52 
JOURNAL OF AN EMBASSY 
able ditch, and in one situation a deep swamp, 
both overgrown with Arums , Pontiderias , the 
Pitsia stratiota , and other aquatic plants. Over 
the ditch there is a causeway, and over the marsh 
a long wooden bridge, connecting one of the gates 
with a large temple and monastery. 
Hangoon and its suburbs are divided into eight 
wards, called, in the Bur man language, Yat , su¬ 
perintended by an officer called the Yat-gaong, 
whose business it is to maintain watch and ward 
within his division. The palisaded fort, or stock¬ 
ade, which is properly what the Burmans deno¬ 
minate a town or myo, is composed of three wide 
and clean streets running east and west, and three 
smaller ones crossing them and fronting the gates 
of the south face. The most populous part of the 
town is the suburb called Taklay (Tatkle), imme¬ 
diately on the west face of the stockade. 
In August 3 826, I directed a census of the 
houses and population to be made, and found the 
former to amount to 1570, and the latter to 8666, 
excluding all strangers. This gives between five 
and six inhabitants to each house. During the 
administration of the last Burman viceroy, in a 
census which was made, the houses amounted to 
3250,, which would give a population of near 
18,000 inhabitants. On this occasion, however, I 
am told, that the number of houses was swelled 
by including in the list all the villages and ham¬ 
lets of the neighbourhood. 
