( "0 ) 



pan suparee, and a huge silver water-bowl, with a cirp of the same 

 metal floating in the centre, placed before me ; however, I required 

 refreshment of a more substantial nature, and proceeded to breakfast 

 off a few hard-boiled eggs and biscuits with which I was provided. 

 The people seem exceedingly happy and contented ; the house was 

 large, substantially built of boards throughout, and remarkably com- 

 fortable within; well furnished, and provided with those extra little 

 fittings and appointments that add to comfort according to a Bur- 

 man's idea. The lady of the house was busily employed hackling 

 thread, but found time to join in the conversation, and with woman- 

 like inquisitiveness wanted to know full particulars regarding my- 

 self and the object of my visit. She was full of kind advice and 

 cautions, and particularly warned me against making the Kakhyens 

 drunk, or remaining among them when inebriated, as they were then 

 unappeasable, and disregarded the lives even of their own clan. 

 At the opposite end of the verandah the eldest daughter was seated 

 at the loom ; she, however, remained silent throughout the inter- 

 view, but made the best use of her bright black eyes ; this probably 

 being the first time in her life that she had set eyes on a European. 

 It was now noon, and we had still ten miles to accomplish before 

 evening, so I took my departure, thanking the host and hostess for 

 their hospitality. 



193. The ascent was commenced in a north-easterly direction, 

 obstructions during the ascent gradually working round to the east 

 in a north-easterly direction until till Ronelein was reached. The track 

 arrival at Ronelein. meandering round the spurs, would only 



admit of us proceeding single file, and some of the steeper ridges 

 were exceedingly slippery and difficult to clamber over. My first 

 dilemma was having to cross the neck of a ravine spanned by a 

 single stem of a fallen tree. I had my doubts of being able to walk 

 it, yet to be supported was showing I was in a measure at the mercy 

 of my followers, so I resorted to the very undignified position of 

 sitting straddle legs across the tree, and propelling myself by an 

 action easier to imagine than describe. My own people were evi- 

 dently bad climbers, and begged a halt of a few minutes at every 

 brook we came to ; however, they improved as we went along, learn- 

 ing to substitute the short elastic steps of the mountaineer, for the 

 long, swinging gait they had been accustomed to in the plains. Con- 

 tinuing to ascend, the vegetation became more dense and noble : 

 trees with straight shafts, some naked with grey or pale-brown 

 bark, others literally shrouded up to their crowns with epiphytes 

 now towered over head on either side of the narrow gorge we followed, 

 while among the sub-arborescent growth, the plantain was the most 



