196 N. ANNANDALE : 



point my friend Mr. H. G. Graves has been kind enough to add some notes, while 

 Dr. G. H. Meerwarth's remarks on the bismer weighing-beam in Russia have an 

 interesting bearing on the distribution of that primitive instrument. My object has 

 been to place on record the bare facts about the apparatus actually in use at the 

 begining of 1917 in a definite district, but probably soon to be replaced by devices of 

 greater mechanical perfection though of less ethnographic interest. 



With one exception the specimens described are in the collection of the Indian 

 Museum, the numbers quoted in reference to each being from the Museum register. 



The collection was exhibited at a' general meeting of the Asiatic Society of 

 Bengal on the evening of the 2nd of May, 1917. Mr. H. G. Graves and Dr. G. H. 

 Meerwarth have been kind enough to embody the remarks they made after the exhi- 

 bition in the notes published on pp. 200 and 201, postea. I have to thank Dr. F. H. 

 Gravely for the photographs reproduced on pis. XI J V and XLV. 



No. 11116. Scales and Weights (PI. XIJI, fig. 1; pi. XLHI, figs. 1-3, and 



pi. XLIV). 



Burmese (Intha) name. — Yazu. 



Locality. — Fort Stedman, Inle Lake, Southern Shan States. 



The beam is made of iron, and consists of a roughly cylindrical rod 50 cm. long 

 and about 8 mm. in diameter. In the middle it is squared and thickened to hold the 

 indicator, and at the extremities flattened and turned first upwards and then down- 

 wards and inwards to form a hook. The indicator is an upright iron rod 14 cm. high. 

 Above, it is roughly cylindrical, but its basal part is flattened in the plane at right 

 angles to that in which the ends of the beam are flattened. At its extreme base it 

 forms a pin with quadrangular cross-section and passes through the beam. Where it 

 does so it is welded into position to give it the necessary rigidity. It is ornamented 

 somewhat crudely by indentations of the sides, and terminates in a small sphere or 

 globule. The indicator is suspended by means of a spindle-shaped pin in a narrow plate 

 of iron. The pin is welded through the basal part of the former, and rests at each side 

 in a circular hole contained in a heart-shaped prolongation of the side of the plate. 

 The plate is flattened in the vertical plane at right angles to the main axis of the 

 beam, and is ornamented in much the same way as the indicator. It is pierced near its 

 upper extremity for the reception of a suspending cord. The scale-pans are of bam- 

 boo basket work covered with thitzi 1 , a compound of wood-oil (derived from the tree 

 Melanorrhoea usitata) and damar resin. They are circular and rather shallow, not 

 very exact in shape. Their diameter is about 28 cm. Four cords are passed through 

 each pan near its edge, at equal distances apart. Each cord is knotted below the hole 

 through which it passes, but not fastened in any way above. The cords are about 

 79 cm. long. They are formed of well-twisted fibre of two strands, and are 3 mm. 

 thick. Above, a short distance below the beam, they are knotted together and hung 



l This compound, which is of a dead black colour, is much used by all the races of the Southern Shan States for 

 covering basketwork in order to render it waterproof. All the Intha boats are painted with it. 



