1SS2.] C. H. Lepper — The Singpho and Kampti Country. 05 



no further in our knowledge of the country beyond our frontier. In the 

 seventeenth century we had a factory at old Bhamo, a few miles to the 

 east of present Bhamo, and it is only natural to suppose that the Euro- 

 peans then residing at old Bhamo knew at least as much if not more of 

 the country north and west of their settlement than we do now. 



For many years I have been occupying my leisure by collecting all 

 the information I could of this exceedingly interesting tract, and have 

 frequently made little excursions across the frontier. But this last cold 

 season I had the great good fortune of having as my companion a gentle- 

 man whose name from political reasons I am not permitted to mention, but 

 whom you will immediately recognize under the initials A. D. Having in 

 him all the information extant on the China side of this tract I was able 

 to ask the people we met such questions as would tend towards obtainino* 

 correct information, as we thus had the means of checking some of the 

 statements made us. 



To take up the geographical points first, I will condense into as few 

 words as possible the most important details we collected. We knew from 

 Wilcox's account, which we had with us for reference, the country up to 

 Manchi and the Nam Kin branch of the Irrawaddi. To fix this extreme 

 point of our knowledge from the west, I had better state that Wilcox gives 

 from " several observations" the latitude of Manchi (it should be spelt 

 Man Khi) as 27^ 29' 16"*5 : he does not give its longitude unfortunately. 

 The latitude of Sadiya, our present outpost, is I believe given as 27° 49" 

 44" and longitude 95° 43' 6". We may take then Man Khi as roughly speak- 

 ing about 20' to the south and 2° to the east of Sadiya. On Wilcox's 

 map of his trip is traced the upper portion of a river to the east of the 

 Nam Kin and running for some distance almost parallel to the Nam Kin 

 viz ^ north and south. He marks this the Nam Disang (nam = river in 

 Kampti as in Siamese, sometimes menam) : we heard it also called the Khan 

 Kha (kha = river in Singpho) by the Singphos. This river was described 

 to us from drawings on the sand as joining the Nam Kin by taking a 

 somewhat sudden bend at no great distance below the entry of the Sit 

 Kha into the Nam Kin. Between these two rivers, and north of the latitude 

 of Man Khi, live the Khannungs, a distinct people, very quiet, and rather 

 skilful workers in metal : these are the makers of the best Kampti daos. 

 Below these and still between the two nvers Nam Kin and Khan Kha or 

 Nam Disang is the Dooling clan of Singphos, belonging to the Kaku division 

 of Singphos. 



In one of Wilson's maps, again, a trace of which I have, he shows 

 a short trace of a river to the north east of Man Khi and beyond the Khan 

 Kha or Nam Disang. On another map published in 1828 by Wilcox I see 

 he has, from hearsay or by guess, prolonged this little bit down till it joins 



