144 
JOURNAL OF AN EMBASSY 
four in number, one to each gate; their name, 
or title, is Wen-m’hu ; they have the reputation 
of having under their authority each a thousand 
men. In the municipal or provincial courts, there 
is an officer called the Chit-kai, or Sitkai, who is 
a kind of sheriff, or principal conservator of the 
peace ; and, in imitation of the councils at the ca¬ 
pital, an officer named Na-kan-d’hau, who dis¬ 
charges the office of public informer. Most of the 
Burman officers in the provinces, down to the 
Rua-thu-gyi, or chief of a village, have assessors 
of their own nomination, called Kung, who take 
the drudgery off the hands of their chiefs, leaving 
the decision to the latter. A Myo, or town, it 
should be observed, is divided into wards, or 
Ayats, each of which is under the direction of an 
inferior police-officer, called the Ayat-gaong. The 
most intelligent and active officers connected with 
the administration of justice are the She-nes, or 
pleaders. These persons are described as being 
tolerably well acquainted with the law and its 
forms, and occasionally useful and industrious. To 
each court and public officer there are attached 
a competent number of Na-lains, or messengers ; 
and annexed to the principal courts is always to 
be found the T’haong-m’hu, or executioner, with 
his band of branded ruffians. 
The Myo-thu-gyis and Rua-thu-gyis, or chiefs 
of townships, districts, and villages, exercise a li¬ 
mited judicial authority within their respective 
