VISIT THAYET-PEN-KIN-DAT 157 



would come up with our breakfast, but as there were no signs 

 of them we went on, and got to the police-station of Thayet- 

 pen-Kin-dat at 5 p.m. The elephants did not arrive till after 

 dark ; one of the mahouts had helped himself to our liquor, 

 got drunk, made his elephant a bad-tempered brute charge 

 the females, and broke no end of wine and beer, crockery- 

 ware, etc. To teach him to behave better in future, I tied 

 him up and gave him a dozen well laid on. The whole place 

 we found full of bugs, fleas, and gadflies, and to make matters 

 worse, the ravines where the rhinoceros live were quagmires 

 through which elephants could not go, so we did not bless 

 Hill, but went sadly back to Kyoukee the next day. 



April 1 6. Started for Ananbo got there at 9.30 break- 

 fasted, and went on to Thabew. We put up a lot of deer, 

 but the jungles wanted more burning, so gave the head-man 

 ten rupees, with instructions to see it done. We shot various 

 deer, and one day coining to a Karen village far away in the 

 interior, we stopped there for an hour or two. Knowing that 

 the Karens are famous for making a spirit from rice, we asked 

 them to sell us some, but they, thinking it was a trap laid for 

 them, swore they had none. After getting round the buxom 

 daughter of the old chief, who was a hoary old sinner of 

 about seventy-five, we got a bottle. It was, my comrades 

 declared, equal to mountain-dew or the real potheen. I am 

 no judge, as I never take spirits. The old rascal told us, on 

 our asking him where we could find a stream to bathe in, that 

 he had never used water for ablutions in his life, and that he 

 only changed his garments once in five or six years. He was 

 accustomed to get drunk three times every week for the 

 benefit of his health. Yet the old fellow, for his age, looked 

 lusty, and had several fine women for wives, and many 

 daughters and sons. I shot a couple of deer, and next day, 

 leaving my comrades to continue their sport, I went on to 

 Shoayghein, where I had work to attend to. 



On another trip May 3 I rode out to Za-oo-goon, on the 

 Pue river, thirty-three miles from Tongho. Felt a sharp 

 shock of earthquake as I sat in the open, eating my dinner. 



May 4. Made for Myetquin across country. We had not 

 gone a mile when a tiger was put up, but not near me, and 



