INDIA BEYOND THE GANGES. 



,RiV£R ArA. 



Lake of 

 Chiamay. 



The great river Ava takes its rife far beyond the province of 

 Tunan, in China, and, as is fuppofed, in Thibet. The Chinefe call 

 it HoU'kian, I am uncertain where it becomes navigable, poflibly 

 at the laft cuftom-houfe in the Chinefe dominions ; at lead we 

 find, that four people of that nation, with fome others, em- 

 barked there on a voyage made in the laft century down that 

 river. We have an account of it in vol. vii. 123, of the Univerfal 

 Hijlory. It is defcribed, even at the cuftom-houfe, as a large and 

 rapid river. They were twenty days in failing to the city oi Ava^ 

 and a month more from thence to Pegu. Below the capital of 

 the kingdom, the veflels which navigate this mighty river are 

 faid to be as large as our biggeft fliips, without fail, but the 

 planks have neither peg or nail to faften them ; they feem to 

 be fewed, like the Arabian veflels, which will be defcribed in 

 vol. of this work. 



Mr. Dalrymple, in p. 112 of his ufeful Repertory, fays, he 

 is affiired, that the river paffes through a great lake, not far 

 above the city oi Ava. This lake, in the old maps, fuch as 

 Speed's^ is called Chiamay, and it is fuppofed that the rivers of 

 Siam, and poftibly of Aracan, Chittigong, and fome others, flow 

 out of it. The river is defcribed as difficult of navigation, by 

 reafon of ripplings and overfalls ; and its water, during the 

 inundations, very cold, occafioned by the fnowy mountains from 

 whence it flows. 



The borders of the Ava, after it enters Burmagh, are in fome 

 parts flat, in others hilly, but in none fo low as to be over- 

 flowed. The neighbouring grounds are replete with faltpetre, 

 and quantities of common fait are procured by lixiviation from 

 3 a black 



