Page:Further India; (IA furtherindia00clif).pdf/120

During practically the whole of the sixteenth century, however, in spite of the incursion of Magellan's fleet, and the ascendency gained by the Spaniards after the acces- sion of Philip to the throne of Spain and Portugal, the Portuguese had the virgin field of Asia very much to themselves, and they took advantage of this to spread their outposts broad-cast throughout the East, establish- ing trading settlements even in China. It will be conven- ient, therefore, in this place to sketch in rapid outline the history of European intercourse with Burma, with Siam, and with Indo-China, from its beginning up to the time which saw the arrival upon the scene of the great East India Companies.

A reference to Burma, called by him Mien, occurs in the Book of Marco Polo, though the pagodas, described as having "on the top, round about the balls, little gold and silver bells," are the only distinctively Burmese ob- jects mentioned. There is no reason to believe that Polo himself ever visited Burma, and the honour of being the first white man to land in Pegu is generally attributed to the Venetian, Nicolo di Conti, who returned to his native city in 1444, after spending some five and twenty years wandering through Asia. He went to Racha, which is probably to be identified with Arakan, and thence "after seventeen days passing desert hills came into a cham- paign country." He must, therefore, have crossed the Arakan Yoma range, possibly by the Aeng pass, and so have reached the banks of the Irawadi. He speaks of Ava by name, and says, mistakenly, that its river is greater than the Ganges. The country he calls Machin