long past Pagán till they reached the place now called _Tarokmau_ or “Chinese Point,” 30 miles below Prome. Here they were forced by want of provisions to return. The Burmese Annals place the abandonment of Pagán by the King in 1284, a most satisfactory synchronism with the Chinese record. It is a notable point in Burmese history, for it marked the fall of an ancient Dynasty which was speedily followed by its extinction, and the abandonment of the capital. The King is known in the Burmese Annals as _Tarok-pyé-Meng_, “The King who fled from the _Tarok_.”[1] In Dr. Mason’s abstract of the Pegu Chronicle we find the notable statement with reference to this period that “the Emperor of China, having subjugated Pagán, his troops with the Burmese entered Pegu and invested several cities.” We see that the Chinese Annals, as quoted, mention only the “capitale primitive” _Taikung_, which I have little doubt Pauthier is right in identifying with _Tagaung_, traditionally the most ancient royal city of Burma, and the remains of which stand side by side with those of _Old_ Pagán, a later but still very ancient capital, on the east bank of the Irawadi, in about lat. 23° 28′. The Chinese extracts give no idea of the temporary completeness of the conquest, nor do they mention Great Pagán (lat. 21° 13′), a city whose vast remains I have endeavoured partially to describe.[2] Sir Arthur Phayre, from a careful perusal of the Burmese Chronicle, assures me that there can be no doubt that _this_ was at the time in question the Burmese Royal Residence, and the city alluded to in the Burmese narrative. M. Pauthier is mistaken in supposing that Tarok-Mau, the turning-point of the Chinese Invasion, lay north of this city: he has not unnaturally confounded it with Tarok-_Myo_ or “China-Town,” a district not far below Ava. Moreover Malé, the position of the decisive victory of the Chinese, is itself much to the south of Tagaung (about 22° 55′).