248 
JOURNAL OF AN EMBASSY 
They are, for the most part, from the province 
of Yunan, and are all merchants or traders; no 
persons of the class of day-labourers or artisans 
settling in Ava from that province. At the Bur- 
man capital are to be found a few Chinese settlers 
from the province of Canton, who have found 
their way thither from the European settlements, 
through the route of Rangoon. Owing to the 
superior skill and industry of artisans of this class, 
a carpenter among them, for example, will earn 
fifteen ticals a-month at the capital, while a Bur¬ 
mese will barely earn one-third of that amount. 
The Hindus residing at Ava are, for the most 
part, Bramins, or persons so designating them¬ 
selves. They are natives of the Eastern parts of 
Bengal, and not, as in Siam, settlers from the 
Southern parts of India. They are considerable 
in point of numbers, and generally preserve their 
national languages, manners, religion, and cos¬ 
tume. 
The cessions made by the Burmese to the 
British Government, in 1826, contain an esti¬ 
mated area of 48,800 English miles. This ter¬ 
ritory is occupied by men distinct in race, and 
differing widely in civilization, from the inhabi¬ 
tants of any of the previous conquests of the 
British nation in India; and therefore a succinct 
account of it may not be unacceptable. It con¬ 
sists of the following parts; the kingdom of Ar- 
