"That is correct. Could a man have one of them destroyed, and yet survive?" "It might be partially injured, and he yet survive." "But suppose the element on which the issues of the body depend were to be destroyed, could the man survive?" "In that case he must die, if the action could not be restored." "That is true. It is proper for every physician to be conversant with the elementary substances. There are a great number of books on the subject of medicine in the Burmese language,--books _so_ deep,"--raising his hand above his head. _Envoy._ "I have received from your Majesty a fossil alligator's head, which is very much prized by the Rock Teacher; and I have heard there are Biloos'[11] (monsters') bones in some parts of the country." _King._ "There are Biloos' bones in the Yau district, and you can have as many as you choose, or a whole Biloo even." (_To the Woondouk_,) "See that this is attended to." (_To the Atwen-woons_,) "These people cannot sit long thus without being cramped." His Majesty then flung himself brusquely off the sofa, turned his back, put on his shoes, and strode away without any leave-taking. His manner was easy and full of good-humor; but he chewed betel to almost disgusting excess; the golden pawn-box was never out of his hand, and he played with it as he talked. When he was gone, refreshments were brought in,--pancakes filled with spiced meats, jellies of rice-starch, in various colors, and other viands. But the most Oriental and by no means the least palatable dish consisted of fried locusts, stuffed with spiced meat. They were brought in "hot-and-hot," in relays of saucers, and tasted like fried shrimps. In the large audience-hall, adjoining the pavilion, ten or twelve richly dressed dancing-girls slowly circled to passionate music, brandishing in both hands bunches of peacock's feathers, throwing themselves into a variety of difficult and curious attitudes, and chanting all the while in a pleasing chorus, which singularly resembled the psalmody of a choir in an English parish church. A few days later the Envoy called, _pour prendre congé_, on the Ein-shé-men, whose physiognomy he describes as that of a strong-willed, boisterous, passionate, and energetic man, with but little intellect or refinement, but not, perhaps, without kindly impulses. He was full of questions,--among others, "What nation first made gunpowder?" _Envoy._ "I am not quite sure, your Highness, whether it was first made in England or Germany. Our books say that it was known from an earlier period in China." "Ah!" interposed the sly old Woondouk. "You won't say where gunpowder was first made, because you want it to appear that it was in England." "Not at all; the point is a doubtful one. I tell you exactly what I know." "Then where were muskets first invented?" "I cannot tell you. The first use of cannon on record was by the English, some five hundred years ago." _Prince._ "What nation first made steamships?"