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JOURNAL OF AN EMBASSY 
we pointed it out, they imagined it to be unripe 
grains of wheat. It was introduced, therefore, 
in all likelihood, with the first seed wheat, per¬ 
haps some centuries back, and accidentally pro¬ 
pagated ever since through the carelessness of 
the natives. It is evident, from the lower price 
of wheat than rice, that the lands near Ava are 
better suited for the growth of the former than 
of the latter; and it seems remarkable, there¬ 
fore, that it does not constitute the chief-bread 
corn of the inhabitants. This however, as al¬ 
ready mentioned, is by no means the case; for 
all their prejudices run in favour of rice, to 
which they are fully as much attached as the 
inhabitants of the Delta, to whom wheat is un¬ 
known except as a foreign commodity. Consi¬ 
dering the excellence of the Bur man wheat, the 
cheapness with which it is grown, the facility of 
water communication to the sea, and the conve¬ 
nience of the port of Rangoon, it ought, under 
favourable circumstances, to be a material article 
of exportation ; but it is the policy of the Bur- 
man Government to prohibit the export of every 
species of grain, and there is little hope of any 
improvement in this respect. 
Oct . 10.—We had yesterday a visit from the 
Kyi-wun and his associates, the two Secretaries 
of the Palace, accompanied by Mr. Lanciego. 
