( 18 ) 



elbow is first sighted the charming little village of Maloon, situated 

 on an eminence on the right bank, and crowned with a pagoda. 

 The shelving banks below to the water's edge are fenced off into 

 gardens, which are cultivated with peas, tobacco, beans, Indian- 

 com, and other indigenous vegetables, while the hill in the back- 

 ground, it may be remembered, was the centre of the stockade 

 taken in 1826. 



27. 30th. — Minhla, the head-quarters of the Governor of 



Maloon, was made by 8.30 a.m. Here 



Minhla, head-quarters of Gover- we anchored three hours to admit of 



Xamers? 10011 ' "* *"* Stati ° n ** sufficient fuel being shipped, to last the 



better part of our voyage to Mandalay. 

 The wood at this station is regarded the best on the river, not 

 that it contains a larger percentage of cutch, but chiefly owing to 

 the billets being thicker and better seasoned. The stacks are 

 neatly built on terraces fronting the village, a work apparently 

 performed by the female portion of the community, who are 

 likewise employed to wood the steamers. The readiness and good 

 nature with which the people perform this latter work, speak for 

 the just treatment they receive at the hands of the steamer officials. 



28. Minhla having been burnt down in 1872, the houses were 



all new, and presented a strikingly-neat 

 Minhla Town described. appearance. A river frontage of about 



80 feet wide has been left as a prome- 

 nade, which is prettily lined with tamarind, jack, mango, and 

 zizyphus, together with ornamental trees, whose wide-spreading 

 branches serve to shelter idlers who throng the bank on the arrival 

 of a steamer, or any other scene of attraction on the river. This 

 strand is kept remarkably clean, it being incumbent on all tenants 

 to sweep up and burn the rubbish that may have accumulated the 

 previous day in front of their houses — a system of sanitation that 

 contrasts favourably with our own. The filth that is thrown 

 below the houses is soon cleared away by pigs and dogs, with 

 which the place swarms, and who make capital scavengers. A 

 Burman regards the under portion of his abode as a legitimate 

 place to throw filth of all sorts. The flooring of every house is 

 perforated with holes, varying in size, to admit of rubbish being 

 thrown away. This peculiarity is not confined to the houses of 

 the poorer classes, for I have observed the same conveniences in 

 the Hall of Audience, at the Palace of Mandalay, and seen the 

 Ministers in their abject, semi-kneeling, prostrated position, with 

 faces nearly touching the ground, utilize the smaller holes as the 

 only means of disgorging their quids of pan supparee prior to His 

 Majesty's entrance. 



