TO THE COURT OF AVA. 
175 
standing their rudeness, the comparative industry 
and freedom of this race. 
In some districts, a tax was levied on fruit- 
trees, confined to those in actual bearing. The 
following is a specimen of the rate of assessment 
taken for Lower Pegu A mangoe, a jack, a co¬ 
coa-nut, and a Mariam tree (a very small species of 
mango, peculiar to this country), paid each one- 
eighth of a tical per annum. An Areca and Pal¬ 
myra palm paid each one-quarter of a tical, and 
a betel vine one-sixteenth of a tical. At the ca¬ 
pital, and upper provinces, generally, a tithe of the 
produce of fruit-trees is said to be the rate of tax¬ 
ation ; but, I believe, like many other imposts, it 
is not rigidly exacted. Indeed, it may be stated 
generally, that the unsettled habits of the people, 
and the ignorance and unskilfulness of the tax- 
gatherer, contribute in practice to counterbalance, 
in some degree, the arbitrary and oppressive cha¬ 
racter of the government in theory. The produce 
of this tax, or the amount which reached the pub¬ 
lic treasury, I have not been able to ascertain. 
The fishery of ponds, lakes, rivers, and salt-water 
creeks, is an object of revenue, under the Burmese 
Government. Like the land, however, the greater 
number of the fisheries appear to have been as¬ 
signed to public officers, favourites, and courtiers. 
The following is a specimen of the imposts levied 
on a single fish-pond not assigned : five ticals of 
