“Yet the dire necessity of entering upon another war with such enemies must be contemplated with unmixed dislike. There is nothing, either of honour or profit, to be gained; and the process, from the nature of the country, and the remoteness of its vital parts from the stations of our troops, must always be tedious and expensive. The seat and strength of the government is fixed almost at the upper extremity of the long valley of the Irrawaddy. The capital is six or seven hundred miles from the sea. The lower part of the valley is a pestilential swamp during a considerable portion of the year. Though the shorter route to the capital, over the Arracan mountains, would unquestionably be taken by our main army, the expense of transporting a considerable body of troops, with an adequate supply, not only of military appurtenances, but of provisions (for the Burmese proved, to our cost, in the last war, that they could effectually sweep the country of all resources), through such wildernesses, and by such mere footpaths, would necessarily be great. These were the circumstances which, joined with much ignorance and carelessness, rendered the last war so tedious and costly.” FOOTNOTES [1] Judson, in Documents, pp. 223, 229. [2] Or Dr. Buchanan. See his paper in the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, vol. ii. p. 99 sqq. [3] Penny Cyclopædia, vol. iv, p. 435 sq. [4] Penny Cyclopædia, vol. iv. p. 437. [5] Embassy to Ava, vol. ii. p. 227 sq. [6] Embassy to Ava, vol. iii. p. 233 sq. [7] Near Amarapura, however, Symes observed a man in a plantation using a wheel to a well. See his Ava, vol. ii. p. 87, small edition. [8] Asiatic Researches, vol. vi. p. 127 sq. [9] Malcom, Travels in South-Eastern Asia, vol. i. p. 96 sq. [10] Malcom, vol. i. p. 173 sqq.; and Wallich, _Plantæ Rariores_, &c. [11] Prescott’s Conquest of Peru, vol. ii. p. 101-3. [12] Malcom, vol. i. p. 167. [13] See Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. iv. p. 704. On the Further Discovery of Coalbeds in Assam, by Capt. F. Jenkins; also vol. viii. p. 385. The existence of coal has, however, been disputed. [14] Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. ii. p. 75 sq. [15] The _viss_ is equal to 3½ pounds. The Burmese word is _peik-tha_. [16] Japon, Indo-Chine, et Ceylan, par M. Dubois de Jancigny, p. 236. [17] Crawfurd’s Ava, vol. ii. p. 222, to whom I am mainly indebted. [18] Researches into the Physical History of Mankind, vol. iv. p. 499. [19] Races of Man, p. 137. See his Ethnological map. [20] Prichard, vol. iv. p. 506. [21] Asiat. Res. vol. x. p. 240. [22] Low’s Grammar of the T’hay. [23] See my remarks in Buckley’s Great Cities of the Ancient World, p. 369. [24] In concluding this subject, allow me to refer the reader to some useful observations on Ethnology by Dr. Prichard, in the Admiralty Manual of Scientific Inquiry, edited by Sir John Herschel, p. 423-444. [25] Embassy to Ava, vol. i. p. 286 sq.; later edition, vol. i. p. 148.