By Way Of A
Parallel To This Solemnity, Correa Ordered His Priest To Attend In His
Surplice With His Breviary;
But that was so tattered and torn that it
was unfit to be seen by these heathens, on which he
Ordered a book of
church music to be brought, which had a more creditable appearance,
being larger and better bound; and opening at the first place which
appeared, the priest began the lesson Vanity of Vanities, which
answered among these ignorant people as well as if it had been the
gospel[148]. The metropolis of the kingdom is called Bagou, corruptly
called Pegu, which name is likewise given to the kingdom. It has the Bay
of Bengal on the west, Siam on the east, Malacca on the south, and
Aracan on the north. This kingdom is almost 100 leagues in length, and
in some places of the same breadth, not including the conquered
provinces. The land is plain, well watered, and very fertile, producing
abundance of provisions of all kinds, particularly cattle and grain. It
has many temples with a prodigious multitude of images, and a vast
number of ceremonies. The people believe themselves to have descended
from a Chinese dog and a woman, who alone escaped from shipwreck on
that coast and left a progeny; owing to which circumstance in their
opinion, the men are all ugly and the women handsome. The Peguers being
much addicted to sodomy, a queen of that country named Canane, ordered
the women to wear bells and open garments, by way of inviting the men to
abandon that abominable vice.
[Footnote 147: This singular expression may have been some court phrase
of the court of Pegu, meaning the royal presence. - E.]
[Footnote 148: On this trifling incident, the editor of Astley's
Collection gives the following marginal reference, A merry passage.
Ludere cum sacris is rather a stale jest, and perhaps the grand Raulim
was as ingenious as Correa and his priest, to trick the ignorant
unbelievers in their sacred doctrines of Bhudda. - E.]
On the arrival of Antonio Correa with relief at Malacca, Garcia de Sa
resolved to take revenge on the king of Bintang. He therefore gave
Correa the command of 30 ships, with 500 soldiers, 150 of whom were
Portuguese, with which armament Correa proceeded to the place where the
king had fortified himself, which was defended by a fort with a great
number of cannon and a numerous garrison. The access to this place was
extremely difficult and guarded by a great number of armed vessels; yet
Correa attacked without hesitation and carried the fort, which had 20
pieces of cannon, the garrison being forced to retire to the town, where
the king still had a force of 2000 men and several armed elephants. The
Portuguese, following up their first success, pushed up the river
clearing away all that obstructed them; after which they landed and took
the town, killing many of the enemy, and put the rest to flight, the
king among the rest fled on an elephant, and never stopped till they
came to Bintang.
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