TO THE COURT OF AVA. 189 
finest gold in circulation is, according to this scale, 
of nine and three quarters touch, or twenty-three 
and a quarter carats fine. Between this and that 
which is only twelve carats, or contains one half 
alloy, is to be found in use, almost every interme¬ 
diate degree of fineness. 
The state of trade and commerce may be judg¬ 
ed of by the rates of interest and profit. When a 
pledge is given, the common interest at Ava is 
two in one hundred per mensem. When there 
is no pledge, it rises to five in one hundred. Tn 
the courts of justice, however, no interest can be 
recovered on a loan for any period exceeding ten 
months. At Ava, twenty-five in one hundred is 
considered the average rate of profit on each ope¬ 
ration ; and fifty in one hundred, a good one. It 
should be recollected that the commercial transac¬ 
tions of the Burmese are almost all of the nature 
of retail. 
In the lower provinces of the Burmese empire, 
that is, in the proper country of the Peguans, 
the internal traffic is almost wholly conducted by 
water communication : there are hardly any roads, 
but the natural facilities of communication by 
the former channel are such as in a great mea¬ 
sure to compensate for their absence. Indeed, the 
area of about twenty-seven thousand three hun¬ 
dred square miles, which extends in one direction 
from the sea to the promontory of Kyaok-taran 
on the Irawadi, and in another from the river of 
