of a mountain; each of whom pro- their infirmities: and they who remised him fome good thing, if he fufed were incarcerated, and not would pronounce her the faireft. LIBERATE till long thereafter. And He gave judgment in favours of the people were the more incensed Venus. Soon after he went to at this injury, that there had been Greece, where he fee'd Helen, the an old grudge between the Afiatics prettiest woman of thefe days, who and Europeans, as Herodot notices in was married on Menelaus King of the beginning of his hiftory; where, Sparta. This Helen has been a ve- if I mind right, he condefcends upon ry worthless woman; for, without other iniquous proceedings, not unthinking fhame, fhe went off with like the crime of Paris, which we Paris, taking with her feverals of may well imagine would not be forher attendants, and much wealth: gotten on this occafion. But, if the and yet Menelaus was a good-na- following story be true, I muft, for tured man, and he could not pre- my fhare, blame the Greeks for tend that he had ever difahufed or their cruelty, as well as the Tromaltreated her. Though difficulted jans for their injuftice. A poor Trohow to act, he did not fuccumb jan, who was a widow, and a very under her misfortune; for he knew tender man, had been ten months, he could not be the better of that. or thereby, an indweller in Sparta, He fent timeous notice to his bro- and was now ill with a chronical ther Agamemnon; who fummonfed fore head, much diftreffed with an all the neighbouring princes to a inward trouble, and fo dull, that he conference, anent the injury done could not hear a word, they grieby Paris. After having deliberate vously maltreated, though he pled long, and heard Menelaus narrate the his innocence, and they had nowhole affair, and adduce evidence thing relevant to urge again him. fufficient to inftruct his affertions, they They mounted him on an old ftamfaw, that, conform to the notions of mering horfe, which threw him inhonour which then prevailed, it to the water of Eurotas; and while was fimply impossible to evite a war. he cried out, Help me, or I will Thefe who were prefent chofe A- be loft, O what will I do," they, gamemnon for their leader; and in place of affifting, only laughed at undertook to caufe the other prin- him. Nay, more as that, they cut ces, how foon they could meet with out his hair, and burned all the them, homologate the choice: for victual, both barlay and corn, that my fhare, faid Menelaus, if I had was growing in his field; and, afit in my offer to have the chief ter thus deftroying his corns, and command, I would decline it. Let- difcharging him from ever appearters were wrote to every city of ing in Sparta again, they turned Greece; Paris was abhorred for him out, with nothing but a wo his ingratitude to a King who had man's hit upon his back, though behaved to him with the utmoft there was a form of Snow lying on difcretion; the whole Greeks were the ground; and though he had a made foldiers, none were exeemed; right to the benefit of a mortificaeven the tender and the old beho- tion, which had lately been mortived to ferve, notwithstanding of fied at Sparta, for the relief of poor firangers.

uncouth a dialect. Many of them ufe a correct phrafeology. Yet I fear there may be fome (in the lower and middle ranks there are many thoufands) who would read this exercife, without fufpecting that there is any thing exceptionable in the ftyle of it.

Account of the Inhabitants of Pegu.

strangers. Never was misfortunate man to misguided as he. Whereever he went, people held their nofes, as if they had felt a bad fmell: and, without dubiety, he muft have died for cold, as well as for want of meat, if a fhepherd, whofe whole ftock was forty fheep, whereof fifteen were hogs, had not taken him in; for which he was first chal

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lenged by his neighbours, and afterwards quarrelled by the Ephori. The Trojan foon after fevered, and took the pox, in which he roved, and was very ill to guide; and when he died, which happened at Whitfunday, the fhepherd buried him at his own coft, though he could ill fpare the money which he deburfed on that occafion.

Account of the Inhabitants of Pegu in India. By W. Hunter, A. M*. THE

HE Author hopes it will not be deemed impertinent to fay a few words refpecting the materials from which the fubfequent relation is collected. And, first, a great many of the facts he learnt by actual obfervation; having been, in July 1782, on a paffage from Bengal, on the fervice of the Hon. Eaft India Company †, on board of a fhip which was totally difmafted, and obliged to put into the river Syriam to refit: and, fecondly, He was informed of others by converfation, both with the natives, who are very communicative, and many of them Speak the language of Hindoftan, and with foreigners of different nations who have been fettled in that country for many years.

Pegu is a kingdom of the farther India, fituated on the E. fide of the Bay of Bengal, between the 15th and 24th degrees of N. lat. It is bounded on the weft and fouthweft by the fea, on the fouth-eaft by the kingdom of Siam, on the north by that range of mountains which bounds the empire of China to the fouth-west, and on the northweft by the kingdom of Ava. Its extreme length is, from S. by W. to N. b E. about fix hundred miles; and its greatest breadth, about three hundred and fifty miles. Thefe, at leaft, are the limits defcribed by the

generality of geographers, and reprefented in our maps; but, it must be confeffed, that the boundaries of this country, except on the feacoaft, where it has been frequented by navigators, have never been afcertained with any tolerable degree of accuracy.

Α

The natives are, perhaps, the most robust and mufcular race of men that we meet with any where in India: they are feldom attacked by diseases; and, what is ftill more to the purpofe, Europeans who have lived here many years enjoy an uninterrupted good health. perfon that has relided, even for a fhort time, in Pegu, would also join the teftimony of his own fenfations to all these other proofs of its falubrity. Even during the rains, which all over India make the moft difagreeable and fickly time of the year, the air in this place is temperate, and has an elasticity, unknown, at the correfponding feafon, in any other part, which gives vigour to the whole animal fystem, and enables it to fupport a great degree of fatigue. Perhaps the rapid motion of the tides may account, in fome meafure, for this unexpected healthinefs of the climate, at least I know of no other caufe to which it can be afcribed. The inhabitants are of a mufcu lar

Z 2

From a Pamphlet entitled, A Concife Account of the Kingdom of Pegu, published lately at Calcutta.

To join the Detachment in the Carnatic.

The Success Galley.

lar make, their ftature is about the middle fize, and their limbs in general well proportioned. Their complexion is fwarthy, being a medium between that of the Chinese and of the inhabitants of Bengal. In feature they refemble the Malays, their face is broad, the eyes large and black, the nofe flat, the cheek-bones prominent, and the mouth extremely wide. They wear on the chin a tuft of hair of unequal lengths, and thave the reft of the face. Their teeth are always of a jet black, which, however difgufting it may be to an European eye, is among them efteemed a great ornament; and, accordingly, they are at very great pains to accomplish it.

the hip and knee, is of a jet black, which has a very fingular appearance; and this mark they receive in their childhood. It is made by the repeated application of an inftrument with a great number of fharp points, placed close together, fomething like that used in carding wool, till the part is entirely covered with drops of blood. After this, they apply a liquid, of which galls is a principal ingredient. This excites a confiderable degree of fever; and it is computed by the natives themselves, that about two children out of five perifh, in confequence of the operation. Some perfons of a higher rank, have, initead of this, their thighs covered with the reprefentations of tigers, They wear various ornaments in and other wild beasts, imprinted their ears, many of them in com- by a process fimilar to the former. mon with other eastern nations: I would not be meant, by any thing but one that appears to be peculiar that has been faid, to infinuate that to this people is, a thin plate of this practice was first inflituted on gold, rolled up in the form of a the conqueft of Pegu by the Birquill, about the thickness of a fin- malis; on the contrary, I believe it ger, which is thrust into a hole to be of much greater antiquity; made in the ufual part of the ear, and all I mean to fay is, that the large enough to receive it. The accidental circumstance of its preforegoing defcription is chiefly ap- ferving a feparation between them plicable to the Birmahs, that is, the and the original natives of the counnatives of Ava or their defcendants, try, has undoubtedly enhanced its who are now very numerous here, value in their efteem. It is not eaas the government is entirely in fy to conjecture what has given rife their hands. The original inhabi- to an operation which occafions fo tants of Pegu have faces more near much pain and danger to the perly approaching to the oval form, fon who undergoes it: but it is not their features are fofter, more re- altogether peculiar to this people ; gular, and feem to exprefs greater for we meet with practices fimilar fenfe and acutenefs than thofe of to it among other nations: That the Birmahs, with whom in other re- which refembles it the moft is, the fpects they nearly agree. The Bir- operation of tattaowing, used by the mahs, however, who pique them- natives of Otaheite. felves on being defcended from the conquerors, and wish to be diftinguifhed from the nation they fübdued, ufe a badge for that purpofe, which we must conclude they value very highly, from the fufferings they undergo to obtain it. The thigh of every Birmah, including

The men have long black hair, tied on the top of the head, over which fome wear a white handkerchief in form of a turban, others go with their heads bare and decorated with flowers. They wear about their loins a piece of partycoloured filk, or cotton cloth, which

Their Drefs.-Art of War.

is afterwards paffed over the fhoulder, and goes round the body. Thofe of higher rank have this cloth fo long as to hang down over their thighs and legs; which, among the lower clafs of people, are bare. The women have a kind of fhort jacket, to cover the upper part of their bodies; and the remainder of their drefs is a piece of cloth, which is faftened round the loins, and hangs down to the ankles. This is doubled over a few inches at the fore part, where it is open, fo that the thigh is difcovered in walking thro' its whole length. This mode of drefs, they tell us, was firft in troduced by a certain Queen of Ava, who did it with the view of reclaiming the hearts of the men from an unnatural and deteftable paffion, to which they were at that time totally abandoned; and fucceeded fo well, that he is remembered at this day, with gratitude, as a public benefactrefs to the kingdom.

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with the greatest alacrity, through every part of their dwelling. The merit of their complaifance is fo much the greater on this account, that it cannot, in any degree, be afcribed to fear; as a ftranger is here entirely in their power, and the people have a very high idea of their own military force and prowefs.

And not without reafon; for they are, in reality, a formidable nation: Numerous, brave, poffeffing great ftrength of body, and capable of fuftaining great fatigue; they only want a regular difcipline to render their power truly refpectable. Their principal weapons are the fpear and fcymitar, both of which they handle with great dexterity. But the ufe of gun-powder is not unknown to them, for they often employ mufquets with match-locks. They are frequently at war with the Siamefe, over whom they have been often. victorious. The prifoners taken in thefe expeditions they detain, and employ in the occupations, to which they were brought up. Many of the hip-builders at Rangoon are Siamefe, who have been taken in war. For carrying any defperate enterprize into execution, they have a fet of people, who very probably have been criminals referved for the purpofe, to whom it is death to return without having effected the bufinefs that they were fent on. This appears a ftrange piece of po a-licy, as one thould imagine, that thofe men, whom we cannot fuppofe to be bound by any principles of honour, or actuated by any affection for the flate to which they belong, lie under great temptations to join the enemy. What means are ufed to prevent fo probable a confequence; whether they are accompanied or commanded by men, who are more worthy of trufl and able to refrain them, or encouraged by the hope of rewards on their

In their behaviour to ftrangers they are obliging, and fhow a degree of franknels that one would by no means expect to meet in a nation whom we have been accuftomed to look upon as barbarous. They exprefs a great curiofity to fee the manners of ftrangers, which makes them often come into their houses, and observe all that is doing, without appearing to be under any constraint. They also take pleafure in imitating the drefs and behaviour of thofe who come mong them, and appear highly delighted when a ftranger imitates any of theirs. In return, if you go into their houses, you are received with great hofpitality; the people are cager to find fomething that may give you fatisfaction, and feem very happy when you fhow any marks of being pleased. They have none of that ftrictnefs which diftinguishes the other eastern nations, but will themselves conduct you,

return

return with fuccefs, I have not been tice, which is adopted by many of able to learn. Be this as it will, it the other defpotic powers of the is very well known that the Bir- Eaft. mahs are not fingular in this prac

Mifcellaneous Intelligence.

Governor of Fort St George *. diftinctly preferved on the records ··

motto of his family, was obtained by one of his ancestors for havingcut his way through a body of the enemy who had furrounded him.

Commiffary James Campbell, the father of Sir Archibald, was felectTown and Country Mag.