268 Captain Hannay's Route [April, 



have been constructed by that tribe, during their fishing excursions ; 

 and at Tsadozout, an island in the bed of the Mogaung river, on 

 which the force encamped on the 28th of January, they passed the 

 sites of two Kakhyen villages, and found the ground completely 

 strewed with graves for a considerable distance, the probable result 

 of some endemic disease which induced the survivors to desert the 

 spot. The finest lemon and citron trees, Captain Hannay had ever 

 seen, were found here, and the tea plant was also very plentiful — the 

 leaf is large, and resembles that sold in Ava as pickled tea ; the soil 

 in which it grew most luxuriantly is described as of a " reddish-co- 

 lored clay." Thus far, a considerable portion of the route had passed 

 either directly over the bed of the Mogaung river or along its banks ; 

 but at Tsadozout, they crossed it for the last time, and at this spot it 

 is described as a mere hill stream with a " bed composed of rolled 

 pieces of sienite and serpentine, with scales of mica in it." The 

 navigation of the river even for small canoes ceases below this spot, 

 and those which had accompanied the party with supplies were left* 

 from inability, to convey them further. 



About four miles north of Tsadozout " the road ascends about 1 00 

 feet, and passes over a hilly tract, which seems to run across from 

 the hills on the east to those on the west, and is called by the natives 

 Tsambd-toung, (the Mount Samfi of the maps.) This transverse ridge 

 evidently forms the southern limit of the Hukong valley, and streams 

 flow from it both to the north and south ; the former making their 

 way to the Khyendwen, and the latter to the Mogaung river. 



" Tsambd-toung," says Captain Hannay, " is covered with noble 

 trees, many of which, I think, are sal, and are of immense height and 

 circumference. The tea-plant is also plentiful, besides a great variety 

 of shrubs which are quite new to me. The rays of the sun seem 

 never to penetrate to the soil of Tsambd-toung ; it may therefore be 

 easily imagined how damp and disagreeable it is, more particularly 

 as there is a peculiar and offensive smell from a poisonous plant 

 which grows in great abundance in this jungle, and the natives tell 

 me that cattle die almost immediately after eating it." 



On the 30th the party descended from the encampment on the 

 northern face of this ridge, to the Singpho village of Walobhum, and 

 finally encamped on the left bank of the Edikhyoung, about three 

 furlongs distant from Meinkhwon or Mdngkhdm, the capital of the 

 Hukong valley, " where," says Captain Hannay, " our journey 

 must end for the present ; as, besides having no provisions, the men 

 composing the force are so completely worn out with fatigue, that I 



