TO THE COURT OF AVA. 143 
sites, and irregular emoluments, as will be after¬ 
wards explained. Extortion and bribery are com¬ 
mon to the whole class. 
The executive and judicial functions are so 
much blended in the Burmese form of adminis¬ 
tration, that the establishments peculiarly belong¬ 
ing to the latter are not very numerous. At the 
capital there is a judicial officer of high rank, call¬ 
ed the Ta-ra-ma-thu-gyi the principal adminis¬ 
tration of justice, at the capital, at least, appears 
in former times to have been conducted by this 
officer, but he seems now to have been deprived 
of the greater part of it by the encroachments of 
the two executive councils. The inducements to 
this, of course, were the profits and influence 
which the members of these bodies derived from 
the administration of justice. The three towns, 
with their districts, composing the capital, have 
each their Myo-wun, or governor, and these are 
assisted in the municipal administration of their 
respective jurisdictions by officers named Myo- 
chare, commonly pronounced Myo-saye, meaning 
“ town scribe.” They are in reality, however, a 
sort of head constables, and well known as such 
to all strangers as the busy, corrupt, and mis¬ 
chievous agents of the local authorities. The pa¬ 
lace, from its peculiar importance in Burman esti¬ 
mation, has its own distinct governors, no less than 
* In the Siamese Government there is an officer of the same 
name, although pronounced somewhat differently. 
