verences, when he enters, in
the mid way, and when he comes near the king; at each of these he kneels
down, holds his hands above his head, and bows with his head to the
ground three times. He then sits down to speak to the king, and if
favoured is allowed to come near, within three or four paces, but
otherwise is made to sit at a greater distance. When the king goes to
war he is accompanied by a great military force. While I was in Pegu, he
went to Odia, in the kingdom of Siam, with 300,000 men and 5000
elephants. His particular guard was 30,000. When the king rides abroad,
he is accompanied by a strong guard and many nobles, and often rides on
an elephant having a great castle on its back superbly gilded; sometimes
he travels on a great frame of wood like a horse-litter, having a small
house or canopy upon it, covered over head, and open at the sides, which
is all splendidly gilded with gold, and adorned with many rubies and
sapphires, of which he hath an infinite store, as a vast many of them
are found in this country. This couch or litter is called _serrion_ in
their language, and is carried on the shoulders of 16 or 18 men. On
these occasions, there is much triumphing and shouting made before the
king, by great numbers of men and women.

This king has little force by sea, having very few ships. He has houses
quite full of gold and silver, both of which are often coming in to him,
but very little goes out again, so that he makes little account of it,
and this vast treasury is always open to inspection, in a great walled
court with two gates, which are always open to all men. In this court
there are four houses very richly gilded and covered with leaden roofs,
in each of which is a pagod or idol, of huge stature and vast value. In
the first of these houses is the image of a king, all in gold, having a
golden crown on his head richly set with large rubies and sapphires, and
round about are the images of four children all in gold. In the second
house is the image of a man in silver, of prodigious size, as high as a
house, insomuch that the foot is as long as the stature of a man. This
figure is in a sitting posture, having a crown on its head, richly
adorned with precious stones. In the third house is the statue of a man
in brass, still larger than the former, with a rich crown on its head.
In the fourth house is another brazen statue, still larger than the
former, having also a crown on its head richly adorned with jew