YAY-NAN-CHOUNG PETROLEUM WELLS 215 



are very beautiful. The stream is somewhat confined by high 

 banks and studded with well-wooded islands ; the water is 

 clear, and we could hear francolins and peacocks calling, and, 

 on landing, occasionally put up a few corn-quail. Beyond 

 Menloon whenever we approached a town we landed to visit 

 the monasteries and pagodas, .many of which were very 

 picturesque. On entering a phoongie house we were 

 generally asked to take off our shoes, because Sir Arthur 

 had done so, but on our assuring them that our custom was 

 to take off our hats, and that the doing so was a far greater 

 mark of respect than going in unshod, they made no objection. 

 Although we did not hurry, we did not halt for any length of 

 time anywhere until we reached Yay-nan-choung, or " stinking- 

 water stream," and wishing to visit the petroleum wells we 

 halted for a day. The atmosphere round Yay-nan-choung is 

 foetid. There are always hundreds of boats that take the oil 

 in bulk. In stowing a great deal is spilt, and the surface of 

 the river is covered with a film of petroleum very unpleasant 

 to one's olfactory nerves. The wells are about three miles 

 inland, so, starting early, we got there about seven, and spent 

 an hour or two in watching the extraction of the mineral oil. 

 The appliances are of the crudest. The wells are fully 300 

 feet in depth ; there are not many of them, -and all are 

 owned by some dozen families, who used to intermarry so 

 as to keep their interests intact ; but the older inhabitants now 

 complained that the young people were getting independent, 

 that the young men brought home strange girls for wives, and 

 that the girls often marry outsiders, and as each retains his or 

 her interests, the property is rapidly decreasing in value. The 

 produce is a monopoly of the king's, and pays him well. If 

 a well requires deepening there are but two or three men 

 capable of undertaking it, no one can remain down for more 

 than a minute or two at the most, and occasionally a man dies 

 in the attempt. Where these wells are there is not a blade of 

 grass, no vegetation grows within several hundred feet of their 

 vicinity. Although there are other wells known in Burma, 

 none pay but these. Far finer wells were discovered in Assam, 

 but owing to peculation and bad management those who 

 started their working utterly failed ; but lately a fresh start 



