L ow e r S ia m «
T ow n o f
M e r g u i .
matters, the Buragbmahs, are liker to the Arabs in their features,
and of a d a r k e r , complexion than the Peguers ; they are much
addicted to commerce, and fo numerous, even in Pegu, as to exceed
the natives as ioo to I. They tattow themfelves, and by
rubbing in gunpowder, the marks become permanent: the men
are ftout made; they paint their thighs in graceful flourifhes.
T he lower Siam, part o f the great kingdom o f Siam, begins
in Lat. 14” S°'- The town o f Mergui ftands on an iiland in the
mouth of the river BenaJJlerim, in Lat. 12” r f ; it was once a
moft flouriihing emporium, till it was, by the tyranny o f the government,
aim oft totally deferted, and the whole neighborhood
became the habitation of wild beafts. Mergui was, at the dole
o f the laft century, much frequented by the Englijh free merchants
; but they were recalled by the Eajl, India company.
They likewife had a fort here, now in ruins. During the inundations,
there is a paflage from Mergui to Juthia, or the capital
o f Siam, which may at that feafon be performed the greateft part
o f the way on rafts in three weeks, but in the dry feafon the paf-
fage takes twice the time. The river runs feveral leagues due
eaft, and after it has pafled the city of Benafferim, turns to the
north, and keeps for a waft,length o f way towards its origin,
which is faid to be in China. The river, and the town o f Mergm,
were the Daona of Ptolemy, and the city of Benajerm the
Berobe. c
A g r e a t chain of mountains divides thekingdom o f Siam in
two - it begins to the eaft o f -Benajerm, and pointing north
pafles through the kingdom of Ava, continues its courfe
through China, and probably unites with thofe o f BMetaxd. even
Bartary. ■ .
J Mergui,
Mergui ftands oppofite to the center of the Archipelago o f the Archipelago
lame name, a moft numerous group o f ifles, beginning in about
Lat. 13" 13', and reaching as low as Lat. 10° 15', and in
length ftretching along the coaft a hundred and thirty miles from
north to fouth, and from thirty to fifteen miles diftant from the
continent: the channel has all the way good foundings, good
anchorage, and regular tides, which on the fprings rife to twelve
feet. Captain Bhomas Forrejl, in 1783, took a moft accurate
furvey o f thefe iilands, and proved the advantage o f a know-
lege of the channel between them and the main land. At p.p.
i, ii. o f his preface, he ihews how our Indiamen may, in their
way to Europe., fave the hazard o f being embayed and lofing
their paflage, by taking this route, and by getting round Atcheen
head in Sumatra, proceed to Europe.
A iL the ifles aremountano.us, and may be feen in clear weather
at the diftanceof fourteen or fifteen leagues, and moft o f them
finely wooded: many o f the trees are very lofty; among them is
the Boon tree,- or Uvaria Altiffima, fo ufeful for mails, and the
Coco palm, of fuch univerfal ufe in all parts of India. In Pegu,
the nut is efteemed a neceflary of life, nearly as much as
rice.
T he iilands are o f various fizes and forms, but generally very
fma ll; many exactly o f the fhape o f a bee-hive, and clothed
with woods; a few are very rocky, and fo rudely broken, as to
feem flung up by a mighty convullion; fuch are the rocks called
the Cupelo. The largeft ifles are St. Mathews, St. Sufannas,
a<nd Sullivans, or the Domel. Among them are fome very good
harbors, particularly Hajlings Bay, in the ifle o f St. Mathews HastikcsBay.
-YpL. III. D > Mr.