KHAMTI TO INDIA 



only with this difference, here our patrons seemed much more 

 inclined to take than give. 



Yesterday's magnates having returned, we displayed our pre- 

 sents. They regarded them without moving an eyelid, and did 

 not offer to touch them. We were given to understand that 

 donations were expected by the king (who desired a repeating 

 rifle), by the king's son, and lastly by the people. This was 

 Tsaukan over again. Much as one liked being agreeable to 

 chiefs who were asfreeable in their turn, it was a trifle irritatincj 

 to have one's benefactions dictated to one. However, we dis- 

 sembled our feelings. The minister, somewhat humanised by our 

 promises, told us he had been several times to Calcutta and 

 Mandalay, and vouchsafed some information regarding the route. 



In the afternoon we — and our gifts — were conducted through 

 the capital to be presented at court. 



The outskirts of the town were occupied by fenced rect- 

 angular gardens, in which chiefly women were hoeing ; the soil 

 looked extremely rich and well tended. Between them and the 

 village were rows of small bamboo rice granaries on piles about 

 3 feet from the ground. Passing them we came to the 

 enceinte, which consisted of a stockade made of wattled bamboos 

 12 feet high, supported on the inner face by an embankment. 

 This palisade was armed at one-third and again at two-thirds 

 of its height by projecting sharpened stakes like chevatix de /rises. 

 It was pierced by narrow entrances closed by a gate formed in 

 most cases of a single solid baulk of timber. 



Once inside, tlie detached houses did not admit of streets ; 

 but in all directions ran narrow plank causeways a toot or so 

 from the earth, necessary in the rains. The roofs were thatched 

 and sloping, with a conical excrescence at either end, and in the 



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