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JOURNAL OF AN EMBASSY 
exports, and ten upon imports, alone went into the 
public treasury. The duties, at the option of the 
custom-house officers, are levied in money or kind ; 
the latter a very inconvenient, and often a vexa¬ 
tious arrangement for the foreign merchant, who 
sees his packages deranged, his sets broken, and 
his goods damaged, without having any remedy. 
A whimsical but well-authenticated example of 
the vexation attending this practice, was stated to 
me by an eye-witness. The commander of an Eu¬ 
ropean vessel imported a hawser, or small cable. 
The Burman officers were puzzled, not knowing 
whether to charge the duties in kind or on a valu¬ 
ation, but resolved at length to cut off a tithe of 
the cable,—the collector facetiously observing, that 
the produce, if lit for nothing else, might answer 
for lighting the King’s segar! 
Under the Burmese Government there existed 
no duties in the way of excise. The consumption 
of wines, spirits, opium, and other intoxicating 
drugs, is contrary to the religion of the Burmese, 
and strictly prohibited by their laws. Gaming is 
considered equally illegal. Foreigners, however, 
were indulged in these practices, and they were 
even connived at, occasionally, by some of the pro¬ 
vincial governors, who consented to wink both at 
gaming and drinking, on receiving a tithe of the 
profits accruing from licensing these indulgences. 
No portion of these gains, however, found their 
way into the public treasury. 
