Had
We Met With A Foul Wind, We Must Have Thrown Many Things Overboard, For
We Were So Lumbered With People And Goods, Even On The Deck, That There
Was Scarce A Place To Sit Down Upon.
From Bengal to Pegu is 90 leagues.
We entered the bar of Negrais, [at the mouth of the western branch of
the river of Ava], which is an excellent bar, having four fathoms water
where shallowest.
Three days afterwards we came to Cosmin, a very pretty
town, pleasantly situated and abounding in all things. The people are
tall and well disposed; the women white, round faced, and having small
eyes. The houses are high built, set upon great high posts, and they go
up to them by means of ladders for fear of the tigers, which are very
numerous. The country is very fertile, abounding in great figs, oranges,
coconuts, and other fruits. The land is very high on the sea coast, but
after getting within the bar, it is very low and much intersected with
rivers, so that they go everywhere in boats, which they call _paraos_,
in which many of them dwell with their wives and children.
[Footnote 424: Recon has already been supposed to be Aracan, which is
now quite obvious; but in what manner Mogen may refer to Ava, the next
country to the south, does not appear. - E.]
From the bar of Negrais to the city of Pegu, is ten days journey by the
rivers. We went from _Cosmin_ to Pegu in paraos or boats, and passing up
the river we came to _Medon_, a very pretty town, having a wonderful
number of paraos, for they dwell in them, and hold markets on the water.
In rowing up and down with their commodities in these boats, they have a
great _sombrero_ or umbrella over their heads, to defend them from the
sun, as broad and round as a great cart wheel, made of the leaves of the
coco or the fig tree, which are very light.
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