Particulars relating to the Inhabitunis of the Kingdom of Birman; from Ma or Symes's Account of his Embally to Ava.

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HE court-drefs of the Birman nobility is very becoming; it confifts of a long robe, either of flowered fatin or velvet, reaching to the ankles, with an open collar and loofe fleeves; over this there is a fearf, or flowing mantle, that hangs from the fhoulders, and on their heads they wear high caps made of velvet, either plain, or of filk embroidered with flowers of gold, according to the rank of the wearer. Ear-rings are a part of male drefs; perfons of condition ufe tubes of gold about three inches long and as thick as a large quill, which expands at one end like the mouth of a speaking trumpet.

The Birmans in their features bear a nearer refemblance to the Chinese than the natives of Hinduftan. The women, especially in the northern part of the empire, are fairer than the Hindu females, but not fo delicately formed; they are, however, well made, and in general inclined to corpulence: their hair is black, coarfe, and long.The men are not tall in ftature, but active and athletic; they have a very youthful appearance, from the cuftom of plucking their beards

inftead of ufing the razor: they tattoo their thighs and arms into various fantaftic fhapes and figures, which they believe operate as a charm against the weapons of their enemies. Neither the men nor women are fo cleanly in their perfons as the Hindus of India, among whom diurnal ablution is a religious as well as a moral duty. Marriages among the Birmans are not contracted till the age of puberty; the contract is purely civil; and the law prohibits polygamy though concubinage be admitted. They burn their dead on a funeral pile fix or eight feet high, made of billets of dried wood, laid acrofs, with intervals to admit a circulation of air, and increase the flame. The priests walk round the pile, reciting prayers to Gautama until the fire reaches the body, when the whole is quickly reduced to ashes: the bones are afterwards gathered and depofited in a grave. Perfons of high diftinction are embalmed, and their remains preferved fix weeks or two months after their decease, before they are committed to the funeral pile.

Of the population of the Birman dominions, I could only form a conclufion, from the information I received of the number of cities, towns, and villages in the empire; thefe, I was allured by a perfon who might be fuppofed to know,

and had no motive to deceive me, amount to 8000, not including the recent addition of Aracan. If this be true, which I have no reafon to doubt, and we fuppofe each town on an average, to contain 300 houfes, and each houfe fix perfons, the refult will determine the population at fourteen millions, four hundred thoufand. Tew of the inha bitants live in folitary habitations; they moftly form themselves into Imall focieties, and their dwellings thus collected compofe their ruas, or villages; if, therefore, we reckon their numbers, including Aracan, at seventeen millions, the calculation may not be widely erroneous; I believe it rather falls fhort of than exceeds the truth.

Ceremonial of the Prefentation of the English Ambasador to the King of Birman; from the fame.

N approaching the gate, the greater part of our attendants were fopped, and not permitted to follow us; and we were defired to put off our fhoes, with which we immediately complied. The area we now entered was fpacious, and contained the lotu or grand hall of confultation and of audience; where the wangis meet in council, and where affairs of ftate are difcuffed and determined. Within this inclofure there is an inner court, feparated by a brick wall, which comprehends the palace, and all the buildings annexed to the royal refidence. Within the gate a troop of tumblers were performing their feats, while dancing girls were exhibiting their graces in the open air, and on the bare ground, to the found of no very harmonious mufic.

We were next ushered up a flight of ftairs into a very noble faloon, or open hall, called the lotu, where the court was affembled in all the pomp that Birman grandeur could difplay. On entering this hall, a ftranger cannot fail to be furprised at the magnificence of its appearance; it is fupported by feventyfeven pillars, difpofed in eleven rows, each confifting of feven. The space between the pillars I judge to be about twelve feet, except the centre row, which was probably two feet wider. The roof of the building is compofed of diftinct ftages, the higheft in the centre. The row of pillars that fupported the middle, or most lofty roof, we judged to be thirty-five or forty feet in height; the others gradually diminish as they approach the extremities of the building, and thofe which fuftain the balcony are not more than twelve or fourteen feet. At the farther part of the hall, there is a high gilded lattice, extending quite across the building, and in the centre of the lattice is a gilded door, which, when opened, difplays the throne; this door is elevated five or fix feet from the floor, fo that the throne must be ascended by means of steps at the back, which are not visible, nor is the feat of the throne to be feen, except when the king comes in perfon to the lotu. At the bottom of the lattice there is a gilt baluftrade, three or four feet high, in which the umbrellas and feveral other infignia of ftate were depofited. The royal colour is white, and the umbrellas were made of filk of that colour, richly befpangled with gold. Within this magnificent faloon were feated, on their inverted legs, (the pofture of refpect) all the princes

and

and principal nobility of the Birman empire, each perfon in the place appropriated to his particular rank and ftation: proximity to the throne is, of course, the most honourable flation, and this ftation was occupied by the princes of the blood and great officers of ftate. The heir apparent fat on a small ftool, about fix inches high; the other princes on fine mats. The pace between the central pillars that front the throne, is always left vacant, for this curious realon, that his majefty's eyes may not be obliged to behold thofe, whom he does not mean to honour with a look.

In a few minutes, eight Brahmans dreffed in white facerdotal gowns and filk caps of the fame colour, ftudded with gold, affembled round the foot of the throne, within the baluftrade, and recited a long prayer in not unpleafing recitative; this ceremony lafted a quarter of an hour. When they had withdrawn, the letter from the governor-gene ral, which I delivered to the wundoc, was placed on a filver tray in front of the railing, and the reader advanced into the vacant space, and made three proftrations, touching the ground cach time with his forehead; he then read, or rather chanted, in a loud voice, what I understood was a Birman translation of the letter. When this was done, the reader repeated his proftrations, and next proclaimed a lift of prefents for the king. Thefe feveral readings being finished, he repeated his obeifances and retired; after an interval of a few minutes, an officer advanced, and propofed a question to me, as if from his majefty; on receiving my anfwer he withdrew, as it might be fuppofed, to communicate the reply, and returned in

an adequate time to afk another: thus he put three feperate queftions to me, which were as follows: You come from a diftant country; how long is it fince you arrived? How were the king, queen, and royal family of England, when the lait accounts came from thence? Was England at peace or war with other nations? and was your coun'try in a flate of disturbance?

Thefe were all the questions that were propofed, neither the Chinese nor any other perfon being interrogated. In a few minutes after my laft reply had been conveyed, a very handfome defert was brought in, and fet before us; it confifted of a variety of fweetmeats, as well of China as Birman; pickled tea-leaf, and beetle, formed part of the en tertainment, which was ferved up in filver, china, and glafs-ware; there appeared to be not lefs than a hundred different fmall dishes; we tafted of a few, and found fome of them very palatable; but none of the courtiers partook, or moved from their places.

The English Ambafador's Audience of Leape; from the fame.

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had been feated little more than a quarter of an hour, when the folding doors that concealed the throne opened with a loud noife, and difcovered his majefty afcending a flight of fteps, that led up to it from an inner apartment; he advanced but flowly, and, feemed not to poflefs a free use of his limbs, being obliged to fupport himfelf with his hands on the baluftrade. I was informed, however, that this appearance of weak nefs did not proceed from any bo

dily infirmity, but from the weight of the regal habiliments in which he was clad; and if what we were told was true, that he carried on his dress upwards of fifty pounds avoirdupois of gold, his difficulty of afcent was not furprifing. On reaching the top he ftood for a minute, as though to take breath, and then fat down on an embroidered cufhion with his legs inverted. His crown was a high conical cap, richly ftudded with precious ftones; his fingers were covered with rings, and in his dress he bore the appearance of a man cafed in golden armour, whilft a gilded, or probably a golden wing on each fhoulder, did not add much lightnefs to his figure. His looks denoted him to be between 50 and 60 years old, of a ftrong make, in ftature rather beneath the middle height, with hard features and of a dark complexion; yet the expreffion of his countenance was not unpleafing, and feemed, I thought, to indicate an intelligent and inquiring mind.

On the first appearance of his majefty, all the courtiers bent their bodies, and held their hands joined in an attitude of fupplication. Nothing farther was required of us, than to lean a little forward, and to turn in our legs as much as we could; not any act being fo unpolite, or contrary to etiquette, as to prefent the foles of the feet towards

which, in the character of a fuppliant, he entreated his majesty's acceptance. My offering confifted of two pieces of Benares gold brocade; Dr. Buchanan and Mr. Wood each prefented one. When our names were mentioned, we were feparately defired to take a few grains of rice in our hands, and joining them, to bow to the king as low as we conveniently could, with which we immediately complied. When this ceremony was finished, the king uttered a few indiftinct words, to convey, as I was in-' formed, an order for invefting fome perfons prefent, with the infignia of a certain degree of nobility: the imperial mandate was inftantly proclaimed aloud by heralds in the court. His majefty remained only a few minutes longer, and during that time he looked at us attentively, but did not honour us with any verbal notice, or speak at all, except to give the order abovementioned. When he rofe to depart, he manifefted the fame figns of infirmity as on his entrance: after he had withdrawn, the folding doors were closed, and the court broke up.

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Elevation of the House of Hapsburg, in the Perfon of Rudolph. From Planta's Hiftory of the Helvetic Confederacy.

Four perfons, dreffed in white caps and gowns, chanted the ufual prayer at the foot of the throne: an officer then advanced into the vacant space before the king, and recited in a mufical cadence, the name of each perfon who was to be introduced on that day, and the prefent of VOL. XLII.

his twenty-fecond year, when his father Albert, who was odious to the Swifs, on account of his rigour in the office of imperial commiffary, died on a diftant pilgrimage. Albert's thare of the eftates of Hapfburg devolved to Rudolph; but a great part of the hereditary domains of his houfe was in the

hands

hands of his paternal uncle, who, with his five fons, lived at Lauffenburg, on the Rhine. The property Rudolph inherited was moderate his lands were all in fight of the great hall in his caftle. Some advocacies extended his influence to more diftant parts; but the power annexed to the title of landgrave of Alface, to which he fucceeded, was, by the refractory fpirit of the times, rendered almoft nugatory. In the eager purfuit of his ambitious views, he difpifed the tardy means of prudence, and fuffered the vehemence of his temper to betray him into indifcretions, which, in men lefs audacious, would have led to ruin. Before the age of forty he had already incurred the odium of his whole family, been difinherited by his maternal uncle, the count of Kyburg, and twice excommunicated by the church. His firft conteft was with his uncle of Lauffenburg, whom he taxed with having made an unfair partition of the family eftates: but the helpless debility of the old count was fo effectually protected by his fon Godfried, that Rudolph foon beheld from his caftle, the flames which confumed his principal town of Bruck; and was compelled to acquiefce in the grant the old count made of the cattle of new Hapfburgh on the lake of Lucern, to the nunnery at Zuric. He next gave offence to his uncle Hartman, who had no iffue; and extorted from him a large fum, as a compenfation for his claim upon the eftates of

Kyburg: Hartman complied, that he might transfer the bulk of his property to the fee of Strafburg; and in order to preclude all farther importunities from this intrufive nephew, he made his grant irrevocable. In a conteft with the bishop of Bafle, Rudolph approached with his forces, and burnt the convent of the penitent fifters in one of the fuburbs of that city; for which facrilegious deed he, and all-his adherents, were put under a fevere interdict. He then (perhaps as an atonement to the church) engaged with Ottocarus king of Bohemia, in the crufade against the infidels of Pruffia, who were contending with the Teutonic knights for the gods, and the freedom of their ancestors. His fortunes, which his rashness more frequently obftructed than promoted, took a more favourable turn, as foon as adverfity had tem'pered the impetuofity of his unruly paffions.

His mother Hedwig lived to fee him reconciled to her family, and to witnefs an alliance contracted between Hapfburg and Kyburg. Godfried of Lauffenburg† also became his friend. The days of the old count of Kyburg drawing neat to a conclufion, Rudolph fought, both by perfuafion and kind offices, to induce the bishop of Strafburg to relinquish the hafty grant of Hartman. In this however he failed; and thenceforth he efpoufed the caufe of the citizens of Strafburg against their bifhop, and feized on the towns of Colmar and Mulhau

fen.