TO THE COURT OF AVA. 
241 
the Burmese for the yearly food of a labouring 
man ; but a year’s labour will purchase twenty- 
eight cwts., leaving the value of twenty-two cwts. 
for the other necessary articles of food, for cloth¬ 
ing and house-rent, and leaving a considerable 
balance for rearing and maintaining a family. 
The wages of labour at Rangoon are higher, and 
the price of corn and other articles of food smaller. 
A day-labourer here receives at the rate of twelve 
pounds a-year, and the price of rice does not usu¬ 
ally exceed three shillings per cwt. At Martaban, 
the wages of labour are as high as at Rangoon; 
and the price of rice is generally not higher than 
twelve shillings per cwt. At Bassein a day-la¬ 
bourer receives, as at Ava, about fourteen shillings 
a-month, but the price of rice is only one-half. 
Artisans, such as carpenters and blacksmiths, re¬ 
ceive about one-third more wages than boatmen, 
or other common labourers. Flesh, although by 
no means rejected, is seldom used by the Burmese 
of any rank; but fish, in various forms, is univer¬ 
sally consumed; and the ordinary condiments 
throughout the country are capsicum and salt. 
The retail price of salt, in the lower provinces, 
may be quoted at about four shillings and three 
pence per cwt.; of pickled fish the same, and of 
dry fish, about eighteen shillings. In the upper 
provinces, all these articles, as well as fuel, and the 
materials of house-building, are much more costly. 
These rates of the price of labour may be com- 
VOL. II. R 
