Huntsville gazette., 1885-12-19
RuRMAn.
What q Medieval Traveller Has to Say
About the Ancient Kingdom.

AOOut tAc kAncAcAt AhkQOms
In Marco Polo's travels the first
mention of Burmah in the medieval
language of Europe is to be found.
He calls the kingdom Mien, in Chinese
fashion; and after narrating his ap-
proach to it by down-hill journey of
two and half days, and a much
longer passage through wild coun-
try, he pauses to tell of great battle
which had taken place between the
forces Of the "Great Kaan" of Tartary
and the King of Mien, which he de-
scribes so graphically that it seems
probable he gathered his account from
the lips of those who had been present
at it. An army of the ''Great Kaan"
had approached the frontier of Bur-
NAH, and the Burmese King advanced
against it with sixty thousand men and
two thousand elephants, having on
their backs towers of timber, each Of
which contained from twelve to six
teen warriors. The Tartar force was
the weaker, and the, Tartar horses were
scared by the elephants, and broke in
disorder. Then Nescradin, the Tartar
Captain, ordered his men to tie their
horses to trees and to take their bows,
in the use of which they were very ex-
pert. The elephants, in their turn,
could not stand the arrows, many were
slain, and at last they fled with ter
rifle rush into a forest bordering the
plain of battle, destroying the wooden
castles as they forced their way
through the trees. A fierce hand-to-
hand fight ensued, and such was the
noise of battle, says Palo, that "God
might have thundered and no man
would heard it," The Chinese annals,
which corroborate Marcos date, men,
ton that stakes had been fixed in order
to injure the elephants. After the defeat
of the Burmese, two hundred of these
animals were taken alive by the Tar
tars, and the Great Khan ever after
ward kept elephants as auxiliaries in
war. Polo then goes on to describe
those great wonders of Amier Ga city
which Colonel Rule thinks may be
identified with Old Pagan), the towers
of gold and silver erected near the
tomb of a King. One was covered with
gold to the thickness of a finger, and
the other with silver in like manner.
These towers shone brilliantly in the
sun, and to each were attached bells
respectively of gold and silver, that
tinkled in the wind. A doubtful YER
sion is then given of conquest, the
occurrence of which is confirmed both
The "Great Kaan," having an overplus
Of jugglers and gleemen about his
court, sent an army of them to conquer
Mien, a task they duly effected. The
towers of gold and silver excited their
cupidity, but their master, with the
reverence of his Nation for the dead,
would not suffer these monuments to
be pulled down. The Burmese histor-
ians estimate the Mongol invaders OF
their country on that occasion as
amounting to six million Of horse and
twenty million of foot
Lucovico di Varthema, most naive
and entertaining of travellers, visited
Burmah toward the close of the fif-
teenth century, but he has not much to
say about it that is not touched upon
by others who followed him there. He
speaks among other things, of the long
and thick timber, of the plentifulness
of civet cats, and of the marvellous
jewelry of the King, the rings of gold
and gems about his arms and legs the
rings upon his fingers, and his ears
that chung down half PLAN" with
the weight of their adornment. Dur
ing the next century good many
Europeans seem to have strayed into
this remote land. Burmah changed
its divisions frequently at this time
First one King and then another rose
to prominence and destroyed or made
tributary his fellow Kings. In the
consequent series of wars European
partisans were engaged, notably a
good many Portuguese. About the
middle of the century there arose a
great King known to fame as Brama
of Toungoo, and under him Burmah
seems to have attained its greatest
power, and to have impressed all trav-
elers with its riches and magnifcence.
Brama is spoken Of as exceeding the
''Great Turk" in power, and as having
one million five hundred thousand men
at his command. During this prosper.
Gus time, Ralph Fitch, merchant OF
London reached the country, and has
recorded what he saw there. He ad.
mired the straight streets of the capital,
so protected by rows of palm trees that
you might walk in the shade all day.
He was struck, as most people were,
by the honors paid to the sacred ele-
plants, which extended even to wash
ing their feet in silver basins, and he
mentions how wild elephants were
captured by amounting decoys with a
peculiar scented ointment. When a
white elephant was caught, each mer-
chant had to make donation of half
ducat. Of black elephants of war the
King had no fewer than five thousand.
In the country were mines of rubies,
sapphires and spinelles.-LOndon Globe.