( 120 ) 



Kakliyens, remarking they were a bad lot, and would one day cut 

 my throat. I must not forget to mention that on leaving Ronelein 

 the senior female representatives of eaclr htay presented me with 

 flowers and hard-boiled eggs, which I am told is a token of sincere 

 friendship ! On the whole, the inhabitants of this village appeared 

 a remarkably healthy set of people, especially the younger portion 

 of the community up to the age of twelve. Cholera is unknown 

 among them, small-pox apparently being the only epidemic, and 

 it is surprising that this scourge does not commit greater havoc 

 among a people who never take to water for purpose of ablution, and 

 in other respects are equally dirty in their habits of life. Imme- 

 diately a person is affected, however, with this disease, he is taken 

 into some distant part of the forest, fed daily, and not allowed to 

 return until well ; in this position many are carried off by wild 

 beasts, for which the ntits get the credit. Ophthalmia, dysentery, 

 fever, and cutaneous diseases would appear to be their most 

 common ailments ; and their only remedy, invocations to the ndts. 



201. Round the homesteads are grown yams, gourds of differ- 



ent descriptions, tobacco, poppies used 

 home". gr ° WlhS "™ - the for opium, Indian corn, potatoes,* fig, 



plantain, sweet-limes, papaw, sesamum, 

 and a number of peach trees, which latter, however, are alone 

 valued for their flowers ; the fruit is never eaten by the people, 

 nor could I trace from where the seeds were first obtained. Physatis 

 peruviana grows everywhere about, and the fruit is eaten ; the 

 yellow raspberry, wild rose, and Osbeckia also became common as 

 we neared Ronelein. I also noted a number of old familiar an- 

 nuals : Carthamus, Tagetes, Guinia, Datura, Cehsia, and Amaranthus. 



202. We returned in a South- South- West direction, down a most 



steep descent and at a very rapid pace, 

 JtaUt Bifamo™' "* ^^ but not without a good many tumbles. 



I was constantly losing my footing, 

 and performed a good part of the journey on my hams ; so steep 

 and slippery were the rocks in places, that even the sure-footed 

 highlander often found his legs slip from under him. Seekaw was 

 reached by midnight, and the next morning I started for Bhamo 

 in the Residency boat, (which had been sent to await my return), 

 where I arrived on Tuesday, 6th January 1874. 



* Some potatoes, grown by the Kakhyens in the hills, were brought as a present to the Assist- 

 ant Eesident at Bhamo, when I was there. They were small, but capital eating. 



