170 
JOURNAL OF AN EMBASSY 
The tax now alluded to applies only to the Bur- 
mans and Talains; that is, to the fixed and most 
improved portion of the population. In the lower 
provinces especially, a great, indeed a principal, 
part of the agriculture of the country is carried on 
by the Karyens. These live in the midst of woods, 
—are governed by their own chiefs and their own 
laws, and inhabiting a country where there is 
abundance of good land, and a scanty population, 
they generally roam about, snatching a crop from 
the virgin soil, where choice or caprice directs 
them. They perform no public services, and in 
such a state of society could not be subjected to 
the house-tax imposed on the Burmese and Ta¬ 
lains. With an exemption from all contribu¬ 
tions and corvees , each family paid a certain tax, 
collected by its own chief, and by him account¬ 
ed for to the Myowun, or governor of the pro¬ 
vince, through the collector. The amount of this 
assessment was not the same in all the provinces, 
and indeed varied from time to time in the 
same province. The following is an example taken 
from the province of Bassein,—Ten ticals being the 
public tax ; one tical for the King’s broker, or as- 
sayer; half a tical for the King’s cook ; half a ti¬ 
cal for a mat for his Majesty ; one tical for the go¬ 
vernor of the province; half a tical for the go¬ 
vernor’s writer ; half a tical for the messenger, or 
runner, who collects the tax ; half a tical for the 
agent of the Thu-gyi of the nearest village, who 
