TO THE COURT OF AYA. 159 
numbers. The toll rents for sixty ticals a-year. 
Half the brick, mortar, and labour in any of 
the considerable Pagodas would have made an 
excellent bridge over this river; but such is 
not the mode in which Bur man capital is ex¬ 
pended. 
In our excursions we met many persons going 
to the market of the town with their goods and 
wares, the greater number of whom were wo¬ 
men carrying heavy burdens on their heads. 
The principal articles, we observed, were cot¬ 
ton, fire-wood, and a variety of coarse esculent 
greens, evidently not the result of cultivation, 
but culled from the marshes or forests. Among 
other articles, we noticed considerable quan¬ 
tities of natron, which in this country is in 
general use instead of soap. The price of this 
was given to us at half a current tical the bas¬ 
ket, of sixteen viss, which will make about 
2s. 6d. the hundred weight. 
On our return from our walk, we found Dr. 
Price on board, who had come to pay us a visit. 
This gentleman is a native of America, a phy¬ 
sician, and also a minister of the Baptist Mission. 
He had been near six years in the country, was 
married to a Burmese lady, had studied the 
Burman language, and spoke it with extraordi¬ 
nary facility. Like all other European and 
