538 
JOURNAL OF AN EMBASSY 
large a number became requisite, in consequence 
of the necessity of lightening the steam-vessel 
to six feet draft of water, on account of the 
great fall of the river since coming up, which 
had not been less at Ava than eighteen or 
twenty feet. I have before mentioned the dif¬ 
ficulty of procuring boats from the Burman Go¬ 
vernment : this, it appears, did not arise alto¬ 
gether from a disposition to refuse prompt com¬ 
pliance with our wishes, or from the spirit of 
procrastination which reigns over all its pro¬ 
ceedings ; but from the chicanery and extortion 
of the public officers, which is conspicuous here, 
as in every thing else. Boats are to be had in 
Ava in abundance : the Government, however, 
never pays for any thing, but presses men, 
horses, carts, boats, or whatever else it requires 
at the moment. This office is intrusted to the 
Myosares, or town scribes, who make such mat¬ 
ters a capital subject of perquisite. An Euro¬ 
pean informed me that he had been once em¬ 
ployed to execute some small work for the 
King, in which two boats were required: he 
accompanied the Myosare to point out the de¬ 
scription required, and was personally a witness 
to the iniquities which he practised on the oc¬ 
casion : he made a visitation to almost every 
boat in the river, exacting fines from the owners 
to let them off; and it was a whole fortnight 
