TO THE COURT OF AVA. 
10 5 
Burmese hunters go all the way to India, as far 
as the province of Cuttack, in search of them. 
The sapphires are in request as buttons to the 
caps of the Chinese officers of rank. The amount 
of the export and import trade with China has 
been variously stated at from four to seven mil¬ 
lions of ticals, or from 400,000/. to 700,000/. ster¬ 
ling. According to the estimates already given, 
the two principal articles of the trade, silk and 
cotton, would constitute 309,000/. of this value. 
The foreign trade of the Burmese, seaward, is 
for the most part conducted from the port of 
Kan goon, the situation of which is both centrical 
and convenient, whether in reference to the in¬ 
terior of the Burmese dominions, or to those 
foreign ports with which the Burmese hold a 
commercial intercourse. These last are Chitta¬ 
gong, Dacca and Calcutta in Bengal, Madras and 
Masulipatam on the Coromandel coast, the Nico¬ 
bar islands, and Penang. There is also an occa¬ 
sional intercourse with Bombay and with the 
Persian and Arabian Gulf. The articles exported 
are teak wood, terra japonica or catechu, stick 
lac, bees-wax, elephants’ teeth, raw cotton, orpi- 
ment, gold, silver, rubies and sapphires, with 
horses. By far the most important of these com¬ 
modities is teak timber. The quantity annually 
exported is said to be equal to 7500 full sized 
trees. Calcutta is the principal mart, and the 
quantity imported there in 1823-4 was valued in 
o 2 
