December.
Sunday 8.
( 2i 4 ) '
o’clock 'that vve pdffed the only inhabited place o f this day’s voyage ;
and which might now have efea pell,our notice,7 i f the folffiers? d#the
‘cantonment ’had'nbt exhibited their paper lanterns, and. dffcharged a
few vollies of relpedt towards us. *
. The weather h a s f fcfoMnle ‘"timer,' been tem]$^t§lvahtf -preafant r
the country alfo tas gradually loft its fertile appearance,, arrcr is now
become mountainous and barrens fome -o£ tlie^mountains, indeed,,
are cohered with wood, but the furface of'the earth'^s here loft all
that richnefs’ which had-fa loirg oloathed it: The population o f the'
country may Bfc fuppofed to have fuffered a proportionate diminution';
'but the tillages, though, they are mote thinly fcatlered thuhfheyTiave
■ hitherto been* become more pidturefque objects' both from their form
and fituation:' v
The high grbundyhear1 the rivfer, inmk"ny’p'laces,': Iofe their abrupt
and ru'gged appearanfce beneath the verdure of dwarF-trees'^of ‘^arKirfe
kinds, among which the camphire tree is faid to predominate?- '
But though the profpedt was now Becbmfe .a' mere fucceffion of rude
mountain and‘barren valley, it was fometim^^liifened^bjf a^pagoda
in the diftance, while the village ftill continued to animate the banks,
o f the river.
We'riow' Ohferved feveral fepulchres or funera'l monuments that’had
been erected In various parts'of the mountainswith excavations in the
rocks beneath them to ireceive'the dead. That an "amiable iupcrftftton-
might wilh to configh the remains of the parent or the child, the friend
dr"the fetation, to fuch a fepulchral retreat, elevated as it were above the
world, and, as'it might be thought by the Pagan mythology, nearer
to that heaven, where their fpirits were deftined to wing, - or had
" already taken flight, is not inconfiftent with the beft feelings o f nature
and religion. But fome of thefe places facred to the dead appeared to
1 u$>
'7 93-
December.
)
us.-^at lepft,, fpch^r^atlpn^, 4&vfo render the attempt to gain
^icggfs to themjyr^xircm^ftaWe^f^p, ^rap.11 ^a.z%$kitq the?,living.
,^^u^fun-fffewe*'paiT@d a, largp;(tct%0 t^hq^Syn-cnapL^au, which, is I
fituat^d^ojq^afyfmalk plS^p betwe§n|dhe ri\ ujytaqd^fonie 'high mountains
coveted? with, yi ©,od ; nor. is tlus lornmtic appc ua^p^Jeffened'By a large
py^n^iuical ro^ihjMith a very lofty pagoiUJ,oii'tlfe top ©fit. ;
Two confidea-^hleIt«ps and fev^raL)?gl|1age/sif jwith, vtheir {jujifei/ Monday 9-.
.Weyerthe, .principal o1^^jfcg||6h%,43«yj^:,^>yage > ti'Uj^d arrived u r t ^
evening at the city pf Naung^pim-fp^.,, As-the ©mbaffyyvVasj to make-
a'jpifiaiey o f one day,, j§«gr land froincihis»place;'(pjepaf^t|ogSjigre' rqade I
accordingly,under,tBfe ufhal directions ®f;the attendant mandarin.
V T,hg Aipbaffadot or^p^ed^auf crew&pfi the, Tutfdiy S
refpedhve j&nkjS aij^^after an^.ftyj btoakff,ft* jfffkfuitejfo$^^e^ tlie
baggage, lyth w/as’^h^dy ,<jjgnt-on fh^fe, ...
The"landing-m^e ..was a,dojpied with*; a^ grandr |^ujnph'al arch,
diooiated wtthj'.lilk and fti camcis o f variou^ c& MMjfe Hfite I was
prelented, wittea tickot^A^njaaning^of which .Ldid. not comprehend.
I ^J^pprocegded aMiggJ^ipd of ip^atfojjrp, .covered ■yhh^hcjmattiwg1j?''
it^juMif and nnlipg w ere ornp.nented with tibb,®ns, ahd filk, in |l^e fante-
mannerl as the triumphal arch,- and a range of lamps were fufpendedP’ *-
in aweyy, eleganC&rmon each fiae'pf it. 1 1
ThiSjj phtforfn led .to^a*circular court, furrounded by a|T(|reeiii of
mic, which .eonlained,, as yred vas hffipultl catePlkte^o.tafifne 3bf
them, between, two and three hundred horfes, attended by their
owners, and from which every perfon in the Ambaflador’s retinue
was at liberty to .chufe a beaft for .the journey of the day ; as from the
badnefs of the roads, and th'e .length pf the way, it was ordered, that
the whole fuitc, .except the Ambaffiidor-, Sir George Staunton, and ff
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