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232 BIRMAH.
vernment, this being the only favour they had to ask
of the excellent king, the sovereign of land and sea.
The emperor heard the petition, and stretched out his
hand. Moung Zah crawled forward and presented it.
His majesty began at the top, and deliberately read it
through : he then handed it back without saying a
word, and took the tract which had been prepared by
the missionaries as a statement of their doctrines. He
held it long enough to read the two first sentences,
which asserted, " that there is one eternal God, who is
independent of the incidents of mortality, and that,
"
beside him, there is no god he ; then, with an air
of indifference or disdain, dasded it to the ground.
Moung Yo, an officer of the viceroy, made an attempt
to serve them by unfolding one of the volumes which
composed their present a Bible in six volumes, covered
with gold leaf, each volume enclosed in a rich
took no notice. After a few
wrapper : but his majesty
moments, Moung Zah interpreted his imperial master's
will in the following terms
"
: In regard to the objects
of your petition, his majesty gives no order. In regard
to your sacred books, his majesty has no use for them :
take them away." Something was said respecting
Mr. Colman's skill in medicine, upon which the emperor
once more opened his mouth and said, "Let
them proceed to the residence of my physician, the
Portuguese priest ; let him examine whether they can
be useful to me in that line, and report accordingly."
He then rose from his seat, strided on to the end of
the hall, and there throwing himself down upon a
cushion, lay listening to the music and gazing at the
parade spread before him. The missionaries subse-
quently learned from Moung Zah, that the policy of
the Birman government, in regard to the toleration of
any foreign religion, is precisely the same as that of