His direct revenues arise from the tribute of the chobwahs, tythe of the produce of the crown lands, mines, imports and exports.

His unsettled revenues arise from confiscations, escheats, fines, donations, &c. &c. Most of his revenues are collected in kind, stored in magazines, or converted into cash, according to circumstances, The tributes of the chobwahs, and duties on some particular articles, as cotton, are paid in bullion.

At Yanghong are two collectors; the Ahcoo-whoon, Baba Sheen, for the land revenue; and the Ahcoo-to-whoon, Ihansay, for imports and exports. The first generally remits annually, for the whole province of Henzawuddy, about 50,000 tecals flowered silver, or 62,500 sicca rupees; the latter, in favourable seasons, to the value of 150,000 tecals, f. S., or 187,500 sicca rupees. Tavoy, yields an annual revenue of 30,000 tecals, fl. 5., and Mergui about 40,000. From these examples, which I think may be relied on, if I may be allowed to hazard an opinion on so obscure a subject, I should suppose that his Majesty's accumulating fund does not exceed fifteen lacs of rupees per annum.

The Birmahs derive their origin and name from Brumwha; they are a branch of the Palais, known in India for their misfortunes and dispersion; their history, therefore, mythological, theological, and civil, is the same as that of the Hindoos, being derived from the same source: of this I have abundant proof in various tracts which I have collected, particularly the Mahu-Bogdha-whein, or the great history of their duties; and the Maha-Rajwhien, the great history of their kings; of both which I have obtained perfect copies.

The religion of the Birmahs is that of the younger Buddha, or Bhaddhoo of the Hindoos, or the ninth incarnation of Vishnoo; but the Birmahs insist, that in his character of Weethandra, a prince of Godomha-it, he is a tenth incarnation of the divinity. The history of these incarnations is given in separate books, written in the Birmah character, but blended with the Palai language.

ancient Pali His history,

The elder Buddha, or Rama, the conqueror of Ceylon (which in the is also called Dewi-Lanea), they do not acknowledge as their legislator. &c. is considered as heterodox, and merely read, as an amusing fable, by their bards or musicians. I have a copy of this history; it agrees with the Indian legend; but they call him Yama.

GOVERNMENT.

LD.Y.

It is an unlimited monarchy; all prescriptive rights, usages, life, liberty, and property, are prostrated at the feet of the despot; he assumes the prerogative, and exacts the same adoration as is paid to the deity: his will is law, and his voice fate.

His established privy council consists of four old men of approved wisdom and virtue, who have retired from the bustle and intrigues of life; to these are added such of his other ministers, private or public, as he thinks proper. This council advises him on particular emergencies of state.

The general business of the state is transacted by the four whoonghees (great lords), assisted by the four whoon-doicks (or lordhelpers), who have only a deliberative voice. It would be needless entering into a detail of the subordinate officers. Besides the great public council, the king has a large establishment within the palace at the head of these are the four ah-twa-whoons, his private ministers, through whom all public reports pass for his decision; and through whom all the royal mandates pass to the lootcho, or to individuals; their court or office is in the interior court of the palace, and called Bea-tyke.

The four fronts of the fort, palace, pagodas, and all religious buildings, face the four cardinal points of the compass; and all the officers of his Majesty's several establishments are, or ought to be, in double pairs.

Royal cities are governed by mewwhoon (lord of the city), yai-whoon (lord of the waters), ah-coo-whoon (lord of the land revenues), ah-coo-to-whoon (lord of import and export duties). They are judges also in civil and criminal suits, and hold their

court

court at the yhong (or place of truth), of which there is one in every city: yhong-dho, in strictness, ought only to be applied to the yhong of the palace, the adjunct dho meaning, the king's; but the term dho is attached to many things and persons no ways entitled to it, through courtesy, or the ignorance of strangers, Sherry-dho-ghee, the great king's writer, is applied to, or assumed, by every petty clerk of a governor

and T ehegro bas en HET CHARACTER, 20017-03-003d▲ ent bas WOOThe Birmah court appears to me an assembly of clowns, who have neither improved their manners or their sincerity by their transposition, they have retained their native chicane and vicious & propensities, and have not acquired the blandishments of polish to veil the deformities of vice, or expansion of mind to check its domination.

To their superiors the Birmahs are abjectly submissive, towards strangers audacious and ungrateful; Lin power rapacious and cruel; in war treacherous and ferocious; in their dealings litigious and faithless; in appetite insatiable and avaricious; in habit lazy; in their ideas, persons, houses, and food, obscenely filthy, below any thing I have ever seen that has claims to humanity.”

to Te vast not be denied that they possess brutal courage; but it tends rather to debase than exalt them: it is irregular, uncertain, and not to be depended on. They are strict observers of the ceremonial parts of their religion; charitable to their priests and the poor; in the country, I am told, hospitable, and not vindictive; superstitious; addicted to magic; cheerful; patient under sufferings; hardy; frugal to penuriousnes, in their diet; and affectionate parents. They would make good soldiers in the hands of a skilful general; and perhaps, good subjects under a virtuous magistrate; but unhappily, their present government seems only calculated to exalt their vices, and depress their virtues.

Every great officer, civil or military, is a justice of peace; can try petty causes, and punish trespasses by flogging, fine, or imprisonment; for, which purpose they all have tribunals and fire-rooms in their houses. This authority is also usurped by the lowest officers of the palace and courts, and is productive of infinite oppression and abuse. The only resource of the people is to inlist themselves under the banner of some great man, and submit to his impositions in order to obtain protection from the rest.

Causes are originated in the yhongs, but may be removed by appeal to the lootcho, and ultimately to his Majesty in council, where the decisions in general are pretty just, but the expense of obtaining a hearing is enormous.

Trials by ordeal, varying from those of India, are common. Sne vermed

TO SLEEP.

༄་《་

MUCH evil hath been said of thee, O Sleeping p

(For malice will pursue the steps of worth),

Though evil none I say, but ever keep an anmerpurd "garme
Blessing thee, as the chiefest good on earth.oh and s

Thou art compared to death, our grisly foe:*

Sure thou art little like him as can be; et

For life, and health, and comeliness, we owe,
And vigour and agility, to thee.

They who abuse thy gifts are not the better;
But then the fault is theirs, not thine, I wot;

Yet man, too oft, when he becomes a debtor,

Spurns the kind hand from whence the boon he got.
Come, then, and steal from me all sense of ill,
Suspend awhile the iron reign of Care,

With images of joy my fancy fill,

And thou, O Sleep! shalt my devotion share.

OF THE ANTIQUITY AND ORIGIN OF THE CHINESE,
AND OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE.

To the Editor of the Asiatic Journal..

SIR: Mr. Davis describes the passage referred to in my last letter as the only direct and positive testimony which we seem to possess, out of China, relating to the first origin of the Chinese nation, and adds, that he cannot help thinking that the observations of Sir W. Jones, on the passage in question, are deserving of great attention." On my side, I neither believe with Sir Win. Jones and Mr. Davis, that the Chinese are of Hindoo origin, nor with the same authorities, that the Institutes of Menu design to say one word about the Chinese original, let it have been what it may.

There is, as I suspect, at the bottom of much of our system of Hindoo history, a radical error concerning the relative antiquity of Buddhism. Buddha, I believe, is a generic term for a god, prophet, divine person, or divine incarnation. Buddha and god are the same words, with dialectical variations of form. There have been many Buddhas, that is, many prophets or preachers, each propounding a new dispensation; that is, each altering, and probably improving, the older doctrine and discipline. One of the grounds of alteration has been, the changes attendant upon the progress of society. Bloody sacrifices, for example, have been abolished. A rude doctrine and discipline have suited a rude age; a more refined doctrine and discipline have been acceptable to a more refined age; simplicity has belonged to a simple age; complexity has grown with an artificial one. The externals of religion have varied, in all countries, with the state of society and the revolu tions of manners:

"With rude simplicity first Rome was built,

Which now we see adorned, and carved, and gilt;

This Capitol with that of old compare,

Some other Jove, you'd think, was worshipp'd there!

That lofty pile, where senates dictate law,

When Tatius reigned, was poorly thatched with straw;
And where Apollo's fane refulgent stands,
Was heretofore a tract of pasture-lands.
Let ancient manners other men delight;
But me the modern please, as more polite.
Not, that materials now in gold are wrought,
And distant shores for orient pearls are sought;
Not for, that hills exhaust their marble veins,
And structures rise whose bulk the sea restrains;
But, that the world is civilized of late,

And polished from the rust of former date."

But Buddhism, throughout all its varieties and dates, is more simple in its structure than Brahminism, as it is also more universal in its reception. Buddhism discovers itself, at intervals, from Ceylon to Japan, and might, perhaps, be traced further, both to the east and to the west. The religion of the Jains is allied to it; and we know that this latter is the indigenous or ancient religion of the south of India. Buddhism, then, is the underlying stratum, which, like granitic rocks to the geologist, discovers itself, from space to space, to the student of religious history in India. But if Buddhism underlies all others in India, then it is likewise more ancient than all others. It

descends,

descends, in short, from Tibet and Tartary, or it ascends thither from the south, and spreads east and west. Brahminism, on the other hand, whether indigenous or exotic in India, is comparatively modern, and fills but narrow limits; it is in a high degree artificial, and therefore possessed of but little character of antiquity; it is in a high degree complex, and can never, therefore, refer to an early and rude state of society for its original. It may boast its antiquity, and call Buddhism modern; but it is itself the modern which has usurped upon the antique. It is arrayed, not always in its own vestments, but sometimes in the spoils of those whom it has displaced. It calls, and not wholly without reason, Buddha an incarnation of Vishnoo; but it has seized upon the Buddha of the people, or of what it may call Paganism, and amalgamated him with its own system. Brahminism has its seat and homestead, if it has not also had its cradle, upon the banks of the Ganges, and it is foreign, and even modern, almost every where else.. The Abbé Dubois relates what, if that writer is to be credited, is singularly fatal to the theory of Sir Wm. Jones and Mr. Davis, as to an ancient communication between China and Brahminical India. He shows us that the country north-east of the Ganges was itself unbrahminical till within a recent date. Brahminism, indeed, as appears from the Abbé, has no necessary connexion with the general institution of castes, which, as is well known, has no place in China; and therefore the origin of the Chinese among a people of castes is inconceivable: add to which, that it is specially with abandoning the company of the Brahmins that Menu charges the "Chinas," and other nations. Now, there were no Brahmins, according to the Abbé Dubois, whose company could have been abandoned, to the north-east of the Ganges, till within these four or five hundred years. In reality, Brahminism, instead of being the ancient religion of India, and that upon which other religions have intruded, is itself the intruder, however long ago; is modern, and is probably even now pushing its way into new regions, and effecting new conquests. The following are extracts from the Abbé's Description of India. His first position is, that a Brahmin is made, not born:

A Brahman is in a very different situation from a Raja, a Vaisya, or a Sudra. These are born in the condition in which they continue to live. But a Brahman becomes such only by the ceremony of the Cord. He is till then only a Sudra; and by birth he possesses nothing that raises him above the rank of other men. It is after this rite'that he is called Durja (twice born).- The first birth admits him to the common rank of mortals; the second, which he owes to the ceremony of the Triple Cord, exalts him to the lofty rank of the tribe to which he belongs.

But there is at least one thing not fanciful on this question, which is, that in the countries to the north-east of Bengal, beyond the Ganges, there were neither castes nor Brahmans till within these four or five hundred years. The people who inhabited those provinces, beginning then to see that it would be advantageous to them to adopt the customs of their neighbours, demanded to have Brahmans. The order was soon created, by selecting and setting apart a number of their youths, who were trained up in the manners of that caste; into which they were duly embodied by the ceremony of the Cord. From that period they have been considered as true Brahmans, and hold equal rank with those who are of a far more ancient order [origin].

In the southern countries they do not like to be reminded of this anecdote, although they are obliged to admit its authenticity, as well as that of the two Penitents, who were at first only Raja3.*

Mr.

"There is a puzzling objection," adds the Abbé, "frequently urged against the Brahmans. If it be the ceremony of the Cord, it is asked, that creates you Brahmans, how come your wives, who do not undergo

Mr. Davis speaks of the introduction of the religion of Buddha into China, from India, in the first century of the Christian era. But what then, was the previous religion of China; for Menu, eleven or twelve hundred years before, had spoken of the "Chinas" as in a state of religious degradation, and Mr. D. has nowhere attempted to set up the claim of the Chinese to the least share of Brahminism? Mr. D. dates the refined morality of Confucius, and the subtle metaphysics, or theology, of the Laou-keun, in the fifth or sixth century before Christ; but neither the one nor the other of these supplied the place of the national religion, and, even if it did, what was that national religion? Mr. D., indeed, expressly acknowledges that Confucius "left the religion of his countrymen as he found it." Now, what was that religion? Nothing else, I answer, than some description of Buddhism. What religion, then, came from. India into China in the first century of the Christian era ?A new sect of Buddhism. What were those "tenets of Fŏ," introduced into China in the first century of the Christian era, and stigmatized by the instructions of the Tartar emperor Yung-ching? The new sect of Buddhism. If Buddhism, in one form or other, was not the ancient religion of China, then I should suspect Shamanism, or the religion of the Ostiaes and Kamtschatdales, of the north-east of Asia generally, and of all America, and of so many other parts of the world, to have been that religion. But was there no relationship between the Fŏ-hi of Chinese antiquity, and the Fŏ of modern China? Were not, at least, both these personages gods, that is, prophets, inspired preachers, divine incarnations?

But ancient China owes nothing to India; neither religious system, nor civil population. Mr. D., himself, is, indeed, impressed with the total ab sence of every thing Hindoo in China. It is a curious circumstance," says that gentleman, "that they [the Chinese] and the Hindus (whether they had, or had not, any connexion in remote antiquity) should have subsisted so long in the immediate vicinity of each other, and at the same time possessed so little in common. With the exception of the sect of Fŏ, or Buddha, an Indian heresy, which found refuge in the Empire from the persecutions of a bigotted priesthood, the Chinese appear to me to have received nothing from their western neighbours. The ancient skill of the Hindus in astronomical and algebraic science, has been clearly and ably demonstrated; but no proofs have yet occurred that they imparted any portion of that skill to the Chinese."

Some persons," adds Mr. D., "have been led to suspect that the Chinese must at one time have possessed the astronomy of the Hindus, by [from] their having twenty-eight lunar mansions, and a cycle of sixty years; but a careful observation of the essential differences that exist on either side must remove all shadow of identity. The Hindu cycle is a cycle of Jupiter, while that of the Chinese is a solar cycle; and the twenty-eight constellations of the Hindus are nearly all of them equal divisions of the circle, consisting of about 13° each, while the Chinese constellations are extremely unequal, varying from 30° to less than 1°."—"That the Chinese possessed no real science of their own, and that they obtained none from the Hindus, is, I think, proved by the readiness with which they adopted that of the Europeans: on this one subject, that singular nation has deviated from its established prejudices and maxims against introducing what is foreign."

Mr.

undergo that ceremony, to be any thing but Sudras? You are, therefore, married to wives not belonging to your caste; [in opposition to] a principle held sacred and inviolable amongst all Hindus.

"Their solution of this difficulty is an answer which has been continually made to all their antagonists; namely, that they are guided in this particular by the usage of the caste from time immemorial.” -Abbé Dubois Description, pp. 35-36.