To Bengal, by way of Arracan, they chiefly export silver bullion for the purchase of silk and cotton piece-goods; they speak of five hundred boats employed in that trade, but I much doubt the fact.

From Yanghong * and Bassien they export sticklac, timber, ivory, wax, cutch, wood and earth oil, precious stones, and other trifles, to various parts of India, to the amount of ten or fifteen lacs of tecals or rupees; and import various European, Indian, and China goods, to the amount of ten lacs, more or less.

From the Shan country they get gold, silver, musk, sticklac, ivory, jasper, horses, and laipac, a coarse kind of tea, in general use amongst them, and which they eat with oil, chillies, and garlic. The eating of laipac forms an indispensable part of the ceremonial in every contract.

From Martaban, Tavoy, and Mergui, they get a little gold, wild cardemoms, ivory, wax, birds'-nests, and tin; and most of their salt-fish and balachong.†

They manufacture most of their silks, and dye them very well of various brilliant colours; also a fine brown cotton cloth, of which they are very fond; and a great deal of coarse, and some fine cotton cloth, for their own consumption. They smelt metals (iron in large quantities for their own use); make paper, and various articles of lackered ware; refine culinary saltpetre; make gunpowder (very bad); manufacture most of the coarse ironmongery; found brass for various purposes; build ships and boats; make twine and cordage; turn in wood and ivory; polish and cut their precious stones ; and excel in pottery: but all their best artificers are foreigners; all they do is done rudely; and to their women alone must be ascribed the merit of weaving and dyeing. A Birmah is seldom any thing else than a government servant, a soldier, boatman, husbandman, or labourer. They break in their cattle very well, but their arts of husbandry are very rude; their plough is nothing more than a large wooden rake, on which the ploughman stands and drives the oxen or buffaloes that draw it. The grain is committed to the soil, and the crop is generally left to chance to make its way up with spontaneous growth, except when in the ear, when a good deal of dexterity is used in defending it from the birds. In the culture of tobacco, cossoomba, and some other articles, they are more careful; but husbandry, as well as every thing else, seems to be on the decline. Inclosures were once very general, and artificial reservoirs for water constructed in many places.

POPULATION.

There are three stages of society in which man varies his habitation: in the earliest or mere savage state, depending on the spontaneous productions of nature for support, he generally crowds to the margin of the sea, the banks of lakes and rivers; hence navigators have so often erred in estimating the population of the islands and coasts, which they have cursorily viewed. As numbers increase, and other resources become necessary, men apply themselves to raising herds, or tilling the soil, and gradually recede from the banks of rivers, &c. to the interior; in the third and last stage, when commerce is introduced, the banks of navigable rivers, &c. are again frequented, and towns raised by the superflux of society.

The Birmah nation has advanced to this last stage of society. The Era Wuddey is the high road of the country, and the most fertile tracts of land are to be found on its banks and islands. A traveller passing and repassing to and from the capital, who has no opportunity of making incursions inland, would form very erroneous conclusions of the population of the country, were he to draw his inferences merely from the sea. I at first fell into this error myself, as I observe by some remarks in my diary on my way up the river. We must, therefore, have recourse to other data; scanty as they are, they may tend to throw some light on the subject.

The question of population, I understand, has been often agitated at the Birmah court, and four millions stated as the population of the Birmah territory; and I have

*We take it for granted that this is Rangoon.-Ed.

reason

† Balachong is a species of caviare, esteemed a great delicacy by the Malays, but is a very disgusting dish to an European palate. It is prepared from the spawn of fish and pounded shrimps, and made into cakes.-Ed.

reason to believe it is pretty near the truth, rather more than less. One of the town clerks of Amerapoorah told my informant that there were 50,000 houses at Amerapoorah, including the suburbs and adjoining hamlets. I think this is an exaggerated account, because I know that Yanghong, the first place of trade in the Birman dominions, and more populous than any other for its size, contains only 5,000 taxable houses; and Amerapoorah, in its most extended sum, does not appear to me more than four or five times as large. I have visited most parts of both cities, and think my estimate of their comparative size near the truth. Birmah houses are only of one story, and spread a good deal of surface; their cities, &c. are also crowded with many religious buildings; and the houses of all those employed under government are surrounded by court yards, so that both these take up a great deal of room. As the taxes are levied on houses, a greater number of people are crowded under one roof, than is usual in single-storied houses in other countries. I shall, therefore, allow seven persons to one house; and rating the houses of Amerapoorah at 25,000, it will make the population of the capital 175,000 souls; men, women, and children. The residence of a court, however despotic, has many attractions; it therefore serves, in some measure, as a criterion to judge of the population of the country. But even supposing the above stated number of inhabitants doubled, it would argue but a small population in the Birmah dominions.

A second data is the number of cities, towns, and villages in the Birmah dominions, conquered countries inclusive. It is said that his majesty, desirous of information on this subject some years ago, ordered that every city, town, or village, should send one soldier for the Birmah army, and that when they were mustered at Amerapoorah, there appeared to be 8,000 men. Supposing this statement to be correct, and it is more likely to be exaggerated than diminished, we must have a regard to local circumstances before we can apply it as a datum. In England and Wales, I think, there are about 1,200 cities, towns, and villages; and the population of both countries is rated at about seven millions, more or less; but it must be remembered that, from the security derived from our happy government, the face of the country is scattered over with habitations; besides, the flourishing state of our commerce has crowded our cities and towns with inhabitants. The case is far different with the Birmah dominions; its immense wilds are inhabited by savage hordes, or ferocious animals, hostile to the civilized inhabitants. Oppression is ever on the watch to seize the unprotected peasants; and anarchy and lawless rapine stalk at large throughout the land. The inhabitants, therefore, are compelled to unite in societies for their mutual protection.

Their towns and villages in general are little more than a straggling row of huts along the strand, or a double row, lining a road of communication. The whole of these 8,000 cities, &c. do not average more than 150 or 200 houses each; taking the largest statement, or 200, it will make the number of houses in the Birmah dominions 1,600,000; and at seven persons to a house, 11,200,000 persons in the whole of the Birmah dominions: a very scanty population indeed for so extended a territory. And its very extension operates against its ever proving an adequate resource either for defence or revenue: for in truth not one-half of this population can be said to be in a state of firm allegiance; and from the remainder a very large proportion must be deducted for females, old men, and infants.

The proportion of women to men has been stated to me as ten to six, and four to one; and this enormous disproportion of the sexes has been accounted for, by the incessant state of warfare in which the Birmah nation has been engaged, through the restless ambition of its sovereigns, particularly those of the present dynasty. That it does not proceed from a natural cause, I have pretty well ascertained; for, on the strictest inquiry, I do not find that the births of females exceed that of the males beyond the usual proportion. But admitting that the proportion does not exceed three to one, and stating the effective population of the Birmah dominions at 6,000,000, it will leave only 1,500,000 males; from these must be deducted, all those under fifteen years of age and above fifty, according to the common rules of political arithmetic ; there will then remain one-fourth, or 375,000 men capable of bearing arms, supposing

that

{JULY, that the whole of the country was to rise in a mass, according to the modern phrase; but this experience has proved to be an impossibility; I am, therefore, induced to credit what I have often heard asserted, that his present majesty would find it extremely difficult to raise and maintain, for any length of time, an army of sixty thousand men; but this will more fully appear in the ensuing article.

MILITARY FORCE.

His majesty has no standing land force, except a few undisciplined native Christians, and renegadoes of all countries and religions, who act as artillery; a small body of cavalry, not exceeding one hundred; and perhaps two thousand undisciplined, ill armed, naked infantry. His armies are composed of levies, raised on the spur of the occasion, by the princes, chobwahs, and great lords; these holding ng their lands by military tenure, and being assessed according to the emergence or caprice of their. sovereign. When, therefore, an expedition is set on foot, his Majesty's council adjusts the proportion of men to be furnished by each district; immediately the jugghiredaur, or governor, intrigues, and employs all his art and interest, to get the number reduced; hence various delays, and obstructions to the public service; when his quota is finally fixed, he proceeds to his jugghire, and gives the like orders to the mewdhaghees (zemindars), but exceeding the proportion established by the court, that he may pocket the commutation for the difference: the mewdhaghees strive to abate their respective proportions, and impose on the inhabitants, from the same corrupt motives; and the inhabitants, in like manner, strive to avoid part of the imposed burthen: so that the whole country is thrown into commotion, business is neglected, and many of the poorer classes fly to the jungles, or totally abandon their country, in order to avoid these impositions, to which there is no end. When the rate for a town is finally settled, as one man from two, four, or more houses, the inhabitants of those houses advance 300 tecals for each recruit, for which sum he is bound to serve, without further pay, during the war, be its term more or less: this man they produce, and deliver over at the appointed tribunal. He is obliged to furnish himself with a short spear, sword, and target; if he has no musket he is furnished with one from his Majesty's stores, for which he pays a regulated price, ten tecals flowered silver (about Sa. Rs.15), but is accountable for it at the end of the war; ammunition he is furnished with gratis ; sometimes with grain from the public granaries, paying for the same; but chiefly shifts for himself by marauding. Should he desert, his family and kindred are put into a straw hut and burnt alive; many dreadful examples of this kind have recently occurred; it is an undoubted fact. They travel by land in squads, to the place of general rendezvous, at their own expense; or are transported in boats, put in requisition by his Majesty's officers. Every thing wanted for his Majesty's service is impressed or put in a state of requisition without the smallest indemnification. Capt. Cox saw strings of these miserable recruits, boys under age, and decrepit old men, marching from Arracan to Amerapoorah; in particular at Pegaan, as he was coming down the river; they had been six weeks marching so far. Arracan was to furnish 3,000 men for the present war.* Here another oppressive part of Birmah policy appears; men for the defence of the eastern frontier are drafted from the west, those for the defence of the southern from the north, and vice versâ, in order to secure their fidelity.+

* The writer refers to the war then existing between Ava and Siam.-Ed.

Should

The statements of the writer are supported by the Burmese documents found in the stockade taken by the British troops on the 15th December last. One is a letter from a chief to Maha Bundoola, stating that he had received 1,500 men, with instructions from the Bundoola to proceed with them to Martaban, and re-capture it from the English; but that upon arriving in the vicinity of the place, 1,000 of his men deserted. He adds, that the families of the deserters have been seized and confined. At the bottom of the letter is a copy of a return from the war secretary of the Martaban army, giving the names of certain men, their wives and children. There is also a copy of an agreement between the chief of Tullogillion, and a man called Mouasa; the latter agrees to furnish two men to proceed to Rangoon and fight, for 120 tickals each, 50 to be paid in advance, and the remainder on their return. Another paper contains copy of a letter from a person to his chief, in which he reports, that having arrived

Should the number of recruits from any particular district fall short of the allotted quota, as is commonly the case, the deficiency must be commuted by fine, or is settled according to the interest of the jugghiredaur at court.

Besides these, every town on the river, according to its size, is obliged to furnish a gilt or common war boat; to man, and keep it in constant readiness: of these it is supposed his Majesty can muster from two to three hundred; they carry from forty to fifty men each, and are, I think, the most respectable part of his force. They live chiefly by rapine, and are in a constant state of hostility with the rest of his people, which makes them audacious, and prompt to execute any orders, however cruel or violent.

His Majesty has been wrought on to believe, that the English meditate an attack on his country; and, at the same time, he has planned an invasion of the Siamese dominions. To guard against us, and to afford means for his enterprize, may, of course, be supposed to call for all the common resources of the country.

2

For the first of these services, it is said, that an army of 10,000 men is to march to guard Arracan; an army of the same force is to be assembled on the Assam frontier, which, it is supposed, is another probable point of invasion; and 10,000 men are to be embodied, and kept in constant readiness, for the defence of Pegu and Yanghong.

For the second service, 20,000 men are to march against Jamai; but all these numbers, I have great reason to believe, are exaggerated. I shall confine my observations principally to the quota to be furnished by the southern provinces, of which I have more certain knowledge.

The southern quota, or 10,000 men, is to be furnished by the whole of the country to the southward of Prone, including both banks of the river down to the sea; Bassien, the islands formed by the mouths of the Era Wuddey, Tonghou, Henzawuddy Proper," Sittong, and Martaban; a tract composing the fairest and best provinces of the Birmah empire: and yet it is supposed they will not be able to procure from the whole more than 8,000 men, and not that number, without greatly distressing the inhabitants; hence may be formed some idea of the probable force of the whole empire, which, from every concurrent testimony, cannot, under its present adininistration, exceed 60,000

men.

About six or seven years ago, when his Majesty headed his army in person against the Siamese, he had not more than 40,000 men: half of these never returned; and such are the effects of the desolating ambition and erroneous policy of this government; that the country has become, throughout the greatest part of its extent, a mere desert, and the wretched inhabitants, particularly the Peguvians, are daily emigrating to other

countries.

REVENUE.

It may be proper to premise, that notwithstanding the rapid declension of his Majesty's real property, his personal wealth is ever accumulating, for his treasury is the Charybdis of the country, swallowing up every thing and returning nothing; and as he seized upon the accumulated treasures of his ancestors, at the revolution which placed him on the throne, and has amassed large sums from the confiscation of the property of the proscribed, which in the course of his reign has included every man of wealth or consideration in the country, he therefore must be one of the richest princes in India.

This prince provides for his children, supports his household, and his ministers, &c. not by tunkherahs on the revenue, but by grants of territory, privileges of markets, or of levying imposts, &c. In this manner he has granted away most of his patrimonial and acquired dominions.

His

arrived at Donneebow, he was seized by prince Surrawuddee, and placed in confinement, till he chose to produce ten boat-builders; that, at last, having obtained them, he was set at liberty, when their work was done, and received 150 ticals. The same paper includes a statement of money refunded by men who had received advances at Donneebow, and refused to march; and another statement of money advanced to twenty men proceeding towards Rangoon, and the amount recovered from them on their return to Donneebow for not having completed the duty on which they were sent.--Ed.