150 
JOU11NA1, OF AN EMBASSY 
investigation or trial. On receiving this informa¬ 
tion, he was about to retire in order to make ar¬ 
rangements to exonerate her, when he was seized 
by two messengers of the court, and informed, 
that by appearing in the business he had rendered 
himself responsible, and could not be released un¬ 
less some other individual were left in pledge for 
him, until the old woman’s person were produced. 
A Burman lad, his servant, who accompanied him, 
was accordingly left in his room. In an hour he 
returned with the accused, and found that in the 
interval the lad left in pledge had been put into 
the stocks, his ankles squeezed in them, and by 
this means a little money which he had about his 
person, and a new handkerchief, extorted from 
him. The old woman was now put into the 
stocks in her turn, and detained there until all 
the regular fees incident to such a transaction 
were paid, when she was discharged without any 
investigation whatever into the theft. 
On the 7th of February 1817, seven persons, 
found guilty of sacrilege, were conveyed to the 
place of execution near Rangoon, and secured in 
the usual way to the stake. The first of these, 
whom it was intended to execute, was fired at, 
four successive times, by a marksman, without 
being hit. At every shot there was a loud peal of 
laughter from the spectators. The malefactor was 
taken down, declared to be invulnerable, pardoned, 
and moreover taken into a confidential employ- 
