A very singular custom prevails in that country. It consists in paying a
kind of homage to a white elephant. This elephant is sumptuously dressed
and fed. It is provided with officers, like a second sovereign, and is
made to receive presents from foreign ambassadors. It is next in rank to
the king, and _superior_ to the queen.
Burmah is the country in which Drs. Judson and Price, and Messrs. Hough
and Wade suffered so much, during the war with England several years
ago. Messrs. Hough and Wade were the first to suffer. As the ships which
were to make the attack upon Rangoon approached the city, they were
seized and cast into prison. Their legs were bound together with ropes,
and eight or ten Burmans, armed with spears and battle-axes, were
placed over them, as a guard. They were afterwards put in irons. The
next morning, as the fleet approached still nearer the city, orders were
sent to the guard, through the grates of their prison, that the instant
the shipping should fire upon the town, they were to kill them, together
with the other prisoners confined with them. The guard, on receiving
these orders, began to sharpen the instruments with which they intended
to kill them, and moved them about their heads to show with how much
skill and pleasure they would attend to their orders.
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