( 122 ) 



kindly engaged all the coolies procurable, and thus frustrated the 

 little game of my people, which was to have another night with 

 their friends. There was so much delay in getting off, that it was 

 too dark to proceed, before even the mouth of the Taping was 

 reached, and we were compelled to make fast for the night at a sand- 

 bank some two miles above Bhamo. 



205. Sunday, 11th January 1874. — Left our moorings at 7 a.m. ; 

 thermometer 51° Fahrenheit: dense fogup to 8.30; remained at Sink- 

 ing for half an hour, and took a ramble on shore. This village 

 numbers some forty houses occupied by Shan-Burmans of an agri- 

 cultural class ; it is situated on the left bank, and opposite are the 

 hamlets of Kannee and Coongyee. Here the river is sub-divided 

 by an extensive island of recent formation, and submerged during 

 the inundation. It was covered with Gramhue, Composite, Cam- 

 panula, and Tamarisk of a few months' growth. Shot Dcndrocygna 

 arcuata, Halcyon smymensis, Lobivanellus atronuchalis, and two geese. 

 The riverbanks now gradually became more denned, and the 

 stream narrows from 500 to 350 yards, with a proportional increase 

 in the depth and velocity of current, which is, as a rule, regulated by 

 the expanse or contraction of the stream. Skirting the left bank are 

 a low range of lhne-stone hills covered with bamboo (small variety), 

 Bombax malabaricum, Dipterocarpus tuberculatus, Chikrassia tabularis y 

 and Conocarpus acuminatum. Small clearings are also here and there 

 apparent where the Kakhyens carry on their toungya cultivation. 



206. We now came on the Moh-loy clioung, bearing north-east 

 at its junction with the Irrawaddy ; it is a hundred yards wide, with 

 five feet of water in the deepest part. It is said to be navigable 

 during the rains, for boats of considerable size, to a distance of a 

 hundred and five miles. A little further north, and on the same 

 bank, is the village of Nga-pyen-law ; quarter of a mile further on, 

 and we crossed over to Kyoondate on the opposite bank, which 

 represents a vast alluvial plain, susceptible to the annual floods, and 

 stretching for miles inland to the base of the limestone hills in the 

 far west. From Mya-za-dee we recrossed to Thaphan-bin or Leba- 

 ing (as it is sometimes called) where we made fast at 3 p.m., and 

 remained for the night. The river here is much contracted, and 

 the water changed from a muddy brown to a deep sap-green. The 

 remaining hours of daylight I spent on shore ferreting about the 

 surrounding country. I came across nothing new in arborescent 

 growth, with the exception of a solitary Pierordia lapida ; Oxalis 

 corniculata, Biophytum sensitivum, Triumfetta rhomboidea, and Aspa- 

 ragus acerosus were common : Sesamum indicum is extensively culti- 

 vated and finds a ready sale, the oil expressed from the seed being 



