53 0 
JOURNAL OF AN EMBASSY 
this occasion, presented the King with a large 
collection of seeds, and with some fine growing 
plants from the Botanical Garden of Calcutta. 
The circumstance which attended the convey¬ 
ance of the latter from the spot where we were 
first sitting to the King’s boat, a distance not 
exceeding a hundred and fifty yards, afforded 
us a very curious and unexpected illustration 
of the character of the Burman Government. 
Four or five public officers of considerable rank 
were our conductors; and it might have been 
expected that these persons would have had in¬ 
fluence enough to procure from the crowd of 
idle persons in attendance, a sufficient number, 
to carry a few plants intended for the King him¬ 
self, and almost in his own presence. No such 
thing: they had not authority to command a 
single individual; and it was only after a con¬ 
siderable delay, and after much intreaty and 
persuasion, that a few volunteers were obtained. 
I suggested, as an experiment* the offer of one 
or two ticals, which, from my experience at 
Rangoon, 1 knew, would be quite effectual; 
but this is the last remedy that would have 
been thought of by a Burman chief. The dis¬ 
obedience of the lower class, upon this occasion, 
is easily accounted for: the order did not come 
through their immediate chief; it was therefore 
