( 147 ) 



'253. On returning to the house, I found the Tswabwa seated by 

 himself, smoking a pipe, and watching the party who turned up 

 early this morning. He asked Yan Sing (my Burman interpreter) 

 for a sali,* but expressed disgust at being handed the balance of a 

 lighted one : he was soon satisfied, however, by a new one being sub- 

 stituted with an explanation that among the Burmese, it is customary 

 to pass round a lighted cheroot. • 



254. Breakfast was now served, and the old lady of the house 

 placing mine before me, with a smack of the tongue and a know- 

 ing grin, drew attention to one dish in particular ; this turned out to 

 be the elephant stew; what effect hunger might have had in dis- 

 pelling fancies is hard to say, but want of appetite, and the novelty 

 of the dish rather set me against the delicacy. There is no reason 

 why elephant flesh should not be good, for the animal is a remarkably 

 clean feeder; I dare say the meat is rather coarse and sinewy, but 

 that is no draw back to a Burman, who has good molars and the 

 digestion of an ostrich. The fact is, I had been feeling rather 

 squeamish from the effect of last night's dinner, which was the 

 most indigestible meal I ever made ; under an unimpaired appetite, 

 I have in my day tasted far more revolting dishes than elephant 

 stew, and enjoyed them too, e. g., porcupine chops, camel curry, 

 and locusts cooked in oil. The meal over, which had been pro- 

 vided exclusively for the benefit of the Tswabwa, my followers, and 

 self, liquor was handed round after the usual fashion, no distinc- 

 tion being made in this mark of hospitality, all present receiving 

 a like share of the flowing bowl, which was apportioned by the 

 females who took particular care to see that no one's cup remained 

 empty for long.f 



255. The Tswabwa, struck with the aroma of my tobacco, asked 

 permission to have a whiff, and in this instance did not object to 

 my pipe being handed over lighted to him. My old and faithful 

 briar-ivood, spliced in three places, and valued for old acquaintance 



* A Burman cigar. 



\ The Kakhyens brew two descriptions of liquor — one from fermented rice, and the other from 

 the husk, both are sweetened, and if consumed in any large quantities have an Lj.oxicating effect. 

 The brew is manufactured in a bamboo, with an arrangement that admits of clear liquor being 

 drawn off. In the centre of the fermenting mass, a small hollow bamboo is lodged, pierced with 

 holes (sufficiently small to exclude the grain) at the lower extremity to a height of three inches, 

 into this fits loosely a hollow bamboo plunger, which is left a foot higher than either of the 

 other bamboos, and by placing the thumb on a small hole — about the size of a pea — bored three 

 inches from the head of the plunger, the desired quantity of clear liquor can always be obtained. 

 Though this contrivance seems simple to us, one would hardly have expected to find it in use 

 among these wild mountaineers. Another ingenious contrivance these people have is for striking 

 fire. Imagine a child's pop-gun with one end closed, and an air-tight fitting ram-rod, the extremity 

 of which is a cavity to contain the tinder, — generally the silk cotton of the bombax. Fire is pro- 

 duced by rapidly plunging and withdrawing the ram-rod, which generates, by a process of friction 

 and compression, the requisite heat to produce combustion. 



