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with him for ruy overland journey to Mogoung. Received some 

 letters by a native trader, that had been sent me by the Assistant 

 Resident of Bhamo. 



296. Saturday, 7th February 1874. — Heavy thunder-storm and 

 rain towards early morning ; everything in my cabin got drenched, 

 for the roof was only of bamboo matting ; thermometer at 6 a.m. , 48°. 

 Towards midnight my boat was pelted with stones. I knew that 

 this was the precursor of an attack, and on coming out of my cabin 

 I could distinctly see figures standing on the bank : this time I 

 determined to test what the effect of taking the initiative would be, 

 and fired in the direction of the men ; the result was capital, for the 

 gang dispersed at once, and troubled me no more. Later on, we 

 heard heavy firing at Moung-way, — a village about a mile and a 

 half from where we were anchored ; the shouts and cries of the 

 people for assistance could also be distinctly heard, and in the 

 morning we learnt that the village had been attacked, but the 

 Kakhyens repelled, with the loss of one of their party, who was 

 shot dead through the heart. The people from Katcho had 

 made an attempt to assist their neighbours, but the bridle-path 

 between the two villages had been spiked with poisoned pieces of 

 bamboo, which prevented them carrying out their good intentions. 

 This is a precaution the Kakhyens always take, when they want 

 to avoid pursuit, or prevent villagers assisting one another in 

 the case of an attack, and I found that even along the bank 

 to which we were moored, the same system had been carried out, 

 evidently with the view to stop us going to the rescue of the assaulted 

 village. Crossed over to Zeeghoon, and called on the Amat, who 

 took me to visit an old phoongyee of eighty years of age, and very 

 feeble ; apparently he was not expected to live much longer, for 

 beneath the monastery his coffin was being hewn out of a single log 

 of toon ; the lid had already been completed, and was gorgeously 

 decorated with gold and silver tinsel. The old man expressed his 

 regret at my going among the Kakhyens, who, he said, should be 

 avoided as much as possible, for they are without religion, and 

 therefore merely on a par with wild beasts. Here I met the 

 phoongyee of Talloo, on a visit to this old patriarch, who, I was told, 

 had educated most of the priests from Talloo northwards, and 

 seemed to be held in great respect by all. My musical box, and 

 sleight-of-hand abilities were now referred to, and I was asked to 

 send to my boat, for the instrument and perform some tricks, which 

 afforded great amusement to the large crowd of men, old women, 

 and children assembled in the monastery. On returning to my 

 boat with the Amat I proceed to arrange about my trip ; and was 

 surprised to find him inclined to be obstructive ; he seemed to have 



