Page 104 - A History of Siam

102 A HISTORY OF SIAM

of and the man whose candle went out first
equal size,
was the loser. The Law down most minute
lays regula-
tions as to the to be followed for kind
procedure every
of ordeal, and provides long prayers to be read out by
the Clerk of the for the intervention of
Court, begging
the to secure
heavenly powers justice.
At the time of accession the number of
King P'rajai's
Portuguese in Siam had greatly increased, and in 1538
the 120 of them to form a kind of
King engaged body-
guard and to instruct the Siamese in musketry. The
reason for this was the of the
step aggressive policy
King of Taungu, who had seized various towns on the
Siamese frontier.
Burma was divided the of
up, during reign King
Boromaraja IV of Siam, into four Kingdoms, namely :
the remnants of the with the
(i) original Kingdom,
Prome
capital at Ava ; (2) ; (3) Pegu ; (4) Taungu.
In the of and was succeeded
1530 King Taungu died,
by his son, Tabeng Shwe T'i. This monarch was a man
of insatiable ambition, and determined to subjugate
the dominions of all his In A.D. he
neighbours. 1530
conquered Prome and in 1534 he proceeded to attack
Pegu. That country he finally subdued in 1540, in
which he established his at Hanthawadi.
year capital
During his war against Pegu, Tabeng Shwe T'i came
into conflict with the Siamese. He a town
occupied
referred to in Siamese as or
history Chiengkrai Chieng-
kran (now called Gyaing, in the Moulmein district),
which was then to Siam. at the
subject King P'rajai,
head of a attacked the
strong army, Burmese, utterly
defeated them, and drove then out of his dominions.
In this he was assisted his
expedition by Portuguese
mercenaries ; they did such good service that they were
rewarded with various commercial and residential