184 
JOURNAL OF AN EMBASSY 
the State, or the reward of its officers. The offer¬ 
ings made by public officers and tributary princes 
to the King, twice in each year, are direct contri¬ 
butions to the public treasury. They usually con¬ 
sist of some fine cloths, horses, and a quantity of 
gold, corresponding to the rank of the party. The 
largest contributions are made by the Thaub-was, 
or tributary princes. These may be taken as an 
example of the rate. The tributaries are said to 
be one hundred in number, of whom twenty make 
an offering of forty ticals of gold each ; forty, of 
half that amount; and forty more, of six ticals 
only. Each of the two first classes present also a 
horse valued at one hundred and fifty ticals of 
silver. The whole of this contribution, exclusive 
of fine cloths, which they furnish like others, and 
the value of which I have no means of ascertaining, 
amounts to 70,480 ticals. It is not improbable 
that the whole contributions of this nature made 
to the King of Ava may amount to 100,000 ticals, 
or 1£,500/. sterling, per annum ; and trifling as 
this sum may appear, I have no doubt it is one of 
the most considerable of his Majesty’s direct sources 
of revenue. 
From the statement now given of the Burman 
sy stem of revenue, its rudeness, vices, and imper¬ 
fections, are put beyond all question. The Burman 
officers are, as it were,turned loose upon the country 
to prey upon it, like a flight of locusts. A fixed 
money-salary for its functionaries is a thing un- 
