engage in his support. These, desperadoes made am attach upon the
municipal officers;, when assembled in the Rhasnm, or public ball of justice,
several of whom they put ta the. swtmd; hut by the spiriled exertions:
of the Maywoea, the: rebeUham was-, crushed before: i t Beached; flo a height
that- could endanger the sta te Tramquifky and order were speedily
restored. One this occasion, upwards: of 500 Begums suffered death by
the eKecutfoner;. which rmpressed such a fasting terror an the: minds, of
othess, that BO’ attempt "has, since been made b y the. PegmerXj to castoff
the Birmaffli yoke,
The new monarch, more ambitious thane his nephew, not content: with,
the widely extended dominions which, he possessed, meditated, yet farther
acquisitions,, fa a quarter hitherto untried by any descendamt of Alompra.
Conquest had already been stretched southward as far as Mergui, on the
coast of Tenasserem, comprehending Tavoy, and theseveral.ports: on the.
western shore of the peninsulas» Complete’ sBbjugalioa.ofi.tfae Gaassyers:
was scarcely te. be expected!, as from, their: bids mid-, ffafaessea tfaeyveaplA
incessantly harrass the invaders, and render the country an unproductive
waste. Zeraee, Saadapoara* and many districts^f the Ytudra Shaan to
the eastward,. were tributary and governed b y Gfaobwas, who amroallyc
paid homage tp- the Birman King, The province of Bamo®; the fwRof
Qaanfang, and several, places of leas: note,, had been: taken from th e Ghk
nese, as far- aft the woody mountains that divide the south-west of Man-
chegee, or Yunan, from tJaa kingdom of A v a West of Anoupectoumioa
lay ^ country, the fertility of whose soil, and its aptitude for commerce,,
attracted the avarice o i the Birman monarch, whilst the imbecility of its
gftwnme.nl invited to an easy conquest Tike-distance; from: the town of
* The Pali name for Lauchung, or Laos.
E M B A S S Y T O A V A . 1 0 3
Sembeu-Ghewn, on the west bank of the rivet Irrawaddy, to MerOtlg
Chidden.*,at the eastern foot of t h e t t , does, not exceed fartyfive mile* j
thence the distah^p,v,erl:fenioqntaiA^s*SBellakBe; on the ^ je sifa isid e /i*
fifty-six miles, but the road* is so difficult from natural impediments, that an
toterprizing people might, with aSmdlfoj-ce^defend the passesagliUst any
numbers. : The.Birman King, however, was t o well adquainteds with the
supiaeness of MahasmHcM,t“ Raja df Arraean,j indiheiimwarlike dispo*
Shinn of his sufigeets, to dread any vigorous opposition.; he determined «?
invade, the ’coumtry, with a v iew ^ jw re sti’it; from it* ancient. rulers, and
render’ it an: appendage: to the. Birman Crow®
: : Th e andent .goiveinmrent of Arraean, according tea the most authentic:
waters, hadrtever been So completely conquered as to acknewledgeiffi-
p fe it vassalages te. at foreign^ power t it experienced, fa the m o lust centuries,
the usual copvuilsions to. wfakhi aliistatesy and those of tfl© esstgffi
worid in pmticadaa'f ane • liable.. The Mbgulsi e® the we®6^|, and tfag
Peguers on th e east; had; at different periods,. carried theft ara® into the
heart of the comtey. T h e Pnrfugjiezevy sometimes. ash a lfe s,'a s
as ppenrememies, gained an estsebMiment f a Asrat<ss®r;- which.decayed only
* “ “'ikSt-ofArracan, t|||p a d from'Sembeu-Ghewn to Tellakee has been
'considerably Unproved; it K TO^tneless'stflfal'atfonous'loffl’neyf owing tkth^Vuggedness I
or tite Way,'‘Mta’tft%l^i fisaHtfinr otef Wmfcfif tflSte
t Mahaso*sda.i9ths»SbanUSritftiOs given toa Jong line of Kings of Arraean. BaSfiMlkiiig&j
vdiSttjUvipgs ajv?usoallyi deepnanatedlbjl the» titlest®f: whjqlB they haver many..
: t Thyopfortusate, Sultap, Sujah, brother to Aurungzebe, was, by the king of this country,
baSely betrayed and,put to death, for the sake of.hp treasure. See DoW’s. Hindostan.
§ Faria de Souza, on the Portugueze conquests in Asia.
One Sebastian Goazalas,. owing to; a combinatrort of saccsssfut eventsy made; hiffiself
master of the island of Cheduba, or Sandiva, which he maintained for son»’fftSR} as* ah