256 Captain Hannay' s Route [April, 



exceptions, as perfect savages in their appearance ; their cast of coun- 

 tenance forms a singular exception to the general rule, for it is not at 

 all Tartar in its shape, but they have, on the contrary, " long faces 

 and straight noses, with a very disagreeable expression about the eyes, 

 which was rendered still more so by their lanky black hair being 

 brought over the forehead so as entirely to cover it, and then cut 

 straight across on a line with the eyebrows. These people, though 

 surrounded by Shans, Burmese and Chinese, are so totally different 

 from either, that it is difficult to imagine from whence they have had 

 their origin." 



On the 20th of December the fleet moored at a village about five 

 miles below Bamo, which being a town of great importance, and the 

 residence of an officer inferior in rank to the Mogoung Woon, some 

 previous arrangements were necessary to enable the latter to land with 

 the eclat due to his rank. On reaching the town late on the following 

 day, they found the left bank on which it stands so precipitous, that 

 they were compelled to cross to the opposite side of the river, and a 

 feeling of jealousy having arisen between the two Woons of Mogoung 

 and Bamo, the former resumed his journey on the 22nd, which com- 

 pelled Captain Hannay to defer the inquiries he was so anxious to 

 make until his return in April, when he found the people far more 

 communicative than they had ventured to be in the presence of 

 the Mogoung Woon. The information obtained on both occasions will 

 be more advantageously shewn in a connected form than in the de- 

 tached portions in which it necessarily appears in his journal, and 

 Captain Hannay's first remark' solves a difficulty, which, like the 

 Adria of ancient history, has proved a stumbling block to modern in- 

 vestigation. In the course of inquiry into the sites of the principal 

 towns on the Irawadi river, that of Bamo naturally held a very pro- 

 minent place, and some of the native Shans, who were questioned on 

 the subject affirmed that it was on the bank of the Irawadi river, 

 while others, whose opportunities of acquiring information had been 

 equally good, positively denied this statement, and fixed its position 

 on the left bank of a small stream which flows into the Irawadi, about 

 a mile above the present town. Captain Hannay reconciles the 

 conflicting statements, briefly but satisfactorily, in the following 

 remark : — 



"I find that this is a modern town erected on the banks of the 

 Irawadi, for the convenience of water carriage between it and Ava. 

 The old Shan town of Manmo, or Bamo, is situated two days journey 

 up the Tapan river, which falls into the Irawadi about a mile above 



