6G C. H. Lepper — The Singpho and Kampti Country. [Makch , 



tlie Irrawaddi a little above the 25th parallel oi latitude, and calls it the 

 Shoomaee. In his letter- press he gives its different nancies as being Shumai 

 Kha, Pongmai, or Sinma'i Kha. I heard it called Phongmai by the Singphos, 

 Nam Kin lung (big Nam Kin by the Kamptis) and in an old map published 

 at the Surveyor General's Office I see it called the Seng Kha. Now this 

 latter name is important, perhaps, as it bears a significant resemblance to 

 the Song "ga Kin of Thibet. The Song "ga Kin in Thibet passes the village 

 of Song"ga kin Dzong, which is somewhere on or about 28° 30' of latitude, 

 and runs in a direction which leads one again to suppose that the Song "ga 

 Kin and the Seng Kha are one, apart from the resemblance of name. Then 

 agairi the Seng Kha or Phongmai, or Shumai or Sinmai, having been described 

 to us as the Nam Kin lung, i. e., the big Nam Kin,pointsto its being bigger 

 than the Nam Kin, at the same latitude as Man Khi, i. a., before the latter 

 had received the waters of the Nam Lang, and Sit Kha, western tributaries, 

 and the Khan Kha its eastern tributary. This would be quite consistent 

 with its greater length and yet would be consistent with the statements of 

 Major Sandeman's surveyor, who makes the eastern branch of the Irrawad- 

 di above Maing na as smaller than the western, the western {i. e., Nam Kin) 

 having before this latter point received the tributaries Nam Lang and Sit 

 Kha, and Khan Kha or Nam Disang. 



Dr. Clements Williams put the junction of the two Nam Kins (let me 

 so call them to speak in one language at a time) at a place called Mainla 

 about 26° N. lat. This Mainla is evidently the Maing na of Major 

 Sandeman's surveyor, which is given as 16 miles north of Kacho, and the 

 latter place is given as latitude 25° 6'. His " eastern branch" must be the 

 Nam Kin Lung, as we know it cannot enter the Irrawaddi lower down, as the 

 surveyor must have noticed its mouth, and it cannot have passed across Capt. 

 Gill's route without his having entered it, unless it could be either the Shue 

 li, the Taping, or the Nampoung, which is not to be seriously considered. 



If this reasoning be correct we must make the Khan Kha or Nam 

 Disang join the Nam Kin shortly below the mouth of the Sit Kha, as there 

 is no room for it much lower down, and this again quite agrees with the 

 accounts I have brought back, and already stated above. The Nam Kin at 

 about the latitude of Man Khi is not more than 80 yards wide and fordable 

 even when swollen by the melting snows, according to Wilcox. The Khan 

 Kha is said to be much the same size by the Singphos, but I have my 

 doubts on that point. 



I think we can now accept the Nam Kin lung or Phongmai Kha as the 

 real source-stream of the Irrawaddi ; and if the Song »ga Kin and Seng Kha 

 are one, then the Song "ga Kin and our Nam Kin lung or Phongmai are 

 therefore one : in that case the Irrawaddi rises in Thib-jt above the 30° of 

 N. latitude, and I think we may claim this as a reasonable solution of the 

 Irrawaddi problem. 



