( 60 ) 



The hills are not sufficiently high to give either a bold or imposing 

 effect to the view, though the scenery is rendered remarkably 

 picturesque by the prettily-wooded slopes, from which peep here 

 and there groups of houses in twos and threes, casting half lights, 

 and shadows on the unrippled water, that glides beneath. 



108. The most romantic place in this defile is the rock which 

 _ ; m crops up out of the water on the 



^ntioTao^SXme! m ° Bt #* bank off the village ofThinga- 



daw. The superstructure of this 

 island is artificial, being made up of boulders of all sizes, and 

 the whole crowned with the pagoda of Thee-ha-dau and a pretty 

 little monastery, in which the priests reside. Palms and Nycthan- 

 thes have been planted about, and Fid and other trees have 

 sprung up either from the droppings of birds, or perhaps from 

 seed contained in the earth, that hold the stones together ; the 

 latter have taken a shrub form, — from want of nourishment ap- 

 parently, — and combined with the ferns, lichens, and mosses, give to 

 the whole quite a fairy-land appearance. 



109. The Captain very kindly stopped here, and gave me a boat 

 , r . ... ,, . , to see the celebrated tame fish, that 



Visit to see the tame fisn at i ,i « , ., 



Thingadaw village. nave tne repute oi answering to the 



call of tit, tit, tit. Evidently, they 

 have lost all confidence in travellers, and require some more sub- 

 stantial proof that they are wanted than mere words, for we 

 used the most persuasive tones, and regulated our call in all keys, 

 but to no avail ; no sooner, however, was the water baited than 

 they commenced to come round the boat in swarms ; lifting their 

 huge bodies half out of the water, with distended mouths, begging 

 for alms. I am not at all surprised at the poor creatures having 

 become shy, if they are treated by all visitors in the same brutal 

 manner that they were on the present occasion. Had my voyage 

 been at an end instead of just begun, I should have protested 

 against such barbarism ; but, as it was, I was obliged outwardly 

 to regard the experiment as a capital joke, by which piece of diplo- 

 macy I was allowed to go on shore for a short while, and take a 

 hurried look round me. 



These fish are said to be of the dog-fish family; some of them, 

 I should say, are quite six feet long. They are scaleless, square- 

 nosed, flat-headed, with mouths even disproportionately large 

 to their size, and forked feelers. Their colour varies from slaty 

 grey to a reddish brown. I offered Rs. 40 for one of them, much 

 to the disgust of the old Poongyees, who told me they were the 

 favoured ones of the deity Phra, whoever he may be ! 



