( 103 ) 



rence to find men (generally Shans) lying on the road dead drunk, 

 and robbed of everything they possess, including their clothes. 



186. I had an opportunity of seeing shamshoo manufactured at 

 Process of manufactnring sham- Tseekaw, and will here describe the 



sho °- process. In a large wooden bucket, 



made of toon, rice is first steeped in water, with the addition 

 of a herb to promote fermentation ; the herb I did not recognize, 

 nor could I obtain its name, but was told it was imported from 

 China for this express purpose. Immediately the liquor has 

 reached the correct stage of fermentation, it is transferred to an iron 

 cauldron, covered with an inverted pail, the two being tightly secured 

 by a paste of flour and water, and allowed to boil on a slow fire. 

 In the lower part of the pail, is inserted a hollow bamboo, four feet 

 long, this connects the apparatus with a double-walled vessel, the 

 inner compartment being, constantly kept cool by fresh supplies of 

 cold water, and the condensed liquor passing through the inner- walls 

 pours into the vessel placed below ready to receive it. The first 

 quality sells at Es. 2-8 per bottle ; the second, which is only the 

 old material with an addition of water redistilled, at Ee. 1-8 per 

 bottle ; and the third at Ee. 1. The first and second qualities burn 

 with a bright blue flame immediately lighted, but not so with the 

 third, for which I am told there is hardly any sale, and is, therefore, 

 generally used to adulterate the first qualities. 



187. To the west of Tseekaw is the lake of Manloung — said 



Lak fManl «• 0ElCe *° ^ aYe ^ een * ne °^ Dec ^ 0I " 



the Taping — an idea supported by the 

 configuration of the country — that now disgorges itself by a stream 

 of the same name, into Taping at old Tsain-pin-ago. At this season 

 the expanse of water does not exceed over three-eighths of a mile 

 broad, two miles long, and fourteen feet deep in the middle ; but during 

 the monsoon it is said to present one vast sheet of water for miles. 

 To the west, the Manloung stream divides, uniting again some little 

 distance south, and forming the island now occupied by the Shan 

 village of the same name, and numbering some seventy houses. 

 On the highest ground are situated the pagodas and monasteries, 

 looking quite pretty, clustered in groves of that noble bamboo, the 

 Bambusa gigatUea, plantain, mango, jack, and other fruit trees ; indeed, 

 the village throughout, has a snug, prosperous appearance, and the 

 people seem contented and happy. The male population are entirely 

 of an agricultural class, while the women busy themselves with the 

 domestic affairs, devoting their spare hours to the manufacture of 

 putsoes and thamines, for which they find a ready sale ; every house 

 has its loom, and the bulk of the raw cotton is said to be the pro- 



