g_ in
Laos, nearly west from Pegu. _Jamahey_ may be _Shamai_, in the north of
Laos; near the N.W. frontier of China.--E.]

In these countries, when people are sick, they make a vow to offer meat
to the devil in case of recovery; and when they recover, they make a
banquet, with many pipes and drums and other musical instruments,
dancing all night, and their friends bring gifts of coco-nuts, figs,
arecas, and other fruits, and with much dancing and rejoicing they
offer these to the devil, giving him to eat, and then drive him out.
While dancing and playing, they often cry and hallow aloud, to drive the
devil away. While sick, a talapoin or two sit every night by the sick
person, continually singing, to please the devil, that he may not hurt
them. When any one dies, he is carried on a great frame of wood like a
tower, having a covering or canopy made of canes all gilded, which is
carried by fourteen or sixteen men, preceded by drums, pipes, and other
instruments, and being taken to a place out of the town, the body is
there burned. On this occasion, the body is accompanied by all the male
friends, relations, and neighbours of the deceased; and they give the
talapoins or priests many mats and much cloth. They then return to the
house, where they feast for two days. After this, the widow, with all
her neighbours wives, and female friends, goes to the place where her
husband was burnt, where they sit a certain time lamenting, and then
gather up all the pieces of bones which have not been burnt to ashes,
which they bury; they then return home, and thus make an end of
mourning. On these occasions, the male and female relations shave their
heads, which is only done for the death of a friend, as they greatly
esteem their hair.

_Caplan_, the place where the rubies, sapphires and spinels are found,
is six days journey from Ava in the kingdom of Pegu. There are here many
great hills out of which they are dug, but no person is allowed to go to
the pits, except those employed in digging. In Pegu, and in all the
countries of Ava, Langeiannes, Siam, and of the Birmans, the men wear
little round balls in their privities, some having two and some three,
being put in below the skin, which is cut for that purpose, one on one
side and another on the other, which they do when 25 or 30 years of age.
These were devised that they might not abuse the male sex, to which
shocking vice they were formerly much addicted. It was also ordained,
that