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36 BIRMAH.
attawoon whose daughter he had so inhumanly
drowned in the Irrawaddy. Chenguza, on perceiving
him, exclaimed : "
Traitor, I am come to take possession
of my right, and to wreak vengeance on my
enemies !" Scarcely had he uttered the words, ere his
exasperated foe, seizing a sabre from one of the attend-
ants, laid him breathless at his feet. For shedding
royal blood, however, the ill-fated attawoon was
basely delivered over to the executioner. Momien, a
mere tool in the hands of those who had made use
of him to achieve the tyrant's downfall, was, within
the space of six days, himself precipitated from the
throne by his ambitious uncle Minderajee-praw ; and
the new king, to prevent any future danger from his
pretensions, caused him to perish in the waters of the
Irrawaddy.
In 1782, Minderajee-praw commenced his reign ;
and although he was indebted for his elevation to deeds
of blood, he governed with clemency and justice, re-
calling and replacing Maha-see-soo-ra, and the officers
and counsellors of his brother and father. Secured
against foreign enemies, and exempt throughout his
reign from family disturbances, he was nearly deprived
of his throne and life by a conspiracy, over the object
and motives of which there hangs a considerable
degree of obscurity. The leader in this treasonable
attempt was Magoung, a low-born man ; and it is
said to have been concerted without the privacy of
any person of consequence. Magoung is represented,
as having been " remarkable only for the regularity
of his actions and a gloomy cast of thought ;" yet, he
must have possessed a certain consideration, as he had
influence enough to form a confederacy of a hundred
persons as visionary and desperate as himself. These