Lii.), which they took and sacked; and as the
King still refused to submit, they then advanced to the "primitive
capital," Taikung, which they captured. Here Pauthier's details stop.
(Pp. 405, 416; see also D'Ohsson, II. 444 [and Visdelou].)
[Illustration: The Palace of the King of Mien in modern times]
It is curious to compare these narratives with that from the Burmese Royal
Annals given by Colonel Burney, and again by Sir A. Phayre in the
J.A.S.B. (IV. 401, and XXXVII. Pt. I. p. 101.) Those annals afford no
mention of transactions with the Mongols previous to 1281. In that year
they relate that a mission of ten nobles and 1000 horse came from the
Emperor to demand gold and silver vessels as symbols of homage on the
ground of an old precedent. The envoys conducted themselves disrespectfully
(the tradition was that they refused to take off their boots, an old
grievance at the Burmese court), and the King put them all to death. The
Emperor of course was very wroth, and sent an army of 6,000,000 of horse
and 20,000,000 of foot(!) to invade Burma. The Burmese generals had their
point d'appui at the city of Nga tshaung gyan, apparently somewhere
near the mouth of the Bhamo River, and after a protracted resistance on
that river, they were obliged to retire.
