Gaspard, who had withstood their promises, showed that he cared naught for tortures. The barbarian was highly annoyed at such contumacious behaviour, whereas he ought to have admired the heroism displayed. He drew his sword and was about to cut off his head. The young man 17 years old was quite impervious to fear, he had not the slightest intention of begging for his life, he merely asked for a few moments in which to commend his soul to God "Let me say a prayer" he said, "and after which you may do as you please with me." His request was granted and after a short interval spent in prayer, he cried out "strike." The general, amazed to see such heroic conduct in the case of one so young, was seized with a sudden admiration. He thought that a man who had given so striking a proof of fidelity to his masters, ought to join his retinue, and he was treated more as a favourite than as a slave. If we draw a comparison between the atrocities perpetrated by this nation in the war of 1760 and their conduct in this latter conflict, we can perceive that they had lost something of their former savagery. In the former struggle, children had participated in the tortures of their parents, but on this occasion they were merely mournful spectators. But even this blessed change which commenced to become apparent in the manners and customs of the Burmese was still too weak to disguise their pristine characteristics, especially in cases in which they had given themselves up to the lust of avarice. The following notices will assure the reader on these points. When the Burmese King undertakes a war, he retains only the parents of the conquered as slaves, and he generously hands over the children to the generals and other subordinate officers. It follows from this method of sharing the spoils, that children are often separated for ever from their parents. Here is a touching example of the unhappiness of such innocent victims. A child six years of age, having been left in a boat, cried ceaselessly for his parents from whom he had just been separated. His streaming eyes were fixed in the direction of the spot where they had last been seen. After two days he saw on the bank one of his aunts to whom he was much attached. This woman, grieved at the loss of her nephew, followed the boat to console herself with a sight which could only make her grief more intense. The child, for whom the sight of his aunt was only a new torture, cried and stretched out his arms and called to her to help him, and at last flung himself in the river to go and rejoin her. The Burmese, untouched by this victory of nature, saved the child only to make him feel the loss of his liberty more keenly. A tender heart had restored him to his relatives, but the brutal captain thrust him into the hold of the vessel so as to run no further risk of losing him.