52 S. E. Peal — Notes of a trip up the Diking. [No. 1, 



south that divide this river from another (evidently the Salwin) ; but none 

 of them had been so far, and they seemed to confuse the Salwin and the 

 Mikong together ; traders, however, pass east and west across the tract 

 dividing them from the boundary of China. 



According to these Kunungs and a Kamti who seemed well acquainted 

 with these matters, the Do mai is the same as the Shoe mai and a somewhat 

 larger stream than the Mli kha, or Sang kha, confirming the supposition of 

 Dr. Clement Williams, and the paper on this river by Dr. Anderson (read 

 before the E,. Geographical Society some eight or ten years ago) in which 

 he fairly demonstrated it as the main source of the Irawadi. This, and the 

 references thereto, in Mr. Jenkins' paper and my .former reports, seem to 

 have been overlooked by Mr. C. H. Lepper when lately claiming this as a 

 new discovery. There can be very little doubt but that Dr. Anderson is 

 right, that the Shoe mai kha rises in Tibet. The only doubt in my mind 

 was whether it was the lower portion (or not) of the river known north as 

 Nu kiang. Eecent observations, however, by Gill, M. Desgodin and others 

 seem to prove that the Nu kiang and Salwin are really the same as shewn 

 on the map by M. Desgodin. 



While on the matter of routes I may mention that the Kunungs re- 

 port routes north ; one of these men, indeed, had been that way into Tibet ; 

 another route from the Mli kha, led north-west towards Brahmakund, and 

 the Mishmi country. Thej-- could give me no information as to any from 

 their villages towards the north-east, though it may exist. Routes south 

 seem j^retty numerous. People often come and go by them to Bamo and 

 the Shan states, also to Hukong. 



It is a noteworthy fact, and one deserving careful attention that the 

 country lying east of Asam, between it and China, seems even in our day 

 so little known through the absence of traffic over it, that we cannot even 

 name the rivers in succession, with absolute certainty. 



This is no doubt caused by the difficulties due to its peculiar forma- 

 tion. It is situated at the south-east corner of the great Tibetan plateau, 

 where the rivers converge, and have such a rapid fall, to the level of the 

 southern plains, in channels more or less parallel, that they have cut out 

 deep valleys and even gorges, extremely difficult to ford, ov ferry, or hridge^ 

 except by iron chains. Every here and there the line of route, otherwise 

 not easy, is completely severed by a deep valley and gorge, and long detours 

 are necessary. 



Here and there on this tract we see the iron chain bridges that demon- 

 strate the character of the obstacles, and that have successfully linked the 

 route fragments together so far. The local engineering capabilities, 

 however, are crude, and no doubt if longer spans were possible, these im- 

 passable gorges could be crossed at far more eligible sites for a route. 



