icks, in which to keep your goods, as often the city takes fire, and
four or five hundred houses are burnt down, so that these _godowns_ are
very useful to save your goods. The king with all his nobility and
gentry dwell in the new town, which is a great and populous city,
entirely square with fair walls, and a great ditch all round about full
of water, in which are many crocodiles. It has twenty gates, five on
each side of the square, all built of stone. There are also many turrets
for centinels, made of wood and splendidly gilded. The streets are the
handsomest I ever saw, all as straight as a line from one gate to the
other, and so broad that ten or twelve men may ride abreast through
them. On both sides, at every door, there are palmer trees planted,
which bear coco-nuts, and which make a fine shew as well as a commodious
shade, so that the people may walk all day in the shade. The houses are
of wood, covered with tiles.

The palace of the king stands in the middle of this city, and is walled
and ditched all round, all the houses within being of wood very
sumptuously gilded, and the fore-front is of very rich workmanship, all
gilded in a very costly manner. The pagoda, or house in which his idols
stand, is covered with tiles of silver, and all the walls are gilt over
with gold. Within the first gate of the palace is a very large court, on
both sides of which are the houses for the king's elephants, which are
wonderfully large and handsome, and are trained for war and for the
king's service. Among the rest, he has four white elephants, which are a
great rarity, no other king having any but he; and were any other king
to have any, he would send for it, and if refused would go to war for
it, and would rather lose a great part of his kingdom than not have the
elephant. When any white elephant is brought to the king, all the
merchants in the city are commanded to go and visit him, on which
occasion each individual makes a present of half a ducat, which amounts
to a good round sum, as there are a vast many merchants, after which
present you may go and see them at your pleasure, although they stand in
the king's house. Among his titles, the king takes that of king of the
white elephants. They do great honour and service to these white
elephants, every one of them having a house gilded with gold, and
getting their food in vessels of gilt silver. Every day when they go to
the river to wash, each goes under a canopy of cloth o