firft appear iffiiirig out o f the cells fix-legged and winglefs,
and are amazingly aétive and lively ; each cell contains about ai
hundred; the eggs they proceed from are lodged in the-cells-
in a deep-red liquor, Thefe- are the females. The males are*
winged, and are not in proportion to» the females more than
one to five thoufand, but they are four or five times' their fize.
The eggs, and the liquor they are lodged in, give a moil beautiful
red.. Doctor Roxburgh acknowleges, that the fubject from which
the materials o f the ceils is. collected is as yet unknown.
L ac is brought over to Europe in three forms ; adhering to
the flicks,, with the cells and infects; prepared in form-of cakes;:
or in fmall grains, or feed lac, which, is the infect advanced into
a pupa ftate. This drug was once ufed in medicine; in diforders:
o f the gums, proceeding from colds or icorbutic habits ; but the
ufes are now confined to the making of fealing wax, or for
dying. Gerard* gives a figure of a flick of the tree, and the
lac adhering, and fuppofes it to be the Luchs o f 'Avicen, the
Cançamum of Diofcorides.
Im p o r t s . Pegu imports from Bengal great quantities of Indian goods,
and feme European, efpecially hats,, The coco palm does not
grow in Pegu, the nut is therefore aconfiderable import. Dumpier
ihipped eleven thoufand, and five or fix hundred pounds»
weight o f fugar, as prefents for the king,.
iivER-op Pegv. ; T he river o f Pegu arifes in the province o f Tünan, in China,..
paffes through the upper part o f the kingdom o f Siam, and
forces its way through a great chain of mountains in- about L a t ,
ao° 32', which run from north to eaft, dividing Siam from Pegu ;
City; here it affumes the name o f that kingdom. The capital city
ftands
ffands on the .eaftern hank, in about Lat. 18° 8'. Th its pro-
fperity it confifted of two parts, the old and the new ; the laft w as
the royal refidence,and completed about the year 1567, by Man-
dar-agri, the fecond Burmagh king». A tyrant monarch- arofe,
who oppreffed his fubjecfts to fuch a degree, as to-encourage the
neighboring princes to invade his dominions, and in 1596, he
was befieged by them in his capital, T h e Portuguefe, in conjunction
with certain Turks, caufed the fiegs to- be raifed, but
out of a hundred and fifty thoufand inhabitants, only» thirty
thoufand- were left,- all the- others pert ihed; either, by- the fword
or famine ; it had at that time threethoufand cannon for its defence;
o f which one thoufand were brafs. The kingS of Aracan’
and languXoo'it advantage o f his diftrefs, the city was again» befieged;
furrendered to the latter, and the unfortunate monarchy
and his whole family, put to death- by order o f his own fitter,.
queen* to the viaorious king-; the place was foon deferred, and
the feat o f empire transferred to- Ava- The city o f Pegu was of
vaft fize, a regular fquare,. with four grand ftreets leading to
four gates, and being feated on a plain,.a period at the center
could fee them all at once, though the city was a. mile each way,
The ho ufes were- built with bamboo it was furrounded with
walls, and a deep wet ditch, flocked with crocodiles,, to prevent Crocowi.es.
people attempting to get in or out o f the city by fwimming or •
wading.
T he bore, or beadwave o f the tide; which runs up this river is ■ B * Head"
o f amazing violence and rapidity ;- people who have the misfortune
of being Ihipwrecked on the banks near therihore, at low
water or ebb of tide, are obliged tofleek the land with all poflibte
fipeed,.for fear left they ihould be.fwept away. On its entering;
ther