In Your House,
However, You Have A Warehouse, Which They Call A _Godown_, Built Of
Bricks, In Which To Keep Your Goods, As Often The City Takes Fire, And
Four Or Five Hundred Houses Are Burnt Down, So That These _Godowns_ Are
Very Useful To Save Your Goods.
The king with all his nobility and
gentry dwell in the new town, which is a great and populous city,
entirely square with fair walls, and a great ditch all round about full
of water, in which are many crocodiles.
It has twenty gates, five on
each side of the square, all built of stone. There are also many turrets
for centinels, made of wood and splendidly gilded. The streets are the
handsomest I ever saw, all as straight as a line from one gate to the
other, and so broad that ten or twelve men may ride abreast through
them. On both sides, at every door, there are palmer trees planted,
which bear coco-nuts, and which make a fine shew as well as a commodious
shade, so that the people may walk all day in the shade. The houses are
of wood, covered with tiles.
The palace of the king stands in the middle of this city, and is walled
and ditched all round, all the houses within being of wood very
sumptuously gilded, and the fore-front is of very rich workmanship, all
gilded in a very costly manner. The pagoda, or house in which his idols
stand, is covered with tiles of silver, and all the walls are gilt over
with gold. Within the first gate of the palace is a very large court, on
both sides of which are the houses for the king's elephants, which are
wonderfully large and handsome, and are trained for war and for the
king's service. Among the rest, he has four white elephants, which are a
great rarity, no other king having any but he; and were any other king
to have any, he would send for it, and if refused would go to war for
it, and would rather lose a great part of his kingdom than not have the
elephant. When any white elephant is brought to the king, all the
merchants in the city are commanded to go and visit him, on which
occasion each individual makes a present of half a ducat, which amounts
to a good round sum, as there are a vast many merchants, after which
present you may go and see them at your pleasure, although they stand in
the king's house. Among his titles, the king takes that of king of the
white elephants. They do great honour and service to these white
elephants, every one of them having a house gilded with gold, and
getting their food in vessels of gilt silver. Every day when they go to
the river to wash, each goes under a canopy of cloth of gold or silk,
carried by six or eight men, and eight or ten men go before each,
playing on drums, _shawms_, and other instruments. When each has washed
and is come out of the river, he has a gentleman to wash his feet in a
silver basin, which office is appointed by the king. There is no such
account made of the black elephants, be they never so great, and some of
them are wonderfully large and handsome, some being nine cubits high.
The king has a very large place, about a mile from Pegu, for catching
wild elephants, in a great grove or wood, having a fair court in the
middle. There are many huntsmen, who go into the wilderness with
she-elephants, trained for the purpose, each huntsman having five or six
which are anointed with a certain ointment to entice the wild males to
follow them. When they have brought a wild elephant within their snares,
the hunters send word to the town, on which many horsemen and footmen go
out, and force the wild elephant to enter into a narrow way leading to
the inner inclosure, and when the he and she are in, then is the gate
shut upon them. They then get the female out, and when the male finds
himself alone and entrapped, he cries out and sheds tears, running
against the enclosure, which is made of strong trees, and some of them
break their tusks in endeavouring to force their way out. The people
then goad him with pointed canes, till they force him into a narrow
stall, in which he is securely fastened with strong ropes about his body
and legs, and is left there for three or four days without food or
drink. Then they bring a female to him, with food and drink, and unbind
the ropes, and he becomes tame in three or four days. When they take the
elephants to war, they fix a frame of wood on their backs with great
ropes, upon which sit four or six men, who fight with guns, bows and
arrows, darts, and other weapons; and it is said that the elephant's
hide is so thick that a musket ball will not pierce them, except in some
tender place.
The weapons of these people are very bad, their swords being short and
blunt at the points. They have arquebusses also, but they shoot very
badly with them. The king keeps great state, sitting in public twice
every day, having all his nobles, which they call _shemines_, sitting on
each side at a good distance, and a numerous guard on the outside of
all, so that the hall, or court is very large. If any one wish to speak
to the king, he maketh three profound reverences, when he enters, in
the mid way, and when he comes near the king; at each of these he kneels
down, holds his hands above his head, and bows with his head to the
ground three times. He then sits down to speak to the king, and if
favoured is allowed to come near, within three or four paces, but
otherwise is made to sit at a greater distance.
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