TO THE COURT OE AVA. 
205 
ture of the country in which it is conducted. If 
this be the case, the produce may be estimated at 
960,000 ticals, or £120,000. My information re¬ 
specting these mines was supplied at Ava by two 
Chinese merchants, who had visited them.—Cop¬ 
per, tin, lead, and antimony, are said to exist 
abundantly in the mountainous country of Lao. 
In the market of Ava, we found a good many 
specimens of copper ore, which had been brought 
there for alchemical purposes, and which, we were 
assured, came from the last-named country. They 
seemed to me to be a massive carbonate of a 
stalactitic form. I could not find, however, that 
any copper mines are worked by the Burmese ; 
and they are indebted for their supply of this 
metal to the Chinese. Tin ore is asserted by the 
Burmese to be found in Lao, and I believe that 
some mines or washings are worked. The Chinese, 
however, import some; but whether the produce 
of their own country, or of some neighbouring 
one, I could not learn. In Lao, also, there is 
found lead and antimony, and both are wrought 
and smelted. We found ores of each in the mar¬ 
ket of Ava, brought there for the same purpose 
as the ores of copper. Lead, however, I find to 
be among the Chinese imports. Indeed, such is 
the rude state of Burmese industry, that the me¬ 
tallic wealth of the country generally, may be 
described as lying in a great measure useless and 
neglected, and it seems generally to be cheaper 
