While his country was being devastated both north and south,and his subjects slaughtered or enslaved, king Ekatat, inefticient and debauched as ever , hardly realised the danger in which he stood, only the actual sight of the Burmese besiegens roused him to some sense of his peril , and feverish efforts were made to defend the capital. Even at this critical time, however, he was inclined to rely far more on all kinds of super- stitious chams and magic amulets, and his people, encouraged by example , wasted their time in seeking for talismans to render them selves invisible or invulnerable
The Burmese armies form the north and the south probably did not number, in all more than about 40,000 men and saim ought to have been in a position to cope with them.