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now took. Evidently he was unaccustomed to the position, for 

 immediately the first formality began to wear off, he cocked up his 

 legs, and adopted the position he would have done if squatted on 

 the floor. Fruit, tea, and sweets were now placed on a little table 

 between us, and after filling his mouth with pdn-suparee, he pressing- 

 ly invited me to partake of the refreshments ; but as I was suffering 

 from a severe attack of neuralgia, I was not in the humour to eat, 

 and explained my reason for partaking so sparingly his good 

 things : he expressed his regret at my indisposition, and sent the 

 eatables over to my house. His son, who had been to England with 

 Mr. Edmund Jones, was now sent for ; and had it not been that I was 

 prepared, I should have taken the man for a menial : he was so 

 remarkably black, and had nothing on but a greasy, dirty silk loon- 

 gyee which he could not have chauged or washed since the day he 

 put it on : his knowledge of English extended to " yes" and "no," — 

 generally misusing the words, not knowing what was said to him : 

 he had inveigled his old father into the belief however that he knew 

 the language thoroughly. A pair of binoculars the son had pur- 

 chased in Paris were now produced for my opinion ; of course, I 

 pronounced them the best ; a photographic album was next brought 

 forth, containing the most extraordinary collection possible to 

 imagine, made up of some of the deme mounde, the royal family, 

 the Burmans, and Mr. E. Jones, &c, and it was rather amus- 

 ing to listen to the adventures the son stated he had with certain of 

 the parties ; then was exhibited a stereoscope, with French slides 

 of a most lascivious character, and which the old man said he de- 

 lighted feasting on, in his idle hours. Having listened to all 

 his nonsense for some time, and humoured his fancies, I ven- 

 tured to sound him on the probable success of my tour in his 

 district ; he spoke of the Kakhyens as a most debased lot, whom 

 he had no more commpunction in hanging than dogs, and affirmed 

 he had just ordered the execution of a chief, whose tribe had 

 recently plundered some boats on their way up here from Bhamo ; 

 but that the sentence had been suspended on a guarantee from 

 the royal hpoongyee that the property would be returned. My 

 travels, he added, would be attended with great danger, nor could 

 he vouch for my safety. In respect to the climate, he told me that 

 the sun is only seen here for three months, and for the rest of the 

 year it rains, from which circumstance the place- has been called 

 Mogoung, signifying "place of rain." I now took my departure, 

 and at his request promised to let him know my future plans in a 

 day or so. Chinamen, I am told, are not allowed to visit the jade 

 mines, and that all the best specimens of this stone are sent to 

 the capital ; ivory and india-rubber are likewise regarded a royal 



