, to which place we proceeded on the 8th. Seven elephants
were sent to the landing-place to receive us when
we arrived ; and on the same day the governor sent hogs,
poultry, fish, &c., with one hundred quans, as a present.
June 10.—The Mission received a visit from the Secretary
o f the Governor-General. He asked me if we had a
copy o f the letter from the Burman Government;— why
the Burmans, so powerful a people, were unable, after so
many attempts, to conquer the Siamese; and what benefit
could arise from an alliance between the Burmans and Cochin
Chinese, since they were at so great a distance from
each other, and therefore not in a condition to act in concert.
Finally, the Secretary demanded a translation o f the
Burman letter.
W e replied, that a copy of the letter alluded to was unfortunately
destroyed when the Mission ship was burnt at
* The return made for this piece of hospitality was the Myowun's
dishonouring Mr. Gibson’s draft, and trampling it under his feet.
He made it, however, a pretext for levying a contribution on the
town of Rangoon, as I afterwards satisfactorily ascertained, while in
civil charge of the place.
Prince of Wales’s Island ; but that when the letter itself
was perused, all the objects o f the Mission would be fully
explained in it. W e observed, that we did not consider
the intercourse between the Burmans and Cochin Chinese
a matter o f any difficulty, since the one was in possession of
the northern and the other o f the southern extremity o f the
great river of Kamboja ; and if the Siamese, who occupied
the centre, were conquered, every difficulty would be removed,
and an easy intercourse carried on. In another
quarter, the two nations, we said, were close to each o ther ;
the tribe of the Lenjen, or Laolantao, being the only interruption
to an immediate intercourse between the Burman
province o f Kiangounge and the kingdom of Tonquin.
W e insisted that the Siamese were rebels, having been
frequently conquered by the Burmans, and that their subjugation
was a point on which his present Burman Majesty
was resolved. He was pleased, therefore, to see the Cochin
Chinese emissary, who had visited his country, and had taken
that opportunity o f requesting the assistance of the Cochin
Chinese Government, by sending the present Mission ; while
he had, at the same time, recalled his army in Martaban, to
make preparation for the war.
On the same day, two French gentlemen paid the Mission
a v is it : they .informed us that o f the many French
who were once in the country, two o f the elder ones only
survived, and that the whole French gentlemen in Cochin
China were only five exclusive of missionaries. The present
King had openly expressed a dislike to Europeans, and
had forbid the open profession of the Christian religion. He
has refused to admit the two Bishops into his presence, according
to former usage; and when one o f them lately
presented himself, he insulted him, by offering him a piece
o f money as to a common beggar.
June 11.— A deputation of officers o f rank waited on the