216 Account of a visit to Puppa doung. [No. 3, 



shewing that the claims of this fine peak to notice are by no means 

 limited to its picturesque appearance,* and that both its geology and 

 natural history deserve far more attention than I was able to devote 

 to them in the two days to which my stay was necessarily limited. 



Towards the end of last October, I was on my return from Man- 

 dele, the present capital of Ava, in which town and its neighbour- 

 hood I had been staying for about six weeks. Before leaving the 

 city I had been furnished with an order of the king, addressed to 

 the Myo-woon or Governor of Pagan, to assist me in every vta.y. 

 Without such an order, it would, in all probability, be very difficult 

 for any one to visit the mountain,f and it would certainly have been 

 impossible for me, within the few days of my leave which remained 

 unexpired. As it was, I had not the slightest delay, but, reaching 

 Pagan on the afternoon of the 25th October, I was able to start for 

 Puppa the next morning, the Myo-woon sending with me a Tsare or 

 writer, and providing me with a pony, coolies and guides. 



The distance of Puppa in a direct line from Pagan can be but 

 little over twenty-five miles, but by the road, which winds consider- 

 ably, this is increased to thirty or thirty-five, about two days' march. 

 The accompanying map is a mere sketch, but it will serve to shew 

 the relative positions of the various places mentioned below. 



October 26th. — I left Pagan by a road which passed close to the 

 Dhamayangyee temple, and thence led, by no means in a direct line, 

 towards the N. W. end of the Ta-ywan (or Ta-rwan) hills. J Near 

 the town, the country is mostly cultivated at this season, the prin- 

 cipal crops being maize janera, and a kind of millet called lu by the 

 Burmese. The soil is very sandy, but few pebbles occurring. The 

 whole of the slightly undulating tract, over which I passed from 



* Major (now Colonel) Yule in the excellent "Narrative of the Mission to 

 Ava," thus writea (p. 25, London edition). " The lofty isolated hill of Paopa 

 was distinctly visible far to the Eastward, showing here a double himmock top. 

 It must be 3000 feet high, at least allowing for the probable distance." And 

 again p. 27. " The remarkable Paopa doung is a more and more conspicuous 

 object as we advance. The Burmese naturally look with some superstitious 

 dread on this isolated mountain which they say it is impossible to ascend, and 

 regard as the dwelling of myriads of Nats and Bilus. See also Dr. Oldham's 

 note in the appendix to the same work, p. 338." Others, besides Col. Yule, havo 

 been told by the Burmese that the mountain is inaccessible. 



f In this and in other instances in which I was allowed to penetrate into the 

 country above Ava, I was indebted, for this advantage, to Colonel Phayre, the 

 Commissioner of Pegu, who very kindly furnished me with a letter to the chief 

 minister at Mandele. 



X Tharawadi hills of Col. Yule. Narrative, p. 27. 



