Untitled - Sabrizain.org

154 BIRMAH.
formerly surrounded with a wall of masonry : parts of
two or three bastions, towards the river, still remain.
They are in the old style of fortifications, with battlements
intended for musketry only, the ramparts not
having sufficient breadth to admit of cannon, which, if
mounted, must have been fired en barbet. The intermediate
spaces, where the old wall has fallen to ruins,
are defended by a stockade of teak piles, about one foot
square, and twenty feet high. In this stockade are
many gates and steps of wood leading to the river, for
the accommodation of the inhabitants. Within the
stockade are several pagodas, some of them gilt; the
rest of the buildings are mean some few are of ;
wood,
but the greater part are built of bamboos and cadjan.
The only regular street leads through the centre of
the town, north and south, the other quarters being
only divided by crooked lanes and alleys. A large
proportion of the inhabitants were stated to be
Mohammedans. Its old fortifications and the remains
of religious edifices attest its former opulence, and its
position on the river renders it still a commanding
post; it is also centrical to the best parts
and the most
populous districts of Ava. The hills with which it is
surrounded, abound with teak timber, and are rich in
metals: lead and iron only are at present got from
them, in small quantities, but gold has been, and may
be obtained. The iron is said to be softer and more
malleable than any imported ; and is preferred by the
natives, who manufacture it into many
articles for
their own consumption.* Teak timber is the chief
* The tribe of smiths, including all the artificers of metals, (of
which a considerable number reside in Proxne, where the best iron
is procured,) are particularly fond of horse-flesh, supposing it to be
particularly adapted to recruit their strength, when wasted by
working at their forges. To the disgusting practice of eating the