( 74 ) 



effect, and I was permitted to proceed, though he resolutely 

 determined to represent matters at head-quarters, and there- 

 by relieve himself of all responsibility. Having so far gained 

 my point, I changed the topic, as I find it necessary now also to do. 



141. Bhamo, which is a corruption of the Shan word Manno, 



signifying water-pot village, is situated 



tion 1 ?/ 110 ' situation and descrip " on a high cliff of yellow clay on the left 



bank of the Irrawaddy, 200 miles 

 N.N.E. of Mandalay, in Latitude 24° 16' north, Longitude 96° 53' 47" 

 east. It is the great emporium of trade with Western China, and 

 to this it principally owes its importance. With the exception of the 

 river-frontage, the town is enclosed by an irregularly-shaped 

 stockade of teak logs about ten feet high ; loop-holes are cut in the 

 timbers for musketry fire, and watch-towers occur at intervals. 

 During a night engagement, we are told, the enemy are illuminated 

 by torch- light, the flambeaus being made of finely-chopped decayed 

 wood, saturated in wood-oil, and wrapped in the leaves of Licuala 

 peltata. The river here divides into three channels ; that on 

 which Bhamo is situated is the widest, and about 700 yards broad ; 

 the entire width of the river from bank to bank is about a mile and 

 a half. There is a difference of sixty feet between its rise and 

 fall, and, for the convenience of the people to fetch water &c, 

 flights of bamboo steps are constructed at intervals along the bank, 

 which, even at the highest floods, are some feet above the level of 

 the water. 



142. The palisade was originally intended as a protection 

 The paiisade-a protection against the raids committed by the 



against raids of wild mountaineers— wild mountaineers, but these attacks 

 and its subsequent disrepair. being now less constant, the defence 



has been allowed to fall into great disrepair, so much so, that it is 

 not an uncommon occurrence for tigers or leopards to enter the 

 stockade at night and carry off dogs and pigs, and sometimes even 

 human-beings. The long-established practice of closing the gates 

 at sunset still continues, after which no Kakhyens are allowed in- 

 side ; at 9 p.m. the gong is struck for the second time, when all 

 ingress and egress is prohibited, lights and fires extinguished, and 

 the patrols commence their rounds. 



143. The town stretches along the river bank for, perhaps, about 



Former elaborate buildings, and a mile and a half > ^ its a Verage 



construction of kyoungs and pago- breadth does not exceed a fourth of 

 das - that distance, narrowing in some places 



to fifty yards, where the palisade has had to take a sudden bend 

 to avoid a ravine. The ground is tolerably high and well-drained, 



