B I RM A N EMPIRE.
Z 00 fcO G Y.
Mineralogy.
The animals in 'general;. cörrefpond .with thofe o f Hindoftan. ' Elephants
principally abound in Pegu. The horfes are. fiua.il,- but fpirited.
The ichneumon, or rat of Pharaoh, is rather peculiar. A kind of wild
fowl called the liehza, .and by the Hindoos the braininy goofe, has been
adopted as the fymbol of the empire, like the .Roman eagle.. The Birmans
abftain-from animal food except game.; but .there are many buffaloes,
~ I , - |
. The mineralogy o f this region, thé. Golden Gherfonefe o f the ancients,
is opulent, and fome produ&s rather lingular. While Malacca,
which has hitherto been fuppoled the Golden -Gherfonefe, fcarcely produces'
any mineral except tin, and is in truth a poof, country, only
celebrated, as an emporium o f Portuguqfe trade with China, the rivers
o f Pegu, on 'the contrary, ftill-continue to devolve, particles o f go ld ;
and their fands wuft'in ancient tim.^-havpheeh .yet more jrrpjifie o f
that precious mctaL Nor is it improbable that the prafti^epfigilding
the- roofs and fpires of temples and palaces may afcend to
as we.are-told that the Shomadoo was huilt about 5.00 years before the
.Chriftian era.; in winch cafe the fplendid appearance
give rife tpithe cl affical appellation o f the eouBtryw Qefeael jSyntes in-»
forms us that “ gold is difeovered in the faody beds of ftieams which
defcend-from the mountains. Between the Keen Duem and the Irra-
wady, to -the northward, there is a fmall river called Sho Lien Kioup, or
the Stream of Golden Sand.” 3 In many regions gold is found intermingled
with filver; and - fix days journey from- Bamoo (probably
towards the-north) there are minés of gold and filver at Badoüem, near
the frontiers o f China.. By a Angular conjunction; there are,- according
to the fame authority, mines of gold, filver, rubies,- and fapphires, at
preftnt open on a mountain called Wooboloo-taun, near the river Keen
Duem. '
„ There 14 alfp abundance of inferior minerals, as tin, iron* lead, antimony,
arfenic, and folphur; and amber, a rare and Angular prodUéfoig
notJonly dugupin iarge quantities near the river frrawady, but is un-
jcommohly pure and pellucid.
Diamonds
CrHAP,.,IV.M:'NATURAL GEOGRAPHY. 199
Diamonds and emeralds ajre not found in -the" Birman empire 5 but it
affords amethyfts, garnetsjvery beautiful .chryofolites' of a greenifh yellow
a with the. inferior products of jafper, loadftone,,’ and marble, the
quarries of the latCgrf^hieh-' equals .the befoCarara, bejpg^pnly. a few1
miles from Ummerapoora.
The mod foigular prod it£1 of Pegp. is ih,e rpby,'a ftone nex't to the.
diamond in value,-and which,/aceprdipKtq,Sheldon,.is found in a mqun-
rainfoetween Siriaa and Pegu^^his &bftancf^3pmg almoft, as, pecqliar
as the diamond is to Hindoftan. Ky’T7dIonel Symes*s account, rubied
and fappbires are alfo found in the north ^fterp part of:.the empire;
but the mod valuable mines .are.in the vicinity ofthe.capital, ..or-, rather
about 30,Britilh miles fo the neffo. ‘
The Birmans foeim to be in pbffeffion of feveral rite's in the- gulph' of
Martaban; the Magnus Sinus, of antiquity,' and of others tp the Louth
and weft, hut too minute to demand defoription, if there even were fuf-
ficient materials^'
» Sec Eorrtft’ s 'Yoyag? from Oalfcutta la th e Archipelago ofMeipM, 41?«' ‘
M m iiu to -
GT,
I sles.