He It Was Whom The Portuguese Used To Call
The Black King Of Siam.
Against him the king of Pegu sent his eldest
son and intended successor, who was slain in these wars, and was the
occasion of the almost total destruction of the kingdom of Pegu, and
caused the loss of many millions of lives.
The king of Pegu, who was of
the race of the Bramas, was sore grieved for the loss of his son, and
caused most of his chief Peguan nobles and military officers to be put
to death on the occasion. This caused much perturbation and confusion,
so that his tributary kings, of whom there were twenty, revolted daily
against him. At length, encouraged by these defections, Rajah Api, or
the Black King of Siam, went to war against the king of Pegu, and even
besieged the capital city of Uncha, or Pegu, for two months, but was
forced to raise the siege and return to Siam.
Not long after this, on account of a great pestilence and famine, the
king of Pegu found himself under the necessity of surrendering himself
and all his treasures to the king of Tangu, that he might not fall into
the hands of the king of Arracan, who was coming against him with a
prodigious army: Yet the king of Arracan easily made himself master of
the city and kingdom of Pegu, then almost depopulated by famine and
pestilence. The king of Arracan now proposed to go against Tangu; but
the king of that country sent ambassadors to him at Arracan, offering to
deliver up to him a certain portion of the treasures of Pegu, together
with the White Elephant and the king of Pegu's daughter, both of whom
I saw at Arracan in 1608; even offering either to give up the king of
Pegu or to put him to death. This the king of Tangu afterwards did, by
slaying him, with a pilon, or wooden pestel with which they stamp
rice; for being of the race of Brama, it was not lawful to shed his
blood. In this manner was the mighty empire of Pegu brought to ruin, so
that at this day there is no remembrance of it.[382] The king of Arracan
gave charge of the town and fortress of Siriagh, [Sirian] upon the river
of Pegu, to Philip de Brito de Nicote, to whom he gave the designation
of Xenga, signifying the honest; which honour and confidence Xenga
requited by taking his son a prisoner three or four years afterwards,
and ransomed him for 1,100,000 taggans and ten galeas of rice. Brito yet
domineers in Sirian, and cares for nobody.
[Footnote 382: This is to be understood of 1612, when Floris was there.
After many revolutions, the empire of Pegu was re-established by a tribe
called the Birmas, and now subsists in great power and splendour,
including Ava, Arracan, Pegu, and Siam. - E.]
By the destruction of the power of Pegu, Siam recovered its
independence, and hath since brought under subjection the kingdoms of
Cabodia, Laniangh,[383] Jangoma, Lugor, Tanasserim, Patane, and several
others.
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