50 S. E. Fesil—Mtes of a trip up the JDiTiing, [No. 1, 



able the night before, because one of the men had a dream that we had met 

 some disaster in the canoe, so he had started at dawn and hunted up- 

 stream and came upon us, quite expecting, as he said, all he saw, and heard. 



For once I was thankful as to a " belief in dreams." With their 

 help we got the bamboos relashed, everything again stowed, and embarked, 

 going down the first five or six rapids most carefully but getting more 

 confidence as we went on. Certainly the way we shot some, was enough 

 to make any one hold his breath; there was little or no danger from 

 rocks : it was mainly from the speed and bumping on boulders, that 

 often threw the canoe violently aside, and at times the want of room 

 to turn suddenly where the stream rushed down a side channel. The ex- 

 citement was considerable, as often from the canoe we could not see the 

 proper channel lower down, where all was hidden by the frothy tops of 

 the small waves. There was hardly time to speak ; in fact, one could not 

 be easily heard with the rush of the water ; and each time as we emerged 

 into the deep and agitated water below (going fully ten miles an hour), 

 we felt a relief. By and by we reached the rapid at the entrance to " Buri 

 Dihing" and all got out, holding the canoe as we waded, and let her down, 

 each getting in as he came to the deep water. Now and then we had a 

 little trouble but gradually rapid after rapid was passed till we had come 

 down a distance that had taken us three days in going up, and camped at 

 one of the places we stopped at when coming up. Early next morning we 

 got off and again got over what had taken three days going up, camping 

 close to Bisa at Kherim Pani mouth. 



At Jagon we got out and procured some rice as what we had been eat- 

 ing was bad, having got wet. We also found time to bargain for some 

 vegetables that we were much in need of. 



At Bisa I received my dak (letters) ; and after the land party had 

 joined, I procured a second canoe and we all went down by water. 



Nothing of moment occurred till we reached Bor Pbakial, the Kamti 

 village above Makum, where I again stopped to see the Kunungs, and 

 men over from " Mung Kamti." They came and spent a day with me, 

 which enabled me to collect and verify a good deal of geographical matter, 

 and write a limited Kunung Vocabulary. These men are called " Aung" 

 by the Chinese (so they say), and trade with them eastward. I observe 

 that these are the race that M. Desgodin locates there as " Loutse," and 

 says the Chinese call them " A-nong ;" undoubtedly they are these people 

 who call themselves " Kunnung" as did also Wilcox in 1827. They say 

 their tribes and villages are scattered all over the country from the Mli 

 kha and Mung Kamti, to the eastwards, and are not confined to the Mli 

 kha alone. They are celebrated as workers in iron which they smelt from 

 ore of two sorts, sandy, and in lumps, like stone. 



