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162 BIRMAH.
remove hither from Rangoon, and to make it the seat
of his government. The present inhabitants are chiefiy
rhahaans, or priests, followers of the provincial government,
and poor Talien families, glad to regain a settlement
in their once magnificent metropolis. Their
numbers altogether, perhaps, do not exceed 6 or 7000.
Those who dwelt there in its days of splendour are
nearly extinct, and their descendants and relatives
are scattered over the provinces of Tonghoo and
Martaban. Many also took refuge in Siam.
The kingdom of Pegu has unquestionably been the
most powerful of all the Indo-Chinese states ; and the
central position of this province, its abundant ferti-
lity of soil, and its mineral wealth, might again render
it a flourishing country. We have, in the Travels
of Vincent Le Blanc, a most romantic account of
what Pegu was in the seventeenth century. "The
kingdom of Pegu," he says, " is one of the largest,
richest, and most potent of the Indies, next to the
Mogul and China ; but to the two last are happened
lately strange revolutions : they are extremely fallen
off from their state, and have been dismembered by
the kings of Tungu and of Arracan, who had, in my
time, the possession of the white elephant that bred so
much contention in Siam. This kingdom, in my days,
contained many others; viz. two empires, containing
Buchanan to a very different motive.
"
Prophecies and dreams
are also in great credit among the Birmans. We were informed,
that a prophecy having lately been current, foretelling that Pegu
would again be the seat of government, the king was thrown into
considerable anxiety, and thinking to elude the prophecy, had sent
orders tothemaywoon of Haynthawade (Henzawudy) to remove
the seat of his government from Rangoon to Pegu, then in ruins.
The late maywoon was so attached to Rangoon, that he always
found some excuse for delaying the execution of the order ; but
while \re were in Birmah, his successor was busily employed in
rebuilding Pegu." Asiat. Reg., vol. vi. p. 173.