98 
JOURNAL OF AN EMBASSY 
counteracted by care and cleanliness, and this is 
rarely the case. 
The Barmans are great consumers of the betel 
mixture. The preparation, as used by them, con¬ 
sists of the following ingredients :—the leaf of the 
betel pepper, the areca nut, catechu, lime, and a 
little tobacco. The betel pepper is produced in 
great abundance throughout the Burman territory. 
The areca thrives well in the southern provinces, 
and yields a nut best suited to the Burman taste ; 
but the produce is inadequate to the consumption, 
and large quantities are imported from Dacca, 
Chittagong, and the Straits of Malacca, the last 
being the lowest priced and least esteemed. 
The practice of smoking tobacco obtains uni¬ 
versally amongst the Barmans of all ranks—of 
both sexes—and of almost all ages ; for I have 
seen children scarcely three years old, who seemed 
quite familiar with it. The mode of smoking is 
by segars, which are composed of shredded to¬ 
bacco, rolled up in the leaf of another plant,—I 
believe, a species of ficus. Sometimes a little of 
the root of the tobacco is mixed up with the 
shredded leaf. 
With respect to dress, the Burmese are, upon 
the whole, well, and not unbecomingly clad. In 
this last respect, however, their costume will bear 
no comparison with the flowing and graceful gar¬ 
ments of the western nations of India ; nor does 
it by any means convey the same notion of com- 
