( 151 ) 



line up the face of a very steep ascent ; this brought us to the 

 head waters of the Mansah-choung, and continuing our course in a 

 north-easterly direction along the main water-shed of the mountains 

 just ascended, Mansing village was reached : it is situated on a bluff 

 at an elevation of 3,300 feet. Here I noticed a pretty little Kakhyen 

 girl dyeing some home-spun thread blue, with a decoction of equal 

 parts of the leaves of Ruellia indigafera and chavannesia esculenta. 

 The ladle with which she baled out the dye was the section of a 

 bottle-gourd (Lgenaria vulgaris) cultivated as a vegetable ; this she 

 very good-naturedly gave me in return for the bead necklet I had 

 presented her with. Both the plants use for dyeing are common 

 in these mountains, and now for the first time I learnt from Yan 

 Sing, that the latter is not only common in the forests of British Bur- 

 ma, but that it is likewise cultivated for its fruit, which has an agree- 

 able acid taste, and is used by the Burmans for culinary purposes.* 

 On the out skirts of Kantsat, where we remained for the night, 

 there was a Kakhyen burial ground, the graves were marked by 

 mounds of earth, and the tombs of those still fresh in the memory 

 of their friends had a roof put over them, and decorated with 

 bamboo ornaments. The cemetery was overgrown with plants of 

 the zingiberacece order — they being the only class the leaves of 

 which can be utilized for votive offerings. Kantsat at the time of our 

 arrival was in a most disturbed state ; there were two disputes pend- 

 ing settlement, — one, on account of a wife that had not been paid for, 

 and the other, connected with the deaths of three of this clan who 

 had recently been shot in an engagement with some other tribe. 

 Further, I was now informed for the first time that we were beyond 

 the Koukwar Tswabwa's limits, and that in visiting Kantsat without 

 previous warning, we were looked upon as trespassers and intruders. 

 Although myself and party had been taken to the Tswabivas house, 

 and had received a cordial welcome from the womenfolk, yet the Tswab- 

 wa not only declined to see me, but sent word to say that I could have 

 come with no good object in view, and that none of us should leave 

 the village alive : his old mother, however, tried to smooth matters 

 by assuring us that there was nothing to be feared, that her son was 

 merely under the influence of liquor, but that when sober he would 

 relent of his rudeness, and only be too glad to form our acquaint- 

 ance. This was all very well, but I was not at all certain what 

 outrage he might commit in his drunken fit, neither were we 

 strong enough to defend ourselves. My Burman peons suggested 

 an immediate retreat and concealment in the jungles for the night ; 



* For the further uses to which this plant is put, I must refer the reader to my Note on 

 Caoutchouc. 



