There are hermits as well, a variety of wild men whose sanctity is in proportion to their eccentricities. They, like the priests are divided into classes, and all renounce the pleasures of life. Although Europeans have had considerable intercourse with the Kingdom of Ava, it is really a country about which very little is known. The majority of those who have given descriptions of this land have been either soldiers or traders, whose aims have been the acquisition of wealth rather than the desire to make accurate observations. All travellers agree that the fertile soil produces an abundance of rice and fruits, and that mines of lead, copper and silver exist, but that the natives have not sufficient skill to work them. In Ava, the capital of the kingdom, there is a considerable trade in musk, and in rubies and sapphires of the finest quality. The natives are quite successful in working these mines. Trade would flourish if public peace so necessary to industrial occupations, were not so frequently disturbed by various revolutions. The form of Government is despotic. The King who should be merely the administrator of the law has usurped the rights of making, and breaking the law at his own pleasure. Each province has its deputy at the Court under whose protection it resides. This delegate has the right of representing the needs of his fellow citizens and as the King is always well posted in state affairs, oppressors are speedily brought to justice and punished. The following are the titles assumed by the King. "King of Kings who should be obeyed by everyone. Friend and Relation of the gods of Heaven and Earth, who from their regard for him preserve the animals and govern the seasons. Brother of the Sun, Cousin of the Moon and of the Stars. Absolute Master of the ebb and flow of the Tides. King of the White Elephant and of the Twenty Four Umbrellas." The arrogance of the Monarch is such that on rising from table, he orders that a trumpet be sounded to announce the fact to the other Kings of the earth that they have his permission to take their repast. Foreign ambassadors as well as his own subjects must prostrate themselves before him and even the elephants are trained to crouch down when he passes. The military forces do not draw their pay from the public treasury. Each provincial governor has certain lands in his province, the produce of which is devoted to the support of the soldiery in time of peace, and in war time he supplies them with arms, food, and clothing. Officers are distinguished from the rank and file by the magnificence of their pipes which have certain joints to indicate the rank.