TO THE COURT OF AYA. 
243 
population, more resembling that of an American 
colony, than what we have been accustomed to 
in our old Indian possessions. The capital and 
example of strangers will not only accelerate this 
increase, but insure its being accompanied by im¬ 
provement. 
In the mean while, it is some satisfaction to 
find that the high rate of wages among the Bur¬ 
mese tends greatly to mitigate the despotism, 
which, by repressing population, gives rise to it. 
Owing to high wages, and probably to this alone, 
the labouring classes are, upon the whole, well- 
fed, clad, and housed; a fact which is soon ob¬ 
served by a stranger, and, taking place under such 
apparently inauspicious circumstances, appears at 
first view so unaccountable. In fact, the Burmese 
peasantry are in more comfortable and easy cir¬ 
cumstances than the mass of the labouring poor 
in any of our Indian provinces; and, making al¬ 
lowance for climate, manners, and habits, might 
bear a comparison with the peasantry of most Eu¬ 
ropean countries. As long as land capable of 
yielding corn with little labour continues to bear 
the same large proportion to the population as 
at present, the government cannot rob the pea¬ 
santry of the mere wages of personal labour; 
nay, its interference tends only to enhance or in¬ 
sure them. The scantiness of the population is in 
this manner an advantage to the people. Were 
the country, for example, inhabited in the same 
r 2 
