( 130 ) 



through the woods, and straining every muscle to gain ground as 

 the boat sluggishly quivers through the fierce rapids now running 

 flush with the boat's gunwale : all now depends on the trueness of 

 the towing-line — that gone, and we are lost, for the best and strong- 

 est swimmer could not live in such places ; fortunately, there are 

 times when there is little to apprehend, and one can serenely 

 contemplate the beauties of this wild yawning of the mountains, 

 clad on either side to the water's edge, with a diversity of foliage, 

 rendered more brilliant by the undulating hills that rise one above 

 another, casting their tall shadows around with softening tints. 

 Here and there, too, on either bank, in the solitary haunts may be 

 be seen a few Pwon and Shan huts, set in toungya clearings peeping 

 through these dense woodlands, while the angular masses of rock 

 that project into the stream, and render navigation so dangerous, 

 are generally crowned with some emblem of religious ideal. 



222. Thursday, 15th January 1874. — Thermometer 54° at 6 

 a.m. Make a short excursion inland to the west. Visited by 

 two Burmans, who represent themselves to be officials, and 

 as having received instructions from the Governor of Bhamo 

 to offer me every assistance. My suspicion is aroused by their over- 

 anxiety to prove their royal lineage and the ancestral claim they 

 had on the appointment. I did not avail myself of their services. 

 The country explored was densely wooded, but extensive clear- 

 ings have been made for paddy cultivation : the staple tree is Shorea 

 rohusta. "Woodlands rich in ferns and orchids ; many of the latter are 

 in flower, and present a brilliant show. Passed through the Shan 

 hamlets of Nanphia, Pindone, and Nahay, each strongly stockaded. 

 The accounts of this part of the country once having been well inha- 

 bited, but since depopulated by the repeated raids of the Kakhyens, 

 which remained unpunished by the Burmese Government, are in a 

 measure supported by the vast tracts of paddy -land that now lie 

 idle and overgrown with wild grasses ; nor is proof wanting up to 

 the present day of how brigandage remains unpunished : the very 

 weapons with which these people perpetrate their most desperate 

 deeds, are sold, and manufactured to their fancy in Bhamo, 

 Mogoung, or some other Burmese village. Unquestionably, the 

 country suffers materially from this insecurity of property, and 

 yields but a tithe of the revenue it would, were life and property 

 safe ; but this alone is attributable to the absence of a well-organ- 

 ized Government, which the people would hail with delight. I do 

 not believe the Kakhyens are the blood-thirsty, ungovernable 

 savages they are generally represented to be ; they are no worse, 

 I venture to say, than those around us would be, but for the dread 



