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made to purchase some, the people refused to sell. They had, in- 

 consequence, to make shift with the natural products of the forests, 

 until a fresh supply of grain was obtained from Zeegoon. 



292. Tuesday, 3rd February 1874.— Left Winemew at 9 a.m., 

 cutting north-easterly wind; thermometer 43° at 6 a.m. There had 

 been a rise in the river of two feet overnight. Morning 

 spent in writing official and private letters, which I despatched to 

 Bhamo by a Mahomedan trader. Tigers are very common in the 

 vicinity. Their pugs are everywhere to be seen, and it is not at all 

 uncommon to find fresh droppings round about the stockade of a 

 morning. The Kakhyens shoot them for their flesh, which they eat, 

 using their teeth as ornaments to their sword-belts or as charms ; 

 their claws they dispose of to Chinamen, who, I believe, also con- 

 sider they possess some spell. Three miles above is Tahay which 

 consists of three Kakhyen houses. The river is divided by the 

 island of Noung Talo, partly overgrown by trees, among which I 

 noted two cocoanuts. The stream to the right is about fifty yards 

 wide, but too shallow even to admit of my boats passing up ; that 

 to the left is double the breadth, with six feet of water in the deep- 

 est part. We were now sufficiently near to fix the position of the 

 two mountain peaks mentioned in my diary of the 29th January 1874. 

 They he in a North North-East direction, and the altitude has 

 been fixed at 3,800 feet. The voice of the rapids are distinctly to be 

 heard, and it was with difficulty we could make any way against the 

 stream, which was now hourly increasing in strength. Mine-nah 

 was made by dusk, and here we stopped for the night. 



293. Wednesday, 4th February 1874. — Thermometer 40° at 6 a.m.; 

 a dense fog continued to rise from off the water up to 8 a.m., when 

 we left Mine-nah, — a Lapee hamlet situated on a high cliff over- 

 hanging the stream. Opposite are also a few houses known as 

 Myet-kyee-nah, inhabited by the same tribe. The river increases in 

 tortuosity, and the spurs of the great chain of mountains richly clad 

 in forest growth reach to the water's edge. We now found ourselves 

 passing up a noble gorge, whose romantic beauty cannot be sur- 

 passed, even in the annals of poetry itself. The hills echoed forth 

 the wild cries of my boatmen, cheering one another on as they 

 endeavoured to stem the fierce current, now purling over the rocky 

 bed casting its spray on either side in wild delight, and washing 

 our boats from stem to stern. Our progress was slow, and the pace 

 continued to decrease, until the crew found it was hopeless any longer 

 depending on their poles. They jumped overboard with their tow- 

 ing ropes, and renewed the struggle; — poor fellows, bent nearly 

 double, and straining every muscle, it was as much as they could do, 

 to creep along; Moung Oung,the Governor's man, suggested we halt 



