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JOURNAL OF AN EMBASSY 
ever, which can effect wonders among the Bur- 
mans, will purchase an exemption for the 
wealthy; and the penalties, of course, fall 
chiefly on the poor. This however, in persons 
of all ranks, becomes, like almost every other, a 
subject of the grossest abuse, by affording to the 
public officers grounds for extortion. A wealthy 
leper has to pay large sums to the Government 
and its minions for the privilege of not being ex¬ 
pelled from society. A person without influence, 
of respectable character, having the scar of a sore 
of any kind, is liable to be seized by the officers 
of the Arawun or “superintendent of outcasts,” 
under pretext of being affected with the leprosy. 
To avoid the scandal of a public examination, 
or the risk of being driven from society, they 
are obliged to pay heavy contributions. It 
was but two days ago, that a case of this kind 
occurred at Sagaing. An old woman, with 
the recent scar of a common boil upon her hand, 
was seized by one of the petty constables of the 
Arawun, and to avoid being dragged before the 
tribunal of that chief, a heavy fine was exacted 
from her. The leprosy, as well as every other 
physical evil, is considered by the Burmans as 
an infliction for some crime or transgression in 
some former state of existence. I believe that 
