270 Captain Hannay's Route [April, 



former, the larger proportion is composed of the Mrip and Tisan 

 tribes, with a few of the Laphai clan, who are still regarded as 

 strangers by the more ancient colonists, and can hardly be viewed 

 "but with hostile feelings, as this tribe have frequently ravaged 

 Meinkhwon within the last six years, and were guilty of the still 

 greater atrocity of burning a priest alive in his kyoung or monastery. 



Formerly, the population was entirely Shan, and previous to the 

 invasion of Assam by the Burmese, the town of Meinkhwon contained 

 1500 houses, and was governed by the chief of Mogaung. From 

 that period, the exactions of the Burmese officers have led to exten- 

 sive emigration, and to avoid the oppression to which they were 

 hourly exposed, the Shans have sought an asylum in the remote glens 

 and valleys on the banks of the Khyendwen, and the Singphos among 

 the recesses of the mountains at the eastern extremity of the valley. 

 This state of affairs has led to general anarchy, and feuds are con- 

 stantly arising between the different tribes, which the quarrel of the 

 Beesa and Dupha Gaums has greatly contributed to exasperate. No 

 circumstance is more likely to check these feuds, and reclaim the 

 scattered population of the valley, than the establishment of a profit- 

 able commercial intercourse with the more equitably governed valley 

 of Assam, with which communication is now becoming more intimate 

 than at any previous period. 



Of the mineral productions of the Hdkong valley, enumerated by 

 Captain Hannay, the principal are salt, gold, and amber : the former, 

 he informs us, is procured " both on the north and south sides of the 

 valley, and the waters of the Namtwonkok and Edi rivers are quite 

 brackish from the numerous salt springs in their beds. — Gold is found 

 in most of the rivers, both in grains and in pieces the size of a large 

 pea. The rivers which produce it in greatest quantity and of the 

 best quality are the Kapddp and the Namkwdn : the sand of the 

 former is not worked for this mineral, I am told, but large pits are 

 dug on its banks, where the gold is found, as above mentioned. 

 Besides the amber, which is found in the Payen-toung, or amber 

 mine hills, there is another place on the east side of the valley called 

 Kotah-bMm, where it exists in great quantities, but I am informed 

 that the spot is considered sacred by the Singphos, who will not 

 allow the amber to be taken away, although it is of an inferior descrip- 

 tion." Specimens of coal, were also found by Captain Hannay in 

 the beds of the Nambhyti, and Edi rivers ; and he learnt from the 

 natives that, in the Numtarong, a great quantity of fossil wood was 

 procurable. 



