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BIBMAH. lf>5
article of trade, to which may be added cotton, grain,
rope, and paper manufactured into umbrellas, books,
&c." A ship of 300 tons was on the stocks when
Captain Cox visited it. The difficulty of getting the
vessel down in safety to Rangoon must be considerable,
as the current is so rapid ; and their effecting it serves
as a proof of their enterprise, and shews what they
are capable of doing if encouraged. Stone-cutters also
are numerous, who manufacture flags for pavements,
and slabs and vases for the use of temples, out of a
fine freestone found in the neighbourhood. Adjacent
to the town, Colonel Symes states, there is a royal
menagerie of elephants, consisting of two rows of
lofty well-built stables, in which these animals are
lodged during the rains. Altogether, Prome is one of
the most important places of the empire. The situa-
tion is deemed particularly salubrious. The river
here flows in a bold, straight channel, from one mile to
half a mile in breadth. To the westward, the hills,
for several miles above and below the town, form the
bank of the river. When the British troops advanced
upon this place in April 1825, all the surrounding hills
were fortified to their very summits, presenting a
position of a very formidable appearance, and in reality
so strong by nature, that 10,000 steady soldiers could
have .defended it against an attack of ten times that
force. The stockade itself was complete, and great
putrid flesh of diseased animals, is attributed the prevalence of a
dreadful disorder, which attacks the extremities, producing ulcerous
sores, which soon mortify, and leave those who survive, disgusting
and mutilated objects. The beggars of the country are
chiefly composed of this class, who wander about in groupes, assembling
at the feasts of the principal pagodas, where they are
relieved by the bounty of the devout and the humane. With the
exception of persons of this description, there is not a beggar to be
seen in the Birman dominions.