TO THE COURT OF AVA. 
231 
The portions of the Burmese territory most 
distant from the capital are divided into provinces, 
or vice-royalties ; but the number of these seems 
to be variable and uncertain, and the civil power 
vested in their governors different. The most 
frequent civil division appears to be that into 
My os, or townships. Of these, an old chief in¬ 
formed me, there were reckoned to be, in the 
whole empire, according to ancient usage, 4,600 ; 
which, I have no doubt, is a great exaggeration. 
In the Peguan portion of the empire, the number 
thirty-two seems a favourite; and each of the 
provinces of Henzawati, Martaban, and Bassein, 
were said to contain this number of townships. 
On inquiry, however, neither Henzawati nor Mar¬ 
taban were found to contain half this number, and 
the actual number in Bassein was ascertained to 
be eight. Three of the townships of the last- 
named province were found, by actual enumera¬ 
tion, to contain two hundred and forty villages ; 
and if the remaining five contained a similar pro¬ 
portion, the whole villages of the province would 
amount to six hundred and forty. The whole 
province is computed to contain an area of 9,000 
miles; and as the empire contains 184,000, the 
total townships of the kingdom, supposing the 
proportions to be the same, would be, in round 
numbers, a hundred and sixty-three, and the vil¬ 
lages about 1300. This is, indeed, a very rough 
estimate; but in the imperfect and crude state of 
