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224 BIBMAH.
chanted a prayer, that lasted a quarter of an hour; at
the close of which, a window opened at the end of the
saloon, and discovered the prince seated behind it,
dressed in a habit that shone with gold, and with a
pyramidal cap that glistened exceedingly. His head
and shoulders alone were visible. He spoke not a
word, and noticed no one, but sat erect and motionless
like a pagod. A list of the presents was recited by a
reader kneeling in front of the sofa ; and after about
a quarter of an hour had elapsed in this dumb inter-
view, the shutters were suddenly closed, and they
saw him no more. Subsequently, however, the prince
vouchsafed to honour Col. Symes with an. unceremo-
nious reception, when, instead of merely exhibiting
himself from a casement, he was seated on a richly
ornamented couch, in a very simple costume : he wore
a vest of white muslin, with a lower garment of silk,
and his head was bound with an embroidered fillet.
His manners on this occasion were frank and free from
ostentation; he asked many frivolous questions, and
endeavoured to amuse his visiter with the prattle of two
sprightly children, his *
daughters.
The interview with Medaw-praw, the queen dowager,
was far more interesting. An Asiatic princess holding
a drawing-room, is no ordinary spectacle. This ve-
* This prince, to whom Minderajee-praw is said to have been
particularly attached, died before his father, in consequence of
which, his son, at that time a boy, was declared heir to the throne.
His claims, however, appear to have been contested by his uncles,
and his accession was the signal for the execution of the Prince of
Tonghoo, with his family and adherents. The Prince of Prome
also, whose daughter he had married, was thrown into prison,
where he died of his wounds "
shortly after. The emissaries of
the new king," writes Mr. Judson, (July 1819) " are searching in
every direction for the adherents and proteges of his deceased
uncles." He was crowned on the 2d of November following.