( 62 ) 



ierocarpus, and Jiopece. The wild rose was also common, and here 

 and there hamlets appeared. 



Two hours' steaming now brought us to Padepiem, where we 

 remained, to take in wood. On the banks, ready for transport for 

 Mandalay, were a large number of hopea, and depterocarpus logs, 

 some of the former measuring 39 feet, with a girth of seven feet five 

 inches, and the latter 30 feet long and six feet nine inches in cir- 

 cumference, they were to have been floated down with bamboos, 

 which were also stacked in large numbers on the bank. 



115. Besides the trees mentioned, I noticed dellenia, speciosa, adelia 



neriefolia, jatropha, or coral shrub, cultivat- 

 ed, as far as I could learn, entirely for 

 its brilliant scarlet corymbs ; vitex, grewia, nauclea, and pladera. To 

 the back of the village, where there is a large sheet of water, and 

 low lying land, trapas were common. I also noticed salvinia, scirpus ; 

 stravadium, and azolla. 



116. The steamer fuel is of mixed jungle-wood and regarded in- 



ferior to that obtained in British territory, 

 but it is supplied at a cheaper rate, I 

 am told, and decreases in price as we proceed northward. This is 

 not attributable to it being more plentiful, for, if anything, the con- 

 trary is the case ; but labour is cheaper, and bond fide payment in 

 money better appreciated. Women here bring the wood on board, 

 while the male population line the banks, seated on their haunches, 

 unceasingly chewing pan suparee, and lazily looking on. The cheer- 

 ful, good-natured manner in which the wooding is readily done by 

 the girls, who are full of fun and frolic within the pale of propriety, 

 shows their confidence in the steamer officials, and points to honest 



payments. Here I am told a wife can be 



^Woman a marketable com- p^^ased from Es. 25 to Ks. 80, the 



mo • y ' price being regulated by the party s' figure, 



age, complexion, cleanness of limb, and position in life ; caste not 

 being recognized in Burma, men of all nations are regarded as 

 eligible husbands, provided the rhino is forthcoming. 



This practice savours strongly of the slave trade, and actually 

 is only a shade removed from it ; but it is not exactly that, for the 

 girl's consent is necessary (though woe betide the virgin who declines 

 a good offer), and the money which goes to the parents is looked 

 upon as a sort of marriage dowry. In Burma where the tying, un- 

 tying, or retying of the Gordian knot is perhaps more easily accom- 

 plished than in any other civilized country ; the law of Menu regard- 

 ing man and wife, which is maintained in our law courts in cases 

 concerning people of the Buddhist faith, fully recognizes woman's 

 rights, and in matters affecting property, liberty, and discretion 



